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Corel's Procreate product line includes Painter 7 and two
Photoshop compatible plugins : KPT Effects and Knockout 2.
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Knockout 2
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While there are many plug-ins
out there that are fun, it isn't often that a company comes up
with something that can seriously improve on what Photoshop
can do. KnockOut2 is one of those programs. It lets you
isolate and separate a detailed foreground object from an
image, while preserving edge detail such as hair,
transparencies, blurred edges, and shadows. With the
tutorials, I was able to quickly and impressively isolate a
glass and get it ready to drop into a new background in
minutes. I have no doubt the results could have been even
more impressive had I taken the time to learn more.
The environment is so much like Photoshop, it was easy to catch on to. The
program simply wants you to choose the outline, identify the solid inside and
then choose certain transparent pixels between the two, and you’re done. The
program then selects what it thinks you want to stay and what needs to go.
Voila! Click apply and you’re done. Couple this program with Aurora, and you’ll
have a pretty powerful set-up that would allow you to create some very cool
stuff.
The only thing that was a bit confusing in the beginning was that you need two
layers to work with in your image, one a 'working' layer, before you can even
open the filter, which you need to do to know this. I simply went to the
tutorial through Explorer (they are html) and found this out by reading. After
that it was a breeze. I can think of a million projects I could have used this
for, and millions of hours it would have saved me over the years.
For more information
or to download a demo:
Corel
Update: Also consider a new product from the folks at Vertus called Fluid Mask.
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KPT Effects
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 This
plug-in by Procreate is a collection of nine unique filters that
equals a smorgasbord of filters sophisticated and creative all in
the same package. They will delight those who like to experiment
and get out-of-the-box crazy with images in their design.
Channel Surfing, Fluid, FraxFlame II, Gradient Lab (this one is
amazing), Hyper Tiling, Ink Dropper, Lightening, Pyramid Paint,
and Scatter. There is also a “Make Movie” option, which allows
you to create a moving image, say, of the lightening flashing
across an image. You have control of the flash, where it starts,
how many forks, what color the glow is, how big the glow is etc.
The sample here is with Pyramid Paint, which separates an image
into color regions to give it the look and feel of an actual a
painting. I’ve tried to find a convincing filter for this effect,
and always find them lacking. Not this one. It’s great!
The only thing I see as weak in this program is the time it takes
to learn how to use it. It a little confusing, but it does come
with a colored brochure, and even more helpful, a quick reference
card. I was also disappointed in the preview sizes.
There is no doubt that these effects are very specialized, but
again, the different options really give you some great layered,
gradient, and other high tech effects we often crave while trying
to create unique and shinning design work on websites and graphic
stuff. The interface is solid and consistent, and once you get
the idea, fast and efficient. |
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