The Alien Skin Software today released Snap Art, an all new plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and other image editors. Snap Art quickly creates convincing, one-click natural media with no laborious hand editing. Artists, photographers, and designers can now give a hand-crafted look to any digital image.

Snap Art introduces several effects never seen before in a plug-in. Convincing line drawings, both pen and pencil, are now possible in moments. These can be combined with shading and crosshatching for a more realistic image. Snap Art can also recreate an image with a comics look, complete with shading and half-toning.

Snap Art perfects a wide variety of traditional effects. Popular painting techniques are quick and easy in Snap Art. Digital artists can render a still life with pointillism as a Neo-impressionist might. Craft a rough and rocky landscape in dry brushed watercolor or thickly textured impasto. In addition, Snap Art emulates a number of traditional drawing effects such as colored pencils, charcoal for softer shading, and hard, soft and oil pastels.

Snap Art includes hundreds of presets that make artwork with a single click. An intelligent stroke engine, based on edge detection, renders brush, pen and pencil strokes that follow features of the original image. This unique approach balances realistic reproduction of detail with convincing artistry. Snap Art also features a variety of brushes, pencils, pastels, and pens, as well as an assortment of canvas and paper types. Snap Art works with 16-bit images and is scriptable with Photoshop actions. Context-sensitive help and an online manual keep things easy to understand.

Pricing and Availability: Snap Art sells for an estimated street price of $149. Registered users of other Alien Skin products can purchase Snap Art for $99 when ordering direct. Online delivery is available at the Alien Skin website: http://www.alienskin.com. Snap Art is also available worldwide through stores, catalogs and resellers.

Requirements: Snap Art is a plug-in; it must be used with one of the following: Adobe Photoshop CS or later, Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 or later, or Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo XI or later. Snap Art requires 512 MB RAM and 1024x768 or greater monitor resolution. Windows users must have a Pentium 4 or later processor and Windows XP or later. Macintosh users must have a G4 or G5 PowerPC processor and Mac OS X 10.3.9.

Company Information: Makers of award-winning plug-ins since 1994, Alien Skin Software created the first drop shadow filter for Photoshop. In addition to Snap Art, Alien Skin offers three plug-ins for photographers, Blow Up, Exposure, and Image Doctor, as well as our world famous family of special effects plug-ins: Eye Candy, Xenofex, and Splat! Our reputation for bug-free software and fast, friendly tech support has grown worldwide throughout the years. Alien Skin continues to write and sell filters that users love.