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Plugin Newsletter - November 2006

 


Contents
========

EDITORIAL


B/W STYLER 1.0b UPDATE


POLL RESULTS: Which version(s) of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro are you using at the moment?

NEW POLL: Which DSLR camera do you use?

THE DISCUSSION FORUMS: 35mm Frame, PSP XI, PSP Tubes


FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS: GML GrowCut, SF Maskerade LE, Photoshop-Scripts.com Filters, Proxel EXIF Tool, SWF2EXE

GRAPHICS NEWS: iCorrect OneClick, Ardfry PNGOUT, Altia PhotoProto, DFT EZ Mask, PDP 4, HVC Color Composer


PRODUCTS FROM THE PLUGIN SITE

ABOUT THE PLUGIN SITE

 

 

Hi,

Our latest B/W Styler plugin had a great start. It seems to be just as popular as our other PhotoWiz plugins. It is nice to see that we were again on the right track when creating B/W Styler. There are still a lot of ideas for enhancing it even further in future, but firstly we have to fix some bugs. That's what Version 1.0b of B/W Styler does, which is now available. See below for details.

Masking is a major topic and problem of photo editing. So it is no surprise that new masking solutions have been made available. Last month Version 4 of Mask Pro was released and this month we see three new tools. The free GrowCut and the commercial EZ Mask plugins promise to make new masking technology available. The SF Maskerade plugin on the other hand tries to refine traditional methods. Of course, there is no ultimate masking tool that works for every masking task, so it is nice to have different tools at hand. Currently my favorite masking method is to use a brush in connection with a layer mask, which certainly needs some practice and often takes more time than other methods, but so far it has produced the best results for me.


Kindest regards,
Harald Heim

www.thepluginsite.com

 

 

B/W STYLER 1.0b UPDATE
------------------------------------------------
Version 1.0b of B/W Styler is primarily a bug fix release. Several problems that were reported for Version 1.0 have been fixed. Most of them concern dialog problems and the usage of 16bit images. Registered users of B/W Styler will receive the free 1.0b update within the next 24 hours.

For a list of the fixed bugs please see
http://thepluginsite.com/products/photowiz/bwstyler/versionhistory.htm

For more information, image examples and downloading a demo version please go to
http://thepluginsite.com/products/photowiz/bwstyler/

 

 

POLL RESULTS: Which version(s) of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro are you using at the moment?
------------------------------------------------
Almost 1850 votes have been submitted in the latest poll. If you ignore the version number and count the votes for each application, you get the following result:

1. Photoshop 46.7%
2. Paint Shop Pro 36.8%
3. Photoshop Elements 16.5%

Here are the results for the individual versions:

1. Photoshop CS2 56.1% (484 votes)
2. Photoshop 7 20.2%
3. Photoshop CS 17.7%
4. Photoshop 6 4%
5. Photoshop 5.5 or older 2%

1. Paint Shop Pro X 30% (204 votes)
2. Paint Shop Pro 9 25.4%
3. Paint Shop Pro XI 15.7%
4. Paint Shop Pro 8 14.5%
5. Paint Shop Pro 7 11.9%
6. Paint Shop Pro 6 or older 2.5%

1. Photoshop Elements 4 47.4% (144 votes)
2. Photoshop Elements 3 24%
3. Photoshop Elements 2 18.4%
4. Photoshop Elements 5 7.2%
5. Photoshop Elements 1 3%

In the current poll there were more votes for Paint Shop Pro than in the previous poll. This could indicate that Paint Shop Pro is also used for other purposes than photo enhancing, but it can also mean that many Photoshop users also use Paint Shop Pro occasionally. The results also make clear that more than half of all Photoshop users have upgraded to the latest CS2 version whereas the latest versions of Paint Shop Pro and Elements are only used by a minority of all users. An explanation could be that their latest versions have only been released recently.

It is also interesting to see that more people are using Version 7 of Photoshop than the newer Version CS. Maybe the newer versions of Photoshop offer nothing important for these people. Something similar can be seen for Version 9 and X of Paint Shop Pro. Almost the same amount of people use both, which indicates that Version X doesn't mean such a big attraction for upgrading.

For more poll results, please visit the Know-How section at
http://thepluginsite.com/knowhow/

 

 

NEW POLL: Which DSLR camera do you use?
------------------------------------------------
This time we ask you to vote for the DSLR camera that you use. There is a selection of 19 cameras from 9 brands that you can choose from. Additionally if you don't own or use a DSLR camera you can also choose the last item ("I don't use a DSLR camera").

