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Many other image-editing programs can use Photoshop plugins.
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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983
T e c h n o f i l e
Where to find free plugins for Photoshop-compatible programs
March 28, 2004
By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard
Windows and Mac users get a bonus when they buy Photoshop Elements 2.0. They can use thousands of auxiliary programs originally designed for Photoshop, the professional cousin of Photoshop Elements.
These supplementary programs are called plugins. They work within the main program to add features that Photoshop or Photoshop Elements doesn't have. Some plugins are so sophisticated that they turn the main program into something entirely different. Others are simple and take no time to learn how to use.
Photoshop Elements 2.0, which sells for $80, and its expensive cousin, Photoshop, which usually costs hundreds of dollars, are both made by Adobe, so it's not surprising that they'd use the same kind of plugins.
But there's a bonus many users never take advantage of: Many other image-editing programs can use Photoshop plugins, too. About 50 non-Adobe programs support Photoshop plugins in one way or another. They include Paint Shop Pro, PhotoImpact, Photo-Paint, Fireworks and Photo-Brush. If you don't know whether the program you use supports Photoshop plugins, check the help menu for "Plugins."
(I'm a big fan of Photoshop Elements 2.0 because it can handle expert photo editing without requiring you to be an expert. And because Photoshop Elements works in most ways just like Photoshop, you can find help from any of the countless books and Web sites devoted to Photoshop techniques.)
If you already use Photoshop Elements 2.0 or another program that works with such plugins, you probably know that plugins are often referred to as "filters." Photoshop Elements has a menu just for filters, for example. When you add plugins -- usually to a folder within the program's main folder called "Plug-ins," using the hyphenated form of the word -- they automatically show up within the Filters menu when you restart the software.
Some plugins are in fact little more than filters, removing certain colors or other parts of images. But most are much more complicated. Two of my favorite plugins are Image Doctor from Alien Skin (www.alienskin.com), a powerful and sophisticated image-repair program, and pxl Smartscale from Extensis (www.extensis.com), which manages the tasks of resizing and rescaling images better than any separate program does. As is typical of such advanced commercial plugins, each one costs more than Photoshop Elements itself -- $129 for Image Doctor and $199 for pxl SmartScale).
But you don't need to spend money to add plugins to Photoshop Elements 2.0 or any other plugin-compatible program. You can download free plugins from hundreds of Web sites. Here are a few of them to help you get started:
http://thepluginsite.com/resources/
www.reindeergraphics.com
www.afh.com/web/pshop/free.html
www.freephotoshop.com
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