I had a chance to download the new Photomatix Pro beta from HDRsoft this past weekend. While the function is fairly similar to ver. 2.5, there are a few notable updates. First of all, the 3.0 beta is currently only available for the Mac. If you are a Windows user you are still locked into ver. 2.5.4. The first thing I noticed about this new version is a new workflow shortcut panel to get directly to the most used functions for generating and tonemapping your HDRs.
According to the website, there are new algorithms for image alignment but i couldn’t see any remarkable difference in the image. I still prefer Photoshop for creating the HDR. Adobe has nailed image alignment and their HDR images tonemap as well as those created in Photomatix. Sticking with the user interface, there are a couple of other notables in this new version. There is a new panel for the HDR view that includes an HDR viewer that has a nice addition of a tonemapping button to throw you directly into the tonemapping dialog.
One of the most notable and evident changes is inside the tonemapping dialog. The details Enhancer panel is still unchanged but there are welcome changes to the preview window. First of all, the preview comes up about twice as fast as the previous version. Secondly, there are no longer resolution sizes to choose from. You now get to select your preview size from three choices; small, medium, and large. But even better than that is the addition of a Fit button which allows you to resize the preview window to fit what ever area of screen you choose. This new little feature rocks and the refresh rate to get to the new sizes is so much faster than the versions of old. Also, the loupe view is a movable square that follows your mouse on the image and gives a much better full-size preview than ever before. I love these new interface tweaks which are worth the upgrade alone.
Saving your finished image is also slightly different too. Gone are the PNG and 16-bit JPG file options, now replaced with either a 16-bit TIFF, an 8-bit TIFF or 8-bit JPG. Other changes to the program include:
Dragging multiple image files to the Photomatix icon can automatically invoke the Generate HDR or Exposure Blending dialog.
New algorithm for method ‘H&S – Adjust’. It produces halo-free results while preserving highlights and shadows details well.
Ability to select the images for method ‘H&S – 2 images’
Improved handling of large HDR image files
New options in Batch Processing
When the source image has a thumbnail embedded, selecting that image with the mouse shows the thumbnail
And more. As for the actual improvement, I haven’t seen overwelming improvement but that being said, Photomatix is still the best HDR Tonemapping solution on the market. photoshop has a long way to go to equal the output from this great little program. So looking at all of the changes, I would have to give this upgrade an 8 out of 10, if for nothing more than the improvements to the user interface and ease of getting to controls and selecting files. If you have a Mac and you are at all interested in creating HDR imagery, do yourself a favor and head on over to HDRSoft and download this new beta.
Coming soon, a complete HDR Tutorial using both Photoshop CS3 and Photomatix Pro 3.0.
Here is the final HDR of the car along with a version from a normal exposure processed in Photoshop.
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Great stuff Jeff! I can’t wait to see the HDR Tutorial using both Photoshop CS3 and Photomatix Pro 3.0 in the future. Keep up the great work!