Each one has a default setting and this will be automatically selected. Within each of these main sections is a sub-section that holds variations of the main section you've chosen. The 8 are colorizer, dreamy, grunge, lomo, old photo, real contrast, sepia and vibrance. Out of the 8 sections in the Photo tab, 5 of them simulate old photographs. The default filter will be highlighted with a blue outline and clicking on any other preset will place that filter over your image in the window to the right.Īs with most filter programs at the moment, the developers know that old fashioned film and retro vintage looks are very now so these are heavily used. Below the tabs are an example of the filter over a picture of a random life belt. The filters are divided into 12 main sections and while any of the filters could be used in photography, we'll concentrate on the photography section titled Photo.Ĭlicking on the Photo tab will bring up 8 more tabs to the right. This is certainly a good idea, so why does the picture still go below the bottom of the window so that we have to scroll down? The window can't be resized and it's slightly too big for a laptop screen. A small note at the foot of the picture says that the image has been shrunk in preview to speed up processing. There's a bit here which we found annoying. With the filters on the left and the chosen filter on the right taking up around 60% of the window. The main window fills the screen and is divided into just two segments. They've even gone to the extent of placing a little box with a link to click which sends you back to the Filter Forge window. The main window appears as a separate tile on the task bar and you can flick over to Photoshop if you like but you can't do anything while Filter Forge is running. Then go to Filter and choose Filter Forge from the drop down list. First, you need to duplicate the layer so that the filter you apply will be placed over the original. To use the program, you must first have an image open in Photoshop (if you're using it as a plug in like we did). Installing took around the same amount of time. We downloaded the program from the Filter Forge website which took less than 5 minutes while sat on a laptop with half meg broadband speed. There's also Dual-Core CPU support, Smart Anti-Aliasing and it can support pictures with incredible resolutions of up to 65,536 pixels. There's also some interesting technology in the program such as floating-point file formats which lets you save in less traditional JPEG or Bitmap. Some of the features in the program that we will touch on include the massive gallery of preset filters as well as the online library. The top of the range Professional edition costs $399 and on top of the aforementioned features, you can benefit from high precision file formats, it will support 16 and 32bit image modes, you can use an unlimited number of CPUs and it takes bitmaps larger than 3000 x 3000 pixels.įor the purposes of the review we had access to the Professional edition to explore all the features available from the Filter Forge labs. Should you choose the Standard edition instead, it'll cost you $249 and will allow you to modify existing filters and create your own. Starting at $149 for the Basic edition you get unlimited downloads of filters, free access to an online filter library, resolution independence, seamless tiling, HDRI lighting, smart anti-aliasing, command line renderer, the ability to use filters that aren't out of the library and the ability to select them as favourites. Used either as a stand alone or plug-in, there are three tiers to Filter Forge and with each upgraded level, the amount of features increase. I strongly suggest anyone interested in Filter Forge should download the free trial, test the waters, and see if it can be incorporated into his/her workflow.Filter Forge is a software program which adds layers of effects to your pictures. That's something I have been exploring lately. You can also create filters and submit them to be added to their Library. If I don't care for the effect, I just delete the filter from my own Library. If I see something I may use, I download it, and give it a try. about once a month I visit their Library and check the new filters. Thousands and thousands of filters you can download at no charge. The overwhelming aspect of it is their Filter Library. Also, each filter will offer a number of preset variations. The filters are organized into categories - textures, frames, patterns, artistic effects, distortions, etc. Filter Forge comes with a variety of factory filter presets which you can customize to suit your project. I started with the Basic version, and then, when they made me an offer I couldn't refuse (80% off), I got the Pro version.Īs far as how to use it, it all depends on what you are interested in. Helen, I have been using Filter Forge for many years.
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