Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4 Complete Edition

Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4 Complete Edition

Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4 Complete Edition is a collection of digital filters that are widely used by many of today's professional photographers around the world to save time and to produce professional level results. This version of the software brings many of the well-known and loved features from the previous version and adds a bit more to improve your workflow and creative expression.

In terms of filters, Color Efex Pro 4 adds eight new ones such as the Detail Extractor, Dark Contrast, Vintage Film Efex, Natural Image Borders, and more. Other filters from the previous version are improved with advancements to imaging algorithms and the addition of new controls, such as Brilliance/Warmth, Tonal Contrast, and more. Plus, you can add multiple filters at once, tweak opacity, and make other selective adjustments.

In terms of your work flow, Color Efex 4 delivers some enhancements for greater efficiency. Of the 55 filters in the program, each has several visual presets that you can explore and which allow you to enhance an image with just one click. Because you can combine multiple filters at once, you can also save these combinations for use later or you can share them with others, via Filter Recipes. With the History Browser, you can compare previous edits to a photo quickly and see where you went wrong or right. The interface has been revamped to be easier to learn and explore. Sharing your work with others is also easier. So as to operate more smoothly with your computer's hardware, Color Efex 4 is designed to better take advantage of advanced graphics processors on higher-end display cards as well as multi-core processors.

Beyond these new additions, Color Efex 4 still includes traditional and stylizing filters that offer virtually endless possibilities to enhance and transform images quickly and easily. Furthermore, the software still incorporates patented U Point technology to provide the ultimate control to selectively apply enhancements without the need for any complicated masks, layers, or selections.

DSLR owners will revel in the wide range of quick and easy fixes to dramatically improve their photos with just a few clicks of the mouse. Professional wedding, nature, commercial and portrait photographers will appreciate the speed of workflow and advanced features designed to support uniquely creative styles and deliver class-leading power.

The Complete Edition provides 55 filters that can be combined to produce an extensive range of effects including high quality retouching, color correction and endless creative enhancements to your photographs. It also integrates with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Aperture. The result is a colossal collection of photographic filters and effects for your photo toolkit.

New in Color Efex Pro 4

Add Your Creativity

Explore

Each filter includes Visual Presets that provide a preview of your image with recommended settings. Browsing them gives you a starting point to find a stylistic direction or specific look for your image. Exploring creative possibilities has never been easier.

Create

Easily combine enhancements to create stunning new looks. Filter Combinations let you stack filters for virtually limitless creativity. Adjustments for each filter provide control over the effects. Save your results as a new Filter Recipe to use for your next image.

U Point Technology

Easy Adjustments

U Point technology lets you place a control point and select an area of an image with one click and then make enhancements using sliders connected directly to the control point. This technology makes possible adding or removing an enhancement precisely and selectively.

8 New Filters

Contrast and Extractor

Color Efex Pro 4 introduces two filters with Dark Contrasts and Detail Extractor. The Dark Contrasts filter uses a new technique to exaggerate details and textures to create a moody result perfect for a film noire style of photography. The Detail Extractor filter balances light and tonality while accentuating contrast details from every part of your image.

Film, Re-imagined

With film emulation resurging, Color Efex 4 delivers three distinct looks for your exploration: The Faded filter of the Film Efex series simulates old, poorly handled prints. The Nostalgic filter creates effects based on imagined film types such as those that might have been captured with a toy camera. The Vintage filter creates a look like those from the earliest types of color films.

Natural Image Borders

The natural Image Borders in Color Efex Pro 4 blend organic elements with a unique randomizing algorithm to produce beautiful, natural-looking, and scalable borders. Borders can be repeated or randomized, providing enough variation to ensure that your images don't look the same. It's an excellent way to finish your photographs.

10 Updated Filters

Old Favorites, Improved

Each filter below has been updated for more natural photographic results or includes completely new functionality:

·Brilliance/Warmth
·Contrast Only
·Film Efex: Modern
·Film Grain
·High Key
·Low Key
·Paper Toner
·Pro Contrast
·Tonal Contrast
·Sunlight

Higher Performance

GPU Processing and Multi-Core Optimization

Intel and Nvidia have worked closely with Nik Software to ensure Color Efex Pro 4 takes full advantage of the latest processing and GPU platforms. Color Efex Pro 4 is fully multi-threaded and utilizes every core found in your computer system. If your system is based on the Sandybridge chipset, Color Efex Pro 4 will also utilize the AVX instruction set for even faster rendering.

