14 DAY TRIAL // PostworkShop Pro is the tool you need if you want to transform regular photos into genuine works of art – even if you lack artistic talent. The application makes available an extensive set of filters which can be applied in layers over regular images.
Contrary to general belief, turning regular photos into awesome imagery is not too difficult a job. There is no limit to the level of artistry that can be achieved with the help of computers. And, when it comes to image manipulation, PhotoShop naturally pops into the mind of anyone. However, as potent as the mighty suite is, sometimes even the work it exports can be bettered with the help of additional tools.
As its name hints, PostworkShop Pro is to be used after you have finished editing the image, and are ready to add an artistic twist to it. The app comes in three editions: Basic, Artist and Professional; during our tests, we used the last one, priced $99. All of them come with the requirement of a hefty machine, equipped with at least 2GB of RAM, 4GB being the recommendation from the developer.
The Mac-inspired interface is not a familiar look to a Windows user, but this should not represent any obstacle in working with the program. The application window is split into no more than four main areas, which let you gander at the progress of your work, view the imported objects (text or image), check the style layers (and adjust their effects and opacity level).
A side panel gives you access to project lists, filters and their properties. It is a simple layout that shouldn't be daunting for any user, be they newbie or professional.
Unlike the Basic edition of the software, the Pro version sports three tabs in the workspace window: Compositing (available in all three editions), Style Editor (available in Artist and Pro versions) and Batch Processing (present only in Pro). Out of these three we found the first two being the most important, mainly because they point to the true power of the software.
Batch Processing can be used to quickly apply the same blend of styles to multiple images. The operation is RAM intensive, requiring in our case about 550MB to complete a 5-file task in a few minutes.
Having an interface dominated by simplicity, getting along with the application and discovering its benefits is definitely not a job for the pros. Still, not everything is as easy to grasp as one may think. For a proper use of the Style Editor, we appealed to the application's documentation, which turned out to be more than helpful.
Compositing tab of the workspace is where you get to see the imported object and preview its modification before wrapping up the project. Both styles and objects can be applied in layers and blended together into a unique result.
PostworkShop's main attraction (and actually what you pay for) is obviously the list of styles it incorporates. Although it packs a hefty luggage of more than 350 filters, you also have the possibility to download another 40 or so from the developer's website free of charge.
You can contribute to this set yourself by mixing styles together and adjusting them so that a new filter is obtained, which can be shared with others. There are three types of licenses you can place it under: free, demo and commercial, meaning that you can also sell them if you want to.
Enriching PostworkShop Pro goes beyond styles, to cover brushes and color palettes as well. The built-in set can also be extended by downloading the presets from the developer's repository.
Style Editor is similar to “Compositing” window, but instead of giving you a preview of the blended styles, it will offer the schematics of how all the filters interact. You can bundle them one on top of the other or chain them together into a single layer. Choosing one method over the other depends entirely on your project's complexity, and the blend and opacity choices for each layer. Unfortunately, you cannot make a chain out of styles that are already layered, the only option to blend them together being flattening all of them.
The list of built-in styles is split into six categories, all of them parenting sub-categories, depending on the richness of the resources. However, the effects you can render are absolutely amazing, ranging from simple sketch strokes done with the pencil to complex ones resembling a painter's initial vision of a subject.
Different drawing instruments like chalk, charcoal, marker, pen or pencil can be combined with various painting techniques (gouache, watercolor) and styles (abstract , impressionism, expressionism, pop art). The possibilities under Photo and Graphic Arts sections are not to be neglected either, as there you'll find plenty of choices to apply all sorts of effects, like giving that old image tint or creating a fade-away feeling.
It is a huge area in which a novice can easily spend hours just trying out the effect of different styles on an image (luckily, you can send shortcuts of frequently used filters to the Favorites area, for easier access). On top of this, many of the entries come with configuration settings (under Properties and Preview tab of the right-side panel) that can improve the output result.
The Layer Mixer tool under Style Layers lets you control how much of a style is applied to the original image. It is based on the layer proximity principle, which means that you can drag the current output result closer or farther from the other styles, in order to achieve the blending that best suits your needs.
PostworkShop Pro is an awesome repository of easy-to-use effects that can be handled by both beginner users who want to add an artistic twist to their images, or professional ones in need of a finishing touch for their image editing projects. It comes with plenty of tutorials explaining the basics of the program and how styles can interact with each other in order to get the most of them.
On the downside, during our testing, we experienced a few crashes which, thanks to the auto-save feature of the program, did not affect our work too much since upon re-starting the app we were able to pick up where we left.
Style Editor is a great tool to view how the filters interact and for creating styles of your own, which can be organized in “User” category. Importing styles, brushes and palettes extends the functionality of the application to new limits. The set of styles can be enriched with pieces created by you. The price and the plethora of image styles it comes with may act as drawbacks for the average user, but if you have some knowledge of image editing, filters and layer blending, the application is more than worth trying. Plus, you have the free edition to use with your images and learn new things.
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