L18 as a plug-n from A18
I'm finding when processing brackets in A18 its rare I don't go into L18 (plug-in) to do some final tweaks. However if I want to "export" a version (to jpg) while in the plug-in, I'm not able. I must APPLY the edits from L18 first, which takes me back to A18.
For example if edit 5 brackets in A18 but want to see what the AI filter does (in L18) I open the edited image in the L18 plug-in. Fine, I make the AI adjustment and "APPLY". Let's say I also want to see a monochrome version from a preset in L18 without the AI adjustment. It would be much quicker to be able to EXPORT from the plug-in version of L18 without having to go back to A18.
Am I missing something?
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Hmm. Fits with my work with Aperture too. Much of the host app is unavailable.
Doesn't have to be that way. If you have fully re-entrant code, then each instance of an image edit is independent -- has it's own address space. This, in principle, would allow multiple edits to happen at the same time in different windows/tabs.
Thus. Open foo.jpg in Luminar. Edit with SuperPlug -- opens the present state of the image. Back to Luminar. View in black and white. Edit black and white version in SilverPlug.
Ideally a plugin acts as a layer, and basically becomes part of the program.
This however is not how ALR and APS plugins work. This would require that you support two plugin standards. The one for the adobe products, and the one for your own.
Making your code modular enough to work this way is tough. If you can do it however it opens your product up to a huge expansion:
Normal plugins can be used. You write to plugin makers and show what it could be instead. If they are interested, great. If the writer of a plugin declines, you reverse engineer the plugin and make your own version if it's a good and non-trivial program.
At any given point all Luminar plugins are shipped with each version of the product. In preferences users can set their visibility in the menu system. If unpaid for they have a moderately annoying watermark built in. Allows people to test indefinitely.
Sets of plugins are sold by luminar.
Now couple this with multiple instances of edits, and multiple monitor support, and you have a winner: A photographer can try out different effects in different windows.
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