I've just bought the "from camera to print" video series, and am looking one video after another.

For sharpening, the PK sharpener sounds really like "the thing" in the video, so I went over to the website of Pixel Genius, and found: no updates since 2007, neither for the software, nor in the forum.
The website looks like it has not been updated for years, too. No installer for 64bit PS, in a lot of places CS3 is the most recent version of PS mentioned.

Honestly, to me it looks like Pixel Genius is out of business and just forgot to take down the website.

Still, the PK sharpener demo is running and the results look good, so I'm a bit at a loss what to think about this.

So, is PK sharpener still the recommended sharpening software?

Kind regards,
Sam

If you got Lightroom, the same algorithms are built in the v2.0 and above.

In PS, it may not have updated because it ain't broken and still rocks?
I don't know for the 64-bit side of things but the 1.2.6 version works perfectly with CS4 as far as I'm concerned.

Hi!

I have PKS but seldom use it as Lightroom has both input and output capture. The creative sharpening in PKS is nice to have and I use it now and then.

Best regards
Erik

What Parameters do you use in Lightroom to achieve the similar results than the automatic capture and automatik output sharpening?

Also try Focus Fixer a deconvolution algorithm based sharpener
http://www.fixerlabs.com/EN/photoshop_plugins/focusfixer.htm
Marc

For capture sharpening, it just depends on the camera, as with PKS. I use around 60/.7/40/0 by default with my goodol'Rebel (300d), it's also a matter of taste.

For output sharpening, LR is much simpler than PKS as it knows the resolution - you just have to choose matte/glossy and the strength low/med/high (print module, right panel at the bottom).
Nicely done.

To be honest I find the capture and output sharpening in ACR/LR to be superior to that of PK which I own. I think that is the 'new' version of PK.

THere is in fact a beta of 64 bit PK Sharpener available on the web site. I have not tried it yet.

Peter

Yes there is, and it is working (mostly) - but, as I wrote above, there is no installer for it.

kind regards,
Sam
__
Don't you just love it when people write answers without really reading the question?

If it ain’t broke..

And yes, there are Vista 64 bit versions on the site. The product is fully compatible with CS4. Run fine under Snow Leopard too.

This isn’t to say you will not see a major upgrade sometime in the future. But the current product runs just fine today in CS4 as it did in CS2. Sorry, but if you like frequent updates to fix bugs, you’ll be disappointed in this product...

Oh well, it is broken in some ways. First, there is no installer for the 64bit version, then the 64bit version sometimes throws random errors when I try to use it. Most times, just try again, and it will do.

This are not severe bugs, by far not, but this ain't bug-free, neither. So I'm a bit surprised that 2007 they announced "we'll have a 64bit installer soon", and there still is nothing in sight, not even a hint about it.

This all is not a real problem, but for me it looks like a hint to "we don't really care about the website or the product anymore". That's why I ask.

If pixelgenius still is running and flourishing, great! Still they really could update the website a little bit now and then, or maybe write the 64bit installer they promised two years ago. Especially since PK is activation software, so if they go out of business, who knows how long I can still use the package? Probably latest at the next reinstall (new comp, whatever) the activation server might already be gone.

You just pop a plug-in into an Automate folder.



So what would that be?

Also, do you realize that all PKS is doing is automating Photoshop. IF Photoshop has a bug, its called and someone at Adobe’s going to have to fix that. If you have such bugs to report, we’re all ears.



They are flourishing and in terms of activation issues, its no different from any other company (there are no guarantees). If Photoshop stops to function and a meteor hits San Jose, we’re all screwed....

See, so it should not take more than two years to engineer an installer for such a simple install action.



So you imply, that every bug in a script should be reported to Adobe, instead of the script maker, since if an error could occur while automating PS, it must be a PS error, not a script error? I'm not sure Adobe gonna like that.




Of course in case of activation there is no guarantee - still this is about probability: it is highly unlikely that Adobe will be hit by a meteor, but that a company which did not update it's product or website for two years now might vanish over night (or already be gone) is not so very unlikely.

