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Liquid Resize is a “content aware” image resizing application for Mac OS X and Windows. Liquid Resize is now available for download as a Product Preview from onOne Software.

Liquid Resize will allow you to resize an image without traditional geometric limitations while minimizing any distortion that would typically result from changing the original aspect ratio of an image.

Mac OS X
Liquid Resize is a self-contained, stand-alone application bundle. To install it follow these directions.

1. Download the Liquid_Resize.dmg file from the onOne website.
2. It will automatically mount to the desktop when the download is complete.
3. Drag the Liquid Resize application to your Applications folder.

Windows
The Windows version of Liquid Resize uses an installer that will place the application and support files in the proper locations. You must have administrator rights to install Liquid Resize. To install follow these directions.

1. Download the Liquid_Resize.zip file from the onOne Website.
2. Decompress the .zip file
3. In the Liquid Resize folder that is decompressed, double-click on setup.exe
4. Follow the onscreen instructions.

More to Come
Please note, Liquid Resize is still early in development and this is only a Product Preview. It is not the final, shipping version and as such is not complete. There are several known issues so please be sure to read the Read Me file included with this preview release as well as the onOne Software Forums where you can get updated information.

Among the things planned to add include a much faster implementation of the algorithm and a new user interface that matches the other onOne plug-ins for Photoshop like Genuine Fractals, FocalPoint and PhotoTools.

Availability and Pricing
This free product preview of Liquid Resize for both Windows and Mac OS X users is available now as a stand-alone application from the onOne Software Web site. A robust, full-featured Photoshop plug-in version of Liquid Resize is expected to be available in the middle of 2008. Pricing has not yet been announced for the final version of Liquid Resize that will be released later this year.

OnOne Software Web Site
Liquid Resize Preview page

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Major Upgrade Features Improved Interface, Faster Browsing & Enhanced Image Processing

Press Release: CUPERTINO, California—February 12, 2008—Apple® today introduced Aperture™ 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software with over 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use and more powerful. With a streamlined user interface and entirely new image processing engine, Aperture 2 also introduces new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning, and lets users directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery* for viewing on the web, iPhone™, iPod® touch and Apple TV®. At a new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit and publish photos like a pro.

“Many of the most respected photographers on assignment all over the world trust Aperture to organize, edit and deliver their images,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “With its simpler interface and lower price, anyone can take full advantage of Aperture’s power.”

“At the end of the day, it’s all about the quality of the image,” said Sports Illustrated contributing photographer David Bergman. “Even before I begin making adjustments, Aperture’s new RAW processing gives me better images with more visible detail and better color rendering than any other program I’ve tested.”

“I used to have so much stress about post-production on a shoot, having to juggle multiple applications to make sure they all worked,” said Bob Davis, PDN Top Knots Wedding Photographer 2007. “With Aperture that’s no longer a factor. I can do everything all in one application.”

Featuring a new, easier user interface designed to be more intuitive and accessible, Aperture 2 now lets users navigate between Viewer and Browser modes with a single key command. Screen real estate is maximized for images with an all-in-one heads up display that allows users to toggle between library, metadata and adjustment controls in a single tabbed inspector. The All Projects view, modeled after iPhoto’s Events view, provides a poster photo for every project and the ability to quickly skim through the photos inside, and the integrated iPhoto® Browser offers direct access to all the events and images in the iPhoto library.

Performance has been enhanced in Aperture 2 so it’s faster to import, browse and search large volumes of images. Embedded previews let photographers caption, keyword and rate images as they are being imported, and with the ability to export images in the background, photographers can continue working while images are processed to JPEG, TIFF, PNG and PSD file formats. Quick Preview allows users to browse RAW images in rapid succession without having to wait for files to load, and the Aperture library database has been re-architected to provide fast project switching and near instantaneous search results, even when working with extremely large libraries of 500,000 images or more.

Aperture 2 delivers powerful new imaging tools for getting the most out of each photograph. Apple’s next-generation RAW image processing is at the core of Aperture 2 offering uncompromising image quality and precision controls that let users fine-tune the image profile for each of their cameras. New tools for improving and enhancing images include Recovery for pulling back “blown” highlights, Vibrancy for selectively boosting saturation without adversely affecting skin tones, Definition, which offers local contrast for adding clarity to images, Vignette & Devignette filters for providing professional visual effects and a true soft-edged Repair and Retouch brush for quickly and easily removing blemishes, cleaning up sensor dust and cloning away problem areas.

