Plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, PSP & others
Plugins for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, PSP & others
Plugin Newsletter - Oktober 2002
Contents
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EDITORIAL
HYPERTYLE 1.01 WAS RELEASED
UPDATES OF THE PLUGIN SITE: Plugin of the Future, Plugin Creation, Photo Galaxy
GALAXY CONTEST 2002: The Winners
POLL RESULTS: Your Favorite Image Application(s)
RECOMMENDED WEB SITES
THE DISCUSSION FORUMS
FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS
GRAPHICS NEWS from www.Graphics.com
PRODUCTS FROM THE PLUGIN SITE
THE PLUGIN SITE MAP
Dear Reader,
I have to apologize for inserting the wrong link to the free AutoFX Mosaic plugin in the previous issue. I had so many different links available for this plugin, so I decided to include the simplest one. But although I double-check every link in this newsletter, I overlooked that a request form for the plugin was missing on that page. Anyway, you can find the correct link below.
The final results of the Galaxy Contest 2002 are available now. It took a lot of effort on the part of the judges to select the best ones, because there were simply too many images and too many fabulous ones. I'm nevertheless quite satisfied with the results, which can be viewed below.
I'm also happy to announce Version 1.01 of HyperTyle which had the best start of all products which we have ever released. Version 1.01 includes a lot of useful improvements, which make HyperTyle even more productive. We had planned to include a skin feature (HyperTyle 1.01 would have been the first skinable plugin!) , but didn't manage to add it in time. So there's even more to expect in future versions...
Stay creative!
Harald Heim
http://ThePluginSite.com/
HYPERTYLE 1.01 RELEASED
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Three months after the initial release we decided to make Version 1.01 of HyperTyle available. The most obvious improvement is the support for various image formats: JPG, PSD, PNG, PCX, PCD, TGA, TIF, WMF, EMF, AMF and WBMP. So with HyperTyle 1.01 you don't have to convert your textures to BMP anymore. Furthermore each of the 12 main effects has its own control values now. This avoids adjusting sliders when switching between main effects.
The Edge main effects and the "Paint - Radial" main effect support a new preview cross feature. Right clicking on the preview positions the center of the edge on the image or influence the paint direction. Additionally the "Paint - Radial" effect has been improved. There have also been several smaller improvements and bug fixes e.g. an Equalize check box on the Texture tab sheet for applying a histogram equalization as well as graphical zoom buttons.
For more information and a demo version please go to
http://thepluginsite.com/products/hypertyle/
UPDATES OF THE PLUGIN SITE: Plugin of the Future, Plugin Creation, Photo Galaxy
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Have a look at my latest article called "The Plugin of the Future" on Graphics.com. It takes a peak at what features may be available for plugins in the near future.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=Sections&sop=viewarticle&artid=29
The Plugin Creation Tools page has been updated with fresh information. It describes and rates the tools that let you create your own filter plugins: FilterFactory, FilterFormula. FilterMeister and the Photoshop SDK.
http://thepluginsite.com/knowhow/plugincreation.htm
The Photo Galaxy Vol. 1- 5 package, consisting of 5 CD with 5400 royalty-free digital photos, has been reduced in price. Recently it cost $125, now it is available for just $114.95.
http://thepluginsite.com/products/photogalaxy/
GALAXY CONTEST 2002: The Winners
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All 12 judges have submitted their ratings and the final results of the Galaxy Contest 2002 are now available. As there were 70 prizes, there are also 70 winners, approx. 7 per contest category. Several participants even won two or three times. Unfortunately many good images didn't make it to the Top 7, but that is no reason to be disappointed. With up to 200 images per category there was a lot of luck necessary, too, to get in the Top 7.
You can have a look at the 70 winning images at:
http://thepluginsite.com/gallery/galaxy2002/
Congratulations to all winners, especially to the Nr. 1 winners in each category: Valcali, Sandra Goodfellow, John Quin, Karl Kizur, Teresa, Alfred Kletzien, Tina Hayes, BluesPadawan and Maggie.
