Mystical Tint Tone & Color Opens Up a Whole New World of Design Options

When I found out I had the chance to review Mystical Tint Tone & Color 2.0 (MTTC), from Auto FX, I was actually anxious to see what it could do. I had recently reviewed another Auto FX product—Photo/Graphic Edges Platinum Edition—and was more than pleasantly surprised with it’s power and the intuitive interface. As it happens, I was faced with a “real world” project that I hoped to utilize MTTC for. I had a client who was hosting a 50th wedding anniversary party for their parents and they were wanting to use their parent’s old wedding portrait to blow up and frame and have at the party. The photo was not in good condition. It was very washed out and the color was compromised a great deal. This, I felt, would let me know what MTTC brought to the table.

Before using it on my client’s photo, I wanted to give the product a run-through and test each of the filters. That, I quickly discovered, was a lot of filters! The product ships with 60 cutting-edge filters for rapidly improving and enhancing photos in any production environment. Each of those filters can be combined together to create a virtually infinite set of looks and moods that give you a true creative edge. There are over 300 instant preset looks included with the software as well and you can also capture looks as presets and replay them on other photos which I found invaluable.

When using MTTC, you have the option to save your creation in a variety of formats. Go to the File > Save menu option and save your work using any of the following formats:
.psd : Photoshop Native File Format: Includes full transparency layer support
.tif : Saves a standard Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)
.jpg : Saves images to a default Best Quality JPG setting
.png : PNG24: Includes transparency mask support and lossless compression
.bmp : Bitmap File Format: Basic graphic file format for Windows

I should start by saying that this product offers what I consider a huge bonus. It ships with both an application and a plug-in for Photoshop 7 through CS4, so that you can use it in whatever way best fits your workflow. The developer also scores points out of the gate for their intro in their manual that offers a quick overview of the interface:

The interface is pretty simple to understand. Use the Select Effect Menu to apply effects to your photo. The effects stack on the Layer Palette and you can delete any effect you don’t want by clicking the Delete Effect Button on the bottom of the layer palette. You can apply most effects to the entire image by using the Mode: Global menu option at the top of the effect palette. Use the Red Brush-Off tool to remove the effect from wherever you brush. Use the Brush Palette to control the size and the opacity of the brush. If you want to apply the effect to localized areas of the photo use the Mode: Brush-On menu option . This only applies the effect to the places where you brush using the Green Brush-On tool . To preview the image without the effect click on the Original button at the top of the interface. To load one of the hundreds of presets that come with the program, click on the Select
Layer Preset button I at the top of the interface.

Having this overview made diving into the product less daunting for sure. The summary gave me a good handle on how I could expect things to work. Each effect filter is categorized (intuitively) under the section that best relates to its functionality. When you select an effect, it is typically applied to the
photo and you will see a result right away. There are, however, some effects that require you to brush before the result is shown. Examples of those that require brushing on are Portrait Filters, Hand Tinting and Under Color. As soon as you select an effect it is rendered on your photo and your preview updates. The effect is also placed on the Layer Palette where you can easily delete it if you don’t want it. This made it quick and easy to view an effect and rule it out if I wasn’t happy with the results.  What’s really cool, is that if you have multiple effects they combine and ‘stack’ on the Layer Palette.

When a new effect is added to your photo it stacks on the Layer Palette in the order it was applied. Then, when you select the Effect on the Layer Palette it becomes highlighted. From here you can delete it, temporarily turn it off, or even reorder the effects which gives you completely new looks. The photo I was testing on changed significantly just by utilizing the reordering feature.

The Layers Palette boasts an Opacity slider which controls the opacity for whatever effect you have selected at the time. Reducing the opacity blend the effect into the original image based on the opacity level.

Modes of Effects application:
Most of the time you will want to apply an effect to the entire image and then, if needed, remove it from selected areas. When brushing off the effect on a portion of your image,  the Brush Palette lets you set the Opacity for the Brush-Off tool. Here, you just need to keep in mind that lower opacity
lets you remove the effect by degrees based on the percentage of opacity. At any time—also way cool—you can Click the Original button at the top of the interface to compare your changes.

Okay, so to start applying effects, you just open a photo, go to the Select Effect menu, and choose any one of the available filters. I had a hard time deciding which effect to choose first. There were a wide variety which all produce dramatically different effects. And those could be combined, so it virtually is an endless supply of creative options. Once you choose and effect, as explained above, it will be added to the Layer Palette. The effect controls appear on the left side of the interface and they controls vary based on the effect but most have a Brush-On / Brush-Off method that is central to using the software.

Global is the default mode for most effects, which applies it to your entire image. You can then use the Brush-Off tool to remove it from any areas you want.  If you use the Brush-Off tool and want to add back to an area you’ve erased, just use the Brush-On tool to fill the area back in. Foolproof really.

The Gradient Path tool lets you draw a simple path that renders the effect through a smooth gradient mask that is rendered behind the scenes. You simply click and then drag your mouse from outside the photo area and then drop it on your photo. You then have the ability to click on end-points to be able to drag to whatever position you want. You can also have multiple Gradient Paths applied to your photo and can have them coming onto the photo from any angle or side. This one I played with for a long while, seeing what variations I could get. Definitely a lot of options.

Many of the effects in MTTC have an Effect Mask tool. Using this tool, you can choose to apply the effect through a mask and can achieve an artistic result. Using the Mode menu on the effect to apply the Effect Mask, you have an option to apply the mask through the Brush-On mode or with a Global mode. When you choose an Effect Mask you are presented with the Effect Mask Catalog. Select an effect and click on it then press the Apply to Image button to have the effect that you’re working with filtered through the mask. You always have the option of undo remember. You can remove the effect mask by just clicking on the Effect Mask Tool again and clicking on the Clear From Image button at the bottom of the catalog window. Voila! Try out as many as you want without fear of being stuck with something you never wanted.

The Effect Mask tool is very powerful. By far, my favorite. Options and controls when working with this tool include a Thumbnails tab which shows you, at a glance, previews of the masks. In your general controls, the developer has provided a proxy option that defines the maximum preview size that the software renders to while working with your images. This preview displays how the final high-resolution version will look once you’ve saved the file or brought it back into a host application (such as Photoshop). The proxy system was designed to vastly speed up complex operations that this software uses to render photo-realistic high-quality graphics.

A History tab shows you your last 25 mask effects that you selected, really handy if you are in there exploring your options and can’t remember the one you really loved. It’s also great for being able to find an effect you used on an earlier project and would like to use again.

You can also add effect masks to a Favorites tab easily by selecting it, then clicking on the Favorites tab. It is then automatically entered and it remains specific to that effect. That means you can have a Favorites section for each effect. Also way handy.

If you have decided on an Effect Mask to use, or try, simply click the Apply to Image button and the effect will be filtered through the Effect Mask onto your photo. Once again, it’s that easy.

Layer Presets, as the developer explains in the comprehensive manual, are a powerful part of MTTC. There are hundreds of presets included and you can also create your own and add them to your collection. The top of the interface presents you with two buttons that control presets: Select Layer
Preset and Save Layer Preset.

Use the Select Layer Preset to open the Presets catalog where you can preview and/or select a preset. If you want to save/capture the effect(s) you are currently applying to your image, you simply select the Use the Save Layer Preset. Options to clone or edit a preset are controlled through the Layer palette. Additionally, your brush settings are captured when you save a preset and will be applied to any future images you choose to use that preset on.

The Layer Palette holds a lot of the controls in MTTC. They aren’t overwhelming, just located where it makes sense and it is through this palette that you will control things such as: Opacity, Effects Menu, the Add New Layer option, Clone Layer, Add Masking Layer and the ability to delete an effect. Having all of those in one palette is great and saves time for sure.

When working with some of the effects (Hand Tinting, Under Color or any of the Portrait Effects) you’ll find it of value l to use multiple instances of an effect to achieve the look you want. For instance, on a portrait, you may want to use two instances of a Smooth Skin effect—one with a stronger setting for one area of the face and one with a lighter setting on another. Helpfully, the developer suggests you  rename the effects so that they make sense to you. It’s easy. You just  double-click the layer you want to rename and the Layer Name dialog will appear for you to rename it.

All you users who are Photoshop Actions die-hards will love the fact that Mystical Tint Tone and Color is actions aware and works with Photoshop 7 and higher actions. You can create a new action using the Photoshop actions palette, press the Record button on the Actions palette then select the plug-in and keep working. Then, when you exit the plug-in, you just click the Stop button and your action will be recorded for later play-back. If you use any effect brushes the strokes you use while working in the plug-in are recorded and played back using the action. This developer, obviously, is listening to real users, implementing the features we find most valuable.

There are a number of other powerful controls and options in this package as well. I intend to spend a little time discovering the power each of them affords me in my future design work. And MTTC ships with a catalog (59 pages) of effects and examples of how they look and how they changed an image. This was invaluable as I could rule out specific effects based on the look I was going for as opposed to trying each one, although I admit I did that too. Color Effects include such options as Antique Photo, Afternoon Sun, Black and White, Color Bleach, Contrast, Mixer and Tone, Cool Colors, Green Foliage, HSB Adjust, Moon Glow, Sepia, Vitality and many more. Tint options included creative choices such as Blue Sky, Hand Tinting, Gradient Tinting, Under Color and Cool or Warm Gray. That doesn’t include, or even touch on, the numerous Tonal Effects, Lens Filters, Sharpening options, Smoothing options, HDR Filters, and some special brush options. I’m already addicted to the Portrait effects/options that include Smooth Skin, Skin Color, Flesh Tone, Enhance Eyes, Enhance Hair, Enhance Lips, Reshape and Enlarge / Reduce.

I figured out that I could, quite possibly, never run out of creative options with this software, which for me, makes it a profitable investment. On to my client’s wedding photo now. I’m well-equipped with MTTC and can see far more jobs in my future being a breeze as well.

System Requirements
Windows
OS: 2000 / XP / Vista
Memory: 1 GB
Disk Space: 75 MB
Photoshop Support: 7.0 through CS4

Macintosh
OS: OS X / PPC or Intel
Memory: 1 GB
Disk Space: 75 MB
Photoshop Support: 7.0 through CS4

Take control of your imposition needs with MadeToPrint with Imposition

QuarkXPress 8 brought a plethora of new features and capabilities, the likes of which I had been dreaming about for years. Having worked in QuarkXPress since the version 3.0 days, I have been more than pleasantly delighted with each new version, but version 8 was greeted with great enthusiasm on my end as it actually added significantly to my design aresenal and that’s always a huge plus.

So, when I found out that my MadeToPrint XT was going to be updated with imposition capabilities, it was as though I’d won a lottery—one that gave me an intuitive addition to QuarkXPress 8 that would allow me to impose my own layouts/projects easily and quickly—two key requirements for me. Translation? I could move on to more design and layout work. Time and money savings? You bet. And I wasted no time installing the new MadeToPrint.

With the release of the brand new version MadeToPrint XT with Imposition for QuarkXPress versions 6.5 through 8, you can print fully imposed PDF files. The product ships with time- and money-saving preconfigured imposition schemes that will cover a comprehensive list of common imposition tasks, thus making it a snap to get started.  You simply activate the Imposition function and compose your imposition scheme with the entries under the categories provided. These include Runlist and Sheet configuration.

You will find a new item under the file menu in QuarkXPress—MadeToPrint—once you have loaded the XTension. To set up a MadeToPrint job (in this instant we will use a simple business card project and make them double-sided on one page) you just choose MadeToPrint from under the file menu and you are presented with a dialog. You start by creating a new MadeToPrint job, choose a job name and enter that name with the General settings option highlighted/selected in the MadeToPrint Settings dialog box.

Next, you select Printer in the Settings dialog box and select File (PDF) in the Destination pull down menu. Keep in mind that the imposition function isn’t available for PostScript printing, so if PostScript does exist, you can use the Distiller to create your PDF file.

Then, choose the Pages option in the MadeToPrint Settings dialog. With this chosen/selected, make sure to deactivate the Use Single Page Output option by unchecking the box (or leaving it unchecked if it’s not). This will allow for smooth operation of the imposition.
You then select/highlight the Imposition option in the same MadeToPrint Settings dialog box. Once selected, you are presented with two pull down menus: Runlist and Sheet Configuration. Using the entries available under these pull down menus, activate the Imposition function and compile the required imposition scheme. You will need to make sure that under both categories, the number of pages match.

For our business card project, selecting the 8 Business cards double-sided (under the Runlist pull down) and then selecting A4, 8 business cards under the Sheet Configuration pull down menu is what we need. Too, keep in mind that if the imposition schemes provided in the pull down menu doesn’t directly cover your particular task or project, you can adjust the settings file in a Script editor if you are knowledgeable in programming. To take advantage of this, the files are located in the directory QuarkXPress X.X/XTensions/pdfToolbox4/var/Actions/Impose.

Our business card configuration is now finalized. Then, we just save the MadeToPrint job and in the MadeToPrint Settings dialog, choose/specify the Business Card imposition. We are now ready to process our layout documents.

MadeToPrint offers the capability of standardizing the output of QuarkXPress documents. Many times, as you know, files need to be sent to different locations and with different file requirements. Or, if your jobs are like the ones thrown my way, one file can contain multiple language versions. MadeToPrint allows saving all these settings in one painless PrintJob for consistent hassle free output. MadeToPrint also allows for full file-naming control, offering you the capability to define the name on a set of variables such as Time, Machine Name, Language version, etc, which is extremely advantageous for all kinds of workflow environments.

Features include:
- Output fully imposed jobs, from booklets to N-up, choose between run list (e.g. 4 pages step & repeat) and imposition sheets (e.g. 2 pages A4 single sided)
- Add infobar with flexible, dynamic information on pages
- Create single page files from a multi-page document
- Output layers and layer combinations flexibly for comprehensive language or price version handling
- Get full control over file-naming
- Take advantage of advanced features like scripting
- Output PDF, EPS or PS files (this version adds the capability to output fully imposed PDFs to its feature set)

The MadeToPrint Auto version integrates seamlessly into publishing systems like vjoon’s K4 or WoodWing’s Smart Connection Enterprise and Enfocus’ Switch automation platform. As with the regular version, the new Auto release now adds the capability to impose anything from simple booklets to fully-fledged brochures and books. It is a powerful yet very intuitive imposition engine that is easy to use and is ideal for digital and conventional printers. MadeToPrint PrintJobs can now also be exported and imported for easier exchange of output settings among users or towards customers.

In summary? I, for one, am thrilled with the latest addition of the imposition feature to my already valuable MadeToPrint. In this economy, we are all looking for ways to save and earn more and obviously adding hours to the day isn’t realistic. So when a product like this comes along offering me even more productive options, I’m immediately on it. The update that includes the imposition functionality is free to existing MadeToPrint current version users and is available with new full product purchases now. Take control of your imposition needs with MadeToPrint.

Exposure 2 IS The Closest Thing to Film Since Film

Review - Exposure

Exposure is one of those awe-inspiring Photoshop-compatible plug-ins that makes digital images look like they were shot on film. With Exposure, you can imitate the look of a film stock, apply special effects like selenium/sepia toning, or do some basic image enhancement.

Exposure takes the form of two entries in the Photoshop Filter menu, one for colour film and one for black and white film. The Colour Film filter works on RGB images, while the Black and White Film filter can be used on RGB images or greyscale images. Both filters work with 8, 16, or 32 bits/channel images and can be used in Photoshop actions, making it easy to apply them to batches of images.

The product comes with a Help menu that leads to local documentation and online Web pages. Clicking Help>Filter Help accesses filter-specific documentation. The same assistance can be reached by pressing F1 (Windows) or Help (Macintosh). To access a Table of Contents for the online Help file, you can click Help>Contents.

Command menus are accessible when you launch any filter. Macintosh users will see the menus in place of their usual menu bar. Windows users will see the menus at the top of the filter preview window. The Edit menu provides an unlimited number of undos and redos. If you experiment with the sliders and find that you prefer a previous group of settings, you can simply select the Undo command from the Edit menu, or click Command+Z (Control+Z on Windows machines) to back up as many times as necessary. Handily, the Edit menu also lets you copy, cut, paste and delete values from parameter fields.

The Filter menu lets you switch between Exposure filters without leaving the user interface. The View menu lets you zoom the preview in and out. To display the preview at 100% magnification, just select Actual Pixels.

Colour Selection Tools

Using the Colour Picker, you can select colours based on several colour models (RGB, CMYK, etc.), and you can also specify colours by hexadecimal values or use Web safe colours. To launch the Colour Picker, just click the colour swatch next to any colour control. To the right of the colour swatch, you’ll notice a colour selection tool, which offers the following options: Eyedropper: Select the eyedropper to sample a colour from anywhere in the preview window.

