Alien Skin's Image Doctor is a new set of filters used for image repair. Alien Skin is known for its effects plugins (Eye Candy and Xenofex) for such programs as Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and other image editors; and now with the release of Image Doctor they have created another great plugin product. But this set differs from their other software as it is a collection of powerful photo-retouching and image-repair filers which allows you to remove blemishes and defects, quickly repair over-compressed JPEGs, and seamlessly replace unwanted details and objects.

Image Doctor is available for Windows and Macintosh. Pricing: $129.00. Registered users of other Alien Skin products will receive discount pricing when ordering directly from Alien Skin Software. See their web site for more information: http://alienskin.com

Image Doctor's features include:

• Compatible host programs: Adobe Photoshop 5.5 or later, Paint Shop Pro 6.0 or later, Fireworks 4.0 or later. See Alien Skin website for additional hosts.
• Smart Fill: Removes large objects from complex backgrounds by filling the area with pattern.
• Scratch Remover: Removes long, narrow defects such as scratches, tears, creases, and wrinkles.
• Spot Lifter: Removes spots and blemishes, seamlessly blending them in with the surrounding area.
• JPEG Repair: Diminishes artifacts from over-compressed JPEG.
• Repair Type: Selection-based repair or entire images.
• Preview: Large resizable preview window with visible underlying layers and ability to switch between filters.
• Before/After: You can toggle back and forth between the filtered and unfiltered versions of image.
• Undo: Unlimited undo and redo.
• Shortcuts: Photoshop style keyboard shortcuts.
• On-screen Tips: Help text provides instant guidance for each filter control.
• Command Menus: Use settings and presets. Zoom in and out of preview image.

The easy-to-use Alien Skin software user interface is better than ever in Image Doctor. Command menus are accessible when you call up each of the Image Doctor filters. Windows users will see the menus at the top of the filter preview window; and Macintosh users will see them in place of their usual menu bar. The menus available are: Edit, Filters, View, Settings, and Help. The large preview window, on the right of the screen, is resizable and allows users to examine an effect with all layers in the image visible. A variety of sliders and controls are on the left of the screen and on top of preview window. These sliders and controls work in a logical "top-down" fashion with the topmost slider controlling the repair effect in each filter and subsequent controls blending repaired areas into the surrounding image.

Smart Fill replaces large objects and defects by intelligently blending repairs into backgrounds. It can remove signs and trash from landscapes, unwanted tourists from vacation snapshots, and uninvited guests from party photos, leaving no visible seams. This is an excellent filter that gives you great results. You just select the portion of your image that you want removed, select the texture size, regularity and feathering options, and then place the Texture Source Box over your source area from which you want Smart Fill to extract the replacement texture and then the unwanted portion is seamlessly replaced. See graphic to the left for a before and after view.

The Scratch Remover is perfect for removing unwanted background details such as tears, dust specks, or creases from photographs. You can use it to erase long, thin objects, such as microphones or telephone poles. It also works great for removing text such as time codes, from your photos or video captures. To get the best results, it is advised that you divide your work into sections when a defect spans several visually different areas. In the example on the left, eight separate selections and applications of Scratch Remover were used to get the best result. Even though this filter takes some fine-tuning and you have to work on small segments of a scratch at a time, I thought it did a good job. See image to the left for a view of a before/after shot and a view of separate selections.

PC:

• Pentium II-class processor
• Windows 98/2000/Me/XP
• 64 MB or more of physical RAM

Mac:

• Power PC processor
• Macintosh System Software 9 or later; OS X 10.1 or later
• 64 MB or more of physical RAM