Nik Software

Just to clarify...I'm not a LR fan. Even though the Develop module is better, the whole workflow drives me nuts, vs. Aperture.

Pabli wrote:

But still LR works better than Aperture!!!

That, of course, is your opinion to which you are welcome.

I used HDR Efex Pro a couple of hours ago with no problem. (OS X 10.8.2 , Aperture 3.4.3)

I am trying the 30 day trial in Lightroom again, but find it much more complicated than Aperture. I use Photoshop, though, and like that the saved images from Photoshop are automatically transfered back to Lightroom. As you probably know, this doesn't happen in Aperture, where you have to save them to a location on your drive and import them into Aperture. As far as the Nik software goes, I can see the HDR Efex Pro plugin in Lightroom, but not the other Nik plugins. This isn't too much of a problem, though, as I can access them in Photoshop. Hopefully after watching all the tutorials, I'll be able to understand LR better.

Sandylp wrote:

like that the saved images from Photoshop are automatically transfered back to Lightroom. As you probably know, this doesn't happen in Aperture, where you have to save them to a location on your drive and import them into Aperture.

Oh, Not so!!

If you select the image in Aperture you wish to edit then go to Photos -> Edit with Photoshop (or right click on the image and select Edit with Photoshop) your image will be opened in Photoshop. Do your processing in Photoshop and, then, click on File ->Save. A version of your edited image should then appear in Aperture right next to the original image. (FWIW- I have found that using plugins from Nik and/or Topaz will occasionally add layers to the image. Those images will not automatically save to Aperture unless they are "Flattened' first.) (P.S. - If you want the layered version, you must save it to another location.

Others may be able to explain this better than I, but I think this has been a feature of Aperture since version 3.x.x.

Jerry

Thank-you, Jerry, for your reply. I have discovered that you are right! I guess I had just assumed that the image from Photoshop would not automatically show up in Aperture, but I just tried it and it worked. I also discovered that if I use the Nik plugins in Photoshop instead of directly in Aperture, the images are not distorted after I save them. I used three of the Nik plugins in Photoshop CS6 on one image, saved it to Aperture, then opened it in Aperture with no issues. So from now on, I'll just open the image in Photoshop if I want to use any of the Nik plugins.

I've got Aperture 3.4.4 recently installed on my new 27" Desktop

Viveza 2 crashes Aperture everytime, but HDR Efex Pro works just fine. I tried uninstalling and re-installing without resolution.

Any ideas?

David

dfielder wrote:

I've got Aperture 3.4.4 recently installed on my new 27" Desktop

Viveza 2 crashes Aperture everytime, but HDR Efex Pro works just fine. I tried uninstalling and re-installing without resolution.

Any ideas?

David

I had the same problem, too, and discovered that if I open edit with Photoshop CS6 and then edit with any of the Nik software (while in Photoshop), I don't have the problem with Aperture crashing. If I do it this way, the Nik software works perfectly. I also have onOne software and I don't have any problem with opening it while within Aperture, but I prefer Nik. If you don't happen to have PS, then I'm not sure what you could do.

I've had a similar problem and nothing suggested so far as worked. Color Efex Pro 4 was crashing Aperture 3.4.5. On a whim I checked whether Color Efex Pro would work in Photoshop - so it's rather cumbersome, but this actually got it working and since it's (so far) the only Nik plug in with a problem, I'll live with it for now:

Open image in Aperture - edit with Photoshop plug in - then once it's opened in PS, edit with Color Efex Pro (in filters list) - do your stuff, click Save in Color Efex, Save in Photoshop which as you've come from Aperture, saves it back to Aperture

Well I use LR and it dosen't work there as well …

And when I start the HDR effects pro 2 software direkt it crashes as well.

Thanks to Sandylp1 and Davebutterworth for your comments and suggestions.

After playing around with Aperture and the Nik programs, I realized that if pictures are stacked, then Viveza won't work in Aperture but will in PSE11 or PS6. Unstacking them was the solution.

Now I've got all Nik programs running smoothly in Aperture 3.4.5,

Regards,

I had LightRoom 5. With DxO and NIK plugins. I sold LR and DxO and am happily using Aperture with Nik. Even for a relatively new beginner, it works smoothly. I didn't enjoy switching between modules in LR at all.

How'd you sell your copy/serial to Lr?

If Aperture 4/X is announced tomorrow, I may do the same.

eBay. I sold the original disks in their boxes. Both DxO and LR5, along with the Scott Kelby book on LR. They were 45 days old, installed only once, so the buyer had 2 installs remaining.

I lost part of my investment on these experiments, but I had to factor in the considerable time reading and watching Tutorials on the Adobe website. I just wasn't able to follow Julianne Kost's narrative. LR was too compartmentalised and thus 'choppy', to fully embrace.

Subjectively, it seems that the Apple people consulted real photographers when designing the Aperture User Interface. LR seems like the child of computer folk. But, that's just my impression.

If Aperture stays the same for another 5 years, I'd be satisfied. If they improve it with an update, I'm happy too.