Foreground or Background Colour: Choose either of the two.

Black or White: Choose either of these timeless colours.

Six Previous Colours: You can choose any of the six most recently chosen colours.

The Preview Window

Tabs with sliders, colour swatches, check boxes, and radio buttons appear along the left side of this window. These controls perform most functions in the filters and you can click on a tab name to switch to that subset of controls. Click and drag the movable red box to move the

preview to any spot in the selected layer. The Move (hand), Zoom (magnifying glass) and

Show Original buttons are found above the preview window. Double-clicking the magnifying glass at any time resets the preview window to 100% magnification.

The Show Original button toggles the preview between filtered and unfiltered versions of your image. You can click and hold the button to view the unaffected image and release the button to preview your effect. Also, above the preview area is a menu of options for split screen previewing. When enabled, this feature shows the original image in half of the preview. Clicking and dragging any corner or edge of the filter window resizes the preview area.

The Settings tab in each filter window lets you create, manage, download, share and back up your favorite filter recipes. To apply a setting, click the Settings tab and select the desired setting in the list. To save a setting just adjust sliders to your taste, click the Settings tab, click Save and then type a name for your new setting into the Save Setting window. Then, just click OK. You can also save a setting by pressing Command + S (Macintosh) or Control + S (Windows) any time while previewing an effect. The Save Setting dialog box will appear automatically. When you export a setting, Exposure packages the recipe in a tiny file that you can share with friends or coworkers. You can also use the export feature to back up settings that you cannot live without.

Applying a filter with the Create Output in a New Layer above Current option enabled renders your image in a new layer above the working layer in Photoshop and Elements. This checkbox is located on the Colour tab for both the Colour Film and Black and White Film filters. Note that switching filters within Exposure disables the output in new layer feature, so if you want to apply a filter in a new layer, make sure you start with the filter you plan to apply. Also, Create Output In New Layer Above Current is unavailable when recording actions in Photoshop. You just need to clear this checkbox when recording actions.

The most important settings are named after film stocks and begin with the word “Film.” Selecting one of these settings sets many parameters throughout the tabs. Each of these settings encompasses many effects that add up to a certain look. To imitate film stocks that were available during creation of Exposure, the manufacturer did test shoots with the film and with a Canon 20D digital camera. They shot a special chart, as well as scenes including flesh tones and colourful natural objects, and then measured differences between the film and digital images using custom software they created. This enabled them to create settings that mimic the look of these film stocks. Most of the film settings control warming/cooling (or sometimes filter colour), saturation (for colour films), RGB sensitivity (for black and white films), a curve in the Tone tab, and grain parameters.

The Grain tab is the most unique part of Exposure. The manufacturer put film grain under a

microscope, literally. There, they found that real grain can be larger than one pixel, has subtle colour characteristics, and often appears with different strengths in the highlights, midtones, and shadows.

If you want to use Exposure for specific image enhancement tasks rather than full-blown film simulation, then look for the settings that begin with “Modify.” These settings usually control a subset of parameters, making them much easier to understand than the film settings.

Special Effect settings are for creative work rather than accurate simulation of film stocks. These effects names begin with “Special.” This category encompasses a wide range of effects such as cross processing, selenium/sepia toning, and glamour shots soft focus.

Use the Filter Colour and Filter Density controls to simulate adding a coloured filter to the lens of the camera. This alters the hue of the scene. The farther the Filter Colour is from white, the stronger the effect will be. Increasing Filter Density also increases the filtering effect. Use these controls for odd colour casts, or if you simply want to warm or cool the scene then use the slider below. Changing the light temperature of a scene is the most commonly needed type

of colour filtering. Warm scenes appear more yellow, cool scenes more blue. Move the Warm/Cool slider to the right to warm the photo or to the left to cool it.

Enable the Preserve Luminosity option to ensure sure that the filtering operations do not darken your photo. When this option is off, colour filtering is more physically accurate. Preserve Luminosity affects both the Filter Colour and Warming/Cooling features. The Master Saturation slider simply increases or decreases the intensity of all colours in the photo. The Red, Green, and Blue sliders modify subsets of colour. The most common use of these controls is increasing saturation in nature scenes. However, you can also desaturate two colours to make an object of the third colour stand out.

The Color tab of the Black and White Film filter controls the conversion of colour images to black and white, as well as colourisation. The Red, Green, and Blue sliders control how much each colour channel affects the final black and white photo. In a portrait, the blue channel can be downplayed to de-emphasize wrinkles and blemishes. You can use these sliders to simulate a colour filter over the lens of the camera. For instance, a deep red filter will make skies darker. If your photo is in greyscale mode then these controls will be disabled. Both the Colour Film and Black and White Film filters have a Tone tab. The Tone tab includes a curve editor along with some sliders to make common tasks quick and easy. Use the Tone tab to address issues like contrast, brightness, shadows, and highlights.

The functional curve editor displays how input brightness is converted to output brightness. The horizontal axis represents input brightness, and the vertical axis represents output brightness. By default, black is in the bottom left corner and white in the upper right corner. The Colour Film curve editor has separate curves for the red, green, blue, and RGB channels. Changes made to the curve editor or the sliders below it affect only the selected channel. The RGB curve affects all channels and is applied after the individual channel curves. Switch between these curves using the Channel pop-up menu at the top of the Tone tab. The Black and White Film curve editor has just a single grey curve and does not include a pop-up menu.

The closest thing to film since film, Exposure brings the look and feel of film to digital photography. You can now digitally simulate the vivid colors of Velvia®, the rich blacks of Kodachrome®, or the sensitivity of Ektachrome®, as well as the warmth and softness of dozens of other film stocks, both colour and black and white. In summary, Exposure simplifies your workflow, collecting colour, dynamic range, softness, and grain controls in one plug-in. Correct a colourcast, soften a digital portrait, and tweak contrast with one, easy-to-use tool.  Or define your signature look and save it as a one-click effect.

Great new promo—Free Instant PDF with Quark 8 Purchases

ThePowerXChange.com announce new promotion including

Enfocus Instant PDF 08 with all purchases of QuarkXPress 8

ThePowerXChange.com, the source for extended technology worldwide, are pleased to announce a new promotion that includes a copy of Enfocus Instant PDF 08 at no additional cost with all QuarkXPress 8 purchases. From August 1st through December 31st, 2009, all purchases of QuarkXPress 8 full or upgrade versions will include a full version of Instant PDF 08—a $299.00 value. This offer was previously available only in the United Kingdom and Ireland through XChange UK, an affiliate company of ThePowerXChange.com. 

“We have had an exceptional response to this promotion in the United Kingdom and have found that many U.S. and Canadian users want to take advantage of the substantial savings this offer affords them. Many of our customers have heard about the offer through colleagues and other channels and continue to contact us with enquiries about the promotion,” offers Tami Stodghill, Press Relations Manager for ThePowerXChange.com and XChange UK. “We want to be able to accommodate our North American customers, especially in the current economy.”

QuarkXPress® 8 complements the way creative professionals work. QuarkXPress 8 lets users work faster and design more with fewer clicks using the modern, intuitive interface. Designers and content creators can produce stunning text and achieve the effects they want with designer-driven typography. Users can build on their existing expertise and share their print content across media with built-in Web and Flash® authoring tools with no additional purchase or coding required.

Enfocus Instant PDF 08 makes producing press-ready PDFs easy for creative professionals. Using award-winning Enfocus Certified PDF® technology, it’s the simplest and most reliable way to create PDFs that comply with print or advertisement vendors’ specifications. While working in their favourite creative application, users simply select “Save as Certified PDF...” from the File menu and let Instant PDF 08 take care of creating their PDF, preflighting it, modifying it where necessary, and even sending it to their print provider—all without leaving their application.

This exclusive QuarkXPress 8 including Enfocus Instant PDF 08 at no additional cost promotion is available now through ThePowerXChange.com for electronic delivery worldwide. To order, or for more information, users can visit www.thepowerxchange.com, or call on 877-940-0600 during U.S. business hours. Email address is sales@thepowerxchange.com.

ThePowerXChange.com are a leading supplier of workflow solutions, desktop graphic and publishing applications, QuarkXTensions® technology; Adobe InDesign®, Acrobat® and Photoshop® Plug-ins® and other design and publishing utilities. They offer extended technology products from across the world specific to the graphic design, print and publishing industries and make them available to an extensive user base online at their web site.

