Important notice!

AlphaToys™ released

VanDerLee™ released version 1.0 of the AlphaToys Photoshop™ plug-in. AlphaToys is a collection of 16 different filters which deal with the transparency in images. Graphics applications typically provide a lengthy set of tools to deal with the color of pixels, but rarely do they provide similar tools to change the transparency, or alpha channel, of image. AlphaToys bridges this gap by providing those same common tools, but allowing them to work on the transparency instead of the color.

AlphaToys contains a number of plug-ins to convert from color to transparency; make the bright areas opaque and the dark areas transparent or vice versa, keep color or fill with black or white. You can flip it around later if you want. Standard "Gaussian blur" and "Unsharp Mask" let you blur or sharpen the alpha channel, or just the color. "Brightness/Contrast" and "Auto Contrast" allow you to stretch the range of transparency, whereas a "Limit" filter does just the opposite. AlphaToys also includes a "Custom" filter for those who want to create their own convolution filters to work on Alpha. The AlphaToys "Custom" filter can load and save filter created using the Photoshop color-only Custom filter.

Perhaps most importantly, AlphaToys is designed to integrate with automation. You can record any AlphaToys filter in actions or macros  and play them back later. Obviously, you can also change the settings of the recorded filters later. The AlphaToys filters also work with Photoshop's Smart Objects feature. Include filters in your image project and tweak the settings of the filters at any time. Using AlphaToys with Smart Objects lets the user create complex effects consisting of multiple filters (which may also include other plug-ins or filters), then go back and change the first filter without having to redo all the other filters manually.

Using AlphaToys is easy. Half of the AlphaToys filters don't even have a user interface. The other half each has a simple window with controls similar to what you already know from your graphics application. Typically it's just a preview, one or two sliders, an OK button, a Cancel button and a Help button. The latter will take you to a context sensitive help system which explains what the filter does, how to control it and even includes handy before- and after examples for each filter. Multithreading support ensures everything works smoothly with very little waiting time.

AlphaToys is a set of 16 plug-ins for Photoshop and compatible graphics applications. If you want to see examples and screenshots or learn more about AlphaToys, you can visit http://alphatoys.vanderlee.com or e-mail VanDerLee at contact@vanderlee.com. For further contact information, visit www.vanderlee.com.

VanDerLee has been in the computer graphics industry since 1997 and is a devoted to improving the workflow of graphic professional and artist with tools that allow them to work quickly and with the best quality every single time. For nearly a decade, VanDerLee has supported the Photoshop and computer graphics community at large, with a ever-improving library of both free and commercial plug-ins and is part of multiple groups dedicated to improving the tools of the trade for the computer graphics industry.