I've been playing with these two programs..one a plugin for Photoshop and I believe a few other image processing programs, the other a stand alone application, and have been intending to write a review, but, frankly, I am still a bit bewildered by them. Now, there is nothing wrong with them. Both create exceptional "art" or cartoon type work from photos and are quick and easy to learn and use.The trouble is...I am not an artist, have little to no artistic talent and consequently have little knowledge of how to make these programs really sing, which in the right hands I know they could. Briefly, Buzz Pro is the plugin. It works well in Photoshop, never crashing the program or doing odd things. It is not exceptionally fast but does produce exceptional results. PhotoartMaster is the stand alone program and is far more powerful...think of it as a combination painting -with-the-history/art history brush type of thing. Awesome. But, not for the artistically challenged..like me. Going to the following link, you can( if you are like me) pick up a free plugin called "simplifier" which does about 50% of what the high powered programs I mentioned do. http://photoshop.msk.ru/as/index.html

For the artists out there go to the following link and check out the Segmentis web site...there you will find examples and better explinations. One drawback to PhotoartMaster is that it only works with JPEG images...at least for now. http://www.fo2pix.com/

To close, I must say that these two programs from Segmentis are powerful and have worked well for me. Someone with a backgroung in traditional painting/drawing could do wonders with PhotoartMaster while with the plug in, Buzz Pro, anyone can be a cartoonist..of sorts. As to any application for retouching/restoration...I doubt it. But, they are fun to play with. Tom

Thanks for the cool links Tom. I actually had run across the first link and thought it pretty cool but at the time I couldn't see a need in the restoration business as you said and I was mostly geared toward that typed software unless it was free. :) Great reviews though.
DJ

They both turned out great, Chuck! I especially like the effect on the house.

Phyllis

Click HERE (http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/products/aafpr_photoartmaster1.htm?terms=Photoartmaster) for the best review I've seen on PhotoArtMaster. (Written by Sue Chastain, from about.com's Graphics forums.)

It seems to be quite an impressive program.

Nice pics, Chuck. Thanks for bringing this thread back to life.

~Danny~

Photo artmaster and buzz pro are great and I believe certainly could and are used in all aspects of photo restoration and digital manipulation.
The other site you gave has some interesting effects but nothing close to what these 2 can accomplish in my opinion.

Very impressive.

I know you've only had the demo for a day or so... how would you assess the ease of use?

Holy cow... These are pretty slick, Chuck.

I predict you'll have a new toy in your arsenal in the near future. :) Thx for the assessment thoughts.

Chuck,

Looks like you are off to an excellent start. Much better than I did when I tried out PhotoartMaster. I hope to see more pictures from you, as you have time.