Adobe updated Photoshop with the newest generative AI tools:

• Latest Adobe Firefly Image Model​: The new Adobe Firefly Image Model yields better people generation, photographic quality, colors, and dynamic range. It's also better at understanding and following your prompts and supports negative prompts, so you can bring your vision to life in Photoshop with more control and confidence in the results.​
• Text to Image (Generate Image in UI)​: Generate entire images or scenes from scratch using text prompts and additional creative controls with the new Text to Image (labeled “Generate Image” in Ps product UI) feature. You can generate complex, custom images and composites without leaving Photoshop, or combine multiple generated images on a canvas to ideate and refine ideas more efficiently​
• Generate Background​: Generate Background allows you to replace your background with generated content that matches the lighting, shadows, and perspective of the subject in just a few steps. Rather than manually selecting the background and using Generative Fill, with Generate Background, you can simplify workflows and save time with a streamlined experience in the Contextual Task Bar.

New version of Excire Foto 2024 was released and it is now on sale for $149 (instead of $189). Here are some of the updates:

• Apply OR and NOT operations for increased precision when searching with the Find by Keyword tool
• Select, copy, and paste subsets of keywords
• Use drag-and-drop functionality when assigning keywords to photos
• Take advantage of automatic copying of keywords to the clipboard when performing keyword copy-paste operations
• Access an all-new duplicate statistics dialog that allows for quick flagging of duplicate files
• Choose to exclude photo sequences from the Find Duplicates search
• Select the first photo of each duplicate-search-result cluster to save time when cleaning up folders
• New high-level filters to sort and locate images more effectively (including an option to identify files that have not yet been analyzed by the program)
• Extension of the text-search feature to metadata so users can locate images from the file path, file description, file headline, etc.
• The option to change the loading behavior for lens model metadata
• An “Invert selection” menu option
• Keyword tree multiselection
• A “Manage profiles” option in the “Renaming Profiles” dialog
• Minor bug fixes, design changes, and improvements

The post New updates released: Adobe Generative AI for Photoshop plus a new version of Excire Foto 2024 appeared first on Photo Rumors.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: In a Monday post, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan restated his belief that VMware's portfolio was too complex, and too poorly integrated, for the virtualization giant to represent true competition for hyperscale clouds. Broadcom's injection of R&D cash, he insisted, will see VMware's flagship Cloud Foundation suite evolve to become more powerful and easy to operate. He also admitted that customers aren't enjoying the ride. "As we roll out this strategy, we continue to learn from our customers on how best to prepare them for success by ensuring they always have the transition time and support they need," he wrote. "In particular, the subscription pricing model does involve a change in the timing of customers' expenditures and the balance of those expenditures between capital and operating spending." Customers also told Tan that "fast-moving change may require more time, so we have given support extensions to many customers who came up for renewal while these changes were rolling out." That's one of the changes -- Broadcom has previously not publicly suggested such extensions would be possible. "We have always been and remain ready to work with our customers on their specific concerns," Tan wrote. The other change is providing some ongoing security patches for VMware customers who persist with their perpetual licenses instead of shifting to Broadcom's subs. "We are announcing free access to zero-day security patches for supported versions of vSphere, and we'll add other VMware products over time," Tan wrote, describing the measure as aimed at ensuring that customers "whose maintenance and support contracts have expired and choose to not continue on one of our subscription offerings." The change means such customers "are able to use perpetual licenses in a safe and secure fashion."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Topaz Labs released Photo AI v3.0.0 released - here is what's new:

• Presets: Save your commonly used filter combinations into a single stack, including the filter settings and selections. Presets will then appear in the enhancement menu so that you can reuse your favorite settings and selections across any of your photos with a single click. This will speed up the process of editing large batches of hundreds or thousands of photos at a time. You can also delete old presets by hovering over them in the enhancement menu.
• Docking & Collapsing: You can now dock the floating control panel on the right side of the viewport for easy access, or undock it and move it to where you need on top of your working preview area. The right panel is also now collapsible, making more space for viewing your image while editing. For maximum space, try undocking the control panel while in collapsible mode.
• Reordering: You can now re-order and combine your enhancements in any order on the right panel, allowing you to more dynamically chain effects together. For example, you can now sharpen the entire image first before denoising the background and then sharpening again with just the subject. Changing the order of the filters will affect the way the output is processed, and this freedom will allow you to achieve results that otherwise were not possible within Photo AI.
• RAW Balance Color & Adjust Lighting: On top of RAW Denoise, you are now able to adjust the color balance and lighting for RAW files inside Topaz Photo AI using our AI-based filters. This allows you to get the best quality possible out of your image straight from the camera and inside the application without having to make these adjustments in an external application even for RAW files.

