Phantasm CS range reviews & feedback
We are rightly proud of our software which we continuously improve by listening to users and reviewers. And to back our claims up, here are snippets of reviews and feedback to date.
Click on the publication's title to view their website or read the full online review (where available).
Reviews
(Phantasm CS version 2, Phantasm CS Designer and Studio)
Macworld
October 2008
“The plug-ins themselves are as easy to use as they are powerful and will be familiar to anyone who has used Photoshop.”
“The Halftone and Duotone plug-ins are more sophisticated than similar bundled add-ons, producing precisely calculated results.”
“The suite ships in three versions — and we checked out Phantasm CS, a set of tools so reasonably priced at £25 that we can't think of any reason why Illustrator users wouldn't want to snap up a copy right now.”
Macworld rating: 5/5 Editors' Choice
MacUser
1 Aug (vol. 24, no. 16) 2008
“Vector halftones is an area where Phantasm CS turns the impossible into the fairly simple ... The effects can be stunning, when used appropriately.”
“...if you'd like to take greater control of your Illustrator output, bringing separation controls into the design production sphere, grab Phantasm now.”
“Pros: Puts powerful prepress separation and colour processing features into the hands of designers + Compatible with Illustrator Actions
Cons: Making the most of it requires a good understanding of print processes”
Mouse rating: 4/5
Layers Magazine
Jul/Aug 2008
“Phantasm CS is a fantastic plug-in for Illustrator... Be sure to check out the new halftone feature - it's fun to play with.”
“Studio's prepress options are so important that I wonder why it took a third-party company to add the features to Illustrator (now in its 13th version).”
“Pros: Adds prepress functions to Illustrator
Cons: [blank]”
Layers rating: 5/5
PC Pro
August 2008
Real World Computing: Living Colour
“Compared to the complicated Live Color approach, the Phantasm CS range of Illustrator plug-ins could hardly be simpler...”
“You might expect these bargain-priced filters to be marred by skimping and rough edges, but each is a comprehensive and polished tool.”
“ It's been a long haul, but after 20 years and needing Illustrator CS3 and Phantasm CS to work in tandem, it finally feels possible for designers to successfully take full control of their CMYK colour handling.”
Computer Arts
July 2008
Illustrator plug-ins_ ten of the best
“Some neat duotone and halftone tools are useful, and separations and overprint previews confirm this as a pro tool at a very un-pro price.”
Highly recommended
Digital Arts, June issue 2008
Re-published in PC World (Australia), May 2008
“With such a range of Illustrator plug-ins on the market, it's rare to come across one that excels to this extent.”
“To have all these features available in Illustrator (Adobe take note) and at such a modest price tag puts this product in a class of its own. We wholeheartedly recommend that any designer or studio adds it to their software arsenal.”
Digital Arts rating: 4.5/5
Originally published in The Graphic Mac
April 2008
(Re-published in Creative Bits, April 2008)
“If your design environment is primarily Adobe Illustrator, the full Studio version is a bargain.”
“Overall, Phantasm CS is probably the most useful plugin set I've ever come across for any version of Adobe Illustrator.”
IT Enquirer
March 2008
“Pros: Separation and Ink Coverage capabilities early in the workflow, ease-of-use, parallel colour handling between Photoshop and Illustrator, image editing for embedded images
Contras: None I can come up with”
IT Enquirer rating: 5/5 Editor's Choice
Older reviews and feedback
The view of Adobe's Illustrator CS3 Product Manager
The list of quotes and praise for Phantasm CS is rising. But we are very proud to have none other than Adobe's Illustrator CS3 Product Manager, Phil Guindi adding his own views on Phantasm CS version 2:
“Phantasm CS version 2 is a solid addition to Illustrator CS3 for anyone who needs the most flexible and powerful color control tools available. This plug-in complements Illustrator CS3's Live Color feature, and provides additional image-level controls for both vector and bitmap artwork. If you often wish you could easily adjust the colors on images directly within Illustrator, this plug-in is for you.”
Published reviews (for Phantasm CS version 2)
Computer Arts
Jan 2008
Illustrator CS3 plugins group test
“Frankly, and we say this with our hand on our heart, you'd be mad not to buy it at $45 — it changes the entire way you deal with colour in Illustrator.”
