The Asiva Sharpen+Soften plug-in provides precise control over the quality, quantity and distribution of sharpening or softening effects in 8- or 16-bit RGB or CMYK files. Users can choose to work in hue, saturation, luminance, RGB or CMYK color spaces. With the plug-in's sampler tool, users can select the color range in which sharpening or softening should occur, so complex masking is often not necessary.
Sharpen + Soften works with Mac OS X or Windows 2000/XP and is the first in a series of Photoshop plug-ins that the Shapiro Consulting Group plans to introduce. It's based on Asiva technology originally developed for image analysis and high-end broadcast video that allows a high degree of control over how effects are applied to an image. For example, professional photographers and graphic artists use Shapiro Consulting's flagship Asiva Photo software to color correct and enhance very large image files without the use of masks. (Shapiro Consulting Group, Inc.: 888-800-5508, www.asiva.com)