Plug-ins for Photoshop and PaintShop Pro and Photoshop Elements and others

180 Plug-ins, millions of effects - all for PC Photoshop CS6 - 6 and PSP and others

Date updated: June 1st, 2013

Plugin sets 1 2 3

 

Please note that the plugins work in 32 bit applications and NOT 64bit, also they are for PC (Windows XP, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, ME etc)

Plugins video tutorial

Check out the video to see some of the functionality of the plugins on this page. The plugins can be used to create 1000s of effects so no single video could possibly show all the options included in the set. There are just too many features.

Plugins video

How to install Photoshop plugins ?

The plugins come in 8BF format. Place the 8BF files in the plug-in or plugins path of the host application. The plugins are then found in the filters menu.

 

 

Plugins for X5 as well as earlier

The plugins work fine also in the latest version of the corel painting application

 

 

Photoshop plug-ins information

Blending modes / options

The plugins all include 100 output settings such as invert the image, apply only to the red channel, wrap the color, limit the colors to the current foreground and BG color range, set to difference, darken only, different darken effects, tiling, zapped color effect and many more. Blending modes are like additional filters added to the plugin effect, adding millions and millions of new creative effects to any plugin

 

 

Post processing settings

All the plugins include 18 post processing settings such as applying a randomized blend to the end result of the filter effect. The randomized color blends effects and blends can add subtle color changes to any image or text or layer. The color effect combinations can range to millions and millions of unique color effects such as quadrant effects. Alone, the post processing effects are a truly powerful addition to any plugin effects collection.

 

 

Settings

The plugin settings can be saved so if you find a really stunning effect, simply click the SAVE. The ini file can then be opened in future and the effect re-applied to a different image.

 

 

Photoshop actions

The plug-in effects can be saved as an action so you can use the actions in batch processing / scripting. Combine many of the effects, combine the Andrew's Plugins with native Photoshop effects and save as an action. Re-use the action in future image processing

 

 

 

Effects modes

The plug-ins all include 20 effects modes. Instead of the end result of the plugin being used in the final output, the filter effect is generated as a blur or smear or paint effect or grain effect based on the strength of the filter effect. Use the effects modes to apply totally weird and wonderful unique warping and paint and blur effects to any image.

 

 

 

Color modes - CMYK, RGB

The plug-in set can be used in RGB as well as CMYK and Grayscale and LAB as well as in 16 bits / channel (for many of the features). Change the image mode via the image command in Photoshop from RGB to CMYK and the plugins will still appear enabled in the filters menu, apply your effects in CMYK. You can also go to the channels palette and apply the effects to individual channels

 

 

Color settings

The plugin gives you powerful color options to modify the color of each channel individually. If you want the end result of the effect to be redder or greener, simply move the color sliders. The color sliders can also be randomized, giving you millions of possible color outcomes applied to the image

 

 

 

Randomized settings

The plugins all come with a selection of randomization control. The Xtreme control randomized the settings to the extreme, creating literally millions and millions of image effects. The blend control randomizes the blend / output options; the tweak control applies subtle variations of the current settings

 

 

Many different powerful settings in all plugins

All the plugins include many different settings. The plugins include dropdown combo boxes to radically alter the functionality of the plugin, settings sliders such as intensity, mixing of image and effect, blurring, quality of effect and more. Enter the settings via the interactive sliders or enter the strength of the effect in the standard text box.

 

 

 

Layers / alpha channel

If you apply the plugin effect on a layer, the alpha channel can also be modified by the plugin effect as well as the image itself. There are many different layer / alpha channel modification settings such as adding the red channel of the effect to the alpha channel, or applying a blend to to the alpha channel, or inversing of the effect, edge settings and many more

 

 

 

Other applications

They work in many different PC software such as PhotoImpact and many other software. Also work on Vista, windows 7 Some functionality might be different in each plugin as each application uses different features and color approaches. I would suggest - check out your application with some of the sampler / demos

 

 

Millions of great effects

Each plugin can be used to create awesome effects. The plugins are from the developer of the Andrew's Filters (a 1000+ filters collection). The Andrew's Plugins are a different set of plugins, requiring no additional dlls. Use to create countless stunning visual effects and digital photography effects. Apply to images, text, layers and more. Use to create tiles and more

 

 

 

Color channels

The filters can be used on all RGB channels or they can be used on a single channel. Use the plugin effect on different channels in turn with different settings to create truly unique channel effects and designs. The plugins also come with three sliders to manipulate the color channels, to add more red or more blue or less green.

