[SHARPEN Projects 2018 Torrent
Addison Mauldin
They do not appear to offer a trial version or, at least, I haven't found a link for one. The examples shown on their website look interesting and, at the reduced price, I am thinking of giving them a try. However, until I got a solicitation in my email, I had never heard of them.
You will not likely be happy. I've not tried their sharpening product but I have tried their HDR and B&W effects tools, and found them both intriguing and too obtuse to use. The English language "Help" file, is primitive and totally inadequate for software of this complexity. I would suggest you only buy the software if you enjoy puzzles, and if they offer you an insanely low price.
OK, I downloaded the trial and did the install which puts an "8be" plugin in my Photoshop CC2015 plugins folder. However, PS does not show it in the Filters menu. I don't see any other 8be plugins there. Any ideas? Is this type still supported?
OK, thanks, got it to work. But... I agree with Glenn Barrington in his earlier reply. Too much to learn, too little understandable documentation. It seems it tries to do a lot more than sharpening and I don't need to learn another PS wannabee.
I use Franzis' Denoise and B&W Projects 4, and whilst they have a significant learning curve compared to more simple programs, they were certainly worth the intro price I paid. B&W has far more presets than Nik to work from, for example, but if you don't like paying for software, then get Nik. Denoise is a different kettle of fish, and unlike many noise reduction settings, it seems to apply its effect intelligently, rather than a blanket noise reduction and doesn't seem to affect sharpness to the same effect.
Based on the above experience I am giving Sharpen Projects a trial. Again, it is a program that has a significant learning curve, and as has already been pointed out, some better user documentation would be very useful. Interestingly, I deliberately set sharpening to maximum in my imaging software to compare the same image developed in Projects, and Sharpen Projects pulled out more detail, but not at the expense of the usual sharpening artefacts.
Normal sharpening doesn't work well if the image is not in focus, a point that Sharpen Projects says is supposed to address. It will be this ability to "rescue" an image that is slightly out of focus that will ultimately decide a purchase or not. So a little more trialling will be necessary.
A very late reply, sorry, but their Sharpen projects tool does support deconvolution sharpening and blur reduction (for focus-misses or movement), so IMHO it's well worth a look! (It does seem nicer than Focus Magic so far.)
(I know, also late to the party as per my other comment here) B+W Projects 4 is IMHO the best B+W conversion software out there, but even more noticeably they regularly give away the previous version for free on GiveAwayOfTheDay.com (so B+W Projects 3, which I actually paid for, was available for free a few days ago):
-verlag-gmbh/
When saving the final image note that the first dialog, where it asks for the title, is going to write that over the image, it isn't the file name.
The main disadvantage is the lack of Undo operations.
The thing to get your brain around is it a huge pile of image processing tools, which are gathered together into presets in the left pane. All those options do is select a bunch of processing tools and choose options for them, so they are infinitely tweakable in the right pane.
Also I suspect they haven't updated the installers that often and so only have an old version of the Raw file reader (for Raw files saved by digital cameras). To add raw support for more recent cameras download this (if you're running 64-bit Windows):
_Win64.zip
and replace C:\Program Files\Franzis\HDR projects 3\FreeImage.dll with the dll file it contains.
If you're not running the 64-bit version of Windows, i.e. your computer doesn't have a directory "C:\Program Files (x86)" then the file you want for upgraded raw support in 32-bit Windows is: _projects_Win32.zip
If you're on a Mac you'll need to sort your self out I'm afraid, I'm sure their support can point you at the file.
Currently if the version of FreeImage.dll that comes with the program is May 2016 you don't need to do this.
I will also add their products are often available on (a substantial) sale so subscribe to their newsletter and wait (or keep an eye on GiveAwayOfTheDay), a bit like DXO you don't want to be paying full price when a sale is always just around the corner. Oh and they still do occasionally send e-mails in German to English-speaking customers, don't worry about it.
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