“There's no real downside to Phantasm CS 2 — it just works and work brilliantly. It's compatible with Illustrator Actions and has overprint options to make sure everything prints as you would want it to. In fact, that word neatly sums up Phantasm CS 2 — 'brilliant'”
Digital Arts
Aug 2007
“Cheap plug-in offering a wide range of useful add-ons for colour correction.”
Digital Arts rating: 4.5/5
Computer Arts
Aug 2007
“Phantasm is one of those plug-ins that comes along very rarely — one that combines true innovation with real-life usefulness and value. It's a great combination.”
“Phantasm CS 2 is still excellent, and remains one of the best Illustrator plug-ins we've seen. We're big fans and you will be too...”
Computer Arts rating: 5/5
IT Enquirer
May 2007
“It still is a time-saver and a workflow enhancer, making the simultaneous use of Photoshop and Illustrator much more painless than without. If you regularly use these two programs together and for ‘synchronised’ design, then do yourself a favour and at least try Phantasm CS 2.”
IT Enquirer rating: 5/5
Published reviews (for Phantasm CS version 1)
Dynamic Graphics Magazine
Dec/Jan 2007
“The developers hit the right key ... it is accessible to hobbyist users and yet offers the level of control demanded by professionals.”
Computer Arts
Dec 2006
“In short ... Phantasm CS is a great little plug-in. It has potential to seriously speed up your Illustrator
workflow and offers a world of experimentation previously unavailable.”
Computer Arts rating: 5/5
Layers Magazine
Nov/Dec 2006
“Most of the commands will be familiar to Photoshop users... One of the best features is that the edits can be applied as either Filters,
which are permanent, or Effects, which can be modified at any time and added to Graphic Styles.
Some of the last remaining color Filters and Effects that weren’t available in Illustrator are now resolved with this plug-in.”
Layers rating: 4.5/5
Digital Media Designer
This review has also been syndicated to other publications including
Creative Mac,
Digital Produce Magazine and the
DNM Forums.
“Phantasm CS brings to Adobe Illustrator functionality that really should have been there all along: real color adjustment tools that remain fully editable and that can be applied to any type of object. What's more, it offers this functionality for a really modest price... There is no way I can give this software anything short of a Strong Buy recommendation.”
“Whatever work you’ve produced, Phantasm CS lets you quickly explore colour-based variations. It’s such central power, massively boosting both productivity and creative possibilities, that once you’ve seen it in action it’s difficult to know why Illustrator doesn’t offer similar functionality itself.”
designer-info overall rating: 5/6
IT Enquirer
Oct 2006
“Without Phantasm CS, I would have been busy with these files a lot longer. Phantasm CS makes processes such as these a lot easier, offering much
more control than with Illustrator's standard tools. And it offers the ability to perform the same kind of colour adjustments as in Photoshop - almost one-on-one.”
IT Enquirer rating: 4/5
Award nominations
MacUser Awards
2008
Astute Graphics was delighted to learn that MacUser magazine had put Phantasm CS forward as a nominee at their prestigious annual awards ceremony held 23rd October in London.
Entered in the Editorial Awards: Print Publishing of the Year category, fellow nominees are an illustrious group consisting of Adobe Acrobat Pro 9, QuarkXPress 8, Stone Design Create 14 and X-rite ColorMunki. Quark was the eventual winner. Considering the product's launch only in 2006, we feel it demonstrates the very positive impact our software has already had on the market — also demonstrated by the wonderful customer feedback and reviews from across the industry.
Professional blog/forum reviews
Veerle's blog
September 2008
"My secret revealed: I’ve used Phantasm CS Studio"
“No offense to Adobe, but if I want to change the color of my artwork I prefer using this plugin over the LiveColor feature. To me it feels more natural because it works and behaves the same as in Photoshop.”
“If you are very used to the Adjustments options in Photoshop such as: Brightness and Contrast, Curves, Levels, Desaturate, Hue and Saturation... You'll love this plugin.”
“I'm usually not a big fan of plugins but this Illustrator one is really an exception to my own rules.”
Veerle's blog is a highly popular resource for Illustrator tutorials and is recommended reading for all avid Illustrator users.