 

Digital Photography

The filters all come with modes that can be useful for digital photography such as borders as well as invert, solarization, posterization, saturation as well as tone settings. Use the plugin output and effects modes to tweak an image in 1000s of ways, from the subtle to the extreme

 

Color modes CMYK and others and plug-in use

The effects can be used in many different color modes and not just RGB. The number of the color modes for the plugins depends on the application and some will only allow access to grayscale and / or CMYK. Photoshop has a number of other color modes such as LAB as well as 16 bit color modes and beyond. The graphicxtras plugins work in most color modes. They will not work in indexed color mode though. I would imagine that only specialized effects will work in that color mode.

 

Plug-in Previews

All the effects include a large preview screen to show the effect. You can go in and out within limits. The preview in many cases can also be used as an interactive tool to change the settings of some fields, simply click the preview to select the color or change the intensity of an effect (as mentions, varies from plugin to plugin)

 

Andrew's Filters

The effects are not the Andrew's Filters. I created the Andrew's Filters back in 1995, these plugins are not related other than that I created both sets of plugins. The range of effects in this later series is many 100s of times greater in range and feature than the earlier popular series. Please check out many web sites such as the Steve's Desktop Photography site for a full list of all the plug-ins in the Andrew's Filters collection. I no longer store the filters on the graphicxtras web site

 

Color from toolbox - plug-in color settings

Many of the filters use the color from the toolbox. If the plugin effect or setting uses the foreground color or BG color of the Photoshop plugin's toolbox then you will see this as indicated in the plugins as BG and FG colors. You can change the color via the standard Photoshop toolbox. Changing the color combinations can radically change some of the effects (there are also millions of possible color combinations!). Most of the blend plugins use the BG and FG color information to create the blend. Some software do not return the color information so in those cases the plugins will only probably use a single pre-defined color.

 

Recommendations

'Totally fascinated with the graphicxtras plug-ins', 'Use the plug-ins 90% of the time for mixing colors to achieve artistic effects' - Jeff Wietor (www.raincoat.tv) "In the growing market of plugins and filters Andrew's work shines above the mediocrity of mostly uninspired "effects". His work is not only inexhaustible in scope and variety it is original and fresh. Andrew's Filters, settings, do not just blur the distance between plugin effects and art, his work is art. Welcome to the future." Dede Kafka

 

Plugins - how to install, tutorials, how to use

 

Quick gif video of the installation of the plugins !

 

The plugin files are all 8BF files. The 8BF files need to be placed in the plug-ins or plugins path of the host application, the filters will then appear in the filter menu of that application. If INI or ini files are included, they should also be placed in the same path as the plugins

Plug-in Categories

The filters are spread over multiple categories, the plugins appear in the menu of Photoshop® in their overall category, these include things like edge / blur / color .

Filtermeister

All the plugins were created using the excellent plugin development tool, Filtermeister. Please check out the FM plugin details on the filtermeister.com site.

No additional dlls required

Unlike the original FF (Andrew's filters), the Andrew's Plugins series does not need any additional dlls or additional converter tools to use the plugins

Plug-in magazine reviews

Digital Camera Shopper Magazine (UK camera magazine) December 2005 4/5 (value for money 5/5)

The plugins have been reviewed extensively in the past, mainly in the various computer graphics magazines in the UK and also in the US.

