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"Edit API" in Aperture 2.1
There's lots to cover in Aperture 2.1, but the game-changer is Edit API. Apple has created a bonafide plug-in architecture for Aperture that enables 3rd party developers such as Nik Software (Viveza) and PictureCode (Noise Ninja) to place their technology within Apple's pro level photo management application.
In order to give you a glimpse at the possibilities, Apple is providing the first plug-in for free and part of the 2.1 download. Dodge and Burn works just like tools in your favorite external editor, except you don't have to go anywhere. Consider it your "internal editor" that provides very elegant tools for lightening and darkening specific areas of a photo. But wait, there's more. Go to the popup menu in the interface and you'll also see options for saturate, desaturate, sharpen, blur, contrast and fade. This is one heck of an example plug-in.
The file handling is similar to roundtripping with an external editor. You choose an image in your library to edit, Aperture opens it in the plug-in window, your make your adjustments, then when you save, a new master Tiff is placed in your Aperture library. As always, your original file remains safe. And, if that original is located on an external drive, the new edited plug-in Tiff will be stored there too.
Tablet users will really enjoy this editing experience. Dodge and Burn is fully tablet compliant. This means you can work quickly and accurately with a pressure sensitive pen. And if you're a custom keystroke kind of dude, you can set your own combination for any of the plug-ins enabling one-touch activation.
Developers interested in creating plug-ins for Aperture will be happy to read that the SDK will be available soon. You can find out more by contacting aperturedeveloper@apple.com.
In the meantime, enjoy using Dodge and Burn. It's a much welcomed addition to the Aperture toolset.
Derrick, do you think all these plug-ins will produce TIFF files. It would be so much better if the adjustments kept the original file sizes. At the moment, is this really more efficient than exiting to PS or PS Elements?
The concept is great and it looks like Aperture is picking up momentum.
Thanks for your thoughts
Does this mean Aperture may some day have web gallery capability through 3rd parties (nod to The Turning Gate) such as those found in Lightroom? This is my biggest beef with Aperture and something I've scratched my head about since Aperture 1. Apple touts how you can make sophisticated, great web galleries in Aperture. Huh? Maybe so but who want's sophisticated? Who want's a canned web gallery that looks like a million others? Are all Photographers the same? Are there Photographs? Nope and neither should their web galleries be the same.
Hopefully with this plug-in architecture developers will finally address Apertures lame web gallery attempts.
Yes, when you use the plug-in, it places a new TIFF file in the same location as your original master. I'm sure the thought here is that most Aperture shooters are starting with Raw files, and so the file size isn't that much different than the original.
As we get into more plug-ins, you will have an advantage over roundtripping. Plug-ins, such as Nik's Viveza, enable you to make precise edits that once required layering in Photoshop. Layered documents can grow to be many times bigger than the original file. With Viveza for example, you're simply putting a TIFF back in your Aperture library.
Plus, using the plug-in architecture is more convenient time-wise that roundtripping. Even on my current Mac, CS3 takes a while to load. And then it's open...
Seems like Aperture has the ability to accommodate web gallery plug-ins now though the Export plug-in architecture. There are existing products such as Soundslides. You might want to follow the action on: http://www.aperturepluggedin.com/
Derrick:
On a related theme...
One of the new features in 2.1 is the ability to export the books to jpg or tiff... How do I do that??? Cannot find it...
If you make a book... and go to the Print Book option...then pull down the PDF option at the bottom...you can Save PDF to folder as JPEG, TIFF or even straight back into Aperture (which means you can do slideshows of books)
It's a very useful feature I think.
Thomas Boyd
Portland, Ore.
I just tried the new Dodge and Burn but when I exited, Aperture saved my new file as a PSD file, not a TIFF.
Sorry I lied in my previous post. The file originally was a PSD file I had round tripped to Photoshop. But, nice, I can edit other than RAW versions in the new editor. That is cool.
So now I am really confused. I created a new version from a Raw master. Made some minor adjustments in the HUD and then went to the Dodge and Burn Plug-in. On exit, the file extension for the edited image WAS .PSD not .TIFF.
Anyone got some input? Is it because my last export to an external editor is as a PSD to Photoshop? I don't mind having it as a PSD because if I then round trip or export to Photoshop it is in the format that I normally use.
David - you need to download the new PDF export options from http://www.apple.com/applescript/aperture/ and run the installer, this adds them to the menu.
John - as far as I can tell, the edit plug-ins use the same file format that you have set for the external editor.
Ian
This has nothing to do with the API, but I have tried to find the answer to no avail. maybe Derrick or Ellen or Micah or any of the readers can help with an answer.
What is the difference between Web Journal and Web page and Web gallery in real use?
I know Web galleries are related to dot mac, but in real day to day use, what would I use each one?
Thanks...
I do a lot of portrait work and a skin softening plug-in is absolutely essential. At the moment I am using Kodak Digital Gem Airbrush. Will there be a plug-in from Digital Gem or any other software that will be compatible with Aperture?
Web Gallery = .Mac-only, lots of fancy graphics, ability to upload and download images direct to/from the gallery page. I don't know any more as I don't have .Mac...
Web Page/Journal = built-in templates which you can populate with images from Aperture and can either send direct to .Mac or can export to a folder and then use FTP software to upload the files to any website. They are variations on the same thing, it's just that the Journal version allows you to add in blocks of text and blocks of images as needed.
Ian
I'm pretty bummed by how this works. The fact that huge TIFFs are created and the plug-ins are modal means I probably won't ever use them.