Aperture 3, Photoshop CS5 and OnOne Plugin Suite 5.1 for Mac

Did you take any steps to tell Aperture where those programs are, or to install them as plug-ins?

Generally, people use CS5 (when they have it) as the specified external editor for Aperture. You specify an external editor at "Aperture→Preferences→Export→External Photo Editor".

Plug-ins should have their own installation routine. Check your OnOne documentation on how to install it.

Let me suggest that- after you follow Kirby's instructions for designating an external editor- you use Photoshop as your external editor and use the On One Suite as Photoshop plugins. That way you can take advantage of Smart Filters.

DLS

Vaguely OT, but another specific case that parallels your good suggestion to the OP. Do you think running the Nik Suite out of PS (and calling PS from Aperture) makes more sense than running the Nik tools as plug-ins? The breaking of the non-destructive workflow with the Nik plug-ins has always bothered me -- and it seems (that is, I don't know) that running them from PS would give one much more latitude in applying, un-applying, and combining the tools in the suite. At the same time, one must take into account that the PS suite is priced entirely separate from the Aperture plug-in suite. (My suggestion would be, if you have PS, the buy the Nik Suite for PS and not use the Nik Aperture plug-ins at all.)

Thanks in advance. :-)

I've never used any of the Nik plugins, but I think it's bogus that it's a separate purchase for PS and A3. My Noise Ninja, for example, works with A3, PS or as a stand alone.

For anyone who owns PS I would absolutely buy plugins for PS over A3. You're breaking of the non-destructive workflow either way so you might as well have all the power and flexibility of photoshop along with your plugin. I see no advantage to running plugins from Aperture.

I would go a step further and say buy Photoshop before spending 100s of dollars on pugins.

DLS

DLScreative wrote:

I've never used any of the Nik plugins, but I think it's bogus that it's a separate purchase for PS and A3. My Noise Ninja, for example, works with A3, PS or as a stand alone.

Agree 100%. I have a long simmering discussion going on with Nik support about this (and the fact that the current workflow is destructive and, though it is reproducible, is not consistent from a UI POV). I'm sorry that I didn't just start w. PS and Nik's PS Suite (which I still don't own).

DLScreative wrote:

For anyone who owns PS I would absolutely buy plugins for PS over A3. You're breaking of the non-destructive workflow either way so you might as well have all the power and flexibility of photoshop along with your plugin. I see no advantage to running plugins from Aperture.

Also agree 100% (and you point here is important and affects users). I think (don't know PS well) the workflow once in PS is either non-destructive or close to it. Certainly much more so -- and much easier to administer (=know what you did) -- than via Aperture-to-plug-in.

DLScreative wrote:

I would go a step further and say buy Photoshop before spending 100s of dollars on plugins.

That's gonna depend an awful lot on whether you can get your money's worth from PS. The Nik tools are very sweet, and (imho, obviously) superbly tuned to manipulating digital photographs.

I would like to have Nik's "drawing board" (I just made that up, but basically their UI for interacting with the planar data, including their U-Points), PhotoShop's tool chest, and Aperture's organizing abilities. For $200 US. 🙂

Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger