CARLSBAD, CA. (SEPTEMBER 16, 2003) - A Lowly Apprentice Production, Inc. (ALAP), a leading developer of extended technology for the publishing and design industries, announced today the immediate availability of an update for it's Adobe Photoshop import XTension for QuarkXPress, ImagePort 1.3. This version is a maintenance update which provides compatibility for QuarkXPress 6.0, resolves a number of customer reported issues, and contains some new features for additional support of Adobe Photoshop 7 files. New features include added support for the following blend types in Photoshop 7; Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Linear Dodge and Linear Burn. "The ability to import native Photoshop files with layers into QuarkXPress is very desirable for many of our customers," said Susan Friedman, senior vice president of marketing at Quark. "ImagePort can save design professionals a tremendous amount of time by eliminating the need to flatten images. It's great to have ImagePort available for QuarkXPress 6." About ImagePort At present, Photoshop images containing layers must be "flattened," or stripped of all layering information before they can be imported into a QuarkXPress layout. ImagePort saves designers tremendous time by eliminating the need to "flatten" an image to be used in QuarkXPress. ImagePort retains full control of layers, channels and paths once the image is imported into the QuarkXPress document. ImagePort even allows the user to manipulate layers, channels and paths. Layers can be turned ON and OFF and the user has full control over layer opacity and blending mode. Channels can be turned ON and OFF, or designated to print as any QuarkXPress color. Paths can be designated for use as a clipping path or for text runaround. Multiple versions of the same image can be conveniently placed in one picture box and ImagePort now includes support for Adjustment Layers. The easy-to-use ImagePort palette provides familiar controls to give the user full access to layers, channels and paths in a Photoshop image. Pricing and Availability ImagePort 1.3 is currently available for Apple Macintosh PowerPC System 8.6 or later including Mac OS X, using QuarkXPress 4.1 or later and Microsoft Windows 98 or later using QuarkXPress 4.1 or later. ImagePort 1.3 is priced at $99.99 (USD). Upgrades from version 1.x to 1.3 purchased prior to April 30, 2003 are $29.99 (USD). To purchase, contact ALAP, Inc. by phone at (888) 818-5790 or on the web at: http://store.alap.com. Upgrades for customers who purchased ImagePort after April 30, 2003 are available free of charge.