Review of AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2

© 2004 by Kurt von Behrmann. All Rights Reserved.

As anyone who uses Photoshop will tell you, there are a vast array of software companies out there making plug–ins for the application. From filters to make your pictures look better to effects that change the shape and contours images, there is literally a plug–in out there to satisfy nearly every possible need a designer or artist could want.

The majority of image filters for Photoshop primarily deal with ways to improve a digital image, or in some way enhance a picture. The plug–ins that fall into this category have less to do with creative options and artistic expression than they do with correction aspects of a digital image. Then there are those plug–ins that are designed specifically for creative projects. Some are particle and others only become so if you have a specific need for that given effect.

When it comes to turning an image into a puzzle, AV Bros Puzzle Pro 2 has this field covered. In what has to be the most attractive plug–in to ever grace Photoshop, from installation to use, the appearance of the program is impressive. With colorful buttons and soft tones, when you first use the application you find yourself as fascinated by what it actually does as by what it looks like.

The primary focus of Puzzle Pro 2 is to create a puzzle effect. When this plug–in is applied to an image, the effect is that it looks like it was divided up to resemble a picture puzzle. While this sounds simple enough, this application adds just about every conceivable option to the process. From spacing to actual shape of the puzzle piece, you can configure your very own designs with the program. The level of configurability here is pretty astonishing when you consider how focused this application is. Who knew there were this many options to creating a puzzle effect?

One great option available here is that if you create a shape you would like to use, you have the opportunity of being able to save it in EPS or AI formats for use in programs like Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Flash and CorelDRAW.

Conveniently available in both Mac and Windows, the progrmas it has been tested in include:

Photoshop 7, CS, Adobe Photoshop Elements 2, Macromedia Fireworks MX. For Windows users this list adds these additional programs, Deneba Canvas 8, Ulead PhotoImpact 8, Jasc Paint Shop Pro 5 and higher. One can assume that this program will work in any application that supports Photoshop Plug–Ins. However, I do suggest that if you are thinking of a particular program not listed, contact AV Brothers Web site for details about other programs that this plug–in can work within.

Of added interest is that this is one of the few recently released plug–ins I have seen for Photoshop that actually works within Window 95 OSR2.

The basic feature set includes the following:

• Using a Splitter not only as a shape for cutting an image, but also as an object to be drawn.
• Fast and convenient creation (including a multi-level undo function) of an almost unlimited range of the shapes of the knife.
• The convenient management of the shapes previously added to the presets.
• Saving the knife's shape as an .EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), .AI (Adobe Illustrator) or .AVPH (AV Bros. Knife Shape 2.0 - internal Puzzle Pro 2.0 format) files.
• Loading the knife previously saved as an .AVPH file, back into the plug-in.
• Mutating the knife while cloning it for constructing the Splitter.
• Saving the selected knives as an EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) or .AI (Adobe Illustrator) files or saving the entire Splitter (with the states of each knife) as an .AVPD (an internal AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0 format) file.
• Loading the Splitter previously saved as an .AVPD file, back into the plug-in.
• Specifying the number of rows and columns.
• Inserting, deleting and moving the splitters of the columns or rows (groups of the knives between two neighbor columns or rows.)
• Specifying the thickness of the Splitter.
• Scaling the size of the knives' knobs.
• Turning the anti-aliasing of the Splitter ON/OFF.
• Randomizing knots.
• The manual adjustment of the position of the knots.
• Wide range of knife's flipping operations.
• Turning any knife ON/OFF (showing/hiding).
• Wide range of select operations including the random selection of the group of knives.
• Using the channels of the document (document's current selection, RGB, CMYK or Gray channels, alpha channels and layer transparency) as a source for selection.
• Copying the knife for further pasting instead of the other knives.
• Wide range of select operations including the random selection of a group of pieces.
• Using the channels of the document (document's current selection, RGB, CMYK or Gray channels, alpha channels and layer transparency) as a source for selection.
• Turning any piece ON/OFF (showing/hiding).
• Using seven (7) of piece effects (Bevel, Gaussian Blur, Motion Blur, Opacity, Color Overlay, Hue/Saturation and Brightness/Contrast) with the possibility of being able to specify the range of each effect's distribution among selected pieces.
• The possibility of being able to enable/disable any of the piece's effects.
• Copying the effects of any piece for further pasting them instead of other pieces' effects.
• Saving the cut image (the Puzzle), including states and effects of each piece as an .AVPD (an internal AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0 format) file.
• Loading the Puzzle previously saved as an .AVPD file, back into the plug-in.
• Saving the selected pieces as a multilayer .PSD (Photoshop Document) file.
• Supporting Color Profiles for the document saved in .PSD.

Summation:

Price point wise and feature wise, this has to be the ultimate tool for puzzle effects creation. With a fantastic looking interface, and enough options to spare, this is a must have for those that want this type of effect. I see the market for this software being graphic designers and artists who are interested in digital editing. This is not to say the hobbyist wouldn’t get something out of this plug–in either. It is certainly easy enough to use and price point aware enough for nearly any Photoshop user to enjoy.

Requirements:

• Apple Mac OS X v10.1 and higher
• Microsoft® Windows® 95(OSR2), 98, Me, NT4(Service Pack 4+), 2000, XP

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