GX Power Blend (Andrew Plugins Volume 16)

The plugin set consists of one plugin (+ bonus plugin )and themed around gradient (though packed with zillions of color combinations and settings). Each plugin also comes with 77 output / blend modes such as frames and tiling and Solarization and color and pencil sketch edge effects.

Installation of Plugins Set

Please place the 8BF files in the plugins folder (or plug-ins folder). Please place the documentation and any ini files (holding presets) in another folder as required. The install process is not an automatic process. I would suggest copying the plugins into a sub folder of the plugins folder such as 'third party plugins'

Photoshop ® CS 2 [c:\program files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\plug-ins\...]

Photoshop ® CS [c:\program files\adobe\photoshop CS\plug-ins\...]

Photoshop ® 7 [c:\program files\adobe\photoshop 7\plug-ins\...]

Paint Shop Pro ® 9 [c:\program files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro\Plugins]

Paint Shop Pro ® 8 [c:\program files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro\Plugins]

Canvas 6 [c:\program files\Canvas 6\Canvas Tools\plugins]

Painter IX [c:\program files\Corel\Corel Painter IX\Plugins]

Illustrator CS 2 [c:\program files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS2\plug-ins]

Expression 3.3 [c:\program files\Expression 3\Plugins]

PhotoImpact 8 [c:\program files\Ulead\Ulead PhotoImpact 8\Plugins]

Please consult your application documentation for others

The presets, I would suggest, should go in a common folder with a structure such as c:\...\preset\blur\... for ease of finding the plugin presets.

The documentation, by default, is in a sub folder of the plugins, but this also can be placed, if required, in a common folder for all plugins.

Removal of plugins

Please simply remove the plugins from the plugin path. Either delete the plugins and the associated ini files from the plugins path or drag them from that folder and place in a storage folder for future use.

Serial Numbers

Please store the serial number file, generally of the format ...Serialno.txt and store this for safe keeping, or write down the details of the serial number included. This will be useful for any updates / upgrades or in contacting graphicxtras for a possible replacement CD. Please note, if you have downloaded the plugins from Shareit site, please (please) make a backup of the file set on CD or a floppy disk (s) or DVD as the download file is generally only available for a short time.

Initial Use of plugins

Please access via the filters menu of Photoshop (or your current application). The plugins appear in the AP categories such as AP [Blur] AP [Color] AP [Distort] AP [Edge] , being the basic category / functionality of the plugin

RGB

The plugins were designed for use with RGB images but they work fine in many color modes such as CMYK and grayscale and LAB modes. The plugins were designed for 8 bit color images but the plugins also work fine in 16 bit / per channel mode, though the results can vary (plugins using negatives will not work well). The plugins can be used in selections as well as on separate channels.

Buttons

The plugins come with (generally) consistent buttons along the button of the dialog for various shortcuts to modify the slider and dropdown settings.

'Xtreme' If you wish to experiment with the plugin and don't want to spend hours moving sliders and controls back and forth, simply click the 'Xtreme' button to randomize most of the settings (not all and not the most extreme of settings). Extreme can result in a wide range of experimental effects or just a blank or single color screen. The xtreme button is a good start point for trying out the plugin(s).

'Color' button randomizes only the color sliders in the bottom center of the dialog, the small red green and blue sliders. The sliders are added post effect / pre output to the image. If you want to create a red output, move the red slider to the right. To create an orange color output, move the blue and green to the left and the red to the right

'Blend' The blend (or output) button randomizes the blend dropdown. The blend dropdown includes 77 output / blend options (at present) and modifies the image accordingly. Some of the blend modes are tiling or mirror options and these work in 99% of plugins, but some of the plugins output the pixels in weird and wonderful ways and the seams of the tiles fail in these. Most of the blend mode options are color based, tweaking the final output by setting the tone or saturation or lightness or red channel and others. Each version of the plugin sets include new output options.

The plugins also come with other buttons but these are labeled relating to the plugin such as a gradient button (randomizes the gradient settings) or pattern (randomizes the pattern settings) or tweak (randomizes only a small number of value settings) or jitter (jitters left or right the current values). Most of the buttons appear on the bottom row but some also appear along the 'row' above (too many buttons..)

