As stated this plugin is strictly to be used with Photoshop 3.0 or 4.0 on a Macintosh PowerPc or on a PC machine with Windows 95 or NT.

Genuine Fractals, to quote the company, brings the power and flexibility of resolution-independent fractal image format (FIF) files to Adobe Photoshop. Thus, one can work with relatively small files and be able to output large files. This is done by means of exporting a Photoshop file to create a FIF file which is very small. When this FIF file is imported back into Photoshop, its size is only determined by the capabilities of the printer and the computer. The ratio for an FIF file can vary from 4:1 to 125:1

Since I cannot output to a very large printer, I used an image that I had scanned in at 300 dpi with dimensions of approximately 8x10 inches. I cut the image in half so that I would have a file of at least 10 megs.Altamira stated that the program works best with an original file 10 to 18 megs in size. After creating the FIF file, I then imported it back into Photoshop with enough pixels to create a 20 meg file. I next took that same FIF file and imported it back into Photoshop so that it was 54 megs in size. Many size files can be created from a single FIF file. I printed the original, the 20 meg file, and then an 8 x10 section of the 54 meg file. I kept the resolution of 300 dpi constant throughout all of the tests. I did not notice any loss in details. The prints looked like much larger versions of the original. For the printing tests I used an Epson Stylus Pro at both 360 and 720 settings.

Aside from its ability to create very large images from smaller ones without resolution loss, I believe it can be very useful when building layers in Photoshop since it is very easy to create an 80 meg file and have Photoshop slow down because there is not enough memory and the scratch disk must be used. An 8 x10 inch image at a resolution of 300 dpi is approximately 21megs.

The following chart should give an indication of the advantages of this program. Keeping the file resolution constant at 300 dpi a file whose dimensions are 8" x10" or 2400 x 3000 pixels will yield about a 20 meg file while a file whose dimensions are 16" x 20" or 4800 x 6000 pixels will yield about a file of 82 megs. Even more graphically, a file whose dimensions are 4" x 5" or 1200 x 1500 pixels will yield a file of about 5 megs. Users of Photoshop should know the capabilities of their individual systems for working with large files.

This plugin can also be used to work with web images. It gives various options as to choices of color palettes, etc. On the CD are FIF images that can be imported into Photoshop to demonstrate how Genuine Fractal functions.

The only drawback to the program is in its documentation. One needs to access the help menu and print out the instructions. Once one has exported a file in Photoshop to become an FIF file and, then, imported this FIF file after having specified the dimensions for this new file, the process is a snap.

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