COMPANY: cf/x | URL: (See App Store link below) | TYPE: Standalone | PLATFORM: Mac | PRICE: $229
			Above: alpha's Blending options. Left: A list of alpha's image effects
cf/x alpha is an application that is specifically designed for image composition. But what exactly is image composition? Put simply, it is the task where you take one or more images and arrange them into one new image. Often, this requires that you crop, zoom, scale, and blend multiple individual images into each other. cf/x alpha provides a host of simple yet powerful tools to do just that. With just a few simple mouse clicks you can take a folder of images and arrange and blend them into a new composition. You’ll also find that you can use cf/x alpha to work on single (individual) images – be it because you need to quickly create an accurately-sized (e.g. 2.5 x 4mm) cropped copy or need a quick method to attach a blend mask to an image that doesn’t have one. Using cf/x alpha for this kind of work becomes natural because it works non-destructively on your source images, and because its assortment of image composition tools are a natural fit for this kind of work. Internally, cf/x alpha always works with an image’s full resolution – even when you scale it. No detail gets lost, and exports look just at least as good (usually better) than the screen representation. Another feature lets you link your composition to the source images so that whenever you change the original, these changes get propagated. That way, one person can compose the image, while other people can later clean up the source material. In your workflow, you would use cf/x alpha in-between your image processing/touch-up and content mastering steps. Typically, you would use cf/x alpha to: •instantly create pixel-perfect crops and zooms of any source image •blend images •create collages •compose artwork from multiple images cf/x alpha Key Concepts cf/x alpha has a few fundamental concepts that make creating a composition especially simple: Size-Independence in contrast to many other image processing software, when you work with cf/x alpha it is strongly recommend that you abolish the concept of absolute size. One of the application key strengths is that it can render your whole artwork to precise dimensions (e.g. 2.35 x 8.12 cm at 300dpi) in a snap. Non-Destructive Work cf/x alpha works with images from your library, but will never modify the source directly. Thus any change you may apply during your composition (e.g. crop, distort, or alpha mask modification) won’t flow back to the original image. Composition Alpha provides you with powerful tools to easily crop, zoom, distort, rotate and arrange images – be it only one or many. Re-arranging a shot inside its frame now becomes instantaneous, interactive and a fun affair. Transparency Much of the work you do in cf/x alpha revolves around transparency. cf/x alpha gives you instant access to powerful and easy-to-use tools to attach and modify transparency to images so you can blend them with the canvas, or export them to other applications. Exact Dimensions cf/x alpha will render your artwork optimized for the current device: your screen, your printer or file. When correctly set up, you'll work in a real-time, real-space environment: the application responds instantly to your manipulations, and all dimensions are exact (i.e. a line that you define as one inch long should be exactly one inch on-screen when measured with a ruler). cf/x alpha is happy to work in many measurements: pixels, inch, metric (cm), or relative (percent), and can instantly convert from one to another. Blend Blends are the heart of cf/x alpha. A blend is a transition from one image to another that employs transparency and powerful transfer modes to make it appear smooth. You have a wide selection of high-quality, easy-to-use blend generators that you control in real time. Effects To allow for additional artistic image manipulation, you can add effects (e.g. bleaching, sepia tone) to an image before it is blended with the rest. Image Link and Image Copy You can import images either as Active Links or Local Copies. An imported image with an Active Link is updated whenever you open the document or at any other time you want; a change to the source image will flow into your composition. A Local Copy on the other hand creates a snapshot from the image, and stores it within the document. Changes to the original will not flow to the composition. Export Rendering Few people use their composition directly. Usually it is exported to a web page, text document, database or another productivity application. cf/x alpha can output to a variety of output file formats with, and without transparency, and at user-specified dpi and size.