Please cast your vote at the bottom of
http://www.thepluginsite.com/

 

 


THE DISCUSSION FORUMS: 35mm Frame, PSP XI, PSP Tubes
------------------------------------------------
Here are some of the latest messages from The Plugin Site Discussion Forums:

pfennig wrote: "Is there such a plug-in for Adobe CS2 that would be like a cut out mask similar to the cut negative holders for 35mm holders for when you would print 35mm prints and have that black edge around the print."
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7034

plugsnpixels wrote: "I just received and have played with PSP Photo XI... It ran great and processed images quickly. ... I never tried PSP before, except for a quick look at a trial of an earlier version. I must say it's quite a good photo editing app for $100!"
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2308

Lelenia wrote: "My friend has been desperately searching for PSP tubes of coffee beans to no avail. Anyone know where she can find one or more?"
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2311


For more interesting discussions please visit
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/

 

 


FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS: GML GrowCut, SF Maskerade LE, Photoshop-Scripts.com Filters, Proxel EXIF Tool, SWF2EXE
------------------------------------------------

GML GrowCut (for Windows) is a free Photoshop selection plugin for separating objects in an image from the background. To create a selection you need to place loosely paints with a brush inside and outside the objects that you want to have masked.

http://graphics.cs.msu.su/en/research/Segment/


SF Maskerade LE (for Windows) is a free plugin that creates luminance masks, color masks and saturation masks. More masking options can be found in the commercial version.

http://www.simpelfilter.de/en/bildbearbeitung/maskerade.html


Photoshop-Scripts.com offers several effect plugins (for Windows), which are basically commercial. Nevertheless they can be applied on images up to 800x800 pixels, which is fine for web graphics. The plugins are called Watercolor, B&W, drawing, Dream, Threshold, Tone Effect, Splash, High-Key, Dynamic Color, Convolution Draw, Graduated Filter and Center Spot.

http://www.photoshop-scripts.com/pluginsEN.php


Proxel EXIF Tool is a Photoshop plugin (for Windows) that can display EXIF and other meta information of a certain file. It is based on the Perl::ExifTool, so you will need Perl, e.g. ActivePerl, and the Perl::ExifTool installed on your computer in order to use the plugin. Instructions can be found on the web site:

http://www.proxel.se/exif.html


Apecsoft SWF2EXE Converter (for Windows) is a free tool for converting your Flash SWF files to EXE files. This way no Flash player is needed to view them.

http://www.apecsoft.com/swf2exe.htm

 

 


GRAPHICS NEWS: iCorrect OneClick, Ardfry PNGOUT, Altia PhotoProto, DFT EZ Mask, PDP 4, HVC Color Composer
------------------------------------------------

PictoColor released iCorrect OneClick (for Win/Mac), a color correction plugin that asks users to just click on an area in the image that should be neutral. As a result the white balance, exposure and the saturation will be improved.

http://www.pictocolor.com/


Ardfry Imaging released the PNGOUT plug-in for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements (for Windows). It creates optimized PNG images that are usually smaller than those created with Save for Web and ImageReady. The plug-in also offers broad support for reading and writing PNG images.

http://www.ardfry.com/png-plugin/


Altia PhotoProto (for Win/Mac) is a tool that automatically turns Photoshop artwork into a working, interactive prototype that can be packaged, emailed and executed.

http://www.altia.com/products_photoproto.php


Digital Film Tools released EZ Mask 1.0 (for Win/Mac), an image masking tool that can deal with fine hair detail, smoke or reflections. The user only needs to place simple strokes on the image. EZ Mask works on both 8 and 16 bit images and takes advantage of multi-processor or dual core machines.

http://www.digitalfilmtools.com/ezmask/


Version 4 of Project Dogwaffle Professional 4, a paint and animation software for Windows, was released. The latest version offers speed improvements and support for multi-threading. There are a new interface, a favorites list for organizing tools in a thumbnail browser, new pigment profiles and palette mixers.

http://www.thebest3d.com/pdpro/


The Windows version of the HVC Color Composer is now available. It is a Photoshop plugin that adds its own color space to the features of the default color picker. Users can generate their own smart palettes and pick colors directly from them or export the palettes to a Photoshop palette file for the Swatches window.

http://www.master-colors.com/





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