NIK software - end of the line!

[ricktas]

Back in 2012, Google purchased Nik Software. Since then it has been updated, and even offered up for free.

But on the Nik Software page there is a new banner : https://www.google.com/nikcollection/

The Nik Collection is free and compatible with Mac OS X 10.7 through 10.10; Windows Vista, 7, 8; and Adobe Photoshop through CC 2015. We have no plans to update the Collection or add new features over time. Learn more about Nik.

(my bold and underline).

It seems the software has come to the end of its life. It is still available, but from that banner Google will no longer be actively updating the Nik plug-ins and filters.

[tandeejay]

Should AP take a 'backup' of the collection so it can be made available to members IF google ever totally remove it from their site?


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[jim]

Very disappointment. I think that the software will stay available, but will eventually cease to be compatible with your OS, or Photoshop.

[ricktas]

Should AP take a 'backup' of the collection so it can be made available to members IF google ever totally remove it from their site?


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I have copies of several generations of the software. So in need, I can certainly provide a copy of it.

[antongorlin]

everyone will eventually switch to luminosity masks

[Bensch]

Sad to hear that it has been discontinued, but on the positive side, at least they're not removing from the website (at the moment).

[Ross M]

I am using the free version of the Nik Collection as a plugin for Photoshop Elements and find it very good. I cannot currently justify the cost of Photoshop CC and I find that there are not many products available that are compatible with Elements. Also, it seems to me that luminosity masking products and techniques are primarily designed around full Photoshop. I am going to try out the Tony Kuyper Luminosity plugin for Elements and see how that compares to HDR.
The free version of Nik that I have does not have the HDR tool. I use Lightroom Enfuse and I'm trialing Machinery HDR for my HDR needs.
I don't update my software very often, so hopefully I can continue using my Nik collection for some time.

[farmmax]

Topaz has added an editor which you might like to look at - Topaz Studio (http://web.topazlabs.com). It can run as a stand alone editor, or as a plugin for Photoshop or Lightroom, but I don't think Elements. The basic version of Topaz Studio is FREE. If you have any Topaz filters such as Adjust, Detail etc, they can also be run from Topaz Studio. It can handle multiple images and has a large range of one click (but adjustable) effects, plus all the basics such as curves, cropping, colour adjustments etc, but I don't think cloning. The effects are each added on a separate layer, and you may use masks on the layers, including luminosity masks.

On1's Perfect Effects 10.5 was also being offered for free for a while. Try this link https://www.on1.com/promo/0517-effects/?utm_campaign=PEPE_10.5_2017-05&utm_source=Engaged_NonOwn&utm_medium=email2 . It is also included in On1 Photo (Not free) which is a raw photo editor with quite a few easy to manage features, and may be all many photographers need. I started using Perfect Effects 8 when someone posted a link on a Photoforum years ago, and it handles a major part of my photo editing now. I run it as a plug in from Photoshop, but can also run as a standalone program. It puts each effect on a new layer, and once I learned how to use it's masking ability properly, I found it is one of the easiest masking range of tools to use.

My free version Of Nik has the HDR tool, so it may be worth redownloading Nik from Google. I downloaded mine from there about a year ago.

[Glenda]

I think many forecast the fact that Google wouldn't update Nik once they'd bought it. From what I've read, it will continue to work fine until it becomes incompatible with your operating system after updates - who knows how many. I do like Silver Efex for b&w but rarely use any of the others nowadays. I would certainly miss having that available.

[Ross M]

Thanks for this great info farmmax. Based on the possibility of On1's Effects version 10 software reverting to paid availability only, I have installed the Lightroom plugin version, which also works as standalone, to give it a try. I can use Machinery HDR or Enfuse to merge multiple images, so that's not much of an omission. I'm guessing that the masks in On1 may not be as powerful as Topaz Free. But the integration with Lightroom sounds useful.
I seem to recall someone on this forum mentioning using Topaz and I assumed it was the full version. I may try it down the track after evaluating my current software. I especially aim to get an understanding of how the On1 masking operates.

[farmmax]

Both Topaz and On1 have had major changes in the last few months which is a bit confusing.
For years Topaz was a collection of filters, just like Nik is a collection of filters. You purchased the filters you liked, and they ran as plugins to Photoshop and Lightroom, and or were standalone. Popular filters were Topaz Adjust, Topaz Detail, Topaz Remask, Topaz Denoise. You can still purchase the separate filters. There are some very effective effects to be created by them.

PhotoOne (now On1) was a photo editor made up of a few different components - a browser, Perfect Effects, Resize, Layers, and perhaps another couple. I've never downloaded the full suite, because I had Photoshop to do most of these jobs. I only tried the Perfect Effects component, because it was free and could run in Photoshop/Lightroom as a plugin.

Perfect Effects is a collection of effects and filters to apply to your photo, and some of their effects are like Topaz effects. They were free, so I started using Perfect Effects more seriously. It had the advantage over the Topaz plugins of all the effects contained in the one plugin instead of skipping in and out of different plugins. Each effect was applied to a separate layer, and masks could be applied to each layer. Layers could be moved around in the stack, the opacity and blending modes altered just like Photoshop. This couldn't be done in Topaz. You had to come back to Photoshop to do most of the work. The downside of Effects was only the completed flattened image was bought back into Photoshop. No layers or masks come back with them, so you couldn't go back and edit. When Perfect Effects is run in On1, because of the Layers component in On1, all the masks and original layers are kept and can be re edited as far as I know. I've never downloaded the On1 30 day free trial to try.

In the last year, On1 has made big changes in their software to add a raw browser and some other features. They keep offering me the full suite for about $77US, but I just keep using the free Perfect Effects. I did download Perfect Effects 10 when they offered it to me, but there have been major changes in it from version 9, and to be honest, I like 9 better.

I think Topaz Studio probably is in response to On1's suite taking customers away from Topaz. Being free it should bring some customers back. All the topaz plugins I own can now be accessed from within Topaz Studio as well as Photoshop/Lightroom.

I have found the masking tools built into On1 Perfect Effects 9.5 excellent - once I worked out how to use them! I do have Topaz Remask, which is a very powerful tool, but gradually I began to like the Perfect Effect masking tools better. I only use Remask now when I need to have the layer mask in Photoshop.

These movements by Topaz and On1 are perhaps a response to Adobe moving to the cloud and subscription. There are many of us to whom Adobe is no longer an option, so it is great to see other options appearing.

Other than Photoshop Elements, there is also Corel's Paintshop Pro, which really is close to a Photoshop. It used to compete with Photoshop many years ago. Corel offered me the latest full version of Paintshop Pro for $47 US recently, including Particle Brushes. Paintshop Pro can do HDR merge https://support.corel.com/hc/en-us/articles/217187727-HDR-Merge-in-PaintShop-Pro

Perhaps if anyone else has other photo editors or filter collections they like, they would like to add them to the thread, so they are all collected in the one place.

[ricktas]

I am using the free version of the Nik Collection as a plugin for Photoshop Elements and find it very good. I cannot currently justify the cost of Photoshop CC and I find that there are not many products available that are compatible with Elements. Also, it seems to me that luminosity masking products and techniques are primarily designed around full Photoshop. I am going to try out the Tony Kuyper Luminosity plugin for Elements and see how that compares to HDR.
The free version of Nik that I have does not have the HDR tool. I use Lightroom Enfuse and I'm trialing Machinery HDR for my HDR needs.
I don't update my software very often, so hopefully I can continue using my Nik collection for some time.

NIK is Free for everyone. There is no paid version and there has not been since Google purchased it. They bought it out and made it free straight away.

[ricktas]

Perhaps if anyone else has other photo editors or filter collections they like, they would like to add them to the thread, so they are all collected in the one place.

