Artizen HDR 2.8 released
PRESS RELEASE
Toronto, Ontario. Aug 2009, Supporting Computers Incorporated has announced the official release of our latest version update of Artizen HDR. Artizen HDR is a PC-based photo editor for users of any skill level and an essential tool for any photographer.
Artizen HDR 2.8 is the largest minor version upgrade release in the history of Artizen, with the introduction of several new state of art technologies for photo color correction, hdr processing, workflow streamlining and major performance increases right across the board. In addition to this, Artizen 2.8 is the first version to support running on 64bit OS’s resulting in better memory performance when working with large photos of any type.
Leaner and Faster
In addition to extending the usage of SSE and Multi Processor technology, every single filter and process under went a review to ensure that it was as optimized as possible. As a result of this some functions are more than 500% faster than previously with an average performance increase of 200% across the board. It is rather typical for performance increases to result in an increase in memory usage, but Artizen HDR’s memory footprint has also decreased considerably to allow for working with bigger photos faster.
Revolutionary RAW Technology
Artizen HDR is not typically synonymous with digital camera RAW technology, but since HDR technology is a final product of none HDR technologies the support for RAW files is absolutely critical to producing the best most accurate HDR results. Artizen HDR supports +14 digital raw files formats (ARW, CR2, CRW, DCR, KDC, DNG, ERF, MRW, NEF, ORF, PEF, RAF, RAW and SRF) and over 190 digital cameras and unlike some applications, RAW conversion is completely integrated into the core of Artizen, making workflows faster and provides Photographers with access to a boarder selection of tools that directly work with the RAW data.
Color Correction Technology
Artizen HDR 2.8 introduces our new Color Matching System technology. This new technology is a completely new way of working with Colors that is similar to other color technologies but is more accurate and flexible. The new Color Matching System is used in our White Balance, Hue Balance and Color Balance filters as well as in our HDR Tone Mapping filters. This addition to our existing set of Color tools makes Artizen an essential and the only tool Photographers would need to produce virtually any color effect they desire.
HDR Processing Technology
The entire workflow for working with HDR files has been completely overhauled for faster performance, easier use and the addition of several new features. During the HDR creation process, files are loaded and created faster and setting preferences are now saved for reuse. Artizen HDR has both automatic and manual image alignment to ensure that regardless of the shooting conditions, Artizen will be able to align any photo set. The final step in the HDR workflow is tone mapping and Artizen HDR optimized all 3 of our tone mapping operators as well as added the ability to save settings with final file output, which can then be reloaded at anytime. Also all tone mapping operators fully utilize the new Color Matching technology to speed up workflow and reduce the amount of filter that need to be used.
Pricing and Availability
SCI Artizen HDR 2.8 beta is now available through the SCI Store at www.supportingcomputers.net/Applications/Products.htm World Wide for $45.95 CAD. Registered users of earlier versions of Artizen can upgrade to version 3.0 for free online.
Detailed Feature List
File Format Support – ARTI, ATX, BMP, DIB, OpenEXR, EMF, GIF, HDR, ICB, ICO, JPG, JFIF, JPE, JPEG, PBM, PCD, PCX, PFM, PGM, PNG, PPM, PSD, PSP, RLE, SGI, TGA, TIF, TIFF, VDA, VST, WBMP and WMF
Digital Camera RAW File Format Support
-ARW, CR2, CRW, DCR, KDC, DNG, ERF, MRW, NEF, ORF, PEF, RAF, RAW and SRF
Transformation Filters – Rotation – Scaling – Skew – Panoramic > Fisheye – Fisheye > Panoramic – Flip – Mirror
Misc. Filters – Curves – Replace Color – Add Vignette – Bilateral Filter – Gaussian Blur – Zoom/Radial/Motion Blur – Levels – 7 Edge Filters – 3 Metallic Filters – 5 Distortion Filters – Aged Photo – much much more…
Sharpening Filters – Unsharpen Mask – Modes RGB and Luminosity
Orton Filter Options – 5 Modes – Brightness – Hue – Saturation – Opacity – X and Y Radius – Sharpness
Noise Reduction Tools – Bilateral Noise Reduction Filter – Noise Reduction Filter
HDR Tone Mapping Operators – Display – Dramatic – Natural
High Dynamic Range (HDR) – Creation with Auto Alignment – Creation with Manual Alignment – Batch Processing – Support for Processing Images over 8000×8000 pixels (system specs dependent)
Hue Balance Filter Options – Hue Selection Tool – Hue Brightness – Hue Threshold – RGB Adjustments – Invert option
Color Balance Filter Options – Temperature – Hue – Linear and Non Linear Vibrance – Luminosity – Linear and Non Linear RGB Channels – RGBCYM Hue Adjustments – Grayscale – Invert
White Balance Filter Options – Temperature – Auto White Balance – Red, Green and Blue Channel Controls.
Exposure Filter Options – Brightness – fstop – Reflection – Xposure – Contrast (Standard or Divergence) – Highlights – Shadows – Gamma