'Open Preset' - open a preset file. The preset file is in the same format for all plugins, so it is recommended when saving plugins, save them with the name of the plugin so you can select the required settings. In most cases, it won't matter if you select the incorrect ini file for the plugin, the settings will be set as required but in some cases, this might result in a very extreme image. Once opened and selected, the plugin ini file information will set the sliders for the required effect. The effect might vary from image to image (if the image is a lot bigger or the image is a lot darker etc, the general effect might vary)

'Save preset' - Saves all the current settings. If you are using a plugin called Noise_RandomTimes, I would suggest saving the preset (ini) file to a folder marked 'noise' and then to a file marked 'randomtimes' or 'noise_randomtimes' and ended with the effect type, say 'golden glow' 'warped' 'blue 1' etc

'Reset' - Reset to factory default

'Advanced' - All the dialogs have this button but many will appear to do nothing (the functionality has not been added but will be in the next release). The advanced settings are generally additional sliders that offer various features such as mixing or applying different effect modes such as blurs or randomization.

Note: some of the settings mentioned below will only appear if you click the 'advanced' button.

'100%' etc: Set preview to 100% (slow in some cases..) or 25% (quicker but less accurate)

Backgrounds for the plugin dialog.

The plugin will be displayed with a silver background by default. However, if you want to change the background, please copy the 'Andrewsplugins_background.bmp' file to the PATH folder

The PATH folder is not the real name of the folder, generally the PATH folder is 'c:\windows' but it can be 'c:\winnt' etc or a number of other possible settings. Please check your control panel for the current path setting in the system properties (advanced tab and environmental variables). Please consult your windows documentation for any updates to this. If it is just the c:\windows (and in XP it is), then just copy the Andrews plugin file into that folder. It is a bitmap file and can be any image. A number of variants have been supplied as well _1 _2 _3 and so on, please feel free to use these instead. You can also create your own by using the bitmap file as a template

Dropdowns or Combos

All the plugins come with a number of dropdown or combo controls (lists of functions). All the plugins come with a blend dropdown and this lists 77 blend modes. Some of the plugins come with an effect dropdown (and corresponding mode or strength setting) as well as additional dropdowns to modify the effect. If the dropdown is in the top corner of the plugin, it is a general control dropdown. Dropdowns further down generally offer variants of the effect

You can run through the dropdowns by selecting the dropdown control and using the up and down arrows on the keyboard or just display a large number of dropdown items and select the required entry

Blend dropdown / output dropdown: Controls the final output of the effect. If set to the first entry, the effect is as is without any modification (other than the color sliders). If the dropdown is set to inverse, the output effect is applied in inverse, and so on. Most of the blend options blend the effect and a color channel or effect such as tweaking the red channel or applying a solarisation or posterization to the effect. The dropdown is found next to the red / green / blue slider/trackbars at the bottom of the dialog

Some of the blend options include a border effect or frame so you get the original and the effect but only in the border.

Some of the blending or output options are tiling or mirror options and should work in 99% of cases but some of the plugins modify the pixels and source in many different ways and the complexity of the distortion doesn't allow for any tiling of the output. The tiling options include tiling from different corners (as a tiling of the left corner in some cases might lead to a blank screen or an uninteresting image)

Some of the blend options include edge or sketch like effects such as 'dark edge'

Effect Dropdown - Some of the dialogs have an additional dropdown and this changes the mode of the plugin. The basic mode (or first item) in the dropdown applies the effect as is.. a randomization or edge plugin. If you set the dropdown to tone or shift etc then the effect is used as a source for tone settings or blurs or shifting of pixels etc. The strength of the application being set by the mode slider (generally beneath the dropdown). Each effect mode uses the mode strength in different ways, so shift extreme, it is best to have a 0 or close to 0 setting but the blur or tone etc might have no effect if less than 100.

Preview screen

The preview screen generally starts with a fairly small image (depends on the size of the original image). You can increase the zoom by clicking the zoom slider (+ and -). Hold the shift down as you click to set instantly to 100%. If you set the preview to 25% or 12%, the end result might or might not match the preview, the 100% setting is the best match but also the slowest. Some of the plugins can be very very slow at 100% setting though this depends on the size of the original file. Use the mouse to select the position in the preview by dragging the preview position.