I posted a heap of photoshop actions quite a while ago now. Most were from Action Central (which closed down): http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?139420-Photoshop-Actions-Collection

[Hamster]

Pity, I use it for B&W conversions. There's a also a nice little trick to add contrast into an image by taking an image into silver Efex, winding up the structure before taking it back to PS and blending on luminosity.
There are alternative ways of doing everything though.

[ricktas]

Not that I think it will make any difference but there is a petition to Google asking them to keep developing the Nik Suite: https://www.change.org/p/google-inc-save-the-nik-collection?recruiter=8950408&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition

[fillum]

Not that I think it will make any difference but there is a petition to Google asking them to keep developing the Nik Suite: https://www.change.org/p/google-inc-save-the-nik-collection?recruiter=8950408&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petitionIt seems to me that he hasn't actually asked for anything (at least not explicitly...)


Cheers.

[Ross M]

NIK is Free for everyone. There is no paid version and there has not been since Google purchased it. They bought it out and made it free straight away.

I know this is a late reply, but it has taken me this long to play around with my various software.
When I installed the Nik Collection plug-ins, the HDR tool did not appear in the new panel called "Selective Tool", which is where the other Nik tools were available. I still cannot find HDR in Photoshop Elements, but I have found it in Lightroom. I should have spent more time Googling. One must use the Export function, then select Google in the drop down box. I have only ever exported to my hard drive, so I was unaware of this sequence.

- - - Updated - - -

Update. I fired off that last post too quickly.

According to Ed Knepley, on his website, Nik Collection HDR Efex Pro will not run in Photoshop Elements. It appears that myself and others get confused regarding what can be done with PS Elements compared to full Photoshop. It's OK at the end of the day because I am better off doing as much as possible in raw before converting to jpeg.

[fredscott]

Bye-bye, Nik. It's time to switch to paid variants because free stuff is always suspicious.
There is a good collection of reviewed HDR photo editors *removed - refer to site rules 3-7*
What do you think about Aurora *removed - refer to site rules 3-7*? They give it 5 stars, but is it really better than cheaper variants? I'd really like to hear from people using it because you never know when the review is genuine or paid...

[Mark L]

Bye-bye, Nik. It's time to switch to paid variants because free stuff is always suspicious.

Do you have the NIK filters??
Well I got the Nik stuff for free and the things I want it for work just fine and probably will for a few years to come. No suspicious there.:)
GIMP and Faststone Image Viewer are free and plenty of people use them to great effect. Bloody suspicious that.:)
What's wrong with free if it delivers what you want? :confused013

[Mark L]

DxO have Have purchased the Nik Collection and it's no longer free.
https://petapixel.com/2017/10/25/dxo-buys-nik-collection-google-will-resume-development/

[arthurking83]

DxO have Have purchased the Nik Collection and it's no longer free.
https://petapixel.com/2017/10/25/dxo-buys-nik-collection-google-will-resume-development/


Just to be clear about that comment.
If you downloaded the freebie version .. it's still free!
That is, that version you downloaded and installed isn't suddenly going to cost you money to use.

And as you'd expect of a company ... any new versions that DxO develop and bring to market .. obviously won't be free to use.


So, if you're 'appy with what you currently have, it's still free.
If you want better quality and more and look to upgrading software as a 'no brainer' then it's going to cost something.

[antongorlin]

but the existing version will eventually stop working anyway

[arthurking83]

but the existing version will eventually stop working anyway

Existing version won't stop working.
It may stop working as a plugin for some other software, but in itself it won't stop.
It just won't be updated any longer with new 'must have' features.

[tandeejay]

I think by “eventually stop working” ColdBlood is referring to the usual progression of OS updates that potentially/eventually change a component of the OS that the Application relies on to work. A maintained application will get an update to allow it to keep working... of course how long the old application works will depend on if they rely on OS features / interfaces that are liable to get changed, so that drop dead date might not eventuate. Eg, we have some old PC games that just keep working, and have been working since before windows was a thing. But there are others that just fail to run on windows 10 no matter what compatibility settings you use.


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