Photoshop Workbench 239: Photoshop CS5′s Pixel Bender Plug-in
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I just discovered a new CS5 plug-in that has me dancing in the streets. It’s called Pixel Bender and you can find it by clicking this link: Adobe Labs Pixel Bender Plug-in. A word of warning: This plug-in is not supported by Adobe and may run slowly or exhibit a few bugs. That said, if you enjoy creating unique painterly effects, it’s absolutely worth a try.
When you go to the download page, be sure to read all of the notes. If you intend to use Pixel Bender on 16-bit files, you’ll want to download the 64-bit version. Installation is simple and explained well on the Adobe Labs site.
After installing, open an image in Photoshop. The Adobe Labs site states that image size cannot exceed 4096 x 4096 pixels, but I’ve discovered that the smaller the file size, the faster things move and the fewer crashes I experience.
In this Workbench, we’ll take a look at the Pixel Bender Oil Paint filter.
Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 9:05 am
Hi Mark,
I’m still using PS in 32bit mode. I downloaded the 32bit version of the software but was unable to get the filter to work with a photo of mine. It was under the max size, but still would not work…
Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 9:07 am
The 64bit version would not load.
Friday, August 6, 2010 at 8:08 am
Mark,
I up-loaded the video driver for my card and, WOW!
This is fun…
David
Friday, August 6, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Looks like such fun–saw the video and enjoyed your enthusiasm at 30,000′ WIFI. Will download. Thanks a bunch, Betsey
Saturday, August 7, 2010 at 2:37 am
WOW, stunning results! Now I’m dancing the Singapore streets as well. Will this work with CS4?
Regards Jan
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 7:39 am
Russel Brown covered this first – well before Corey and Dave Cross. I am guessing Cross saw it out there at Brown’s site and forgot about it.
Friday, August 13, 2010 at 9:04 am
No good!!
Have beconme addicted to this filter
Must try and get it out of my system
Cheers
Friday, August 13, 2010 at 9:10 am
Hello Mark
if you like this plugin, use should try http://www.redfieldplugins.com/filterFractalius.htm – great examples can be found here http://www.birdphotographers.net/ – thanks for the great stuff
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 1:01 am
Ohhh fun!!!
Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 8:24 am
I’m in the process of following your tutorial on the NAPP site,
(Color-Washed Silhouette EffectBy Mark S. Johnson | April 22nd, 2011 | CS5, Design, Layer Effects, Text Tutorials, Tutorials)
I tried to install the PixelBender Plug-In and in Adobe Extension Manager CS5, when I accept the license agreement, I get an Adobe error message saying I don’t have the permission to do this, contact the sys admin. I am the sys admin on my computer and have installed new fonts and plug-ins without a problem in the past. Just to be sure, when I pull up the “Filter” menu, the Plug-In is not there. NAPP Help directed me to the Adobe Forum and I found someone with a Mac issue. My system is a Windows 7 64 bit. Never had a problem with permissions before, I posted on the Forum and maybe I’ll get a work around. Thanks, Larry
Saturday, May 7, 2011 at 10:32 am
Problem solved and the effect looks great. Thanks for the tip on this filter! Larry