Nik Collection

The Nik Collection is a suite of photo editing plugins intended for use with a host application, such as Adobe Lightroom, Affinity Photo or DxO PhotoLab.

Developer(s)	DxO Labs
Initial release	2013; 10 years ago (2013)
Stable release	6.3 / 31 August 2023; 2 months ago (2023-08-31)
Operating system	macOS, Windows
Predecessor	Nik Software Complete Collection Ultimate Edition, Google Nik Collection 1.0
Available in	5 languages
List of languages English, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Japanese
Type	Image editing, Photo manipulation
License	Proprietary (non-subscription)
Website	http://nikcollection.dxo.com

History

Nik Sharpener and Nik Color Efex were developed by Nik Multimedia Inc.^[1] in the 1990s as digital photo filters that could be used in Photoshop or as standalone applications. Some years later, in 2003, Dfine 1.0, a denoising application and plugin was added to the list of products on offer.^[2]

The newly rebranded Nik Software company^[3] then added Viveza^[4] and Silver Efex to the offer in 2008, and subsequently bundled all of their award-winning photo editing plugin applications, Dfine 2.0, Viveza, Color Efex Pro 3.0, Silver Efex Pro and Sharpener Pro 3.0 together in a single Collection.^[5] The Complete Collection Ultimate Edition sold for $599.95 USD and the Complete Collection for Lightroom and Aperture for $299.95 USD. HDR EFex was added to the collection in 2010.^[6]

After acquisition, Google relaunched the collection of six applications,^[7] with the new Analog Efex,^[8] in 2013^[9] as the Google Nik Collection and reduced its price to $150 ^[10] and then, in 2016, made it completely free to use.^[11][12]

In 2017 Google sold^[13] the, now seven-application, collection to DxO Labs for an undisclosed amount.^[14] DxO Labs have since added an eighth application: Perspective Efex.^[15][16]

In 2023 it was announced that version 6.3 marked the first release of the software built entirely using DxO's own code.^[17]

U Points

U Point technology was originally developed by Nik Software in the early 2000s as a way to make selective adjustments. They realized that making selections in Photoshop was very difficult and time consuming, the tools were often very difficult to learn and even harder to master.^[18] The name U Point comes from the idea that 'you', the photographer, chooses what to adjust in the photo.^[19] U-Point algorithms enable selections based on each pixel’s attributes, such as hue, saturation, brightness, and contrast.^[20] So, there is no need for users to create masks in Nik Collection; instead, using Control Points or Control Lines, they construct sophisticated selections based on pixel attributes.

Awards

• Nik Software Complete Collection won the TIPA Award for Best Photo Software in 2011^[21]
• Version 3 of the software won the EISA 2020 Award for Best Photo Editing Software^[22]

External Links

• Free version of Google Nik Collection download page on Archive.org
• Nik Collection by DxO website

References

1. (PDF) (Press release). NEW YORK, NY, Photo Plus Expo East: Nik Multimedia Inc. 1 November 2001.
2. Ashbrook, Stan, FPSA (November 2007). "Dfine 2.0: Plug-in to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements Nik Software". PSA Journal. Vol. 73, no. 11. p. 8.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
3. (PDF) (Press release). San Diego, USA: Nik Software Inc. 7 February 2006.
4. Nikitas, Theano (March 2008). "SOFTWARE WATCH". Photo District News. 28 (3): 123. ISSN 1543-0294.
5. "Nik Software Announces Lightroom(R) Update to its Complete Collection of Five Award-Winning Digital Photographic Filters". PRWeb Newswire. 18 June 2009.
6. Ashbrook, Brad (July 2011). "Nik HDR Efex Pro v1.2". PSA Journal. Vol. 77, no. 7. pp. 6–7.
7. Corbell, Tony L.; Haftel, Joshua A. (2012). Nik software captured: the complete guide to using nik software's photographic tools. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-02222-1.
8. "ANALOG EFEX PRO". Practical Photoshop. No. 62. May 2016. pp. 1–4.
9. "Google now offers Nik's collection of six imaging plugins for $149". Popular photography (2008). 77 (6). 6 January 2013. ISSN 1944-0510.
10. Wauters, Robin (March 25, 2013). "Google bundles acquired Nik Software plug-ins for Photoshop, Lightroom and Aperture, drops entire set price to $149". thenextweb.com. The Next Web.
11. Allan, Patrick (March 24, 2016). "Google's Nik Collection of Photo Editing Software Is Now Completely Free". lifehacker.com. Lifehacker.
12. "Today we're making the Nik Collection available to everyone, for free". plus.google.com. March 24, 2016.
13. "Nik Collection Help". support.google.com. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
14. "DxO acquires Nik Collection assets from Google, what does this mean for the future of Nik?". www.imaging-resource.com. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
15. "Nik Collection 3 by DxO announced: Includes new Perspective Efex, faster workflow & more". DPReview. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
16. Nikitas, Theano (12 June 2020). "New: DxO Nik Collection 3, Profoto Lighting Tools & More". Rangefinder.
17. Aldred, John (2023-08-30). "Nik Collection 6.3 – The end of a six-year journey to rewrite Google's code". DIY Photography. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
18. Batdorff, John (2013). Plug in with Nik software: a photographer's guide to creating dynamic images with Nik software. Peachpit Press. ISBN 978-0-321-83977-0.
19. Corbell, Tony; Haftel, Joshua (2012). Nik software captured: the complete guide to using nik software's photographic tools. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-02222-1.
20. Long, Ben (2009). Nikon Capture NX 2. Peachpit Press. ISBN 978-0-321-55359-1.
21. "TIPA World Awards Archive". Retrieved 26 March 2023.
22. "EISA World Awards Archive". Retrieved 26 March 2023.