PhotoKit Sharpener 2

[dchew]

I buy software in 2008. In 2011 the company comes out with a new version that has significant upgrades.  My 2008 purchase entitles me to a 70% discount, so I pay $30.

Oh yeah: And the software works really well.

PixelGenius should be the example in Webster's definition of Value.

Dave

[francois]

…
PixelGenius should be the example in Webster's definition of Value.

…

I agree 100%!

[Mark D Segal]

Thanks for the info Jeff and Paul.

[digitaldog]

Yes, I installed 2.01 directly over 2.00 with no problems (PS CS5, XP SP3, 32 bit version).

Same here under OS X.

[Frankomatic]

We've just updated PKS 2 to version 2.0.1 last nite which fixes the Preview error and a few other errors like Output Sharpener 2 failures on non-English versions of Photoshop. Available on the Downloads page of the PG site.

When I upgraded to PKS v2 I also splurged for the bundle and installed PK Color 2 from the pkcolor_215_installer.zip download.

Today, on the download page, I noticed the PK Color2 version had changed to v2.1.6 so I downloaded that as well as the PKS 2.0.1 update.

I ran the PKS installer then checked PS Help/About Plug-In to confirm the version change.  PKS did show the updated number.  However, so did PK Color, but without ever running the pkcolor_216_installer.zip.  FWIW Properties for the "PhotoKit Color 2.8li" file does in fact show 2.1.6.0 under the version tab.

I realize these two plug-ins are installed within the PixelGenius Toolbox Plug-in Module, just wondering if it's normal for one program's installer to update the other program as well (or at least the version number).  I never did run the PK Color 2 update installer as both plug-ins seem to work.  Is there reason to do so?

Regards,
Frank

[Kirk Gittings]

OK, I expected that, but thanks for the answer you did give. Let me ask another, then. Based on Eric's comment (above), it seems the manual might shed light on many of my questions. But, it seems that the manual comes as part of the upgrade.

I downloaded the update. I had gotten away using from V1-not sure why. V2 will definitely become a regular part of my workflow for scanned B&W film-it came at just the right time as I am in the middle of printing two shows and struggling with some slightly soft Imacon scans. For my commercial work, I'll have to see how it works into my digital workflow with LR.

As per the famous "Manual", I never saw anyplace to download it through the upgrade process. What did I miss?

[digitaldog]

There is a link to the manual here:
http://www.pixelgenius.com/sharpener2/index.html

[Schewe]

As per the famous "Manual", I never saw anyplace to download it through the upgrade process. What did I miss?

In the plug-in the manual will come up if you click Help. Also, the manual is available for downloading from the PKS 2 Product page. Click on the User Manual link at the top of the page...

[Kirk Gittings]

[quoteI downloaded the upgrade yesterday -- greatly excited by this as PKS is an essential part of my routines. I've just tested the Capture Sharpening on a drum scan of a Hasselblad image shot on Ilford FP4 using the 6x6 Negative setting and Auto Sharp, and I've noticed that the image is actually softer after processing. This seems to be due to a combination of the Smoothing layer and over-enthusiastic masking. Removing the Smoothing layer returns pixel sharpness to pre-processing levels, but only a levels adjustment to each mask brings up overall sharpness. I've experimented with the other settings too, and found that Slow Neg with the Smoothing off is better -- closer to the old PKS1 result.

This is contrary to expectations, I presume. Any comments? ][/quote]

I noticed this phenomena too on some scanned 4x5 B&W using Narrow EDGE SHARPEN and the Medium. Interesting effect. I could see a use for smoothed grain and sharpened edges like in skies with billowy clouds for instance as an option in creative sharpen. Ideally for capture sharpen of B&W film, I would like the edges sharpened and the grain left alone-not smoothed or sharpened. Though in combination with the output sharpening the combined effect seems just fine.

[Kirk Gittings]

There is a link to the manual here:
http://www.pixelgenius.com/sharpener2/index.html

Thanks, It looks very well thought out

[hokuahi]

Had a couple of questions regarding PK2 that I didn't find answers for in the manual.  (BTW, it is totally awesome!)

1)  Is there a minimum height size for web output sharpening?  I had some images that I wanted to confine to no larger than 500 px high but when I ran the filter (with a corresponding 385 px width) the image kept reverting back to the original tiff file without any sharpening.

2)  If I have say a 6" x 5" image that I want to add to a new, 8.5" x 11" file in order to make a 8.5 x 11 print (with the image remaining 6 x 5), would I sharpen the 6 x 5 image for inkjet output or, wait until I had merged the two files and then sharpen the 8.5 x 11 image for output?

Thanks!

[Schewe]

2)  If I have say a 6" x 5" image that I want to add to a new, 8.5" x 11" file in order to make a 8.5 x 11 print (with the image remaining 6 x 5), would I sharpen the 6 x 5 image for inkjet output or, wait until I had merged the two files and then sharpen the 8.5 x 11 image for output?

Sorry, I can't quite make out the 1st question but in the case of the second question, you only output sharpening when you get the image at the final size and resolution...but as long as you aren't changing the resolution when you put the 6 x 5 image inside the 8.5"x11" dimension, it wouldn't matter when you ran output sharpening although I would be inclined to do it at the 6x5 size because the addition of the layers at that size will not be as big as in the 8.5x11 size. And, while it may not show up, I don't like output sharpening on the white margins of images...which would happen if you pasted the smaller image into a larger canvas. You might get edges sharpening on the white/image margins that might look less good. The sharpening is designed for image detail not crops if you know what I mean.