Changelog:

• Refreshed user interface with Topaz UI style
• Implemented drag and reorder enhancements
• Implemented basic preset functionality
• Implemented docking and undocking feature
• Enabled Text Recovery to be added multiple times
• Enabled Face Recovery to be added multiple times
• Enabled Adjust lighting for RAW images
• Enabled Balance color for RAW images
• Fixed Adjust lighting crash on M3 with macOS 14.4 and above
• Fixed switching models on Denoise not updating the preview
• Fixed export output suffix not matching enhancements order
• Added preference for RAW Adjust lighting strength
• Added camera profile for Panasonic G9M2
• Added noise profile for Sony ILCE-6700

Luminar Neo Spring update 1.19.0 will be released on April 25, 2024 (see pricing) with new technologies like Water Enhancer AI, Twilight Enhancer AI, new masking tools for Luminosity and Object Selection, Batch processing in HDR Merge, and a brand new interface:

• Water EnhancerAI: Adjust and refine watercolors with a standalone feature that automates the process.
• Batch HDR: Speed up your workflow with batch processing for HDR Merge.
• Twilight EnhancerAI: Mimic the enchanting hues of the magic hour with precision and ease.
• Object Select & Luminosity Masking: Increase photo editing precision with advanced masking capabilities.
• Enhanced Waiting Statuses: See informative animations when loading and processing for real-time updates on actions in progress.
• Experience the new look and feel in the updated Luminar Neo: A fresh look and feel for both Luminar Neo and our website, with a brand-new logo, a distinctive color palette, and stylistic updates. Possibility to turn off Dynamic Background for the app (solid color for the background instead of blurred image for the full app) - On/Off switcher is located in Settings
• New Landscape category in Tools - now you can easily find all your favorite Landscape tools in the Landscape Category

The new ON1 Photo RAW 2024.3 is now officially released - see what's new:

• Complete Integration of ON1 NoNoise AI 2024
• Customizable User Interface
• Enhanced Export Performance
• Enhanced Raw File Support
• Support for New Cameras and Lenses

The post New: Topaz Photo AI v3.0.0, Luminar Neo 1.19.0, ON1 Photo RAW 2024.3 appeared first on Photo Rumors.

Matthew Connatser reports via The Register: An ASIC designed to display the infamous Rickroll meme is here, alongside 164 other assorted functions. The project is a product of Matthew Venn's Zero to ASIC Course, which offers prospective chip engineers the chance to "learn to design your own ASIC and get it fabricated." Since 2020, Zero to ASIC has accepted several designs that are incorporated into a single chip called a multi-project wafer (MPW), a cost-saving measure as making one chip for one design would be prohibitively expensive. Zero to ASIC has two series of chips: MPW and Tiny Tapeout. The MPW series usually includes just a handful of designs, such as the four on MPW8 submitted in January 2023. By contrast, the original Tiny Tapeout chip included 152 designs, and Tiny Tapeout 2 (which arrived last October) had 165, though could bumped up to 250. Of the 165 designs, one in particular may strike a chord: Design 145, or the Secret File, made by engineer and YouTuber Bitluni. His Secret File design for the Tiny Tapeout ASIC is designed to play a small part of Rick Astley's music video for Never Gonna Give You Up, also known as the Rickroll meme. Bitluni was a late inclusion on the Tiny Tapeout 2 project, having been invited just three days before the submission deadline. He initially just made a persistence-of-vision controller, which was revised twice for a total of three designs. "At the end, I still had a few hours left, and I thought maybe I should also upload a meme project," Bitluni says in his video documenting his ASIC journey. His meme of choice was of course the Rickroll. One might even call it an Easter egg. However, given that there were 250 total plots for each design, there wasn't a ton of room for both the graphics processor and the file it was supposed to render, a short GIF of the music video. Ultimately, this had to be shrunk from 217 kilobytes to less than half a kilobyte, making its output look similar to games on the Atari 2600 from 1977. Accessing the Rickroll rendering processor and other designs isn't simple. Bitluni created a custom circuit board to mount the Tiny Tapeout 2 chip, creating a device that could then be plugged into a motherboard capable of selecting specific designs on the ASIC. Unfortunately for Bitluni, his first PCB had a design error on it that he had to correct, but the revised version worked and was able to display the Rickroll GIF in hardware via a VGA port.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Lyle Smith reports via StorageReview.com: Proxmox has introduced a new import wizard for Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE), aiming to simplify the migration process for importing VMware ESXi VMs. This new feature comes at an important time in the industry, as it aims to ease the transition for these organizations looking to move away from VMware's vSphere due to high renewal costs. The new import wizard is integrated into Proxmox VE's existing storage plugin system, allowing for direct integration into the platform's API and web-based user interface. It offers users the ability to import VMware ESXi VMs in their entirety, translating most of the original VM's configuration settings to Proxmox VE's configuration model (all while minimizing downtime). Currently, the import wizard is in a technical preview state, having been added during the Proxmox VE 8.2 development cycle. Although it is still under active development, early reports suggest the wizard is stable and holds considerable promise for future enhancements, including the planned addition of support for other import sources like OVF/OVA files. [...] This tool represents Proxmox's commitment to providing accessible, open-source virtualization solutions. By leveraging the official ESXi API and implementing a user space filesystem with optimized read-ahead caching in Rust (a safe, fast, and modern programming language ideal for system-level tasks), Proxmox aims to ensure that this new feature can be integrated smoothly into its broader ecosystem.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, writing for ComputerWorld: Essentially, all software is built using open source. By Synopsys' count, 96% of all codebases contain open-source software. Lately, though, there's been a very disturbing trend. A company will make its program using open source, make millions from it, and then -- and only then -- switch licenses, leaving their contributors, customers, and partners in the lurch as they try to grab billions. I'm sick of it. The latest IT melodrama baddie is Redis. Its program, which goes by the same name, is an extremely popular in-memory database. (Unless you're a developer, chances are you've never heard of it.) One recent valuation shows Redis to be worth about $2 billion -- even without an AI play! That, anyone can understand. What did it do? To quote Redis: "Beginning today, all future versions of Redis will be released with source-available licenses. Starting with Redis 7.4, Redis will be dual-licensed under the Redis Source Available License (RSALv2) and Server Side Public License (SSPLv1). Consequently, Redis will no longer be distributed under the three-clause Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD)." For those of you who aren't open-source licensing experts, this means developers can no longer use Redis' code. Sure, they can look at it, but they can't export, borrow from, or touch it. Redis pulled this same kind of trick in 2018 with some of its subsidiary code. Now it's done so with the company's crown jewels. Redis is far from the only company to make such a move. Last year, HashiCorp dumped its main program Terraform's Mozilla Public License (MPL) for the Business Source License (BSL) 1.1. Here, the name of the new license game is to prevent anyone from competing with Terraform. Would it surprise you to learn that not long after this, HashiCorp started shopping itself around for a buyer? Before this latest round of license changes, MongoDB and Elastic made similar shifts. Again, you might never have heard of these companies or their programs, but each is worth, at a minimum, hundreds of millions of dollars. And, while you might not know it, if your company uses cloud services behind the scenes, chances are you're using one or more of their programs,

