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HDR comes to Aperture with Creaceed's Hydra
Since Aperture opened itself to more, and specialized, editing capabilities, as sampled by Apple’s Dodge & Burn plug-in, almost all of the promised 3rd-party software have now been delivered.
We can now download, install and use NIK Software’s Viveza, Tiffen’s Dfx, Digital Film Tools’ PowerStroke, dvGarage’s dpMatte, and Image Trends’ Fisheye-Hemi. On top of that, Digital Film Tools also introduced two other unannounced editing plug-ins, Light! and Ozone.
Image Trends, on the other hand, still has to deliver two other plug-ins they announced, ShineOff and PearlyWhites. Likewise, many photographers are eagerly awaiting PictureCode’s popular Noise Ninja. So far, there has been no news. These could, however, be made available any time soon.
Meanwhile, something pleasantly unexpected came along. HDR, or High Dynamic Range, the seemingly latest craze in digital image editing, is now available to Aperture users by way of Hydra. The stand-along Hydra, developed by Craeceed, was recently updated to version 1.5, and this update included an Aperture plug-in. The plug-in, which shares the same license as that of the stand-alone, is currently in beta testing stage.
Hydra’s goal, which has been the quest of HDR practitioners, is to make your pictures, mostly landscapes, eventually look like how your eyes seem to see it.
How does HDR work in Hydra? What is it about? From their website: “Hydra is about mixing a number of under-exposed and over-exposed shots to get a natural sight of a scene. It provides human eye-like perception to your photographs by allowing you to create high dynamic range (HDR) images from a series of regular photographs, either from DSLRs or traditional point-and-shoot cameras.“
The stand-alone software can process images already stored in your iPhoto and Aperture libraries, as well as from other directory locations. However, if you are working on your images in Aperture, you no longer need to work outside because of the plug-in architecture. Just select between two to four similar images of a scene, most likely something you’ve shot in succession, and more importantly, images that have been amply bracketed that properly exposes different elements of a scene, from foreground to background. Once the images are highlighted, you can open Hydra in Aperture by right-clicking, and from the drop-down sheet, select Edit With > Hydra HDR Processing. You can also open Hydra from the Menu Bar. Click on Images > Edit With > Hydra HDR Processing.
When the Hydra editing module appears, the images you’ve selected will be shown on the left side, with the composite image shown from center to left portion. Everything seems to be done automatically, with all the best exposed parts pieced together, and you can decide to practically just go in and out of the Hydra plug-in in a jiffy. The HDR is automatically rendered without you doing anything except to open it.
Of course, once you’re inside, and no matter the temptation to just get in and out, and since you are there any way, you might as well do a few little tweaks. Inside, you can adjust the Exposure level with a well-designed slider, and then refine the tone mapping, working with Gamma and Saturation on either Highlights Compression or Local Adaptation. The interesting thing is that you don’t actually need to know what these things can do to make it work because the visual feedback is almost instantaneous; any adjustments you make will show up right away. You can work your way up and down the scales to bring out the best in your photograph. There are however, a few other manual controls available in the stand-alone version that have yet to be enabled in the current beta version of the plug-in.
In any case, what I really like about the Hydra plug-in is that you don’t need the two to four images you are compositing to be taken with a tripod. Other HDR software requires that you take different exposures of the same view while the camera is mounted rock-steady on a tripod. In the case of Hydra, you can handheld the shots of the same scene with different exposure. This is possible because Hydra uses the same algorithm of another software which Creaceed also develops. The technology is called CeedMorph. It is a non-linear warping algorithm used for the Morph Age software. ”This algorithm permits the alignment of images with offsets above a few pixels.“ This means, when using Hydra, your pictures need not be hundred percent, pixel-to-pixel aligned. I tried this on a couple of not-too-aligned images, and it really works. Because of this, you can now take a lot more multiple-exposed pictures to later blend in Hydra without using a tripod. Of course, this basically changes how photographers create HDRs.
