Google Nik Collection is now free for everyone.

[tacua]

I posted on DPR that the Google download page was gone and got a reply that it still is available at these links.

Installer for Windows [430 MB]" http://dl.google.com/edgedl/photos/nikcollection-full-1.2.11.exe
Installer for Mac [590 MB]: http://dl.google.com/edgedl/photos/nikcollection-full-1.2.11.dmg

[ClemensE]

Actually DXO just released a new updated standalone version of Google NIK

https://nikcollection.dxo.com/

 

[0Kami]

Certainly glad to see the DXO update, but the website only mentions Adobe products and Aperture.

Does anyone know if the updated apps will work with Affinity Photo?

[iMacKalle]

Why DXO telling me to pay. I have always got Nik Colletion for fre because I payd for Affinity Photo and Designer. I run on brand new iMac and dont have Adobe.

 

Thanks

Karl

[lenmerkel]

21 minutes ago, iMacKalle said:

Why DXO telling me to pay. I have always got Nik Colletion for fre because I payd for Affinity Photo and Designer. I run on brand new iMac and dont have Adobe.

 

Thanks

Karl

You didn't get it for free before because you paid for AP or AD. It has nothing to do with Affinity. You got it for free because the new owner of the software (DxO) was offering it for free. They paid Google (the previous owner) for the rights to it (paid money for it), have upgraded it, and are now offering the upgraded version to buy. That's all.

[cernoel]

1 hour ago, 0Kami said:

Certainly glad to see the DXO update, but the website only mentions Adobe products and Aperture.

Does anyone know if the updated apps will work with Affinity Photo?

I 've tried the new DxO Nik Collection, and so far it works fine,  there are no crashes. I have Affinity Photo 1.6.4.104. You need to configure Plugins Folder according to where you installed your plugins.. in Affinity Settings. There is a "Beta" .. download it and try it out, before you buy it. 

I have that Stuff all on a actual Intel Machine with Nvidia Graphics .. with Windows 10 Pro Version 1803 (Build 17134.48). 

[mberger]

Do all the applications within the collection work for you?  In the old version I had problems with many of them.

[MEB]

Hi mberger,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
What OS are you using/running? There's differences between them when running plugins.

[mberger]

I'm using High Sierra 10.13.4

[Lubiloo]

Bums!  Downloaded the trial with high hopes that it may have fixed the weird colour aberration thing in Viveza.  Odd, because Viveza used to work fine inside Affinity Photo.  Sadly, not the case now.  Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1, Intel i5 650 @ 3.20 GHZ, 16GB DDR3, 1024 MB GeForce GT 320.   So I'm reluctant to buy unless any one has found that the new DXO Nik collection includes some 'must have; can't live without' thing... OR, if anyone has found a solution to the colour error.  I'd be very grateful either way.  Thanks.

[GDPR-365024]

In the old Viveza the image needs to be zoomed to 100% for accurate colour. (edit — Viveza inside APh that is).

Perhaps it's the same in the new Viveza? 

[AuthorAuthor]

I love the new, more robust UI that was sorely lacking when Nikon was stewarding the Collection. I see now, though, that the free collection might have been a "deep mole" to get you to buy the next, not free version.

 

I'm on the Google giveaway and holding. Show me improvements I can't live without.

 

My 2¢,

 

Gary

[mberger]

I was unable to get the new version to work as a plug-in.  It kept freezing up while it was loading, however I tried using it as a stand alone and everything works great including Viveza.

[Dewey]

June 11, 2018 ---  I received notification today that DXO software has issued the paid license version of Nik Software, which they purchased from Google late last year. The Nik bundle  is no longer available for free from DXO or anywhere else near as I can tell.  DXO has not altered or improved the Nik plug ins much , if at all. Same features and functionality except now you have to pay for it....$ 69 retail, currently on sale till end of June for $ 50.  DXO has promised a new improved and updated version of the Nik bundle by year's end.

Which brings up a couple of questions.  Nowhere on DXO/Nik website does Affinity come up. Nik is stated to work with Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom , and even Apple Aperture. But Affinity is omitted. I use my Nik bundle with both Affinity Photo v. 1.6 AND Thorston Lemke's amazing GraphicConverter v. (10.6 presently, Mac only ). Using Affinity, GC, and the Nik bundle is so feature rich and easy that I have not even opened my Photoshop CS5 in many months. It's almost dead to me. I'm running older Mac's c. 2012 and El Capitan OS  nad have no intention of advancing.

So I wonder for the rest of you ---- will Nik continue to work with Affinity Photo if either is cleanly installed ?  Also, Apple just announced the next version of the Mac OS , called Mojave, which TOTALLY rejigs graphic processing. Apple is moving away from Open Cl and Open GL altogether, instead migrating to Metal graphics management ( say goodbye to 32-bit apps as well ).

I will be a sad day for me when I can no longer stay current with Affinity , Nik, and GraphicConverter after apple force-marches us  into the Mojave promised land. I simply cannot afford the expense of massive upgrade of all hardware and software.

Thoughts ?

[Russ2]

Nowhere on DXO/Nik website does Affinity come up but the same can be said for AP and the Colorchecker that was being given away for free a while ago, they don't work together either. You say that " Using Affinity, GC, and the Nik bundle is so feature rich and easy that I have not even opened my Photoshop CS5 in many months. " so why worry? If it works don't fix it!!.

I tried the new NIK collection on windows with AP and it worked but and it's a big BUT!! DXO where in trouble a while ago so is this new NIK collection going to stay the course?

Pay and Pray or stick with the many other softwares out there and now there are a lot.

[Lubiloo]

On 6/8/2018 at 3:17 PM, AuthorAuthor said:

I love the new, more robust UI that was sorely lacking when Nikon was stewarding the Collection. I see now, though, that the free collection might have been a "deep mole" to get you to buy the next, not free version.

 

I'm on the Google giveaway and holding. Show me improvements I can't live without.

 

My 2¢,

 

Gary

Hi, Gary, 

Fortunately, I retained the original free Google Nik collection .exe file as the DXO version (I downloaded for trial period) deleted my previous installed version of Nik Collection.  So - although I'm not sure what a 'deep mole' is - I suspect that DXO is working to ensure that anyone who downloads for the trial period to test against the free version, is trapped into purchasing it, unless they have kept their original .exe file.  

[Dewey]

I wrote DXO  - Nik Support earlier today asking about the  ' new ' ( paid) version of the Nik Software bundle compatibility going forward, since  DXO really hasn't changed to functionality of Nik for now, and won't until the new upgrade comes out later this year.

Specifically , I was asking about compatibility between Nik , Affinity Photo , and GraphicConverter on my Macs running OS 11.6 El Capitan.

Riley at DXO Support responded with an official compatibility chart of  old/new Nik with past/present  apps.

https://support.dxo.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015298887-Licensing-and-Compatibility-paid-version-only-

It was disheartening to see that the 2018 version of Nik will NOT be compatible with OS-X El Capitan 11.6 or older ; NOT compatible with latest Lightroom or Apple Aperture 3.x

- at least not officially. DXO does not even mention Affinity or Graphic COnverter by name, saying only that Nik plug-ins  may work but are not supported.

(quote) " they may work with other programs, but they are not officially supported by us to do so. ( endquote)

Well, obviously they do work , since I am using them flawlessly....  Nik 1.2.11 on Affinity Photo 1.6 and Graphic Converter 10.6 on OSX El Capitan.  I'm guessing DXO considers Affinity to be a strong competitor and simply does not want to steer them any business.

I do have Nik full install .dmg for my Mac, and it certainly looks like I will not be upgrading to OS X 10.14 Mojave , the new Nik bundle, and worst of all , new Mac computers. I only hope that Affinity Photo remains compatible with El Capitan for the forseeable, since I am leery of upgrading to Sierra or High Sierra.

YMMV

[dominik]

 

3 hours ago, Dewey said:

June 11, 2018 ---  I received notification today that DXO software has issued the paid license version of Nik Software, which they purchased from Google late last year. The Nik bundle  is no longer available for free from DXO or anywhere else near as I can tell.  DXO has not altered or improved the Nik plug ins much , if at all. Same features and functionality except now you have to pay for it....$ 69 retail, currently on sale till end of June for $ 50.  DXO has promised a new improved and updated version of the Nik bundle by year's end.

Which brings up a couple of questions.  Nowhere on DXO/Nik website does Affinity come up. Nik is stated to work with Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom , and even Apple Aperture. But Affinity is omitted. I use my Nik bundle with both Affinity Photo v. 1.6 AND Thorston Lemke's amazing GraphicConverter v. (10.6 presently, Mac only ). Using Affinity, GC, and the Nik bundle is so feature rich and easy that I have not even opened my Photoshop CS5 in many months. It's almost dead to me. I'm running older Mac's c. 2012 and El Capitan OS  nad have no intention of advancing.

So I wonder for the rest of you ---- will Nik continue to work with Affinity Photo if either is cleanly installed ?  Also, Apple just announced the next version of the Mac OS , called Mojave, which TOTALLY rejigs graphic processing. Apple is moving away from Open Cl and Open GL altogether, instead migrating to Metal graphics management ( say goodbye to 32-bit apps as well ).

