NIK Software

[thierrylegros396]

Hi to all,

What do you think about NIK Software products, especially D-fine and Sharpener ?

And about the compatibility with Lightroom 2 ?!

Have a Nice Day.

Thierry

[pegelli]

I've tested and compared their sharpener to photokit sharpener.
In the end liked photokit better (user friendly operation and results) so purchased that one in favour of the NIK version.

No experience with D-fine.

I think to use them you need to export to PS, they're not directly usable in LR (same with Photokit btw, allthough according to Jeff Schewe the sharpening algorithms from LR2 are derived from Photokit Sharpener).

[gmitchel]

The Nik tools are excellent. The documentation is tops. The user interfaces are very polished.

I hate Nik Selective. Primarily because it bgs down the loading of Photoshop. It's also unnecessary if you use layers. I use Smart layers with all of the Nik tools.

No Photoshop plug-in works directly in Lightroom 2. LR does not support the Photoshop plug-in interfaces. What these tools do is offer a small application that lets you edit the photos as a secondary editor from LR. What happens is that LR will send a TIFF and when you leave the secondary editor, you're back in LR for additional editing.

What is slick about the Nik tools is that they will ask you if you want them loaded in LR as a secondary editor. Again, this is the sort of professional touch that distinguishes the Nik tools.

Cheers,

Mitch

[Craig Murphy]

Yeah and Viveza is pretty damn amazing.  One difference between the LR version and the PS versions is no brush application in LR.  Download the demos!

[nemophoto]

I've used the Nik plug-ins since version 1, about nine years. Generally, I've had very high praise for the software. I currently own the current versions of all the plug-ins, but I have a big caveat. As they've become more sophisticated, they've become buggier, especially in PS CS4. Today as I've been working, Silver Efex, for instance, has crashed no less than five times. Each time I've had to restart Photoshop -- either to get the plug-in working again, or because it's locked up Photoshop (as it just did two minutes ago). Once I've had to completely reboot my computer. (I run Windows Vista32, so I can't speak for Macs or others). I just know the plug0ins were more stable under CS3 -- though I had my share of problems with Dfine.

Those complaints aside, I've found the sharpening to be among the best, and Dfine the noise cancelling, to be excellent. As for Silver Efex, it's a good program, but not significantly better than, say, Alien Skin Exposure 2 (which I also own). Just a different tool, but one that, at the moment, I want to throw out the window!

Nemo

[CynthiaM]

What do you think about NIK Software products, especially D-fine and Sharpener ?

I absolutely love Nik Color Efex.  I find that it imparts a level of artistry and creativity that would be difficult and/or time consuming to achieve in Photoshop.  I also like the way it handles light; very natural.  Sometimes the default of the filter is overkill and you have to learn to decrease the effect with the sliders but one you get a look that you like, you can save it as a preset.

Silver Efex is ok.  I think the big advantage with it is that within one layer you can convert to black and white, add grain, dodge and burn, darken and or vignette edges, add contrast and draw attention to or diffuse detail (with the structure slider).

I've only recently started working with Viveza but so far, I really like it.  With any of these filter sets, you must learn how to use the upoint technology.  It's ability to mask and selectively apply effects are most impressive.  Check the tutorials on the nik website.  Also, learn how to run the filters as a smart filter which gives you the advantage, like an adjustment layer, of going back in at a later point in time and it will remember all of your settings when you ran the filter in that particular instance.  You can run as many filters as you want in one smart object and go back and forth between Color Efex, Viveza, etc, without increasing file size.  The one caveat is that if you need to mask anything, the mask will apply to all of the filters in that smart object so if you only want the mask to apply to one filter, then you need to run that as a separate smart object.  However, the upoint technology often eliminates the need for masking.

Can't comment on define and sharpener.  I use Photokit Sharpener. The way I figure it, if the work of the developers of Photokit Sharpener is good enough for Adobe (it's the Photokit Sharpener algorithms that are used for capture sharpening in Camera Raw and Lightroom and in the print module in Lighroom) then they are good enough for me.  As for define, I would think it might be worthwhile as the upoint technology can come in very handy in selectively applying the noise reduction.

Check these links to see some of the effects you can get with these filters:
Color Efex
Fog filter, opacity reduced, on a 45 degree angle:
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/ga...617_TKQmX-XL-LB
Duplex Monochrome filter:
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/ga...962_7TYTX-XL-LB
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/ga...962_7TYTX-XL-LB
Duplex Color:
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/ga...177542900_q2BPT
Duplex Color and Film Grain:
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/ga...362691098_7y34K
Glamour Glow:
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/ga...4354_8qP9b-L-LB
Midnight:
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/ga...351131678_FSHNr
Soft Focus:
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/ga...962_7TYTX-XL-LB

In addition, I use Darken/Lighten center in many images and often use Tonal Contrast with the defaults toned down so it doesn’t look quite so illustrative.  Wonderful tool for bringing out detail.

Silver Efex
http://cynthiam.smugmug.com/gallery/883161...389246294_nWpcE  (antique plate preset)
http://cynthiam.smugmug.com/gallery/883161...434339026_jwogc
http://www.cynthiamerzerphotography.com/ga...368114381_4aCYU

 

And about the compatibility with Lightroom 2 ?!

I am not a fan of running these filters through Lightroom.  I prefer to edit as a smart object in photoshop and then I can run as many of the filters as I want and if you do it all in the same smart object layer, you don't increase the file size.  Plus you can go back in and re-edit the filter if it is done as a smart filter; when you run the filter from Lightroom you don't have the smart object functionality.