The Portable Freeware Collection Forums

Nik Collection has been all over the news, as this multi-platform professional grade plugin collection used to cost $149 and now Google is giving it away for free, but since I haven't seen mention of it in TPFC, here goes...

https://www.google.com/nikcollection/ author wrote:[Nik Collection helps you] Easily create the photos you’ve imagined with six powerful plug-ins for Photoshop, Lightroom, or Aperture.

Included plugins: Analog Efex Pro, Color Efex Pro, Silver Efex Pro, Viveza, HDR Efex Pro, Sharpener Pro, Dfine -- which will work with most graphic applications compatible with Photoshop plugins.

Download for Windows (and MacOS) from http://www.google.com/nikcollection/.

For portable users:

• Realworld Paint reports Photoshop plugin compatibility
• GIMP users as the process to enable use of Photoshop plugins isn’t too complex.

It's important to note that solid Photoshop plugins are one of the places where very some smart people have come to gether using some fairly intense math. Not just any developer can build the really good tools so to get these for free is a big deal. Plugins like these have been overshadowed by the fact that so many mobile applications have some kind of filtering system, but that's definitely not the same thing, especially for very large images that you really want to edit in a desktop environment anyway.

Good link.

Also XnView, IrfanView and PixBuilder Studio

Great, I've heard about the plugins but wasn't sure we have portable software that can use them. Nik Collection comes as an exe file, has anyone tried to extract it and use it portably?

billon wrote:Also ... PixBuilder Studio

I can't find any data on PixBuilder using Photoshop plugins but - if so - should probably add that to the entry.

Thanks for posting this. I hadn't heard of this collection before, but it looks stellar. Going to give it a test-drive sometime this week.

webfork wrote:

billon wrote:Also ... PixBuilder Studio

I can't find any data on PixBuilder using Photoshop plugins but - if so - should probably add that to the entry.

It says so on its German page: http://www.wnsoft.com/de/pixbuilder/
See Hauptfunktionen (= main functions): Unterstützung von .8bf-Filtern (= support of .8bf filters)

BTW, I unzipped NikCollection.exe with 7zip and tried to use the .8bf files in PixBuilder, however I just got error messages and loads of junk left in AppData and the registry. This was probably not a sophisticated test...

OK, I was very glad to read about this on PortableFreeware,
I do not follow other sites that closely.

But the discussion here so far misses the core focus of this site :
how to make this thing work in a portable fashion (even if it is not perfectly stealth)
after You unpack it (for example with 7zip) ?

The 8BF plugins in this package are not the "full" or "self-contained" 8BF plugins,
since they depend on an EXE file in the package.

Normally, in such a scenario,
the EXE file and the 8BF file need to be linked to each other
via Windows registry (to tell the 8BF file where the EXE file is).

If these two files can be kept together
in a sub-folder of, for example, XnView,
I would not mind that.

Has anyone figured this out yet ?
I mean, apart from doing a full installation.

Messed around a bit on a random, as-yet unprocessed RAW image of mine. Too much contrast and grain, but eh.
Viveza and Dfine, and some cropping:



Photo Styler in Color Efex:



Analog Efex:



Over-the-top Silver B&W:



Pretty powerful stuff. It applies the effects either to a composite on a new layer or directly to the active layer. So if you're using Photoshop, don't forget to convert your image to a smart object or else you can't make adjustments afterwards.

shnbwmn wrote:Messed around a bit on a random, as-yet unprocessed RAW image of mine. Too much contrast and grain, but eh.

Some impressive results.

For the digital photo connoisseur, Pall Kris Photo Effects (http://pallkris.com/free-photo-effects-software.html) is free and claims to be portable (untested!), although dependent on DotNET v4.6.1...

http://pallkris.com/free-photo-effects-software.html wrote:Pall Kris Photo Effects allows transforming your photos with creative effects inspired from fashion and fine arts. You can add cinematic looks and find new ways to make the photos look more interesting. It works best with bright, well exposed photos. Pall Kris Photo Effects is a free software for windows 64 bit.

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Pall Kris Photo Effects latest version (single executable file version is currently v1.3.17.5840) can be downloaded from http://pallkris.com/free-photo-effects-software.html.

I haven't tested it, but at first sight Pall Kris Photo Effects looks like it offers the usual simple effects almost any photo app comes with. A portable Nik Collection would have been awesome, it looks far more powerful and professional.

Nik Collection has been sold and is no longer free:

A new home for the Nik Collection
New Website

Nik Collection now costs 69 €.

The last free version (1.2.11) can still be downloaded from Google, direct download links:

• macOS
• Windows

The download links still work (as of 2018-07-09).

smaragdus wrote: ↑Sun Jul 08, 2018 1:38 pm Nik Collection has been sold and is no longer free:

The last free version (1.2.11) can still be downloaded from Google, direct download links.

Good catch. I'm not one who needs it currently but downloading backup copies all the same. If they're not digitally signed I'll post the checksum hashes once the downloads finish (they probably are though given its Google).

Found a good use for it recently with some noisy lower-light photos. The Dfine 2 noise reduction is superb and allows for both automatic noise pattern detection and manual control points with individual settings, higher quality than other noise reduction filters I've used.

Also as a follow up the installer is indeed digitally signed by Google.