onOne Layers Plugin for Lightroom

[kennykodak]

onOne Software Perfect Layers

you can download a free public beta of this software. it allows you to create modifiable layers from inside Lightroom. very cool.

[Ian]

I'll have a look at this, but I wonder if Lightroom needs this? The obvious question is how does it compare to Photoshop? I find that using PS in conjunction with LR works very well. Basically my concern is that LR works so well - perhaps because it is not saddled with layers, so my fear is that LR will be compromised by layers. We'll see

Ian

[OlyPaul]

Ian, it should not have any impact on how LR works at all because it is basically a stand alone program that opens in separate window that is called from within LR just like you would open the image in Photoshop and the layers are not created in LR. It then creates a PSD file which is referenced in LR just like using Photoshop.

There was a bit of furore over Scott Kelby (who has a vested interest with onone in producing it) saying it was layers within LR when in reality it is a standalone plugin.

There was a bit of backtracking to emphasise that this was aimed at people who do not have or do not want to learn a complicated program like CS/PSE9 just for layers and people took his words out of context.

One presumes from this that you are willing to pay £60 extra for the privelege of not having to learn layers in PSE9.

[Ian]

Thanks Paul, that makes a lot of sense. So in essence it's for those Lightroom users who don't have or want Photoshop? Not having seen it yet, I wonder if Elements is up to the task - I expect it might be.

Ian

[OlyPaul]

Originally Posted by Ian

Thanks Paul, that makes a lot of sense. So in essence it's for those Lightroom users who don't have or want Photoshop? Not having seen it yet, I wonder if Elements is up to the task - I expect it might be.

Ian

Indeed it is and is the first Version of Elements to have a proper layer mask facility without having to use a work around.

[OlyPaul]

Ian, after having another good look at the site it appears from what I can make out (and I may be wrong) there is no option to use a graduated filter on the mask as you can in PS layers to get a smooth blend, there is just a brush tool this in itself would make it inferior to Elements or PS layers and a show stopper for me.

[Ian]

Indeed, that would be a serious omission.

Ian

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by OlyPaul

Indeed it is and is the first Version of Elements to have a proper layer mask facility without having to use a work around.

Hi Paul/Ian

You said Paul PE9 is the first with layers without a work round, I have PE7 (free with my new printer earlier this year) running on my Windows 7 partition, it clearly has layers, not as comprehensive as the full PS version, but there none the less. No work rounds.
As too the OnOne Perfect Layers I find it works very well as far as it goes, clearly at the price PE9 in conjunction with LR is a better and cheaper option. Perfect Layers is very short on tools even now they have added a few more (a poor man's HDR by the look of things but without using the prefix) for the retail version, its no where near enough tools to justify the price.

Patrick

[OlyPaul]

Originally Posted by Patrick

Hi Paul/Ian

You said Paul PE9 is the first with layers without a work round, I have PE7 (free with my new printer earlier this year) running on my Windows 7 partition, it clearly has layers, not as comprehensive as the full PS version, but there none the less. No work rounds.

Patrick

Hi Patrick, Elements has had adjustment layers since Version1 but has never had normal layers as in the full photoshop untill version 9.

I was a Adobe beta tester for PhotoShop Elements from Elements 3 to Elements 7 and I was forever asking them to include the normal layer facility in Elements.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by OlyPaul

Hi Patrick, Elements has had adjustment layers since Version1 but has never had normal layers as in the full photoshop untill version 9.

I was a Adobe beta tester for PhotoShop Elements from Elements 3 to Elements 7 and I was forever asking them to include the normal layer facility in Elements.

Sorry not clear what you mean,
I have looked at PSE7, it has layers, it has adjustment layers.
What it doesn't have is channels.

Patrick

[OlyPaul]

Patrick sorry I was not clearer in my second post, but I said layer mask and not layers in my original post. Of course Elements has layer capability but it does not have a layer mask capability without using a add on or workaround such as using a clipping layer.

Originally Posted by OlyPaul

Indeed it is and is the first Version of Elements to have a proper layer mask facility without having to use a work around.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by OlyPaul

Sorry Patrick, but I said layer mask and not layers in my original post. Of course Elements has layer capability but it does not have a layer mask capability without using a add on or workaround such as using a clipping layer.

Ahh Yes layer masks, that's different.

Patrick