General Tutorials

Installing Plugins
by adlabs6, Serval, and Snake

Plugin Types

A plugin filter can be installed a couple of ways, depending on the plugin. The easier method is when a plugin comes in an .exe wrapper which will automatically detect and install the plugin where it needs to be.

Alternately, and in my experience more commonly, a plugin is a delivered as a file which the user will have to manually install into their graphics application. The manual installation is much the same between the different graphics applications, but for clarity we'll cover the process for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, PaintShop Pro and the GIMP under WinXP.

Photoshop

Adobe's Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements uses a similar system for installing plugins and filters. Manual plugin and filter insallation is to the following default paths:

For Photoshop CS:
C:\Adobe\Photoshop CS\Plug-Ins\Filters

For Photoshop Elements:
C:\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\Plug-Ins

Within the preferences dialog of Photoshop there is an option to specify a path to a plugins directory, which more advanced users may find useful.

PaintShop Pro

PaintShop Pro plugins are added to the appropriate directories for the version of the software you are using. Below is a list of some sample paths to where you can find the different versions of PaintShop Pro, published by both Corel and previously Jasic Software.

C:\Program Files\corel\corel Paint Shop Pro PhotoXI

C:\Program Files\corel\Corel Paint Shop Pro X

C:\Program Files\Jasac Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7

C:\Program Files\Jasac Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 8

C:\Program Files\Jasac Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 9

GIMP

Adding a filter or plugin to GIMP is much the same as adding brushes or patterns, which are covered in tutorials HERE and HERE. For filters and plugins, directories are selected in the Preferences panel, under the Folders > Plug-Ins section. All plugins located at any paths listed here will be loaded when GIMP starts up. I you'd like you can create custom directories for your new plugins, and then add these directories in the preferences menu, or you can add them to an existing and already defined directory.

So to install a new plugin, you'll need to copy the plugin file to one of the directories you've got assigned in the preferences panel. Now restart GIMP and you're plugin should be available in the menu.

A sample path:
C:\Program Fies\GIMP-2.0\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins