
To make a brush larger in Ps you press the Right Bracket key ( ] ) or Left Bracket key ( [ ) to make them smaller, same in PE9.To copy a mask from one layer to another in Ps you press ALT (Option on Mac) while clicking the mask you want to move and dragging it to the layer you want it on.For instance, inverting a mask in Photoshop is CTRL+I (CMD+I on Mac) the same works for PE9.If you are acquainted with Photoshop Hot keys you will love how streamlined they are with PE9.This is an nice feature in and of itself. To go along with the Layers, most (if not all) of the filters have a protection section which allows you to protect Highlights, Shadows and Skin Tones.It is very likely that you could process an image from beginning to end in PE9 alone without any Photoshop adjustments. It is slightly different than Photoshop, but once you experiment with them a bit they are easy to manage and make the workflow very smooth. Layers! The layers are easy to apply once you get the hang of them.While the Quick Mask tool is helpful to get a good mask started, I still prefer to make the masks with the combination of the regular brush and the Perfect Brush. The masking features have been given a nice overhaul to include enhancements to the Perfect Brush and the new Quick Mask tool.In the past I may have mentioned the program being a little choppy or slow on my machine, but that seems to have been fixed with the 30% speed boost that onOne states on their site.

The filters are practical and provide all the necessary tools for making better images without the ‘filtered’ artistic look. While there are a plethora of artistic filters in PE9 that can be used to achieve a nice artistic looking image, Perfect Effects is great for day to day processing.Initially it may take a good 20 minutes to get acquainted with it, but it is setup very similar to Photoshop which makes the learning curve rather low for those who are already Photoshop Aficionado’s. The interface of Perfect Effects 9 (PE9) is very easy to use.It is a versatile asset to a Photoshop workflow and very powerful as a standalone editor for those who may not own Ps.Much of what was good in PE8 remains the same in PE9, but here are some more of my thoughts as I worked through PE9 over the last few months:


About a year ago I reviewed onOne’s Perfect Effects 8after they ran a promotional giveaway for it.