The Hydra plug-in for Aperture supports exactly the same RAW image files supported in Aperture. If not, your image must first be converted using Adobe’s DNG Converter before it can be processed using Hydra. And, according to their website, the Hydra pipeline improved a lot as of version 1.5 and it now builds a full 32-bit per component HDR image, and provides OpenEXR export format that will make the image further editable in other applications.
Hydra takes advantage of many of Leopard’s latest core technologies. With this kind of optimization, the software offers many functionalities at an incredible speed. And, because it has been developed with Apple’s methodology in mind, Hydra definitely integrates and works well with other software, which makes it a seamless part of the chain in various workflows.
Hydra costs $59.95. A single license can be used for both the version 1.5 stand-alone software and the beta plug-in. I give the Aperture plug-in 3.5 rating and the stand-alone software a 4.5 rating. As a combo, this software package earns an average total of 4.0 out of perfect 5.0 rating.
To know more and learn what Hydra can do for you, click here to visit the Creaceed website (formerly known as eX-cinder). To view an inspired collection of HDR-inflicted photos over at Flickr, including those made with Hydra, click here.
[Note: Photo in screenshot by Dominique James of The Studio and The Playground. Copyright © 2008. All rights reserved.]
No wonder Apple have dropped Aperture's price if they expect people to pony up for all these strap-on tif editors. Is it the death knell for having these much-needed features in the core program?
You seriously gave this a 4 out of 5? What were you smoking my friend?
I gave the trial a run and it didn't even work. It did not save back the plugin edit and the interface is horrible. Who thought that having the preview in the plugin as 3D with a reflection was workable? In the standalone you can turn that off and use 2D but not in the plugin.
On top of that, it only gives you basic controls, you really can't do too much with it. Photomatix is still better in my book.
I'd give it a 1.5 out of 5.
Greg, it appears we have a different user experience. Would love to find out the experience of others as well, and we can provide that feedback to the developer. As they develop the software out of beta, it would be good to see how it will turn out. Thanks for your feedback Greg.
Gio, if you were to price this plug-in, what do you think is the right price?
Dominique, my comment is more a general one on these bolted-on apps and to question whether they are remotely as positive as the spin that's being put on them. $59 isn't much for this one (and HDR is a bit niche), but then there's $250 for destructive localized editing via Viveza, and how much more for NoiseNinja - the latter two being more core activities. We're not just having our wallets raided now, we're getting solutions touted that are either going to kill the development of proper non-destructive features in Aperture, or stamp all over the 3rd party developers.
Afraid I also had a look at this and rather dismissed it for now. Certainly I wouldn't pay a cent for it in its current shape.
I know everyone wants to make their fortune, but pricing something lower and making it more widely adopted should surely be something these guys should consider? But then maybe it did cost multi-millions to develop... ;)
Gio, your points are well-taken. For now, we just have to follow and trust the law of supply and demand for these things, and see how the pricing mechanism works out. Thanks for sharing. - Dominique James
Jon T, thanks for your feedback. In any case, other than the HDR component of the software, it also makes use of the non-linear warping algorithm, which other HDR software do not have. It would be interesting to see where and how the developer will take this. Again, thanks! - Dominique James
Surprised that you'd rate this plugin so high. 90% of what I fed it ended up looking as if it'd been through a vortex distortion filter.
You're welcome Dominique. I did go check the forums when I was trying it out but it seemed that there was a lack of attention from the developers so I didn't bother to post. However, other people had posted on all the issues I remarked about without response (at the time).
For the record. I have no problem with the price of this package. Especially since you would get the stand alone version too. It's about one fifth the price of some of the other plugins for Ap2.
Dominique, I'm amazed you were able to get the plug in working properly. Everyone I know who's tried it has had nothing but trouble, and postings on the Creaceed support forums from many unhappy users have been completely ignored by the developers.
As a frequent user of both Aperture and Photomatrix, I was anxious to give the first HDR plug in for Aperture a go. Selecting three images in Aperture, I proceeded to launch the Hydra plug in. The results weren't pretty. It actually created a 32-bit image that, being incompatible with Aperture, crashed my entire system. I pulled the file out of Aperture but have kept in in a separate folder for those that doubt it would kick out a 32-bit file. Opening that file in Photoshop reveals an image that isn't nearly as pleasing as the results from Photomatrix. Yes it's beta, but since the developers aren't responding to any of the complaints on their own support forums it's not a product I'd recommend.
