Edged (Andrew Plugins Volume 17)
The plugin set consists of 8 plugins and are generally themed around edges and sketch and paint effects. Each plugin also comes with 77 output / blend modes such as frames and tiling and Solarization and color and pencil sketch edge effects.
Installation of Plugins Set
Please place the 8BF files in the plugins folder (or plug-ins folder). Please place the documentation and any ini files (holding presets) in another folder as required. The install process is not an automatic process. I would suggest copying the plugins into a sub folder of the plugins folder such as 'third party plugins'
Photoshop ® CS 2 [c:\program files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\plug-ins\...]
Photoshop ® CS [c:\program files\adobe\photoshop CS\plug-ins\...]
Photoshop ® 7 [c:\program files\adobe\photoshop 7\plug-ins\...]
Paint Shop Pro ® 9 [c:\program files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro\Plugins]
Paint Shop Pro ® 8 [c:\program files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro\Plugins]
Canvas 6 [c:\program files\Canvas 6\Canvas Tools\plugins]
Painter IX [c:\program files\Corel\Corel Painter IX\Plugins]
Illustrator CS 2 [c:\program files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS2\plug-ins]
Expression 3.3 [c:\program files\Expression 3\Plugins]
PhotoImpact 8 [c:\program files\Ulead\Ulead PhotoImpact 8\Plugins]
Please consult your application documentation for others
The presets, I would suggest, should go in a common folder with a structure such as c:\...\preset\blur\... for ease of finding the plugin presets.
The documentation, by default, is in a sub folder of the plugins, but this also can be placed, if required, in a common folder for all plugins.
Removal of plugins
Please simply remove the plugins from the plugin path. Either delete the plugins and the associated ini files from the plugins path or drag them from that folder and place in a storage folder for future use.
Serial Numbers
Please store the serial number file, generally of the format ...Serialno.txt and store this for safe keeping, or write down the details of the serial number included. This will be useful for any updates / upgrades or in contacting graphicxtras for a possible replacement CD. Please note, if you have downloaded the plugins from Shareit site, please (please) make a backup of the file set on CD or a floppy disk (s) or DVD as the download file is generally only available for a short time.
Initial Use of plugins
Please access via the filters menu of Photoshop (or your current application). The plugins appear in the AP categories such as AP [Blur] AP [Color] AP [Distort] AP [Edge] , being the basic category / functionality of the plugin
RGB
The plugins were designed for use with RGB images but they work fine in many color modes such as CMYK and grayscale and LAB modes. The plugins were designed for 8 bit color images but the plugins also work fine in 16 bit / per channel mode, though the results can vary (plugins using negatives will not work well). The plugins can be used in selections as well as on separate channels.
Buttons
The plugins come with (generally) consistent buttons along the button of the dialog for various shortcuts to modify the slider and dropdown settings.
'Xtreme' If you wish to experiment with the plugin and don't want to spend hours moving sliders and controls back and forth, simply click the 'Xtreme' button to randomize most of the settings (not all and not the most extreme of settings). Extreme can result in a wide range of experimental effects or just a blank or single color screen. The xtreme button is a good start point for trying out the plugin(s).
'Color' button randomizes only the color sliders in the bottom center of the dialog, the small red green and blue sliders. The sliders are added post effect / pre output to the image. If you want to create a red output, move the red slider to the right. To create an orange color output, move the blue and green to the left and the red to the right
'Blend' The blend (or output) button randomizes the blend dropdown. The blend dropdown includes 77 output / blend options (at present) and modifies the image accordingly. Some of the blend modes are tiling or mirror options and these work in 99% of plugins, but some of the plugins output the pixels in weird and wonderful ways and the seams of the tiles fail in these. Most of the blend mode options are color based, tweaking the final output by setting the tone or saturation or lightness or red channel and others. Each version of the plugin sets include new output options.
The plugins also come with other buttons but these are labeled relating to the plugin such as a gradient button (randomizes the gradient settings) or pattern (randomizes the pattern settings) or tweak (randomizes only a small number of value settings) or jitter (jitters left or right the current values). Most of the buttons appear on the bottom row but some also appear along the 'row' above (too many buttons..)
