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Posts with tag raw

Filed under: Design, Developer, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Adobe, Microsoft

HD Photo support for Photoshop

photoshop hd supportWhats next for Microsoft? Well, at least one of its eyes is focused on the HD Photo format, once called Windows Media Photo. This is reportedly a better alternative to the standard JPEG format, and of course, it's built into Windows Vista. The new format features multiple color formats for display or print, high dynamic range image encoding, lossless compression, and efficient decoding for multiple resolutions.

Adobe has adopted the technology by enabling Photoshop to read and write images that are stored in Microsoft's HD Photo format. There is a plug-in download ready for Windows users on Microsoft's website. A PowerPC and Intel based Mac download will be ready in two weeks, and a final plug-in release is due for April. This new plug-in allows for Photoshop users to save raw images taken directly from a digital cameras image sensor, as an HD Photo image. This plug-in will work with CS2 and the upcoming CS3.

Microsoft has also announced that many companies will be adopting the raw uncompressed photo type format and digital cameras with HD capabilities are scheduled to arrive on shelves in 12-18 months.

Filed under: Photo, Macintosh, Apple, Commercial

Aperture 1.5

Aperture 1.5
Big day for photographers today. The news at todays' Apple Photokina event was, as expected, the release of Aperture 1.5. Whether Adobe timed their Lightroom announcement to coincide or Apple set the event to coincide with the Lightroom announcement is anybody's guess. Regardless, the new Aperture will be available to current users as a downloadable upgrade sometime this week, and should hit the shelves almost immediately as well. the major new features are:
  • Loupe with adjustible controls
  • Flexible Library locations with support for any disk location, attached RAID, and even indexed removable media
  • Metadata presets
  • Advanced color controls
  • Improved sharpening algorithms
  • iWork '06 and iLife '06 integration
[Via TUAW]

Filed under: Photo, News, Windows, Macintosh, Adobe, Commercial

Lightroom beta 4 released

Adobe lightroomThis morning, Adobe announce the latest beta of their Adobe Lightroom RAW workflow software. Top on the list of improvements is feature parity between OS X and Windows versions. Windows users are no doubt saying "it's about time." Other enhancements include improved curves algorithms and controls, a "more streamlined and elegant" GUI, customizable UI, precision white balance, ability to easily convert files to DNG after import, closer mapping between the Lightroom library and the FS, performance enhancements for the Web module, and other user requested enhancements, particularly from the Pixmantec crowd. I can only imagine what they had to say. Granted, most people are nicer than I am, but if I were a RAWShooter user, I would have had trouble not taking a little aggression out on the Lightroom team, whether they deserved it or not.

I haven't had a chance to play around with all the new features yet, but the updated GUI is certainly an improvement, as is the option to hide the toolbar by clicking 't'.

Adobe Lightroom Screencap
New main Develop screen

Filed under: Internet, Photo, Windows

Google Picasa updates and moves out of beta

google picasa

On Wednesday, Google pushed its digital photo application Picasa out of beta, with many new updates. The Picasa Build 32.91 updates include:
  • Sharing photos online though Picasa web albums
  • Choose how folders are displayed in Picasa, though a nested folder view, or date view.
  • Importing photos into an existing folder.
  • Choose between four presentation views for screensavers.
  • Tell Picasa where you shot each photo, and geotagging ads some nice integration with Google Earth. KMZ files can be exported and shared with others.
  • Thumbnails appear larger and clearer.
  • RAW formats and more camera models are supported.
  • Caption editing has been updated.
  • Starred photos get organized into a special album.
  • Buttons can be configured to the user's specifications.
Google has also added a Tools > Experimental menu where users can test out features that Google is working to develop. Sorry, but Picasa is currently only available for PC and Linux downloads at the moment.

I love Picasa, and use it daily to organize, view and store my digital photos. Over the past few months I have been experimenting with the Picasa Web feature, and I have to say, it's a great tool to use to send digital pictures to family and friends for viewing anywhere, and display them in a nice online gallery.

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

View more Time Wasters

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