Layers forum
September 2008
"Phantasm Color Plug-in" - a review by forum administrator and professional Illustrator user, "Torch"
“I want to say that the plug-in is very well programmed. I encountered zero bugs (wish I could say the same for Hotdoor’s CadTools) and the interface is familiar in that the interface looks and feels like their Photoshop counterparts.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that if I were a true illustrator that spent a majority of my time illustrating as opposed to designing, that this Plug-in would be indispensable.”
“I really applaud Astute Graphics Limited for keeping an ear out to its customer base and going that extra mile.”
The Layers forum is the current premier forum for Illustrator tips and assistence and is operated by the Layers magazine publishers. This review is independant of the reviews published in the magazine.
Fuel Your Creativity
January 2009
"Phantasm CS Studio Review"
“Final thoughts
This might be one of the best and most useful Illustrator plugins that I have ever used. If you feel let down by the default color manipulation tools of Illustrator or have been dying to figure out how complex vector halftone patterns are created then I would seriously suggest purchasing this software. It will fundamentally change the way that you work with Illustrator and give you the color control that you've always wanted.”
Customer comments
It's always great to hear feedback from customers. And as you can see from these below, they are very positive!
“I just want to tell you how great your products are! I had Phantasm CS2, which I bought 2 years ago and I just upgraded to Phantasm Designer CS4 version. It's fantastic. I can't think of working in Illustrator without Phantasm plug-in. It boosts my creativity in my illustrations!”
Ilias Sounas
You can read more of Ilias' feedback on his blog...
“I used the Phantasm CS plug-in on a project the other day. It was a PDF, so there is no ability to edit gradients. I opened the PDF in Illustrator CS3, selected nine different gradients, and corrected them globally (to remove a Cyan cast) with the Curves Filter. What I was able to do in 2-3 minutes would have taken an hour if I had to edit each gradient independently. Phantasm CS has already paid for itself. Thank you.”
Kent Baker, Research and Technical Services, PrintingForLess.com
“I downloaded your plug-in - it's wonderful! For several years I have searched for this function (Hue/Saturation and Brightness/Contrast). It's incredible and works 100%! Wooooow!!!!!I just saved 8 hours of work… with 1 minute of adjustments with Phantasm CS. Your plug-in is AMAZING. Big thank you!”
Joël Dietlé
“I just got Phantasm CS yesterday, and I absolutely love it. It fills one of the biggest holes in Adobe Illustrator's capabilities, and it does
it well.”
Gordon Mc Alpin, creator of the Multiplex cartoon strip
You can read more of Gordon's feedback on his blog...
“I am already making awesome work with Phantasm CS Studio. I am using it to design the pattern of gradients in adhesive vinyl for walls and I find it really useful to have all the options found in the Halftone tool.”
Enrique Woolfolk
“Phantasm CS works terrifically!”
Scott Weichert
“Just finished noodling around with Phantasm CS. WOW! I can't believe how useful this plug-in is!
Phantasm CS opens up a world of experimentation and creative choices otherwise untapped. Can't believe how I ever got along without it, and can't wait
to spread the word to others! Phantastic and so easy to use, too.”
Scott Citron, leading certified Adobe trainer
“I just bought the software and was playing all day long with the new features. I can't find words...
This is something I'm using every five minutes. Really really awesome!!!! Very cool guys! Fantastic!”
...
“Just wanted to tell once again, that this is the best plug-in ever. I'm using it now for a month and I can't even imagine how I could work without it!
Just what I need! Fantastic!”
Aron Farkas
“I used Phantasm CS to adjust the title of one of Dynamic Graphics Magazine's articles. I had created an illustration of a pixelated word, but
it looked a little blurry, so I used the Phantasm CS Brightness/Contrast filter to brighten and contrast the color a bit to tone the blur down. Without Phantasm CS, I would have had
to take it into Photoshop in order to get the result I needed, but lose the ability to keep it a flat vector graphic. So Phantasm CS was the perfect tool.
I absolutely love it.”
Sam Berkes, Art Director, Dynamic Graphics Magazine
“Just wanted to say that this is a GREAT plugin and I've been looking for something like this for some time! Really great price and functionality.
Thanks for developing this!”
...
“The halftone functions are awesome. The best vector halftone tool I have ever seen.”
Josh Gordon