If you right-click the preview, any sliders marked with [R] will be modified based on the position and the size of the dialog. This is more an experimental option and useful way of trying out a wide range of varying effects by right clicks to the preview screen. Some of the dropdown options work in the same way if indicated by a [R]. Some of the [R] options are based on the current color at that point or the position from the top left of the dialog.

Presets

Changed in this version to a saved ini file and opened ini file.

As mentioned above, save the current settings to a reasonably detailed named preset ini file name and use the open command to recall the settings.

Foreground and background colors

Some of the plugins (not all) use the foreground and background color settings in the current color palette to limit the color range of the effect. This is generally the case for the gradient plugins but a number of the output dropdown options take advantage of these colors to modify the output. These are indicated by FG and BG. Using different color settings can totally change the image. You can change the FG and BG in the color palette and then reapply the plugin. Some applications do not supply the BG and FG color information to the plugin and the plugin will fail in these instances or just fill the screen with black or white only

Plugins in the plugins set

GX Power Blend

The power blend plugin creates gradients based on the current foreground and background color palette and combines with an additional gradient for many additional gradient effects and blendings

The plugin has a number of components such as dropdown box and combinations of combos, sliders to manipulate the color channel, intensity, center of the gradient. and the mix of the gradient effects and the output mode

The plug-in works in many different applications such as Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro as well as Painter and others. The plug-in was designed for standard RGB color mode but the plugin can also be used to great effect on CMYK images, grayscale etc and into 16bit color modes (not every color mode is supported in this version and not all color modes are tweaked as was devised by the plug-in development. The 16bit color mode support is very limited

Quick start

A quick start would be to select a foreground and background color (say red and green) and then run the plugin. You can either use the xtreme button to tryout a range of different settings or use the presets. The plugin comes with a default set of 50 or so presets for you to tryout.

Gradients

The gradient is a linear gradient by default though there are a number of variants indicated by gradient 1, 2, 3... in the gradient dropdown. They are a mix of linear, radial, diagonal, etc The first gradient is 'color controlled' by the foreground and background color palette so set these before (or after in the case of a re-apply) A black n white gradient combo will be generally different from the result of a red / green or yellow / purple or light green / dark green combo. The secondary gradient is controlled by the second column dropdown (default black-white)

Buttons

The plug-in comes with a number of buttons. The Xtrm button (extreme) sets a number of the factors and settings to fairly extreme settings (though not all limits are approached and not all sliders are touched as the results might be less than useful i.e blank screens). Color button just sets the color additions (though if the randomization options have been set then randomization will also occur). Boost button boosts some of the settings by 1 or 2 pts, such as the center of the gradient as well as the color. Gradient button just runs through all the gradients without tweaking anything else, so you can try a range of gradient variants . The buttons can also be applied by using alt-X, etc. Use the Juggle button to just randomize (without changing the settings), if nothing is marked as randomize then the juggle button will have no effect. The save button saves the current settings to the current category file (preset file) so if set to 'loose ends the preset will be placed in the loosends.ini file and can only be accessed when the category is again set to 'loose ends. The save doesn't save it to the current preset in the presets dropdown. Reset resets al the settings back to the factory default (the presets are untouched)

Mixing

The plugin by default displays the first gradient only (created using the current FG / BG). The mixing sliders can be modified to blend in more or less of the second gradient. There is also a blending dropdown which by default is set to 'normal, which obeys the current mixing. The other settings mix using different algorithms. Some of the mixing settings combine without reference to the mixing settings and these are marked by a * such as the gap (which is just the difference between the two gradients and use that as the 'gradient')

Dropdowns or combos

The plug-in comes with a number of dropdowns or combo boxes offering presets, filters etc.

Gradients

Two gradients are supplied.

The plugin works on the mix of the two gradients. By default, the first gradient is used but by changing the mixing and the mixing dropdown, 100s of different gradient combos can be applied by changing the second gradient (second column).

The gradients are a mix of gradients such as linear etc. They are indicated as gradient 1, gradient 2, ...

Gradient Type

Additional gradient combinations can be created using the type or input into the gradient. By default the gradient is linear but by changing the second row gradient type from horizontal, to say radial or vertical, many different combinations of gradient can be created. The gradient type and gradient also use the gradient center in different ways, some gradients will ignore the vertical center info or vica versa. By changing the type, position of the center and gradient, as well as combining the secondary gradient, 1000s of different gradient effects can be created.

