Photoshop®-Compatible Plugins Set 1 : Release 2 - August 2003 

All trade and other registered marks are hereby acknowledged

Introduction Thankyou for downloading the xero filter plugins! We hope you enjoy using them. Redistribution is permitted and encouraged, subject to the constraints below. We also welcome and value feedback; please use the link at the bottom of the page to let us know what you think of the filters. If you wish to redistribute the filters via a website, then please do so, but offer the download file intact, unchanged, and including this file.

These filters were built using FilterMeister from AFH Systems Group, and have been tested with Jasc's Paint Shop Pro version 7.04. They have also been tested with Adobe Photoshop 5.5 and Micrografx Picture Publisher 8.0. They should work with any other host supporting the Adobe plugin architecture.

Pete Bailey

xero : graphics and web design
Congresbury
North Somerset
England
Copyright All filters supplied by xero : graphics and web design are Copyright © 2002-2003, Peter Bailey. However, they are issued as freeware, and may be distributed freely for personal use. Any form of commercial use or redistribution requires the express written permission of the copyright-holder. This constraint covers inclusion of any or all of the filters in any commercial collection or on any magazine cover-disc . If you wish to use or redistribute any of these filters by such means, please don't hesitate to contact me; in spite of the above, permission is unlikely to be refused.
Disclaimer All plugin filters from xero : graphics and web design are offered without warranty as to suitability for any specific purpose. We will not be held responsible in any way for any loss or damage, howsoever caused. Use at your own risk.
Installation Uncompress the file(s) using any of the millions of ZIP utilities available, then copy the files to your host application's plugins directory (eg c:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7\Plugins). If you are unsure of the correct folder, check your graphics package's manual.
What's new In brief, the changes in this release are:
  1. All filters have had a complete UI makeover. The background bitmap has been replaced with a simple gradient, and the 'About' button (that strange circular symbol in the bottom right corner) has been replaced with a slightly more meaningful strange circular symbol. The 'Ok' and 'Cancel' buttons have been replaced with standard Windows-style buttons, which aren't as pretty, but do at least move when you click them. Finally, all filters now have a clickable link to the xero website.
  2. All filters now have a standard set of "convenience" controls, immediately beneath the preview pane:
     
    • A '1:1' button, which goes directly to 100% zoom. (Shift-clicking the + button does the same thing, and always has).
    • A 'Fit' button, which goes directly to the highest zoom setting that will allow the whole image to fit within the preview pane.
    • A 'Reset' button, which resets all sliders to their default values.
  3. The 'Alien Mist' filter now allows the colouration of the mist to be controlled by a set of RGB sliders, giving a more exciting range of alien weirdness.
  4. The 'Lithograph' filter has a new slider labelled 'Grittiness' - exactly what that means is something you'll have to discover by experimentation, because it's hard to describe! Still, it gives a useful new range of possibilities - oh, and the default settings on this filter give the original (dare I call it "classic"?) effect. I should mention also that this filter has been completely rewritten because it had an unpleasant tendency to abort when running with PSP 8.
  5. The 'Mistifier' plugin now allows the colouration of the mist to be controlled by a set of RGB sliders, as with 'Alien Mist'. Again, the default settings give the classic (ok, I said it) effect, which is fairly subtle - but now you can be less subtle if you're that kind of person.
  6. The 'Porcelain' filter has always been the most popular of the set, and I wouldn't dare change the default behaviour for fear of upsetting all those who've told me it's their favourite. Still, this filter too now has three RGB sliders so that you can change the subtle colouration that it introduces. The default settings may look slightly odd at first sight - zero red, zero green, full-throttle blue - but this replicates the original behaviour.
  7. The 'Skycleaner' plugin now has three fill modes in addition to its originally intended usage for making bleached-out skies transparent - this may make it more useful for those whose favourite graphics program doesn't support transparency. You can chose to fill the affected areas with the current foreground colour, or with the background colour, or with a vertical linear gradient running (downward) from foreground to background. Ok, this won't give convincingly real skies, but it does unconvincing skies quite well.... This filter has also been completely rewritten.
Support If you have any queries or suggestions, please email me at the address below. As the filters are offered as freeware I'm unable to make any promises, but will always do my best to help.
Finally... I'm always interested to see what people are doing with these filters. If you have a website and publish any artwork or tutorials involving the xero filters, please let me know! Ideally, I would like to include a list of links to such sites on the xero site.
 
Thankyou, best wishes, and have fun!
 
Pete Bailey
 
xero : graphics and web design




Useful Contacts Contact xero Send Mail
  Visit the xero website Take me there...
  Visit my other site The Museum of Misinformation
  Visit the FilterMeister homepage www.filtermeister.com
  Visit the JASC Software homepage www.jasc.com