NEW EFFECTS, FILTERS & EFFECTS DIALOGUES
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Photo-Paint 9 has almost 40 new effects which have been rearranged into new groups. It took some time to locate some old favorites but I enjoyed discovering all the new ones in the process. The new Effects groups are more logical and are alphabetically arranged. New groups include Art Strokes (which includes charcoal, Conte Crayon, Palette Knife, Pen & Ink, Scraperboard, Sketch Pad, and others), Creative (including really nice effects such as Craft, Fabric, Frame, Particles, and Weather), Custom (including the ability to use Bump Maps!), and Texture which creates great effects such as Bubbles, Plastic, Elephant Skin, Relief Sculpture, Stone and Underpainting. Each effect or filter is described in the following pages in Tables 1 to 4.

When using effects, PP9 now uses a different dialogue box (Figure 9) which, by default, updates the on-screen image instantly. The dual and single preview widows can still be used by clicking the small icons in the upper right of this dialogue box. Extra effects can also be called upon by clicking the right arrow near the upper left.

Figure 9. Default Effects Dialogue. The Effects Settings dialogues in PP9 are now much more streamlined. By default, changes to effects settings are previewed on screen instantaneously. In some cases you need to click on the preview button to set to ON (pressed in and highlighted). The arrow (top left) near the Effects Dialogue Title makes it easy to jump to a different effect or filter. The split screen and single results pane preview methods which were the default in PP8 can still be displayed by clicking on either of the two small icons near the top right of the dialogue.

 

TABLE 1. Effects in Photo-Paint 9 -
2D Effects and Art Strokes Filters .
New effects are marked (*). The entire effects menu has been rearranged in alphabetic order. The thumbnails showing these effects are probably not really appropriate to clearly show the effect. Sorry about that. The best thing to do is to get yourself a copy of PP9 and try them out for yourselves. In almost all cases there are many variations and multiple slider controls for each effect. Most of those shown here are merely the default settings for each effect. Literally hundreds of thousands more are possible using individual adjustments for each effect.

Effect Family	Effect Name	Effect Description	Example (original)
3D Effects	You can apply three-dimensional special effects filters to an image. Three-dimensional filters transform your images to create a three-dimensional illusion of depth. The three-dimensional filters are
	3D Rotate	lets you position the image by adjusting an interactive, three-dimensional model
	Cylinder	conforms an image to the shape of a cylinder
	Emboss	transforms your image into a relief, with details appearing as ridges and crevices on a flat surface
	Glass	places a three-dimensional, glass-like surface over a selection defined by a mask
	Page Curl	makes one of the corners of an image roll in on itself
	Perspective	gives images three-dimensional depth, as if they exist on a flat plane and recede into the distance
	Pinch/Punch	warps an image by pinching it toward you or punching the image away from you
	Sphere	wraps an image around the inside or outside of a sphere
	The Boss	raises the area of your image that falls along the edges of a mask
	Zig Zag	creates waves of straight lines and angles that twist the image outward from an adjustable center point
Art Strokes	The art strokes special effects filters give your images an organic, hand-painted look. You can use these filters to turn your images into pastel drawings, sponge paintings, and watercolors, or to create textured backgrounds for your artwork. The art strokes filters are:
	Charcoal	converts images to black-and-white charcoal drawings
	Conté Crayon	textures images using a conté crayon
	Crayon	transforms images into wax crayon drawings
	Cubist	groups similar colored pixels into squares to produce an image that resembles a Cubist painting
	Dabble	turns image pixels into dabs of paint using a variety of brush styles
	Impressionist	makes images look like Impressionist paintings
	Palette Knife	creates the impression that an image is the result of a knife spreading paint on a canvas
	Pastels	converts images into pastel drawings
	Pen And Ink	transforms images into pen and ink drawings using a cross-hatching or stipple technique
	Pointillist	analyzes the main colors in your image and converts them to small dots
	Scraperboard	scrapes away a black surface to reveal white or color, creating a dramatic sketchy drawing of your image
	Sketch Pad	converts images into graphite or colored sketches
	Watercolor	transforms your image into a watercolor painting
	Water Marker	reconstructs your image as an abstract color marker sketch
	Wave Paper	makes your image look like a painting on textured, wave paper

Please proceed to Page 2 of the Effects and Filters Descriptions