Version History

Windows Version 1.02 (April 6, 2008)

• The Brightness slider produces a higher quality result especially when darkening the image.
• Six new presets for creating pseudo HDR effects.
• Support for multiple processors and hyperthreading processors: but only for mask creation and the Local Contrast effect. In case of problems you can deactivate it with the "Multi-CPU Off" check box on the Prefs tab sheet.
• DEP Compatibility: Even if Data Execution Protection (DEP) is activated in the Windows Control Panel, LightMachine still works.
• LightMachine now supports the Photoshop memory management which avoids memory shortages in Photoshop.
• Improved compatibility with some applications, e.g. color dialogs now work in GIMP and PhotoBrush and preview scrolling now works in SignLab and Image Analyzer.
• The the .ini files are now saved in the user's application data folder in case the folder of the LightMachine plugin is not accessible. This avoids problems with restricted user permissions.
• The language files are now contained within the plugin itself. This avoids problems with unacessible language files.
• Bug Fix: After maximizing the window (by double clicking the LightMachine logo), exiting and running LightMachine again, it was not possible to minimize the window (by double clicking the LightMachine logo). It works now.
• Bug Fix: Exiting the plugin with the ESC key does not cause a messed up dialog anymore when running the plugin again.
• Updated Plugin Installer tool, manual and installation

MacOS X Version 1.0 (April 2, 2007)

• Mac-Intel Version for Photoshop CS3 is now available

Windows Version 1.01b (File Date: March 26, 2007)

• Bug Fix: Previous versions of LightMachine crashed under Windows Vista on some computers if there was 2 GB or more RAM available.

• The HTML and PDF manual were slightly updated

• The Plugin Installer was slightly updated

MacOS X Version 1.0 (April 18, 2006)

• First MacOS X release of LightMachine based on the Windows Version 1.01.

Version 1.01 (File Date: November 7, 2005)

New Features:

• Selections from your graphics application can now be seen in the LightMachine preview. The effect is only visible on the selection area in the LightMachine preview. This feature currently only works in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro 4 - 7, Photo-Paint, Canvas, FotoCanvas and Ultimate Paint. Other applications don't support it sufficiently.
• The LightMachine dialog was localized to German and a Language option was added to the Prefs tab. The manual and setup is still only available in English.
• New Fade slider for fading the overall effect of LightMachine.
• New button menu at the top with Open Preset, Save Preset, Undo / Redo options and a list of all presets from the Preset sub folder. As a consequence the Open Preset, Save Preset and Undo buttons were removed.
• New Spots button menu in the Virtual Studio modes for selecting a certain spot, copying spot properties to other spots and hiding/showing all spots.
• New key shortcuts in Virtual Studio mode:
  • You can directly select the first ten spots with the numeric keys.
  • You can move the currently selected spot with the cursor keys by 10 pixel. If you additionally hold down the CTRL-key you can move the spot by 100 pixel. (You may need to click on a spot or use a numeric key at first to move the focus to the preview before you can use the cursor keys. Activating InstantPreview from the Prefs tab sheet updates the preview with every key stroke.)
  • In addition to the Del key you can now also use the Backspace key to delete a spot.
• New Instant Sliders check box on the Prefs tab sheet. If activated, the preview updates while dragging a slider. (Please notice that the Undo / Redo feature won't work anymore if you have this option activated.)
• Several new presets including vignetting correction and some polarizer effects.
• A tool called Plugin Installer is installed with LightMachine and also executed during setup. It lets you copy the LightMachine plugin to the plugin folder of various applications and lets you remove it later again. It can detect the plugin folder of 25 graphics applications.

Improvements / Changes:

• In Virtual Studio mode the spot circle in the preview gets oval now when using the Ovality slider.
• The unit of the Size slider in the Virtual Studio modes was changed from pixel to percent. That way the same setting or preset can now be used with images of different sizes without having to readjust the spots. You need to resave old presets though.
• The Brightness, Contrast and Size sliders work exponentially now. That means smaller values now occupy a larger part of the slider bar, which makes it easier to choose small values.
• When entering a value in edit box of a slider, the preview updates automatically. Previously you needed to press the return or tab key to make the preview update.
• New general key shortcuts: CTRL + O for opening presets, CTRL + S for saving presets and CTRL + Z for Undo/Redo.
• If necessary LightMachine will now look for the html manual, presets and log files in the original installation folder. That means, if you only copy the LightMachine.8bf file into a plugin folder, the mentioned features will work nevertheless.
• A message box is now displayed if you try to use the Logged Settings feature in an host application that doesn't support it.

Updates and Bug Fixes:

• Bug Fix: When clicking the color box on various tab sheets the color was previously not passed to the color dialog.
• Bug Fix: Transparent areas are now correctly displayed with a chessboard pattern when applying LightMachine to a 16bit layer in Photoshop.
• Bug Fix: If the the zoom was not set to "Fit", no preview update occurred after resizing the window.
• Bug Fix: The Last Filter command (CTRL + F) in Photoshop didn't work if LightMachine was in one of the Virtual Studio or Colors modes.
• Bug Fix: The Open/Save Preset file dialog sometimes displayed the folder of the current image instead of the folder of the latest opened/saved preset.
• Bug Fix: Beta screen problems

 

Version 1.0b (File Date: February 28, 2005)

New Features:

• The corrected image and the mask can be viewed side by side now. All you have to do is to activate Split View, Multiple and one of the N,P,S or H buttons
• You can now use the mouse wheel to change slider values. You need to select the slider at first by clicking on it or using the tab key.
• Some new preset files were added

Updates and Bug Fixes:

• The Manual was updated:
  • Step by Step Guide: Using LightMachine as a Masking Tool
  • Switching Modes explained in more detail
  • More explanations on Local Contrast
  • Several other places were updated
• Bug Fix: The Shift slider didn't work anymore with deactivated Stretch check box. This previously led to different final result.
• Bug Fix: On 16bit images using negative values for the Brightness slider previously caused artifacts on images with blown highlights.
• Bug Fix: Applying LightMachine a second time in Serif PhotoPlus caused a black result because of an incompatibiliyt in PhotoPlus. It was fixed.
• Bug Fix: Activating Log Settings on the Prefs tab previously caused an error message in Serif PhotoPlus.
• Bug Fix: Applying LightMachine a second time in ACDSystems Canvas previously caused problems.
• Bug Fix: Streaks previously appeared in Multiple Split View.
• Bug Fix: Adding spots in the Virtual Studio modes wasn't possible with activated Split View.
• Bug Fix: Previously the spot crosses and circles were displayed in the wrong location if you activated the Mulitple check box in the Virtual Studio modes. Now the spot crosses and circles aren't displayed anymore and the spots aren't editable anymore if Multiple is active.
• Bug Fix: Using the mouse wheel to scroll through the combo boxes works now.
• The Demo version now applies a slightly less visible watermark.
• Some smaller bugs were fixed.

Version 1.0 (File Date: January 1, 2005)

• First Release