![]() You can also add Luminar 4 as part of an action chain in Photoshop. Luminar 4 now works like Flex did, in that it will remember your settings. While you could use Luminar 3 as a smart filter, it would loose the settings if you went to reedit the layer. This means that you can use Luminar 4 as a smart filter in Photoshop and it remains fully editable. This includes the smart filter support and action support. Luminar 4 has all of the features of Luminar flex when used as a plug-in. This is probably the best approach, as the separate versions of Luminar and Luminar Flex never really made much sense to me. Now they have backtracked a bit on that and are offering it as both a companion to Lightroom and Photoshop as well as an alternative for those who need it. This is something of a departure from when Luminar 3 was launched and the company was plugging it as a replacement to Lightroom. You can use it as a stand alone editor for editing single images, or you can use it as a plug-in with software such as photoshop and Lightroom. It can be used with the library as a stand alone photo workflow application. You can now use the software in three different ways. Luminar 4 combines the functionality of Luminar 3 and Luminar Flex. Three Ways of Working (Well, 5 actually!) Having said that, the old version was a pretty unique way of working, and had its advantages too, so it’s a pity to see it go. It is actually easier to use once you get used to it, but there will be that initial learning curve of looking for adjustments and trying to figure out where they went. I’ll be honest, the new interface took a bit of getting used to, but having used the beta for a while, its now hard to go back and use the old versions. Also gone is the ability to use screen modes on individual Tools, but you can still mask tools on an individual basis. If you want multiple versions of a Tool you’ll need to add it to a new layer. The downside of this new layout is that you can no longer use multiple versions of an adjustment on the same layer. ![]() ![]() When you use a Tool its name is highlighted in the interface to show you which tools are active and which haven’t been used. The tools themselves are redesigned and usually have a set of basic controls, and then some additional options hidden under an “advanced settings” button. There are also tools for things like cropping and rotation, lens corrections and the erase tool. This is similar to tool tabs in other applications. The new “Tools” are grouped into categories and these are accessed by a series of icons down the side of the interface. However, there are still occasions when it slows down, although I should point out that I have been using a beta version. In reality, this seems to work well, and I have found a definite speed improvement when working with images. The company stated that this allows processing to be speeded up significantly, as it allows rendering to take place in a specific order that is optimised for processing. The result is a unified set of tools that will always be the same and so there is no longer a need for workspaces. Some filters from the previous versions have been combined into a single tool and some have had their names changed and so on. All of the available tools are already there on the interface, broken down into categories. Filters are no longer even called filters and are now referred to as “Tools”. You no longer have a filter list and you no can longer manually add filters. This has all completely changed in Luminar 4. You could also save combinations as a “workspace” allowing you to customise the view and defaults. You could have multiple versions of a filter, and you could add as many as you want. In older versions of Luminar, you started off with an empty slate and then added “filters” from the list of available adjustments to create your own combination of adjustments. This isn’t just cosmetic and goes to the heart of the way the software works. ![]() While there has been a lot of discussion about the new AI features of Luminar 4, and we’ll get to those shortly, the biggest feature by far is the re-design of the interface. ![]() So with that in mind, here are my impressions of Luminar 4, its new feature and what it is like to use. Lots of people including myself have already shared details on some of the new features, the new interface and so on, so what’s left to review? Well, I wanted to wait until the software was actually released to put all the disparate threads together and talk about the application as a whole. Luminar 4 was pre-announced a while ago now, and the company has been drip feeding information about it to the public. It’s weird writing a review of something that a lot of people have been talking about for quite some time now. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |