Hi all,
The first beta of FotoSketcher Studio 4.60 is now available for download. Since the alpha released a few weeks ago, the focus has been on polish and stability, but there is also one big addition worth highlighting.
- New Vectorize effect
A new Vectorize effect has been added to the Stylize category, and I am quite excited about this one. It analyses your photo and turns it into clean, flat-colour regions with smooth contours, and can export the result as an SVG file - giving you a true vector output that scales to any size without losing quality. You can control the number of colours, the level of smoothing, the minimum detail size, contour simplification and curvature, so there is a good range between a highly simplified poster look and a more detailed illustration. It works particularly well on portraits, animals and subjects with strong colour contrast.
- Alpha improvements
Various fixes and refinements have been made to the features introduced in the alpha, based on early feedback.
A quick recap of what was new in the alpha
For anyone who did not follow the alpha, here is what version 4.60 introduced over 4.50:
- Truchet Tiles effect (Stylize category) - square tiles with simple patterns placed in random orientations to produce intricate geometric compositions from your photos, with the option to save custom tilesets. More on Truchet tiles on Wikipedia.
- Denoise effect (Photo Lab) - powerful noise reduction that cleans up grainy skies and high-ISO noise whilst preserving fine details.
- Fine rotation - precise rotation to correct the horizontality of photos, with an auto-rotate option.
- High quality full screen preview - eliminates Moiré artefacts on detailed images and regular patterns.
- Faster zoom and smoother panning - navigating large images is now much more responsive.
- Improved Batch mode - you can now add entire folders to the processing queue, not just individual files.
- Bug fixes and performance enhancements throughout the application.
You can download Beta 1 (for Windows) here:
https://fotosketcher.com/beta/FotoSketcher_4.60_beta1.zip
A macOS build will follow.
As always, any feedback is very welcome - bugs, oddities, or anything that does not feel right on your particular setup. The Vectorize effect is brand new, so I am especially keen to hear how it works on different types of photos. Please leave a comment below or send me an email at contact@fotosketcher.com.
Happy testing!
David
