Its not unusual for me to use two or more of the NIK plug-ins on an image; I might do some work on the color image before converting to B&W - for example. And more than once I’ve found myself putting an image through the same software twice, to get a specific look.
Of course, layers are needed - but I’m not just talking about applying multiple filters or actions within a specific plug-in; I’m talking about being able to open different plug-ins at one time.;
I’m imagining a hybrid program that would open an image and (for example) apply Color Efex Pro and Silver Efex Pro filters, at the same time, each dynamically adjustable, with a preview of the resulting hybrid image… … of opening an image in a master program, and then opening two or more plug-ins within the master program, each inside its own layer. A shell program (NIK Layers?) that would contain and layer the power of the other plug-ins.
Being able to tweak the different plug-ins and filters and dynamically adjust them in relation to each other, would be the fastest way to get to a final image. I’d like to be able to use your plug-ins to get closer to a final result before going back into Photoshop.
I KNOW this is all doable in other ways with Photoshop layers - but that’s not the point; the whole purpose of having the plug-ins is to make things faster - and I have a better idea of what the first-edit results are going to be, using the plug-ins…