Plug-in and play with PageMaker
Article Abstract:
The plug-in market for Aldus PageMaker's DTP software is filled with useful applications that enhance productivity, layout or format. Aldus opened up the PageMaker code to third-party developers to enhance the functionality of PageMaker and improve its value to customers. PageMaker ships with about 20 pre-installed plug-ins developed by Aldus that can be used to insert drop cans, balance columns, group objects or rearrange pates. Third-party plug-ins perform a wide variety of functions. Common Sense Publishing's Active Help plug-in provides a comprehensive voice and text online help file for every PageMaker feature and command. Integrated Software's Celler, Nudge, and Shadow plug-in for the Mac has three features that create grids of identical boxes, move objects a specific distance and add shadows to pictures or text. ShadeTree Marketing's Fraemz plug-in allows users to change the standard PageMaker borders with pre-designed borders.
Publication Name: Publish
Subject: Publishing industry
ISSN: 0897-6007
Year: 1995
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Not without a trace
Article Abstract:
Macromedia's FreeHand 7, Adobe's Streamline 3.1 and the CorelTrace 6 utility in CorelDraw Suite 6 for the Power Macintosh all convert bitmap artwork into vector art for editing. All of the packages have Outline and Centerline tracing modes and features for controlling the tracing path and eliminating stray pixels. Through FreeHand's Autotrace dialog box, the user can specify preferences for details such as resolution and layers to be traced. CorelTrace uses a framed image with handles to allow the user to define the portions to be traced. Its Woodcut, Sketch, Mosaic and 3D Mosaic modes add special effects to traced images. Only Photoshop 2.0 or 2.5, PICT and TIFF formats can be traced with Streamline, although it will convert bitmap images copied from Photoshop to line art. It has extensive editing tools for retouching and defining the original and, to a lesser extent, the converted image.
Publication Name: Publish
Subject: Publishing industry
ISSN: 0897-6007
Year: 1997
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Behind the mast: erasing backgrounds in Photoshop
Article Abstract:
Adobe Systems' Photoshop 5.5 image processing software adds three new automated masking tools: Magic Eraser, Background Eraser and the Extract command. Full-blown masking remains the best approach for many images, but the new tools are useful time savers. The Magic Eraser is similar to the Magic Wand, but instead of selecting pixels it makes them transparent based on the Tolerance value set in its Options palette. It is practical only for erasing flat backgrounds, however. The Background Eraser deletes background pixels as users drag over them, but the cross in the center of the cursor has to be centered carefully on a background-color pixel. The tool responds to the brush shape selected from the Brushes palette. The Extract command is more powerful than the Background Eraser, but it lacks an undo function, and it is difficult to use when foreground and background colors are similar.
Publication Name: Publish
Subject: Publishing industry
ISSN: 0897-6007
Year: 1999
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