'Open Preset' - open a preset file. The preset file is in the same format for all plugins, so it is recommended when saving plugins, save them with the name of the plugin so you can select the required settings. In most cases, it won't matter if you select the incorrect ini file for the plugin, the settings will be set as required but in some cases, this might result in a very extreme image. Once opened and selected, the plugin ini file information will set the sliders for the required effect. The effect might vary from image to image (if the image is a lot bigger or the image is a lot darker etc, the general effect might vary)
'Save preset' - Saves all the current settings. If you are using a plugin called Noise_RandomTimes, I would suggest saving the preset (ini) file to a folder marked 'noise' and then to a file marked 'randomtimes' or 'noise_randomtimes' and ended with the effect type, say 'golden glow' 'warped' 'blue 1' etc
'Reset' - Reset to factory default
'Advanced' - All the dialogs have this button but many will appear to do nothing (the functionality has not been added but will be in the next release). The advanced settings are generally additional sliders that offer various features such as mixing or applying different effect modes such as blurs or randomization.
Note: some of the settings mentioned below will only appear if you click the 'advanced' button.
'100%' etc: Set preview to 100% (slow in some cases..) or 25% (quicker but less accurate)
Backgrounds for the plugin dialog.
The plugin will be displayed with a silver background by default. However, if you want to change the background, please copy the 'Andrewsplugins_background.bmp' file to the PATH folder
The PATH folder is not the real name of the folder, generally the PATH folder is 'c:\windows' but it can be 'c:\winnt' etc or a number of other possible settings. Please check your control panel for the current path setting in the system properties (advanced tab and environmental variables). Please consult your windows documentation for any updates to this. If it is just the c:\windows (and in XP it is), then just copy the Andrews plugin file into that folder. It is a bitmap file and can be any image. A number of variants have been supplied as well _1 _2 _3 and so on, please feel free to use these instead. You can also create your own by using the bitmap file as a template
Dropdowns or Combos
All the plugins come with a number of dropdown or combo controls (lists of functions). All the plugins come with a blend dropdown and this lists 77 blend modes. Some of the plugins come with an effect dropdown (and corresponding mode or strength setting) as well as additional dropdowns to modify the effect. If the dropdown is in the top corner of the plugin, it is a general control dropdown. Dropdowns further down generally offer variants of the effect
You can run through the dropdowns by selecting the dropdown control and using the up and down arrows on the keyboard or just display a large number of dropdown items and select the required entry
Blend dropdown / output dropdown: Controls the final output of the effect. If set to the first entry, the effect is as is without any modification (other than the color sliders). If the dropdown is set to inverse, the output effect is applied in inverse, and so on. Most of the blend options blend the effect and a color channel or effect such as tweaking the red channel or applying a solarisation or posterization to the effect. The dropdown is found next to the red / green / blue slider/trackbars at the bottom of the dialog
Some of the blend options include a border effect or frame so you get the original and the effect but only in the border.
Some of the blending or output options are tiling or mirror options and should work in 99% of cases but some of the plugins modify the pixels and source in many different ways and the complexity of the distortion doesn't allow for any tiling of the output. The tiling options include tiling from different corners (as a tiling of the left corner in some cases might lead to a blank screen or an uninteresting image)
Some of the blend options include edge or sketch like effects such as 'dark edge'
Effect Dropdown - Some of the dialogs have an additional dropdown and this changes the mode of the plugin. The basic mode (or first item) in the dropdown applies the effect as is.. a randomization or edge plugin. If you set the dropdown to tone or shift etc then the effect is used as a source for tone settings or blurs or shifting of pixels etc. The strength of the application being set by the mode slider (generally beneath the dropdown). Each effect mode uses the mode strength in different ways, so shift extreme, it is best to have a 0 or close to 0 setting but the blur or tone etc might have no effect if less than 100.
Preview screen
The preview screen generally starts with a fairly small image (depends on the size of the original image). You can increase the zoom by clicking the zoom slider (+ and -). Hold the shift down as you click to set instantly to 100%. If you set the preview to 25% or 12%, the end result might or might not match the preview, the 100% setting is the best match but also the slowest. Some of the plugins can be very very slow at 100% setting though this depends on the size of the original file. Use the mouse to select the position in the preview by dragging the preview position.