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Britain's government has been urged to provide more support for the software industry with measures including tax incentives and talent visas. From a report: More than 120 industry leaders have called for government intervention to improve conditions for European software companies. Europe has long struggled to scale up homegrown tech companies as successfully as the U.S., with many startups forced to seek investment abroad as they scale up. A new policy document -- published by industry body Boardwave and seen by Reuters -- highlights what it calls Europe's "dreadful" track record of scaling software companies, with one recent study showing only one software-focused firm, Sage, counted among Britain's top 100 publicly-traded businesses, compared to dozens in the U.S. Phill Robinson, Boardwave founder and a former executive at software giant Salesfore, shared the report with Britain's technology minister Michele Donelan last week, warning that mid-sized software companies had received little government attention compared to Big Tech firms and buzzy venture-funded startups.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The new Topaz Labs Gigapixel 7 is currently $20 off (only this week):

With Topaz Gigapixel 7, you can upscale and enhance any image up to 600%. Gigapixel 7 has more than 5 years of advanced AI training and comes with a new interface:

• Maximize pixels for perfect prints: Enhance details and resolution to achieve razor-sharp images for large-format prints.
• Improve AI-generated images: Put the final touch on any image generated by AI. Get cleaner, crisper, higher-resolution output.
• Upscale & enhance low-res images: Reimagine details from low-quality images. Eliminate compression artifacts and restore faces instantly.

Additional information on Topaz Gigapixel 7 can be found here:

Topaz Gigapixel 7 released

Via NikonRumors

The post This week only: $20 off on the all-new Topaz Gigapixel 7 appeared first on Photo Rumors.

Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is set to take place June 10 through 14, 2024. It'll be an online event open to all developers at no cost. MacRumors reports: Apple will hold a WWDC 2024 keynote event on Monday, June 10 to show off iOS 18, iPadOS 18, tvOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11, and visionOS 2. The keynote event will be available on the Apple Developer app, the Apple website, and YouTube, with Apple also planning to share videos and information all week long. Though WWDC 2024 is an online event, Apple is once again planning a special event for select developers and students, which is set to take place on June 10 at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. Attendees will be able to watch the keynote and State of the Union presentations at Apple Park, as well as meet Apple employees and attend the Apple Design Awards. Apple will provide developers with additional information about WWDC 2024 through email, the Apple Developer app, and the Apple Developer website.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

→ The new ON1 NoNoise AI 2024 is now available.

→ Excire Foto 2024 is a new AI-powered program designed to help you find, organize, and manage your images (currently on sale until April 2nd: you can purchase a lifetime license for just $149, down from the $189 list price).

→ Luminar Neo version version 1.18.3 released with bug fixes for Mask AI and Sky AI.

→ New: Luminar for iPad complete guide.

