V.4 Silver Efex, Viveza, no longer work with Corel Photo-Paint (in CorelDraw 2021) or PaintShop Pro 2021

cdixonm · June 5, 2021, 4:57pm

I use Silver Efex frequently, as a plugin for Photo-Paint. This plugin, nor Viveza no longer open at all. I’m sorry that I upgraded to Nik v4 now.

Looking into it, I found that these two plugins are now in a binary folder, and use the same 8bf file. This may have caused the incompatibility. They work fine directly from the PhotoLab app, but that doesn’t match my workflow. Looks like I will be downgrading back to Nik v3. Going back to the Adobeland subscription to get Photoshop is not an option.

Edit: I heard back from support. Here is the link:

LesC · June 5, 2021, 5:35pm

Personally, I have never used Corel PhotoPaint or PaintShop Pro, but I have migrated from Adobe’s subscription model to Affinity Photo, and I can assure you that Nik4 is (almost) perfectly compatible with Affinity Photo. I do mention ‘almost’, because the added module, Perspective Efex, cannot be used in Affinity Photo, for specific reasons, but all other modules work as designed.

cdixonm · June 5, 2021, 6:46pm

The thing is, I am a decades-long user of the CorelDRAW graphics suite. I use the vector app in that suite for graphic art such as logos, stickers, and signs (it makes me money). I use the raster app in the suite, Photo-Paint, for photo editing and painting. I’m also grandfathered into the now-discontinued (for new users) Corel upgrade program for $79 a year. CorelDRAW is a $700 set of professional programs. I use the Nik collection extensively in that app. So you see, I’m not about to switch to another app for photo processing, it is simply out of the question.

A couple of years ago, I subscribed to PhotoShop, Lightroom, and had to add Illustrator as it’s a totally different app with Adobe. I wanted to see what all of the hype was about. I used it long enough to become fairly proficient, then realized that CorelDRAW is easier to use and can actually do more than those Adobe apps for less money. Lesson learned. I won’t stray again.

Incidentally, because it is lightweight and capable, I have PaintShop Pro 2021 installed on my small Windows tablet for minor on-the-spot editing. Vivezo and Silver Efex no longer work with that app either.

I have processed all of my RAW files, starting with Optics Pro 4 and now with Photolab 4, and I have a workflow that works great for me:

-Process RAW files using custom presets in DxO
-Export to CorelDRAW Photo-Paint for further editing
-Open a NIK plugin for effects or further correction
-Send back to CorelDRAW to use the outstanding print engine it has, or to save for the web.

If NIK 4 and beyond are no longer compatible with Corel products, I guess I will be forever stuck on NIK version 3.

cdixonm · June 5, 2021, 7:56pm

I just noticed that Perspective Efex doesn’t work with the Corel apps either, but it may never have. I don’t think I’ve ever used it, because I do perspective corrections in Photolab as I have the Viewpoint 3 plugin anyway.

LesC · June 6, 2021, 6:50am

And do you get the same message as I get in Affinity Photo?

jpgrove · June 6, 2021, 9:17am

The issue IS with DxO and the new plugins, V3 worked with Capture One etc no problems at all. A work around seems to hint towards that the Silver Efex and Viveza plugin checks to see if C1 is running and removes the save back option.

Wolfgang · June 6, 2021, 11:10am

@cdixonm

or see here Issues with Nik4 - #8 by Wolfgang

… concerning Serif Affinity Photo , there is a special tip in the installation help (didn’t try it yet)

cdixonm · June 6, 2021, 4:23pm

So the two plugins do open with C1, but without a save button. Wow. With CorelDRAW, the two plugins simply do not open. I used @Wolfgang 's method of reinstalling Nik3 to make the two older plugins available to CDraw, but with some caveats to get it to work with CorelDRAW, and for the Nik4 versions of Silver Efex and Viveza to work in PL as well. I had to remove the newer plugins from CDraw’s plugin path in the settings, then add the path to the older ones. Another difference is that I installed Nik3 in a non-default folder called Nik3 so it wouldn’t totally overwrite Nik4. I then copied the entire binary (bin) folder from the Nik4 intallation folder into the Nik3 installation folder (there is no “bin” folder in Nik3 installations, and this is where the new Silver Efex and Viveeza plugins reside). This was a hell of a lot of tinkering just to make everything work correctly, but it does work if you use a Corel product, specifically CorelDRAW or Corel PaintShop Pro on Windows 10.

Disclaimer:

I should mention that I’m not worried about crashing the program or the computer, because I always have a fresh backup image that I make with Macrium Reflect, of the OS drive before I do anything. If I screw up, I can revert to the time just before the crash within 20 minutes. It might not be a good idea to diddle around the programs folder like this with no way to revert to the state of the drive before the problem. But what I did here caused no issues, ymmv.

cdixonm · June 6, 2021, 4:30pm

@LesC this is exactly the message I get from Perspective Efex. But oddly, I have Viewpoint 3 (which serves exactly the same function) set up as a plugin for CorelDRAW and it works perfectly. This morning,I have actually removed perspective effex from the plugins folder because is is useless, redundant, waste of space for me.
Here is Viewpoint3 open as a plugin to CorelDRAW/PhotoPaint:

Wolfgang · June 6, 2021, 6:59pm

@cdixonm, so you know your way around

But more seriously, DxO should allow to keep the former version (optionally), as

not many are keen / like to fiddle around
not everybody is using brandnew versions of PS and LR
(luckily, my LR 5.7 64-Bit was recognized)

At least it appears somewhat strange, when DxO promots a non-subscription model, but doesn’t follow that route when coming up with products, that require new versions of hosts which in case of the main player are now subscription only.

cdixonm · June 7, 2021, 1:14am

Correct, users should not have to do workaround, especially workarounds as convoluted as what we did here. Many years ago I was a coder, and I know Windows inside and out. Not everyone does or should. The apps should just work. I should have known better, but I blindly purchased the new V4 without trying it out. New versions from DxO have always worked before, so I guess I had put too much trust in them.

Also, it seems that DxO doesn’t realize that there are other professional editing apps it should work with besides the god in the adobe hut. Corel is #2 after Adobe, so I guess they must be overlooked.

Yes, the market share for CorelDRAW is only about 3.5 percent, but it has been growing. This is from a year ago. Even at 3.5%, that’s a lot of potential if DxO would support them. CorelDRAW can totally replace both Photoshop and Illustrator, and is available with no subscription. In November’s black Friday, it’s about half price. I’m really only making the case for them because unlike Adobe PS or AI, it doesn’t regularly hang in the middle of a project. That and the subscription was the last straw for me with Adobe.

cdixonm · February 20, 2022, 10:19pm

FYI, there is an update for Corel Paintshop Pro 2022 that fixes the Nik compatibility issues, but as of now, still no update for CorelDRAW.