With QFX, you can duplicate photographic darkroom procedures on your desktop. From basics like color correction, dodging and burning, and contrast and brightness control, to complex special effects, to image conversions including posterization, solarization and monochrome, you will find every tool you need to make ordinary images into works of art.
QFX Color Correction
The Image Control function alters
image contrast, brightness, gamma and color balance. Contrast,
brightness and gamma are controlled by sliders, while changes to
any or all the color planes of the selected color model are
adjusted by dragging points on the interactive lookup table
editor. Changes are displayed in the preview window in real time,
before you apply them to the image. Adjust the hue, lightness or
saturation components of the colors, as well as the RGB or CMYK
color planes, either individually or in any combination. The
preview window displays the entire image or a magnified
selection. You can resize the Image Control dialog to display
larger proxy image. This function is also used to calibrate
neutral gray, or to convert a positive image to a negative. The
freehand option lets you draw your own lookup table curve, an
easy way to create solarization and other unusual effects. You
can save and load edited lookup tables, a great time-saver when
you are making the same color corrections to a series of images.
The QFX Dodge brush works like the familiar darkroom dodging tool, lightening or darkening the image as you paint. The value odometer controls how much the image is changed with each pass of the brush, while the One-Time option restricts the effect so it is applied only once if you paint over the same area repeatedly. The brush can be any size, and you can select a soft or hard edge, or any custom brush shape.
Posterization and Color Remapping
The Posterize function converts a full color image to several distinct bands of color, gray levels, or saturation levels. Pixels are selected for processing by their hue, lightness or saturation component values.
The Remap function changes the
hue, lightness, saturation or any combination of these components
in the image or selection. Pixels may be remapped to a single
color, or to a range of colors specified in the Remap Options
dialog. This function can also be used to create highly accurate
masks based on the selected color components.
High
Contrast and Monochrome Conversion
The Hi-Con function uses pixel
lightness values to reduce a full color image to two colors.
Select the midpoint by determining a midpoint value and
converting all pixels with a higher value to the current primary
color, and all pixels with a lower value to the secondary color.
Use this function to create silhouettes, photoliths, masks, or
any two-color effect. You can also create a range of unchanged
colors by setting low and high threshold values. Pixels between
these values remain unchanged. The Monochrome function offers
several methods of converting color images to black and white,
using the pixel values of any color plane (RGB, CMYK, or HLS),
the alpha channel, or the maximum, average or luminance values of
the image pixels.
The Pixellate and Pointillize effects break the
image into enlarged pixels or create painterly effects that mimic
pointillist paintings. These effects offer a rich set of controls
including options to randomize the various parameters
automatically for an even more creative effect.
The
Mosaic effect creates the effect of mosaic art or a tiled
surface. Choose from rectangular, oval, hexagonal, pentagonal or
octagonal tile shapes. Randomize tile shape, size, position and
angle to create a hand-crafted illusion. Tiles can be filled with
solid color or each tile can reflect the background image itself.
The
Displacement effect displaces the pixels in the image based on
the values of the pixels in another image. The Displacement
effect works by using the values of the pixels in one image (the
displacement map) to move (displace) the locations of the pixels
in the current image. Create a variety of effects from watery
ripples to wild distortions.
The
Motion Blur effect makes images appear as if blurred by movement.
This is similar to the effect produced by leaving a camera's
shutter open and moving either the subject or the camera. QFX
offers several types of motion blur including linear, radial,
zoom and spin. The various effects options let you control motion
direction, distance and acceleration. A unique feature of QFX's
motion blur is the ability to blur only the selected (masked)
object.