Anyone who collects and works with Photoshop presets on a regular basis has probably been frustrated at one time or another when trying to locate a particular preset. That was the case for designer Betsy Tuma, who's developer husband created the Preset Viewer program as a gift to his wife to ease her frustration. As the program matured, the Tumas decided to offer the program to the public, and it's lucky for us that they did, because there is nothing else like Preset Viewer out there.
Description:
- Preset Viewer allows you to browse all your Photoshop presets quickly and organize them with keywords.
- Preset Viewer displays brush (ABR), pattern (PAT), custom shape (CSH), swatch (ACB, ACO, ACT, ASE), style (ASL), Photoshop document (PSD), and image (PNG, JPG, BMP, and more) files.
- Shows previews in a number of sizes including thumbnails, filmstrip and tiled views.
- Organize your presets with keywords which stay with the files even if they are moved in your file system.
- Use the My Computer tab to browse all presets by location, or use the preset type tabs to browse all of a particular preset type regardless of location.
- Presets and images can be exported as Photoshop brush (ABR) files, or as individual PNG files with transparency.
- Preset Viewer gives non-Photoshop users access to Photoshop resources by exporting them as PNG files.
Pros:
- Helps your find presets more easily and sort and organize your preset collection.
- Allows you to preview your files at very large sizes.
- Unique icons identify each type of file.
- Detailed User Guide in PDF format and online.
- Can also preview Paint Shop Pro (JBR) brushes.
- Works with files over network shares.
- Display and export patterns embedded in style presets.
Cons:
- Tab panel could be improved. It's difficult to see which tab is foremost.
- Produces an annoying "ding" sound every time anything is clicked on my system.
- Can't define dimensions when images are exported; the size is determined by the native image size in the embedded file source.
- Style previews are not always displayed accurately.
- Preset Viewer runs in Windows only.
Save Time and Frustration with Preset Viewer
Probably the biggest issue I see with the current version is that most Photoshop layer style presets are not displayed the same in Preset Viewer and they are in the Preset Manager of Photoshop. I asked about this and was told it was done intentionally due to performance issues. Tumasoft is planning to address this in a future version by offer a more accurate, but slower display option for the user.
I was impressed at the responsiveness of the company regarding the issues and suggestions I brought up, and I have no doubt the program will get even better in future versions. In summary, Preset Viewer is an excellent tool for anyone who works with Photoshop Presets on a regular basis. Though there is no trial version of Preset Viewer, the company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and the complete user guide is available online to give you a pretty good idea in advance of all that the program can do. If you look up TumaSoft on Twitter or Facebook, you can be notified of sales and discounts.
