AKVIS has introduced a new version of one of its photo effects apps, Sketch 10. The software converts photos into simulated watercolors and pencil drawings. The upgrade provides a new effects tool called Stroke Direction, which offers control over hatch direction and enhances realism. Three new presets have also been added, along with support for Snow Leopard and Windows 7.
Yesterday's Mac OS X 10.6.2 update has also solved some problems related to Photoshop, says Adobe product manager John Nack. The fixes are noted to have been tested with help from Apple, and target problems such as application crashes when opening or saving files. Similarly, crashes and program errors should no longer occur when using the Menlo font, in Premiere as well as in Photoshop.
AKVIS has announced a new version of its photo enhancement tool, Noise Buster 7.0. The application is designed to remove noise in the color and luminance layers of images, both separately and together. The upgrade delivers a series of new features including support for Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, 64-bit Adobe Photoshop CS4, and Snow Leopard, as well as improvements to both the noise reduction algorithm and interface. Bug fixes have also been added for both the Mac and Windows versions.
Andrei Doubrovski has released an enhancement patch, Elements+ 1.0, for Adobe's Photoshop Elements 8.0 software. The patch unlocks a number of advanced functions and makes them available in dedicated dialog boxes. The kit adds eight dialog boxes, including color and tone, selections, layers, masks, smart filters, paths, test and scripts. The scripts dialog box provides many features of the actions palate from the full Photoshop application.
MacNN has reviewed Photoshop.com Mobile, a free Adobe application for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app ties into the company's Photoshop.com website, but lets users make a variety of offline edits. These include the addition of filters, and adjustments to elements like hue, exposure and saturation.
Adobe is experimenting with several new technologies which could appear in Photoshop CS5, a new video suggests. Among these is the concept of "wet" paint, which can be smeared across a surface like its real-world counterpart. The paint dries and tapers off after a certain distance, and can also be blended with other paint in order to create new colors.
Adobe has launched Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone, bringing a simplified version of its flagship software to the iPhone and iPod touch. The new app can crop, flip and rotate photos, or adjust exposure, saturation and tint, with option of converting to black-and-white. Two filters are included: Sketch renders a photo as a drawing, while Soft Focus simulates its namesake lens effect. Exposure and filter adjustments are generally made with swipe commands.
Wacom on Thursday morning put out multiple tablets that signal a gradual break away from the company's pen-only approach. The Bamboo Touch, Bamboo Pen & Touch, Bamboo Fun and Bamboo Craft all have a multi-touch surface used for navigation, ranging from basic moves like a basic tap select or mouse-like input to two-finger pinching for zoom and twisting to rotate images. Users don't have to toggle modes when a stylus comes into play, Wacom adds.
Adobe on Wednesday morning announced Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (Mac and Windows versions), offering automated and "intelligent" photo-editing software for consumers. Billed by the company as "the perfect" complement to iPhoto, the Mac version of the software offers new options for media management, including all the features in Adobe Bridge CS4 software -- for quick organization with a custom viewing workspace and full-screen preview with one-click close-ups as well as keyword tags and a variety of search options.
Apple's Aperture workflow software is losing significant traction with professional photographers, claims Adobe. Citing data gathered by the research firm InfoTrends, Adobe notes that in a 2009 survey, only 12.5 percent of photographers with Macs reported using Aperture for RAW files; by contrast, Adobe's Lightroom software was nearly four times as popular, at 44.4 percent. The figures represent a widening gap, as in 2007, only 26.6 percent chose Lightroom and 14.3 percent chose Aperture.
Adobe on Monday released the latest version of its PhotoShop Camera Raw 5.5, Photoshop Lightroom 2.5, and DNG Converter 5.5. The updates deliver additional software support for five new popular camera models, such as the Nikon D300s and D3000, the Olympus E-P1, as well as the Panasonic DMC-FZ35 and DMC-GF1. In addition, the new Camera Raw 5.5 plug-in also fixes an issue involving demosaic algorithms in the raw conversion process, for Bayer sensor cameras that have un-equal green response time.
DataMind Srl has launched a new Photoshop add-on, Jade Plugin 1.0.0. It uses the same algorithms as the company's standalone image processor, Jade 1.3.3, and focuses on color, contrast and dynamic range enhancements. It provides one-click exposure adjustment, but still allows for manual control of the results.
