Well, kind of a poll...smile. OK, everyone, what plugins do you have that you consider indispensible (and if you care to explain, why)? (Just trying to gather some insight) Thanks in advance!

outside of the standard set or can we include those supplied by Adobe??

:)
retrocity

"...outside of the standard set or can we include those supplied by Adobe??" Mostly, I'm interested in any that one needs to get by purchasing or free downloading outside of the ones that get installed with the program. If there are some extras offered on the Adobe site, I guess I've not noticed...(sheepish grin). Of course, for anyone who feels like taking the time, I'd like to hear WHY a particular plugin is indispensible. Hope I'm not asking for too much.

unsharp mask LOL

Is "unsharp mask" a plugin? I thought it was just a PS filter.

For me, Eye Candy 4000's chrome plug-in is indispensable. I use it for all sorts of effects from metals to a satin shine in a dress. And Kai's Power Tools plug-ins. Flaming Pear's free plug-ins also come in handy now and again.

As for me I say Eye Candy 4000's fur plugin ^_^ cause sometimes I'm just too lazy to paint hair.

Sato, I looked at your gallery and most of the hair I see looks to be models or a great painting job. Which ones were the "fur" plugin ones?

Cookie, when you mention KPT, which particular ones spring to mind? (a lot of them aren't on the market any longer)

Well I've only used it on 3 pictures LOL. They are "Clearly an Angel", "Simple", and "Levitation". It really saves a lot of time...since for me if you handpaint hair in photoshop it's mostly straight (cause I do everything by mouse)...the fur plugin can make wavey hair something people have problems painting nods.

i don't have it but i've seen some awesome work done with "Flaming Pear's" Flood plugin. not sure if i have any 3rd party ones "i can't live without" ;)

:)
retrocity

KPT 5, sorry I should have said. It's still available at Corel.

PixelSmart scaler, saves me much time in trying to explain to someone with a two megapixle camera why their image will not print at 8 x 10 inches with offset lithograhy. If they can't understand that they probably can't see the subtle diffrences in detail in the shadows & highlights anyway.

Eye Candy is indipensible to me. I use gradient glow to put outlines around fonts to make them stand out. Shadow for post work. Fire and fur. Second would be KPT. After that, I have some color correction plugins I use a lot. And if you consider Actions as plugins, I use a LOT of actions. I have 100s of free plugins past that, but I save most of those for use in PSP rather than overcrowding my Photoshop filter menu. The plugin I most want? A good mask program. There's also an excellent plugin that converts to pen and ink look, but it's only for MACs dang it.

Genuine Fractals PrintPro...for resizing,without killing the quality. Extensis MaskPro...does a bit better than PS with masking and selections. EyeCandy...only for the "noise filter"..gives more options than PS. Clouds(free on the net)..once again..same as PS,but with more options and control. Flaming Pear's Flood...don't use it that often,but does come in handy. Waiting to see what the new filter(due out the end of this month)from WorldBuilder has to offer...import 3D object files into PS,move, rotate,add shadows,then commit to a layer..hmmmm SWAMP

Well, there are a lot of interesting-sounding plugins! Questions: Is that Extensis MaskPro the one that used to be advertised in the Adobe Magazine (the one showing the little girl with the frizzy hair being pulled out of a picture and pasted on a different background)? The EXPENSIVE one? PixelSmart Scaler and Genuine Fractal PrintPro sound like they do similar things. Am I right? Where is a good place to "browse" over some possible free actions to download? (I don't think I've ever used an action before) I took a look at Flaming Pear and Eye Candy but KPT (Corel) doesn't have ANY examples of what the plugins do. How about THAT for advertising a product?!

Attached Link: http://share.studio.adobe.com/default.asp

@Bone, good link! great resource to bookmark
@Chuck, maybe Corel is just riding on the "customer base" of prior KPT users ;)
it's funny cause' they'll list out some of the effects and give descriptions but offer no useful images!!! also i see they're tossing ver5, 6, and 7 into a "collection" package...

more to come (got to get to the office!)

:)
retrocity

Chuck,In answer to your questions I never tried PixelSmart,so can't give you any feedback. I have used S-Spline,and found it had more of a limit to the amount of resizing you could do with good results. I read alot of reviews,and got feedback from people that have used resizing softwear,and Genuine Fractal always came out ahead of the others...so that is what I got(and it works very well). The thing with this kind of softwear/plug-in is you are not going to take a "web" size graphics,and resize it up to a large image for print.You have to have a high rez. to start with...(example...you need a 16x20@240dpi,you need to have around a 8x10@300dpi as your original). As for MaskPro,the only other masking plug-in that I know of is KnockOut(Corel). I used it(KnockOut) on a work computer, and found it took more time and work(with the same results)than if you just used the tools in PS. MaskPro cost $199.99(ouch!!), but is faster and does a better job than PS's tools...but at that price you really need to be doing composite type work all the time to justify the cost. I hope this helps, BUT I would also like to add... These are very specialized plug-ins,that I have a real need/use for in my work. Special effects(FX) filters are quick and easy,but with few exceptions the results always looklike a quick&easy one-click effort(not a good thing). The fur filter in EyeCandy is very popularlook thru the galleriesyoull see a lot of wavy hair that SCREAMS I zapped this with the fur filter. Any and all effects (and the resulting image) should have a seamless,natural,and invisible look to them,and not draw your attention to the technical aspects. I would really dig into PS and find out all that it can do for you first,before you start loading up with the filter of the week. Thats just my opinion (course opinions are like ass-holeseveryone has one). Have fun,SWAMP

A LOT of good points, Swamp! My theory on buying plugins is that it should have the ability to do something that I can not do myself (or that would take me a very long time). For example, the Flood filter from Flaming pear. Other plugins, like, perhaps, "glow" ones, might offer a lot of fast glow creations but I can usually handle most of any glowing I need with PS and a few layers so..... Thanks, Bone, for the URL above. I'll definitely check it out! Retrocity: Yeah, really. How hard COULD it be to show a few visual samples!?

The #1 for me is the flood filter from flaming pearl.a real killer. The#2 is the aetherize filter also from flaming pear.Imo adds a dreamy feel and some mystery,I like that. The# 3 is flaming pearls Laquer for great details and mystery. My # 4 is the fur filter from eyecandy,it helps me alot with hair. Flaming pear got a lot of other fantastic filters also,you just got to know,how,when,in wich amount and in wich settings to use them. Longrider.

especially flamingpear's superblade pro, lunarcell, solarcell and glitterato, melancholytron is good too

I was working with Photoshop tonight and realiz3ed I had forgotten two filters I find extremely important. They're made by Panopticum: Fire and Lens Pro. They're both excellent, with a LOT of confusing parameters, and fire can be animated as well, I think, tho I've never done it. I'm danged if I can remember where I got them. Xenofex is also a set of filters I use quite a bit. I use lightning quite a bit, and use many of the others on new layers and applied with the multiply mode to get texture effects.

I like the ones from Redfield: http://www.redfieldplugins.com Both shareware and freebies are pretty good.

Thanks guys! MORE investigating to do before I drop some money.

EYE CANDY Gradient Glow is awesome. It's pretty much the only plugin I use. It's just so very neat. I also think that Eye Candy's FIRE plugin is pretty nifty. Hope this helps, Andini