 

After you have downloaded the Andrew's Plugins Collection zip or plug-in sets

(available for purchase on this site). This tutorial makes an assumption that you have not got a third party unzip tool. There are many unzip tools available on the web such as Stuffit Expander, 7zip and others and if you have these, many of the steps below can be ignored other than the copying or extraction of the files to the plugins folder. OK, you are on a PC (the plugins only work on the PC, Vista / windows 7) and you have just finished the download of the plugins file (Andrews_plugins_collection.zip). The file is download to your Internet download folder or 'save to' location on your PC. Go to that folder via the windows explorer. In the split screen of the windows explorer you can see the folders (left side) and the files on the right. Select the file and run your anti-virus software to check for viruses (such as Microsoft Security Essentials or Kaspersky)

 

Windows Explorer - Go to the folder pane

Go to the folder pane and select the folder / files and click the '+' to expand the 'andrews_plugins_collection'

 

Windows Explorer - Display of folders contained within the zip

Windows explorer can displays all the folders and files structure within the zip. Select the PC 8BF Plugins folder, all the plugins are located in that folder. You can now extract all the files (this is one of the options in the top bar of the windows explorer). You can also do it via this slightly more labourious approach via the next few steps. If you decide to use the 'extract all files' then you will see a dialog giving you an option to select the destination folder for the plugins (you can use the browse to browse to another folder if you wish)

 

Windows Explorer - Select all the files in the zip

Goto the file side of the explorer.

Go to the edit menu of the explorer and select all (or ctrl A). This will then select all the 8BF files included in the zip

 

Plug-ins Copy 8BF files

Now copy the 8BF files (still all enclosed in the zip, they have not been extracted)

 

Plug-ins Paste 8BF into the same folder

As the files have not been extracted, there seems to be some limitations to the copy / paste functionality. I would suggest at this point copying the files to the same folder as there appears to be an issue with copying the files to an admin protected area straight from a zip file(perhaps this is not the case, but it is for my Vista installation)

 

Plug-ins 8BF files are now extracted

You should now have a folder with the zip file and 180 Photoshop plugins (8BF files). The files can now be copied to the actual 'plugins' folder. Again, the extract option might be a lot quicker than this approach.

 

Plug-ins - Copy the files again

Select and copy the files in the files pane (do not select the andrews_plugins_collection.zip file as this is not a known format for Photoshop).

 

Plugins install folder for Photoshop CS5 CS4

Use the file explorer to go to the folder for the plugins for Photoshop. The exact location varies from version to version of Photoshop but it is generally always in the Adobe folder.. it might be Photoshop CS2 or Adobe Photoshop CS3. The plugins folder in Photoshop is 'plug-ins' (in many other software it is plugins but for PS, 'plug-ins'). I always create an additional sub folder for the plugins. You don't have to do this as it is not a requirement but I often place the plugins in a sub-folder of plug-ins called 'graphicxtras' (or graphicxtras.com or third party plugins). It just makes it easier to find the plugins as they are all in one place and they can then be copied between software or versions of PS, they can also be quickly deleted if you no longer need them. If you just add them into the plugins path with all the others, after a couple of weeks, it is quite easy to get confused about which set is which. All the sub-folders of plugins are checked for 8BF files. Paste the plugins via the edit menu > paste command (or ctrl P)

 

Permissions for the plug-ins

As the plugins are being added to the administrator controlled folder in 'program files' you might be asked for permission. I use my PC in a basic account for day to day work or web access, so the account doesn't have admin privileges. If you are not running your admin account, you will be asked for the admin username and password. This is normal.

 

Photoshop ®

Go to Photoshop and open a document or create a new document. Go to the filter menu and select the filters via the AP [] categories. The plugins are all in categories loosely related to their basic function such as blurs are in AP [Blurs]. Most of the plugins come with 1000s of effects and possible end results that the blur or smear might not exactly match the end result.

 

 

Any questions, please e-mail us on support@graphicxtras.com. Abneil Software Ltd - UK company: No.04770268. Copyright @2013 By Andrew Buckle

 

Andrew Buckle, Abneil Software Ltd, Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom. (+44) 622 688 375