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Add a Pit Crew to Your PDF Editing and Preflighting with PitStop Professional 08

Enfocus has developed a commanding toolset that takes care of all the would be “headaches” in PDF exchange. Their Certified PDF Technology not only guarantees that a PDF document was preflighted with the relevant PDF profile, it also provides a comprehensive preflight report and keeps track of all the changes made to a PDF file throughout the entire workflow.

PDF editing tools, such as Enfocus PitStop Professional, are very convenient for making intermediate or last-minute corrections in PDF documents. This saves you both time and money because you do not have to go back to the original application program to recreate the PDF. PitStop Professional gives you that capability in an easy-to-use and dependable plug-in.

PitStop Professional has perfected the interactive error checking process, boasting all the necessary interactive error checking and correction tools. Since it is an Adobe® Acrobat® plug-in, you can open any PDF file, preflight it with one of the standards-based PDF Profiles that are included in the package, or customise your PDF Profile and modify the file when needed. And since PitStop lets you spot potential problems before the job goes to output, you save money. And in today’s economy, who doesn’t want to do that?

Through Global Change and Action Lists, PitStop Professional enables you to automate recurring and repetitive tasks that otherwise would take hours. It also means that any last minute incoming ads that have errors won’t keep you from making your deadline. PitStop Professional’s menus are integrated seamlessly into the Adobe Acrobat menus amd it also has dedicated menus of it’s own in the Adobe Acrobat menu bar: Certified PDF and Plug-Ins > Enfocus PitStop Professional. The PitStop Professional toolbars are intuitively located next to or below the Adobe Acrobat toolbars.

To preflight PDF documents with PitStop, you use what are called PDF Profiles. A PDF Profile is a collection of criteria or guidelines which a PDF document should meet to be output worthy. For each criterion, you can specify if it should be checked or not and how it should be listed in the preflight report, (i.e. “Warning” or “Error”) if a deviating property is detected in the PDF document. 

Even better, criteria allow you to specify how detected problems, if any, should be fixed. You can preflight any document and get a customized preflight report. This means that a company can identify itself in the preflight report and that way the customer knows who preflighted a particular document. You can view a detailed report of all the errors, warnings, fixes and failures by simply selecting a report layout and clicking Show report.

PitStop Professional makes preflighting easy by providing a broad selection of pre-configured PDF Profiles that check and correct all common prepress errors. PDF Profiles are based on PDF/X-1a, PDF/X-3 and PDF/X-4 and the very latest Ghent PDF Workgroup standards are incorporated.

But first, before you perform a preflight check in your PDF document, you may need to perform edits. The value of PitStop Professional continues as you can use Action Lists to perform a number of Global Changes. For example, you may have a number of Action Lists to correct or change colors in your PDF document. Instead of running these Action Lists separately and then performing the preflight check, you can include these Action Lists to your PDF Profile.

For starters, I should tell you that with PitStop, you can view a PDF document in either Preview mode or Wireframe mode from within Adobe Acrobat. In Preview mode, you basically see the pages, objects and text in the PDF document as they will print. Wireframe view mode is matchless if you want to look at a PDF document in order to view and select objects which are, say partly covered by other objects, or if you want to view and edit masks or make pages display more quickly if they contain many or large pixel images.

You can specify the maximum file size of your PDF documents with PitStop as well. If the file size is larger, the problem will be indicated in the Enfocus View and File Control Panel. PitStop Professional also allows you to manipulate the page content in the following ways:

• Move the page content

• Scale the page content

• Scale the page content to fit

• Scale the entire page

• Flip the page content

• Rotate the page content

You can automatically add text to any pages you choose to in your PDF documents. This can be fixed text, (for example a header or footer) or variable text, (i.e. a page number or the current time and date). PitStop also gives you the ability to make objects transparent or change their transparency settings. You can remove transparency from a selected object or from an entire page. Sometimes, your PDF document may contain objects which are placed on top of each other, so if you wish to edit one of the underlying objects, you may have to bring this object to the front first, to be able to do so. For situations like this, PitStop Professional enables you to change the order in which the objects are stacked.

If you want to transform an object more accurately than by dragging and using one of the transform tools (Move , Rotate , Shear or Scale) you simply use the Enfocus Inspector. The Enfocus Inspector allows you to transform any object in your PDF document by specifying exact values taking the guesswork out of the whole process. Transforming an object can include one or more of the following actions:

• Moving

• Scaling

• Stretching

• Flipping

• Rotating

The Enfocus Place PDF tool enables you to place external pages in PDF format (such as ads) in an existing PDF.  While performing the lay-out when an ad is still missing, you simply set a container (e.g. colored box) where the ad is supposed to go. Then when the ad finally arrives, in Acrobat Professional go to Plug-ins > Enfocus PitStop Professional > Enfocus Place PDF (or use the keyboard shortcut OPTION+CMD+L). This opens the Enfocus Place PDF Window. Click on the 'Browse' button to locate the ad to be placed and this will open the OS browse dialog and you can search for the document. If you have a multi-page document selected, you have to decide which page to place. With single page documents you don't need to set this criterion. Using PitStop, you can also place pages of PDF documents inside another PDF document. You might wish to do this, for example, to do manual impositioning or to place multiple pages of one or more PDF documents “n-up” on one page of another PDF document. Placed PDF documents become “forms” and you can manipulate them deftly using the Edit Form tool.

Additionally, you can create new single text lines or edit existing ones. This is exceptionally useful to make minor adjustments, such as correcting typos. If you need to make indepth changes to text which spans across multiple lines, you can use the Edit Paragraph tool. You can use this tool to select a “logical text entity” which is generally a chunk of text between two punctuation marks or spaces, or with different font properties. You can also use it to add a new paragraph of text to your PDF document.

Another great feature is that you can actually specify the number of undos you want to have the capability of. A higher number of undos does require more memory, but the option is valuable, especially when tweeking an ad or making substantial changes to a PDF.

You can change the fill or stroke color of text or line-art objects in your PDF documents as well. You can select a color from the same color space, from a different one or from the User Swatches. Once you have selected a color, you can also specify the object’s fill or stroke attributes. You can even add bleed and do color-managed color conversions on an object-to-object basis and these features are hard to find even in a full-blown desktop publishing application. For maximum color fidelity, you get to pick the color engine of your choice from a range of industry standard CMS solutions.

PitStop provides a “snapshot”, or visual representation of the state of a PDF document at the time it was saved after an editing session. You just save a snapshot to revert to a previous version of your PDF document. However, you don’t have to save this snapshot at the end of each session and instead could simply select any session from a list and save its snapshot at any stage in your workflow.

If you have regular sequences of tasks which you have to do a number of times—either within a single PDF document or in multiple PDF documents—you can simplify those repetitious tasks by grouping a series of them into an Action List. Action Lists make powerful automation possible such as adding or removing logos, page headers or converting colors. Then, once you have created an

Action List, you can reuse it over and over again. Simply put, Action Lists allow you to build powerful document-modifying scripts directly into your preflighting process.

When you run an Action List or PDF Profile in your PDF document, a number of properties of your PDF document will be checked and, if necessary, fixed. Since you’ll want to know exactly what wasfixed or changed, enter the Enfocus Navigator. The Navigator makes this a snap and depending on your Enfocus Preferences (if you wish) the Navigator can appear right after you have run an Action List or PDF Profile.

Enfocus engineers have totally revamped the Enfocus Navigator which enables interactive fixing and speeds up file repair by clearly indicating where the errors are, contributing to the productive and intuitive preflight and fixing experience. With a clear overview of all errors and warnings, and a variety of highlighting possibilities, it is straightforward to find and fix any error interactively. Each PitStop panel has a help section explaining its functionality, making it easier for users to correctly utilize every function. It was a breeze to get information on the fly and I felt like a pro in no time. In addition, the preflight report help section has been integrated giving concise, yet complete, information on the messages found on the preflight report. This allows you to act instantly and accurately on errors found in your report.

Certified PDF is a PDF workflow concept developed by Enfocus Software based on their customer requests and feedback from experts and power users. The Certified PDF concept has been designed to address three fundamental issues faced by the majority of users that find themselves implementing a PDF workflow:

• How to guarantee that a PDF document was successfully preflighted with a specific PDF Profile.

• How to maintain consistency between the source document(s) and the PDF document when (minor) changes can be applied to the PDF document throughout the workflow.

• And how to minimize risk and responsibility when changing a customer’s PDF document before final output.