Adobe has spotted yet more compatibility problems created in transitioning its software to Snow Leopard, according to the company's principal product manager, John Nack. In particular, Photoshop is currently said to crash when switching to the Menlo font; the only solution at present is to avoid using the font entirely. The editing software may also crash when using the Open and Save commands, and dragging images to the program's Dock icon may not open them, as intended.
Markzware has released a v6.5 update for FlightCheck Professional, its specialized preflighting tool. The software scrutinizes output documents for problems that could potentially affect the print process, such as trapping, overprinting and mismatched color spaces. The app then flags source issues, which can be corrected through a separate publishing suite.
Adobe has expanded the toolset of Photoshop.com, which can be used to edit and share photos online. Users can now upload up to 200MB of videos to the site through their browser, or up to 2GB using AIR Uploader. These videos can then be shared and viewed directly from the website, as with any other image type.
Adobe Labs has announced the availability of release candidates for v5.5 of its Camera Raw plug-in for Photoshop, along with an update to the company's DNG Converter. The latest version of Camera Raw expands support for several new cameras including the Nikon D300s, Nikon D3000, Olympus E-P1 and Panasonic DMC-FZ35.
AKVIS has released v9.0 of one of its photo effect utilities, Sketch. The application converts photographs into color or black-and-white pencil drawings, as well as watercolor paintings. The latest version adds a new parameter field for edge definition, and the ability to manipulate the saturation of color pencil drawings. The update also includes the option to use a new conversion algorithm or the original, plus edit the thickness and sharpness of filter outlines.
Kubota Image Tools has released the newest addition to its Lightspeed WorkFlow line of products, RPG SpeedKeys. The device is a wireless keypad with programable hotkeys for use in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2. The keypad comes with v3 of Kubota Lightroom Presets, consisting of 29 functions such as develop, export, print and filter. Collections v1 and v2 are also included, bringing the total number of available presets to more than 100.
Avenza Systems has released v2.5 of its Adobe Photoshop mapping plug-in, Geographic Imager. The software is used to import, edit, and export geospatial images such as arial and satellite photographs. The latest version supports ECW, MrSID, and DEM files and can import and export spatial data formats with georeferencing. Version 2.5 can also crop images to a specified size while they are being imported, enabling files large files which could not open to be imported.
MacNN has posted a review of AKVIS Retoucher, a Photoshop plug-in designed to simplify the process of fixing dirty and damaged pictures . The software also claims to repair photographs with unwanted blurs by allowing users to select problem areas that require correction. In our full review, we test the plug-in to find its limitations and explain the process of fixing images using the software.
Auto FX has launched Mystical Tint Tone and Color 2.0, a suite of 60 new Photoshop filters for professional photographers. Mystical TTC 2.0 uses dynamic rendering, allowing users to combine filters to achieve the desired image. The latest version also integrates a preview window to assist in fine tuning the filters. The company has added a variety of new effects such as Afternoon Sun, Moon Glow, Color Tone, Soft Sepia and High Key Blast.
Avenza has announced an update to Geographic Imager, a Photoshop extension which handles geospatial content from sources such as satellites. Images can be imported, edited and exported using Photoshop, with special options for tasks like automatically tiling images, or geo-referencing them with ground control points. Version 2.5 adds support for DEM formats including USGS/CDED ASCII, and a collection of other standards including ECW, JPEG 2000 and military elevation data.
The Plugin Site has released Plugin Galaxy 2, the latest version of its plug-in suite for Photoshop, Fireworks, Photoline, GraphicConverter and Illustrator. The update has been reprogrammed from the ground up, with all effects available from a customizable dialog. A variety of new effects have been added, with a total of 400 presets.
Hasselblad took steps to drive more of its medium-format camera users to digital today by adding the CFV-39. The digital back adds a 39-megapixel sensor to any of the company's V System film cameras and brings them up to similar features found in the H3DII line. Upgraders can shoot either to CompactFlash or to a Mac or PC using FireWire tethering, and also have the same ISO 50-800 sensitivity as one of Hasselblad's fully integrated digital cameras.
Adobe has released final versions of the Lightroom 2.4 and Camera Raw 5.4 updates. Both add a significant number of supported cameras to the company's software, such as the Nikon D5000, Pentax K-7, Panasonic Lumix GH1, Sigma DP2, Epson R-D1x and Kodak EasyShare Z980. Compatible Canon cameras now include the Rebel T1i and PowerShot SX1 IS, while Sony offerings include the A230, A330 and A380. Olympus owners can now use files from an E-450 or E-620.
AKVIS Software as released v5.0 of its AKVIS ArtSuite, a program used to decorate and frame photographs for digital sharing purposes. The new version utilizes a new interface that features Italian language capabilities. The stand alone version of the application includes new Hand Painted Photo Frames. v5.0 also features improved compatibility with Adobe Photoshop CS3 and CS4 as well as improved texture generation options in the Texture effect.
Akvis has released SmartMask 2.5, an update to its image selection and masking plug-in. The latest version features enhanced eyedropper tools with greater flexibility, along with improved support for Photoshop CS3/CS4 on Mac systems. The company also added French and Porgugese localization options for the interface language.
Anthropics has announced that an update to its image editing software, Portrait Professional 9, is available as both a standalone application and a Photoshop plug-in. The software allows users to airbrush photographs to correct undesirable skin appearance. Portrait Professional 9 utilizes the new ClearSkin technology and is claimed to be programed with a knowledge base of "human beauty," referenced to automatically fix pictures.
onOne software has released PhotoTools 2 Lite, a free version of its plug-in for Photoshop that includes 14 photo effects taken from both the standard and professional editions. The effects can be applied to any image brought into Photoshop, with a before-and-after preview available from within the plug-in. Effects can be combined into a layered stack, while each stack can still be individually altered.
Adobe has posted an early release candidate for the next Camera Raw update, designed to expand support of RAW formats within Photoshop CS4. The v5.4 patch is said to substantially increase the number of compatible cameras, which include recent prominent releases like the Canon Rebel T1i, Nikon D5000 and Panasonic GH1. Some other models now supported are the Olympus E-450 and E-620, the Sigma DP2, the Epson R-D1x and the Kodak EasyShare Z980.
Adobe has opened the Photoshop Marketplace, a website dedicated entirely to its image manipulation software. The site is designed as a central resource for education in using Photoshop, as well as listings of related events, and access to tools and services based on the platform. These include the numerous third-party plug-ins and extensions available.
The first known botnet to exploit Mac OS X has been activated, security researchers claim. The network is believed to have been put in place by iServices, a Trojan infection accompanying some pirated versions of iWork '09 and Photoshop CS4. Although downloaded at least 20,000 times by the end of January, the Trojan's payload has remained dormant for some time, in the same manner as many Windows botnets.
AKVIS is distributing a minor update to Retoucher, plug-in software designed for various photo-editing suites. The plug-in is specially geared towards restoring damaged photos, which can accumulate problems such as dust, fading, stains and scratches. Many of these can be fixed automatically by selecting the given faults within Retoucher.
Following the distribution of early release candidate versions, Adobe has posted final editions of its Lightroom 2.3 and Camera Raw 5.3 updates. Both of the patches enable RAW file support for two recent DSLRs, the Olympus E-30 and the Nikon D3X. The Camera Raw update provides support within Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Elements 7 and Premiere Elements 7.
In brief: Our reviewers have been working with the Corsair Flash Voyage Mini, 4 GB USB stick that is about a third of the size of other devices with similar storage. In other news the winners of the 4th annual Photoshop User Awards have been announced and the winning entries have been posted. Each of the winners received gift packages and the grand prize winner received an all expenses paid trip for two. Meanwhile, RouteBuddy has announced that it will be adding several new maps to its store that expand its coverage of South America and Asia.
DealNN deals for today include a variety of deals on Apple products, storage devices and more. Currently MacConnection.com is offering the unibody 15.4-inch, 2.4GHz MacBook Pro for $1849 which is already $150 off the MSRP of $1999, and for a limited time a mail in rebate offer is available that drops the price down to $1699. Apple's online store is offering deals on refurbished white MacBooks starting at $849. Two refurbished iPod videos are being offered at eCost, the 30GB model for $119.99 and the 60GB model for $146.99. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available at Amazon.com for $189.99. For today only Newegg.com is offering the Western Digital My Passport Essential 160GB external hard drive for 49.99.
wuonm has released Layers 1.0, a new screenshot tool for Macs. The software is distinguished by saving shots as Photoshop files, rather than just as static images; files are automatically separated into different layers for windows and the desktop, and can include objects such as icons, menu bars and the Dock. Adjustable factors include framing, shadowing and opacity.
A second Mac trojan is being spread through pirated software, Intego warns. Following the discovery of a trojan linked with copies of iWork '09, the security firm says it has now found a variant, attached to pirated versions of Photoshop CS4. OSX.Trojan.iServices.B also grants a remote user root access; the new trojan is associated with the crack application however, and is spawned under a different name whenever the crack is run.
