onOne Software has some great stuff on the way this holiday season

I just got the inside scoop from onOne Software that they have some goodness on the way. I had given them a pretty hard time a while back when providing "critical feedback" about their previous versions, but it seems that they listened. If what I'm hearing from them (mentioned below) is true, then I can see myself spend a lot more time using onOne PhotoTools 2 and Genuine Fractals over the next year.

Coupon Code

Don't forget that if you use coupon code RMART20 you can save 20% off onOne Software products.

PhotoTools 2

Here's a list of some of the new features you can expect to see:

New Effects Library – The new Effects Library in both editions of PhotoTools 2 make it easier to choose from the collection of over 300 effects. Photographers will be given several new options for finding the perfect effect or combination of effects including:

• Improved Category Mode – This mode is organized in a common photographic workflow that will be familiar to photographers. Effects are organized by categories such as Image Optimization, Portrait Enhance, Landscape Enhance, Color Tints, etc. Choosing a category reveals the available effects within.

• New Keyword Mode – Using emotive keywords and descriptors, photographers narrow down the list of effects to just those that match their unique search criteria. For example, a photographer can click on a keyword like Black-and-White and then click on a mood descriptor such as Warm and Grainy. Effects that match those two search criteria will be displayed for the photographer, greatly improving the process of locating a type or style of effect.

• New Preset Mode – This new mode displays a list of presets or effects “recipes” that are included with PhotoTools or any presets that a photographer has created for themselves. Additionally, any presets that a photographer has downloaded for free from the onOne Exchange (http:/www.ononeexchange.com), a community site dedicated to PhotoTools users, will appear in this list as well.

• New Effects Preview – Knowing what an effect will do to a photo is critical in the decision making process and PhotoTools 2 provides a new preview mode that includes dozens of new before and after previews for each effect to help photographers make the best choices for communicating their vision through enhancing their photographs.

New Photographic Effects – Designed by photographers for photographers, PhotoTools 2 includes dozens of new effects to meet the needs of today's digital photographers. PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition expands upon the Standard Edition with additional photographic effects developed by Photoshop guru Jack Davis and professional wedding photographer Kevin Kubota.

New Support for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and Apple Aperture 2.1 – To provide photographers using Lightroom 2 with a seamless, integrated workflow solution to go between Lightroom and Photoshop and back to Lightroom, all of the PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition presets are accessible from directly within Lightroom 2. When a photographer chooses a PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition preset from within Lightroom 2, the file will be handed directly to Photoshop where the PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition effect is applied and then returned to Lightroom 2 automatically. Photographers will benefit from this new integration as they will be able to send multiple photos to Photoshop in a single step and have all files returned to Lightroom 2 without having to edit each file individually.

In the same manner in which PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition supports Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2, it will also support Apple Aperture 2.1. Aperture 2.1 users who also have Photoshop CS3 or CS4 installed can employ PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition in their image editing workflow to apply any of the included 300+ photographic effects or their own custom presets

New Masking Support – New in PhotoTools 2 will be the ability to create masks on each effect. This will allow the photographer to paint an effect in or out from directly within PhotoTools. Effects can still be sent back to Photoshop with a layer mask for future editing.

Easy Access to the onOne Exchange – The onOne Exchange is a new community website managed by onOne Software that enables users of PhotoTools to download free presets (or combinations of effects) for their own use. Users of PhotoTools can also upload any presets that they have created in PhotoTools to be shared with other PhotoTools users. Access to this new site is built directly into the PhotoTools user interface.

Pricing

PhotoTools 2 comes in two editions – a Professional Edition and a Standard Edition and are available for $259.95 and $159.95 respectively direct from onOne Software and select, authorized resellers in the United States and around the world. Upgrades from PhotoTools 1 to PhotoTools 2 are available for only $99.95.

Both PhotoTools 2 Professional Edition and PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition may be pre-ordered from onOne Software today and available through the worldwide network of authorized resellers in January 2009. Customers who pre-order PhotoTools 2 will initially receive PhotoTools 1 and then receive a free upgrade to PhotoTools 2.

Genuine Fractals 6

Here's a list of some of the new features you can expect to see:

Texture Presets – Genuine Fractals 6 now includes texture presets allowing photographers to get the most out of the patented resizing algorithm that powers Genuine Fractals. The presets are designed to give users an easy way to set the key algorithm parameters to get the highest quality enlargement based on the type of image the user is starting out with no matter the size or subject matter.

New Gallery Wrap Feature – Photographers are often faced with losing part of their subject when some of the image is wrapped around the thick frames used to create canvas gallery wrap prints. With Genuine Fractals 6 Professional Edition, photographers have an easy way to increase the edge areas of the image by reflecting or stretching the margins to allow for canvas wrapping without having to sacrifice important details in the image. (I could have REALLY used this when ordering canvases here recently).

New Batch Processing – Photographers who need to resize multiple images can now do so in a very efficient workflow thanks to the new Batch Processing feature in Genuine Fractals 6. Based on the Batch Processing Engine developed initially for onOne Software’s PhotoTools Professional Edition, photographers can choose which files to resize, change file names, save files to a new location and file type, change and embed a specific color space to the new file and optionally add a customized watermark to help protect the photographers work.

Tiling for Smaller Printers – This new tiling feature allows photographers to resize their images to any desired size and then have Genuine Fractals 6 create the necessary documents so that the image can be printed on a smaller format printer. For example if the photographers desired output size is 24" x 30" but their printer can only print a maximum size of 8" x 10" they can use the new tiling feature to break the final 24" x 30" file into a matrix of nine 8" x 10" images that are returned as separate files in Photoshop.

Support for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and Apple Aperture 2.1 – In addition to support for Adobe Photoshop CS4, Genuine Fractals 6 Professional Edition will also support Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and Apple Aperture 2.1 putting the industry standard for image resizing inside these photography workflow applications.

Additional Enhancements – Several other features of Genuine Fractals have been improved including the document size presets which make resizing and cropping to fit much easier; an improved crop tool that allows photographers to define a crop in any direction as well as additional user experience improvements.

Pricing

Genuine Fractals 6 comes in two editions – a Professional Edition and a Standard Edition and are available for $299.95 and $159.95 respectively direct from onOne Software and select, authorized resellers in the United States and around the world. Upgrades from previous versions of Genuine Fractals are available for $99.95. Genuine Fractals 6 is also available as part of Plug-In Suite 4, an integrated suite of six plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 and Apple Aperture 2.1.

Genuine Fractals 6 does not support the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4 for Windows but does support the 32-bit versions of Photoshop CS4 for both Mac OS X and Windows

Time to start saving!

With the release of the Canon 5D Mark II, Adobe Photoshop CS4, and this it seems it is going to be an expensive holiday season - start saving! You buy the products separately or you can save a ton of money and get the new Plug-In Suite 4.5 bundle.

Plug-In Suite 4.5 will be available in January 2009 to new users for $499.95 - a savings of $799.75 if purchased separately. Registered users of Plug-in Suite version 4 will automatically receive a free upgrade to version 4.5 via a downloadable software update. Existing users of Plug-in Suite version 1, 2 or 3 can upgrade to Plug-In Suite 4.5 for only $199.95. Customers who own any other product from onOne Software can upgrade for $399.95. For more information on the Plug-In Suite 4.5, please visit http://www.ononesoftware.com.

Don't forget that if you use coupon code RMART20 you can save 20% off onOne Software products.