Photoshop plugins are small modules that Photoshop loads into the Filter menu at start-up. In the old days Photoshop plugins were just a bunch of weird effects. Today, however, some very sophisticated plugins have been produced that aim at complicated image retouching that would otherwise have been impossible or very 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. Adobe Photoshop installs with a folder called Plug-Ins inside the Photoshop folder. Place the plugins inside the Plug-Ins folder, and you are done. Launch Photoshop and the menu Filters will have your plugins listed. 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. You can actually install the plugins in a different folder than Photoshop's Plug-Ins folder. This is how to set Photoshop up to load plugins from any folder you like:
1. First make sure you have an alternative plugins folder. Create it where ever you like and call it what you want. 2. Run Photoshop. 3. Go to the menu Edit and open it. Move the mouse to the bottom of the Edit menu, to Preferences. This opens the Preferences sub menu. 4. In Preferences go to Plug-Ins or Plug-Ins and Scratch Disk, depending on your Photoshop version. 5. Activate Additional Plug-Ins Folder by checking it. 6. Click the button Choose to browse to your desired alternative Plug-Ins folder.
That's it! You can now store all your plugins in this alternative plugins folder. Exit the preferences and relaunch Photoshop. Next time you run Photoshop, the menu Filters should have all your personal plugins listed at the bottom.
In general there are two kinds of plugins: 1. Plugins for photo retouching. 2. Effects plugins. Retouching plugins don't add anything new to the image, but rather manipulate what is already there. On the other hand, effects plugins add, well, effects to the image. Sharpening, exposure or saturation would be examples of retouching. Effects examples could be lens flare, bokeh or raster. Of course there are cross overs. What about lens correction? Is that a retouch or an effect? 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.
The history of plugins goes back to Photoshop v 2, in 1991, when support for third party plugins was introduced. In 1994 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 todays 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. Filter Meister plugins are currently only for 32 bit Photoshop, but the developer, Alex Hunter, prmises 64bit support will be released some time 2013. Filter Meister is only available for the Windows platform.
Installing plugins into Photoshop is pretty easy. Adobe Photoshop installs with a folder called Plug-Ins inside the Photoshop folder. Place the plugins inside the Plug-Ins folder, and you are done. Launch Photoshop and the menu Filters will have your plugins listed. 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. You can actually install the plugins in a different folder than Photoshop's Plug-Ins folder. This is how to set Photoshop up to load plugins from any folder you like:
1. First make sure you have an alternative plugins folder. Create it where ever you like and call it what you want. 2. Run Photoshop. 3. Go to the menu Edit and open it. Move the mouse to the bottom of the Edit menu, to Preferences. This opens the Preferences sub menu. 4. In Preferences go to Plug-Ins or Plug-Ins and Scratch Disk, depending on your Photoshop version. 5. Activate Additional Plug-Ins Folder by checking it. 6. Click the button Choose to browse to your desired alternative Plug-Ins folder.
That's it! You can now store all your plugins in this alternative plugins folder. Exit the preferences and relaunch Photoshop. Next time you run Photoshop, the menu Filters should have all your personal plugins listed at the bottom.
In general there are two kinds of plugins: 1. Plugins for photo retouching. 2. Effects plugins. Retouching plugins don't add anything new to the image, but rather manipulate what is already there. On the other hand, effects plugins add, well, effects to the image. Sharpening, exposure or saturation would be examples of retouching. Effects examples could be lens flare, bokeh or raster. Of course there are cross overs. What about lens correction? Is that a retouch or an effect? 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.
The history of plugins goes back to Photoshop v 2, in 1991, when support for third party plugins was introduced. In 1994 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 todays 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. Filter Meister plugins are currently only for 32 bit Photoshop, but the developer, Alex Hunter, prmises 64bit support will be released some time 2013. Filter Meister is only available for the Windows platform.
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