TK9 Plugin for Photoshop: What’s new?

The TK9 plugin for Photoshop and Sean Bagshaw’s TK9 Button By Button Guide were released last week after several months of preparation. The launch period is always a hectic time. Both Sean and I have done our best to keep up with email. Please contact me or contact Sean if you feel your attempt to reach us went unanswered. Sorry about any delay.

There was one glitch during the rollout with the practice images for the TK9 Button By Button Guide. Downloads for this item on or before Monday, July 31 might have tif files that display an error when they are opened in Photoshop. This has been fixed. If you see this error, just use your download link to get a new copy of the practice images. If your tif practice images open with no error message, there is no need to download again.

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Until the end of August, the TK9 plugin and the TK9 Button By Button Guide are 25% off with code 25TK9 on my website.

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The TK9 plugin is a major update that started back in June 2022. A timeline of some of the events is below.

• June 2022–First Export module prototype created.
• September 2022–Color Grading upgrades added.
• November 2022–Blend If Masks and Edit Blend If added.
• Winter 2022 – Spring 2023–Layer Mask calculator, additional My Actions tabs, and numerous other features added and updated. Export module finalized.
• March 2023–Sean starts working on TK9 Button by Button video series.
• April 2023–Translators start translating tool tips, user interfaces, and documents into five additional languages (Italian, French, Spanish, German, and Chinese).
• Testing and debugging–constantly throughout the process.
• July 2023–Sean finishes TK9 Button By Button

There was an internal document that I shared with beta-testers that tracked the changes in TK9 compared to TK8. You can download this TK9 updates document to see everything that’s changed. It might contain a few typos, but it’s the most comprehensive list of all the upgrades and provides a look at the scope and magnitude of the changes present in TK9.

The Instructions PDF has also been updated to reflect the changes in TK9, with additional notes covering edge cases that might cause issues. However, Sean’s TK9 Button By Button Guide is likely the best resource to get the most out of the TK9 plugin for Photoshop.

I do want to give a special shout-out to David Tillett from Australia who played a crucial role in developing and improving TK9. He has helped troubleshoot coding bugs since TK8 and has contributed even more with TK9. David’s ability to test the modules and uncover bugs was remarkable and significantly improved TK9’s overall quality. He also proofread the documentation, found spelling and grammar mistakes, and contributed ideas for new features. David has already improved the TK9 experience for everyone.

Below are a series of videos from some of the collaborators that have made TK9 possible. First up is my video taking a quick look at some of the newest features in TK9.

Next is Sean Bagshaw’s video providing a brief overview of the different TK9 modules along with a look at some of his favorite features. Sean provided several suggestions that were incorporated into TK9 and uncovered some bugs as he recorded his TK9 Button By Button Guide. Be sure to subscribe to Sean’s YouTube channel for additional updates in the future.

Dave Kelly’s YouTube channel provides a constant stream of inspiration for features that can be added to the TK plugin. Many TK9 upgrades are things I felt would be helpful to Dave as I watched his TK Friday series. My conversations with Dave also provided the insights that made TK9’s Blend If masks and Edit Blend If possible. The video below covers what he considers some of the best new features in TK9.

Nico Ruffato started sending suggestions for improving TK8 in January this year. He was soon testing these features and then recommended even more. Nico was a little late to the party as TK9 was originally planned to launch in March 2023. However, it was clear that Nico’s experience with Photoshop and ideas for making the workflow easier could have a big effect on TK9, and I was happy to postpone launching TK9 in order to include his recommendations. His video below (in Italian) looks at some of the new TK9 features.

Rafael Coutinho in France was driving force behind the TK9 Export module. There were several requests to bring back its predecessor, the TK7 Batch module, but I wanted to make it better for TK9. Rafael tested the Export module prototypes and kept asking for additional features. I was happy to add them and think the final version is more capable and feature-rich based on his input. In the video below (in French), Rafael reviews new features in TK9.