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Brusha Brusha Brusha
Abneil Software’s $30 Graphicxtras Brushes Collection packs in 10,000 brushes for Photoshop. The 35 folders each hold multiple brush sets. Blurred, Dots, Lines, Noise, Pencil Sketch, Scatter, Stars, and Wispy are just a few of the many brushes in this collection. You can use some as shapes, while others are realistic. Many contain shape dynamics that twist and turn as you use them. Try making frames around images with the large brushes.
You’ll spend only pennies per brush.
Instantly Fix PDFs for Press
Callas Software’s pdfCorrect is an easy-to-use plug-in for Acrobat 6 and 7 that finds and fixes mistakes in a PDF that would cause problems when you output to various printing presses. Simply choose one of 30 included profiles, such as Sheetfed CMYK, Magazine Ad, Newspaper Ad, PDF/X-3, or PDF/X-1a, and pdfCorrect looks for more than 100 common mistakes and fixes them. Callas has been a trustworthy leader in the PDF production world for many years, so we believe pdfCorrect will be effective and reliable. It sells for 149 €.
Import GIS Data into Illustrator and FreeHand
The $999 MAPublisher 6.1 and $299 MAPublisher Lt from Avenza Software are powerful plug-ins for Illustrator 10/CS and FreeHand MX. The applications let you import CAD drawings and maps in geographic information systems (GIS) format, including shapes, boundaries, routes, and elevations. MAPublisher also lets you automatically create legends and keys. It can import database tables, which can be linked to existing map layers, and can export to ArcView Shape files and SVG and dBASE formats. For a treat, visit the company’s Web site to see examples of the beautiful, detailed maps made by customers.
This award-winning map was created using MAPublisher.
Automate Illustrator
Zumedia’s Automata 1.5 ($135) creates customized Illustrator CS documents based on data you provide in a text file. You create a template in Illustrator that includes variable fields (such as name, address, date of last purchase, etc.), then create layers whose visibility can be toggled, and add image placeholders. Your text file then instructs Illustrator to use This Text in That Field, the Picture in This Location on your hard drive or network in That Placeholder, and turn visibility of This Layer on and That Layer off. The result is a page with custom text, images, and layout that Illustrator can automatically export as PDF, EPS, Photoshop, Flash, JPG, and GIF. Flash files can include hyperlinks provided by the text file. Some of Automata’s uses include custom business cards, brochures, certificates, awards, static or animated Web graphics or ads, and any other repetitive layout project. Zumedia claims it can produce up to 1,500 files per hour.
Find & Relink Pictures in XPress and InDesign
CodeWare’s $239 PictureXTracker 3.0 is an XTension for QuarkXPress 4, 5, or 6, and a plug-in for InDesign CS that searches your hard drive for linked pictures missing from one or more documents. You can control whether the search is case sensitive, includes file extensions or not, and whether to choose the file with the latest modification date. When it finds more than one possible file for one picture, the software presents a list for you to choose from. Also, you can choose to re-link the picture file in only the active document, or in all open documents, saving tremendous time when working on a set of related documents. Another helpful feature: You can replace complete or partial picture paths, making it easy to replace low-resolution pictures with high-resolution pictures in a different folder.
Backdrop Designer
If you’re unsatisfied with the backgrounds in your portrait studio (which may otherwise be known as a corner of your office), check out Backdrop Designer. It’s a $199 Photoshop plug-in from Digital Anarchy you use to produce a wide variety of artificial portrait backgrounds. You control color and texture, and you can add shadows. For more relaistic looks, use shadow maps to add uneven distortions that mimic foliage or curtains. The plug-in includes 600 customizable presets.
Create Your Own Engravings
Andromeda Software’s Cutline Filter ($69) is a plug-in for Photoshop 5.5 through CS that converts a grayscale image to a black-and-white engraving similar to the portraits on American currency. It provides interactive control over the spacing of the lines as well as the angle of the curves, giving you complete freedom to create the engraving of your dreams.
Record AppleScripts in QuarkXPress
ScriptMaster XT 3 ($299) from Jintek is an XTension for QuarkXPress 6 that generates an AppleScript by recording your actions. ScriptMaster not only uses the scripting dictionaries built into QuarkXPress, it also adds 16 dictionaries of its own, to extend the scriptability of QuarkXPress. The resulting scripts are standard AppleScripts that can be edited and called by other AppleScripts. They also have a version for QuarkXPress 4.
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This article was last modified on January 10, 2022
This article was first published on June 10, 2005
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