New for Christmas 2007! Five of the most popular Xero plugins have now been given a major face-lift - larger preview, faster processing, and some extra features. Why "XL"? Well, a few years ago, XL was the trendy suffix for a new product - so why not follow fashion, even if it is fashionably late? In this case, the XL is also shorthand for "extra large", and refers to the fact that the new versions have a larger dialog with a larger preview.

>> Click here to download Xero-XL [626kb download]

Installation: The download file should be unzipped, and the "8bf" files inside it copied into your host program's plugins folder. For full instructions please see the support page here.

All plugins in this download are fully-functional freeware


 
In addition to the larger preview, the Bad Dream plugin now uses a faster Gaussian blur algorithm (my thanks to Tom Fiddaman, who provided the original implementation of the fast Gaussian blur on which this code is based). It also now has full exposure, contrast and saturation controls built-in so that you can fine-tune the effect from within the plugin.

 


 
The Caravaggio plugin now has an extra control labelled "Sanity" - you'll have to play with this to see what it does because I can't easily describe it! Try this especially on larger, high-resolution images - previous versions of the Caravaggio plugin didn't work well with those kinds of images.

 


 
This one has had some major improvements! A new "Simplify" slider reduces overall colouration by de-emphasising non-primary colours; and the new "Tint" feature lets you add a subtle (or not-so-subtle) coloured tint to the less saturated image areas. Choosing a tint colour is simplicity itself using the hue slider or clicking on the associated colour-bar.

 


 
Well, this one had to be included, didn't it? This has always been the most popular of the Xero plugins; now it also benefits from the larger preview and faster processing. And in addition, it has proper exposure, contrast and saturation controls.

 


 
Finally, another of the softening effects - a close relative of Bad Dream and Porcelain - also gets the treatment. Larger preview, faster processing, and exposure, contrast and saturation controls in other words!

 

All plugins in this download are fully-functional freeware

Enjoy!