DxO acquires Nik Collection assets from Google, plans to continue to develop....

[mani]

I think we should take this thread for what it is - simply a statement of frustration at the situation we find ourselves in, when immense corporations buy and discard the tools we use in our everyday workflow. Bickering about whether SilverEfex is good or bad is beside the point.

On the other hand, the situation is what it is. If and when SFX or Viveza or any of the other tools stop working the way we want - and for me this would be true of other applications, like SilverFast and ColorPerfect - then we'll just have to find new workflows or keep legacy systems running for as long as possible.

And maybe next time a massive corporation buys up the software you've bought and makes it abandoned freeware, more of us could write and complain directly to the source - as I did in this case. It probably won't help, but at least it might make them realize that the process isn't completely free of risk (although naturally Google don't give a rat's ***)

 

[sevres_babylone]

This article by Thom Hogan indicates there will be problems with the NIK plug-ins in late 2019 for Mac users using High Sierra.
http://www.dslrbodies.com/accessori...graphy-softwar/upcoming-macos-transition.html

 

[gnuyork]

I'm fairly new to using Silver FX, maybe less than a year? Anyway, I enjoy using it, but I find I'm not doing anything I couldn't do in LR with a little work. I have a lot of practice doing B&W conversions in PS and LR though.

These are done in LR without Silver FX. I'm happy with the results.

 

[Nowhereman]

This article by Thom Hogan indicates there will be problems with the NIK plug-ins in late 2019 for Mac users using High Sierra.
http://www.dslrbodies.com/accessori...graphy-softwar/upcoming-macos-transition.html

Thanks, sevres_babylone. I only saw this just now. So, now we know that, on the Mac, if we upgrade to High Sierra (to be available in October), Nik Software will not be usable from late-2019. For me the best solution will to run El Capitan, or an earlier OS X in emulation. Not a convenient solution, but one that should work.

I'm fairly new to using Silver FX, maybe less than a year? Anyway, I enjoy using it, but I find I'm not doing anything I couldn't do in LR with a little work. I have a lot of practice doing B&W conversions in PS and LR though...These are done in LR without Silver FX. I'm happy with the results...

gnuyork - that's fine for you but others, including myself, despite a lot of experience, have found that we couldn't get the results we wanted in LR or PS. As mani stated in post #61, "I think we should take this thread for what it is - simply a statement of frustration at the situation we find ourselves in, when immense corporations buy and discard the tools we use in our everyday workflow. Bickering about whether SilverEfex is good or bad is beside the point."

 

[Larry Cloetta]

I find it to be one of the few vital and irreplaceable bits of software I own, and will maintain a separate dedicated computer running the current Mac OS, Photoshop CS6 (even though I use PS CC now), and the NIK suite, if I have to, though I would rather not.
I had considered starting an online petition to Google, and the original NIK developers, to keep it alive, but somebody has already done that. Signing on would be the least we could do:
https://www.change.org/p/google-inc-save-the-nik-collection

It is perfect the way it is, so it doesn't need more features or additional "development" outside of being updated to 64 bit so Apple doesn't kill it, and some occasional incremental updates p.r.n.to keep compatibility with PS CC updates. Not talking about a huge bit of coding.
Those who depend on the software don't expect this to be done for free, just that it be done by someone.
If you don't feel you need the NIK suite, and are happy with the results you get using alternative software, none of this presents a problem for you, and that's great. The rest of us wouldn't mind if you signed the petition anyway🙂
Can't hurt.

 

[ptpdprinter]

I wouldn't hold my breath on the petition. Google killed Google Reader, a very popular RSS reader, a couple of years ago, and left millions of users high and dry. I eventually shifted to an alternative reader, but the transition was painful.

 

[sevres_babylone]

Thanks, sevres_babylone. I only saw this just now. So, now we know that, on the Mac, if we upgrade to High Sierra (to be available in October), Nik Software will not be usable from late-2019. For me the best solution will to run El Capitan, or an earlier OS X in emulation. Not a convenient solution, but one that should work.

gnuyork - that's fine for you but others, including myself, despite a lot of experience, have found that we couldn't get the results we wanted in LR or PS. As mani stated in post #61, "I think we should take this thread for what it is - simply a statement of frustration at the situation we find ourselves in, when immense corporations buy and discard the tools we use in our everyday workflow. Bickering about whether SilverEfex is good or bad is beside the point."