Certified PDF documents can include job information which can be any kind of particulars about the PDF document which you would like to share with the person who will receive it. This can include, for example, the name, company address and contact details for whom the PDF document is intended, and any additional remarks which the recipient of the PDF file has to know such as details about how the PDF should be printed and any changes made. The Certified PDF mechanism in PitStop Professional keeps a record of every editing session of a Certified PDF document and all of the changes made are actually logged chronologically and conveniently within your document.

Obviously, I could go on and on about the powerful features of PitStop, such as the ability to take colors used in a document without necessarily knowing the values (e.g. a custom yellow) and apply them on other documents. If you want to use a specific color in a different file, normally you’d have to check what the color is made of (RGB values, CMYK percentages) and then reconfigure that color in the other document. But PitStop Professional has an option which is called the Color Picker which allows you to select a color and save it in a Color Repository (or Color Library). Once the color is saved in the Color Repository you can use it to configure features like Action Lists or the Global Change Panel in most Enfocus products.

Using PitStop Professional for your PDF editing and preflighting will make you feel like you have a knowledgeable, reliable and fast-working pit crew at your disposal that doesn’t need vacations, coffee breaks or even a paycheck. You’ll start saving time, money and frustration with it’s first use and you’ll wonder how you’ve done without “the crew” for so long—especially in today’s economy.

HVC Color Composer—Assured Intuitive Color for any design project instantly!

Use the powerful HVC Color Composer Photoshop plug-in to work in a totally new color space that can automatically build custom color palettes

The HVC Color Composer plug-in to Adobe Photoshop presents a unique perceptual HVC—hue, value, and chroma—color space which is a natural, intuitive way for artists and designers to use color. HVC Color Composer is an enhanced version of Photoshop’s own Color Picker, allowing you to switch between the enhanced color picker and the basic color picker at any time through Photoshop’s preferences. HVC Color Composer has all of the features as the Photoshop color picker and in the same basic layout so it will be completely familiar to any Photoshop user.

The first significant difference you’ll notice in the picker is the Master Colors Perceptual HVC Space. This is a new color space, resting along side the other spaces accessible through Photoshop. The H, V and C radio buttons in the picker are placed similar to the other 3-axis color spaces. Just click one of the radio buttons to begin using the HVC color space to select color.

As an added convenience, the enhanced color picker features a new “split slider”. On the left side of the slider is an unchanging gradation, displaying the general range of the active axis. On the right side is a gradation displaying the range for that axis given the current position of the other two. So the right side displays values for the original color, and changes as you pick new colors. Sweet, to say the least. It also denotes positions on the axis where the colors are outside the HVC bounds. The other spaces benefit from the new split slider feature as well. 

All the other color spaces standard to Photoshop are included in the enhanced picker: HSB, RGB, Lab and CMYK. You can activate these the same way you active HVC for selection: click one of the radio buttons next to the space and particular axis. And just as with the standard color picker, if you select a color using one space, the values for that color in the other color space text boxes are dynamically displayed. I found this plug-in to be like someone instilling a natural ability to show “great taste” in all of my design projects.

Color spaces like RGB are not ideally suited for creative use. The human mind is not accustomed to considering color in quantities of red, green and blue light. There are many visual distortions in RGB as well. HSB—just a re-organisation of RGB—is a bit better for navigating through colors, but suffers from the same visual distortions. CMYK and Lab, both have their uses, but accommodating the creative process is not one of them. Color Composer provides fully distortion-free clarity to color selection. Color Composer instantly determines the numerical distances between millions of colors as measured by contrast. The Colour Quantification Technology built into the plug-in allows the software to organise mathematically coherent palettes, in much the same way harmony works in music. The software does the maths—the user gets beautiful, powerful palettes to use in a natural and intuitive way.

Simple? You bet. You just start with one or more base project colors and enter your desired palette settings and the HVC Color Composer will automatically generate palettes that work perfectly with those colors. Seriously...the results will astound you and it takes the guesswork out of color choices. Color Composer offers fully dynamic control over Depth and Contrast settings for generated palettes. This lets you easily narrow or widen the palette results dynamically to generate as many—or as few—complementary colors as you desire. The plug-in ends the tedious and sometimes seemingly impossible task of creating color combinations that work well together. The palettes that are generated are unique, vibrant, interesting arrays of color that users would not be able to find using any other methods, not even by endlessly flipping through professional design swatch or palette books. Yet the palettes have actual significance to a designer’s current project specifications.

The palettes can be saved into Photoshop Swatch format files and then opened in the Swatch palette for easy and convenient use. This allows designers to work in an intuitive way where they can focus on the work in progress. HVC Color Composer Professional insures that everyone can intuitively create unlimited, powerful, interesting color compositions with amazing speed. And when I’m on my 4th design project of the day, it’s instinctual knowledge of what will work for my color choices is invaluable.

Photo/Graphic Edges can bring out the designer within

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I seldom have to do a piece that is strictly artwork. Whether it is an ad, brochure, article or blog, I deal with a great deal of text and some elements of artwork. However, I do find myself needing to be more of a designer sometimes, and deal with a lot of images and artwork, and I must confess that I lack in that realm. And I would like to be able to do more and more often. 

So, I was excited to take a look at the nooks and crannies of Photo/Graphic Edges as I had read the description and it sounded interesting. And when I actually got to the core of this feature-packed software, I discovered that the product more than lived up to the description. Pleasant surprise, to say the least.

I actually found the hardest part was deciding which effect to use first. One thing I ought to say up front that is really cool about this product is that when you order it, you receive both a stand-alone product and a plug-in. Both the stand-alone and plug-in versions of Photo/Graphic Edges allow you to load a mask that will be used as the selected area for an effect. To clarify a few things, if while using the software, you choose Exit while in the plug-in version, it cancels the plug-in and returns you to the host application without changing your image. Choosing Exit while working in the application version will quit the program. The application version allows you to open files while the plug-in version does not as it relies on the host application to provide the image information. However, unlike other plug-ins on the market, Photo/Graphic Edges allows you to save your file to disk while still in the plug-in itself. Most other plug-ins force you to apply back into the host application before you can save your work. The developer takes the stance that as you evolve your work, you should be able to save copies to disk at anytime and continue with your work without having to reload the plug-in or relaunch the application again. That means that they actually “get” us and the way we want to do things. Points tally right from the get-go for that insight.

The Preferences dialog is activated by selecting the Edit > Preferences menu option. The Preferences dialog allows you to customize the way Photo/Graphic Edges looks and works. It is here that you set preferences such as General (lets you control rendering and proxy options) and Alert Warnings. When Alert Warnings is activated, various alert warnings will be displayed. If you have already seen the warnings once and don’t wish to have them display in the future, then you can turn this off. A Show Filename Palette option is available if you want to show the name of the file you are working with. You use this option to turn this feature on or off as desired. The Show Information Palette provides information such as the current zoom level, width and height of the file. You can actually control the width and height display dimensions by changing the menu below this control option (choosing pixels or inches).

Additionally, there is a Show Tool Tips feature which can aid you in quickly understanding the many different controls and tools. They display automatically when you hold the cursor over a control for a few seconds. After you are familiar with the software, you can elect to turn this feature off. For those of you working in other languages, the developer has provided a Language button which lets you access a Select Languages palette allowing you to change the interface and tool tip language. Other cool little extras include:

• Flavor which allows you to change the color of the Photo/Graphic Edges interface to a color of your choice. 

• Desktop Textures which define the pattern that is used on the desktop behind the preview window. You can even mix and match Textures with Flavors to customize the tools the software provides to work with.

• Desktop Colors fills the desktop area behind the preview window with a color. This, too, lets you mix and match Colors with Flavors.

Under the View menu, you will find the preview size and zooming controls. Also, located here is the option to preview your work with different colored backgrounds. The developer was smart enough to know that there would be times when you want to preview your effect with a different background to see how it will look once it’s layered on top of a color. This was another unexpected goodie.

Layer Presets capture entire sets of layers and dynamically render them onto the currently open file. A layer preset can recreate complex visual effects allowing you to save time and reapply creative solutions to different images. The layer presets are resolution independent so you can apply effects on smaller ‘comp’ images and then reapply them to larger images later on. This dynamic resolution independent feature also lets you work with different sized files and reapply effects.

Now I have to talk about the Memory Dots control. The Memory Dot control allows you to take a snapshot of your work while you’re experimenting with different visual options and when you click on a Memory Dot, Photo/Graphic Edges remembers the exact way the effect looks, where all elements are positioned and will return you to this point if you click back on the dot. Easy to utilize, you just click on a dot to take a snapshot and the dot turns gold. Then, whenever you click on a gold dot, the Memory Dot loads back in the exact look from memory. I loved this and made use of this feature a number of times.

