Essentials 2 for iPhoto

onOne Software, Inc., announced the availability of Essentials 2 software for iPhoto users. Essentials 2 for iPhoto is a collection of four easy-to-use software tools based on technology used in the professional level onOne Software Photoshop® plug-ins PhotoTune 2.2, FocalPoint 1.0, PhotoFrame 3.1 and Genuine Fractals 5. Essentials 2 is designed to be used in iPhoto to help correct color, creatively blur a photo for dramatic visual impact, add creative borders and resize digital images for high quality large prints. Visit onOne for more info.

Nik Software & Vertus - Color Efex Pro 3.0 and Fluid Mask 3 Software Bundle

Nik Software, Inc. and Vertus announced a new software bundle which offers photographers and creative professionals Color Efex Pro 3.0 Complete Edition from Nik Software and Vertus’ Fluid Mask 3. These tools offer excellent capabilities for doing image extractions and creative enhancements. Available on both companies’ websites as an electronic download, the bundle is available for $429.95. For download and discount information please visit niksoftware.com or vertustech.com.

Filter Forge Release Photoshop Filter Suite

Filter Forge have released a suite of Photoshop Filters for creating artistic and graphical effects. The Suite comes in 3 flavours and are aimed at Graphic artists, Illustrators and Photographers. Filter Forge also allows computer artists to build their own filters through the powerful visual node based filter editor. Using this powerful tool you can easily create seamless textures, visual effects, distortions, patterns, backgrounds, frames and more. The Basic, Standard and Professional editions, priced at $99, $199 and $299 respectively, offer different features-sets for entry-level, mainstream and professional graphic artists. For more info visit Filter Forge. Some of the filters look very good and there are also many presets available in their online filter library.

Alien Skin Announces Mac Universal Updates

Alien Skin is now shipping Macintosh Universal updates for all our Photoshop plug-ins. These updates are for users running Photoshop CS3 on Intel-based Macs. There Registered users may receive free updates for any Alien Skin plug-ins purchased on or after January 1, 2007. All other customers may purchase updates at $19.99 each for up to three titles; additional titles beyond three are free of charge. For more information visit Alien Skin.

Alien Skin Eye Candy Effects Collection

Alien Skin Software have released the Eye Candy Effects Collection , which bundles Eye Candy 5: Impact, Eye Candy 5: Nature, Eye Candy 5: Textures, Xenofex 2, and Snap Art plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop and other photoshop plug-in compatible applications. The Eye Candy Effects Collection includes 54 special effects filters with over 1000 presets. These filters allow digital artists and graphic designers to create chrome, fire, smoke, lightning, clouds, comics and dozens of other effects with a single click. These plug-in can be downloaded, including 30 day demos, at the Alien Skin Website. The Eye Candy Effects Collection retails for $399.

Andromeda Offering Discounts

Long time Photoshop Plug-in manufacturers, andromeda are offering discounts on their Plug-ins bundles for Photoshop. Pop on over to Andromeda to find out more about their offers and to sign up to their newsletter. I'm hoping to see some updates to their excellent software suites.

AKVIS Retoucher v.2.5

AKVIS LLC have announced the release of their AKVIS Retoucher plug-in v.2.5 for Windows and Macintosh. version 2.5 includes compatibility with Windows Vista, a new installation and activation method on Macintosh. The upgrade is free for registered users. For more information on Retoucher and all their products, visit Akvis.

Imagenomic Update Plug-ins

Imagenomic have announced that their Noiseware Standard and Pro plug-ins, and their newest products, Portraiture and RealGrain, have been updated to support the latest software applications, hardware platforms and O/S releases from Adobe, Apple and Microsoft, respectively. The plug-ins and software tools now include support for native Intel Mac systems, as well as Microsofts new Vista operating system. Imagenomic's plug-in versions of these titles also extend their trademark speed, superior picture quality and ease-of-use functionality into Photoshop's ongoing Creative Suite 3 public beta program, and the commercial release currently scheduled for this Spring. Imagenomic's latest plug-in releases are available as free upgrades to existing customers, and can be downloaded directly from the product update page of the company's website.