Neat Video & Neat Image community

Been a long-time Neat Image user - generally with the PS plug in.
Just started using Lightroom. I read elsewhere that you are hoping eventually to release a LR plug in when Adobe releases the SDK for LR.
(1) What is the best way to use Neat Image with Lightroom until the plug in is released?
(2) Will the plug in version be considered a free upgrade or will it be a separate version and purchase?
Thanks, (for a great product also),
Steve
USA

Hello Steve,

Yes, it would be great if Adobe released an SDK in advance. Software developers need time to prepare their products to work with LR.

Regarding use of Neat Image with LR, there are two ways:
- general exchange of images between LR and NI using intermediate files;
- using the LR facility called "External Editor"; this method can be used when you have Neat Image standalone included in Home, Home+, Pro and Pro+ edition 32-bit /Win (please note that Demo will not work).

For example the following adjustments could be used in LR:
1. go to menu Edit | Preferences... | External Editing
and [Choose] NeatImage.exe (from C:\Program Files\Neat Image\NeatImage.exe); select File Format: TIFF; Bit Depth: 8 or 16 (depending on your images) and OK changes;
2. go to menu Photo and select Edit In > Edit in NeatImage.exe;
3. in the popup window, select Edit a Copy or Edit a Copy with LightRoom Adjustments and uncheck Stack with original; click Edit;
LR will then save the image into a new TIFF file and invoke Neat Image with this file. Neat Image will open in Filtration Queue window with this TIFF file loaded as a new image filtration job.
4. Click Edit in Neat Image to open the Filtration Job Editor window. Use that window to process the image in a regular NI way;
5. Save the filtered image into the same TIFF file overwriting the file exported by LR to NI;
6. Close Neat Image;
7. You are now again in LR and the TIFF image filtered by NI is now back in LR.

Regarding the plug-in, it is too early to say anything specific about possible upgrades. Perhaps it will be a separate product just like LR is a separate product.

Vlad

Thanks Vlad, I will try that proceedure.
(And keep looking for the pluggin.)
Steve

I tried this procedure, and was quite unsuccessful.

I added NeatImage.exe (by browsing to its install directory) as an external editor. I clicked Edit in NeatImage.exe on the Photo menu, and tried both with Stack with original, and without (my preference really is to stack the images). In either case, I saw Neat Image appear briefly in the task bar, but then disappear.

I started NeatImage manually, and was able to run it on the TIF Edit files LightRoom had saved. That works quite well.

Any ideas how this procedure might break down? Or what I could be doing wrong?

Thanks,

David

When invoking NI from LR, do you select "Edit a Copy with LightRoom Adjustments"?

What file type is it? Is it the original directly from the camera or post-processed in some way?

Vlad

Vlad,

Yes, I selected "Edit a Copy with LightRoom Adjustments". It was a raw file from a Canon EOS 5D. I made a few adjustments in Lightroom - color and contrast, but it was unmodified other than that.

Thanks!

David

Please try to do the same with no adjustments at all.

If it doesn't work still then there must be something else that causes the problem in LR.

Vlad

The good news: it works!
The bad news: I don't know why!

I did as you suggested, and tried to invoke NeatImage on an unedited image. However, I found that option was grayed out for raw images. After all, LightRoom has to convert them before it can output a TIF file. When I tried invoking NeatImage on an edited copy of a LightRoom file, it worked. Today.

I don't know what was different.

I thought that perhaps I was confused about which image(s) I had tested, so I tested a scan from a color negative. This allowed me to choose between an edited copy, an unedited copy, and the original. I tried an edited copy, and it worked.

I'm not sure what changed in the meantime, but it's working just fine now. I wish I could give you better information on what happened. Maybe I just needed to reboot.

Thank you for your help and for responding quickly - especially on a weekend!

David

Greetings,

I was directed to this thread by Vlad after sending an email help request.

I am experiencing a similar problem.

I set up Neat Image as the second external editor in Lightroom by choosing NeatImage.exe from the program files folder. I tried to send a TIFF file to Neat Image from Lightroom, and instead of opening the program with the image at the "Input Image" tab, it took the image and automatically processed and then saved it. I wasn't able to do anything at all - NI did it on its own.

I read the directions above, and tried again. Still no joy. This occurs with both TIFF and JPG, edited and not, the "Stacked" option turned on or off. I can open NI and navigate to the particular photo, open and process it normally, but cannot do so via Lightroom.

Any suggestions? The way I work in Lightroom, having NI be available as an external editor would be an awesome addition to my work flow.

Thanks.

Please check the Defaults in NI Options: go to menu Tools | Options | Defaults and check which settings are there. Try to select "Do not load default profile".

Hope this helps.
Vlad

NITeam wrote:Please try to do the same with no adjustments at all.

Vlad

Interesting that you suggested editing the file no adjustments at all. Noise reduction is usually the last steps in my workflow (just before sharpening), far from the first.

But then I realized you might have suggested this because the previous user was having trouble getting NI to open from Lightroom at all?

Once I took your suggestion to not use the Default Profile, this worked perfectly from Lightroom. Oddly, the image looks a bit darker in NI than Lightroom, yet matches the original version when I get it back to Lightroom. I'm exporting as 16-bit TIFF in ProPhoto RGB color space (which LR recommends) and figured it was the color space?

Thanks!

stewstryker wrote:Oddly, the image looks a bit darker in NI than Lightroom, yet matches the original version when I get it back to Lightroom. I'm exporting as 16-bit TIFF in ProPhoto RGB color space (which LR recommends) and figured it was the color space?

Thanks!

This is from the color space differences. NI does not natively support ProPhoto, so some colors are a bit off and the image generally appears darker. Strangely, I've found this has little impact on how well the noise reduction actually works.

Turning off Default Profile did help, though the image now opens into a queue window, not the main program window, but it beats not being able to go from Lightroom to NI at all.

NITeam wrote:Hello Steve,

Yes, it would be great if Adobe released an SDK in advance. Software developers need time to prepare their products to work with LR.

Regarding use of Neat Image with LR, there are two ways. One is a general method of exchange of images using intermediate files. Another way is using the LR facility of "Additional External Editor".

For example the following adjustments could be used in LR:
1. go to menu Edit | Preferences... | Additional External Editor
and [Choose] NeatImage.exe (from C:\Program Files\Neat Image\NeatImage.exe); select File Format: TIFF; Bit Depth: 8 or 16 (depending on your images);
2. go to menu Photo and select Edit in NeatImage.exe;
3. in the popup window, select Edit a Copy or Edit a Copy with LightRoom Adjustments and uncheck Stack with original; click Edit;
LR will then save the image into a new TIFF file and invoke Neat Image with this file. Neat Image will open in Filtration Queue window with this TIFF file loaded as a new image filtration job.
4. Click Edit in Neat Image to open the Filtration Job Editor window. Use that window to process the image in a regular NI way;
5. Save the filtered image into the same TIFF file overwriting the file exported by LR to NI;
6. Close Neat Image;
7. You are now again in LR and the TIFF image available in LR has been filtered by NI.

Regarding the plug-in, it is too early to say anything specific about possible upgrades. Perhaps it will be a separate product just like LR is a separate product.

Vlad

Hello,
Still waiting LOL, but until now I use NI with LR with only one image at once, But I have many images to treat trhough NI. Is it possible to open NI from LR and having all my images treated through a Queued processing??? If yes, how should I do it??

BTW any news from LR for a possible plugin??It makes now more than 2 years.....

Thanks a lot for your great soft anyway...

NITeam wrote:Hello Steve,

Yes, it would be great if Adobe released an SDK in advance. Software developers need time to prepare their products to work with LR.

Regarding use of Neat Image with LR, there are two ways. One is a general method of exchange of images using intermediate files. Another way is using the LR facility of "Additional External Editor".

For example the following adjustments could be used in LR:
1. go to menu Edit | Preferences... | Additional External Editor
and [Choose] NeatImage.exe (from C:\Program Files\Neat Image\NeatImage.exe); select File Format: TIFF; Bit Depth: 8 or 16 (depending on your images);
2. go to menu Photo and select Edit in NeatImage.exe;
3. in the popup window, select Edit a Copy or Edit a Copy with LightRoom Adjustments and uncheck Stack with original; click Edit;
LR will then save the image into a new TIFF file and invoke Neat Image with this file. Neat Image will open in Filtration Queue window with this TIFF file loaded as a new image filtration job.
4. Click Edit in Neat Image to open the Filtration Job Editor window. Use that window to process the image in a regular NI way;
5. Save the filtered image into the same TIFF file overwriting the file exported by LR to NI;
6. Close Neat Image;
7. You are now again in LR and the TIFF image available in LR has been filtered by NI.

Regarding the plug-in, it is too early to say anything specific about possible upgrades. Perhaps it will be a separate product just like LR is a separate product.

Vlad

Hello,
Still waiting LOL, but until now I use NI with LR with only one image at once, But I have many images to treat trhough NI. Is it possible to open NI from LR and having all my images treated through a Queued processing??? If yes, how should I do it??

BTW any news from LR for a possible plugin??It makes now more than 2 years.....

Thanks a lot for your great soft anyway...

I think LR can only send one image a time to NI, but it shouldn't be a big problem since you can simply open those images directly from NI (not through LR), process them, save and then use in LR. A kind of pre-processing noise reduction step before LR.

I am also keep waiting for any news from Adobe. It is strange that they don't develop the filter plug-in support. Technically they could make LR compatible with a huge collection of Photoshop-compatible filter plug-ins that would be really something for all LR users.

Vlad