AKVIS ArtWork is a photo editing application that allows you to take a digital photograph and turn it into a work of art. However, there’s currently a lot of competition in this particular area of image editing. How does ArtWork compare to the rest?
AKVIS ArtWork v2.0
In today’s market, there are a number of applications that claim to be able to transform a digital photograph into a painting, cartoon, or sketch with very little effort. Some of these programs are extremely easy to use and give great results, while others can be a little frustrating and time-consuming. AKVIS ArtWork falls into the former category as it is relatively simple to learn, yet it still produces some truly nice quality images.
ArtWork is available in two versions – as an independent application and as a plugin compatible with several photo editing programs including Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop. With this tool, you can take a digital photo and turn it into an image resembling an oil painting or comic either by using the default preset conditions or your own custom configurations. A sample image created using the default comic preset is shown below. (Click any image for a larger view.)
In this review, we’ll take a look at Artwork’s capabilities as a standalone product and when used as a plugin for Paint Shop Pro. The user interface is basically the same for both versions.
| Download and Installation | Rating  |
The download of AKVIS ArtWork went as expected, and I had no problems installing the Windows version of the product. Although I did not test the Mac version, it should be noted that the plugin and standalone application require two separate downloads for the Mac while both are combined in a single download file for Windows systems. Additionally, if you are a Mac user, you’ll need to choose from two different plugin versions of the application, depending on which photo editing application you use.
Plugin users may need to perform a couple of other steps after the installation process to make sure that their photo editor recognizes the new application. If you’re a Paint Shop Pro user, check out Installing Paint Shop Pro Third-Party Plugins for more information.
| Ease of Use | Rating |
The user interface of ArtWork is clear-cut and easy to understand, and it is virtually identical for both the independent and plugin versions of the product. The only real difference is that the standalone version has additional icons that allow you to open and save files which are not needed in the plugin version as the photo editor itself handles those functions.
Although the default settings for both the Oil Painting and Comic style produce nice results, you can quickly and easily modify these settings by adjusting the various sliders found in the right panel of the application. A large preview area dominates the main window of the application, and you can view your proposed changes here before applying them to the photo.
If you’re unsure about the function of any of the sliders, simply mouse over the area and a brief, but full, explanation of the tool will appear in the lower right panel of the application.
Next: Continue to page 2 of this review to find out about the features, performance, and price to value of AKVIS Artwork v2.0.