NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => Processing & Publication => Topic started by: Bjørn J on March 24, 2016, 21:01:21
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Google has decided to give away the complete Nik Collection for free. Get it before they change their mind :)
https://www.google.com/nikcollection/
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Sweet - I like Silver Efex Pro a lot.
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Thanks, Bjørn, for the notification.
I tried the Vivenza once and have always wanted to try other of this collection.
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My favourite plug-ins RIP .....sad day.
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My favourite plug-ins RIP .....sad day.
Hmm, the did not say anything about the future.
But yes, it might be an indication that development will cease.
cheers
afx
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My favourite plug-ins RIP .....sad day.
It does sound like that
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Thanks Bjørn, plan to try it out soon.
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Thanks Bjørn! .. I've just downloaded it and look forward to try it.
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Thanks Bjørn, plan to try it out soon.
I have used Nik for years, especially Color Efex - my favourite plugins for the final finishing touches of most photos. It has an intuitive interface and the ability to "stack" filters is great. It also offers selective editing with Control-Point technology like in Capture NX (which was made by Nik).
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Thanks, Bjørn! Am downloading it.
I wonder if there would be any future support. I don't expect any additional function, but the compatibility issue should be addressed.
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It's fun - "Film Noir" flavour and "Pinhole" flavour with Kodak P3200 TMAX film simulation.
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I paid 149€ for this and it was worth every Cent!
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A couple days ago, I was wondering whether/which I should buy, DXO Film Pack or VSCO plugin. The problem is solved at least for now.
I wonder if there would be any future support. I don't expect any additional function, but the compatibility issue should be addressed.
Although the current version is known to work on Windows 10 without problem, Nik Collection is officially compatible with only up to Windows 8. This might suggest that we would not be able to expect the future support, even for the possible compatibility issue.
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Heard a lot of good things about these and while it is nice that it's free, it also makes their future uncertain.
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As long as these plugins work with one's photo-editing software of choice now, why worry about the future? They function under Windows up to Win10 so we should be well covered on the OS front (don't know about the Mac OS compatibility though).
The troublesome aspect is how the IT industry works by buying up companies and kill their products for competition purposes, but that is another discussion and not suited for NG anyway.
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Mongo read about this earlier today. Some of these are reasonably good. However, downloaded the software BUT did NOT instal it yet for two reasons:
1. if these are not stand alone software, then, as plug-ins they are not likely to work on CS5 (for Mac except one of the plug-ins) - at least that is Mongo's understanding;
2. Not at all happy with google taking and sharing information about Mongo. Nothing is FREE it seems. Unless Mongo can turn this feature off, he will NOT be installing this so called "FREE" software.
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As long as these plugins work with one's photo-editing software of choice now, why worry about the future? They function under Windows up to Win10 so we should be well covered on the OS front (don't know about the Mac OS compatibility though).
I guess you are right, though I imagine the problem might be compatibility problems with future versions of Photoshop and Lightroom rather than the OS. I think the reason people worry is because it is tool they use and like, which now seems to enter an uncertain future.
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I guess you are right, though I imagine the problem might be compatibility problems with future versions of Photoshop and Lightroom rather than the OS. I think the reason people worry is because it is tool they use and like, which now seems to enter an uncertain future.
Nik plugins work with CS6 and that's all I care to know about.
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Mongo read about this earlier today. Some of these are reasonably good. However, downloaded the software BUT did NOT instal it yet for two reasons:
2. Not at all happy with google taking and sharing information about Mongo. Nothing is FREE it seems. Unless Mongo can turn this feature off, he will NOT be installing this so called "FREE" software.
What is Google taking and sharing in this case? I can see you can opt out of sending anonymous usage statistics, is that what you mean? I'm just curious.
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Mongo read about this earlier today. Some of these are reasonably good. However, downloaded the software BUT did NOT instal it yet for two reasons:
1. if these are not stand alone software, then, as plug-ins they are not likely to work on CS5 (for Mac except one of the plug-ins) - at least that is Mongo's understanding;
2. Not at all happy with google taking and sharing information about Mongo. Nothing is FREE it seems. Unless Mongo can turn this feature off, he will NOT be installing this so called "FREE" software.
Nik plugins work with CS2 to CS6 (tested on Windows). CS5 should be OK, unless the Mac version is something special.
Politely refuse to share user information with Google when you install the plugin package.
Most web sites these days with Google ads on them track and echo back much more information anyway. That is why having ad blocking software and firewalls are so important.
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Mongo read about this earlier today. Some of these are reasonably good. However, downloaded the software BUT did NOT instal it yet for two reasons:
1. if these are not stand alone software, then, as plug-ins they are not likely to work on CS5 (for Mac except one of the plug-ins) - at least that is Mongo's understanding;
I don't have any host applications (e.g. Photoshop) and the software installation did not create any shortcuts or a program start group - I created shortcuts myself and run the executeables which are located in your program folder in a "Google\Nik Collection" folder. I use Capture One Pro and don't yet know if it integrates with the Nik software - I don't expect it to be the case.
