Is that I can’t drag and drop an image from ACDSee to the DeNoise AI icon and have it open as a stand-alone app. Can someone who uses a different front-end product (LR, CaptureOne, FastStone, etc.) check and see how it works for them?
Right now, I’d say if I wanted to start my workflow with a denoised & sharpened dng, but still pretty much use my current workflow PureRaw is the way to go. If I want to start that workflow with an ORF, I will have to wait until I’m past the raw development stage to use Topaz products.
I’m fairly satisfied with my output, but I don’t like how I MUST work only one way. The whole point of a Workflow Management tool like ACDSee is to remain flexible. Topaz is putting restrictions on me.
For me I use Capture One and use the external editor function generating the file to send the image to external applications. Does ACDsee have a similar function? If it does use that.
ACDSee Ultimate allows Topaz plugins to operate as proper “Photoshop” plugins from its Edit Mode, but if it is setup to allow the Topaz application to be called from its Manage Mode as an External Editor, the Topaz AI applications still behave as plugins, and they shouldn’t,. they should behave as free standing applications, but it seems an impossible task to get that message across to the Topaz Developers.
With ACDsee Ultimate and RAW images (.ARW, NEF, .ORF etc) you have several choices.
You can use the Develop mode to develop the RAW, save as TIFF (or what ever intermediate format turns you on), then either open that TIFF image in edit mode and use Topaz as a proper plugin (which is my preferred option), or you can use it from manage mode as an external editor and have it overwrite the TIFF image (because it thinks it is a plugin).
The downside of the the latter approach with TIFF files in particular is that when the Topaz AI application, for instance Topaz Denoise AI, overwrites the TIFF image, some of the EXIF metadata is no longer readable in ACDSee, but that is also the case when Denoise AI is used in free standing mode as well. When it’s used from Edit mode as a proper plugin, ACDSee looks after the metadata.
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I guess that is because the standard in the industry is governed by lightroom and that is the way lightroom operates because the recieving app must apply changes and overwrite because of the catalog.
There is no industry standard I’m aware of that say’s when you drag and drop a RAW image (for example a .ARW, or .CR3, or .NEF etc) from Windows File Explorer onto the application icon (for example the Denoise AI icon) , that it should appear to carry out the denoise task, and appear to save the result, but in fact not actually save anything.
It shouldn’t, and in fact doesn’t over write the RAW file, and it doesn’t produce a sidecar file. It simply fails to produce an output, and fails to indicate that it has done so.
When an application is used as a genuine plugin from a host program, it should overwrite the image it is given. When it is used however as an external editor, or a freestanding application, and that includes the drag and drop example above, it should provide a proper save or export procedure for the user to export the processed image.
I have to disagree with you on that, none of the apps I use act like that. External editors are in fact plugins to the application and should only take a version from the host, with or without host changes applied, and then update that image so it is reflected in the hosts catalog.
That is the only way a host can guarantee the integrity of its catalog. Many people get confused with the term “plugin” and thing if refers only to apps like Photoshop but “plugin” really is an extension of the application that applies changes to a image and returns.
Of course, you are correct in saying that a RAW should NEVER be overwritten … but that does not apply to a DNG which is a backup format, but therein lies a problem for cameras that use a DNG as their RAW format.
If my memory serves me correctly, you also use, or used Affinity Photo, and if you were to use it as an “external editor” from ACDSee’s manage mode, as I do, it allows the user to save or export to a range of formats.
I’m not sure whether you also have, or had Luminar 4, but when that is used as an “external editor” to ACDSee’s manage mode it also allows the user to export to a range of format.
Luminar 4 also came with a “photoshop” .8bf plugin file that allowed it to run as a “plug in” from Photoshop, or from the Edit mode in ACDSee, or from Affinity Photo, so it could be used as either an “external editor”, called from its .exe file, or a “plug in” . If used as a plugin via the .8bf file it did return the image to the host editor.
So in short I don’t agree that an external editor is the same as a plugin, but I respect your right to differ.
That said, the way it saves (but really doesn’t) RAW images when it is used as an external editor, or when a RAW image is dropped on its icon is wrong and Topaz need to address that.
It’s not an issue for me. With the exception of Gigapixel AI, I don’t ever use Topaz apps freestanding, or as external editors. I only use them as plugins from either ACDSee’s Edit mode, or from Affinity Photo and in both cases from duplicated layers.