The post Photo editing tools: the latest updates appeared first on Photo Rumors.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Even if you decide to stop offering free editions, you don't get to stop providing the source code to FOSS, users of JasperReports Server are complaining. Cloud Software Group -- the post-merger offspring of Citrix and Tibco -- has decided to withdraw the community edition of its JasperReports Server. Now all you can get is the commercial edition, with a 30-day free trial. Effectively, this seems like a similar tactic to Red Hat's unpopular changes to the way that the RHEL source code is distributed. Some of the JasperReports source code is still on Github, but not everything. The JasperSoft community website has the grumbling of unhappy users -- as does Reddit. One user on the community website commented: "Are you aware Jasper Server CE was under the Affero GPL, and you can't delete everything? "You cannot just change the license of the previous versions and call it a day. I mean, we the users, have the right to fork it using the same license or a compatible one," the user protested. JasperSoft has been developing its reporting tools in the open for well over a decade -- the Reg was reporting on it nearly twenty years ago. Tibco acquired the company for some $185 million in 2014. We're not certain that things are going very well for the new outfit. Early last year, the merger was followed by a round of job losses, and the company has also more recently doubled its prices on some offerings.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Starting in early 2023, Williams team principal James Vowles and chief technical officer Pat Fry started reworking the F1 team's systems for designing and building its car. It would be painful, but the pain would keep the team from falling even further behind. As they started figuring out new processes and systems, they encountered what they considered a core issue: Microsoft Excel. The Williams car build workbook, with roughly 20,000 individual parts, was "a joke," Vowles recently told The Race. "Impossible to navigate and impossible to update." This colossal Excel file lacked information on how much each of those parts cost and the time it took to produce them, along with whether the parts were already on order. Prioritizing one car section over another, from manufacture through inspection, was impossible, Vowles suggested. "When you start tracking now hundreds of thousands of components through your organization moving around, an Excel spreadsheet is useless," Vowles told The Race. Because of the multiple states each part could be in -- ordered, backordered, inspected, returned -- humans are often left to work out the details. "And once you start putting that level of complexity in, which is where modern Formula 1 is, the Excel spreadsheet falls over, and humans fall over. And that's exactly where we are." The consequences of this row/column chaos, and the resulting hiccups, were many. Williams missed early pre-season testing in 2019. Workers sometimes had to physically search the team's factory for parts. The wrong parts got priority, other parts came late, and some piled up. And yet transitioning to a modern tracking system was "viciously expensive," Fry told The Race, and making up for the painful process required "humans pushing themselves to the absolute limits and breaking." The idea that a modern Formula 1 team, building some of the most fantastically advanced and efficient machines on Earth, would be using Excel to build those machines might strike you as odd. F1 cars cost an estimated $12-$16 million each, with resource cap of about $145 million. But none of this really matters, and it actually makes sense, if you've ever worked IT at nearly any decent-sized organization. Then again, it's not even uncommon in Formula 1. When Sebastian Anthony embedded with the Renault team, he reported back for Ars in 2017 that Renault Sport Formula One's Excel design and build spreadsheet was 77,000 lines long -- more than three times as large as the Williams setup that spurred an internal revolution in 2023. Every F1 team has its own software setup, Anthony wrote, but they have to integrate with a lot of other systems: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and wind tunnel results, rapid prototyping and manufacturing, and inventory. This leaves F1 teams "susceptible to the plague of legacy software," Anthony wrote, though he noted that Renault had moved on to a more dynamic cloud-based system that year. (Renault was also "a big Microsoft shop" in other areas, like email and file sharing, at the time.) One year prior to Anthony's excavation, Adam Banks wrote for Ars about the benefits of adopting cloud-based tools for enterprise resource planning (ERP). You adopt a cloud-based business management software to go "Beyond Excel." "If PowerPoint is the universal language businesses use to talk to one another, their internal monologue is Excel," Banks wrote. The issue is that all the systems and processes a business touches are complex and generate all kinds of data, but Excel is totally cool with taking in all of it. Or at least 1,048,576 rows of it. Banks cited Tim Worstall's 2013 contention that Excel could be "the most dangerous software on the planet." Back then, international investment bankers were found manually copying and pasting Excel between Excel sheets to do their work, and it raised alarm.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ethereum has successfully completed a major software upgrade that should make using the blockchain network ecosystem cheaper. The update enables transactions that previously cost $1 on linked Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum, Polygon, and Coinbase's Base to be executed for just a cent. The Dencun upgrade, a combination of the "Deneb" and "Cancun" portions of the update, introduces a new data storage system for Ethereum. Currently, most Layer 2 blockchains store data on Ethereum, and because this data is stored permanently on every Ethereum node, storage costs often account for around 90% of Layer 2 expenses. These costs are typically passed on to applications, which in turn charge consumers. With Dencun, Layer 2s can now store data in a new type of repository called blobs, which will be cheaper as the data will only be stored for approximately 18 days.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner reports via The Guardian: NSO Group, the maker of one the world's most sophisticated cyber weapons, has been ordered by a US court to hand its code for Pegasus and other spyware products to WhatsApp as part of the company's ongoing litigation. The decision by Judge Phyllis Hamilton is a major legal victory for WhatsApp, the Meta-owned communication app which has been embroiled in a lawsuit against NSO since 2019, when it alleged that the Israeli company's spyware had been used against 1,400 WhatsApp users over a two-week period. NSO's Pegasus code, and code for other surveillance products it sells, is seen as a closely and highly sought state secret. NSO is closely regulated by the Israeli ministry of defense, which must review and approve the sale of all licences to foreign governments. In reaching her decision, Hamilton considered a plea by NSO to excuse it of all its discovery obligations in the case due to "various US and Israeli restrictions." Ultimately, however, she sided with WhatsApp in ordering the company to produce"all relevant spyware" for a period of one year before and after the two weeks in which WhatsApp users were allegedly attacked: from 29 April 2018 to 10 May 2020. NSO must also give WhatsApp information "concerning the full functionality of the relevant spyware." Hamilton did, however, decide in NSO's favor on a different matter: the company will not be forced at this time to divulge the names of its clients or information regarding its server architecture.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Today is Leap Day, meaning that for the first time in four years, it's February 29. That's normally a quirky, astronomical factoid (or a very special birthday for some). But that unique calendar date broke gas station payment systems across New Zealand for much of the day. As reported by numerous international outlets, self-serve pumps in New Zealand were unable to accept card payments due to a problem with the gas pumps' payment processing software. The New Zealand Herald reported that the outage lasted "more than 10 hours." This effectively shuttered some gas stations, while others had to rely on in-store payments. The outage affected suppliers, including Allied Petroleum, BP, Gull, Waitomo, and Z Energy, and has reportedly been fixed. In-house payment solutions, such as BP fuel cards and the Waitomo app, reportedly still worked during the outage. A representative for Petroleum, when prompted via Facebook to "maybe remember Leap Day in four years' time," responded: "We'll add it to our Outlook reminders :("

