The Plugin Site has released FilterHub, a panel extension for Photoshop CS4, CS5, CS5.5 and CS6. Described as “a powerful replacement” for the program’s Filter menu, FilterHub supports both built-in Photoshop filters, filter plugins and third-party automation plug-ins. The FilterHub panel stays open as long as you wish and displays a configurable list of filters and plug-ins. Before running a filter it can automatically create a duplicated layer, a merged copy of all layers (stamped layer), a smart object or flatten the image. FilterHub costs $39.95 (Academic/educational licence: $24.95).

The Plugin Site Press Release

The Plugin Site Released FilterHub for Photoshop

The Plugin Site (http://www.ThePluginSite.com) is pleased to announce FilterHub, a panel extension for Photoshop CS4, CS5, CS5.5 and CS6, which runs under Windows and MacOS X. FilterHub is a powerful replacement for Photoshop’s Filter menu and offers many advantages over it. It supports built-in Photoshop filters (from the Filter and Adjustments menus), filter plugins and third-party automation plugins.

The Problem
Running filters from the Filter menu in Photoshop is a tedious task. You need to click the Filter item in the menu bar, move down the Filter menu list, find to the right sub menu, move the mouse to the right to enter the sub menu, move down the sub menu and finally click on the appropriate filter item. If you use multiple filters per image, this means performing a lot of unnecessary mouse movements. The wasted seconds for each filter execution add up to minutes and hours as time goes by.

Of course, you can record actions for a certain filter sequence, but you do not need the same filters in the same sequence for all images. You can also assign key shortcuts to filters, but then you have to remember them. Moreover, assigning key shortcuts to dozens of filters is impracticable or even impossible. So you will always need to resort to the inconvenient Filter menu.

The Solution
With FilterHub your filters are only one click (or a double click) away. The FilterHub panel stays open as long as you wish and displays a configurable list of filters and plugins. You can make it display all filters, show only third-party plugins, enter key words to display only certain filters or add your preferred filters to a favorites list. So even if you do not have FilterHub enlarged to full screen height, you can always have your favorite filters accessible without scrolling.

Additional Advantages
FilterHub additionally allows you to do many things that the Filter menu is not capable of. You can apply the last effect of any filter (not just the last used one) without displaying its dialog and you can paint or erase filter effects with the brush tool. Even more, it runs multiple filters (from the favorites list) with one click, renders the same filter effect on multiple layers in one pass or both: It applies multiple filters on multiple layers with one click.

But this is not all. FilterHub saves you more time and hassle. Before running a filter it can automatically create a duplicated layer, a merged copy of all layers (stamped layer), a smart object or flatten the image.

The Filter menu disables filters that do not officially support smart filtering or a certain image mode. FilterHub does not have these limitations. It applies all filters to smart objects, even those that are disabled on the Filter menu. Furthermore, if a filter does not support the current image mode, FilterHub automatically displays a list of supported modes, preselects the best suited one and converts the image accordingly. So you do not need to try out different modes until you find the right one.

FilterHub’s context menu offers an option for visiting the homepage of a selected filter, so you can find information about it or check out if there is a new version available.

Conclusion
FilterHub is unique as it is the only available tool that offers a replacement for the old-fashioned Filter menu. It is also the only available third-party tool that lets you run all filters of Photoshop and the only tool that lets you apply multiple filters to multiple layers with one click. The ability to execute filters and plugins faster and more conveniently together with its powerful features make it an indispensable tool for Photoshop users.

Availability & System Requirements
FilterHub requires Adobe Photoshop CS4, CS5, CS5.5 and CS6 either under Windows or MacOS X. FilterHub supports all localized versions of Photoshop, but its UI is only available in English and German. A 14-day-trial version can be downloaded from http://thepluginsite.com/products/filterhub/

Company Info
The Plugin Site is located in Nuremberg, Germany, and mainly develops image processing software. We created the ColorWasher, FocalBlade, LightMachine, B/W Styler, ContrastMaster, NoiseControl, ColorStyler, PhotoFreebies, Plugin Galaxy, Plugin Commander and HyperTyle products. In the past we co-produced Alpha Magic with Pinnacle Systems and co-developed FilterMeister with AFH Systems.

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