Topaz Software does the same thing and only costs $39.00 Don't know if it's available for MAC, but you might want to check it out. I have actually talked on the phone with the creator/producer and she told me that it's so expensive because it is a very complicated algorithmic process to produce it and it costs a bunch of money to get it created and marketed. And also told me it is too expensive to create a plug-in of the newer versions for MAC since there are only about 20% of users out there using MACs, so it was not cost-effective at this time for her to produce a Mac version. I have used the trial software of Topaz and it's complete... gives you 30 days to try it... not restrictions on the use for that period of time. But Lucis Art is VERY restrictive on their trial version... you cannot actually produce the photo that your trial version lets you create... it won't let you create the photo so you can actually see it's effects - you have to rely on their little window to see the effects. My experience with Lucis Art is somewhat frustrating and I think it's MUCH too expensive when Topaz is about 1/10th the cost.

Just my 2 cents worth... take it for what it's worth! ;-)