*** From the Archives ***
This article is from October 13, 2004, and is no longer current.
Plug-Ins and XTensions: QuarkXPress Duplicators, InDesign Catalogers, Illustrator Pages, Photoshop Lenses
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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.
- Macromedia Flash Video Kit
Flash Video Kit ($99) from Macromedia is a plug-in for Dreamweaver MX 2004 that lets Flash Professional users add streaming or progressive video to a website. For a limited time, it’s also available to current users for $49; otherwise the price is $99.
- Film Styles for Video
Red Giant’s Magic Bullet Editors ($279) is an amazingly useful plug-in for Final Cut Pro that applies any of 50 “looks” to video, many similar to popular movies. For example: the colorful look of creativeprocom Amelie; the bleached, contrasty look of Saving Private Ryan; the greenish tint of The Matrix; and the classic look of Technicolor. Other effects add dust, grain, scratches, splotches, and projection artifacts such as flicker and gate weave. You can also apply lens filters and emulate various film stocks, as well as vary the effects over time.
- Multiple Pages in Illustrator
Hot Door MultiPage 2 ($79) fills a long-standing need in Adobe Illustrator: multiple pages. This plug-in for Illustrator CS lets you create as many pages as you’d like, using Master Pages if desired, and even export multiple-page PDF files. The previous version of MultiPage works with Illustrator 9 & 10 ($49).
- Link Databases to InDesign
Em Software’s InCatalog lets you create bi-directional links between an InDesign document and an external database. $800, or $1,200 for ODBC support.
- Contact Sheets in InDesign
Cacidi Systems’ Contact Sheet Pro 2.0 ($149) is a plug-in for InDesign that automatically creates single- or multi-page InDesign documents filled with pictures from any folder(s), optionally creating a text label for each picture. You can define any number of rows and columns and the space between items, or create your own layout for a “picture package”.
- Catalogs & Mail Merge in InDesign
Em Software’s InData ($400) is a plug-in for Adobe InDesign that brings incredible power to database-publishing tasks. InData automatically formats data exported from a database or spreadsheet by using a template you create to define how you want the information to look. InData can add graphics that are cited in the template and the data file. It can extract and manipulate text from inside individual data fields. It can create directory-style headers and footers on each page or spread, and comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
The PowerXChange.
Em Software
Photoshop
- Better Edge Selection
Reindeer Graphics’ Select Edges is a free plug-in for Photoshop 5 and later that gives you greater control than Photoshop’s Find Edges function. Selections in complex detail areas such as hair can be selected more accurately, and the selections leave fewer artifacts when filters are applied.
- Fix Perspective Distortions
Andromeda Software’s LensDoc ($98) is a filter for Photoshop that corrects barreling and pincushion distortions caused by zoom lenses. LensDoc also fixes perspective distortion, where parallel lines converge at unrealistic angles. It’s great for straightening building edges, telephone poles, etc. LensDoc isn’t based on simple mathematical equations, but rather on testing of more than 100 real-world lens and focal length combinations. To use it, you line up markers along any line that should be straight and click “Correct.” You can even save unique lens correction settings for your camera’s lenses.
Andromeda Software
QuarkXPress
- Contact Sheets in QuarkXPress
Badia’s ContactPage XT ($70) is an XTension for QuarkXPress 4, 5 or 6 that quickly creates contact sheets, along with captions, for entire folders or volumes of pictures. You can use it to create an index of clip art, photos, or logos, with control over page size and margins, grid layout, picture and text box dimensions, and caption info.
- Copy Attributes in QuarkXPress
Badia Software’s Duplica XT ($50) is an XTension for QuarkXPress 4, 5 or 6 that specializes in copying formats and items from one place to another. It lets you copy and apply character attributes, rules, and tab settings, copy text without copying its character formatting, replace one picture with another picture while retaining the picture’s settings and cropping, position a box exactly in relation to the baseline of text in another box (great for captions!), copy and paste box positions from one page to another, copy and paste guides between pages, paste items BEHIND other items instead of in front, and Group them as you paste them. It even works between documents. You can use it from a palette, a contextual menu (Shift-Control-click) or use keyboard shortcuts.
Badia Software
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