| Plugin Newsletter - May 2000
CONTENTS ========
- PEOPLE'S FAVOURITE IMAGE VIEWER - NEW POLL: YOUR FAVOURITE GIF ANIMATION TOOL - EDGE & FRAME TUTORIAL AND TIPS FOR MS PHOTODRAW - NEW FREE PLUGINS - 35 NEW GRADIENTS - SHORT ANNOUNCEMENTS Hi everyone, Here are the results of the latest poll on the favourite image viewing software with over 270 contributing people: 1. ACD See 35% (commercial) http://www.acdsystems.com/ 2. Irfan View 24% (freeware) http://stud1.tuwien.ac.at/%7Ee9227474/english.htm 3. Not listed 10% 4. Thumbs Plus 7% (commercial) http://www.cerious.com/ 5. Ulead Photo Explorer 6% (freeware) http://www.ulead.com/ It is interesting to see that a commercial viewer is better liked than a freeware viewer. ACD See is the best image viewing software I've seen so far, so I'm not surprised with the results. Irfan View however is a nice image viewer, too, but also has many other features that go beyond image viewing. 10% of all voters used a image viewer that wasn't listed in the poll. Seems there are a lot more than the 30 mentioned image viewers and probably some people from other operating systems joined the poll. But it could also be that I missed a major player, although I don't believe it. The new poll is about gif animation software. You can choose your favourite gif animator from 19 tools. Please place your vote at http://thepluginsite.com or http://pico.i-us.com As usual, if you know a good question for a new poll or want to know people's opinion on a graphical topic, please email me. Sincerely, Harald Heim The Plugin Site - Your guide to image and video effects http://ThePluginSite.com Plugin Com HQ - Plugins, effects and tools for Image and Video Editing http://pico.i-us.com
EDGE & FRAME TUTORIAL AND TIPS FOR MS PHOTODRAW I added a new tutorial on applying edges in Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000 to the Other Effects/Edges & Frames page. Because PhotoDraw doesn't have different blending modes, it normally isn't possible to apply edges easily. That's why I created a plugin that does the necessary blending. I also updated the advanced tips page with tips for creating special edge effects with PhotoDraw. Especially using the PhotoDraw's 3-D plugin can create stunning edge effects. http://pico.i-us.com NEW FREE PLUGINS Two new plugins this time. Metrix is an easy to use plugin for adapting two images to each other by matching the colors of both images. The adapted images can e.g. be used to create a panorama image. But it only works fine with very similar images. A nice tutorial is available on the Metrix web site, too. This plugin is Windows only and in beta stage and expires in two or three months. It received a two stars rating. http://www.panix.com/%7Ejnr The Primus plugin is the small brother of BladePro. It is a free, but feature limited. You can use it to create nice text effects or beveled and textured shapes. It offers 16 presets and a slider for adjusting the bevel height. Unfortunately you can't use more than the supplied 16 textures. You need to register it (for free) before you can apply the effects. This plugin received a full three star rating and is available for both Macintosh and Windows. If you like it, you should have a look at the full featured BladePro plugin. http://www.comm-unique.com/ For more free plugins visit http://thepluginsite.com or http://pico.i-us.com 35 NEW GRADIENTS I received 35 gradients from Arkady Gursky who asked, if I could publish them. I did that, cause they are quite nice. He used some of the shapes from my Edge and Frame Galaxy product for these gradients, so some of these gradients show this shape when you use them for creating transitions in Adobe Premiere or After Effects. If you like them or use them in one of your projects, please write a small thanks to Arkady Gursky. Get them from the Transitions/Harry's Gradients page at http://pico.i-us.com SHORT ANNOUNCEMENTS Get more out of our scanner and digital camera with the new and full-colored $29.95 books from Muska & Lipman. http://www.muskalipman.com Interested in 3D scanners? http://www.dimension-3d.com The Creative Composite Challenge: Create a composite image using any software and any images and post your composite in the forum. Some prizes are waiting, too. http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=7279965&siteid=25519423&bfpage=graphicssoft
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