Apple Reviews

This is the first release by Corel of a KPT product, the previous were re-badged after being bought from MetaCreations. Reading a description of a filter doesn't really do it justice. Scatter is one of my favourites, and while it does scatter images over a pattern until you play with it you can't really judge the variations possible. You can create a series of spiral arms, or add a load of images in a mask to fill a shape, create a blanket of snow with a ragged edge. Similairly with the lightning effect you can control and create very realistic lightning, or make a comet, or a coloured laser beam. Hypertiling is very powerful, and it can create some interesting patterns. The pyramid paint allows some impressionist type images to be made quickly, but it can also be used to totally chnage the colours in an image to change a desert into an artic scene.
To get the most out of the filters you need to experiment, which has always been the case with KPT filters. Using the recall panel and saving presets makes it easy to get back to an interesting setting.
It is good to see a four colour landscape manual in the box too.

A fair mixture of textures and creativity. This software bears the elements of good design (Its compatible with other software - Macromedia Director, Fireworks, and Photoshop - and for that I am truely greatful). However I found that the price is a tweened high for the benefit. Granted anyone cannot simply make plugins like this. It does take a certain level of knowledge to produce such professionalism and that "ism" is why I give it three stars. I suppose I sound a bit cynical. I hope not; this truely is a great piece of work. I would not barr anyone from purchasing it, unless they just want another toy to add to their collection. On the other hand if they are looking for a high end toy that can do a lot for their images, this would be a great addition. I guess that's what prevents me from giving five stars - its like a toy, there is a lot you can do with this however it just reamins that well, its another toy to me!

Corel knew what they were doing when they acquired the KPT series from MetaCreations. The plug-ins work great for Painter 6.0 and Photoshop 5.5. They can be used for fun and for functionality. Just playing with some of the filters can inspire you to do something you've never thought of before.

If you own previous versions of Kai's Power Tools, don't delete them, they are not outdated... rather this is a new installment. I still have KPT 3 installed for the page curl and some other filters that are not included in subsequent versions. They should really call their software "Volume 6" instead of version 6. You can still use the old filters and the new versions are not redundant, but totally new and fun tools.

These aren't just for goofing off... as a professional web designer, I find them quite useful in spicing up banner ads and other images. The only reason why I've given this software a less than perfect rating is for the crazy, far from intuitive interface. The interface is still the most beautiful software interface in use today, but you really have to use this software a LOT to get used to what far-out looking button does what. If you already use Painter or another MetaCreations (now Corel) product, you won't be too confused, but neophytes will find the tools a bit awkward to use at first. Even mistakes, however, can be happy accidents. These are great tools and no designer should be without them.

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