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Neurapix is a new start-up from Goettingen in Germany that has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) known as the SmartPreset. It learns from previously edited images and can apply the individual's editing style to new photos in Adobe Lightroom Classic at lightning speed. This is particularly beneficial for photographers who frequently shoot large events such as weddings, as it allows for significant time savings.

Neurapix recently released their plugin for Adobe Lightroom Classic.

PhotoRumours readers will get 2,000 free image edits if they register via that link.

Additional information:

General

The SmartPreset, as opposed to a traditional static preset for Lightroom, is based on artificial intelligence. This allows the SmartPreset to understand and learn from a photographer's individual editing style through his/her past edits. As a result, it can consistently apply the learned style to future images in Lightroom, especially in various lighting situations. This capability was previously only achievable through tedious manual slider adjustments. The SmartPreset is able to quickly set all necessary sliders for a specific editing style, resulting in a significant time savings of around 90% for photographers. Despite this automation, photographers still maintain full control over the editing process and have the ability to fine-tune the slider values as needed for their RAW files. Additionally, the SmartPreset regularly analyzes post-processing corrections and continually improves its understanding of how final images should appear.

In mid-January, the Gottingen-based company announced that it can now process 1,000 images per minute using a SmartPreset.

PhotoRumours readers will get 2,000 free image edits if they register via that link. After that, the cost is $0.03 per photo. For example, the editing of 500 images from a wedding would typically cost only $15.

To get there is very easy: After installing the Neurapix plugin, the photographer selects all photos from an unedited photo event in Adobe Lightroom Classic and click on “Create SmartPreset” via the menu (Library > Plug-in Extras) and selects “Kickstart”. The Neurapix algorithm then automatically selects 20 representative images for the event, encompassing a wide range of lighting situations and settings. In the background, all event photos are already being uploaded to the secured Neurapix server.

The photographer now edits the 20 representative photos in his/her own style and then clicks on "Kickstart" again. After naming their style (the future name of the SmartPreset), the 20 edited images are uploaded. On the Neurapix server, all event photos are then edited in the newly learned style and ready for download in just a few minutes. After potential manual corrections, the photo event is ready for use.

Reduce your photo editing time in Lightroom by 90%

Do you want to shoot more and edit less? Spend more time with your family, friends, and the things you really like? Or maybe expand your photo business? Then this AI plugin can revolutionize your workflow. The more pictures you have to edit and deliver in a short time for your clients, the more valuable it gets!

German company Neurapix has developed artificial intelligence that is able to learn your individual image editing style from previously edited images and apply it within Adobe Lightroom Classic. This allows you to have large numbers of photos edited in your own style at lightning speed, resulting in significant time savings of 90%.

One of the things photographers like most about Neurapix: it is seamlessly integrated into their classic workflow. You don't have to switch to another software but only install the Neurapix plugin via the Adobe Store once you have opened your account. After that, every single step happens within Adobe Lightroom Classic. The only difference to your old workflow: you select a dynamic SmartPreset instead of your static preset.

