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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/798
106 MacDirectory
REVIEW | PRODUCTIVITY
No matter your level of prowess with
Photoshop, there are some tasks that
cannot be done without third-party plug-
ins. Among these, Photoshop Plug-In
Suite 3 from OnOne Software should be
among the top on your list. Priced at
$399.95 it represents a $240 savings from
the cost of the items individually.
While the price tag may seem a little
steep for hobbyists, there are few
professionals who would balk, particularly
as this suite could easily pay for itself in
just a couple of uses.
The components of the suite are familiar
to most graphics pros, as they are some
of the most useful plug-ins around They
include Mask Pro 4.1 for deleting
unwanted backgrounds, Genuine Fractals
5 for enlarging photos, Intellihance Pro
4.2 for adjusting the look of a photo, and
PhotoFrame Pro 3.1 for frame and edge
effects. All are very useful and their built-
in video tutorials make it easy to get up
to speed.
Mask Pro
Mask Pro 4.1 is an indispensable tool for
quickly and easily removing backgrounds
and unwanted content from photos. In its
most simple form, this is done by using a
pair of magic wand tools for selecting
desired and undesired areas of color,
followed by the use of a magic brush for
deleting the unwanted selection.
Problematic content such as individual
strands of hair, levels of transparency
through glass or bubbles are handled with
relative ease.
You can display the image in a number of
views simultaneously, including selection,
mask, quickmask, composite, and others.
Various settings are available for adjusting
the sensitivity, feathering and more. Other
tools include pen, airbrush, highlighter,
chisel and blur, as well as tools for quickly
selecting a garbage mask, and for
instantly deleting odd background pixels.
New features in 4.1 include pressure
support for Wacom tablets, a tips and
shortcuts palette, a keep/drop details
palette, and improved navigators.
Genuine Fractals
If you are ever in need of enlarging a
detail of a photo or generating large
format output, Genuine Fractals is
indispensable. As indicated by the name,
this tool doesn't base its calculations on
uniform groups of a set number of
neighboring pixels, but varies the size of
the groups by contrast and based on
fractal patterns.
The result is the ability to enlarge an
image up to 1,000 percent without a loss
in detail. In our tests, we have enlarged an
image to 3,000 percent and, while the
result resembled Photoshop's dust and
scratches filter, the result was perfectly
useful for oversize output.
In addition to a revamped interface, new
features include an enhanced scaling
algorithm, multiprocessor support, auto
cropping, controls for sharpening, texture
and film grain, as well as support for layers,
alphas, paths, and Photoshop actions.
Intellihance Pro
Intellihance streamlines the process of
image adjustment by combining eight
intuitive and easy to use tools into a single
interface and enabling to user to create
and save an unlimited range of presets for
one-step adjustments. It also enables the
user to view and print up to 25
comparison views, either as multiple
thumbnails or as individual areas within a
single image. There is much more to tell,
but as with its companion plug-ins, suffice
it to say that once you begin using
Intellihance, you will wonder how you ever
lived without it.
PhotoFrame Pro
Rounding out the set is PhotoFrame Pro, a
plug-in for creating darkroom-style edge
effects and frames within Photoshop.
Featuring some 4,000 edge effects, multi-
frame previews, layer masking, random
frame generation, and much more, it is
easy to create stunning frame effects in
minutes. In addition to the standard set of
edge effects, this version also more than
200 frames created by notable designers.
Frankly, there is a lot more to this plug-in
that you might imagine and the more time
you spend with it, the greater its value.
ONONE PLUG-IN SUITE 3 > MAKING PHOTOSHOP WORK FOR YOU
Product OnOne's Photoshop Plug-In
Suite 3
Made by OnOne Software