Photo/Graphic Edges features an advanced onscreen catalog that allows you to quickly preview and select just the right edge effect you want. The Edge Catalog (as with the other catalogs in this product)  can be resized to fit your screen. When choosing an edge to use, it will be highlighted in blue. Photo/Graphic Edges ships with multiple volumes of content. Keep in mind that some of the effects may only have one volume and others may have a dozen or more, depending on the volume. Each volume of content has folders inside it that break the number of edges down into a controllable quantity. To peruse the edges in a specific volume, you just click on the “plus” symbol next to the desired Volume name and the listing will automatically expand to show the various folders of edges it contains. All of the edges in a folder are presented as a preview (thumbnails) for you to check out so don’t waste time opening effects just to see what they are. 

There is a Favorites options that you can add content to by clicking on the content image you like and then clicking the Add to Favorites button (on the bottom of the screen). The effect will be added instantly to your Favorites tab for the effect you are working with. Keep in mind that Favorites from one effect do not appear under another effect but are specific to the effect you are working with. That too, adds to the manageability of the many effects.

Photo/Graphic Edges contains powerful Transformation Tools. For instance, the Object Transformation tool allows you to Select, Move, Scale, Stretch and Rotate effects and photos that are inside effects. They are intuitively separated into two types of tools—Transform Effect and Transform Photo. Both work pretty much the same way.

When the Transform tool is active, moving the cursor around the transformation handles provides you with options to control things like scale, stretch, rotate and move. To move an item, you just click to select it and place the cursor on the inside of the nifty transformation handles. The cursor will change into a four-sided move arrow and you can click and drag to move the item where you want it. The Scale, Stretch and Rotate Item options work basically the same way. When you drag to scale, the item is automatically constrained so it will keep proportional dimensions which is great.

All of the effects included are dynamically generated which means that they are created and rendered each time you make a change to them. Unlike layers in most image editing programs, these effect layers do not consist of pixels. Layers allow you to stack effects in a visually organized manner and reorder them to produce new results. As the effects are dynamic, you can generate a slew of looks by combining the effects together on the layers palette.

The Layers palette provides controls that let you 1) create new layers, 2) clone the selected layer, 3) create layer masks and 4) delete highlighted layers. An Opacity control adjusts the currently selected layer’s global opacity so that it will blend with the layer beneath it. A higher setting makes the layer contents more opaque and a lower setting makes the layer contents more transparent. The Effects Menu lets you add a new effect layer by choosing it from this conveniently located menu. Using the Layer Options menu, you can Save Layer Presets, Load Layer Presets, Append Presets and Clone Selected Layers. On the layers palette (next to any layer that is not the background or default Selection Layer), you find a Toggle control that allows you turn the layer off or on. Turning a layer off doesn’t delete the layer, but it does remove it from the rendering so it’s no longer shown as part of your visual. To move a layer in your layer stack, you just click to highlight the layer you want to move and drag the layer to the desired location. To clone a layer you can either highlight the layer and press the Clone Layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette, or you can hold down the Ctrl key (Command key on the Mac) and drag the layer. A new clone will appear wherever you drop the layer. Way cool!

If you want to add photos to your document, you will work with the Photo Layer controls. Photo Layers provide you with the ability to add multiple photos to your document and keep them separated using layers. You can easily transform the images to fit the design you need by doing things like stacking multiple images on top of each other and using masking layers to merge photos into shapes. Using the Masking Layers in Photo/Graphic Edges you can apply effects behind masked areas or apply effects to just the areas you have selected with the mask. When a mask is present an effect can target either the Foreground or the Background. This Masking Layer is great for selectively masking areas of your image. The Retraction/Expansion Brush is ideal for bringing the edges of a mask in or to push it out from the present location and I found it the most useful for cleaning up the edges of a mask automatically. The Mask Brush allows you to brush on where you want the mask to be placed and the Eraser removes areas where you have drawn a mask and want to brush away areas of it.

There is also a Brush Opacity slide. You will note that as you adjust the opacity control you’re presented with a brush attributes window which shows the actual size, opacity and feather attributes of the brush so you know how they will be applied. Some of the many other Mask controls include: Brush Size, Brush Feather, Masking Lasso, Straight Edge, Masking Marquee, Selection Color, Show Layers Above, Type, Invert Selection, Smooth Edge, Opacity / Softness and Anti-Alias. All are equally powerful and intuitive.

You can also adjust image colors to alter an image you bring into Photo/Graphic Edges using the Correction Layer feature. A correction layer is created by clicking on the Add New Layer icon on the Layers palette and choosing Correction Layer from the menu. A Correction Layer is then generated above your currently selected layer. You can use this  Correction Layer to adjust basic aspects of your image’s color. The Correction Layer does support Masking Layers and will adjust only those areas that you mask using the Masking Layer. Correction Layer controls include sliders that can adjust Red, Green, Blue, Brightness, Contrast, Hue and Saturation. I found them to more than satisfactory in adjusting my images and the slider set up made them easy to use as well.

Onto the Edges. There are tons of different edge effects and each has it’s own unique style of content. The developer makes the software easy to learn by keeping the controls for each effect consistent across the board. The Edges effects will place an edge, or border, around your photo and the edges work with transparency so if your image is on a layer in Photoshop, Photo/Graphic Edges will apply the edge back into Photoshop with transparency around it. A practical Border Width slider lets you quickly add a border to an edge effect and then softness sliders can be used to blend your image and edges together smoothly. Other controls include Border Color, Edge Softness, Inner Softness, Roughen, Size and Strength—all with the same functional sliders.

You can also customize your edge shape with powerful tools like Clone Edge. The Clone Edge tool is used to create copies of an edge shape that once created, can be used to reshape the edge. This was a blast to play around with and left me with limitless possibilites. It was also very easy to add a border to an edge and to blend the border and the image together to create a soft, natural look. I could visualize a whole host of situations where I would utilize this control. Even more cool was The Montage effect. This effect is similar to the Edges effect but goes a few steps further, and lets you place multiple edges (each with it’s own image) in a composition. You have the same wide array of controls when using this effect as well.

In further exploration of my design possibilities, I discovered how much I loved the Vignette option. It makes creating Vignette shapes a snap, letting you apply unique feathered vignettes with streaking edges and fading blends and offers enhanced options over a traditional feathered vignette. Sliders are provided for streak directions and size, distance, softness and feather. Feather radius and opacity are easily controlled as well.

Applying the provided effects with the software is a piece of cake. Many of the the effects use brushes (just like you are used to) and let you interact with the look by brushing on or off an effect. Applying multiple effects makes the possibilities endless. Combining extremely different types of effects gave me unpredented looks for my images. The Acid Etching was unbelievable and so easy, I felt like I added years to my design expertise.

A Transfer effect simulates a traditional photographic technique in which the emulsion is transferred from an image onto a piece of moist tissue paper and then worked with a brush until wrinkles and folds appear on the image. Transfer lets you brush over the image to form “wrinkles” and you can then gently push them into place and shape the resulting effect to simulate the traditional technique. This effect was sensational when using a sepia toned effect as they keenly recommended in the detailed manual.

One of my favorite capabilities of the software was the Edge Brush which lets you brush on edges using unique brushes that can make your images pop with very little effort. Edge Brush includes 230 unique brush styles to choose from and each brush stroke can have its own opacity, size and feather.

You can even brush to reveal an image through a brush shape and through the brush opacity using translucent blending. And what’s more, you can combine brush effects reinforcing my previous statement about the endless possibilities with this remarkably affordable software. Burned Edges effects as well as an Ambient Brush (which lets you brush on scratches, translucent objects and shapes) only served to add to my awe. 

The Photo Border effect lets you easily apply stylized paper borders around your photos. Paper cuts such as deckled, wavey or zig zag can be used to shape the border as you desire and then you can build on your effect through control of surface textures, dirt, custom lighting, shading and depth effects. An innovative Environment Controls Tab lets you do things like add a shiny surface to a border. You simply add a beveled depth to your image and you can have a surface reflect from the surface.

Want to implement an album look in some of your designs? The Photo Tabs effect allows you to add photo-realistic looking photo tabs around your image and the tabs can simulate different surfaces including metal, paper, beveled and flat. Over 18 additional controls exist for customizing the tabs, all easily applied. Although I had never dealt with album tabs in design work before, I certainly found myself brainstorming about where I could utilize this appreciable feature in the near future.

