[design_tools] More From Quark-PSD Import

It's not been long since I had my upgraded QuarkXPress 6.5 that Quark announced the availability of another XTension.

XTtensions, for those who just joined the discussion or don't know what the samhey I'm talking about, are plug-in software modules. QuarkXPress does a whole lot on its own, but its full functionality is delivered through numerous XTensions, which add functions and either menu-items or new palettes to the basic interface.

The first notable XTension is QuarkVista, which provides a palette containing Photoshop-style filters and effects to XPress. This is notable because, formerly, it was necessary to load your image into an appropriate image geeker (Photoshop usually), edit it, and save it back out to disk if you wanted to change a picture in your layout.

That is, if using QuarkXPress. Adobe's InDesign allowed direct import of .psd files (Photoshop document) without having to reedit and resave to, say, .tiff or .eps format outside of InDesign. The CS releases feature even tighter integration.

This release is the next anticipated semi-big thing from Quark. PSD Import does just what it says-you can import PSD files as they are, without having to save them as an alternative file format like .tiff, .jpg, .gif, what have you. But that's not all. The PSD Import palette, which is the XTension's manifestation within the XPress interfact, features tabs that reveal subpalettes that are more or less identical to Photoshop's Layers, Channels, and Paths palettes, as well as allowing limited editing of those attributes and blending modes.

That already was a kind of half-review as it was. I have two planned for writing and posting to the Yahoo! GDRG (and QuarkVSInDesign, if Pariah'll have me), and they have yet to be done. SO.....

Hang on for the full report.

Suffice it to say that this cements, at least with me, a reputation of Quark as recognizing that, to survive, or at least to remain a big player, it has to answer InDesign. After all, it has in-program image geeking and native Photoshop import...

Which are two features that InDesign (and especially the CS release) have had for years now.