I will be a sad day for me when I can no longer stay current with Affinity , Nik, and GraphicConverter after apple force-marches us  into the Mojave promised land. I simply cannot afford the expense of massive upgrade of all hardware and software.

Thoughts ?

 

Hi @Dewey,

there is another thread over here: DxO has updated the NIK Plugins. Will Serif be commited to keep Affinity Photo compatible?

It has some more information on compatibility and problems. It is a mixed experience.

d.

[AuthorAuthor]

3 hours ago, Lubiloo said:

Hi, Gary, 

Fortunately, I retained the original free Google Nik collection .exe file as the DXO version (I downloaded for trial period) deleted my previous installed version of Nik Collection.  So - although I'm not sure what a 'deep mole' is - I suspect that DXO is working to ensure that anyone who downloads for the trial period to test against the free version, is trapped into purchasing it, unless they have kept their original .exe file.  

"Deep mole" was an unsuccessful play on all the spy stuff going on these days, sorry! "Bait and wait" would have been a better term. If a trial you're locked into "eats" your previous version, this is known in consumer circles as "bad"
May

I throw out an alternative: Digital Film Tools 55mm lens effects? I got this ages ago, and it installed under Win10 fine, although I don't have a lot of high hopes of finding future versions. The product seems to have been split in two, half video filters and half Photoshop now. Meps!

Filter Forge is my new fave f0or texture creation. It doesn't do a whole lot for photo enhancement, except for a preset called Pseudo HDR, actually a watercolor-type filter the likes of which I've not seen before! Example:

[OldRadioGuy]

On 6/6/2018 at 12:23 PM, ClemensE said:

Actually DXO just released a new updated standalone version of Google NIK

https://nikcollection.dxo.com/

 

This new version is labeled Nik Collection by DxO. It costs money -- an introductory price of just under 50 USD. According to a thorough review on YouTube, it fixes most of the bugs people were having in the Adobesphere and makes the product compatible with the latest Mac and Windows operating systems. 

I have seen one post on the DxO forum by an Affinity Photo user who is using the new plugins in AP. I have been away on vacation and unable to test, but will do so in couple of days.

 

 

[FxRphoto]

Hi OldRadioGuy,

Actually, the new version doesn't work at all as a plugin for Affinity Photo for Mac. It freezes during the "preparing image" process and causes AP to freeze as well (need to use the force-to-quit command).

Better to stick with the last free version from DXO (1.12.12) or the Google version, no major changes anyway. 

You will find some other threads on that topic like the one dominik has posted above, or this one : 

 

[Asser82]

DxO is becomeing more customer oriented. There is a public feature request board available. You can now vote for official Affinity support for NIK here:

https://feedback.dxo.com/t/official-support-of-nik-plugins-with-affinity-software/3283/1

[OldRadioGuy]

Back home and had a chance to install the new paid version of the Nik Collection -- Nik Collection by DxO. On my iMac system, it works with PhotoLine and Luminar 2018. It does not work on Affinity Photo. Since the filters will run on at least two non-Adobe products, I suspect part of the problem may be Affinity coding.

 

 

[Dewey]

Has anyone attempted to install the new retail DXO - Nik bundle into Graphic Converter 10.x in addition to ojur beloved  Affinity Photo ?  ( Adobe Photoshop does not come into my life these days.... haven't opened it in months ).

It sounds like DXO did not alter the functionality of the various Plugins themselves, but somehow the installation process has been modified, and in many cases is failing.

I do hope DXO realizes that many of us here are trying very hard to dispense with Adobe Photoshop CC and Lightroom altogether. It's why we use Affinity Photo. But  I never have used Lightroom or Apple Aperture. I've always used GraphicConverter's browser and other functions as my digital image catalogue and management app for over 20 years.

We need to double down with both Serif and DXO to assure that Nik will work for us going forward. Sounds like it's off to a rough start.

[0Kami]

20 hours ago, OldRadioGuy said:

Back home and had a chance to install the new paid version of the Nik Collection -- Nik Collection by DxO. On my iMac system, it works with PhotoLine and Luminar 2018. It does not work on Affinity Photo. Since the filters will run on at least two non-Adobe products, I suspect part of the problem may be Affinity coding.

 

 

Mr. OldRadioGuy, I cross-referenced your findings to another post of the Affinity forum (Will Viveza (Nik) be fixed for Affinity?).  Here is their response:

"We only support .8bf plugins, we do nothing specific for Nix plugins and nothing we can do to support them directly. They definitely changed something in the new release as they worked fine with the old "Google" plugins."

I'm not trying to start any "war of words" on the forum but would love to see a single thread where the Affinity Folks address the software's problems and their efforts to address it/create a workaround. At least tell us if they are working with DXO to resolve the issue.