A Distort Edge effect gives you the ability to brush over the edges and distort the shape to form new edge styles wherever you brush. This effect is useful for breaking up and adding interest to edges on a localized brush on basis. The colorful pictures accompanying this effect in the manual made me want to play with the possibilities instantly. Detailed steps walked me through it and in a few seconds, I had transformed a Lake Powell photograph into something that belonged in an official visitor’s guide. Seriously. I began to consider the prospects of just what this software could do for me in expanding my design services. With the swiftness that I could apply these countless effects, I began to envision just how much more I could get done, all with great professionalism and confidence.

In playing with the awesome Putty Edges effect, which uses advanced deformation tools to allow you precise control over reshaping the edges as they are applied to your effect, I realized I can reshape any edge to better fit any photo. Putty Edges allows you to push, pull, twirl, enlarge, reduce and reshape the edge using deformation technologies.

A Smudged Edge effect allows you to give your edges a smudged appearance an you brush on this effect in just the areas you want affected. Just smudge and add interesting softer areas to any edge effect quickly and easily. 

Frame effects are included in Photo/Graphic Edges, too, only unlike other software available on the market, the frame effects are all customizable (like the other edge effects). Translation? You will never become bored with the collection. I could see that I would never need to wade through frame collections again, hoping there would be at least a tantalizing variety for me to use. I spent only a few minutes with this feature and produced astounding effects that had me excited about my next project which would have me utilising frames.

Light Tiles allow you to load up shading masks that can be applied to either the background or the contents of an effect (such as a photo inside an edge). You can actually have a different Light Tile applied for both the background and the effect, so this, again, left me without design boundaries. The Light Tile Orientation menu lets you rotate the light tile in directional increments you specify and you can also flip the orientation either horizontally or vertically. A useful technique they suggest in the manual with this feature, is to learn to apply the same light tile to the background as you apply to the effect but with different orientations and opacity settings which allows the shading to remain similar yet from a different orientation and opacity (strength).

Photo/Graphic Edges possesses powerful Lighting controls as well. These Lighting controls allow you to:

• Create lights and set their relative height, strength and color

• Adjust the ambient light that surrounds the effect

• Independently control multiple lights points

• Automatically or manually adjust shadows created by lights

• Create multiple shadows that are linked to lighting adjustments

• Independently control shadow color, opacity and softness

• Define the relative height by adjusting the shadows

In taking Photo/Graphic Edges for a test drive, I found myself reluctant to give up the wheel. I literally had to pull myself away from the superabundance of design choices it afforded me. And I have to admit that I will be slipping back behind that wheel soon. Adding Photo/Graphic Edges to my design cache opens up a new world of design for me and therefore, my clients. Huh....maybe I better get started on a new business card...

Windows

OS: 2000 / XP / Vista

Memory: 512 MB

Disk Space: 4 GB

Photoshop Support: CS4 - CS3 - CS2 - CS - 7.0

 

Macintosh

OS: OS X / PPC or Intel

Memory: 512 MB

Disk Space: 4 GB

Photoshop Support: CS4 - CS3 - CS2 - CS - 7.0

With CopyFit Desktop for QuarkXPress or InDesign you may find yourself with time on your hands!

With CopyFit Desktop for QuarkXPress or InDesign you may find yourself with a lot more time on your hands!

The power of the CopyFit Desktop XTension for QuarkXPress or plug-in for InDesign in handling overset and underset text isn’t readily apparent from just a brief product description. CopyFit is designed to detect and remedy overset (or underset) text conditions in any QuarkXPress or InDesign document. The automation and time savings it offers over manually dealing with these issues is amazing, to say the least.

It adds a new option under the Window menu of QuarkXPress’ or InDesign’s interface called Show CopyFit Palette. The Fit pop-up is used to specify which boxes you want to copy fit. You can select Box to fit a single, currently selected box; select All to fit all boxes in the current document; or select Tagged to fit only those boxes that you’ve tagged with the Tag Box option. CopyFit then provides three different Methods of copy fitting: Shrink to fit, Expand to fit, and Either method. Choosing the Shrink to fit option will change only overset boxes and ignore underset ones, whereas the Expand to fit option will change only underset boxes. 

CopyFit has its own custom find feature that can be utilized to find boxes that are overset in your document(s). Just click the Find First button, sit back for a moment (but only a moment), and have CopyFit scan your document and locate the first overset box. Here, I should note, you can set a CopyFit preference to ignore any box whose overflowing text consists only of non-printing characters such as spaces or returns if you choose.

CopyFit provides six different text-formatting attributes that can be applied in order to copy fit a box: Tracking, Horizontal Scaling, Point Size, Leading, Space Before (a paragraph), and Space After (a paragraph). To utilize a CopyFit formatting attribute, you just tick the box next to that attribute. Each attribute has a Minimum and Maximum allowable adjustment value, as well as a Step amount (the amount by which a particular attribute will be increased or decreased) in order to fit the text. CopyFit also provides the option of “remembering” these changed attribute settings by selecting the Update Set button, so you can easily use them again in the future. Handily, each formatting attribute can also be assigned a priority to determine the order in which its specified adjustment will be applied allowing you to basically “customize” CopyFit to your particular needs. 

Finally, just choose a CopyFit Style to tell the XTension or plug-in how to apply your preferred formatting attributes. The Looping option is considered the slowest process, or method. But is the one that generally provides the best results. With this option, CopyFit uses a methodology most similar to what you—the designer—would use when trying to copy fit a box manually. This style applies one adjustment for the first priority attribute you’ve set up to the text in a box. If the text does not fit, CopyFit increments the first priority attribute by its step amount and then applies the new adjustment to the text. That procedure continues until the text fits or the specified Maximum/Minimum for that attribute is met. If the text still requires fitting, CopyFit will automatically start over. This time, however, CopyFit applies one adjustment of the second priority attribute you’ve set up, and then applies successive adjustments of the first priority attribute in increments until the text fits or until the specified range is exceeded. All of this happens very quickly.

The One at a time method tries each of your selected attributes one at a time, in succession, always resetting that attribute in the text to its original value if it finds that adjusting the attribute fails to fit the box.

The Cumulative method is the fastest copy fit style. It’s similar to the One At a time style, except that the effects of prior attributes are not reverted after each attempt. Each attribute will be applied, in turn, until the text fits in the box or until all attributes fall outside of their ranges that you specified. There is also an option to use “some” of each of the options, which applies—successively—one incremental adjustment of each of the attributes to the text. CopyFit then continues to cycle through the attributes until the text fits or until all attributes fall outside of the ranges.

CopyFit includes 10 CopyFit sets that you can easily customize, allowing you to reuse specific combinations of Formatting Adjustments, Priorities, Methods, and Styles, again saving you time. You can use CopyFit’s Tag Box feature to store particular CopyFit settings with a specific box, and any text box can be assigned its own custom CopyFit settings.

CopyFit can also be set up to automatically check for overset conditions whenever you Save, Print, or Save as EPS, and it will let you know whenever overset or underset conditions are found. Both the XTensions module and the plug-in offer an affordable alternative to manual copyfitting and traditional typesetting systems. CopyFit handles your copyfitting needs quickly, intelligently and completely hands off once your specifications are chosen. And that just might leave you time for something other than work as well as releasing you from your monotonous copyfitting demands.

Ctrl-Changes for InDesign: Dreams Really Do Come True!

I don’t happen to own or work in InCopy. However, I have always thought that I’d love to hijack features from it for InDesign, specifically the “Track Changes” functionality. The ability to visually be able to see what has been changed in my InDesign document has always been high on my wish list.

Well, my wish has been granted with the CtrlChanges plug-in for InDesign. With CtrlChanges, you always know what’s new in your document. In a workflow where more than one of you is working with a single document, it is vital that you know what is changed, and if you have invested in CtrlChanges, you won’t have to spend your valuable (and often too little) time trying to find out exactly what those changes are. The nifty plug-in tracks all text changes and displays both added or deleted text in your layout.

The plug-in offers an  “easy to use” (and this was key to my considering it) solution that comes in 3 versions—Light ($73.00 or £44.00), Standard ($279.00 or £170.00) and Pro ($591.00 or £359.00). Features include the ability to keep track of any text changes, display added or removed text in the Layout view, and keep track of exactly who made what changes and even when those changes took place.

