Creating bevels, shadows, cutouts, and other special effects in Photoshop can be a time-consuming, trial-and-error process -- unless you use Alien Skin's The Black Box. Users of version 1.0 already know how easily this nifty set of plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop 3.0 lets you get the desired effect without a lot of fuss. Version 2.0, with its new preview windows and four additional filters, is an even more impressive product.
Sneak Preview. The most useful aspect of this upgrade is undoubtedly the new preview portion of each filter's dialog box. As you make adjustments, such as to the bevel width or shadow strength, the changes display immediately in the preview, virtually eliminating the need to apply and reapply the filter several times to get just the right effect. We almost always got exactly the look we wanted on the first try with this program.
Easy Bevels. In addition to the original six filters (Outer Bevel, Swirl, Drop Shadow, Glass, HSB Noise, and Glow), this upgrade contains four new ones: Inner Bevel, Cutout, Carve, and Motion Trail. We especially liked Inner Bevel, which bevels an object within your selection rather than outside. (Outer Bevel, on the other hand, bevels the area outside the selection boundary, giving you a totally different effect.) Inner Bevel is great for creating buttons and background tiles for World Wide Web pages on the Internet.
The Black Box works so well (and is so useful) that there's little to complain about. Still, the package could be slightly more versatile if -- when possible -- the filters could place its effect, such as the shadows created by Drop Shadow, in a Photoshop layer separate from the original image. As it is, when you create a drop shadow for text, the shadow attaches to the text, making the text and shadow one object. Editing the text separately from the effect you've created then becomes difficult.
Nonetheless, with all the time-saving and creativity benefits provided by The Black Box, we can live with this small oversight. If you work in Photoshop often, the Black Box will help you create a special look more quickly and easily than you could by tweaking settings yourself.
The Black Box 2.0 Very Good (4 of 5 mice) / Price: $119 (list). Company: Alien Skin Software, Raleigh, NC; 919-662-4934. Reader Service: Circle #413.
