Nor is the Nik Collection a single, integrated product, meaning that you have to open and close these tools sequentially if you are doing heavy surgery on an image. For the average user, the suite may be overkill. The Nik apps have daunting interfaces and steep learning curves. Still, free is free, and there’s no reason not to get the app suite while it’s there for the taking - and it might not be in the future if, indeed, Google has no further plans to upgrade this product.īut casual photo editing buffs beware: the Nik Collection is not entry-level stuff, like Google Photos and Apple’s Photos. Unfortunately, the Nik Collection is entirely disconnected from Google Photos and Snapseed, making it awkward for Google fans wanting to use all of the above. Google Photos also now supports Apple’s Live Photos feature. Just last week, it unveiled a smart album feature along with interface tweaks. It now appears that Google is focusing on the Google Photos service, with frequent updates to the service’s mobile apps and Web app. In a semi-related development, Google in February 2016 announced that it’s shutting down its Mac- and PC-based Picasa photo organizing apps, which it acquired when it bought out Picasa, Inc. But those advanced tools later vanished, replaced with far simpler ones when Google+ Photos transformed into the standalone Google Photos service. Google also used the Nik technology to turbocharge the photo editing controls that were a part of its Google+ social network. Universal app with full iPad compatibility) along with an Android version, though. Google has said it will continue upgrading its Snapseed iOS app (a But in 2013 Google killed the Mac version (along with a PC version) even though Nik had announced the product only about a year earlier, just before being acquired. The acquisition included Snapseed picture-editing apps for iOS and Mac. Google’s Nik Software buyout has been a mixed blessing for photography enthusiasts in recent years. Mac and iOS users should probably not wait for the collection to spawn Apple Photos extensions any time soon. In a Google+ post, the company wrote, “As we continue to focus our long-term investments in building incredible photo editing tools for mobile … we’ve decided to make the Nik Collection desktop suite available for free, so that now anyone can use it.” Google has not said whether it will continue to update the Nik Collection, but it seems to be signaling that the suite has now become abandonware. HDR Efex Pro for exploiting HDR effects.Viveza for adjusting color and tonality.Silver Efex Pro for black-and-white editing.Color Efex Pro for color correction and retouching.Analog Efex Pro for mimicking classic films and lenses.The seven Nik Collection editing tools, a part of Google’s 2012 acquisition of Nik Software, work both as standalone apps and as plug-ins for Adobe’s Lightroom and Photoshop programs, as well as for Apple’s now-defunct Aperture, which some still use. The company is issuing refunds to those who purchased the suite in 2016. Google has made a freebie of its Nik Collection, a set of advanced Mac and PC photo editing tools that, until last week, cost $150, and at one time went for $500. Google Gives Away Its Nik Collection Photo-editing Apps #1659: Exposure notifications shut down, cookbook subscription service, alarm notification type proposal, Explain XKCD.#1660: OS updates for sports and security, Drobo in bankruptcy, why TidBITS doesn't cover rumors.#1661: Mimestream app for Gmail, auto-post WordPress headlines to Twitter and Mastodon, My Photo Stream shutting down.#1662: New Macs, 12 top OS features for 2023, vertical tabs in Web browsers, watchOS 9.5.1.#1663: Exploring the Apple Vision Pro, 12 more OS features coming in 2023, new Apple service features, Apollo shuts down.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |