Boris FX, the storied post-production developer, brings a powerful creative photo editing and manipulation plugin to Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom workflows. Optics 2022 makes it easy to add the same high-end cinematic looks and effects to photos that the film and television industry has relied on for over twenty years.
Optics, available as a plugin and standalone application, features over 170 effects broken into 10 categories, 1000s of drag and drop presets, and a robust masking, paint, and layering system. Among its most popular effects are lens flares, light leaks, glows, gobos, film stocks, and color grades inspired by top films and TV series such as The Wizard of Oz, E.T., The Grand Budapest Hotel, Euphoria, and Stranger Things. Professional photographers, digital artists, and graphic designers can quickly browse through the extensive preset library and choose a preset as-is or customize it for full creative control.
“What sets Optics apart from other Photoshop plugins is its focus on bringing stunning cinematic effects — designed by visual effects artists — to the world of photography,” says Marco Paolini, Optics product designer and winner of an Academy Award (Technical Achievement). “We’re excited to introduce a unique and fully-featured 3D particle workflow to Optics 2022. The new Particle Illusion category gives photographers and artists the ability to quickly add photorealistic particles to images in seconds. It features over 1500 presets with options to control the particle size, number, angle, forces, and deflectors. The creative possibilities are endless. Think adding steam to a coffee product shot, fireworks over a skyline, fantastical sci-fi elements, and so much more.”
“The new Optics plugin update is a game-changer for Photoshop users who want to push their creativity! It’s now really easy to create realistic particle effects without leaving Photoshop,” states Colin Smith, Founder, PhotoshopCAFE.com. “I also love the huge amount of presets and lighting effects.”
What’s New in Optics
- Particles for photo editing: Particle Illusion is a fast and easy-to-use particle generator to create photoreal effects and unlimited creative elements. Features thousands of particle presets and assets to enhance photo editing including smoke, fire, water, sparkles, explosions, dust, sci-fi, and more.
- Improved performance on Macs: Native Apple M1 support and Metal GPU acceleration deliver significant render speed increases.
- Emmy Award-winning VFX: Adds more creative effects from the Boris FX Sapphire collection including UltraZap (superhero/sci-fi lightning effects), UltraGlow (smooth and slick glows), Emboss_Glass, Warp_Waves (lens/distortion effects), and more.
- Improved alpha and masking workflows: Move layer masks between Photoshop and Optics for flexible compositing and layering. Masking tools, lighting effects, and render generators can now process and export alpha for unlimited asset creation.
- Beauty and portrait retouching tools: The Beauty Studio filter (from Boris FX Continuum collection) reduces blemishes, wrinkles, and pores for skin smoothing and digital makeup. The Pin Warp tool warps and reshapes faces or body parts using interactive pin controls.
- 2000+ more presets: Includes film stocks and movie looks, lens flares, gobo/light patterns, and tons of Particle Illusion presets.
- Improved user interface: Streamlined look, compact sliders, and ability to customize and import/export workspaces.
Pricing
Customers who purchase Optics receive both the plugin (Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom) and standalone application with support for Windows and macOS operating systems.
- Monthly subscription: $9
- Annual subscription: $99
- Permanent license (includes 1-year upgrade & support plan): $149
- Upgrade from the previous version: $49
Learn more about Boris FX Optics.
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