And one more thing: I just viewed the "from camera to print" series, and inside MR & JS say, that the Lightroom crew is working hard on implementing way better sharpening into Lightroom, and since the video is from 2007 there is a not very unlikely possibility that Lightroom sharpening is now up to par to PK sharpener.

Kind regards,
Sam

If you’ve got a bug to report, do so to either or both Adobe and PG.


Yes, it will get better. And its a totally different processing pipeline working on totally different data. Capture sharpening is still visually based so you can take that digital clay and make a lovely vase or an ugly ashtray. Not so with PKS as capture sharpening is automated. There’s no creative sharpening in LR. I’d be the first to admit that IF you do all capture and output sharpening in LR and don’t have a need for creative sharpening in Photoshop, you don’t need PKS.

Digidog, your frankness is refreshing. PKS is still useful for ACR-Photoshop users, since the output sharpening in ACR is clumsy to say the least.

Well, Digidog explicitely wrote about LR, not ACR.

His frankness, duh, I wonder why he seems to overreact on my question - I just wanted to know if some new sharpening came up lately which made PK obsolete, and if PixelGenius is still alive (since they sure don't look like it).

You’re entitled to read an overreaction if you wish. Everything you need to know about the PG product is on the PG web site. You act as if a product that hasn’t been updated since 2007 is either no longer viable or filled with bugs. If the later, present them to PG or Adobe and bitch if they don’t get fixed. Otherwise, I see nothing more in this topic that needs discussion.

Well, at least about this we have the same opinion:



Thanks for your thoughts, even though I didn't think they added much useful information to my question.
I just wanted to know if
1) PixelGenius is still in business (they are)
2) if PK sharpener is still "the choice" for sharpening, or if there are other solutions of equal quality, maybe even in LR itself (not sure, it seems LR has grown a lot in this regard since 2007).

Kind regards,
Sam

I find it VERY slow with Snow Leopard (was fine in CS4 and Leopard). E-mailed PKS tech support and they said it was due to Photoshop scripts running slowly. Fair enough, but all other scripts seem to be running under Snow Leopard at the same speed as under Leopard. Still works, though.

You misunderstood what tech support told you. PKS runs scripts that drive Photoshop. If Photoshop runs slower under Snow Leopard (which I have yet to see), PKS will appear to be slower. But PKS doesn’t run anything on its own that would affect speed, it simply scripts Photoshop to run what could be called actions. If USM runs 20% faster or slower under Snow Leopard, it will do this with or without PKS (assuming in this example PKS is simply running that one routine which of course its not).

Thanks digitaldog. Photoshop is definitely not slower on my Snow Leopard machine. USM (for example) also runs as quickly as ever. The problem appears to be solely with PKS: when I select File -> Automate -> Photokit Output Sharpener I get the dreaded beach ball for 20-30 secs (timed 5 times). Once the dialog box pops up everything runs as usual, but there is always the long delay before it does. I've tried re-installing, but to no avail.

Can’t duplicate that on this end. On my MacPro, the dialog appears nearly instantly. You’ve got 1.2.6?

Try trashing your Photoshop preferences. Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) or Option+Command+Shift (Mac OS) immediately after launching Photoshop. You will be prompted to delete the current settings.

Or, Open the Preferences folder in the Library folder, and drag the Adobe Photoshop CS Settings folder to the Trash.

Thanks again, Andrew. Tried that (both ways), but still get the beach ball for 30 secs. Strange....

Anything else in the Automate folder you can try (and if so, beach ball)? What hardware (ram)?

A few things (Genuine Fractals, Batch, Create droplet...) all work fine in that dialog boxes come up instantly, sans beach ball. Only the PKS options are slow with the ball. Am using PKS 1.2.6.

I have a Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 Quad Core Xeon with 16 Gb RAM.

I just bought and red the new edition of "Real World Image Sharpening" from Fraser/Schewe. As the recommendation for PK sharper was from Schewe himself, I found the following sentence from page 283 of the book answered my question nicely:



He is recommending Lightroom for capture and output sharpening now.

Nice read, by the way. Very exhaustive go at the whole theme.

PKS works fine under Vista 64 and Windows 7 x64. I have had no issues at all.
As for an installer, all you need to do is put the plug in in your automate folder.