Mister Retro’s Machine Wash – Scrubbing in the Grunge
   This is kind of a hard package to review. Most plug-ins and Photoshop apps are used to create beauty. We want to make people blemish free, or add artistic flair to something. The Machine Wash plug in seems to want to celebrate grunge, de-constructivisim and the erosion of things. To my surprise, this is cool, a bit liberating and beautiful in it’s own weird way.
   It’s purpose is to take an image and add layers of texture and real-world-type looks. For instance, Country Store gives you a wood grain texture and Salvaged Sign simulates an old sign with its paint peeling and puckering, like this:

   It comes with a set of textures and many more are available. Those with the package are Battleship Gunmetal, Country Store, Crystallized Window, Fiberglass Web, Industrial Quarter, Rusted, Salvaged Sign, Scraped Up, Super Scuffer and the lovely-sounding Toxic Waste. When you open it, you’re greeted with this window:

   You’ll notice on the left there are four tabs: Basic, Wash, Surface and Background. Below that is the texture/effect picker organized by directories. There’s a preview window on the right with zoom buttons below and other view selections above. When in the Basic tab, you get Composite and Original at the top of the preview window to see the effect in action and your original image. An important check box at the bottom of the preview window is “Generate Effect in New Layer Above,” which allows non-destructive editing – it puts all your mods in a layer that you can pitch if your choices displease you.

   Above that are the Help, Guide and Info buttons. I love the old analog console TV-looking switches.

   In the effects directory on the left, there are folders pre-made for the additional textures and effects that you can purchase. The Default folder contains the ten default ones (natch). Below that are Basic Surface and Basic Wash. These two may be reconfigurable, but seem to be pre-sets that you can’t change. The last item in the list is Reset All to revert back to the original image no matter which or how many functions you used on other tabs. Below left is the User Settings window where the pre-sets you create are displayed.

   It’s important to note that these ten are accessible here. When you go to the other three tabs, Battleship, Rusted, Fiberglass, General Store and Scratched are the only available ones. (More on that in a minute.)

   One thing I noticed is that text and images with well defined lines seem to display the effects more effectively. In fact, their demo uses text (a swooping Squirrel Nut Zippers logo – nice). For instance, here’s one with an alligator pic I took in Louisiana (his name is Charley). It’s not as dramatic as those done with my (ugly ugly) text page.

Not that dramatic. But, here’s the same setting on the ugly text page I made. It's not quite as ugly, but it made a plain text page a LOT more interesting.

   Now this is where it gets weird. There are so many adjustments you can make across the four tabs (Basic, etc.) that a picture can get lost in the effects, or you can add only the barest of each effect. If you use more than one tab to build the effect, it has a button to link the effect to those used on other tabs and share the settings. This can be a bit confusing because the sliders and controls aren’t the same on all pages.

   Basic is what it says: It simply paints one of the ten defaults (remember – five on the other three tabs) onto your image. You don’t have control over the intensity of it using Basic.

   Surface is pretty cool. It takes whatever texture you applied and adds depth to it, like this:

   Background lets you put the texture behind the image and its script uses transparency to let that come through. Sometimes, though, the different layers – Basic, Wash, etc. – don’t always seem to work or multiply the effect, but it’s different for each image you use.

   Another cool thing is that you can add multiple washes in the Wash and Surface mode. This prevents having to run several passes to get many of the effects in combination. If it’s not enough, save the image and do it again.

   It also allows you to create a window for the effect. Using the Inside and Outside buttons, you can create a “washed” window in only part of the image. Using Inside, it applies the effect in the center leaving the area outside of it without a wash; or use the Outside button and it is like creating a border.

   To be honest, I was a bit overwhelmed when I started using it and trying to figure out how to describe the huge array of things you can do with it. With four different functions and five or ten textures to use, the combinations are endless. The instructions and guides are pretty good. It’s simple enough that you can get running very quickly, it just takes awhile to figure out how to use things in combination effectively. The upside to that is you get some great happy accidents that make you say, “I didn’t expect that but, hey, I like it!”

   If you are doing “art” (i.e., illustrations and graphics), especially if your target audience is younger, this is a great addition to your tool set. In any event, it’s worth downloading the trial package and checking it out. I’ve put screen captures with the controls at the end to give you an idea of how it works.  It’s one of those packages you have to play with to truly wrap your head around. It’s not hard, it just has so many variations and combinations that it’s like having a room full of funhouse mirrors – you keep going because you never know what you’ll see next. I’m impressed with it and, if you really want to add variety to your work, you can certainly do it with this.