Emulation. I think I mentioned it here, but it could have been elsewhere, my bemused admiration for a small group who kept Wordperfect for the Mac going, with emulation. I will also be looking at emulation, because unless something changes in how I work between now and 2019, which is possible, Silver Efex is an essential part of my workflow.

gnuyork - for me, it's not just the black and white emulation, but the way the u-point technology allows for the easiest local corrections, especially for the selections-challenged like me. Which is not to denigrate the black and white emulations; one good thing is that even if you start with a pre-set, the plug-in is transparent enough that you can see what it's doing, and easily customize the look.

 

[fdarnell]

This article by Thom Hogan indicates there will be problems with the NIK plug-ins in late 2019 for Mac users using High Sierra.
http://www.dslrbodies.com/accessori...graphy-softwar/upcoming-macos-transition.html

Thanks for posting this link! Very helpful to see the under workings of what's going on. This will be expensive for us old-timers that don't want rented software.

 

[Joe Crumley]

Geeeeees, this is upsetting. The very idea of losing NIK is down-right depressing.

I've been a NIK fan for about a year. There's no way I could breath the same kind of life into my photo's without SE. While working in the program there are times when a new vision come alive. Real depth and luminous qualities. It's almost like magic. There are times when I'll save the photo and come back to it in a day or so, and there it is again. Who knows what qualities SE has built in it, but it's there all right.

Thanks Nowhereman for standing your ground.

I'm a film guy, dedicated to "stand" processing. New to this forum. Will post photos when I figure out the steps.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

I'm fairly new to using Silver FX, maybe less than a year? Anyway, I enjoy using it, but I find I'm not doing anything I couldn't do in LR with a little work. I have a lot of practice doing B&W conversions in PS and LR though.

These are done in LR without Silver FX. I'm happy with the results.

Happy? Those are fabulous images! Thanks for posting.

I have had very good experience with the LR & PS BW conversions as well.

 

[Nowhereman]

I'm fairly new to using Silver FX...I enjoy using it, but I find I'm not doing anything I couldn't do in LR with a little work. I have a lot of practice doing B&W conversions in PS and LR though...

...I have had very good experience with the LR & PS BW conversions as well.

Both of you are writing "dog bites man" headlines as far as this thread is concerned. Both of you are happy with what you can do with Photoshop or Lightroom: that's great, but some of us feel that Sliver Efex, at least sometimes, can give us results that cannot be produced from PS or LR, with which most people would be happy. For example, while I have no probelm with gnuyork's pictures above, they don't have the look that I would want from them. Not a question of better or worse, but a matter of preference or taste.
_______________
Alone in Bangkok essay on BURN Magazine

 

[peterm1]

For those still wondering why Nik plugins are so good, my take is that the biggest benefit is their power to apply effects selectively using that little round selective tool (I forget what it is called). This tool is common to every Nik plugin. Believe me, I used to use Photoshop and it was a real pain to create layers for everything and layer masks to selectively apply effects and edits in different parts of the image. With any Nik product its power to apply selective effects speeds the process of post processing exponentially making the whole thing much more efficient. Try processing 200 images made from a longish days shoot and you will know what I mean. (And I press the shutter button much more carefully than many do - it is not unusual for some pro photographers to take perhaps 5 to 10 times that number of images in a shoot.

I now use Lightroom running Nik effect plugins for quick / basic edits or Paintshop Pro (the Corel alternative to Photoshop but quite similar to it) running Nik effects when the complexity of the post processing on a specific image demands it (there are somethings that are just clunky with Lightroom even when used in conjunction with NIk plugins). The latest version of Paintshop Pro does not support later versions of Nik plug ins so I have stuck to a slightly earlier version of Paintshop Pro simply because I want the facility to edit using Nik tools and value that ability that highly. Although the day may come (OK the day will come) when some future version of Windows will no longer support my editing software, I fully intend continuing to use this combination for as long as I possibly can - it is that good. There is no way I want to have to go back to the old and clunky Photoshop editing methods which are powerful but difficult to use efficiently in many cases.

