Nik collection = free

I've been thinking about buying it, now I'm happy that I haven't yet.. I just hope they won't stop the development (not that I know how active it has been anyway).
 
I really hope they keep developing it. The Nik plug-ins (mostly Silver and Color Efex Pro and Viveza, but I've used a couple of the others on occasion). I paid full price for it back in about 2011 and frankly I'd be lost without these tools...

-Ray
 
I've been thinking about buying it, now I'm happy that I haven't yet.. I just hope they won't stop the development (not that I know how active it has been anyway).
Apart from the free addition of Analog Efex some time ago (two years already?) I haven't noticed any changes or upgrades since I've bought the collection a couple years ago. Good news anyway for those folks who don't already have it - before Google took over, Silver Efex Pro alone sold for $199 and despite its 'age' the NIK collection is still one heck of a plugin suite IMO.
 
Not%20free.jpg




Then they're just plugging the free demo.
 
I really hope they keep developing it. The Nik plug-ins (mostly Silver and Color Efex Pro and Viveza, but I've used a couple of the others on occasion). I paid full price for it back in about 2011 and frankly I'd be lost without these tools...

-Ray
Same here. I use Silver Efex, Color Efex, Dfine and Nik Sharpen (when printing) tools all the time. I'm afraid, though, this probably means they will not continue to develop it. Good news for anyone who doesn't have the Suite, but sad news otherwise.

Antonio
 
Not%20free.jpg




Then they're just plugging the free demo.
OK, go here:

Google Nik Collection

And see the note at the top of the page. Maybe you need to download from that link again. I just uninstalled mine, downloaded and installed this (to make sure all of my stuff is up to date) and no such demo stuff. What happens if you click "buy"? Are they still taking your money?

-Ray
 
They're not taking any money. Click on Buy and I get sent right back to the same download site.

I'm thinking you have to already own PhotoShop in order to use it free.
 
Normally, I'd be p*^$?d at having paid US $150 for software that subsequently gets given away for free but not in this case. I was very happy with what I got, it was worth every cent. I agree with @ajramirez though in that it's a real shame development seems to be ceasing. And what does this mean for other plugin developers?
 
There will be no more development. That's clear from the announcement on the Google + page:

As we continue to focus our long-term investments in building incredible photo editing tools for mobile, including Google Photos and Snapseed, we’ve decided to make the Nik Collection desktop suite available for free, so that now anyone can use it.

In other words, "we're going to cream off elements of the desktop suite for Snapseed and Google Photos and stop development". Though given there has been almost no obvious development since Google acquired Nik in 2012 this is hardly a surprise. Google has form here, having previously bought and then killed off the Picasa desktop software.

Short term this is great news - I'm downloading it as I type. Long term, not so good. While the software will continue to work perfectly well for now sooner or later it's going to become outdated, or unusable and we'll have one less choice. Presumably, Google will keep hold of the technology and the patents so there's no chance of someone else picking up the products and continuing development.
 
I have the NIK suite and always found Silver Efex Pro to be a very good app but there's isn't any more development going into them and they're getting pretty long in the tooth. I switched to Tonality Pro for my BW about a year ago and haven't looked back.
 
I hate to be negative, but Google has a habit of buying nice products and then either killing them or messing them up. Picassa is another example and so is Zagat's restaurant guide. I thought Google's slogan was "First, do no harm." Other then that, I'm happy so many are getting the Nik suite for free.
 
and of course it gives you control points for selective noise reduction

Dang, Luke... I never thought of that :-D
I haven't used Niks Denoise in years. I'm using Topaz Denoise now - doing selective noise reduction via painted PS layermasks when I need it.
But the Upoint thing could be a nice timesaver... Will give that a try sometime!
 
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