Consistency is key: Why SmartPresets have an edge over normal presets

The SmartPreset, as opposed to a traditional preset for Lightroom Classic, is based on artificial intelligence. This allows it to understand the situation and conditions the image was taken in. As a result, it can apply a very consistent look in your individually trained style - especially in various lighting situations! Previously, this was only achievable through tedious manual slider adjustments.

Despite this automation, you still maintain full control over the editing process and have the ability to fine-tune the slider values as needed for your RAW files. Manual adjustments are relatively rare though.

Train your AI with only 20 edited images!

Neurapix has just released a new AI training option called "Kickstart" which allows you to get your own SmartPreset even faster in only a few minutes. After installing the Neurapix plugin, you upload all photos from an event that you want to edit through the "Kickstart" feature. An algorithm analyzes the event and selects 20 representative images, encompassing a wide range of different lighting situations and settings.

You then edit those 20 photos in the style you want (you can also easily create unlimited new SmartPresets very quickly this way). Neurapix will analyze your style and apply it to all other pictures of your photo event. You will receive your results in just a few minutes. After potential manual corrections, your event is ready for use and with one more click, you can finalize your SmartPreset.

The more often you use your SmartPreset, the better it will get in understanding your editing style. Feel free to give feedback on the results and your AI will be re-trained regularly.

Fair pricing and a maximum of flexibility

The AI training to create your personal SmartPreset is always free, as are regular improvements made to it by the Neurapix AI. Additionally, each user is provided with three free default SmartPresets for direct use. More SmartPresets from top photographers can be found in the Neurapix Store. The first 1,000 edits (regular test phase) are always free as well.

Get 2,000 FREE EDITS from PhotoRumours to try Neurapix

After the test period, you can choose between two pricing options. With the "Pay-per-Picture" model you only pay for the photos you edit ($0.03 per picture for the first 1,000 per month, afterward only $0.02). If you shoot a lot of events, the "AI Flat Rate" might be the even better choice for you: Get unlimited edits and your photos in real-time for a capped amount of money (annual deal for $49.95 per month, or monthly rate of $79.95 which can be canceled at any time). Processing will be done locally on your own PC, if you decide on this option.

Neurapix also offers automatic and complimentary straightening of all photos, eliminating the need for manual adjustment of pictures. The new straightening function saves you even more time and comes at $0.01 per photo if you're using the Pay-per-Picture option. In the AI Flat Rate, straightening is included.

Real-time editing and data security guaranteed

You will be impressed by Neurapix's lightning speed: If you're using the Pay-per-Picture option, your images will be uploaded to the company's servers and be edited with a speed of 600 images per minute! By the way, data security is a top priority for Neurapix: All photos transferred for AI training and editing are processed exclusively on Neurapix's own servers in Germany, ensuring the security of all client data. All processes are fully compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Users of the "AI Flat Rate" get their edited images even faster because all processing is done locally on the photographer's computer so they are independent of upload and download times as well as server capacities. After 20 to 30 seconds, the first few pictures are edited already and you can start your final review right away while the rest of your photos is continuing to be edited.

"At Neurapix, we want to make life easier for photographers," says Simon Diegmann, co-founder and CEO of Neurapix. "We know from them that editing events is very a time-consuming and often tedious task. Neurapix is like a personal editing assistant, but better, faster, and available 24:7. Your SmartPreset delivers your edited photos in exactly the style you want. Also, we're giving photographers a maximum of flexibility offering the different pricing options so they can choose what fits best for them."

Create an account, download the Neurapix plugin, and try it for free: neurapix.com.

The post Neurapix: a new AI start-up from Germany that learns from previously edited images and applies individual’s editing style to new photos in Adobe Lightroom Classic appeared first on Photo Rumors.

Excire updated their photo management software packages:

Excire Foto 2024 AI-powered image organizer:

The post Excire updated their photo management software: Excire Foto 2024 & Excire Search 2024 appeared first on Photo Rumors.