*** From the Archives ***
This article is from November 5, 2003, and is no longer current.
Plug-Ins and XTensions: Photoshop Shadow Fixers, QuarkXPress PSD Importers, PDF Image Editors, and GoLive Menu Makers
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Each month Design Tools Monthly reviews some of the best plug-ins and XTensions on the market. Most of the mentioned products can be purchased through The PowerXChange.
- PDF Editor
Quite Software’s Quite a Box of Tricks 1.6 ($204) is a plug-in for Acrobat 4, 5 or 6 that can convert embedded images to CMYK or grayscale using ICC profiles, downsample images to reduce PDF file size or prepare them for the Web, thicken “hairlines,” scale or mirror pages, rotate items, merge form fields into the document so they cannot be modified or lost, remove all form fields to shrink files, merge annotations into the document or remove them, get information on fonts and images, show exact image dimensions and compression, and change all text to black. It also supports batch processing.
- Instant Menus in GoLive
Big Bang Solutions’ MenuMachine 1.0 ($45) is an extension for Adobe GoLive 6 that lets you easily create dropdown hierarchical menus for Web pages. To see clever examples of floating menus, invisible menus, draggable menus, menus that display thumbnails of pictures, and more, go to www.denijsdesign.de/more/bea_menumachine/
PC Graphics Report 08/03, pg.8
- Easier Figures in InDesign
Virginia Systems’ Sonar Bookends InSequence ($195) is a plug-in for InDesign that keeps track of figures and tables in a document and renumbers them when you add more. It even works across separate documents.
- NoiseFixer
FixerLabs’ NoiseFixer ($17) is a plug-in for Photoshop that removes noise and graininess from images, without softening them. It works with both 8-bit and 16-bit images, and lets you independently control color and luminance noise. A 20 day/30 use demo is available.
- ShadowFixer
FixerLabs’ ShadowFixer ($17) is a plug-in for Photoshop that corrects image exposure problems. It evaluates the complete image and adjusts individual components instead of lightening or darkening the entire image. It works with both 8-bit and 16-bit images, and a 20-day/30-use demo is available.
- Copy Box Attributes in QuarkXPress
Gluon’s iDropper 4 ($59) is an XTension for QuarkXPress 6 that can pick up the colors and other attributes from items and drop them onto other items. The default attributes copied are background color and shade, but you can also drop frame color and shade, dimensions, angle, runaround, text inset and vertical alignment. iDropper can also create a named color in the QuarkXPress Colors palette for any color on your monitor and automatically create darker tints and complementary colors. It can also copy the series of Paragraph Style Sheets used in a text box onto another text box.
- Import Photoshop Files into QuarkXPress 6
alap’s ImagePort 1.3 ($100, $30 upgrade) is an XTension for QuarkXPress 4, 5 or 6 that allows you to import layered Photoshop files into QuarkXPress. It lets you control the layers, Adjustment layers, channels and paths in the Photoshop image from within QuarkXPress. This update also fixes a few bugs and adds support for several blend modes in Photoshop 7.
alap (a lowly apprentice production)
- Shadows & Transparency in QuarkXPress 6
alap’s ShadowCaster 3.2 ($99) is remarkable — it adds transparency and shadowing features to QuarkXPress 4, 5 or 6 that are similar to Photoshop or InDesign. You can add bevels, glows, embosses, inner shadows and drop shadows to items, or add varying levels of opacity (transparency) to items that overlap other items. You can group items onto layers and adjust opacity for an entire layer. You can also easily remove effects from layers, or copy and apply effects from one layer to another. And, you can save reusable Styles for frequently-used effects, and share those Styles with other users. Upgrades are $30.
alap (a lowly apprentice production)
- New XTensions for QuarkXPress 6
Gluon and Badia have updated several of their XTensions to work with QuarkXPress 6.
From Gluon: ProScale 7, the ultimate scaling tool; Cropster 6, which creates guides, crop marks and dimension arrows; Greeker 7, which scrambles text; iDropper 4, which copies attributes from one object to another; and ProGrids & Guides 7, which automates the creation and adjusting of a gridwork of guides.
From Badia: BigPicture, which provides tremendous control over imported pictures; ContactPage, which creates a grid of labeled picture boxes from a folder of images; Duplica, which copies text formatting or object attributes from one object to another and duplicates items across pages or documents; and FullMeasure, which extends the Measurements palette to provide instant control over every aspect of text, pictures, or items.
We highly recommend all of these XTensions.
This article courtesy of and copyrighted by Design Tools Monthly. For a free sample of the printed newsletter, email [email protected].
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