Whether I will miss other features apart from the integration when running the software this way I have no idea.
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Obviously the Nik collection was not making money for Google. I expect it will get minor maintenance, but no real development.
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Will it be open-sourced?
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Thanks for the heads up! ;)
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A nice touch is that these plugins install both 32- and 64-bit executables so will fit straight into any recent computing system.
You can run them as stand-alone programs, no problem. That solves issues with a lack of a suitable hosting application, at the expense of a slightly more convoluted work flow.
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I still use CS2, but that cannot work with D800 files.
Will the Nik standalone run NEF files, or only Jpg's?
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Nikon provides free converters (ViewNX and Capture NXD) to deal with D800 NEFs. The Nik Collection handles 16-bit TIFs or (8-bit) jpgs, but one should not expect too much if an 8-bit jpg is the starting point. Keep to the TIFs.
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Nikon provides free converters (ViewNX and Capture NXD) to deal with D800 NEFs. The Nik Collection handles 16-bit TIFs or (8-bit) jpgs, but one should not expect too much if an 8-bit jpg is the starting point. Keep to the TIFs.
Thanks Bjorn, got spoiled with Capture NX that edits directly with the RAW file, but will try it for sure.
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Thanks Bjorn, got spoiled with Capture NX that edits directly with the RAW file, but will try it for sure.
Adobe's DNG converter will convert nefs from e.g. Nikon D800 to Adobe DNG format. You may be able to ingest these DNG files into PS CS2.
The Adobe DNG converter is a free download AFAIK.
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I fail to see the value of going through intermediary DNGs to do 'raw' processing in CS2 instead of dealing directly with the NEFs in suitable RAW converters. Finish the processing of the NEFs there using the power of RAW files, then if required, do any final polishing using Nik standalones or CS2 on output 16-bit TIFs.
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In sufficiently new versions of Ps (version > CS2 ) you can imput the raw file as a smart objects, allowing non-destructive editing.
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thanks to all especially Jorgen, Bjorn and Lars. That seems to have solved most of the issues Mongo may have had with this google offer. Will give it a try.
Have now tried the google package on Imac using CS5. A very disappointed (but half expected) mixed bag of results. The only feature that works directly is Silver Efex Pro 2. All other features just return the message "could not complete command because there is a problem with the filter module interface".
Some bizarre results:-
Trying the HDR feature in photoshop just causes photoshop to close down unexpectedly. However, using this feature through "automate" will allow you to use it for multi frame images but not for a single image.;
Trying to access these features through Bridge allows access to about 4 of the them but not the others.
Mongo has added the Google folder containing these features to the "plug-ins' folder in Photoshop preferences. They all appear there.
It all seems close but at the same time out of reach and not worth the trouble to spend hours trying to get the features to work (in Mongo's case in any event).
Any suggestions from any technical gurus out there ??
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For people that are using these tools: How did you learn to use the tools? Are Nik/Google's own guides good or are there others that provide a better introduction?
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In my case, trial and error. Most of the filters in both Color and Silver EfexPro are based on how we did things in the darkroom or with filters on lenses in the analog days. The Nik guides were close to useless, I don't know if Google have improved them any. There are plenty of blogs and vlogs to be found on getting started with them, less about using them effectively.
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Dfine and Output Sharpener work very well in all versions of Photoshop I have tried (CS2 - CS6; 64-bit Windows 7 & 10). Making the filtered picture an extra layer is a bonus in its own too. Of course they add more overhead in the work flow as well, so best reserved for the cases that really require special attention.
I haven't seen any stability issues with any of the plugins so far. If such are experienced, there is always the possibility to run the plugins as standalone programs.
Briefly tried Silver Efex and it appears to be useful as well, but I'm not deep enough into b/w for the time being to spend the efforts worth learning it.
The others I briefly looked at and found non-intuitive. The help files were not very helpful.
As the Nik Collection now is free, it is hard to complain too much. The "phone home" ability can easily be removed when you install the programs.
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For people that are using these tools: How did you learn to use the tools? Are Nik/Google's own guides good or are there others that provide a better introduction?
GreyLearning Nik instruction videos are now free. http://greylearning.com/courses/nik-bundle
They are rather basic, but that is not bad when learning a new piece of software.
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That's a nice link Anthony , thanks for sharing it
The videos are wort your time if you want to learn the basic operation
I learned how to use the plugins when it was owned by nik software, and I only had CNX2, used TIF files and used the plugins as stand alone applications
Once you learn the basic operation , color efex, analog efex, viveza, silver efx behave very similar, it becomes a creative experimentation process , much easier to manage is used as layers in PS
Define for noise reduction , and the sharpening plugins also have control points, and help obtain quality results when used with caution
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Thanks for info, I will have a look at GreyLerning.