Adobe has posted release candidate updates for two key pieces of photography software, Lightroom 2 and Photoshop Camera Raw. The former handles bulk processing and editing of photos, while the latter expands support for RAW files within Photoshop. Lightroom has been updated to v2.3, and Camera Raw has been pushed to v5.3.
Kensington on Tuesday announced a range of new products, including a hands-free car kit for use with Bluetooth cellphones, its SlimBlade TrackBall mouse and a pair of two space- and energy-efficient notebook chargers. The Bluetooth speaker clips onto vehicle's sun visors and can pair up with three different cellphones and holds three frequently-called phone numbers for each handset. Swapping between the three handsets or dialing any of the pre-programmed numbers is done via pressing a single button. Kensington has integrated noise-cancelling technology for the device that makes calls loud and clear. Two battery packs are included, providing users with 10 hours of talk time.
onOne has released the latest version of its image resizing plug-in, Genuine Fractals 6. The update now allows tiling for smaller printers and batch processing. A gallery wrap function has been added, along with support for Adobe Photoshop CS4, Elements, Lightroom 2 and Apple Aperture 2.1. The company claims that its fractal-based interpolation algorithms allow image sizes to be increased by 1000 percent without losing sharpness or detail. The utility also allows images to be cropped to fit a variety of common document sizes.
Insider Software has added support for Adobe's Creative Suite 4 and QuarkXPress 8 to its newly released FontAgent Pro 4.0.3. The update specifically includes auto-activation plug-ins for Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator in CS2 through CS4, as well as QuarkXPress versions 6 through 8.0.1. The download also adds support for French and Italian language systems, and detects and installs in the user's current language.
Adobe on Tuesday released an update to its Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in. Adobe Camera Raw 5.2, available as a free download, extends raw file support to an additional seven camera models, including the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Panasonic DMC LX3. According to the company, the update provides several new enhancements including the Targeted Adjustment Tool for on-image refinements and output sharpening for print or screen output. Also, users now have the ability to create a snapshot of all adjustments made to an image as a bookmark for future reference.
Akvis Software has released Magnifier 2.0, the latest version of its utility for increasing image resolution. The company claims that its app produces better-quality images than bicubic interpolation, through the use of algorithms that also work to reduce noise and compression artifacts. The update adds support for lab-mode editing, and a print dialog is now offered in the standalone version of the software. New localizations include French, Spanish and Italian.
Adobe today announced updates to Photoshop Lightroom and the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in. Available immediately as free upgrades for Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 users, the releases provide added raw file support for 15 digital cameras including the Nikon D90, Nikon D700, Canon EOS 50D and Canon EOS 1000D. The Lightroom 2.1 update also includes improvements to Photoshop integration, Web module stability for Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit operating systems, performance with 64-bit Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers, and Keyword migration from Lightroom. A complete list of improvements is available in the Lightroom update documentation.
Tiffen has released the latest version of its filter plugin, Dfx 2.0, for Adobe Photoshop CS4. Over a thousand new filters and effects have been added to the update, including Ambient Light, Close Up Lens, Dot, Eye Light, Flag, Gobo, HFX star, Haze, High Contrast, Ice Halos, Rainbows, Sepia, Sky, Soft Contrast, Soft Light, Warm Center Spot, Warm Polarizer, Water Droplets, Wide Angle Lens, and 812 Warming. New language support has been added for French, Spanish, German, and Japanese.
Luxology has announced the availability of imageSynth 2, the newest version of its image processing tool that can run as a standalone program or plugin for Adobe Photoshop. The release is claimed to offer speeds up to ten times faster than previous versions. The tool is designed for processing images into new seamless textures, synthetic images or backgrounds, and generating high resolution tile-able images from low resolution sources.
A new version of GIMP, a free graphics utility, has been released online. Similar in scope to Photoshop, the program lets users make adjustments to photos such as color, blemish and perspective correction, and open a variety of common file formats, including JPEG, TIFF, PNG and PSD documents. The v2.6 update makes a variety of interface changes, such as moving the toolbox menubar into the image window, through the use of a new empty image window. Other touches include the ability to pan beyond image borders, and reopen recently-closed docks.
Adobe's Photoshop CS4, announced earlier this week, includes some interface options that are unique to the Mac, investigation shows. Though not publicly emphasized by its developer, Photoshop now supports multi-touch commands when used on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. Images can be zoomed in and out using pinch motions, and rotating gestures will twist content.