The following may not look it but they entailed considerable processing using Nik Silver Efex. Tweaking of images is essential for good outcomes.

Faces of Bali 4 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

Faces of Bali 2 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

Faces of Bali 1 by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

Cathedra by Life in Shadows, on Flickr

 

[mani]

Signing on would be the least we could do:
https://www.change.org/p/google-inc-save-the-nik-collection

It is perfect the way it is, so it doesn't need more features or additional "development" outside of being updated to 64 bit so Apple doesn't kill it, and some occasional incremental updates p.r.n.to keep compatibility with PS CC updates. Not talking about a huge bit of coding.
Those who depend on the software don't expect this to be done for free, just that it be done by someone.

Thanks for the link Larry, I signed the petition (though fully aware that Google have absolutely no interest whatsoever in listening to what a mere 12-15,000 photographers think: a mere gnat bite, when disapproval begins to register when it tops the tens of millions).

 

[Joe Crumley]

Pete M, Thanks for sharing. Impressive portraits.

Using this software is a very interpretative process. It's not for everyone. I can't imagine being without it.

Thanks to Larry for the petition.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Good luck with your petition, but if you like your no-longer-supported software
be prepared to keep your old computer/OS when next you upgrade.

Chris

 

[Roger Hicks]

Would it not be possible to make it open-source?

Cheers,

R.

 

[mani]

Would it not be possible to make it open-source?

This would be ideal, but the reason it's never going to be open-sourced is because the underlying technology is used in Snapseed - the mobile image-editing software that was Google's original target for the entire purchase.

Ironically, Google hoped that they could somehow build a 'social community' around Snapseed to rival Instagram (which Facebook had recently acquired at the time), and since this hasn't happened, my bet is that they'll just abandon Snapseed as well at some time in the future. Yet another innovative product that'll end-up on the trash-heap of strategic corporate acquisitions.

 

[Luke_Miller]

Try Topaz BW Effects. I have used it for years with great results for converting color digital to black & white. Its cheap, only about $60 and its still being supported and developed.

I agree. I've been using a trial version to see if it can replace SilverEfx Pro when the time comes. The interface is very different and I am still trying to master it. So far I am satisfied with the results , but it is early days.

 

[cz23]

For those still wondering why Nik plugins are so good, my take is that the biggest benefit is their power to apply effects selectively using that little round selective tool (I forget what it is called). This tool is common to every Nik plugin...

Peter, I'm not much a fan of your soft focus examples, but I agree the control points function is excellent. I wish we could paint with it, as we do with PS/LR brushes. But I often copy/paste a control point onto irregular shapes, which accomplishes pretty much the same thing. It's feathering algorithm always seems just right.

Only recently, after years of use, did I discover there is a drop down arrow at the bottom of the control points menu. Duh!

The main Silver Efex functions I am unable to replicate in LR are Dynamic Brightness and Amplify Whites/Blacks. I find them very valuable, used in moderation, of course. The description on the Nik site explains some of their advantages over other tonal controls, and I agree.

John

 

[willie_901]

The NIK Collection is extremely convenient. Identical effects can be achieved with significantly less convenience using PS. The inconvenience level is so high it's unlikely a diverse set of PS Actions can be a practical alternative.

This situation is a presents a significant opportunity. Investors could purchase NIK rights limited to monochrome rendering on non-mobile platforms. A completely different approach would be to create a new plug-in from scratch that emulates NIK renderings. Either way, a niche market would be served.

The real problem isn't OS updates obsoleting NIK. The problem is NIK enthusiasts are a niche market. The financial rewards for serving this market are unattractive.

Google purchased NIK for it's Snapseed technologies. If the source-code for NIK does not compromise Google's investment in Snapseed's intellectual property, Google might make it open-source.

For OS X users there is a simple but inconvenient solution using one computer. It is straightforward to set up dual-boot internal storage partitions. Or a fast external storage device could be used. One would run Sierra for legacy (32 bit) applications. The other would run High Sierra.

Eventually the High Sierra (and it's successors) will have important security enhancements. So using Sierra would only be for NIK (and other legacy apps) while disconnected from the internet.