Aperture 2 works seamlessly with Mac OS® X, iLife®, iWork™, .Mac and Apple print products, so any image in the Aperture library can be accessed directly from within other applications, such as iMovie®, Keynote® and Pages®, and even from within Leopard™ Mail. Now with .Mac Web Gallery support, Aperture users can publish their photos once to view them on the web, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. Books in Aperture 2 feature new theme designs, layout tools, customized dust jackets (including full-bleed) and foil stamped covers.

Pricing & Availability
Aperture 2 is available immediately for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Owners of previous versions of Aperture can upgrade to Aperture 2 for just $99 (US). Full system requirements and more information on Aperture 2 can be found at www.apple.com/aperture.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Phase One Delivers Capture One 4 Next-Generation RAW Workflow Software Transforming RAW Data to Uncompromising Image Quality

Press Release: COPENHAGEN, Denmark–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Phase One today announced the availability of Capture One 4, the next generation of the world’s first RAW workflow software. Built on a new architecture, the successor to Phase One’s entry-level Capture One LE offers photographers – pros and enthusiasts alike – a RAW workflow solution for superior image quality.

A newly designed user interface offers high fidelity color and detail reproduction, plus new timesaving workflow features. Capture One 4 supports medium-format digital backs and a wide range of DSLR cameras.

“Our recent survey of professional photographers shows that pros have fully adopted digital and RAW format, with 89 percent of total images now being captured digitally and over 50 percent of them in RAW format,” said Ed Lee, Director at InfoTrends.

“Capture One excels at RAW workflow,” said Jan H. Christiansen, marketing director for Phase One. “Today, it is no less an art to develop digital images than to process film in the darkroom. Ours is not an ‘end-to-end’ solution, but devoted to helping photographers achieve the highest quality from the images they have captured.”

About Capture One 4

Capture One 4 marries sophistication with a simple, intuitive ease. It invokes more consistent use of shortcuts, tools and naming. It is compatible with many other popular applications; for example, users can have a seamless workflow with Capture One to process RAW files and Adobe Photoshop to post process images.

• New user interface offers maximum space for the images. Images, not sliders and controls, are the focus. A darker background permits easier image viewing and enhancements. As with previous generations of Capture One, a guided workflow is available to assist the photographer in the image enhancement process;
• View and work with up to 12 images simultaneously at full resolution;
• Multiple Variants of a single RAW image can be made with virtually no disk and performance overhead;
• Manage and transfer license codes, so Capture One 4 can be used on one computer one day and on another computer the next.
• Recover details in highlights and shadows with high dynamic range control;
• Import and export images in DNG format, for more options to share and archive;
• Powerful new shortcut architecture allows faster image import, adjustment and processing

Pricing and availability

Existing Capture One customers can upgrade to Capture One 4 at no extra cost. Designed for Windows XP (SP2)/Vista and Mac OS X 10.4.11 and 10.5, Capture One 4 is available now via download at http://www.phaseone.com/4 for 129 USD and 99 EUR through Phase One’s e-Shop.

About Phase One

Phase One is a leading provider of digital image capture and work flow management technology. Phase One P+ Series digital backs open new possibilities, putting the focus back on the moment of capture. Phase One Capture One software helps streamline the capture and post-production process. Supporting DSLR, medium- and large-format photographic equipment, Phase One products are renowned for their superior quality, flexibility and speed — enabling pro photographers to realize their most subtle and most complex visions without compromise.

Phase One is an employee-owned company based in Copenhagen with offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Cologne and Shanghai.

For more information about the products, visit the Phase One web site on www.phaseone.com.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

DxO Optics Pro v5 features a breakthrough RAW Engine, dust/blemish removal, improved user interface, support for the Canon EOS 40D as well as expanded Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® compatibility, and an exciting new ‘Snapshot’ feature 

Press Release: Paris, France – DxO Labs has announced the immediate availability of DxO Optics Pro v5 for Windows, the latest version of its award-winning flagship automatic image quality enhancement software application for Digital SLR camera users. DxO Optics Pro v5 can be purchased via download on the company’s e-store (www.dxo.com) as well as from several well known retailers (a full list of resellers is available at http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/Resellers). DxO Optics Pro v5 for Macintosh is scheduled to be available towards the end the year. All purchasers of DxO Optics Pro v4.5 on or after August 1, 2007 are eligible for a free upgrade to DxO Optics Pro v5.