Take a whack at further explaining what you are trying to do with the web sharpening?

[hokuahi]

Take a whack at further explaining what you are trying to do with the web sharpening?

I had to output images for the web at no larger than 500 px by 500 px.  I imported a tiff file that I had saved, from Lightroom to Photoshop.  The dimensions of the file are 1966 px by 2657 px (360 ppi).  When I enter 500 in the PK Output height box, the width changes to 370.  But then when I click OK to apply the effect, the image quickly shrinks to the smaller size but then immediately reverts back to the original size without the sharpening.

[Schewe]

When I enter 500 in the PK Output height box, the width changes to 370.  But then when I click OK to apply the effect, the image quickly shrinks to the smaller size but then immediately reverts back to the original size without the sharpening.

Yep...I can reproduce this...looks like you've found a bug. I'll pass it along to the engineer and report back (don't know when that will be though).

[hokuahi]

Thanks Jeff.

[MarkL]

I beleive much of the tech from photokit sharpener was implimented in lightroom; is it worth buying V2 and dumping tiffs out from LR to PS to use it?

[Paul Sumi]

I beleive much of the tech from photokit sharpener was implimented in lightroom; is it worth buying V2 and dumping tiffs out of PS to use it?

For at least a partial response see Jeff Schewe's message here:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=50200.msg415089#msg415089

Also, the users manual also discusses how to use both PKS and LR together which may help you decide.

Just IMO if you already have PKS v1, the upgrade is a no-brainer.  But if you are a LR user, I can see how the value decision is a bit different.

Paul

[David Mantripp]

I've just upgraded to PKS2 and run through the manual. First let me add my thumbs up - this is a really worthwhile and welcome upgrade. The educational value of the preview is worth the upgrade price alone.

On reading the manual, however, I ran into a bit of "expert crossfire".  The manual states, in the Inkjet Output Sharpeners section that:

"Changing the size will change the Resolution but this isn’t a problem! The actual resolution of the image in pixels/unit doesn’t matter for printing processes as long as it’s within a certain range. It’s far better to specify the dimensions and
let the ppi fall where it may."

Eric Chan, on the other hand, advises always sending output to the Epson 3800 at native input resolution, 360dpi (or 720) (http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/dp/Epson3800/faq.html#native_res), and NOT let the Epson driver resample.  I've tested this myself on an A3 print, and although we're getting into the realm of hair-splitting, I have to say I tend to agree with him.

But since PKS does allow us, or even encourage us, to move into the realm of hair splitting, and PKS 2 now allows resizing, I'd be interested in any opinions on this.

Oh, one other thing - if I wanted to use PKS in tandem with Aperture, doing Capture Sharpening in PKS, should I set sharpening in RAW Fine Tuning to 0 ?

[Schewe]

But since PKS does allow us, or even encourage us, to move into the realm of hair splitting, and PKS 2 now allows resizing, I'd be interested in any opinions on this.

PKS 2 Inkjet Output Sharpener does allow resizing but not resampling. So, when you change the size of the image to get the final print dimensions, we only allows you to do the resize. The PPI will go up or down based on whether you are making the dimensions smaller or larger (respectively). This aligns with Bruce Fraser's long standing philosophy of maintaining the "native" resolution of your image for output as long as you are in a range of 180-480 PPI. The resizing option is there so you can more easily control the final dimension of your print and have the sharpening done based on the resulting resolution.

Can you sometimes get better results by upsampling and THEN output sharpening? Certainly with certain types of images on certain printers. But that's kinda outside of the purview of PKS 2. You are welcome to do an upsample prior to opening the image into PKS 2. If testing shows that your images reproduce better on your printer at a given PPI delivered to the print head, by all means, keep doing that. The resize option is merely for convenience.

You may also note that the Web & Multimedia and the Halftone sharpeners do allow resampling. For halftone repro, sending too much resolution to the line screen is a bad thing (softens the resulting halftone). And obviously, sending images to the web require small images.

Oh, one other thing - if I wanted to use PKS in tandem with Aperture, doing Capture Sharpening in PKS, should I set sharpening in RAW Fine Tuning to 0 ?

Yes...but depending on your ISO you may still want to do a touch of noise reduction prior to PKS 2 capture sharpening...

[Garnick]

Hi Jeff,

I recently installed PKS 2 and had a slight problem. I realized too late that I hadn't deactivated PKS 1, so I immediately stopped the install process. It appeared that no software had been installed at that point, so I quit the installer and deactivated PKS 1. I then started the install of PKS 2 again and everything seemed to be fine. Opened Photoshop, activated PKS 2 and then opened an image file to test it. Again, everything seemed to be working properly, except that the image appeared to be rather over sharpened. I'm comparing this to what I'm used to seeing with PKS 1 and the effect is definitely much more noticeable. Perhaps this is a feature of PKS 2 and is normal, but I feel that most of the time I'll have to pull back the opacity of the sharpening layer to obtain the required results. Is this normal or is it perhaps a bit of a glitch in my initial installation attempt. I've also found that PKS 2 is completing the process much faster than PKS 1 did, with no progress bars showing. I don't know if it's doing the "smoothing" routine or not.

Of course I suppose I can uninstall and then reinstall PKS 2, but will that count as the 2nd activation, even though it's on the same computer? Also, is there an uninstaller for PKS 2? I have just sent an email to tech support, but thought I'd post it here as well. As a long time user of PKS I want to be certain that PKS 2 is indeed working as it should.

Thanks, Gary