Shapiro Consulting Group, Inc., (SCGI), Austin, Texas, has developed a true 16-bit selection plug-in for Adobe Photoshop based on the patented Asiva technology. The plug-in, called Asiva Selection, is currently under final testing and its release is expected in mid-December.

The Asiva Selection plug-in allows users to make selections or masks with its patented curve technology. Users are able to make accurate selections by adjusting the plug-in's Hue, Saturation and Luminance curves. These curves represent the color component values of the desired selection. The Asiva Selection plug-in's curves also allow for selection roll-off so all subsequent adjustments or effects will appear completely natural. A built in Color Sampler Tool provides a good starting-point for setting the three curves.

The Asiva Selection plug-in features all 16-bit per component internal processing, even on 8-bit images. For pre-Photoshop CS users working on 16-bit files, the plug-in directly creates a gradient selection without having to create an 8-bit duplicate file and transferring a selection, increasingly saving time with larger files. Other controls allow the plug-in to ignore, add to, or subtract from an existing Photoshop selection, modify the selection by expanding it and controlling the expanded selection's fall-off. This plug-in can provide more precise control over selections than Photoshop's built in Color Range selection. All of the selection plug-in's settings may be saved and loaded, as provided in other Asiva plug-ins.

In the Asiva Selection plug-in, SCGI will debut Scratch Settings or "memory dots". There are five Scratch Settings buttons, which allow the user to quickly save and recall multiple plug-in settings without having to load or save them via the operating system. The Scratch Settings buttons can be expected in upgrades to other Asiva plug-ins in the near future.

The Asiva Selection plug-in runs under Mac® OS 9.x, Mac® OS X®, Windows® 2000, and Windows® XP®. It has been tested with Photoshop® 5.5 through 7.0. Within Photoshop®, the plug-in supports 8 or 16-bit, RGB or CMYK files.

Asiva's patented technology has been used extensively in broadcast video editing work in the past six years and is embodied in the company's 16-bit per component Asiva® Photo color correction and image enhancement application. Asiva® Photo has been very popular with high-end digital photographers, graphics artists and visual information specialists in the government, military and medical sectors.

For more information and screenshots visit: www.asiva.com.