- TEXTURE ANARCHY
DIGITAL ANARCHY
http://www.digitalanarchy.com / Approx £77/$
Texture Anarchy is a plug-in that lives up to its name, giving you access
to textures and borders that can be infinitely scaled without losing
quality, as well as giving you the ability to create your own designs. It is
split into three key plug-ins: Texture Explorer, which is the main area to
create seamless textures; Tiler Anarchy, for creating repeated
seamless designs; and Edge Anarchy to create borders. You use one of
the many built-in presets as a starting point from which you can begin
experimenting. The textures are created by layering one of 38 different
noise types on top of each other and combined to give different effects.
The textures are great for using in both 2D and 3D workflows, and they
can help to bring your typography to life. Once you have mastered the
basics, then there is a Lighting Editor and a Bump Well that enable you
to create powerful textures that have myriad professional applications. - NKS5 NATURAL MEDIA
TOOLKIT
http://www.nkurence.com/blog / Free (donations accepted)
This plug-in is one for digital painters. In fact, it’s not
a plug-in as such; it is an extension that is installed
through the Adobe Extension Manager. It has been
created by an artist and it is a collection of natural
media, texturing and production tools. When you
install it, it adds a new palette into the Photoshop
workspace and it is packed with tools. You can use it
to create documents that look like real-media
products, such as paper, notepad, graph paper and
more. From there, you can draw with pencils, pens
and markers, as well as paint with watercolours.
There are texturing tools, guides and margins and
brush presets as well. When it is all put together, it
becomes a powerful alternative to Photoshop’s own
painting toolset, as the brushes are very realistic,
and simply the way that everything has been
collected together in one place means that there is a
lot less trawling through menus to complete
different tasks – leaving you to get on with the actual
painting. This sort of extension for Photoshop shows
that it’s not just the well-known and expensive
packages that make a difference to your workflow.
04. MACHINE WASH DELUXE
MISTER RETRO
http://www.misterretro.com / Approx £59/$
Machine Wash is a set of texture filters that add an aged look to your designs. It
can make photographs look worn and vintage, but it is probably better applied to
graphic design projects, especially poster layouts and text. There are over 3,
presets available within the program that offer different looks, and these effects
can be applied to your whole image or in a more targeted way.
01
BASIC SETTINGS
Under Basic you can select from preset filters to apply to your design. If
you tick Filter Settings, you can see the textures that have been layered up to
create the effect, which helps you to see how filters are generated.02
WASH OPTIONS
Go into the Wash tab and you can begin to create your own look. Click on
Texture to load up the textures available and apply, then customise to suit your
needs. You can save any looks that you like so that you don’t have to remember all
your combinations.03
SURFACE DESIGN
Once the texture is in place, add depth with the lighting and contrast
controls in the Surface tab, which help to add realism to the final design. Select the
Generate Effect in New Layer Above option before applying, so you can continue
working on it in Photoshop.20 BEST PLUGINS