DxO Optics Pro v5 RAW conversion delivers a breakthrough in image qualityHeadlining the new features in DxO Optics Pro v5 is a brand new RAW conversion engine including a breakthrough demosaicing algorithm which produces images with much more detail and fewer unwanted artifacts. In a second major breakthrough, DxO Optics Pro v5 now applies its noise reduction techniques prior to demosaicing — before noise has a chance to be amplified by the RAW conversion process and become obtrusive.

“Thanks to our new RAW converter and moving noise removal up front, before RAW conversion, images processed with DxO Optics Pro v5 are more natural looking with better detail and excellent color saturation. The results are really remarkable, and particularly on images shot at high ISOs in low light conditions,” says Luc Marin, Sales and Marketing VP of the Photography Business at DxO Labs. DxO Optics Pro v5 also includes a “click once, clean many” dust/blemish removal tool as well a completely reorganized user interface to improve workflow and ease of use.

DxO Optics Pro v5 adds even more features and support for more cameras
Previously unannounced, a handful of additional new features make DxO Optics Pro v5 even more of a time saver.

• Compatibility between DxO Optics Pro v5 and Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® has been deepened. DxO Optics Pro v5 can now read from and interact with image libraries from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, providing a more fluid workflow between these two popular applications.
• Using the new ‘Snapshot” feature; users can create several ‘virtual versions’ of an image to which they can apply different DxO Optics Pro corrections for processing.

With DxO Optics Pro v5, the library of camera bodies and lens correction modules expands to include the recently released Canon EOS 40D and selected lenses. In the coming months, the Canon 1Ds MKIII, Nikon D300 and Nikon D3 DSLR camera bodies will also be added to the more than 600 correction modules currently available.

Pricing and availability
DxO Optics Pro v5 is available in Standard and Elite versions at pricing unchanged from the previous version :

• DxO Optics Pro v5 Standard: $169
• DxO Optics Pro v5 Elite: $299
  (All prices are excluding sales taxes)

All customers who purchased DxO Optics Pro v4.5 on or after August 1, 2007 are entitled to a free upgrade to version 5. For customers who purchased DxO Optics Pro before August 1, 2007, the pricing of upgrades is as follows:

• DxO Optics Pro Standard (any version) to DxO Optics Pro v5 Standard: $95
• DxO Optics Pro Elite (any version) to DxO Optics Pro v5 Elite: $125
  (All prices are excluding sales taxes)

DxO Optics Pro v5 for Windows is currently available. DxO Optics Pro v5 for Macintosh is scheduled to be available towards the end of the year.

Operating System Requirements
Windows:

• Intel® Pentium® 4 processor or AMD® equivalent (Pentium® Dual Core or higher or equivalent recommended)
• Microsoft® Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows VISTA™ 32 Bits

Macintosh:

• Universal Binary (G4, G5 or Intel)
• Mac OS X.4 or X.5 when available

120 MB of available disk space
DxO Optics Pro Standard Edition: 1 GB RAM
DxO Optics Pro Elite Edition: 2GB RAM

About DxO Labs
DxO Labs offers products and solutions ensuring excellence in digital imaging. DxO Labs develops and licenses intellectual property serving the entire digital imaging chain: licensing of optics and silicon architectures for embedded still and video image processing; image quality evaluation and measurement tools and methodologies; image quality enhancement software for consumers. The company’s key customers and partners include:

• Consumer electronics manufacturers such as digital camera vendors and cameraphones vendors;
• Imaging components suppliers: camera module manufacturers, sensor vendors, and processor vendors;
• Demanding photographers, as well as photography journalists and imaging experts.

DxO Labs’ product portfolio is steadily finding a place at the heart of advanced consumer electronics and world-class industry imaging systems where “Image Science by DxO” becomes a reference for quality.

