Photomatix Pro 3.2

[Kan Win]

Hi Folks,

Photomatix Pro 3.2 in now available

for Mac OS X

Includes:-

The download includes the Lightroom Export plugin. If you have Lightroom, see the installation instructions for the Lightroom plug-in.

(Note: The Aperture plugin is an Edit plugin and thus a separate product and download. See the download page of the Photomatix plug-in for Aperture).

for Windows

The download includes the Lightroom Export plugin. If you have Lightroom, see the installation instructions for the Lightroom plug-in.

Update log

Updated in v3.2

Summary of main updates

Multi-threading support for Tone Compressor and parts of Details Enhancer

Details Enhancer settings improvements: New mode offering finer control for Smoothing setting (i.e. the setting that controls "natural" vs "artificial" look) and improved effect of Highlights Smoothness (i.e. the setting that preserves "clean" skies)

Ability to tag saved images with keyword

Built-in presets for Details Enhancer

More robust alignment for "by matching features" method.

Batch processing advanced options: automatic detection of bracketed photos and ability to process a sub-set of each bracketed set.

Detailed list of updates

- Updated RAW conversion routine to support RAW files from the Canon 500D/T1i, Nikon D3X, Olympus E30, Pentax K-m/K2000, Canon SX1/SX110 and Panasonic GH1.

- Multi-threading support for tone mapping: complete multi-threading for Tone Compressor method and partial for Details Enhancer method. The maximum number of cores used can be adjusted in Preferences.

- Details Enhancer's Light Smoothing setting (renamed "Smoothing" in v3.2) has now two modes. The new mode is in the form of a slider and produces a slightly different effect. The behavior of previous versions corresponds to the "Light" mode which is in the form of five buttons named "Min", "Low", "Mid", "High" and "Max".

- Details Enhancer's Highlights Smoothness setting (i.e. the setting that avoids grey highlights and preserves "clean" skies) has been significantly improved.

- Improved the accuracy of the Tone Mapping preview compared to the final image and changed the size options on the preview dialog. Size options are now ratios of the input HDR image such as 1/2, 1/4 or 1/8. Intermediary sizes are achieved via the 'Preview Magnification' setting.

- Histogram of tone mapping dialog in now available per color channel and shows in a separate window. The count and percentile of each level is displayed while the user moves the mouse over the histogram.

- Contextual help for the tone mapping controls shows in an expandable section of the Tone Mapping Settings dialog.

- Batch Processing adds an option for automatically detecting the photos belonging to a bracketed set. This option is useful when some of the photos in the processed folder are not part of a bracketed set and/or when the number of frames per bracketed set varies.

- Batch Processing adds an option for processing a sub-set of each bracketed set. This option is useful, for instance, when the user wish to batch process only three frames of bracketed sets containing five frames taken in one-EV step each.

- Based on requests from time-lapse photographers, Batch Processing now reads any valid Tone Mapping setting XMP file saved under a processed sub-folder, and use its settings to tone map the images of the sub-folder.

- Improved alignment of "by matching features" method.

- Added built-in presets for Details Enhancer. Presets are "Natural", "Smooth Skies", "Painterly" and "Grunge", and are accessible from the Presets combo-box.

- Added ability to tag saved images with keyword set in Preferences. Keyword is added to IPTC metadata of images saved using the 'File' menu or created via Batch Processing (though not to via batching of single files).

- Added option in Preferences giving the choice between default and previous settings when starting the tone mapping dialog.

- Changed the name of 'Process' button into 'Save and re-import' when source images were exported using the Lightroom plug-in and the "Automatically re-import images into Lightroom" box was checked.

- Simplified the layout of the Batch conversion of single files and added ability to set the JPEG quality.

- Improved panning and zooming of opened or processed images.

- Made White Balance and Color Space settings for generating HDR image from RAWs sticky.

- Bug fixed: Export from Lightroom plug-in stalled when the path of the photos included non-ASCII characters (e.g. German "ü" or French "é").

- Bug fixed: Error was not returned and process stopped when exporting from Lightroom photos different in width and/or height.

- Bug fixed: When the Lightroom plug-in's option "Go directly to Tone Mapping" was unchecked, Photomatix systematically saved the processed image and reimported it back into Lightroom even when the user specified otherwise.

- Bug fixed: the directory of the last saved image was not remembered in some cases.

- Bug fixed: When processing images with exposure blending and the "Align images" option was unchecked, Photomatix may still try to align the images.

- Bug fixed: Some PSD files showed black when opened.

- Bug fixed: selecting the "360° image" option did not correct the difference at the zenith.

- Bug fixed: generating an HDR image from more than eight files of 21 MegaPixels each and in 16 bits/channel crashed due to insufficient memory.

- Bug fixed: When saving image as TIFF, DateTimeOriginal tag was not written in the correct order, which made Picasa crash and GIMP return a warning.

- Bug fixed: Exposure Blending with the Adjust method did not produce correct output when the "Shadows" setting was higher than 0 and the source images in 16 bits/channel mode.

- Bug fixed: crash when using the 'Unwrap Mirror Ball' utility.

- Bug fixed: Batch Processing with exposure blending 16-bit images while the output bit-depth was set to 8 did not work.

- Bug fixed: White Balance setting was not taken into account.

Yours truly,

Kan Win

[Kan Win]

Hi Folks,

I downloaded it today and had a little play with the new version which offers much more than the old one.

Try it

Yours truly,

Kan Win

[fabianfred]

Thanks.... it automatically updated my old version 3 also...

[Pooklook]

Thanks Fabianfred for opening the door to HDR.

Took this yesterday as I was visiting a house

for Moms day here in Thailand. Im going to do

some jumbo prints next week for some friends.

Heading through the Land of Kan next week on

my way to Sangkhlaburi. Saw this big wooden

bridge that is there on TV a few days ago.

Hope I can get a good angle on it and do an HDR.