----------------------------------------- 1. License Information panel ----------------------------------------- This allows users to view their license status, and if a PMP copy has already been registered on the computer, to view the license key (and user ID if applicable). The panel is accessible via a 'License Information..." menu item under the 'Help' menu on Windows, 'Photomatix Pro' menu on Mac. There are four main cases: - Case 1: License for PMP 4 or 5 or PMP Plus Bundle 4 or 5 is found on the computer. The panel lists the License Key and informs it is valid for the current copy of Photomatix Pro. - Case 2: License for PMP 2.4 to 3.2 is found. The panel lists the License Key and informs it is valid till PMP 4.2.7. - Case 3: License for PMP 2.3 or older or PMP Bundle 3 or older is found. The panel lists the License Key and User ID, and informs it is valid till PMP 4.2.7. - Case 4: No Photomatix Pro or Pro Plus Bundle found. ----------------------------------------- 2. Alignment Presets ----------------------------------------- In v5.0, we renamed the alignment methods with something less obscure. This made many users select the 'on tripod' alignment method when they used a tripod (which makes perfect sense of course), while they weren't tempted to do so in v4.2 and earlier because of the obscure method name and the fact that the default is the 2nd alignment method, i.e. the method named 'hand-held' since v5.0. The consequence is that several users reported that the alignment doesn't work in v5 because they used the 'on tripod' method, which failed, but didn't try the more robust 'hand-held' method. The advantage of the 'on tripod' method is that it is much faster, but it is now its only advantage. Its other advantage was to offer an alternative option when the 'hand-held' method failed, but the 'hand-held' method has dramatically improved over the PMP versions thanks to Matthew, and further improved in v5.0 as well. So, v5.1 removes the choice of alignment methods and systematically uses the hand-held method. At the same time, v5.1 adds alignment presets that allows users to set pre-defined alignment settings (i.e. "perpective correction" and "alignment shifts") for specific situations. The are four presets offered: "On tripod", "Hand-held (minimal movement)", "Hand-held (standard)" and "Hand-held (large shift)". Note that the LR offers to select an alignment preset but not custom alignment settings. ----------------------------------------- 3. Changes to Preset list and Preset categories ----------------------------------------- - Preset Category pull-down menu made bigger and separate from the zoom and 2-column options. - Two items of Preset Category list renamed: "All" to "All Styles", and "Short List" to "Compact List". - Two new presets added, 'Interior 3' and 'Smooth 3'. - New Preset Category item named "Architecture", and composed of the following Presets: Natural, Interior, Interior 2, Interior 3, Smooth 3 ----------------------------------------- 4. Cosmetic adjustments to batch ----------------------------------------- - On the Preset combo-box list of the main batch window, an item "--- Select one ---" has been added on top of the list. When the user hasn't yet run the batch with a preset, the "--- Select one ---" item is shown instead of 'Default'. This applies to the batch single photos as well, but doesn't apply to the 'Custom preset or multiple settings' window of the batch bracketed photos. - Improvements to the text of the error message returned when the Batch Bracketed Photos cannot find images to process. This change is because we get this error reported relatively often to our support, and it is often because the users hadn't realised they had checked the 'Process subfolders' box (or rather did it in a previous batch session but don't remember it) while the selected folder doesn't include subfolders. Also, when this error is returned in more common cases, i.e. with the 'Process subfolders' UNchecked and with images in the selected folder, the error message didn't make it sufficiently clear that the error is because the number of photos per brackets is set to more than the number of photos in the folder. ----------------------------------------- 5 - Updated RAW support ----------------------------------------- Added support for RAW files from recent camera models. ----------------------------------------- 6 - Favorite Presets ----------------------------------------- - The Preset Thumbnails list now includes a star icon for each preset. By default, icon is in unrated/'unstarred' state. It toggles between 'starred' and 'unstarred' state when clicked. In 'unstarred' state, the star has a faint grey outline, and gets more visible when the user hover over the preset's thumbnail, label or star icon. - New category named "Favorite" added to the Preset Category Filter pull-down menu of the 'Adjust & Preview' interface. - When 'Favorite' is selected and user switches to another preset type (e.g. from 'Built-in' to 'My Presets'), the Preset Category Filter isn't reset to 'All Styles' but stays with 'Favorite'. - When favorite presets have already been set (i.e. found in User Preferences on Mac, Registry on Windows), a "Favorite" item is listed on the Filter pull-down menus of the Batch Bracketed and Batch Single interfaces. ----------------------------------------- 7 - Rename Fusion/Real-Estate