If you right-click the preview, any sliders marked with [R] will be modified based on the position and the size of the dialog. This is more an experimental option and useful way of trying out a wide range of varying effects by right clicks to the preview screen. Some of the dropdown options work in the same way if indicated by a [R]. Some of the [R] options are based on the current color at that point or the position from the top left of the dialog.
Presets
Changed in this version to a saved ini file and opened ini file.
As mentioned above, save the current settings to a reasonably detailed named preset ini file name and use the open command to recall the settings.
Foreground and background colors
Some of the plugins (not all) use the foreground and background color settings in the current color palette to limit the color range of the effect. This is generally the case for the gradient plugins but a number of the output dropdown options take advantage of these colors to modify the output. These are indicated by FG and BG. Using different color settings can totally change the image. You can change the FG and BG in the color palette and then reapply the plugin. Some applications do not supply the BG and FG color information to the plugin and the plugin will fail in these instances or just fill the screen with black or white only
Plugins in the plugins set
"Edged - Darkforce"
Dark Edge / sketchy / emboss plugin. The plug-in creates sketchy / edge effects. The plugin controls consist of an edge (the edge being the difference between close proximity pixels, so if the image is fairly flat and dull, the end result will not have much of an edge). The impact of the edge (the intensity against the background pixels) is controlled across three impact channels settings. The overall background color is controlled by the back settings, setting them to the far right will result in a white background for the edge/sketch and this might be more useful for standout edge effects. The plugin comes with a selection of dropdown settings such edge settings / colorxtra and these can be seen as an output or blending mode (in some cases) of the final output.
"Edged - Impact"
Bleary/Jarred grainy noise edge effect. The plug-in creates a variety of edge effects. The default effect is a smeary blurred effect. Changing the add slider setting will turn the image from positive to negative and combines with the mixing sliders to create a wide variety of color variation to the edge effect.
The mixing is combined in a variety of ways via the dropdown mixing options
"Edged - SourceEdge"
Dark Edge / sketchy / emboss but influenced by the underlying source information plugin. The plug-in creates sketchy / edge effects. The plugin controls consist of an edge (the edge being the difference between close proximity pixels, so if the image is fairly flat and dull, the end result will not have much of an edge). The impact of the edge (the intensity against the background pixels) is controlled across three impact channels settings. The overall background color is controlled by the back settings, setting them to the far right will result in a white background for the edge/sketch and this might be more useful for standout edge effects. The plugin comes with a selection of dropdown settings such edge settings / colorxtra and these can be seen as an output or blending mode (in some cases) of the final output. This plugin is a variant of the darkforce plugin and uses the original source information in a different manner.
"Glow - Starburst"
Dark Edge / sketchy / pastel / emboss plugin. The plug-in creates rough pastel like sketches along with intense glow effects. The 'pastel/glow' is controlled by the radius and angle. The overall impact is modified by the max and zap settings that dampen the overall intensity. The edge setting adds a roughness to the pastel strokes. The threshold brings more or less of the original image in.
"Gradient - Coarse"
Overlay color plugin. The plug-in creates hi-impact color overlays with a rough sketchy feel. The color is, like all gradient plugins in the series, controlled by the current foreground and background color settings so if you have white-white then the image will generally be white, a good mix is something like red-yellow / blur-green etc.
The gradient effect is a combination of two gradients. A vast number of gradient combinations can be used (and even subtle modifications of their centers can create different color effects) - so a gradient 1 and gradient 20 will vary from a gradient 2 gradient 22 combination. The plugin also offers a variant mode option and this changes the gradient's linear approach to a radial style for even more gradient combination and creative options.
The edge slider controls the overall sketchiness of the image.
The plugin also can be changed into a blur / smear plugin by changing the current mode, the gradient controlling the blur and smear effect. The strength of the mode being controlled by the mode slider
"Noise - DarkEdge"
Dark edge smudgy paint effect. The plug-in creates a smudged paint noisy grain effect. The smudge setting darkens the image and smudges the pixels out diagonally. Noise is added to create a blending of image and noise and smudge to create a looser patchier image. Edge and mix combine the image and edge and smudging to create highlights in the painting
"Paint - Dots"
Dots based on image plugin. The plug-in creates an image of dots based on the underlying original image. The greater the quantity slider, the more dots are generated and these dots are based on the source.
