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Blow Up 2 is a Photoshop plug-in that produces enlargements dramatically sharper than any other software, especially Photoshop! Blow Up uses an innovative algorithm that temporarily converts pixels to a vector representation which results in perfectly smooth, crisp edges. Simulated texture and film grain keep photos looking natural even in extreme enlargements. Blow Up can even clean up JPEG compression artifacts when a client insists on using a low quality source image from the Web. Simplicity and Time Savings: Preparing photos for print can be surprisingly tedious, often requiring a pile of sticky notes with calculations involving dpi, aspect ratio, and cropping sizes. New features in Blow Up 2 are designed to take the complication out of this process. Over 100 presets for common output sizes are available that make cropping and resizing easy to do in one step. When you load a preset, Blow Up 2 makes an intelligent guess about where to crop the image using the Auto Crop feature. The Auto Rotate feature adapts the preset to match your photo’s orientation. Blow Up applies the proper amount of output sharpening based on the paper type you choose. Resizing many photos at once is now easy to do in a single step with Blow Up’s built-in batch processing tool. This tool is much easier to use than the multi-step process of creating a Photoshop action and then running it with Photoshop’s batch command. Technology: Every bit of the latest technology has been added to Blow Up 2. Blow Up takes advantage of multi-processor and multi-core systems. The more processors/cores, the faster it runs. Even with just a plain old single processor, Blow Up 2 runs faster than Blow Up 1. Version 2.0.3 Update includes the following new features:
• Blow Up 2 Startup Panel for Photoshop CS4
We have created a Photoshop Panel that will make running Blow Up much easier. The startup panel sits in your Photoshop window and can be moved or docked like any other built-in Photoshop panel. You can use it to launch Blow Up or even resize an image with a single click.
• Free Gallery Wrap Panel for Photoshop CS4
The Gallery Wrapper Panel complements Blow Up 2. You may have enlarged your image to make a massive gallery wrap print. You can then use the Gallery Wrap Panel to add a border to your image so you don’t lose any of the image when it is wrapped around the frame.
• Run Blow Up from the Filter Menu
Blow Up 2.0.0 appeared in the File->Automation menu rather than the Filter menu, which confused some users. Version 2.0.3 now lets you launch Blow Up 2 from the Filter menu.
• Performance Slider
A slider is now available in Blow Up’s preferences panel that controls whether Blow Up 2.0.3 optimizes its processing for speed or memory use. It is rare for Blow Up to run out of memory, but if it does then this slider can solve the problem. If memory is not an issue then this slider can give Blow Up a slight speed increase.
• European Paper Sizes
Blow Up 2.0.3 now includes ISO paper sizes commonly used in most of the world, such as A4. Many of these output sizes are available through a single click in the Startup Panel mentioned above. What's new in version 2:
• Image Quality
Image quality is improved in many ways. Results are sharper, both during upsizing and downsizing. Noisy images are handled better. Research from our Exposure product was used to improve simulated grain. You now have control over simulated natural texture. • Output Sharpening
There are now controls for output sharpening. Just choose your medium (paper type or Web) and Blow Up sharpens the right amount. • JPEG Repair
There is now a slider for cleaning up overly compressed JPEG images. When a client insists on giving you a blocky photo they found on the web, you can clean it up during the resizing process. • Easy Batch Processing
There is now a batch processing tool that comes with Blow Up 2. This requires much less clicking than recording a Photoshop action and then running Photoshop’s Automate->Batch command. • Previewing and Cropping
The previewing system has been completely redesigned. Zooming and cropping are integrated for improved workflow. The Crop to Size Tool is an easy way to crop and resize to a specific output size at the same time. Previewing is faster on multi-processor or multi-core computers. • Settings
There is now a Settings Tab with over 100 presets. You can also save your own settings. Settings let you easily choose a standard output size and medium, such as 8x10 Inkjet Matte Paper. Proper output sharpening is applied to match the paper type. Presets automatically rotate to fit the orientation of your image and find a suitable crop area. • Huge Images
You can resize up to 300,000 pixels per side, the maximum Photoshop can handle. Of course, Photoshop would choke on a square image that big, but if you are making a billboard that Photoshop can handle, so can Blow Up 2! Most other image resizing plug-ins can’t make photos larger than about 30,000 pixels on a side.
• Improved Interface
Blow Up handles the most sophisticated images demanding professionals can throw at it. Nearly every color space is supported, including Grayscale, Duotone, RGB, CMYK, and Lab. Most image resizing software only supports RGB color space and you have to pay an extra $140 to get CMYK support from our main competitor. All bit depths are supported, including 16-bits/channel (for Raw images) and 32-bits/channel (for HDR images). Blow Up is the only resizing plug-in that supports 32-bits/channel images. Click the Resources tab above for related articles and other information on this topic. Manufacturer: Alien Skin Software |