Many of the filters are now rendered on the GPU, freeing up the CPU for other tasks, as well as being able to operate even faster than off of the CPU alone. 

Together, these improvements mean that Color Efex Pro 4 can process your images even faster than ever before. This makes it possible for you to get more done, or explore more variations of your images, in less time.

Visual Presets

Explore

Each of the 55 filters in Color Efex Pro 4 has several visual presets that you can use as a starting point for your photographic exploration. The presets are designed to give you a wide range of options to explore and may provide inspiration in areas you might not typically explore

Single-Click Editing

Visual presets enable you to quickly enhance your images with just one click. Although you may know exactly what style you want to achieve, the visual presets in Color Efex Pro 4 offer a simple way to begin (or finish) your image quickly and easily.

Filter Recipes

Mix, Match, and Save

While Filter Combinations allow you to mix and match multiple filters together in a single editing session, saving them as Filter Recipes allow you to increase efficiency by re-using your favorite looks on different images or by using the recipe as a new starting point for your next masterpiece.

Preinstalled

Color Efex Pro 4 comes pre-loaded with dozens of pre-installed Recipes, categorized so that you can easily find the style you want and apply it with one click. You can also export and share Recipes with others, as well as import new ones as they become available on the Nik Software website.

Filter Combinations

Multiple Filters in a Single Editing Session

To combine filters, start editing with one filter, then choose another to see the combined enhancement. Stack more filters together, re-order them, or remove any that aren't producing the desired effect. Even adjust the opacity level of each filter to get the effect you want. Filter Combinations are a powerful way to explore new (and sometimes unexpected) styles.

History Browser

Track Your Steps for Added Flexibility

Color Efex Pro 4 gives you the ultimate in flexibility to experiment on your images. The History Browser records everything you do in the software, which makes it easy to step backward and review any of the adjustments you've made. You can view the comparison in full-screen, side-by-side, or split views.

Improved Interface

Work with More Efficiency

Improvements include one-click Visual Presets and Filter Recipes on the left side of the interface, important filter and selective controls placed conveniently on right side, a new zoom navigator, many shortcut keys, additions to the Histogram to show highlight and shadow clipping, plus many more.

Easier Experimentation

The interface has been redesigned so that you can effortlessly experiment. The interface of Color Efex Pro 4 is easy to learn, easy to use, invites exploration, and allows you to share your masterpiece(s) with others.

Mainstays from the Previous Version of Color Efex Pro 3

Smart Filters

Color Efex Pro 4 makes it possible to experiment and fine-tune by supporting Photoshop's Smart Objects. Smart Objects preserve an image's original source content, enabling you to perform non-destructive editing to an image layer. With Color Efex Pro 4 working in Adobe Photoshop you can go back and make any adjustment you like, even after applying them.

Multi-Image Support

Color Efex Pro 4 can enhance multiple images at a time when accessed from Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Aperture. This enables you to save time and effort when working with a series of images. When more than one image is opened, "Previous" and "Next" buttons appear that allow you to easily enhance multiple images in one session

Software Compatibility

Color Efex Pro 4 integrates seamlessly with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Apple Aperture to give you an efficient and streamlined workflow in the leading image software tools you already use.

Selective Tool

The Selective Tool is ideal for photographers who use Photoshop and want the extra control that painting directly on an image affords. After applying a filter effect in Color Efex Pro 4 and clicking the "Brush" button in the plug-in, the filter becomes accessible using Photoshop's built-in brush tools. Using a mouse or a pressure sensitive Wacom Pen Tablet, effects can be selectively applied to the image. Need to retouch a portrait?

Advanced Education

Color Efex Pro 4 includes an interactive help system and videos that thoroughly cover the basics. Extend your learning with daily online trainings and special guest webinars from a wide range of photography experts. The world-renowned Nik Education team is also constantly in the field teaching techniques and sharing insights face-to-face around the world.