Snap Art is Photographer's Best Friend
Written: Jun 16 '07 (Updated Jun 16 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Extremely Easy to Use, Excellent Built-in Features, Beautiful effects!!!
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: Simply the best plug-in program for someone who likes to work on media artwork or a photographer who wants to expands creativity on his/her images.
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| paulphoto's Full Review: Alien Skin Software Snap Art |
Snap Art is AlienSkin's new product that specializes in image manipulation and effects. It is particularly useful in photography or media artwork. It is a plug-in program for Adobe Photoshop CS or Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 or later version. With Snap Art, photo images can be rendered and transformed into a whole new level of artistry without requiring much work.
Snap Art is available both as a retail-boxed or download version. The price is the same for each.
Hardware/Software Requirements
OS: Windows XP/Vista
Application Software: Adobe Photoshop CS or later, Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 or later, Corel Paint Shop Pro XI or later
OS: Mac OS X or later
Application Software: Adobe Photoshop CS or later, Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 or later
Hardware: Intel P4, 512MB, 1024x768 resolution; Mac-PC or Intel CPU, 512MB, 1024x768 resolution.
Installation
I review a download version, just a single executable file almost 10MB in size. Thus, even a dial-up connection can still download the file without much problem.
The installation process and procedure are similar to many application software, which requires answering a few steps regarding end-user agreements and registration online. A product code must be entered to initiate the installation. The installation wizard then scans through the system to select a host application program(s) that Snap Art can attach itself to. I only have Adobe Photoshop CS installed on my workstation, and therefore, Snap Art has listed it on the host programs. My Adobe Photoshop CS program will be Snap Art’s destination for plug-ins. To allow the program to install (attach, that is) on a host program I had to click next.
Once installation was complete, Snap Art could be used right away. Under Adobe Photoshop CS’s Filter pull-down menu is Alienskin Snap Art plug-in. It has its own submenus (under Alien Skin Snap Art), with ten different filter styles.
Using the Snap Art
Since Snap Art has its built-in application, different styles of image manipulation can be achieved through a selection of the features. Snap Art has ten different styles that include
1. Color Pencil
2. Comics
3. Impasto
4. Oil Paint
5. Pastel
6. Pen and Ink
7. Pencil Sketch
8. Pointillism
9. Stylize
10. Water Color
Each style has an additional list of settings to enhance or further manipulate an image to achieve a specific requirement.
Because Snap Art is a plug-in program, its features are available for use only when an image is loaded on Adobe Photoshop. In other words, in order to use Snap Art, one would have to load an image onto Adobe Photoshop program; then apply the Snap Art styles or applications on that image.
As a photographer, I often want to transform my slide images into a different plane of imagery in the form of artwork, such as impressionism, sketches or abstract. Now, this by no mean will change or manipulate the original image in terms of composition or elements therein. It simply means that an already appealing image can be transformed into an oil paint to convey a sense of art rather than a photographic image.
To apply each of the ten styles listed above, I first load an image onto my Adobe Photoshop CS. From a Filter pull-down menu, I can select a preferred style. Most appealing to me among the ten styles are: Impasto, Oil Paint and Pastel. Of course, the other featured styles are equally impressive depending on the kind of image and the final outcome one wants to achieve. However, the three I listed seem to apply themselves well on any kind of images. Since I often like impressionistic and dream-like effects, the transformed images seem to convey a deep sense of appreciation.
As mentioned previously, each of the ten styles has an additional list of effects to be applied on an image. Once an image has been loaded onto Adobe Photoshop CS and a preferred style is selected, AlienSkin Snap Art application window appears with a list of additional features. These are listed under Settings. To see an effect on an image, I only need to click one from the listing and the effect is immediately applied on the image and displayed on screen. I can keep on selecting different settings to see which one appeals to me the most. If I like the effect, I can click OK to accept the effect and the overall image will be rendered to this new effect.
Now, the Alien Skin Snap Art application window also has additional features to allow a degree of image manipulation. In other words, in addition to the Settings, there are Basic, Colors, Canvas and Lighting. Under Basic, one can choose a different brush style, adjust the brush size, edge detail and paint coverage on the overall image. Under Colors, one can apply a certain amount of saturation, contrast, brightness, temperature and random color variation. Under Canvas, texture and thickness can be adjusted, as well as zoom. And, finally, under Lighting, the direction of light, its brightness and degree of color can be manipulated.
All of these can be applied to an image; and the effect is displayed on the right side of the Application window, with the original unaffected image displayed on the top (in a small window) for comparison. The original image displayed in this window basically allows the artist to navigate to each part of the image when it is being viewed in actual pixel size that the window at bottom cannot display the entire image. To view the entire image on the display window, Snap Art has provided a quick Ctrl short-cut key combination for zooming in and out. There is a button right below the original image window that when click and hold down the mouse button, the original image is displayed in place of the rendered one; this simply allows the artist to make a quick view and comparison of the effected and unaffected image in similar size.
My Impression
Snap Art performs very well, considering the countless successes I have had using it. Under my Windows XP Pro and Adobe Photoshop CS, Snap Art works flawlessly. All its specified features work as advertised. I encountered not a single problem.
I mostly work with TIFF images; and these images have file size in the order of 23-30MB. Snap Art’s rendering process often takes about a second or two. My workstation is based on a dual-CPU AMD Opteron 2.0GHz system and 2048MB of RAM. The recommended hardware system listed at the beginning of this review merely specifies a useable system. I speculate that for a productive work, one would need a very high-performance desktop or workstation. I would imagine that for a slower machine the rendering process could take up to minutes, depending on the size of the image being manipulated.
Since I have a download version, the user’s manual did not come with the software. I suspect there is no user’s manual as the program is so simple to use. All of its interface and effects application are self intuitive; no confusing interface that requires a combination of application to achieve any final result. Each can be applied by a single click and the effect is applied immediately. However, there is an online user manual explaining all the detail of Snap Art’s interface:
http://www.alienskin.com/snapart/snapart_interface.html
In addition, there is a PDF sample guide downloadable at alienskin.com web site with examples of the different effects and how each style can be applied to achieve stunning effects.
http://www.alienskin.com/PDFs/SnapArt_Sample_Book.pdf
Snap Art is quite expensive costing at $149. But for me, this price seems unimportant because of the impressive effects and a whole new level of artwork that can be achieved using Snap Art and in less time. I am quite impressed with Alien Skin Snap Art plug-in program. If you are interested in artwork, Snap Art is available for a 30-day trial and can be downloaded at alienskin.com web site with just a valid e-mail address and registration.
Previously, I have done a lot of artwork from my slide images using Adobe Photoshop or the GIMP trying to add effects that otherwise cannot be achieved in the field. It was a process that required patience and a willingness to experiment, meaning that a lot of time is invested; and depending on the degree of success, time could be viewed as wasted or well spent. Well, with Snap Art, the captivated effects can be achieved immediately without spending so much time put into it. The quality of the final piece of artwork is amazingly stunning.
Recommended:
Yes
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