|
|
 |
|
|
Terrazzo |
|
|
|
|
|
 Clearly the most original, this one works by taking parts of an image and multiplying it in a pattern so it looks like a kaleidoscopic image, thus creating fantastic patterns.
After having played with it for a while, you discover it is a great and very creative idea, but as usual with Xaostools, using it is made difficult by a nice interface but a small preview window. In the end, this makes for a good idea, but not totally usable (version 3 on the way ?) |
|
|
|
 Another great plugin, this one creates 3D text, with many settings for the light, the bevel, textures, etc. Of course you can save settings and "projects", so making a complex logo directly inside Photoshop should get really easy.
Alas ! Once again, Xaostools' tiny preview window makes it impossible, you never know when the text remains inside the image, what it will exactly look like, etc. On top of that, its competitor
Vertigo's 3D Hot Text has a far better engine, and can also flow text along paths... |
|
|
|
Paint Alchemy |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 A great classic of Photoshop plugins, this one turns a photographic image into a painting, with lots of different styles to apply, and every setting you could dream of (you can precisely define the brush, the randomness...).
So where is the problem ? Well, once again, the preview window is so small you can barely see what the final result will look like, and moreover, the general effect does not look really natural, so you better turn to competitors like
Microsoft's Impressionist, or maybe one day Greg Schormo's promising
Paint Engine. |
|
|
|
Regroups the three plugins formerly available separately : Terrazzo 2, Paint Alchemy 2 and Type Caster 1.15, plus a number of textures, which makes a useful pack in the whole, even if products from competitors are often better. |
|
|
|
 This one is both very original and very interesting ; it works by cutting your image into irregular parts, which are then painted in various ways. It is very superior to all other painterly plugins in that it leaves you full control over the way the pieces are made : you can modify them as much as you want, precisely and one-by-one.
There are also enough settings for you to get the exact effect you are after, and the interface is very clear and easy to understand, with a big enough preview window ; calculations, whether for preview or apply, are quite fast. Such functions as the WMF export for the pieces, or the random coloring, are very useful, but there are still a couple of things missing, such as being able to save the presets, or to directly export the
vector work to a path.
But in the end, it remains a really great product for painterly effects ; all we could wish for would be an integration with
Paint Alchemy... |
|
