Nik 3 Selective Tool Option in Photoshop Workspace

Nik Collection Feature requests
1

I understand that you have changed the Selective Tool in Nik 3 to open when an image file is opened.

I would prefer an option to open the Selective Tool when Photoshop is opened so it could be saved in the Photoshop workspace. That way the Selective Tool is always available in the workspace as it was in Nik 2.

Thank you.

2

See the Settings tab in the Selective tool.

3

This doesn’t solve the problem. Even if the option is set in the Settings dialog, the Selective Tool panel will not be displayed until PS has been given the focus and an image has been loaded. Which means that you cannot access the Settings dialog of the Selective Tool before an image has been loaded. The Selective Tool panel disappears

  • when all images are closed
  • when a PS dialog box is opened (it re-appears when the dialog is closed)
  • when a plugin/extension panel is given the focus
  • when PS loses the focus

This hide and seek game is rather painful, to say the least. The behavior of the previous version is preferable.

Re: V3 - Selective Tool disappearing

4

I agree with you; the old design was superior.

5

I agree. This needs to be returned to the state where it opens automatically when Photoshop is engaged. I think I know why it got removed but find it to be a less than satisfactory reason.

6

I’m interested in your thoughts about this problem. My opinion is that they have tied the display of the Selective Tool to the focus state of some UI element in the main window. It’s interesting to note that the Selective Tool is not displayed until an image is loaded but it remains opened when all images are closed. However, it disappears whenever the PS main window loses the focus for whatever reason. The PS tool palettes obviously don’t steal the focus from the PS main window but third-party extensions do. So, the Selective Tool is obviously bound to the PS main window state. I’m wondering why this was needed…

7

I was thinking that it was not a technical issue but rather a business issue. I have taken many of the DxO webinars and it is clear that the product suite is being positioned as an alternative to Adobe products. Having said that I believe that this capability was removed to make it more difficult to start the products from within Photoshop, the thought being that some might choose to do it an easier way…from within PhotoLab. I know I have quickly tired of the extra mouse clicks every time I use a NIK product inside Photoshop.

8

The Nik Collection product has its own life and targets all environments that are able to use it. The main reason for which it was purchased by DxO from Google, was the U-Point technology that was needed by DxO for local corrections in DPL. So, making things difficult for PS or Affinity (in which the Selective Tool cannot work) would be counterproductive.

9

Nothing changed in version 3.08.

I have noticed that the opening of the Selective Tool dialog only after an image has been loaded is considered as an enhancement (see release notes). I’m wondering why.

10

This problem is still not fixed. The latest version of PS now handles the plugin/extension panels differently and it’s probably time to make the Selective Tool panel compliant with the new UI rules. The “old” plugins are now considered as legacy and all plugins should now comply with the UXP specification. The Selective Tool panel already had a rather particular behavior (read, awkward), but now I’m afraid that we’ll have problems in the future.

I’d prefer to have something that integrates better with PS.

Thanks.

11

Seven months later…I still see this as a problem. The Nik Collection Selective Tool panel has to be opened using Photoshop’s File>Automate menu.

Why can’t the panel be set to open when Photoshop is started? It seems like this request is relatively straightforward - and simple.

12

Agreed. By the way, this behavior is new. The problem was not there in previous versions. So, it should be easy to return to the previous code. This behavior is also inconsistent since the Selective Tool panel also gives access to global options not related to the current image. So waiting for an image to be displayed before giving access to this panel is illogical.

And last but not least, seeing this panel panel suddenly pop up and hide depending on the current state of the Photoshop UI is just distracting and irritating, especially on a dual monitor configuration.