Blends

Blends the gradients (gradients 1 and 2 ) in different combinations

Output

The final output depends on this dropdown. The default being just the basic effect, the result is 'as is'. The other modes are such as only output the gradient in the blue channel and use the image red and green channels. Other such as wrap, wraps the color channels if the values for the output are less than 0 (black) or greater than 255 (white) and this can provide interesting color combinations.

There are a number of sub-combo/dropdowns and these are related to the primary dropdown (the combos are grouped in columns

FG/BG

The first gradient (first column) use the foreground and backgrounds color palette (though this varies from application to application, this information might not be available or modified or called different things such as a fill or stroke color). The secondary gradient uses the dropdown at the bottom of the secondary column and uses black n white, yellow and green combos etc. The start point uses the foreground color and the end point uses the background and the rest of the gradient is calculated using the gradient and gradient type and the coordinates for each pixel. The dropdown includes a jitter option to jitter the randomization of the gradient FG and BG, also randomization from black to the FG and BG, as well as randomization from the FG / BG to white, total randomization, as well as a reverse or swap of the FG/ BG information. At the bottom of the gradient columns you will see two small colored panels, they display the 'current' internal RGB gradient for the 'foreground' and 'background'. These might or might not match the palette or the secondary dropdown depending on the randomisation or the jitter factors but the colors displayed match the color used as the starting and end points for the color calculation. The gradient, depending on its position, blending etc might look red-yellow or any number of possible combinations

Black - White

The color settings for the secondary gradient, yellow - purple etc

Sliders

Intensity Setting

This is a factor applied to the output (1000 is the default, making no modification to the output) Greater than 1000 then the picture will be brighter, less than 1000, darker (Grad1 / Grad2) sliders

Grad/Grad Mixing

Blends the gradients. By default only the first gradient is shown but by changing the mix sliders more or less of the secondary gradient can be used

Gradient Center (xy)

This modifies the center of the gradient, by changing these settings the gradient can be shifted up or down or the center of the gradient shifted. Some of the gradient types such as pulse use the center information to also create additional gradient effects.

sc (scaling)

This squeezes or expands the gradient effect

rpt (repeats)

This creates repeat gradients, this might or might not be useful but it can create interesting repeat patterns for many of the gradients but not all where the general response might be a small barely visible gradient structure

Smooth

Smooths the gradient, averages the gradient across a number of pixels and can remove some of the effects of banding or coarseness

Red green blue

The sliders at the bottom add an additional tweak to the color, setting the red greater than 0 will redden the image, etc

FAQ

Why can't I see a gradient?

It is possible that the settings are such that no gradient is visible. Perhaps the gradient settings are white and white or two virtually equal colors or the gradient itself reveals it structure only 'off' screen (so the gradient center needs to be changed); or the two gradients combining combines to create a 'zero' gradient. Or perhaps the sliders (RGB) at the bottom of the screen are so high to set all the pixels to white.

Presets.. what is actually saved?

The information on the screen, that is it. The current foreground and background color is not saved so if you use the preset later with a white-green combo the structure of the gradient will be used but the color combination will result in a different output, likewise if randomisation is used, the randomisation settings are saved such as 0-FGBG but the randomisation internal settings are not saved. This might or might not change in future. If any future updates to the ini file are made, the ini file names will be changed and the old and the new formats will be usable but additional information will not be available to the old presets.

Combining gradients?

The plugin uses two gradients but the default combine is purely to display the result of the first column gradient. You will need to change the mixing percentages or the mixing mode such as a blending mode marked with a * to see the effect of the secondary gradient. Combining the gradients, nearly infinite combinations of gradients can be created.

rpt? smooth?

The repeat and smooth and scaling functions (lower half of the dialog per gradient) are additional tweaks to apply to the gradient. The scaling reduces or zooms into the gradient, so instead of a small square gradient, a larger (similar colored and structured) gradient can be created. The smooth averages out the gradient effect across n pixels and can result in a smoother gradient effect and generally less banding or coarseness in the gradient. The repeat function attempts to apply a repeat of the gradient effect and can be used to generate subtle or surreal multiples of the gradients (generally smaller versions of the gradients), this function can achieve some interesting effects but not all gradients structures work well with the repeat option.

