Forget wordy explanations. This full-colour, visual guide takes you wherever you want to go at a glance. Bigger, better and bolder than before, Nick Clarke's second edition of his best-selling guide continues to be every desktop designer, illustrator and pixel lovers' dream-guide to Kai's Power Tools: the totally zany, wildly creative, best-selling Photoshop compatible plug-in filter set. KPT users at all levels will benefit from this hands-on guide to Meta Tools' revolutionary filters. Beginners will love the step-by-step instructions which assume no prior knowledge. Intermediate and advanced users will gain valuable insights into the hidden powers of KPT with advanced and expert techniques. If you are a Fractal Painter or Adobe Photoshop user, this book is an essential aid for production and creative imaging techniques.* Fully revised, the detailed, full-colour, step-by-step tutorials launch you on your own KPT creative adventures *Reflecting the trend toward screen-based design, this edition includes examples of KPT in action within multimedia programs like MacroMedia Director *Covers the complete collection of KPT filters large and small for Macintosh and Windows users including the amazing Gradient designer, Texture Explorer, Gradients on Paths, KPT Interform, KPT Spheroid Designer, 'all' Compact KPT and KPT Lens f/x Interface Filters CD-ROM Contents PC/Mac *Resources for chapters, Presets, working files, animation *Links to KPT Web pages, KPT Utilitie *Meta Tools WWW page *Sample Graphics, Digital Masters and Portfolio Gallery, KPT Power Photo *Meta Tools demo software for KPT Gradient Designer, Vector Effects, Convolver, KPT Bryc *QuickTime and Adobe Acrobat 3.0 Installe *Useful Shareware and Photoshop plug-ins. (Mac only)
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Kai's Power Tools, known as KPT for short, is a graphics package centered around a set of sophisticated and fabulous special-effects filters. It works with Adobe Photoshop, the image-editing software program, and with any other software package, such as Fractal Design Corp.'s Fractal Painter, that accepts such Photoshop-compatible plug-ins. (At press time, KPT's creator and developer, MetaTools, had finalized its merger with Fractal Design Corp., forming a new company called MetaCreations Corp.)
Kai's Power Tools 3: An Illustrated Guide, the second edition of Nick Clarke's guide to mastering KPT, focuses on the Macintosh and Windows editions of the newest version, KPT 3.0. The book is attractive and in full color, which makes it a delight to read and a particularly helpful guide. Although KPT's filters provide for a seemingly infinite range of effects, the interface is famously quirky; you use funky 3-D controls and a few obscure options to tweak the various effects. Clarke takes you through the large filters, KPT Spheroid Designer, KPT Gradient Designer, KPT Texture Designer, and KPT Interform, each of which has its own interface. Then he reviews the smaller filters, such as Glass Lens, Twirl, Vortex and Planar Tiling, Gaussian f/x, and Noise f/x, which work within the Compact interface or the KPT Lens f/x interface. Finally, Clarke explains two older filters, Texture Explorer and Fractal Explorer, which were in versions 2.0 and 2.1 of KPT but are also included in version 3.0. Throughout the book you get lots of advice on creating specific effects for type, photographic images, and more. Clarke targets every level of user, from beginner to advanced, providing step-by-step instruction, helpful hints, and large screen shots along the way. This book is a great guide for anyone who's ever been stumped by KPT. A CD-ROM includes sample graphics, demo versions of other MetaTools packages, and project files.
From Library Journal
If you surf the web much, you frequently find yourself looking at really cool images and wondering, How did they do that? The answer is probably that they did it with KAI's Power Tools?also known as KPT?and Photoshop. There are a lot of KTP users in the world who will appreciate this great little book, and it should help create more.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best KPT Guide book on the market!!!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Kai's Power Tools 3: An Illustrated Guide, with CD-ROM (Paperback)
An excellent choice for unlocking the beautiful world of Kai Having purchased KPT3 and KPT5 for Windows to beef up the capabilities of CorelPhotoPaint8 (also new to me) I found myself floundering to understand the user interface and minimal help documentation. Nick Clarkes book is an absolute god-send - not only does he demonstrate the basics, he knocks you dead with the advanced capabilities and unleashes the "secret" controls within KPT3. So well is this explained that KPT5, though not specifically covered in the book is just as easy to utilise fully.I am a self taught designer running a new CD and flyer design business and this book is as powerful a tool as the Kai program itself . How about a follow up on KPT5 and an advanced techniques book please Nick - you get my vote?
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excelent Guide to KPT,
By A Customer
This review is from: Kai's Power Tools 3: An Illustrated Guide, with CD-ROM (Paperback)
Today more and more Website designers are taking advantage of creative graphics design to enhance the appearance and functionality of their sites. A number of commercial graphics programs are available to them to create real attention-getting graphics. Kai's Power Tools 3 (KPT) is a leading collection of filters and tools that can be used with many of them to create truly phenomenal graphic image results.Nick Clarke has produced Kai's Power Tools 3: An Illustrated Guide to offer an extraordinary gallery of cool KPT special effects! This book is a comprehensive and beautifully illustrated tutorial guide to understanding how to use this filter collection. Clarke takes his readers on a grand tour of the description, operation, and use of each filter. Exceptional color photographs of every filter interface control panel and their individual controls are provided to assist Clarke as he demonstrates just how easy KPT is easy to use. His own mastery of the use of KPT is evident throughout the book. The book is accompanied by a CD loaded with KPT presets, KPT graphics, a graphic image showcase featuring the work of KPT users from around the world, a portfolio of KPT artist work, tutorial resources, software, and links to Websites offering additional information about this amazing collection of graphics filters! The graphics on this CD provides some of the most breathtaking illustrations ever created to bring out the rich details of this product! As I read through this book it became clear that Clarke enjoys sharing the use of KPT with others. I experienced his enthusiasm as I read every page. This book also left me with the impression that I had just completed a full course on the use of this product. This book will inspire readers to create their own cherished works of art which may one day be featured in a book! Highly recommended!
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