[Openexr-announce] OpenEXR Photoshop Plug-In Released

[Paul Schneider]

Hi, everyone,

I'm happy to announce that at long last, I've released a plug-in that 
allows Adobe Photoshop to work directly with OpenEXR images.  This 
plug-in is available for Mac OS X, Mac OS 9, and Microsoft Windows.  
It's only been tested with Photoshop 7.0, but it should work with 
Photoshop 5.5 and later.

Documentation is provided with the plug-in, and will be posted to 
www.openexr.com in the next few days.  This documentation discusses the 
issues involved in working with high-dynamic-range images in Photoshop. 
 Please look it over before using the plug-in, and feel free to send me 
feedback as to how it could be improved.

The plug-in is available at this URL:

http://savannah.nongnu.org/files/?group=openexr

The Photoshop plug-in is at the bottom of the page.  Note that this web 
page is also accessible by clicking the "downloads" link at 
http://www.openexr.com.

The source code for this plug-in is not yet available at the above 
site, but has been checked into the CVS repository.  Developers wishing 
to build the plug-in, or just examine how it works, should follow the 
directions posted here:

http://savannah.nongnu.org/cvs/?group=openexr

The most serious known issue with this plug-in is that it doesn't work 
well with host applications other than Adobe Photoshop.  In particular, 
it is not useable in After Effects, combustion, or Commotion.  This is 
mainly because the plug-in presents a dialog when opening an image, 
which conflicts with the way that these programs load image sequences.  
I understand that this limits the usefulness of the plug-in for many of 
you, and I'll be working to fix this, but I didn't want to delay the 
release of this plug-in further.  Also, since the source is available, 
you don't have to wait for me!  If you have a little programming 
knowledge, or have a programmer chained to a desk in the basement of 
your studio, you should be able to convince the plug-in to work with 
your favorite software.

Another known issue is that OpenEXR images are loaded as 16-bit images, 
and many of Photoshop's tools are not available when working with 
16-bit images.  This is a problem when trying to use Photoshop with any 
high dynamic range imagery.  There are a few techniques that folks use 
to get around this problem, which tend to be tailored to each 
individual image.  These techniques are beyond the scope of this 
announcement, but would make an excellent topic of discussion on the 
openexr-user mailing list.

I hope that you find this plug-in useful despite these limitations.  
Happy downloading!

Thanks!
Paul