CROSSING THE BOUNDARIES between bitmapped and vector graphics, Extensis' DrawTools and Human Software's Medley bring creative tools found in image-editing packages to Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia FreeHand. Or if trying to correct the colors in a bitmapped image has you stumped, try Intellihance 2.0, also from Extensis. DrawTools. Formerly from Scarlett Graphixx, this set of integrated plug-ins sports a new interface and includes modules that can reshape, color-correct, and precisely move objects in Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia FreeHand. The Shape module can wrap vector artwork around a variety of user-definable 3-D shapes a la Adobe Dimensions. In FreeHand, the shape tools work interactively, so you can position 3-D shapes within the work space rather than using a clumsy modal dialog box. The DrawTools Color module provides vector artists with a number of the color-correction options available in Adobe Photoshop, including gamma-curve editing, color-to-grayscale conversion, and duotone generation. $149. 503-274-2020. Intellihance 2.0. New to the Extensis lineup is Intellihance 2.0, formerly from DPA Software. The original filter distilled the arcane control dialog boxes in Photoshop into simple menu choices. Version 2.0 of this Photoshop plug-in offers a revamped interface; before-and-after image previews; and easier-to-use slider controls for tweaking the tone, saturation, and sharpness of images. $149.
Medley. Human Software takes the powerful masking and layering functions available in its AutoMask Photoshop plug-in and puts them into Medley, a plug-in that works with Illustrator and FreeHand. Like AutoMask, Medley can quickly composite up to 64 RGB or CMYK images, using a variety of blending modes. Medley also has interactive masking brushes for creating soft feathered areas and simple drop shadows. The plug-in requires just 8 MB of RAM, and its images can be more than 100 MB in size, thanks to the proxy-based preview. The final result is an EPS file placed in Illustrator or FreeHand. $199. After January 1, $295. 408-399-0057.