Many thanks to all artists who participated, all judges who gave their votes and all companies who were so generous to provide prizes for the winners. Without your help the Galaxy Contest 2002 wouldn't have been such a big success.
POLL RESULTS: Your Favorite Image Application(s)
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Our latest poll asked "Which image applications and which version do you use regularly?". Here are the results of 2200 submitted votes:
1. Photoshop 33%
2. Paint Shop Pro 22 %
3. PhotoImpact 8.5 %
4. Corel Photo-Paint 7%
5. Fireworks 6%
Photoshop Elements 6%
6. Painter 4%
7. Picture Publisher 3%
Adobe PhotoDeluxe 3%
8. MS PhotoDraw 2%
A similar poll conducted two years ago revealed a head-to-head race for Photoshop and Paintshop Pro. It seems that Photoshop has overtaken its closest competitor. Also it is interesting to see that PhotoImpact made it on place 3.
The poll is still running, so you can still vote at
http://thepluginsite.com/
RECOMMENDED WEB SITES
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Although still under heavy construction, the Filtered2k web site offers dozens of reviews of various plugins along with many screen shots and effect samples.
Previously known as "Photoshop Plugged In", this web site recently reappeared under the name "Free Photoshop". It features short reviews about many free and commercial plugins. It also seems to be constantly updated now.
THE DISCUSSION FORUMS: Cartoon effect, mosaic filter, plugin problems, PI8 cutout filter
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Here are the latest interesting messages and requests from our Discussion Boards:
mikehoff asked "have you seen the new Intel commercial? the band makes a cd - and takes a photo and digitizes it and uses some sort of filter to change the photo into a cartoon looking pic. any ideas on what filter this is?"
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=203
tekgod asked "I was wondering if anyone had ever heard of a way to pixelate phots in such a way that each pixel is a shpe in itself, only noticeable upon closer inspection of the image.. For example, a picture of the Peace symbol made up of pixels shaped like the 2-finger peace sign.. Any assistance will be appreciated."
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=213
KAPRI asked "I have PSP 7.02 on my old computer - I have now put it on my new computer - but for some reason some of the plugins will not work on it - but worked fine in the same PSP on the old computer."
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=187
Filter said: "I must say I love PI 8 and all the goodies it has, but there is one thing that has always bothered me about PI. It has no cutout text effect. I also know I am not the only person that hates the fact it does not have it. ... I found two ways to make cutout text in PI but both take time and do not work well with all fonts or anti-alias text."
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=215
There are a lot of forums about plugins, graphics application, digital video as well as our products, so feel free to have a look and write some lines at
http://www.thepluginsite.com/forum/
FREE PLUGINS AND TOOLS
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Seamless Workshop from Redfield is a free Photoshop compatible filter plugin for creating a seamless tile of any image. It uses a similar algorithm like the shareware tool XFader that cross blends the borders of the image. The disadvantage of this method is that you can't exactly define the size of the created tile. Like all filter plugins of this type Seamless Workshop can't crop the produced tile, so you have to do that yourself manually. Other than that, this plugin is recommended for everyone who wants to produce seamless textures.
http://www.redfieldplugins.com/
The previous issue of The Plugin Newsletter included a link to the free AutoFX Mosaic plugin. Unfortunately the link was leading to the official Mosaic page and not to the one which lets you request the free version. So with my deepest apologies here is the correct link:
http://www.autofx.com/freeplugins/mosaic2.html
Telegraphics.com.au offers a free and a low-cost Photoshop-compatible plugin for Macintosh and two free Illustrator plugins for Windows and Macintosh for download.
