Genuine Fractals 5

Resize your pictures by up to 1000% with minimal loss of quality

Although most of today?s digital cameras produce file sizes that are more than sufficient for printing up to A3+, if you want bigger image files (perhaps you want to sell to stock libraries) or you want to enlarge just a small portion of an image, Genuine Fractals 5 is for you. This plug-in lives under File > Automate, or via a new onOne menu item which is added to the menu bar. Once launched you can crop into the image or leave it as a whole. Then, either enter the size you want or select a setting from the list of predefined dimensions, which include popular Photographic paper as well as A and B sizes. Once you have set your crop and/or image size, Fractals displays the new file size. Next click on the 1:1 button for accurate viewing and apply texture control, Unsharp masking and, if required, Film grain.

The interface is easy to use and images refresh almost instantly. The quality of resized images is first class. I ran the same file through Genuine Fractals and Photoshop?s own Image resize, applying the same amount of USM, and the Genuine Fractals plug-in produced a noticeably superior image. Included with the plug-in are two excellent video tutorials which demonstrate the functions and features of Genuine Fractals 5. WDC RATING: 94%