Nik Collection is now free!

[bjornthun]

In sufficiently new versions of Ps (version > CS2 ) you can imput the raw file as a smart objects, allowing non-destructive editing.

[Mongo]

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 ??
 

[Jørgen Ramskov]

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?

[Merco_61]

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.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

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.

[Anthony]

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.

[armando_m]

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

[Jørgen Ramskov]

Thanks for info, I will have a look at GreyLerning.