Skin Smooth

[ShadowLight]

The thread is about the PhotonicTools plugin, and its functionality.
Let me know if something does not work, bugs, problems with it.


CS5:
http://www.46it.ca/skinsmooth/PhotonicTools_V6.zip



Requirements:
PC / Mac
Photoshop CS5

Contact e-mail:
PhotonicTools@Gmail.com




INSTRUCTIONS


Installation:

make a folder in Plug-ins>Panels:
[PS] \Plug-ins\Panels\PhotonicTools\

extract in:
[PS] \Plug-ins\Panels\PhotonicTools\PhotonicTools.jsx
[PS] \Plug-ins\Panels\PhotonicTools\PhotonicTools.swf

Restart PhotoShop.

How to start:
(from PhotoShop) Window>Extensions>PhotonicTools


* Extensions grayed out?
solution: in Photoshop> Edit> Preferences > Plug-Ins > Load Extensions Panels

[Flora]

Hi ShadowLight,

mine is no comparison, just a wow!!!

I've tried the plug-in for different kind of skin problems and it just did a wonderful job!!!! I don't know much about 'numbers' therefore I can't comment on 'correctenss', so, I will simply comment on functionality and quality of result which I found excellent.... thank you so much for it!!!

My tests:

Attachment 1 = skin discoloration
Attachment 2 = skin blemishes
Attachment 3 = skin 'blotchiness'

The results were obtained by just one go with the plug-in... I simply had to move the sliders until I was happy with the result and refine the mask. I couldn't believe my eyes ... work that would have taken ages with clone, heal, or D&B was done in a few seconds!!!

Originally Posted by ShadowLight

....Tools don't make a retoucher good, they just make his day easier.

.... Very true!!

P.S. Tried to download the new version but, guess what?
Did you make important changes in it?

[longside1]

Flora,

Are the thumbnails your provided showing the plugin results, as it seems from your layer stack the smoothing is from some form of frequency seperation?

Cheers,

[Flora]

Originally Posted by longside1

Flora,

Are the thumbnails your provided showing the plugin results, as it seems from your layer stack the smoothing is from some form of frequency seperation?

Cheers,

Hi longside1,

the plug-in creates the stack of layers (Smart Filters) you see in my workflow ... the plug-in gives you also the option of rasterizing the layers ... but is flexible enough to let you make changes in the layers before that.

And yes it is frequency separation ... but for more precise details you should ask ShadowLight ...

[longside1]

I see. thanks for clarifying :-)

[helvetes]

Is this Plugin good for Mac Osx too? or it's just for PC?
I often use Portraiture and I think it's fine.......is thi SkinSmooth better than Portraiture?

[julianmarsalis]

Originally Posted by helvetes

Is this Plugin good for Mac Osx too? or it's just for PC?
I often use Portraiture and I think it's fine.......is thi SkinSmooth better than Portraiture?

Mac or PC cs4 or cs5 its awesome and FREE

[longside1]

and can be created pretty easilly as an action anyway...

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by Flora

Hi ShadowLight,

mine is no comparison, just a wow!!!

I've tried the plug-in for different kind of skin problems and it just did a wonderful job!!!! I don't know much about 'numbers' therefore I can't comment on 'correctenss', so, I will simply comment on functionality and quality of result which I found excellent.... thank you so much for it!!!

My tests:

Attachment 1 = skin discoloration
Attachment 2 = skin blemishes
Attachment 3 = skin 'blotchiness'

The results were obtained by just one go with the plug-in... I simply had to move the sliders until I was happy with the result and refine the mask. I couldn't believe my eyes ... work that would have taken ages with clone, heal, or D&B was done in a few seconds!!!

.... Very true!!

P.S. Tried to download the new version but, guess what?
Did you make important changes in it?

oh no... hmmm... I think the Italian government is tracking everyone there :P
... seriously... i think a few people from Italy may have a problem downloading, but no one else from the world seems to

I'll e-mail you the new version, and it has a new algorithm, so there could be some changes in the results... but should be better if anything.

[Flashtones]

Working nicely for me. Thank you.

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by Flashtones

Working nicely for me. Thank you.

are you using CS4? sorry I forgot

[ShadowLight]

Just found a little "bug" (again) in Photoshop's operations... so you may get some problems with the "strength" slider. So it will need a workaround...

