COMPANY: AmphiSoft | URL: http://photoshop.msk.ru | TYPE: Plug-ins | PLATFORM: Windows | PRICE: FREE and shareware

AmphiSoft Photo Sharpen is an innovative Photoshop plug-in for sharpening images without introducing unwanted halos. Halos appear when traditional sharpening filter encounters a dark object on a light background. In an attempt to make the image look sharper (trying to improve local contrast along the edge), the standard method of sharpening makes the background area along the edge even lighter while making the object's edge darker, thus introducing colors outside the original image tonal range and forming a noticeable halo along the edge. Photoshop's Unsharp Mask filter produce a halo, while AS Photo Sharpen makes color gradations sharper without introducing "out of range" color samples. In printing, using regular AM halftone screens (especially rough screens of laser printers or newspaper quality offset print), a halo is not a big problem, since halftoning ruins many fine details (including most of halos) anyway. Halos become a problem in more delicate output and look especially bad on the web. AS Photo Sharpen is the tool that allows photographers to avoid such a problem. AmphiSoft Photo Sharpen plugin is fully compatible with Adobe Photoshop and numerous other image editors for Windows (Macromedia Fireworks, JASC and Corel Paint Shop Pro, Ulead Photo Impact, etc. as well as freeware image editors such as IrfanView and XnView) and works with 8 bit/channel and 16 bit/channel RGB(A) images (note that working with 16 bit/channel images requires proper support of this mode in the image editor). Price: $29 AmphiSoft's pack of freeware and shareware plug-ins gives you an unsurpassed power for both the finest image correction and stunning special effects. Metalwork II (now based on the Mr. Smith™ chopping engine) helps you easily convert flat text or a logo into shiny 3D metallic objects. With a variety of colorization modes (grey, source image, false color rainbow, two color gradations) this plug-in filter gives you the capability to turn virtually any picture into a nice 3D shiny metal object. "Wrap-around" mode creates seamless tileable images without destroying the edge. (Shareware) Raster master: From basic TV-screen to delicate woodcut effects, from simple textures to weird moire, this one filter does it all. It offers full control over line density, angle, curvature, color and transparency; powerful controls for black/white lines width balance and of course AmphiSoft's original "displacement by source" ("Line drift") feature for 3D-like distortions. Seamless image processing implemented in Raster master is an absolute goldmine for web designers wishing to easily turn some stock wallpapers into more individual backgrounds. (Shareware full version and free LE version) Xylograph is a technique of printing using engraved wood plates. The resulting print often shows the wood texture. The Xylograph plug-in allows you to apply a wavy halftone effect with the screen lines angle being gradually changing from shadow to highlight image area. The effects produced with Xylograph vary from a simple woodcut texture to a hand-drawn halftone screen found in many engravings. The filter operates by dividing the full image tone range into user-defined anount of "zones" and then applying the halftone screen, changing the lines angle from one zone to another by "Lines drift" factor. This way the halftone pattern will be drawn at different angles for shadows, midtones and highlights. Full control over halftone screen geometry (density, angle, curvature), source smoothing and tone range, lines color and transparency and overall effect intensity and apply mode make this plug-in filter extremely flexible. Seamless image processing implemented in Xylograph allows you to easily give your webpage background an unique touch without destroying its seamless nature. (Shareware full version and free LE version) Limited edition A freeware limited edition (LE) is available for download. Unlike the full version, it has one fixed "zoning" set and neither provides built-in balance, smoothing, apply modes and intensity controls, nor does it have the options for processing the seamless patterns. The two "Shaman" filters (Convolution shaman and Sorting shaman) give you all the necessary basic functions like blur, sharpen, edge detection and sharpening, despeckle and many others. What makes these filters special is a whole set of necessary extras and options such as apply mode switching or "wrap around" processing (ideal for creating seamless patterns). There are a lot of filters for creating these effects in the various graphics programs; however, "Shaman" filters are very different: •Feature-rich: You get a whole lot of different effects in just two filters; you don't have to browse through long menus any more •Powerful apply mode control: Irreplaceable for interesting effects or finest image enchancement (compare "Sharpen" in "Normal", "Lighten" and "Darken" modes). Professionals may be especially interested in "Luminocity" and "Chromaticity" modes, available in the full registered versions only •Interesting "wrap-around" working mode: The filter retrieves pixels "across" the image edge, which is necessary for processing seamlessly tileable images •Unique "Soft threshold" apply functionality, extremely useful for removing image noise (dust, film scratches, compression artifacts). What makes these filters truly unique is a "Soft apply threshold" functionality for very delicate photo restoration jobs. Now fixing a bad scan or video capture does not require a lot of masking, switching color spaces and whole power of top image editors. NEW! "Highpass" functionality useful both for photo correction and improving seamless patterns. (Free light version and shareware full version) ArtiFactor and Kinetics lab are very complex feedback image processing filters, giving wild effects and producing "organic" textures. Explore bacteria growth and extremely complex kinetics of Belousov pulse chemical reactions transferred into familiar world of graphics! Imagine that your image is not an image but a bacteria colony. Cells live, maturate, split, sometimes die. From iteration to iteration, they diffuse and the whole colony changes its shape and appearance. This is the algorithm behind this filter. Depending on the options set, the result may vary tremendously. With the slightest adjustment of the slider, you may achieve absolutely different results. This is especially true for some "borderline" settings range, where life and death are almost equal. A small push to any of them changes the balance dramatically. (Freeware for ArtiFactor and shareware for Kinetics lab) Thread master creates cross-shaped smudge effects with many options. (Freeware) Out of the noise was created as a result of public demand. Many image editing programs lack "add noise" and "diffuse" filtering capabilities. If you suffer from this, just plug this freeware module in to fix it! (Freeware) Simplifier provides a wide range of "painterly" artistic effects (from watercolor to dry brush) by splitting the image into a set of similar areas and simplifying its colors and edges between them. (Freeware) Unlike the popular "Wizards" presets directing users step-by-step toward a predefined result, AmphiSoft plug-in filters simply give all the power to the user, leaving him or her the chance to be creative. The "Shamans" (as opposed to "Wizards") unleash all the magic imaging power, and it's up to you what it is used for. There are "Masters" which do the precise work for you according to your design needs; there are "labs" you may experiment with. AmphiSoft filters are made to equip the creative end user with as many tools as possible in a single pack. There are unlimited capabilities hidden in these tools (actually, these sample images do not really show all the things they can do). Shareware pack: $18.85

Photo Sharpen

Metalwork II

Raster master

Xylograph

Convolution shaman

Sorting shaman

Artifactor

Kinetics lab

Thread master

Out of the noise

Simplifier