into Fusion/Interior ----------------------------------------- This affects textual changes in the UI and dynamic text/help, but also the reading and writing of XMP settings files. ----------------------------------------- 8 - Add Brightness setting to Fusion/Interior ----------------------------------------- Fusion/Interior now includes a Brightness setting. This is a simple gamma setting and works in fact exactly the same as the 'Midtone' setting of Fusion/Natural. I just thought that naming it Brightness would make it clearer what it does. At the occasion of this update, I also slightly changed the way the color saturation setting works so that it equally affects the shadows and highlights (instead of mainly affecting the shadows in v5.0) The "Interior 2" built-in preset has been adjusted to account for the new Brightness setting and for small changes in the Color Saturation and Local Contrast settings. ----------------------------------------- 9 - Ability to set Deghosting Base Exposure in Batch mode ------------------------------------------ - The 'More Preprocessing Options' panel of Batch Bracketed Photos includes now a Base Exposure pull-down menu. The menu lists the relative EVs, in one EV step, with the maximum and minimum EV set to +/- half the maximum bracketed frames number possible for the pull-down menu of the main batch interface. - When the 'Remove ghosts' option is selected, the deghosting takes the base exposure set by the user ------------------------------------------ 10. Additional options for default file name suffix ------------------------------------------ The Preferences now offer the following options for the suffix of the final image's default file name: (a) "Preset name or process type": The preset name (e.g. '_balanced') is appended to the default file name if the user didn't change any setting after choosing a preset, otherwise the process type ('_tonemapped' or '_fused) is appended. (b) "Preset name or method name": The preset name (e.g. '_balanced') is appended to the default file name if the user didn't change any setting after choosing a preset, otherwise the method name (e.g. '_enhancer') is appended. (c) "Custom": works as in v5.0 ------------------------------------------ 11. Handling of source photos with different orientations ------------------------------------------ When loading photos from the main interface and the source photos include one or more photo with the same number of pixels as the others but a different orientation (i.e. width and height are inverted), a prompt offers the choice to rotate the photo(s) with differing orientation. This update is intended for cases when the camera erroneously set the orientation, and has been reported to our support from time to time with RAW files. ----------------------------------------- 12. Update List ----------------------------------------- At start up, a panel listing the updates in v5.1 shows with the option to not show it again. Contrary to how it was for v5.0, the panel shows for all users, until they check the "do not show again" option. The panel also lists the update of v5 (as there are still many users running v4 of older), but the list is collapsed by default. Whether or not an update list is collapsed or extended is a "sticky" behaviour. -------------------------------------------------- Update 13: Default JPEG Quality -------------------------------------------------- The default JPEG quality is now 80 instead of 100. This affects the value displayed on the batch, as well as the value set in Preferences -------------------------------------------------- Update 14: - Categories for 'Default' Preset -------------------------------------------------- The 'Default' Preset (i.e. the preset listed on top and composed of the default settings for the Details Enhancer method) is not part of the 'Realistic' category anymore. -------------------------------------------------- Update 15 - Batch UI changes -------------------------------------------------- Overhaul of the Batch Bracketed Photos and Batch Single Photos UIs layout at the occasion of v5.1. However, only the layout has changed, the controls are still the same, and no new control has been added nor existing control removed. The layout updates come together with a few minor changes in the way the Batch Bracketed Photos GUI behaves: - When the "Skip HDR Processing" box is checked, the Preset radio buttons, combo-boxes and 'Set..." button are disabled. - When the "Created 32-bit unprocessed merged file" box is unchecked, the "Skip HDR Processing" box is automatically unchecked - When the "Created 32-bit unprocessed merged file" box is unchecked, the label related to the combo-box of the HDR file format is greyed out -------------------------------------------------- 16 Warning when importing fusion presets with single file -------------------------------------------------- When the user imports presets after having loaded a single file, and at least one of the imported presets belongs to a Fusion method, there is now a note added at bottom of the prompt that shows after import. The note informs that some of the imported presets use Exposure Fusion methods, and gives the number of presets affected. The wording of the note slightly differs depending on whether one or more presets belong to a Fusion method to account for the singular vs plural grammatical differences.