P: A real plugin architecture to make TIFF files unnecessary

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

My number one feature request would be a real plugin architecture for Lightroom. It's just kind of nuts that to use any sort of plugin or external application, I have to create a separate TIFF file. The TIFF files break workflow by losing all the history of adjustments applied to the RAW before creating the TIFF, they're a pain to manage, and they take up a large amount of space on disk.Perhaps Lightroom could let plugins create mask overlays or something like that, which would integrate with the develop history. But anything that would avoid the necessity of creating a TIFF file would be welcome.

[nvsravank]

To me adding the smart filters functionality in Photoshop with the layer mask for the effects is more than sufficient for most users. This way you can apply most effects quickly in lightroom. Once you different effects in different parts of the image, then you go to photoshop. Gives a clear differentiation from lightroom to Photoshop. Photoshop files are big and huge because they have layers. I want the simple controls like what viveza or Color efex or other filter applications can give you in lightoom without the necessity to do TIFFs.

I actually think this is a different request from this request and so created a new idea thread for this.
http://feedback.photoshop.com/photosh...

[rontonno]

Hi there,
I am a photography loving sound engineer.

in audio production with tools like avids "protools", real time plug ins have been working since many years. today you can add up to ten plug ins per track all having impact to each other. sessions growing to 64 tracks and more are very common, even in the native version of the program where only the computers own processors are calculating. there is also a program version powered by additional dedicated dsp's doing nothing else than processing audio plug ins, track counts there go up to 256. not to mention what else is going on under the hood like automation of every single parameter, real time time stretching and pitch shifting and much much more.
please dont get me wrong. i am not a programmer and dont want to underestimate what is going on under lightrooms hood, i love lightroom for what i can do with it and appreciate the work of adobe's engineers a lot.
making a long story short i want to suggest that it might be worth for adobe engineers to have some sort of knowlege exchange (chat, coffe, lunch...) with avid (or others) about their plug in architecture and 3rd party implementation. why not learn from each other, since they are not in competing markets.

regards,
aron

[Hudler_Helmut]

I use Photomatix as an external editor, and this can cope with nearly all raw ́s and also with dng ́s

[jrista]

I whole-heartedly throw in my vote for this. It is very frustrating having to break the parametric pipeline to do "advanced" editing like debanding with Topaz DeNoise or something like that. Not to mention that some things are best done on the original digital signal, rather than on the post-rendered RGB output.

To Aron Schumkle's point, it would be even better if plugins could utilize the GPU to distributed and compute intensive tasks. The idea of advanced, modern wavelet-based denoise and debanding, for example, would be ideal candidates to be powered by a GPGPU (or few, as may be the case with an SLI system.) I've seen prototypes of some advanced noise removal algorithms, and when they have enough horsepower, the results are phenomenal...when run directly on the RAW.

The age of workflow-disruptive editing via lightroom and a diversity of tools should really come to an end. A proper plugin architecture and the ability to hook into the non-destructive parametric pipeline, and even offer real-time configurable plugin settings in the develop panel for that matter, is most desperately needed.

[Julian_z]

I also would love to see such a feature.

It could be implemented rather simple for a start:
LR creates temporary TIFF file of resolution it requires (i.e. preview size)
LR calls external tool with selectable parameters
LR reads in the TIFF file and processes further or writes a JPEG to the cache.
LR deletes temporary TIFF file.

That feature could be disabled in develop module. So only in the library view we can add (or remove) certain tasks to image(s). On view, export and print such tasks have to be processed.

[Kim_Letkeman]

I am completely addicted to Lightroom and have installed a few extensions that I enjoy, but what a massive hack to launch all these disparate tools and end up with either a TIFF or a PSD as a physical copy. Very un-Lightroom-esque ...

We need plugins to slide into the rendering stack as native layers. In fact, native layers for each panel would be a nice, smooth way to get this done ...

Ie. when I get a panel exactly the way I want, I would like to be able to use transparency for the whole panel (a.k.a. layer) to fine tune the effect ... not tweak all the individual sliders ad nauseum. This would further allow the inclusion of multiple panels of the same type (maybe that is already possible, but I don't think so) which I often find useful to allow me to concentrate on one effect at a time.

I realize that this would put the Photoshop franchise at risk, so I will happily continue to suffer with Lightroom's limitations if that is meant to be ...

[hillrg]

I guess this issue is dead.

[COBill]

It is enough to learn Lightroom and admittedly I've more to learn (appreciate the web tutorials and the Evening book), adding full Photoshop to my skill set is just not going to happen. HDR stacking is a model for a human interface:

• select images to stack
• CTRL-H (Windows) 
• Enter key to confirm merge
• back in either Library or Develop module, depending on the start point 

How about CTRL-N for noise reduction stacking and CTRL-F for focus stacking? 
 

I've finally produced a small document for focus stacking, EVERY YouTube video and articles by big name photographer-x has multiple errors and unnecessary complexities. The errors are probably due to steady changes to the Photoshop interface but Photoshop experts like to make things difficult. Next is to do one for focus stacking now that I own a camera that is fast enough for shooting a modest range of images.  

[COBill]

They merged HDR stacking into Lightroom, which is not only more straightforward but the result is higher quality. Hence it seems likely that they could move over other popular processes.