I'll fix this in a couple of days.

[Flashtones]

Originally Posted by ShadowLight

are you using CS4? sorry I forgot

nah, I'm on CS5

[ShadowLight]

I know there's a BUG for all versions in the "strength" slider (it's a Photoshop bug)
but if anyone uses CS4, and the slider updates "at all" let me know if it works (as I can't test it myself)

[julianmarsalis]

Originally Posted by ShadowLight

I know there's a BUG for all versions in the "strength" slider (it's a Photoshop bug)
but if anyone uses CS4, and the slider updates "at all" let me know if it works (as I can't test it myself)

Curious what is the bug???

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by julianmarsalis

Curious what is the bug???

in one very specific case the buffer is not refreshing properly...

the chances of someone even noticing it is small, but still... it's something that needs to be corrected

[ShadowLight]

Bug: fixed.

files for v.2.5 are updated (it's not a beta anymore)

links are the same as above (first post)

[Flora]

Originally Posted by longside1

I see. thanks for clarifying :-)

You are welcome longside1 ..

Originally Posted by helvetes

Is this Plugin good for Mac Osx too? or it's just for PC?
I often use Portraiture and I think it's fine.......is thi SkinSmooth better than Portraiture?

Ciao Massimo, it works for Mac as well ... as for the comparison with Portraiture ... sorry, but I can't help you because I've never tried any other of this kind of plug-ins before.

ShadowLight,

what can I say ... thank you so much for your kindness!!!
I've received both new versions (the fixed one as well) of the plug-in, installed it and tried it ... works like a real charm! ... I'm not good enough to notice the technical differences, but, somehow I felt it was more flexible and precise.
I liked very much the addition of the Average Filter ... it does make a very good job in evening out Light/Shadows and colour!

My tests with the new version in Attachment 1 and 2. I left some freckles and other skin marks on purpose to keep it more 'natural looking' ...

....I think the Italian government is tracking everyone there :P
... seriously... i think a few people from Italy may have a problem downloading, but no one else from the world seems to

... actually I am in Cape Town (South Africa) since mid September ... but, as soon as I'm back in Italy I will try to download the plug-in the standard way ... just curious to see if it works from there or if it's just me...

Thank you so much again for taking the time to create, improve and fix the plug-in ... but, specially, thank you for sharing it!!!!

[ShadowLight]

... I guess the conspiracy theory is not true...

but it is strange that the only other person reporting problems with the download (from the facebook page) has Italian name... hmmm...

Thank you for showing how the plugin works and can be used.
I'm glad you like it and find it useful.

[amica999]

Originally Posted by ShadowLight

... I guess the conspiracy theory is not true...

but it is strange that the only other person reporting problems with the download (from the facebook page) has Italian name... hmmm...

Thank you for showing how the plugin works and can be used.
I'm glad you like it and find it useful.

My name is as italian as it can be...:-) no problems so far

[Boneappetit]

Originally Posted by helvetes

Is this Plugin good for Mac Osx too? or it's just for PC?
I often use Portraiture and I think it's fine.......is thi SkinSmooth better than Portraiture?

Works on Mac and Windows. I use Mac.

Last night i downloaded a free trial of Portraiture (never used it before). And I did some comparison tests with Smooth skin plug-in for around half an hour switching back and forth. I don't know much about technical terminology but will try to explain here in short, although I'm sure i need to do further trials.

Portraiture has some more setting tools, but a bit difficult to deal with. the one thing I found very nice about the program (or plug-in) not exactly sure of what it is... is the color settings which you can check on the fly before you render to Ps. The plug-in opens in it's own window until you render it.

Long story short Skin Smooth results are far better than portraiture and much faster, I guess ShadowLight concentrated all the features only in "3" sliders but the plug-in does a beautiful work as you can see here in Flora's samples.

The bottom line is (at least in my opinion) Portraiture can be good giving the pictures that drawing or painting look, but Smooth Skin is the plug-in to retouch. (Again, am not expert and i could be wrong) i'm speaking by myself on my own tests results.

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by amica999

My name is as italian as it can be...:-) no problems so far

so it's not the Italian name either

the server I use allows direct links, so it shouldn't had been a problem for anyone to download the files (unless the servers are down, which sometimes happens but it's only for a few min.) so I'm not sure why some people (although very few) have problems with downloading them.

if anyone has difficulty downloading, send me a private message with your e-mail, and I'll send you the files.