The size or radius of the dots is controlled by the radius slider, the greater the value, the bigger the dots.
Jitter is also added to the size of the dots, to get a greater variation of size of dots, set the radius to fairly low and set the jitter to high; if you want only subtle variations of the size, then set the jitter to low and the radius as required.
The scale slider is a factor applied to the size of the edge dots, the higher the value, the smaller the dots at the edge of the image (more a radial effect than truly working on the edge).
The image and the dots are mixed by using the mix sliders. Reversing the sliders will turn the picture into a white image with the dots popping through. The color bits option removes the connection with the underlying source and sets the pixels to random colors.
The grayscale dots checkbox sets the pixel info to grayscale, though the end grayscale-ness of the image also depends on the 'blending' mode and the color settings which are added into the mix afterwards, so if you set the image to grayscale, only in the default blend and color settings will the image be gray.. if you tweak the red slider to redden the image, the image will still redden whether grayscale is on or not.
"Paint - Ringed"
Creates a rings-based image plugin. The plug-in creates an image of rings based on the underlying original image. The greater the quantity, the more rings are generated and these rings are based on the source.
The size or radius of the rings is controlled by the radius option, the greater the value, the bigger the rings. Jitter is also added to the size of the rings, to get a greater variation of size of rings, set the radius to fairly low and set the jitter to high; if you want only subtle variations of the size, then set the jitter to low and the radius as required.
The inner radius of the rings by default is set low, leaving only a smallish hole in the 'dot' (yes, the plugin is a variation of the dot plugin). Increasing the Inner radius setting will reduce the ring to a thin ring, if you increase the inner radius to greater than the radius of the ring, the ring will vanish (it doesn't reverse the ring...). The jitter is applied equally to the rings, there is no inner and radius jitter, they both use the same value.
The scale option is a factor applied to the size of the edge rings, the higher the value, the smaller the rings at the edge of the image (more a radial effect than truly working on the edge).
The image and the rings are mixed by using the mixing sliders. Reversing the sliders will turn the picture into a white image with the rings popping through. The color bits option removes the connection with the underlying source and sets the pixels to random colors.
The grayscale sets the pixel info to grayscale, though the end grayscale-ness of the image also depends on the 'blending' mode and the color settings which are added into the mix afterwards, so if you set the image to grayscale, only in the default blend and color settings will the image be gray.. if you tweak the red slider to redden the image, the image will still redden whether grayscale is on or not
Applications support
98 ME NT XP Photoshop ® CS 2 and CS 1 and 7 (as well as a number of other products such as PSP). The plugins should be fine in a number of products such as Illustrator ®, Canvas PhotoImpact , Expression , and many others
Questions
Please contact me on support@graphicxtras.com (I might answer on a different mail account though!). If you don't receive a reply, please re-email. I answer all my mail but sometimes the mail is blocked or whatever or lost or something, and replies fail to arrive. You can also call me on the number above or fax a message if required.
Other plugins are available on the site http://www.graphicxtras.com (a collection of all the plugins in the series is also available)
Upgrades are generally available, either as free updates or inexpensive updates/upgrades and these can be obtained via the product pages on the site.
Please store the reference serial number or details of order.
Copyright
The plugins are copyright of 1996-2005 Abneil Software Ltd (Andrew Buckle). This product was released by Abneil Software ltd (UK based company)
Trademarks
Photoshop is registered trademarks of Adobe. We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe. Paint Shop Pro is registered trademark of Corel Corporation, as is Painter and Photo-Paint. Illustrator is registered trademark of Adobe. Other products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners
Legal Agreement / License Agreement
The plugins are (c) 1996-2005 Andrew Buckle and Abneil Software ltd
The manual is for information only and is in a constant state of update and additions. The manual should not be construed as any commitment to function or use, and we can assume no responsibility for errors or any liability based on the comments made. Please let us know if you find any errors and we will try our best to update the documentation
To the max amount permitted by relevant law, in no way shall Abneil Software ltd or our sellers/distributors be liable for damages (this includes, without limits, damages and costs for any loss of profits to the business, or disruption to your business, loss of business info, or other losses) from the use of this plugin set of or inability to create using this plugin graphics product, even if we have been told of the chance of such claims. As some areas of this planet do not allow for the removal or limits on liability for damages, the above limits may not relate to you.