For more information or a list of distributors and resellers, visit DxO Labs online at www.dxo.com

DxO is a registered trademark of DxO Labs. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. DxO Labs disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

ComparePSD makes it easy for Photoshop professionals to compare two PSD files layer-by-layer, effect-by-effect and find the differences.

Press Release: London, UK (PRWEB) November 9, 2007 — PixelNovel, the company behind Flickrshop, a free Adobe Photoshop plug-in for uploading files to Flickr.com, unveils ComparePSD, an Adobe Photoshop files comparison tool. ComparePSD is aimed to help graphic designers and other professionals compare two PSD files and quickly spot the differences.

ComparePSD features an intuitive interface which resembles the Adobe Photoshop layers palette to simplify the user’s experience. ComparePSD highlights mismatching layers and effects in red and offers a preview area where a user can zoom in and zoom out the images synchronously.

“I used to work as a graphic designer and when I worked on a large project, I often found myself in the situation where I was looking for the PSD file with the original layers among the flattened copies. I had to open every file of the project in Adobe Photoshop and check the layers. It took an incredibly long time,” said Natalia Lukicheva, a co-founder of PixelNovel. “If you are a designer or a Photoshop professional, ComparePSD will save you significant time and get your PSD files organized.”

The current version of ComparePSD works with the MS Windows® operating systems ranging from MS Windows 98 to MS Windows Vista. A version for Mac OS X is planned for a later release.

The program features include:

• Layer-by-layer comparison of two Adobe Photoshop files
• Handling layers styles (effects), style attributes and layers visibility flags
• Scaled view of the PSD files that helps to find differences easier
• Option to select the Adobe Photoshop files in Windows Explorer by right-clicking them

In-depth information on the application’s functionality and screenshots are available at the PixelNovel Web site.Availability and pricing
The trial version of ComparePSD can be downloaded for a free, 15-day evaluation from the PixelNovel Web site. A registered version can be purchased at the ComparePSD purchase page. The price for the personal license is $29.95 and the price for the business license is $49.95.

About PixelNovel:
PixelNovel is a software company specializing in innovative tools for Adobe Photoshop users. The company’s aim is to bring simplicity and elegance to day-to-day work for all graphic professionals at a reasonable price. Based in London, UK, PixelNovel employs an efficient team of IT experts who have real-life Photoshop experience.

For more information, please visit pixelnovel.com

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

Source: Macworld
Written by Rick LePage

As Leopard gets out into both the developer and user communities, we’re seeing a few cautionary notes from developers regarding compatibility and performance. Recently, Apple and Adobe issued advisories regarding their respective image management and catalog applications, Aperture and Photoshop Lightroom…

Read entire article

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff

New DxO Optics Pro v5 Software Featuring a Breakthrough RAW Engine Leads the Way in Image Quality for Demanding Photographers

Press Release: Paris, France – October 1st, 2007 – DxO Labs today announced DxO Optics Pro v5, the latest version of its award-winning flagship software application for automatic image quality enhancement for Digital SLR camera users. Due to be released later in the fall, DxO Optics Pro v5 sets a new standard for image quality with its new RAW conversion engine. All purchasers of DxO Optics Pro v4.5 on or after August 1st, 2007 are eligible for a free upgrade to DxO Optics Pro v5.

A breakthrough in demosaicing; the ‘holy grail’ of RAW conversion
DxO Optics Pro v5’s RAW conversion engine includes a completely new demosaicing algorithm which produces images with much more detail and fewer artifacts, setting a new standard in image quality. Demosaicing is the crucial step of RAW conversion durin which the camera’s image sensor pattern is reconstructed as a visible image for the human eye. Inherently, demosaicing involves trade-offs between image sharpness, details, noise, processing time and conversion artifacts. The quality of demosaicing determines the amount of detail and artifacts in the final image. These artifacts, particularly visible and unsightly, are compounded at high ISO settings and are in large part responsible for what is deemed the unnatural look of digital images.

“DxO Labs’ approach to demosaicing turned a number of classical solutions on their head: instead of only considering pixels with respect to their direct neighbors, DxO’s new RAW Engine uses a ‘non local’ approach looking much further than is usual from each pixel in the image in order to reconstruct detail. This significantly reduces demosaicing artifacts,” said Frédéric Guichard, Chief Scientist at DxO Labs.

