AKVIS News 2012

January 30, 2012
AKVIS Sketch v.13: Pencil Drawings from Photos. With New Artistic Style!

AKVIS Sketch has been updated to version 13.0. The program converts digital photos into amazing pencil sketches and watercolor, charcoal, and pastel drawings. It's a wonderful tool for those who have always wanted to draw but didn't know how! You can even create comics or cartoons from your home videos using the batch processing feature of Sketch.

Now the software creates even more stunning results! The new version competes with hand drawn art in flexibility and will spur your creative thought!

In Version 13.0:

• New style of photo-to-sketch conversion.

  The software now lets you choose between two styles: Classic (standard processing from the previous versions) and Artistic.

  The new Artistic style is designed to create expressive drawings that look like the handmade work of a real artist. In this style, it is easy to create both a quick sketch and a carefully drawn and shaded pencil drawing. The main advantage of this style is the ability to play with hatching and to vary the number of shadings and shadows to get natural tonal transitions.

  The new style comes with 27 ready-to-use presets which will help you create various pencil drawings.

  Learn how to work with the Artistic style.

  You can also watch a video demonstrating the features of the new style.

• Also in the new version:

  fixed bugs; improved image processing when loading RAW files, improved support for RAW files from Sony cameras, added support for DNG files, and other important and minor changes.

The software is available as a standalone program as well as a plugin for Photoshop and other graphics editors.

You can download AKVIS Sketch v.13.0 for Windows and Macintosh and evaluate it during the 10-day trial period!

Upgrade Information:

Users who own versions 9-12.5 of Sketch can upgrade to v.13 for free.
Just download the new version.

Only customers who have an older version (v.1-8.6), need to pay for an upgrade to version 13.
The download links for the old versions are available. Write us if you need them.

Note: The new version does not support the "old algorithm" used in versions 1-8.6 that was available until now (in versions 9-12 - by activating that option in the program preferences), as well as the presets made with the old algorithm. Nevertheless, if your presets were created in versions 9-12 using the "new algorithm" (which is active by default), they will be transferred to version 13.

January 18, 2012
AKVIS Refocus v.1.5: Improve Your Blurred Photos!

We have released the new version of AKVIS Refocus.

The software improves sharpness of out of focus images. The program can process the entire photo or bring into focus only the selected part to make the subject stand out against the background.

Even if a photo looks sharp enough, there is always room for improvement. For example, create a special effect and draw attention to certain details. With this software you can get the selective focus effect easily by sharpening one part of a photo and blurring the rest.

AKVIS Refocus makes your photos more impressive!

In Version 1.5:

• Added support for RAW and DNG files.
• Added new ready-to-use Presets.
• Added the list of Recent Files which is visible by right mouse clicking on the Open Image button (to the Standalone version).
• Added the possibility to use OS File dialog to load/save files (to the Standalone version).
• Added the new color scheme of the Hints Panel.
• Improved compatibility with Mac OS X Lion.
• Fixed minor bugs, etc.

Download AKVIS Refocus V.1.5 for Mac and Windows and try all features of the software during the 10-day trial period!

Registered users of Refocus can upgrade to the new version for free.

The software is available in two versions – as an independent program (standalone) and as a plugin to a photo editor.

Price: The product sells for $39 USD for Home version (either Plugin or Standalone, Refocusing features), $49 USD for Home Deluxe (Plugin and Standalone, Refocusing & Defocusing features), $72 USD for Business (Plugin and Standalone, Refocusing & Defocusing features, for commercial use). Consult the comparison table for more details about license types and versions of the software.