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.
- Simulate Color Blindness
Colorfield Insight 1.1 ($20) is a plug-in for Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, etc., that simulates colorblindness, allowing you to evaluate the impact of colorblindness on your images quickly and easily. It works in Mac OS 9 and X. (Color deficiency affects approximately 7% of the male population.) - FocusFixer
FixerLabs’ FocusFixer 1.2 ($49) is a remarkable plug-in for Photoshop that removes focus blur from digital camera pictures, revealing detail in areas of glare. Because it uses the EXIF information from the camera that took the picture, it’s quite effective. A 20-day/30-use demo is available. - Artistic Screens for Mac OS X
Andromeda now has native Mac OS X versions of its Artistic Screens plug-ins for Photoshop:Series 3 Screens Filter ($109) lets you apply mezzotints, mezzograms and pattern screens to selected areas. For images that would otherwise be printed with a coarse screen ruling, mezzotinting can yield greater detail and a sharper image, while adding beauty and reducing file size. You can apply different effects to separate parts of an image.
Cutline Filter ($74) converts a grayscale image to a black-and-white engraving similar to the portraits on U.S. 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.
EtchTone Filter ($98) generates a randomized etch (black and white line conversion) of a gray or color photograph or illustration, and then lets you overlay or blend the etch back onto the original image. The result is a continuous tone image that adds interest and softens the harshness of halftone printing — go have a look.
Upgrades cost $20 each.
- Word-to-XPress
Bitmix’s qXport ($99) is an add-in for Microsoft Word that converts Word documents to QuarkXPress, preserving as much of Word’s formatting as possible, including Index marks, Headers & Footers, tabbed tables, bullets, lists, symbols, paragraph and character style sheets, and colored text. qXport works with all versions of Word (Mac and Windows) starting with Word 97/98 and with QuarkXPress starting from Version 3.x. qXport runs on Mac OS X, OS 9, and Windows. - Better Printing from QuarkXPress
Badia Software’s Printools ($100) is an XTension for QuarkXPress 4, 5, or 6 that adds many new features when printing. Version 6 (for QuarkXPress 6) adds Rename at Print, which can automatically rename files at print time using any combination of the project or layout names, serial numbers, page range or any custom text. A live preview window shows how your document will print, including paper boundaries. You can print just part of a page by dragging your mouse over an area or item(s) in the preview. It can add a temporary page border, preflight for errors, batch print multiple documents, print style sheets, and much more. We encourage you to have a look. - XPert Tools for QX6
Alap’s XPert Tools Pro 2.1 ($180) adds 16 XTensions to QuarkXPress 4, 5 and 6, including: ItemStyles lets you click and paste item attributes, and later change them globally; FindChange lets you search and replace item attributes such as location, shape, color, and frame style; XPert Guides lets you specify guide position numerically, copy & paste or mirror guides, and control guide color and display; XPert Align lets you align items with each other or in relation to the page; PageSets lets you save New Document settings for repeated use; XPert Print lets you select an item or portion of a page and print it or save it as an EPS file; XPert Text Link eases the process of linking and unlinking text boxes; XPert Paste lets you paste items in the same location from which they were copied or cut; XPert Layers lets you use layers in QuarkXPress 4; and others provide palettes for adjusting type, boxes, and scale. Upgrades cost $40-$100, and registered owners of Extensis’ QX-Tools may also upgrade to XPert Tools for $100 at www.thepowerxchange.com/tpx_xptp_sp53.html.alap (a lowly apprentice production)
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This article was last modified on January 3, 2023
This article was first published on January 7, 2004
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