AKVIS Sketch is a photo editing program that enables the user to turn normal pictures into watercolor paintings or charcoal sketches in a matter of minutes. It delivers a nice looking, easy to use interface and several options and tools to work with. One thing you notice even after the first time you use AKVIS Sketch is that you can hardly go wrong with your sketches, but easily improve them.
AKVIS Sketch – Main 1Installation & Requirements
The AKVIS Sketch installation process is hassle-free, with no adware or any other troublesome features. AKVIS Sketch is a shareware application with a 10 day trial period, after which you are required to buy a license that costs $70 for a Standalone Home license, $89 for a Home Deluxe license and $154 for a Business license.
AKVIS Sketch is compatible with Windows XP/Vista/7 as well as Mac OS X 10.4-10.6.
PC minimum system requirements are: Pentium III, 1 GB of RAM, 100 MB HDD, DirectX 8 compatible graphic card and a resolution of at least 1024 x 768 32bit color depth.
The Mac minimum system requirements are: Intel/G4, 1 GB of RAM, 100 MB HDD, 1024 x 768 display.
Interface
The AKVIS Sketch user interface is very simple and straightforward. On the right side you have a simple panel containing all the sliders and graphical options you need to create your sketches, while on the left and upper side of the screen you can find the basic options like open, save, print and so forth.
A nice thing about the interface is that there’s not only a small overview window that can be hovered across the picture, but there are also two tabs that can be easily used to switch the image from Before to After, giving you the possibility to look at both the original image and the modified one with just a few clicks.
A great option that is sadly unavailable in the Home Standalone version of AKVIS Sketch is the Stroke Direction, a feature that -just as the name suggests- allows the user to manually define the direction of the strokes, giving a bigger sense of personalization and involvement in the final product.
Pros
– Beautiful, innovative and easy to use interface
– Lots of features and options
– High quality results
– Available on both Windows and Mac platforms
Cons
– Only 10 day trial period and the license doesn’t seem cheap
Conclusion
AKVIS Sketch is a great photo editing program that will catch your interest instantly, whether you are a professional or an amateur photo editor. The interface is very intuitive and clean, with multiple editing options and great quality output. Overall, AKVIS Sketch is not a program that extends its functionality beyond the one of creating sketches from regular images, but it manages to do this very well,with a minimum of effort from the user.
