Photoshop plugins are small modules that Photoshop loads into the Filter menu at start-up. Almost anything can be done by a plugin and some are very advanced. Today, however, we find on the market a number of plugins that do very sophisticated image retouching that would otherwise have been difficult or time consuming in Photoshop. Photoshop has since begun to offer functions similar to some of the old plugins, like lens correction and proper black-white conversion.
Installing plugins into Photoshop is pretty easy. Inside the Adobe Photoshop folder, there is a folder called Plug-Ins. All you have to do is place the plugins inside the Plug-Ins folder. Next time you launch Photoshop, the menu Filters will have your new plugins as an entry. The new plugins will show up the next time you launch Photoshop. So if it was running when you installed the plugins, you will have to quit and relaunch Photoshop. Actually you don't have to install the plugin into Photoshop's Plug-Ins folder. Follow these guidelines to install plugins in any folder you like:
1. First create the alternative plugins folder where ever you like and call it what ever you want.. 2. Launch Photoshop. 3. Open the menu Edit. Move the mouse to the bottom of the Edit menu, to Preferences. This opens the Preferences sub menu. 4. Plug-Ins might be called "Plug-Ins and Scratch Disk" depending on your Photoshop version. Go there. 5. Check Additional Plug-Ins Folder to activate it. 6. Use the Choose button to browse to your alternative plugins folder.
As simple as that! You now have an alternative plugins folder where you can store all your personal plugins. Exit the preferences and relaunch Photoshop. When you relaunch Photoshop, the menu Filters will have the plugins in your alternative plugins folder listed at the bottom of the menu.
There are generally two types of plugins: 1. Plugins for photo retouching. 2. Effects plugins. Retouching plugins tend to manipulate what is already in the photo without adding anything new. On the other hand, effects plugins add, well, effects to the picture. Examples of retouching could be sharpening, exposure or saturation. Effects examples could be lens flare, bokeh or raster. Of course there are cross overs. Is lens correction a retouch or an effect, for example? If you correct barreling or pincushion, it is a retouch, but if you use it to create the look of a fish eye lens, it is an effect.
Third party plugin were made possible in 1991 when Photoshop introduced the possibility in Photoshop 2. Three years later Joe Ternasky released Filter Factory for writing third party plugins. In 1997 Alex Hunter released Filter Meister as an improvement over Filter Factory and many of today's plugins are written in Filter Meister. Ten years after Filter Meister was released, a novel approach to filter development was released as Filter Forge. Filter Forge plugins require Filter Forge to run and they are not stand alone. Currently Filter Meister plugins only support 32bit Photoshop. But Alex Hunter says 64 bit support will come some time in 2013. Filter Meister is only for Windows.
Installing plugins into Photoshop is pretty easy. Inside the Adobe Photoshop folder, there is a folder called Plug-Ins. All you have to do is place the plugins inside the Plug-Ins folder. Next time you launch Photoshop, the menu Filters will have your new plugins as an entry. The new plugins will show up the next time you launch Photoshop. So if it was running when you installed the plugins, you will have to quit and relaunch Photoshop. Actually you don't have to install the plugin into Photoshop's Plug-Ins folder. Follow these guidelines to install plugins in any folder you like:
1. First create the alternative plugins folder where ever you like and call it what ever you want.. 2. Launch Photoshop. 3. Open the menu Edit. Move the mouse to the bottom of the Edit menu, to Preferences. This opens the Preferences sub menu. 4. Plug-Ins might be called "Plug-Ins and Scratch Disk" depending on your Photoshop version. Go there. 5. Check Additional Plug-Ins Folder to activate it. 6. Use the Choose button to browse to your alternative plugins folder.
As simple as that! You now have an alternative plugins folder where you can store all your personal plugins. Exit the preferences and relaunch Photoshop. When you relaunch Photoshop, the menu Filters will have the plugins in your alternative plugins folder listed at the bottom of the menu.
There are generally two types of plugins: 1. Plugins for photo retouching. 2. Effects plugins. Retouching plugins tend to manipulate what is already in the photo without adding anything new. On the other hand, effects plugins add, well, effects to the picture. Examples of retouching could be sharpening, exposure or saturation. Effects examples could be lens flare, bokeh or raster. Of course there are cross overs. Is lens correction a retouch or an effect, for example? If you correct barreling or pincushion, it is a retouch, but if you use it to create the look of a fish eye lens, it is an effect.
Third party plugin were made possible in 1991 when Photoshop introduced the possibility in Photoshop 2. Three years later Joe Ternasky released Filter Factory for writing third party plugins. In 1997 Alex Hunter released Filter Meister as an improvement over Filter Factory and many of today's plugins are written in Filter Meister. Ten years after Filter Meister was released, a novel approach to filter development was released as Filter Forge. Filter Forge plugins require Filter Forge to run and they are not stand alone. Currently Filter Meister plugins only support 32bit Photoshop. But Alex Hunter says 64 bit support will come some time in 2013. Filter Meister is only for Windows.
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