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Provides: Fast and easy ways to create special
effects in your images. This collection of 14 filters for Photoshop, Elements, and Fireworks (see specific Requirements above) are just plain fun. Some are silly while others are (arguably) useful. There are enough "fine-tune" abilities to make the anal happy while the basic setup can make the lazy satisfied. With enough knowledge, experience, and time, one can do just about anything with Photoshop. There is nothing in this collection of Photoshop filter types that cannot be done directly by Photoshop. But the time it would take you to do just about any one of them would pay for itself by just purchasing Xenofex 2. Like other Alien Skin Plugins, Xenofex 2 is available at the bottom of your Filter Menu.
I searched around in my images and found a nice basic image to see what Xenofex 2 can do.
Some of the effects can be used on either the whole image or on selections of images and/or on separate layers, while other effects can only be done on separate selections/layers. Probably the biggest limitation with Xenofex 2 is that there is no easy way to bleed some of the effects performed on a selection or layer into the original image. Yes, these type of corrections can be done in Photoshop, but it would be nice if these enhancements could be done at the point of origin. I'll point out some of these limitations as I go along. After selecting any of the effects, one is brought to a new window.
Many of the effects have a button called "Random Seed" (see bottom right). This generates a new random presentation of your effect. So, if you don't like the way the effects present themselves, try again. The main thing missing with Random Seed is the ability to "remember" the last (say) 5 attempts so if you saw one that was good and tried to get something better but give up, you can go back to an earlier attempt. (AutoFX software has this with their "memory buttons," but the feature is horribly implemented.) Below is a numbered collection of my results. I only did a screen shot of a small portion of each effect; that's why I included the original image (above).
(1) Burnt Edges: Gives the edge of the image an appearance as if it were singed or burnt. Fast and easy. I tried to perform the effect on a selection to see if I could get a "burning tree" effect but after bringing the selection back to my image, it looked pasted on. What's needed here is an ability to grade/feather the effect at the edges as desired. (2) Classic Mosaic: Yes, Photoshop has this feature already built in (Filters -> Texture -> Mosaic Tiles), but this is so far superior that they cannot be compared. This effect is almost worth the entire package. (3) Constellation: If you ever wanted an entire image to appear like you are looking out of a window from the Enterprise, here's your chance. You can also have text and smaller selections have "starry eyes" as well. There's something about this effect that just didn't work for me. (4) Cracks: From the edges of your image or selection, you can have cracks. You can vary the width, length and disbursement of the cracks. Here is where I might suggest as a new effect to Alien Skin: Marble. That way, you could create a marble block with one effect and crack it up in another. (5) Crumple: This one gives the effect of having taken an image, crumpled it up to throw it in the trash can, reconsidered that action, removed the paper wad, and opened it up to reexamine the print. Very effective image. (6) Electrify: This effect can only be done on a selection, not the entire drawing. Potentially provides whole new meaning when pointing at things in an image. (7) Flag: This one is the only one where the limited screen shot just doesn't provide justice to the effect, that's why I used this effect for a screenshot of the Xenofex window above. What it does is take the entire image and provide the effect that it's a flag getting whipped by the wind. (8) Lightning: Provides lightning arcs across your image. The nifty thing here is that you can establish start and end points. I'd like to do a religious joke here but just in case someone might get offended, I'll pass. The effect is superb. (9) Clouds: Probably everyone who's rambled through Photoshop's filters have seen the Clouds option (Filter -> Render -> Clouds) and thought "Oh Boy, I can place clouds in an otherwise empty sky!!" only to be crushed when they see what happens. Well, this effect is for you (and me). Added is the ability to set sky colors and even transitions of sky colors one might expect as the selection drops to the horizon. As can be seen in my sample (I used a rectangular marquee so it would stand out) the sky color is just a bit off a realistic even though I sampled (they provide an eyedropper) the original sky from my photo. The plugin provides three different types of clouds: fluffy, wispy, and puffy. They need several more choices like cumulus as I didn't see ALL that much differences between the other choices. Still, despite its current limitations, this is the easiest way I've seen to get a nice sky on an overcast day. (10) Puzzle: Where's my scroll saw? When my kids were young, I'd take a picture, glue it to a piece of wood and go into the garage where my scroll saw was and cut out puzzles for them. I just wasn't creative enough to make the pieces have the same ziggy-zaggyness that regular puzzles have. Well, I'm still not creative enough to do this by myself, but this here Puzzle can do it for me. As far as a regular image goes, if you want you can increase/decrease the size of the puzzles pieces, change the direction of a connector (if it makes more artistic sense) and even knock out selected pieces to make the final item true "art." Absolutely wonderful. (11) Rip Open: Don't ya hate it when someone pokes something through your image? Well now you can do it yourself. Using a selection tool, you define where the hole is going to appear. After that it's determining the curl variation, length of shadows, color of the hole, that sort of thing. Once back in Photoshop you can add whatever created the hole, like a fist or something... (12) Shatter: You've probably seen in the occasional science fiction movie where someone's head explodes in small fragments which float away in slow motion. This effect will do the shatter, the floating away in slow motion is up to you. In the sample screen shot I thought it'd be fun to blow up the road. You can vary the size, amount of displacement, and the time from the original event before the effects have been captured in the image. (13) Stain: For me, stain was the most disappointing of the lot because I had so much expectation. The idea is you can create the effect of some idiot leaving a coffee cup on your image. The problem I had was that the effect didn't model what really takes place at all. More specifically, when liquid drips get on paper there is a "bleeding" of liquids that dissipates as it travels out. There was no way to create this effect within Xenofex2. I found this surprising because if you look at the first effect, Burnt Edges, there is a gradation from the actual edge as it drifts in. But not with this effect; rather disappointing. Besides, the "Ring" option looks more like a bagel than a coffee stain. (14) Television: Are you not watching enough television? Why have an image of Edward R. Murrow if you can't put him in a proper television image? You can even add all the special effects of ghost images, jitters (breakup) and monochrome screens. Who needs the Flying Nun if you have this? [Boy, am I showing my age...] In short these effects are fun and the vast majority work as well as your expectations. That says a lot. However, there is no way to save any custom settings for future use. In addition, I'd like to repeat my complaint for the lack of saving variations of an image so you can go back to a previous image. Despite these complaints, the fact that Alien Skin provides not only a very well written PDF on the CD, they also provide the same documentation as a real 64 page booklet. These hard copy texts are becoming harder and harder to find. While I use, create, and appreciate PDFs all the time, when I'm trying to learn software, I want a piece of paper in my hand. I really really hope some type of memory features and ability to save settings are dealt with in a dot release. However, despite these faults I will happily give Xenofex2 five happy Macs. Meanwhile, Alien Skin, please listen to my two suggestions/requests...  ___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.
Tags: Reviews ď Graphics/Design ď
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