Nik Software has released version 4 of their popular Color Efex Pro software, which is available as a plug in for Aperture (along with Photoshop and Lightroom). It contains a number of improvements over the previous version, but the one I find the most interesting is the ability to apply multiple filters in one go. This was a big pain and limitation from the previous version. If you wanted to apply multiple filters you had to do them one after the other and exit back to Aperture each time. The new version solves that issue by allowing you to apply filters in layers within the software.
Because you can use control points (using Nik’s u-point technology) to control the opacity of the various layers, it becomes a pretty powerful solution. What’s more, you can save “recipes” of your layer stack that you can re-apply to other images, so you can use it to create your own looks. Again, this makes it very powerful, much more so than the previous version.
The only downside that I’ve found from my limited time playing with the demo is that it’s a bit on the flakey side. It crashed Aperture on me wen trying to render a set of filters. It’s worth checking out though and you should download the trial to see if it is a fit for your workflow.
I used CEP3 almost every day in my workflow, version 4 is a HUGE leap forward.
The ability to stack multiple filters is a an epic advance, and a major timesaver. Being able to save your custom “recipes” (the new term), export them, import them from others (some are available on he NIK website) is a big deal. If you have a recipe with 12 stacked filters, you can adjust any of them, turn some off, rearrange the order (this changes the end result), redo the u-points on any of the layers… on any successive image. A big deal for developing a style of processing and keeping it consistent. Nik has some very good live & recorded video seminars (free), which are a good idea for seeing it in action and seeing different approaches to post-processing. Demo is free.
Also there is a big Black Friday sale going on now for the entire Nik suite for $199.95, which is a little over the cost for just one of the products but you get all 6 for Aperture (and that “other” program, lol). Use code BLF2011, offer good from 11/23 to 11/28. I am not affiliated with them at all, it is just a very good deal.
I run the suite on my 27″ i7 iMac, and it is rock solid and has never crashed on me. I have 16gb ram though too. Aperture was running very slowly for me when I hit the 100,000 image mark, and pulling Nik up was slow as well. A library rebuild & repair fixed everything, and all is running smooth again. Can’t say enough about Color Efex Pro 4, it is one of my goto products on almost every image I work on…
cheers,
michael
I can’t get Nik’s new plugins to work in Aperture? Suggestions?
select the image you want to edit… control + mouse click will give you the “edit with plug-in” menu. Select edit with CE4 (or whichever extension you want to edit with). You can also use the menus…
see screenshot:
https://skitch.com/sassafras/gp1sy/aperture
Something like the FOG filter sometimes takes over 30 seconds to run the preview.
This is in standalone or when run from LightRoom. I would assume Aperture would need to call CEP4 in the same manner as Lightroom. (basically running in standalone mode)
From within Photoshop the same filters all run under 1 second.
Problem is I only have the trial period on the Photoshop side… so soon I will be left with a nearly unusable product.
So far tech support looked at the problem, but not as helpful as I’d hoped.
They gave instructions forcing some safe-mode setting to ensure GPU is not used. It runs faster, but still about five seconds to run the plugin… nowhere near what I see when it is run from within CS5.
Dump Photoshop and use Aperture (if you are on a mac).
You can get the complete version on the Apple App store for $79.99.
I use mine mostly from within Aperture and it works fine.
Most of my imaging is done within Aperture & Nik. The only thing pshop is used for is color space conversion (rgb to cmyk for print work), or anything that needs layers or type…
Dumping Photoshop is obviously not an answer… Aperture (and Lightroom) do what they do well, but they are exceptionally limited programs, not intended for the types of photo editing that Photoshop does. I do lots of composite work….
Otherwise Aperture and LR handle 95% of straight photo work.
Regardless, I’ve got Aperture as well. Just that it will call CEP4 in the same manner as LightRoom… basically as a standalone program rather than as a plugin. It will not impact the behavior I am seeing.
if you are doing a lot of compositing, you have no option other than sucking it up and getting pshop. That being said, I would not characterize Aperture as being exceptionally limited. I have been using photoshop professionally since 1.0, and have taught advanced imaging to other professionals. I also do a large amount of image processing. 90% of of my post processing is done without photoshop. If I wasn’t working in print, that number would be higher. Aperture is faster to work in, and a lot easier to learn as well. Nik, with its control points, offers a completely new approach to working with images. One can quickly achieve results in Nik, that would take exponentially longer and be a lot more complicated in pshop.
Unfortunately, however, Aperture does not support layers, type, etc… so….
Regardless it is all semantics and does not address the issue. I have no intention of getting into a pissing-match about which is better PS v.s Aperture v.s. LR. They all do their specific jobs well.
I was merely hoping that someone saw similar behavior with CPE4 and more-so hoping there was a resolution that NIK was unaware of.
Buying the CPE4 plug-in for Photoshop is not an answer, when I could otherwise use it with LR or Aperture. The suggestions NIK have given so far have been inadequate….
Being a software developer for many years, I understand their position on determining the problem. And it never hurts to explore the public to see if similar behavior has been found and perhaps even resolved.
It works fine for me in Aperture. The only problem I et with it is that it occasionally crashes if you use a couple of filters at once – but I’m not experiencing the speed issues you describe.
By the way, in Aperture it runs as a plug-in, not stand alone as in Lightroom. As far as I know.
I suspect it’s a graphics card issue, but I’m not sure. What system are you running?
I just ran a test there now – The fog filter on my system (iMac 27″ 2.4ghz Core i7) previews in less than a second – almost instantly.
Have you tried the usual steps of repairing permissions / clear caches? It’s possible when it generates a preview it’s trying to store a temporary file somewhere and it doesn’t have access? Just clutching at straws really.
Well, do I feel stoooopid….
Because of the way CPE4 installed, I expected it to behave similarly between LR and Aperture.
You are right, in Aperture CPE4 runs more like a plug-in — as it does in Photoshop.
The CPE4 icon does not appear in the Dock, so it is not running Stand-Alone as it does with LR.
The rendering for Aperture is quite fast… just like from within Photoshop.
Permissions are good. Haven’t tried caches yet.
But this behavior adds one more bullet point for NIK to investigate.
Thanks.
Good news…
I wasn’t trying to start a flame war on which is better.
I was guessing that the cost was the issue with photoshop, and merely wanted to offer an alternative to still run NIK effectively. The fact that Aperture has dropped its price once again really helps to make a compelling case for it…
I am just a professional who used to be 100% photoshop, but have evolved to a different workflow that seems to be better (at least for me).
You might also want to make sure you are running your NIK stuff in 64 bit too. All of the products are now 64 bit compatible. It probably won’t effect your speed too much, but it might help your previews & rendering a bit…
michael
Great thought on the 32bit vs 64bit! I didn’t think about that possibly being set wrong on install. Sadly, it is set to run in 64bit.
Amazingly when run in 32bit mode it is FAST!
That is somewhat surprising but it is one more data point for NIK to look at.
Thanks for the idea to double check 64bit.
Also… I do apologize for accusing prematurely. I am very brand and product agnostic and simply don’t find many other who are. It seems most people simply want to tell you why you were wrong.
Thanks again for the help.
I think I have some good info to bring back to NIK to help debug what is going on.
no worries…
I have no axe to grind regarding what tools others choose to use.
I was just thinking of of an lower cost alternative. Aperture is pretty amazing when used with third party extensions & plug-ins, and third party presets (like Gavin Seims).
You might want to also check the Nik forums at http://www.nikforums.com (although they seem to be down right now), or the NIK user forums on Flickr. User forums are sometimes the quickest way to find others who are experiencing the same issues, and hopefully a fix.
cheers,
michael
he, he, thanks again… I originally tried to find forums on their website but couldn’t find a link.
I’ll give that a try when they come back up.
At least for now I am about 90% up to speed compared to the full-blown plug-in.
Thanks for everyone’s suggestions.