Why you’re going to love the FX-Panel

 In FX-Panel

As if Photoshop is not complicated enough, has not enough own functions, filters, and windows, we expect you to install yet another window (panel)? In this article, we want to explain why we believe that YES is the answer to the question. We’d even go so far and claim that you will love the FX-Panel.

Why a panel at all?

Panels are windows in Photoshop, such as the layers window, history, or histogram. In addition to the panels provided by Photoshop, you can also install your own. The advantage: in a single window, you can easily access often-used functions for specific purposes. Not only will you save time, but you are also capable of performing highly complex operations with one mouse click.

In short, panels are awesome. And there are a lot of them which are good. The disadvantage: panels are usually very special. They are available for retouching, watermarks, color looks, color selection, luminance masks, extrusions, templates, organization, etc. If you want to use all these panels, your Photoshop interface can get very confusing.

Why the FX-Panel?

Unlike ordinary Photoshop panels, the FX-Panel is primarily a container, if you will. A pool for different functions as they appear in retouching, watermark, or organization panels. Instead of getting used to new user interfaces and handling every time, the FX-Panel operates on the same principle. The individual functions for retouching, image looks, extrusion, etc. can be simply loaded as presets. Our self-proclaimed, long-term goal is to have so many presets at some point that you will no longer need any other panel. For us to succeed, we need your help. Here you can tell us which presets you want for the FX-Panel.

Professional presets

Presets from our shop are not only technically up to date, but they also offer many settings and options. Often, you can use the same preset for different purposes or results with just a few clicks. To ensure your settings won’t get lost, you can save them as custom presets.

The FX-Panel is YOUR panel

In addition to the presets from our shop, you can also integrate your actions, scripts and camera raw filter into the panel. That means: everything you need for your workflow is in one place, the FX-Panel. To keep everything neat and clean, you can define your own images for the presets you’ve added. With custom sets, the favorite function and keyboard shortcuts, you have everything at a glance.

FX-Panel Quick Menu
Add what you need right from the quick menu.

Panel vs. Photoshop actions & scripts

Photoshop actions are powerful tools and an integral part of efficient and automated work. That’s why it was important for us to allow integration of your actions right into the FX-Panel. By only being able to “record” and play Photoshop actions, their functions are very limited, though. For example, you can not make any mathematical calculations.

The situation is different with Photoshop scripts. You can calculate specific values ​​and also query document-specific properties such as size, resolution, and layers. But you need at least basic programming experience. Scripts can be integrated into the FX-Panel, so you don’t have to search them on your hard drive every time you need them.

A panel combines the power of scripts with a user interface. This allows the scripts to be variable, giving the user the opportunity of having even more influence on the result. In short, a panel is the most comfortable and at the same time the most powerful method for solving complex tasks in Photoshop. If it’s designed as modern and easy to use as the FX-Panel, it can dramatically improve your workflow.

In this article, you’ll learn why FX-Panel presets are better than Photoshop actions.

Modern Design

The Photoshop interface is very rich in features but neither modern nor very user-friendly. We deliberately designed the FX-Panel to stand out without distracting from the essentials. Instead of the usual Photoshop components, we use modules that you know from your everyday experience with websites and apps on your phone. As a result, the panel can be operated with a mouse, a finger or a pen. At the same time, we made sure that in Photoshop the FX-Panel isn’t completely out of place.

Many functions (but only if you need them)

Although the FX-Panel has many functions and is very complex at its core, as a user you don’t notice any of this at first. The presets are arranged simply and only show their full functionality when needed. To provide a clear overview of all options, we categorized them and separated them into so-called accordions. So you always just adjust exactly what you want to change. If all this is too complicated for you, you can easily run the presets with their default values without changing anything at all.

Not just for beginners

You are a professional, knowing all the functions and how to get to which result? Good news: the FX-Panel is just right for you. For some presets address issues you simply can’t solve with your resources or at least would need a long time for it. And we all know that time is money.

Let’s take an example: splitting a picture into 50 evenly spaced 3-degree vertical stripes takes ages, even if you know how to do that. With our strip slicer, you can not only reach the result in a few seconds, but you can also change the number and angle of the strips with one click. That’s why we’re convinced that professionals will appreciate our time-saver presets.

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