Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

Comments
Xenofex 2 is a lot of fun. It needs a fast machine with more RAM than the vendor recommends.
The effects are first rate, easily capable of producing publication-quality
work. Some of them are wonderfully subtle. The Stains filter adds precisely the sort of
effect that photo restoration software is designed to eliminate.
Version: Xenofex 2.2.0 (2008)
Plugs into: Windows—Photoshop 6.0 or later; Photoshop Elements 2.0 or later; Fireworks CS3
or later; Corel Paint Shop Pro 7.0 or later, CADLink SignLab 7.5; Mac—Photoshop CS3,
Photoshop Elements 4.0.1 or later
OS: Windows 2000, XP, and Vista; Mac OS X 10.4.0 or later
RAM: 64MB (see text)
Supported file formats: As host
Price level: Approx. $130
Address: Alien Skin, 1111 Haynes Street, Suite 113, Raleigh, NC 27604
www.alienskin.com
Summary
Chapter 15 ■ Special Effects 193
Digital images are infinitely malleable, the only limitations being the imagination of
artists and the tools at their disposal. One of those tools, usually packaged as a collection,
is special effects software. This is a category that is even more fun to use than art
simulation, being less constrained by the appearance of the output. The descriptions in
this chapter speak for themselves—kaleidoscopic, prism, blur, and diffract (in the
Andromeda Photography plug-ins) and smoke, stone, wood, and puzzle (in Filters
Unlimited). They appeal to home users and scrapbookers, but some packages like Still
Effects from Mega-Graphic Digitals are aimed at the busy professional who wants to
add pizzazz to wedding pictures. Whatever package you choose, generic eye candy is not
inexpensive, with most collections costing in the range of $100–$300.