14 DAY TRIAL // Photo editing softwares have gone a long way in the past years. We have seen how quick the progress in the case of Photoshop was. Now they are testing CS3 version. Besides the multiple options available in the application you can find a myriad of plugins on the Internet to help you in your editing work.
The effects are among the most important features in any image editor. Some users limit to using them in order to twist the images a little. Deformations, light effects, motion effects, sepia, metalizing, optics effects etc. are all part of a professional image editor. They may not be called the same, but they are available.
Photo to Color Sketch is an easy to use software designed to apply several effects that used in combination can create an artistic result. All there is needed is time, patience and a spark of artistic sense. Of course, the basic condition is having the money to pay for it as cheap is not among the list of "features" of the software (which comes for a $35).
The minimalist interface makes it great for a newbie or a kid and advanced users will definitely frown upon the fact that the options available are not up to the price. The major part of the window is occupied by the image you are trying to "spice up". On the left side, there is the original picture while on the right you are presented the preview.
The WYSIWYG interface has everything out in the open and almost makes the menu bar useless if it weren't for the File menu equipped with the Open and Save options. The list of supported image file formats is extremely brief and contains only two elements: BMP and JPG. Despite the fact that these formats are among the most popular, some of the users may feel the need to have more freedom in this respect.
The lack of tooltips makes a beginner's working session somehow difficult especially if there is no basic knowledge on effects.
There are two modes you can work with (displayed in the bottom left corner). The first one is Color and contains a collection of six effects to combine. In fact, there are only four of them as Fringe has three color intensity levels. The other three effects are Inverse (creates the negative film effect), Sharpen (improves the contrast of the image) and Median (the opposite of Sharpen, will blur the image).
None of the effects can be manually defined and only the preset values can be used. However, clicking more time on the effect button will amplify the result and the on the fly preview will let you know how far you've gone. The Undo option will only work for the last action so trying to rewind more than one step is not possible. Renew button will refresh the preview window to the original picture and you can start from scratch your work.
Black an White effects on the other hand support configuration of the amount that can be used. The B&W Split slide bar is a 125 scale that can amplify the B&W effect. Gray effect will simply make the image monochrome. B&W works in the exact same manner as gray, but the result will be a black and white sketch. The slide bar controls the amount of black and white to be added to the sketch.
Pen and Ink effect will create the sketch based in the darkest contours of the image. Thinning works only in combination with B&W, Pen, Erode and Dilate. Its purpose is to eliminate the black spots and leave only the lines that shape the forms. Eroding works similar to B&W effect, the only difference is that the first one is more emphasizing then the latter. Dilating your picture is also a black and white sketch and will add more black to the image.
Combining the effects can bring a pretty nice result and all you need is the patience to go through all of them (about five minutes).
The Good
Dropping a twist into your images is not difficult and the WYSIWYG interface poses absolutely no trouble. The best feature included is the on the fly preview.
You won't have to install the application so you can forget about traces being left on your computer upon getting rid of it.
The Bad
Closing the window after you have made all your changes will not result in prompting you with saving the modified picture.
The list of effects is pretty short and the price is high enough to keep you away from making a purchase.
The Truth
The $35 price does not make it accessible to too many users and considering the options provided it is not worth using past the 10 tries use in the trial version.
Add $10 to the price and you can get a much better application that contains a whole lot more effects and options.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
