October 27, 2009 by Mike Wong • 17 Comments
I am pleased to share with you that today, we have announced a major upgrade to our flagship product, the onOne Plug-In Suite. The new Plug-In Suite 5 is slated for release in November and includes upgrades to FocalPoint, PhotoTune, PhotoFrame and PhotoTools. Additionally, all of the products including Genuine Fractals 6 and Mask Pro 4 will now be Windows 64-bit compatible. If you are using Photoshop CS4, there is also a new onOne Panel that provides quick and easy access to all of the products in the Plug-In Suite 5. You can read the full press release here.
The Plug-In Suite 5 will be shipping in November but can be pre-ordered now at a discount. Continue reading for more information about specific updates to FocalPoint 2, PhotoTune 3, PhotoTools 2.5 and PhotoFrame 4.5 as part of the Plug-In Suite 5.
For more information about Plug-In Suite 5 including a pre-order special offer, visit the Plug-In Suite 5 product page.
New FocalPoint 2
I think you are really going to like what we've done to FocalPoint 2. We've taken it way beyond the motion and box blur that was available in version 1. Now in FocalPoint 2, there is an all new blur algorithm that accurately replicates the blur that a real lens would create. This new algorithm, combined with the ability to use up to six FocusBugs and a new FocusBrush that let's you fine tune exactly where the blur should go is the perfect way to simulate depth-of-field in your photos.
We worked closely with several professional photographers on this release to make sure that the blur we created was true to what you would normally achieve in camera. This new algorithm is going to allow you to shoot at an aperture like f/8 to achieve optimum sharpness, yet get the background blur as if you shot it at a much wider aperture. You've got to see it to believe it! FocalPoint 2 will be shipping in November, but check out the new product page.
New PhotoTune 3
Also new on it's own or as part of the Plug-In Suite 5 is PhotoTune 3. PhotoTune 3 has a brand new auto-correction algorithm that we licensed from im-sense that was originally developed to solve the problem of dynamic range correction in standard and HDR images. In PhotoTune 3, this technology works on standard images captured in a single image. It ensures that detail is revealed while maintaining color balance and integrity.
Also new in PhotoTune 3 is an updated SkinTune module which automatically color corrects skin color in one step with a new option to target the color correction to just the skin rather than the entire image. It is perfect for both indoor and outdoor portraits where you pick up a surrounding color cast on your subject's skin. PhotoTune 3 will be available in November.
For more information about PhotoTune 3, visit the product detail page.
Updates to PhotoTools 2.5 and PhotoFrame 4.5
Both PhotoTools and PhotoFrame also get updates as part of this big Plug-In Suite 5 launch. In PhotoTools 2.5 (both Standard and Professional Editions), we have included several new effects for portrait retouching and lighting effects. Also, the FocusBug control from FocalPoint is now integrated into PhotoTools 2.5 allowing you to apply any of the effects selectively with that intuitive control.
In PhotoFrame 4.5 (both Standard and Professional Editions) you can now move frames and textures below the image layer. If you are creating album layouts with PhotoFrame, this is going to save you a ton of time. Also, you can now export frame layers as a clipping mask back to Photoshop giving you additional creative control. If you get the Professional Edition of PhotoFrame 4.5, you get some great new content from our newest PhotoFrame guru contributor Kersti Malvre which all by itself will raise the quality of the work you can create with PhotoFrame 4.5.
Both PhotoTools 2.5 and PhotoFrame 4.5 will be available in December.
For more information, visit the PhotoTools 2.5 product page or the PhotoFrame 4.5 product page.
Again, these updates won't be available until November. You can pre-order the Plug-In Suite 5. If you order any of the other individual products, we will ship you the current version of that product now when you place an order and then we will send you a copy of the newest version for free when it is available.
August 20, 2009 by Mike Wong • Comments Off
I'm a few days late in getting to my Photoshop User TV, but fortunately, once they go up, they never come down. Anyway, if you haven't seen Episode 198 of Photoshop User TV, you should check it out.
Matt Kloskowski goes over how to use the sharpening controls in Adobe Camera Raw and does a good job of explaining what each slider does and how it affects your image. Scott Kelby gives a nice demo on improving your waterfall shots. And last but not least, they cover several different plug-ins that they use including Genuine Fractals and PhotoFrame 4. They even covered the watermarking plug-in from Digimarc which I thought was cool because a friend of mine works there and they (Digimarc) have their offices just a few minutes down the road from us here at onOne.
Additional plug-ins covered included a couple from Nik Software and Topaz Labs. They also talked briefly about the new MpixPro service which I just signed up for and will be sharing my experiences with you all in a future post.
June 9, 2009 by Mike Wong • Comments Off
I just read an blog post over at Wide-Format Imaging about photographer Brian Hampton and his winning photograph of a lioness charging out of a river for a kill. His grand prize winning photo is on display at The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
In addition to the great photograph and thinking how excited Brian must be for having his photo on display at The Smithsonian, I thought it was pretty cool to see that he used Genuine Fractals to take the native file from his Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II from it's native resolution of about 16x24 inches at 360 ppi to 5x8 feet!
You can read the original article here at the Wide Format Imaging website.
May 19, 2009 by Mike Wong • 1 Comment
I met photographer Andy Kruczek two years ago at the Focus on Imaging 2008 show in Northampton, United Kingdom. Andy is one of the nicest people I've had the pleasure of meeting during my time here at onOne and his photography is incredible. You can read a short bio about Andy on our Pro Corner page here.
However, Andy recently sent me some new photos for his pro corner page and I thought it would be cool to post them here as well.
Continue reading »
May 18, 2009 by Mike Wong • 1 Comment
If you haven't already seen it, Genuine Fractals 6 was reviewed in Shutterbug magazine's June 2009 issue (and happened to make it on the cover as well!).
Editorial Director George Schaub wrote the Test Report and talks about how he used Genuine Fractals to resize some of his shots from a Canon EOS 5D to resize them up to 24x36".
"(Starting with) a 72MB file, I did a GF conversion, yielding a 284MB file that was indistinguishable in image quality when put side by side the smaller "native" file. Impressive."
The full review isn't online yet, but I'll update the post when it does. In the meantime, be sure to check out the review in the printed edition of the magazine.
Update - May 19, 2009: The Genuine Fractals 6 review has now been posted on the Shutterbug web site. You can find the full review online here.