After you install CtrlChanges, a new menu item appears on your desktop called “Ctrl”. Under this pull down menu are various options for utilizing it exactly the way you want to. Choosing the  Check for updates option lets you check to see if any updates are available for CtrlChanges. If you select the Track Changes in Document option under the menu, it will turn on tracking of changes. This must be enabled if want your changes to be documented in your current file. For any files that you do not need to use CtrlChanges with, you simply deselect this option. You can start and stop tracking changes at any time—also a plus if your project changes users or becomes your sole responsibility. A Show Tracked Changes option can be easily toggled on and off to hide and reveal changes made to your document.

Now here’s the one option I keep active— Include Tracked Changes in PDF can be selected whenever you are creating a PDF. All CtrlChanges markers will be included and deleted text will be appended as “sticky notes”, including information about a specific user and the time any text was removed. (This feature is not available in CtrlChanges Light, but is included in the Standard and Pro versions.)

If you want to be able to view a document’s tracked changes when printing, you can easily enable the Include Tracked Changes in Print option. On actual paper, changes appear exactly as they do on your screen. Again, keep in mind, this option is not available in CtrlChanges Light—only the Standard and Pro versions.

Once you are satisfied with any changes that have been made, you can choose to “accept” them by simply choosing the Accept All Changes in Document option from your menu. This will automatically remove them from the document and you will no longer be able to review them or revert to them, so  make sure you are certain your project is complete.

If you elect to go with the Pro version, which I did, you will find that the CtrlChanges Pro palette behaves like any other palette in InDesign or InCopy. It unobtrusively floats over any of your screen content and can be docked with other palettes, or put wherever makes the most sense for your particular needs. The palette allows you to traverse changes made, accept and deny changes, and even sort them based on various criteria such as the user, date, page number and even reading order. Intelligently, the developer has provided the ability to apply keyboard shortcuts as well. I love when they think like we do!

To start tracking any changes, you begin by assigning yourself a user name and a particular colour. If no profile is assigned, the plug-in default colour is red. Keep in mind that the Light and Standard versions of CtrlChanges do not support multiple colours, so if this is a biggie for you, you definitely want to purchase the Pro version.  To set up your user profile, choose “User” from the list of options under the menu. Then, just enter a User Name and select your colour from the colour list provided. Your profile will be used in the CtrlChanges Pro palette as well as for tracked changes markings throughout your document.

A triangle appears where text has been deleted and an underline denotes that text has been added. If you have the  Show User Colour option active, these markers will appear in different colours where multiple users have made changes in the document. To begin the tracking changes process in a particular document, you just enable the Track Changes option located under the “Ctrl” menu located at the top of the screen and you are off and running. Simply select it and a check marker will appear to indicate that the CtrlChanges plug-in is now active and that changes made will now be tracked. All ensuing changes made to the document will be listed in your CtrlChanges Pro palette. It really is that easy–and convenient.

When and if you need to see other user’s changes they’ve made (using the colours they chose to set up as their user profile), you just click on the Show User Colour option in the menu. (Note: If this option isn’t selected, everyone’s changes will be in red.)

One of the appreciable features I loved, was the ability to hide the markings in the document at any time. I just deselected the Show Tracked Changes option and all the marks were hidden and out of the way. CtrlChanges does continue to track any changes, but you don’t have to constantly view them and can do so only when you need to take a “look-see”. You can still stop tracking changes entirely by deselecting the “Track Changes in Document” option whenever you want.

A key feature of working with the Pro version is that it gives you the ability to reject or accept changes that have been made to a document. Since the plug-in constantly lists all changes in the CtrlChanges Pro palette, you can easily revert back to previous edits until you pinpoint the version you decide to accept as the version you desire to use. The date in which changes were made, where they are found in the document and the type of change (such as deleted or added text) as well as the user who made those are all at your fingertips.

When you select a change that is listed in the CtrlChanges Pro palette, it immediately becomes highlighted in blue and you can just double-click it. Instantly, the portion of the text in the document which is affected will be selected and your cursor jumps to the location. Cool! You can easily and quickly cycle through all the changes in your document by using the handy icons provided on the bottom of your palette. Accepting or rejecting changes will effect the appearance of your document in different ways. If you reject a change involving deleted text, then that text will reappear and similarly if you reject a change involving added or new text,  then it will be deleted. Accepting changes will finalise the current version of that text and will remove the tracked changes from your document.

Yeah, so there it is... the product of my dreams and I find myself silently giving thanks for it’s existence. Not only is it wonderful to have the capabilities that CtrlChanges offers, but it’s equally wonderful to have those capabilities exist in such an intuitive and easy-to-implement way. Puts an end to the old adage “Be careful what you wish for”, huh?

Life without XTensions and Plug-ins would be dismal, indeed

Being in the software distribution business has its definite advantages. Every cool new tool that comes across my desk, I get to try. And while a number of them wouldn’t benefit my daily workflow, a larger percentage of them would, and that’s where I count myself lucky. I remain in awe that so many QuarkXPress® and InDesign® users are unaware of the value these products bring. To see the look on a user’s face when he sees a product that will completely automate his daily mundane tasks, repetitive reformatting and even data entry still gives me a thrill. This industry brings something new to the table everyday. But making users aware of the possibilities remains a real challenge.

Back in the QuarkXPress® 3.0 days, when XTensions® were first introduced and tradeshows were the norm, users would line up 20-30 deep to see the latest and greatest. They couldn’t get their hands on the most current catalog of goodies fast enough, and every power user out there explored the options to expedite their production. Ah, the glory days. But since then, it seems more and more users are accepting the limitations that the main applications put on their specific tasks, and not even thinking about what could be out there that would change their daily routines forever. They don’t realize the enormous savings—of both time and money–and seem to just accept their fate.

With the economic struggles that some companies and freelancers are experiencing, now more than ever is the time to discover these tools. With the purchase of one, inexpensive XTension, we were able to put our data-entry staff on sales calls and visits. This meant that the XTension more than paid for itself with its first use and continues to save us money every day.

But here is where it gets even better. There are products out there to free up designers and allow them to take on more projects. Examples of just two of these goodies? Resize XT or ProScale for InDesign. Our design team came up with a killer ad for a publication only to find that we wanted to run it in a number of different spots. Of course, these other publications had different specs, leaving our design team stuck with tediously resizing the original ad to make it work. Enter Resize XT and ProScale. In 5 seconds, the ads were resized for these additional publications and our designers were on to the next assignment.

There are also tools for making charts and graphs, tables, automatic indexes and table of contents, automated catalog and directory production, books, ebooks, and so on. And all of them—without exception—will make you money from the get-go. Xcatalog/InCatalog are perfect examples of huge money-makers. Both the XTension and Plug-in are powerful bi-directional linking tools for creating transparent links between your QuarkXPress or InDesign documents and external data. With these links in place, you never have to enter or update your data in two places (documents and database), but can simply update one or the other from the most current version. You can use Xcatalog to update prices, graphics, or product information--even change versions or swap languages—automatically. If you have different pricing regions, use Xcatalog to swap the prices in for each region—automatically. Did you hear that? Automatically!

What’s more, there are tools to handle just about anything you do on a regular basis. Tools that can give you time-saving shortcuts for regular tasks, tools that can change viewing and previewing options, tools that help you manage graphics and rid you of endless hours in Photoshop. And preflighting? Not a problem. There are a plethora of great products that can save you money in ink and paper and printing errors. There are equally as many awesome products for Acrobat™, Photoshop®, Illustrator™, and other applications. PitStop Professional still gives me shivers as I watch it work. It gives me confidence in every PDF file produced, and a workflow without it seems unimaginable.

You surf the web, right? Why not take a few minutes to explore the opportunities. Both ThePowerXChange.com and XChange UK make it easy to search for key words that would pertain precisely to what you find yourself doing day in and day out. They employ a knowledgeable staff with over 75 years combined industry experience and offer free pre-sale support. You can call, say “I do this”, and they can give you options and provide demos for you to try the products on and see which is the best fit for your needs. Demos can also be downloaded from the sites. And a few minutes of effort on your part could translate to an end to those monotonous tasks or the beginning of being able to offer new services to your customers, confident you’ll be able to handle the increased workload.

I guess what I’m trying to tell you is that if you haven’t taken a few minutes to peruse the options, you are selling yourself and your business short. While it means an initial investment (products range from $30.00 and up), it also translates to immediate savings and those savings continue long after the initial purchase. You’ll find yourself with extra hours to expand your customer offerings, put your staff on more important and money-making projects, suffer far-less stress on deadlines, and even get home early now and then. And who couldn’t deal with that?