[Dak Paule]

Hi Shadow.

A problem I am having is this: when I click on "rasterize" it does rasterize it but then it greys it out and wont let me rasterize the remaining two created skin-smooth layer. Am I doing something wrong? I just downloaded the 2.5 version.
Thanks

Dak

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by Dak Paule

Hi Shadow.

A problem I am having is this: when I click on "rasterize" it does rasterize it but then it greys it out and wont let me rasterize the remaining two created skin-smooth layer. Am I doing something wrong? I just downloaded the 2.5 version.
Thanks

Dak

When you click "rasterize" it should become inactive (as you can't dynamically change the layer anymore).

When you click a second "SmoothSkin" layer it should get activated again (and be possible to dynamically adjust and click "rasterize" again).

If that does not help, try clicking (selecting) the background layer and back to the SmoothSkin layer (which is not rasterized) and see if it activates.

Let me know what CS version you are using.

[Dak Paule]

Originally Posted by ShadowLight

When you click "rasterize" it should become inactive (as you can't dynamically change the layer anymore).

When you click a second "SmoothSkin" layer it should get activated again (and be possible to dynamically adjust and click "rasterize" again).

If that does not help, try clicking (selecting) the background layer and back to the SmoothSkin layer (which is not rasterized) and see if it activates.

Let me know what CS version you are using.

Hi Shadow,

When I click on a second layer, it does not become activated again, it remains "greyed out" even when I click on the background layer and then back on the SmoothSkin layer. I am using CS5 and my OS is Vista. No one else has reported this problem?

Thanks,

Dak

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by Dak Paule

Hi Shadow,

When I click on a second layer, it does not become activated again, it remains "greyed out" even when I click on the background layer and then back on the SmoothSkin layer. I am using CS5 and my OS is Vista. No one else has reported this problem?

Thanks,

Dak

if someone else has this problem I would like to know too

here it works ok... but do you have other panels installed/working?
maybe it is possible that another panel (extension) is interfering

if you like send me your psd that does not work, and the files of SkinSmooth application you use at the moment (to make sure I test it here with same version you are using now)

PhotonMayhem@gmail.com

[Dak Paule]

Originally Posted by ShadowLight

if someone else has this problem I would like to know too

here it works ok... but do you have other panels installed/working?
maybe it is possible that another panel (extension) is interfering

if you like send me your psd that does not work, and the files of SkinSmooth application you use at the moment (to make sure I test it here with same version you are using now)

PhotonMayhem@gmail.com

Hi Shadow,

Here is something interesting. I had previously downloaded SkinSmooth version 2.0 on my laptop which is running CS5 and OS Windows 7 (64 bit) and it rasterizes like it is suppose to on all layers, no problem. But...I just now downloaded Skinsmooth version 2.5 on my laptop and it has the same rasterization problem I experienced with the new 2.5 version on my desktop computer. So..... I am using different computers and working on different files and having the same problem but only with v2.5 and not 2.0.

Dak

Dak

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by Dak Paule

Hi Shadow,

Here is something interesting. I had previously downloaded SkinSmooth version 2.0 on my laptop which is running CS5 and OS Windows 7 (64 bit) and it rasterizes like it is suppose to on all layers, no problem. But...I just now downloaded Skinsmooth version 2.5 on my laptop and it has the same rasterization problem I experienced with the new 2.5 version on my desktop computer. So..... I am using different computers and working on different files and having the same problem but only with v2.5 and not 2.0.

Dak

Dak

hmm interesting... make sure you don't have both versions running...
I assume you downloaded the CS5 version... I'll redownload and retest those files just in case...

edit:.. just downloaded and tested the files for v.2.5 and they do work here

so I'm not sure why this happens on your machines...
try to download again and overwrite the files

(so far you are the only one that has reported this problem)
-

[Tony W]

A big thank you for posting this. Have just started to experiment with it in CS5

Cheers
Tony

[thomearl]

I'm having the same problem as Dak Paule. I'm using 2.5 on OSX with CS4. Can't rasterize another layer after doing the first layer. And maybe I'm not doing something correctly, but I can't use the a white brush on the layer mask after its rasterized as you do in the video. My rasterize layer also looks different from yours in the video. Isn't it supposed to keep the smart object icon?