I was hoping that Photolab 3.3 and Nik 3 would finally bring FULL integration. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case. It still converts my RAW file to a TIFF file and opens one of the Nik solutions…
It’s 2020 guys, how is a proper integration still not possible?!
You didn’t even feel the need to allow me to apply filters under the Photolab 3 “Preset” section, to bypass the pop up Nik windows.
Do we need to wait till PL4??
We may be waiting longer than just for PL4. The NIK programs are not and never were capable of processing RAW images. To make them so will require a massive rewrite of each individual program or else incorporating them somehow into the basic structure of PL. Either of these options will require a huge amount of reprogramming. Would I like to see this happen? Yes, but not at the expense of other features and improvements. Do I expect it soon? No, they can only work on so much at one time.
Fine on the RAW part, but this doesn’t mean, they can’t easily integrate the filters… Topaz also integrates with Photoshop and I can go on and on about other great examples.
It’s possible The Nik Collection could be reworked for use with raw files, but it would require a very significant redesign. If it was easy, they would have done it already. I’m still hopeful that it will happen sometime in the future, but I wouldn’t expect to see it anytime soon.
Mark
I don’t see development moving toward full integration at all. PL & Nik are being developed and marketed quite differently & consistently, with new functions being added but not linked. For example, U Points in PL and Nik getting its own rendition of ViewPoint. That’s duplication, not integration. DxO has never said they were going to integrate the suites.
You’re correct. After all most people who use the Nik Collection, whether it’s the DXO version or the previous one don’t use it with PhotoLab. Full integration would never take place. Can you imagine integrating all the separate tools and filters into PhotoLab. It would be a nightmare. The best we can hoer for would be the ability to pass a raw file and its .dop file from PhiotoLab to the Nk Collection and to be able to pass it back to PhotoLab when complete. I think that would be terrific but itl wouldn’t be full integration.;
Mark
When Nik was still Nik, they collaborated with Nikon to develop Capture NX, Nikon’s raw converter. CNX integrated U-Points, And there was a version of Color Efex that also integrated into CNX. It acted like any other adjustment in CNX. It did not create a TIF. The adjustments by Color Efex were entirely non-destructive in CNX.
So, integration is possible, and has been done.
All of that disappeared when Nik sold out to Google. CNX2 was replaced by CNX-D, a poor replacement based on Silky Pix. No more. The Color Efex and and no more U-Points. After The Collection was sold to DxO, U-Points appeared in CNX-D, but alas no plug-in integrations.
I am still on ( edit: NIK collection ) free version of DxO but i think the UI isn’t much changed.
Controlpoints/u-points are that different in how you use them as UI that intergration would be changing one or the other towards the UI of the latter.
About Raw, now we are exporting, using prime and all, 16bit tiff adobeRGB as wides colorspace, changing pixel colors in NIK and then safe those changes as same tiff.
Then use dxo’s export to create a jpeg or do some other rhings before that.
It would be great if somehow the tiff colorvalues of the pixels could be copy paste on to the rawfile as form of “preset”. Thus not send the rawfile but overlay the tiff outcome on the rawfile only as rgbvalue per pixel.
This way you still can use nondestructive changes.
See it as a filmpack preset.
I think this would be easier to implement then actual raw support.
How are you hoping full integration of the Nik Collection into PhotoLab will look? Would you expect to see every feature and every filter from all the Nik programs integrated into the PhotoLab user interface similar to the FilmPack 5 integration?
Mark
Integration of Nik with “layers” in Photolab while saving adjustment in .xmp file.
Would you expect to see every filter and every feature in all the Nik Collection programs integrated into the Photolab GUI? I think that could end up being quite a mess, not to mention that all the added functionality might slow down Photolab significantly.
To be fully integrated, all that functionality would need to be built into the PhotoLab interface and hidden if the PhotoLab user does not have a license for the Nik collection. That is how the integration of Filmpack 5 Elite works. It would take a very significant development effort to do that.
Mark
Like I said, if they upgrade PL with layers, if the file send to Nik could be save in xmp file, like let say when using Ps or AP or any other software that added layers. But saying that, I agree they have to implement .xmp files saving with Nik so people can get back to their edit without any lost. Which is something that had been request if I’m correct by John.
Adding layers into PL would make a big difference imo, would reduce how many control point you make and would probably benefit in increase software speed, using too many control point slow down PL a lot on Mac (that I can see), therefore, I personnaly prefer using clone and inpainting in AP than PL if there’s some dust or things to be removed, not that the bandaid of PL doesn’t do the work, it is just faster doing the same job in AP.
That is not true. The Nik Collection was integrated fully in Capture NX2 from Nikon and it was able to process Nikon Raw files already in 2008. You could already apply the filters selectively the same way you use control points in Photolab
Hi Hugo. Are you sure that the actual RAW file was passed to the NIK plug-ins, and not a TIFF, PSD, or some other intermediary file-type?
Hi Mark
I am. But it worked with Nikon raw files (NEF) only. You were also able to store the settings in the NEF for future processing. Since only the settings were stored (I guess DxO is doing something similar in the .dop file), the NEF became just a little bit bigger.
I believe only Color Efex Pro could be integrated in CaptureNx2. That was a special version just for CaptureNx.
George
That’s true, they only set up a special version of ColorEfex to work for CNX-2. Whether they were planning to do more of the plug-in before being “Googled” is an open question. But I would think that if it could be done with one plug-in, it could be done with the others. You also have to remember that Nik was the developer of CNX-2, that is how CNX got Control Points.
The CNX file system was, in my option, the best. All edits and versions were stored in the NEF as instructions, with a relatively small increase in file size. There were no sidecars to keep track. Other software could still read the edited NEF - they just ignored the CNX instructions.
It was a beautiful system that Nikon, Nik and Google destroyed.
I still miss it.
After every edit the embedded jpg was updated in the nef so when viewing the raw files you saw the edited jpg. And still being able to re-edit it. And no problems with keywords: they where just add to the raw file.
I think the tools in the nik collection are more dedicated to their purpose. Could be a reason why they are not integrated full. Not sure though.
George