Performing noise removal directly on the RAW data for best lowlight performance
The other key characteristic of DxO Optics Pro’s new RAW Engine is that instead of applying noise reduction techniques after demosaicing, a newly-developed noise reduction is performed upfront, before noise has a chance to be amplified by the RAW conversion process and absorb important fine details.

Combined with other proprietary techniques, DxO Optics Pro v5’s new RAW Engine produces both the most detailed and most natural looking images yet – its very fine and homogenous grain translating into subtle shades and textures. DxO Optics Pro v5’s new RAW conversion engine has been fine-tuned and optimized with the rest of the software’s automated image enhancement features (optical corrections, color rendering, exposure optimization, highlight recovery, etc.) to prodce best-in class results.

Dust/Blemish Removal now available in version 5
DxO Optics Pro v5 now incorporates a new tool to remove dust and blemishes from any digital image. Once dust and blemishes have been marked by the user, DxO Optics Pro v5 can automatically process any number of images with this particular dust/blemish template.

A revamped User Interface
Based on extensive research and communications with photographers, DxO Optics Pro’s user interface has been reorganized to improve workflow and ease of use. In particular, tools are now organized into four main sections that match the photographer’s approach: Light, Color, Geometry, Details. Users of DxO Optics Pro v5 can also customize their workspace to their particular way of working or choose to keep the tool organization of the previous version. DxO Optics Pro’s powerfu project and preset functions have also been overhauled for increased ease of use and functionality.

Increased speed and camera support
Benefiting from an entire rewrite using Microsoft’s .NET and Apple’s ObjC-Cocoa technologies, DxO Optics Pro v5 is up to four times faster than version 4.0. This is due in particular to the use of GPU processing – where the power of dedicated video card chips is used to accelerate an application.

DxO Optics Pro v5 will also support the latest Canon and Nikon Digital SLR camera bodies. Support for the Canon 40D, Canon 1Ds MKIII, Nikon D300 and Nikon D3 will be included in DxO Optics Pro v5 over the next few months following the availability of these cameras.

Pricing and availability
DxO Optics Pro v5 for Windows is planned to be available a the end of October 2007. DxO Optics Pro v5 for Macintosh is planned to be available approximately one month after the Windows version.

DxO Optics Pro v5 will be available in Standard and Elite versions at pricing unchanged from version 4.5:

DxO Optics Pro v5 Standard: £99
DxO Optics Pro v5 Elite: £199
(Prices include 17.5% VAT)
All customers who purchased DxO Optics Pro v4.5 on or after August 1st, 2007 are entitled to a free upgrade to version 5. For customers who purchased DxO Optics Pro before August 1st, 2007, the pricing of upgrades is as follows:

DxO Optics Pro Standard (any version) to DxO Optics Pro v5 Standard: £59
DxO Optics Pro Elite (any version) to DxO Optics Pro v5 Elite: 75
(Prices include 17.5% VAT)

Operating System Requirements
Windows:
Intel® Pentium® 4 processor or AMD® equivalent (Pentium® Dual Core or higher or equivalent recommended)
Microsoft® Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows VISTA™

Macintosh:
Universal Binary (G4, G5 or Intel)
Mac OS X.4 or X.5 when available
120 MB of available disk space
DxO Optics Pro Standard Edition: 1 GB RAM
DxO Optics Pro Elite Edition: 2GB RAM

About DxO Labs
DxO Labs offers products and solutions ensuring excellence in digital imaging. DxO Labs develops and licenses intellectual property serving the entire digital imaging chain: licensing of optics and silicon architectures for embedded still and video image processing; image quality evaluation and measurement tools and methodologies; image quality enhancement software for consumers. The company’s key customers and partners include:

Consumer electronics manufacturers such as digital camera vendors and cameraphones vendors;

Imaging components suppliers: camera module manufacturers, sensor vendors, and processor vendors;

Demanding photographers, as well as photography journalists and imaging experts.

DxO Labs’ product portfolio is steadily finding a place at the heart of advanced consumer electronics and world-class industry imaging systems where “Image Science by DxO” becomes a eference for quality.

For more information or a list of distributors and resellers, visit DxO Labs online at http://www.dxo.com.

Original post by PSN Editorial Staff