OnOne Software Releases Liquid Resize Preview
OnOne Software has released a preview of the Liquid Resize technology that they purchased sometime ago. Liquid Resize is a way of resizing images in a way that is different from any other technology available. Since it is hard to explain what it does, I am going to show you. I have included a small sample video. This video shows the current Liquid Resize interface, a photo that comes with the preview and my having resized the image down by 50%, watch as the photo shrinks, it is quite interesting.
It is important to note that anyone can download the preview from the OnOne Software site. This is a very early almost alpha copy. The interface will change and the tools will change. In the end they plan to have this as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop. The preview isn’t very stable at least it hasn’t been for me. It only works reliably on images 1000×1000 pixels or smaller. If you use the keep or remove paint brush to paint areas you don’t want altered or to select areas you do want altered you will most likely get a crash.
However, this technology is very interesting and once the bugs have been worked out and the technology fleshed out it looks to be a very promising technology.
Adobe Adds New Room to Lightroom
Adobe recently announced the public availability of the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta. This beta offers a look at some of the features that will be in Lightroom 2.0, but according to a post on the Adobe forums not all of the features that will be available in 2.0 are in this public beta. Time will tell. The improvements that are in there are quite nice.
Improvements include:
Photoshop CS3 Integration:
- Open files in Photoshop as Smart Objects. (This way you can tweak your Lightroom adjustments within Photoshop just by double-clicking the Smart Object layer that contains your raw file.)
- Select multiple images to merge as a panorama
- Merge multiple exposures into a single Photoshop HDR image
- Load multiple files (or virtual copies of a single file) into Photoshop as separate layers in a single document
Selective image editing that rocks:
- Lightroom 2 adds a Retouch tool in the Develop module, that means you can paint regions of the image to dodge, burn, saturate/desaturate, adjust contrast, and more. And, all edits are storied in the metadata and are non-destructive.
Library Module:
- Streamlined Library layout
- Smart Collections (based on search criteria)
- Powerful Filter Bar to search and refine images
- Suggested Keywords for simplified keywording
- 10,000 pixel size limit raised to 30,000 pixels
- Output-based collections
Multiple monitor support:
- Four flexible modes for an alternate window: Grid, Loupe, Compare, Survey
- Live Loupe mode
Export functionality:
- Auto-add exported images to the Lightroom catalog
- Auto Output Sharpening for images on export
Develop Module:
- Non-Destructive Localized Correction for dodging and burning specific areas of an image
- Post-Crop Vignette
- Basic Panel Keyboard Shortcuts
- Improved Auto Adjustment
- Improved memory handling through 64-bit support on OS X 10.5 and Vista 64-bit.(Not limited to develop module)
Print Module:
- Picture Package for multi-page layouts
- Print Module output directly to JPEG
- Enhanced Print Sharpening based on PhotoKit Sharpener algorithms
- 16-bit Printing for Mac OS X 10.5
As you can see there are some very nice, useful and important additions to Lightroom 2.0. If it is true that the public beta doesn’t reveal all of the new features and improvements one can hope that we will also see much more powerful noise reduction as well as distortion correction tools.
I am totally thrilled that the 10,000 x 10,000 pixel image size limit has been raised to match that of Adobe Photoshop, that being 30,000 x 30,000 pixels. This means now I can catalog my rather large collection of panorama images.
The availability of a 64-bit native version is also good news, though 64-bit as far as I am concerned is still in its infancy and it will be a few years yet before I jump on that band wagon, however I am glad to see Adobe leading the way in 64-bit application development.
You can download the public beta from the Adobe Labs site. One thing to keep in mind is that this is a time limited beta. If you don’t have the current release of Lightroom installed your trial period will be limited to 30 days. If you have the current version installed this beta will expire at the end of August 2008.
Finally, the 2.0 beta WILL NOT import and/or convert your Lightroom 1.3.1 catalogs. You will need to re-import your images to get them in to the 2.0 beta. Adobe has done this to protect you. The Lightroom 2.0 beta is not production level software. Please make a backup of any images you plan to import in to it before you import them. Image loss or corruption isn’t likely to happen, but there are no guarantees this is beta software.
Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0… Major Bug Problems…
Well, Adobe as I am sure you know released the new versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 and Adobe Premiere Elements 4; we received our review copies but won’t be installing either one for the time being. Apparently like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom it was more important to ship the products by a certain date then to deal with bugs in the program and apparently several very bad bugs that were in the beta and reported by many beta testers including one that corrupts the project files in Premiere Elements 4 are still there. This attitude of ship now, fix later has got to stop. There is no excuse for a bug that Adobe was well aware of being in the final shipping version. I strongly urge people to not upgrade their products until the bugs are fixed, if you do please make a backup of any Premiere Elements projects before you open them, unless you want them trashed beyond recovery.