Juggle button?

If there is nothing to randomise then this button is ignored. You can click it and nothing will happen. If the 0-FG Rnd etc or random options are set then the plugin will alter none of the screen dialog settings but will randomise the color settings according to the dialog dropdown option. If 0-FG then the color will be set to a value between 0 and the Foreground color, hit juggle again and this will be randomised yet again and will vary the colors of the gradient.

DEMO?

What happens.. each and everytime I run this plugin I get a demo message + random grain bar or bars across the image... Yes, you are running a demo. It is not a time limited demo or a functions removed demo, this is the same as the full release except for the demo message and the randomised grain. In some cases, of course, the grain is fairly hidden but in many images, the grain will be clearer to see. All the same, it is the demo. If you like the plug-in, please check out the site and the purchase page 'how to purchase the plugin' and the shareit link and sales.

Output mode

The default output is 'as is' but the output can be inverted, wrapped etc by changing the output dropdown. The output results are always capped by the preview screen to 255 or white but internally the output can be greater than 255, the wrap, wraps the result around to black again and so on

red, Green, blue sliders...?

The sliders modify the output color.. so setting the red to 255 would make the image fairly red. Click the color button to tryout the range of possible color variations.

Distort plugin?

Yes, it is a freebie plugin. Please check out the volume 14 and 13 documentation about the distortion plugins

Applications support

98 ME NT XP Photoshop ® CS 2 and CS 1 and 7 (as well as a number of other products such as PSP). The plugins should be fine in a number of products such as Illustrator ®, Canvas ™ PhotoImpact ™, Expression ™, and many others

Questions

Please contact me on support@graphicxtras.com (I might answer on a different mail account though!). If you don't receive a reply, please re-email. I answer all my mail but sometimes the mail is blocked or whatever or lost or something, and replies fail to arrive. You can also call me on the number above or fax a message if required.

Other plugins are available on the site http://www.graphicxtras.com (a collection of all the plugins in the series is also available)

Upgrades are generally available, either as free updates or inexpensive updates/upgrades and these can be obtained via the product pages on the site.

Please store the reference serial number or details of order.

Copyright

The plugins are copyright of 1996-2005 Abneil Software Ltd (Andrew Buckle). This product was released by Abneil Software ltd (UK based company)

Trademarks

Photoshop is registered trademarks of Adobe. We have no connection whatsoever with Adobe. Paint Shop Pro is registered trademark of Corel Corporation, as is Painter and Photo-Paint. Illustrator is registered trademark of Adobe. Other products mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners

Legal Agreement / License Agreement

The plugins are (c) 1996-2005 Andrew Buckle and Abneil Software ltd

The manual is for information only and is in a constant state of update and additions. The manual should not be construed as any commitment to function or use, and we can assume no responsibility for errors or any liability based on the comments made. Please let us know if you find any errors and we will try our best to update the documentation

- Plugins are non-exclusive
- Plugins can be used in multiple products on the same machine
- Plugins uses are royalty-free
- Plugins can be used on any single computer and not as a network source.
- Plugins can be used to create incredible images
- Plugins should not be used to create images that break the law.
- Plugins can be used to create logos etc but all trademarks etc must be checked by you
- Plugins can be backed up (this is definitely recommended)
- Plugins should not be copied onto a CD / DVD / Website and sold as a collection
- Plugins should not be rented etc or sold as is.
- Any copyright notices should not be removed
- Plugins may or may not work with some versions of applications (especially future releases..)
- We give a non-exclusive and nontransferable license to use one (1) copy of the product and related material
- If you don't agree with the license, you must promptly destroy / rip into shreds etc the product and docs

To the max amount permitted by relevant law, in no way shall Abneil Software ltd or our sellers/distributors be liable for damages (this includes, without limits, damages and costs for any loss of profits to the business, or disruption to your business, loss of business info, or other losses) from the use of this plugin set of or inability to create using this plugin graphics product, even if we have been told of the chance of such claims. As some areas of this planet do not allow for the removal or limits on liability for damages, the above limits may not relate to you.