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Page Curl Pro & Puzzle Pro Review - Photoshop Plugins From AV Bros.
Offered by AV Bros., Page Curl Pro (overview below) is an easy to use, user-programmable plug-in for Photoshop that enables you to quickly apply special effects to digital images.
By curling, folding and bending images, the plugin gives you the opportunity to easily recreate a wide variety of interesting and popular design effects. And with its solid capacity at digitally replicating reality (offering up to 25 different light sources), the plugin offers a powerful range of control over texture, 3D perspective and lighting effects.
Its moderate price makes Page Curl Pro a great addition to any graphic designer's toolbox, as it offers one of the most comprehensive filters of its category for its value. And to make the price even better, AV Bros. have sweetly given us an exclusive special offer that allows you to buy Page Curl Pro with a special 10% discount. Page Curl Pro lists at $49.95, and the Regular version at $29.95.
Also from AV Bros., Puzzle Pro (overview below) provides another special effects plug-in for Photoshop. While its main purpose is to create jigsaw-like effects, it can also be used to create any sort of effect that requires cutting an image, including creating mosaic or stained glass effects.
Similar to Page Curl Pro, this plug-in appears to be limited in scope at first glance, but actually offers a vast range of possibilities for innovation on its primary theme. As with Page Curl Pro, AV Bros. have given us an exclusive special offer that allows you to buy Puzzle Pro with a special 10% discount. Puzzle Pro lists at $49.95.
Also make sure to read our interview with Page Curl Pro co-creator Alex of AV Bros below.
AV Bros. Page Curl Pro - Overview
AV Bros. Page Curl Pro plug-in has the all new and unrivalled engine that lets you not only bend the image, using two types of bending (curling and folding), but also texturize it (using the bump maps), orient it in 3D space (including perspective distortions) and obtain total control over the process of lighting the image (including the option of dropping inner shadows).
Because Page Curl Pro is a multi-purpose plug-in it may be used not only as a page bender, but also as a texturizer and a lighting lab, as well as for many other design purposes.
The interface of Page Curl Pro is extremely user-friendly and has some unique features that make working with the plug-in easy and enjoyable. Here are the main differences between the PRO and the "Regular" version:
- The Multi-bend option: the ability to create several bends within the single session of the plug-in.
- The ability to orient the page in 3D including adjustable perspective.
- The ability to specify the Limit of the page turn and as a result the ability to create the "non-complete" page curling effect.
- The ability to make the bent part of the page to be cut into the remaining part of the page.
- The ability to use the Advanced Lighting mode for obtaining the total control over the process of lighting the page.
- The ability to drop the Inner Shadows with adjustable Opacity and Size.
- The ability to texturize either side of the page by using the grayscale images (called Bump Maps), with which you can manipulate inside the plug-in.
- Multi-level Undo option.
For more info visit the AV Bros. site where you can also find a free demo. Page Curl Pro lists at $49.95, Page Curl Regular at $29.95 — and this product is available through us at a special 10% discount.
AV Bros. Puzzle Pro - Overview
AV Bros. Puzzle Pro is a filter plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and compatible hosts. Puzzle Pro is an extremely high quality, powerful and flexible product, which can greatly increase your creativity and productivity.
Thanks to both the superb engine and the user-friendly graphic user interface, the plug-in gives you absolute control over the process of creating all your desired effects. And although AV Bros. Puzzle Pro is targeted to help you create a jig-saw puzzle effect, it also produces a plethora of other high quality image effects.
Puzzle Pro provides you with absolute control of a puzzle's shapes, delivers a large number of built-in effects for modifying the content of a puzzle's pieces, and gives you the possibility of not only being able to split an image into pieces, but being able to draw the splitter's shape too. Puzzle Pro includes an option to save the shapes in .EPS or .AI formats for using them in such applications as Adobe Illustrator, Flash, and CorelDRAW.
For more info visit the AV Bros. site where you can also find a free demo. Puzzle Pro lists at $49.95 — and this product is available through us at a special 10% discount.
Discount Codes (10% Off) From AV Bros. Plugin Store
The AV Bros. have given us special links where you can get a 10% discount on the purchase of their plugins. Just use the following links to purchase the individual products or packages at a discount.
AV Bros. Page Curl 2.0 for Mac OS X
AV Bros. Page Curl Pro 2.0 for Mac OS X
AV Bros. Page Curl Pro 2.0 for Windows
AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0 for Mac OS X
AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0 for Windows
Bundle A (Page Curl Pro 2.0 & Puzzle Pro 2.0) - cross-platform
Bundle A (Page Curl Pro 2.0 & Puzzle Pro 2.0) - for Mac OS X
Bundle A (Page Curl Pro 2.0 & Puzzle Pro 2.0) - for Windows
Interview With Alex Shalikashvili - Half Of The AV Bros.
Here's a short interview we conducted with Alex Shalikashvili, one half of the AV Bros.
Can you give us a little history of your company, and how you got started?
We developed our first plug-in for Photoshop back in 1999. It was our AV Bros. Page Curl 1.2. And a short time later, we released the first version (or better to say – version 1.2.) of our AV Bros. Puzzle Pro. You may ask why plug-ins, and why these particular effects?
We had a strong background in developing custom software, web graphics and desktop printing. As a result, we had a close connection with Photoshop and various plug-ins for this amazing application. And the pioneers of the plug-ins' development, such as Alien Skin (With their Xenofex 1.) and Meta Creations (With KPT3, of course!) were our favorites. And if Alien Skin's products were and still are (!) slick, useful and easy to use, the plug-ins from Kai Krause's team not only created cool effects, but had the stunning user interfaces (UI).
(We think that Spheroid Designer from KPT3 has the most attractive UI ever developed for any plug-in.) And, if we remember correctly, the turning page effect along with the puzzle maker were the most popular effects from those sets of plug-ins. But the folks from Alien Skin and Meta Creations were a hard act to follow! Therefore, we've set the following "problem" to ourselves – create powerful plug-ins that should produce high quality effects and which should have the convenient and cool-looking UIs. And we try to keep solving this task since our first plug-ins till the newest Page Curl 2.0, Page Curl Pro 2.1 and Puzzle Pro 2.0. Our customers will decide whether we have succeeded in this process or not.
Tell us how you came up with the company name?
Oh, simple question, actually. We (Alex and Vladimir Shalikashvili) are brothers. The conclusion is obvious, isn't it? :-)
What is your most popular plug-in?
Without any doubt – AV Bros. Page Curl Pro 2 (2.0 and then, 2.1 versions).
Is the learning curve easy on your plug-ins? Or are some plug-ins harder than others to master?
Well, "the plug-in should be easy to use" statement has always been one of the most important to us. From the other side, it's obvious that when the product is extremely powerful and versatile, it's practically impossible to make it as easy to use — as for example Photoshop's Gaussian Blur plug-in. Though our Page Curl 2.0 is very close to this "standard". :-)
As for Puzzle Pro 2.0 and Page Curl Pro 2.1 – they just confirm the simple "rule" — if you want to invest in your productivity and be able to use ALL the power of the product, then you should "waste" some time in reading the manual. Of course, if the User Guide is good enough. ;-) Though, as our customers' feedback shows us — most of them successfully use our products even without any User Guides. :-) Well, we hope that this can be considered as the confirmation of the fact that the plug-ins are intuitive, rather than the fact that these customers are "lazy" :-)
Are you planning on releasing updates soon?
Yes, version 3.0 of Puzzle Pro will be released quite soon.
Do you have other plug-ins that you are working on? New creations?
Absolutely! Though the fact that AV Bros. is a small Company explains why our productivity is not as high as we would wished it to be. :-)
What is your favorite plug-in and why?
Nice question... At the moment – AV Bros. Page Curl Pro 2.1, but we're almost sure that when we finish Puzzle Pro 3.0, then it'll become our favorite. Why? This is probably because we were able to realize almost all of our ideas in the latest product. And because the produced effects are breathtaking! :-)
Thank you for the interview Alex, and we wish you continued success for your company.
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