Free Video Tutorials on Video Editing and More…
I have recently bought my first camcorder and have been spending more time playing around with video editing and other video related techniques. I was suprised that there is actually more to learn about video editing than there was about still photography (something I love to do). I started to look for tutorials that would help explain this complex yet fun process.
One of the best I have found is on the Digital Juice web site. Digital sells video related products like background animations, sound effects, music and more all for video editors. They also have their DJTV tutoiral videos that are just incredible. They cover a wide range of subjects the videos are free and are available in several different resolutions including ones for iPod that will also work with the AppleTV unit. If you would like to check out DJTV you can, there address is:
Very Cool Bridge CS3 Add-in Called “RapidFixer”
Wouldn’t it be cool if you could make Adobe Camera Raw adjustments right from inside of Adobe Bridge CS3 without ever having to go in to the ACR dialog box. Simply select the images you want to adjust and then have the most used ACR features show right up inside of the Bridge CS3 interface?
You can RapidFixer for Adobe Bridge CS3 lets you do this. It provides Bridge CS3 level access to the most used features in Adobe Camera Raw. For more information on this cool Bridge add-in and a video demonstration go to:
http://www.damuseful.com/pages/rapidfixer.html
Yep More IPod Touch… Apple Guided Tour… Very Cool!
Apple has posted on their site a very nice and informative Guided Tour of the new Apple iPod Touch. You can view it at:
http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/guidedtour/
I have to say the interface and feature set is quite impressive and just makes me want one even more. Since the iPod touch is only available in 8GB or 16GB versions storage space can become an issue. However, a nifty program called ShrinkMyTunes (Windows Only!) can compress (usually with very little loss of quality) your music files to half their original size or smaller. I have not tried this program but it sounds interesting and I have read at least one article on the program.
The Software: http://www.shrinkmytunes.com/en_gb/
The Article: http://www.wired.com/software/softwarereviews/news/2007/09/shrinkmytunes
Apple iPod touch Announced! Yes!
Well the Apple iPod touch has been announced and will ship by the end of September 2007 and I have to say I can’t wait. I bought my first iPod last year a 5th generation model and quickly fell in love with it. Not only is it like the ultimate juke box but with the video playback feature it is actually a portable entertainment system.
The new iPod touch besides having a larger screen is going to be able to handle widescreen videos better because when you turn it on its side the picture on the screen rotates just like it does on the iPhone.
With the new wi-fi capabilities getting music and video to the iPod touch is going to be a snap and with the new iTunes wi-fi update they just released iTunes 7.4 you can now shop, buy and download music and videos right from the iPod touch, this is going to be so cool (iPhone supported too.)
My only disappointment is the capacity of the two models of iPod touch. 8GB and 16GB are pretty good, but not nearly as nice as the larger capacities of the 5th generation of iPods. However we must understand a couple of things that help explains why Apple ended up with these capacities.
- The new larger screen on the iPod touch takes more power. LCD screens be they on a digital camera, cell phone, laptop, etc. are probably one of if not the largest power consumers on the device. So this had to be considered.
- A mini-hard drive like the 5th generation iPods have also consume considerably more power than the flash ram that the iPod touch uses. This power consumption coupled with that of the larger screen would have meant an iPod touch with very poor battery life and an iPod touch that was thicker and heavier too.
- To keep the iPod touch small, thin and light plus the need to address the power consumption issues meant that flash ram was a must. Otherwise we would have had a large device with poor battery life.
- Oh and lets not forget about the new wi-fi capabilities. This too consumes power and the hardware to pull this off also takes space in the unit. BTW a new version of iTunes is now available 7.4 adds wi-fi online shopping support for the iPhone and iPod touch. You can download it here:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
In the end Apple went the only route they could to offer the features and capabilities that they did with the size, weight and battery life they did. I for one think they made the best choices possible. Not perfect choices but the best they could with the technology we currently have. What we have to hope for now is that flash memory continues to grow in capacity, the prices keep dropping and that by the time the second generation of iPod touch comes out we will have 40GB and 80GB versions to choose from for less money than we are paying for the first generation. I think this could happen. I hope it does happen. Oh, there is one more advantage to the flash memory and that is no moving parts. This should mean the iPod touch is more reliable and impervious to storage damage and skipping if it is jarred hard, this was not the case with the hard drive based ones.
However, none of this is going to stop me from getting my hands on a iPod touch. I love my current iPod and fully expect to love the iPod touch even more.