KBeat, thanks for the feedback. I'm testing again with a few other larger images. Everything seems to work on my end. But it's always good to know how it is with others. I got word from the developer saying that the fully functioning version of this software will be made available sometime in July. i look forward to taking another look. Thanks again. - Dominique James
Greg, I'll do my best to follow up with the developer and see how they can address the issues. Thanks again. - Dominique James
I too tried this, and it appears that currently the Aperture plugin of Hydra chokes on Canon CR2 RAW files (based on reports on Creaceed's forums and my own experience). I posted several comments there, and have yet to get any feedback from the developers. They do post in their forums, however, but they are completely ignoring this particular thread for some reason.
As a result, I have no hopes for this software. I am willing to revisit this once something drastic improves, but currently... forget it.
4 images only? So, that means one exposure at base meter reading, and then either 2 exposures above and one below or the other way round! Not quite sure I really understand that.
Again. like Viveza, I am unsure if this plugin is really worth the money and more importantly it appears to be an unfinished application. Work In Progress ............
I have tried this plug-in just to find out it does NOT work. Ryply from developer ::
On May 24, 2008, at 2:20 AM, Raphael Sebbe wrote:
OK. Hydra PPC with Aperture has a bug. We'll fix that very soon.
Best,
Raphael
When I read this review, I was surprised at how positive it was, since all the comments on the Aperture discussion forums at apple.com said, essentially, "it's broken". Now I see that others have the same impression. Dominique - how is it that you have such a rosy view? It seems completely at odds to everyone else's experience!
Hi Jeremy, thanks for writing. The company combined two of its technologies in the plug-in that merited an encouraging and positive mark. Usually, HDR software doesn't include an alignment algorithm which this one did. Likewise, my user experience has been quite positive so it also contributed to a high remark. And, how the stand-alone performed also played a part in the positive appraisal. It's good to know though that Aperture users are vocal about their user experiences. This will give the developer a chance to look at the software and re-evaluate things so that they will come up with a better, and more satisfactory user experience for the majority. Again, thanks for writing. Do write again, and we welcome new information all the time. It's always good to hear different viewpoints.
Jan, thanks for the feedback. So, you are using PPC instead of Intel to run Aperture? Any other difficulties you are experiencing with PPC setup with other pug-ins? We'd love to know more. This will hopefully make more 3rd party developers cognizant that not all Aperture users run the software on the latest Macs, and that they shouldn't abandon support for those who run Aperture on older machines. Thanks!
Nick, what would you recommend is a good price for a plug-in? Also, in other HDR, how many images can yo include at most?
Ian, your feedback is valuable, and your sentiments understandable. I'm with you in keeping watch to see how the developer works on future version of their plug-in. Thanks for writing.
There is supposed to be a slightly newer version, so I am going to try once again. Let's see if this works this time...
Nope. Same result... no HDR, only the most selected image returned to Aperture without processing. Version 1.5.2 plugin for Aperture.
Ian, we appreciate the feedback. Do keep us posted with developments. Thanks again.
The developer has finally responded to the thread in their Forums, and has indicated that 1.5.3 should be available at the beginning of June. Let's see if it works for me at that point.
Ian, thanks. I'm also very curious how the developer will come up with version 1.5.3. This is something to look forward to.
Yes I am running APERTURE on 17-inch PowerBook and on my PowerMac Dual 2.7 GHz. All I can say that this application APERTURE runs fantastic and trust me, I am demanding demon ... Viveza runs just great (!) ... I will keep you postdated on other plug-ins when I put them in to hard testing!!!
Cheers *J
Please... I have a question, how I remove the plugin hydra from the aperture? I uninstall it from the applications folder, but every time I open aperture, hydra still there in images, edit with, hydra.
If someone can teach me how to remove it I will really appreciate it.
Thanks,
S