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New and Not-So-New

Of KPT 6's ten filters, five are brand new: KPT Turbulence, KPT Projector, KPT Materializer, KPT Reaction, and KPT LensFlare. My favorite, KPT Turbulence, applies a watery treatment to images. Sliding controls allow you to adjust the liquid's motion for wave intensity and fluid density. Even on the clunky Pentium-166, the preview moved in near real time.

To picture the idea behind KPT Projector, imagine watching a film from a front-row seat. KPT Projector let me warp images at any angle, widen or narrow the focal length, and tile an image on an infinite plane. You can also click a few key frame cells to create a smooth-playing animation.

For Web page backgrounds and patterns, turn to KPT Materializer and KPT Reaction. Though I found these two filters to be less impressive than the rest of the bunch, they did their jobs, successfully bending my photos over surface texture contours and transforming images into strange, seamlessly tiled organic patterns.

KPT LensFlare simulates lights reflecting on a camera lens. I was able to create virtual headlights simply by nudging a slider.

Three of KPT 6's other plug-ins are also sold as KPT-X filters. KPT Equalizer works like a stereo equalizer, but for images. Using nine frequency sliders, you can sharpen images or give them diffused details on the fly. KPT Goo includes animation controls and a tool set that can smudge, pinch, bloat, or smear anything. Use KPT Gel to swab 3D globs over a graphic, adjust reflectivity, transparency, and lighting, and then push the gunk around using various tools. (Although Gel works best with a pressure-sensitive pen, I had no trouble using a mouse.)

MetaCreations also tosses in KPT SceneBuilder and KPT SkyEffects. Formerly known as Rayflect Photo Tracer and Rayflect Four Seasons, these plug-ins share little with the KPT 6 filters, but they broaden the scope of your image editor. For example, SceneBuilder lets you import, position, and render textured 3D Studio models in Photoshop, and SkyEffects gives you the power to create spectacular skyscapes using aviatorlike controls.

Final Word

As much as I like KPT 6, it could be better. For instance, the eraser tool in KPT Goo and Gel restores images to their original state, but you can't undo edits made more than one step back. A few more Web options wouldn't hurt, either, such as the ability to save movies in RealVideo format, to convert animation frames into JavaScript rollover buttons, and to display the size of a file before saving.

All the same, such quibbles are squelched by the stunning visuals you can create with MetaCreations' latest suite of effects. If you want more punch from your graphics programs, I recommend installing KPT 6.