The "Electric Image file format plugin" lets you open EI images in Photoshop on Mac OS 9 and OS X . A Windows version will be available in future. "Rastus" is a low-cost plugin for Photoshop for Macintosh that creates stochastically screened bitmaps from halftone images. It uses interpolation for high quality results and can produce a variety of dot sizes. A Windows version of Rastus is planned, too. "Radial distort" is an Adobe Illustrator plugin (for Macintosh/Windows) developed to compensate for stamping distortion of type printed around the outer skirt of jar lids. It can also be used to distort artwork printed on the circumference of tubs with sloping sides. "Pathlength" is an Illustrator plugin (for Macintosh/Windows) that computes the length (perimeter) of Illustrator path objects, in points and millimeters.
http://www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/
Although the EyeCandy4000 demo (Win/Mac) from AlienSkin already includes three working filters (Glass, Marble and Shadowlab), you may want to grab two other ones (BevelBoss and MotionTrial) for free. While you are at it you can also get the Edges filter from Splat! for free, too. Here's how to do it: Go to the Macromedia web site at
http://www.macromedia.com/software/trial_download/
and download the Fireworks MX trial version (27 MB large). After you installed it switch to the Fireworks folder and open the Plug-ins sub folder. Now copy the Splat 8bf and dll files, the EyeCandy 8bf file and the two sub folders to your default plugin folder. Open the image application you usually use to apply plugins and voila there they are!
GIF Optimizer (for Windows) is a small freeware tool that removes unused colors and duplicate frames from GIF files and thereby reduces their size. You start by selecting single files or a complete folder and GIF Optimizer presents a list with all files and an estimation of the saving. Pressing the Optimize button processed all files. There's also a preview for viewing the images. This tool is highly recommended.
http://www.flashfxp.com/freeware.php?Program=GifOptimizer
Scott's Box Shot Maker 2.0 (for Windows) is a free application for creating virtual box shots of products. You can manipulate the width, depth and orientation of the box, add shading and shadows and make it two-sided, three-sided or even a book cover. Also, create templates for your box shots so you can easily make modifications for future versions of your product. The end product can be saved as a JPG, BMP or GIF file.
DivFix (for Windows) lets you repair partially downloaded DivX AVI files. It rebuilds or strips the index part of the video at the end of the file. There is also an error detection, which can detect serious errors in the audio/video stream.
GRAPHICS NEWS from Graphics.com
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Free Textures CD from Xaos Tools
Xaos Tools, known for its plugins, is making available a CD of textures
for the highly reasonable price of ... free. For Mac or PC, it's yours
for the asking - and the cost of shipping.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1242
Sapphire Innovations Releases "Brushes (for Illustrator) COMPLETE"
Good old Sapphire keeps on cranking out add-ons, this time providing
5000+ brushes for Illustrator. That ought to be enough! A demo is
available, along with tutorials.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1238
A Smaller GIF 1.3
Sometimes simple utilities are all you need. This Windows gizmo
reduces the size of GIF animations and swears the compression
has no effect on image quality. Snag the demo and see for yourself.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1232
Image Browser Adds Blue Marble Picture
Image Browser, for PC/Mac, lets you browse huge images without sucking
all of the memory out of your system. It now comes with one of
NASA's compelling Blue Marble pictures of the Earth. Download? Of course.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1229
textPuppet
As well as being a standalone text-to-speech synthesizer, available in
8 languages, this Windows app can be used to produced automatic 3D
character animation for virtual personalities, in conjunction with
Curious Labs Poser. Fun stuff. Yes, a demo is available.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1228
Adobe Photoshop Training Seminar Tour to Visit 14 Cities
If you're looking for a two-day training course, the Adobe Photoshop
7 Productivity Seminars that are visiting 14 U.S. cities this fall and
winter may be just the ticket.
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1227
Free Trial: Create Adobe PDF Files Online
Adobe is providing a free trial of a service that lets you convert
documents in a variety of graphics and publishing formats to PDF files.
The first one is always free...
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1200
For daily graphics news updates, visit
http://www.Graphics.com
