Neat Image /Win standalone application and plug-in for Photoshop To make images look better. User guide Document version 5.9, November 27, 2008 Copyright © 1999-2007 Neat Image team, ABSoft. All rights reserved. User Guide Neat Image /Win Table of contents 1. Introduction............................................................................................................3 1.1. Overview ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.2. Features............................................................................................................................................................................ 3 1.3. Requirements................................................................................................................................................................... 4 2. Key concepts .........................................................................................................5 2.1. What it can do – functionality of Neat Image................................................................................................................. 5 2.2. When it works – types of input images........................................................................................................................... 5 3. Filtration process overview ..................................................................................6 3.1. Overview of Neat Image filtration process..................................................................................................................... 6 3.2. Running Neat Image on a sample image ........................................................................................................................ 7 4. Filtration process details ......................................................................................9 4.1. Stage I. Open an input image .......................................................................................................................................... 9 4.2. Stage II. Prepare a device noise profile......................................................................................................................... 10 4.3. Stage III. Adjust filter settings ...................................................................................................................................... 11 4.4. Stage IV. Apply filter to the input image...................................................................................................................... 19 4.5. Stage V. Save the output image .................................................................................................................................... 19 5. Device noise profiles...........................................................................................21 5.1. Getting ready-made noise profiles ................................................................................................................................ 21 5.2. Building a profile for a device mode (standard profiling procedure)........................................................................... 21 5.3. Preparing a profile set for different device modes........................................................................................................ 32 5.4. Using noise profiles....................................................................................................................................................... 37 6. Additional tools....................................................................................................38 6.1. Component Viewer........................................................................................................................................................ 38 6.2. Variant Selector............................................................................................................................................................. 38 6.3. Image Viewer Adjustments........................................................................................................................................... 39 6.4. Profile Viewer ............................................................................................................................................................... 39 6.5. Profile Converter ........................................................................................................................................................... 40 7. Queued processing .............................................................................................41 7.1. Filtration Queue window............................................................................................................................................... 41 7.2. Creating new image filtration jobs................................................................................................................................ 41 7.3. Editing image filtration jobs.......................................................................................................................................... 43 7.4. Removing image filtration jobs..................................................................................................................................... 44 7.5. Queuing and holding image filtration jobs ................................................................................................................... 44 7.6. Starting and stopping the filtration queue..................................................................................................................... 44 7.7. Saving output images .................................................................................................................................................... 45 8. Using plug-in........................................................................................................46 8.1. Installing the plug-in into image editor......................................................................................................................... 46 8.2. Using the plug-in to process images ............................................................................................................................. 46 8.3. Using the plug-in in Photoshop actions ........................................................................................................................ 47 9. Application options .............................................................................................48 9.1. General options.............................................................................................................................................................. 48 9.2. Defaults.......................................................................................................................................................................... 48 9.3. Profiling options............................................................................................................................................................ 50 9.4. Matching options........................................................................................................................................................... 50 9.5. Filtration options ........................................................................................................................................................... 51 9.6. Folders options .............................................................................................................................................................. 52 9.7. Output options ............................................................................................................................................................... 53 10. Examples ..............................................................................................................54 10.1. Building a noise profile................................................................................................................................................. 54 10.2. Fine-tuning a noise profile ............................................................................................................................................ 56 10.3. Filtration results............................................................................................................................................................. 57 11. Questions and answers ......................................................................................58 11.1. General questions .......................................................................................................................................................... 58 11.2. Filtration-related questions............................................................................................................................................ 58 12. Tips and tricks .....................................................................................................60 12.1. Preventing banding........................................................................................................................................................ 60 12.2. Filtration of shadow areas ............................................................................................................................................. 60