A quick review of major issues in Neo
Answered
Here’s what I found while using Neo first time:
1) Workflow:
- No import (from camera) button.
- Switching from Creative to Development tools cancels changes done with Creative Tools.
- More generally, there’s no way to keep edits when applying a preset then move to Creative tools or Development Tools. Stacking those different groups of tools seems virtually impossible. It’s SO confusing.
- Currently it’s possible to right-click and select editing with Lightroom and Photoshop, but no other programs. I use Topaz Labs software in my workflow, and at the moment I see no other way than exporting from Neo first and then edit in Topaz to achieve what I want.
- Alternatively, I edit from within Lightroom (with Neo plugin), but in this case I don’t see the interest in having a Catalog in Neo, if I can’t run Neo without having Lr running as well.
2) Navigation:
- Root folders and Albums being in the same window, when selecting photos in root folders within a long list of subfolders, you can’t see the Albums below, so you have to drag them to the bottom of the window and wait that it scroll down to the Album level until you can drop them. This is quite annoying and so time consuming. Please make separate windows for root folders and Albums to improve navigability.
- Please add nested Albums. (Or groups or categories, whatever helps organizing albums better).
- No View Option button (grid / single) in Catalog. So starting to edit the photo goes to single view, and when going back to catalog it stays in single view, no way to see the grid with the other photos in the same Album. The only workaround I found is clicking here and there on root folders, have a grid show up again and go back to the album to view it in grid mode. Absurd.
3) Major bugs:
- Edits are lost when editing from within Lightroom.
- Edits are lost from within Neo when moving from one group of tools to the other (as said before, from Creative to Development, from Development to Presets, etc.). Actually I don’t always get what is a bug and what could be tools incompatibilities in the editing process).
- Edits can be lost when moving from editing mode to catalog.
- When moving from edit to catalog, the Preview won’t always show the edits. Sometimes they’re lost, sometimes the preview won’t refresh and show the last edits. Very confusing.
Neo has certainly a huge potential, but releasing a v.1 with so many issues isn’t a good deal, for it can alter confidence in the product. I wasted about two hours just by losing edits because Neo wouldn’t save them properly.
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Hi Luca Oppizzi!
Thank you so much for taking your time and sharing this feedback! I have passed your suggestions to our product and tech teams for further consideration.
As for the plugin issue, Luminar Neo can only be used as a plug-in or extension for:
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Lightroom Classic (starting from version 6)
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Photoshop (from version CS5)
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Photos for macOS
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Microsoft Photos
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I get what you say about the plugin. Let me precise my thought:
- At the moment, my edits in Neo under Lightroom are lost, which is clearly a bug.
- In Lightroom, I can either edit with Neo, Luminar 4, Aurora HD (as to Skylum software) or other plugins, notably Topaz Labs software (my prefered are Topaz Denoise AI and Sharpen AI).
If I were to use only Neo as a standalone software, I'd expect to be able to edit from within Neo with Topaz Labs plugins, as I do with Lr. That would made my workflow quite straightforward. Now, in order to achieve that, on one hand the Neo Catalog should be better organized, on the other hand the third parties plugins should be integrated. Until then, Neo can't work as a replacement for Lr. But maybe it's not your goal. This raises the question of what niche you are targeting with the development of this software, which is unclear to me at this point.
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As far as the edits in NEO are concerned, they are not lost when changing filters. In the upper right corner, you can go to changes and see every filter applied. All changes are stored there.
Well, I'd wish it'd be so: In fact, going to Changes is the place where to find edits and still be able to change them. What I describe as a bug, is when all of the edits you did vanish under Changes at once with no reason, just because you apply a preset or move to Catalog. This won't happen all the time, but it happens. It gives the feeling of something quite unstable, unreliable. The same happened twice with the plugin under Lr, and I just stopped using Neo that way. Hopefully all these issues will be fixed soon.
Skylum's CEO clearly said with the advent of Luminar 4 that Skylum no longer pursues this goal and wants to launch completely independent software in which the user does not have to consider which filters to operate to edit the image
I think I don't get that point. A "completely independent software" such as Neo needs not include complex features like Lr. But it has to prove its efficiency by including a workflow that allows to process photos quickly from import to save/export. Lr is a very heavy tool for my hardware, unlike Neo. The promotion of Neo plays on lightness and speed. Without trying to compete with Lr, Neo has the potential to make photo editing way easier, provided that the workflow holds up, which is not the case at the moment.
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Member Well, I had the same experience. When using AI features, they are very often lost, when using 'develop' after using the AI feature. Due to a dirty sensor I had to use the dust removal feature and this has to be done after developing the picture because when develop is repeated, in most cases the dust is back. The same happens with other AI features.
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Good to read I'm not alone with these issues! :)
There's room for improvement then. I've been using Luminar and Aurora HD for a while and I'm very pleased with these tools. I didn't spend much time with Luminar AI, but in retrospect, this could be due to the same usage limitations seen with Neo.
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Member.
I am running V 1.0.0 of Neo.
I was able to replicate the bug LucaO by performing the following steps.
1. Opened a Single Edit image that has powerlines.
2. Applied Enhance tool Accent AI
3. Made some changes in Develop
4. Performed Powerline Erase tool
At this point, the photo was edited to taste and the powerlines were gone.
5. Applied a Preset
At this point the edits contained in steps 1-4 were removed and the powerlines were "restored"
Now. this may be the way Skylum designed the software, if so, it is not right. The Preset should not delete the Erase tool applied. I understand the Preset will override the edit tools but is should not delete previous edits. It may be I want to revert to the step before applying the Preset.
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Hi guys,
The fact that applying Preset discards previous edits is currently a known behavior. However, of course, I understand how inconvenient it is. The undo/redo functionality that we're bringing back in one of the nearest updates will help to undo the Preset while retaining all the previous edits.
Moreover, our team has already created a special request for our product team to reconsider the logic and apply the Preset on top of the already existing edits.
For now, a Preset can be viewed as a starting point, so as a workaround, you can apply the Preset first and then proceed with your own edits / add final touches to the new preset.
As for the external third-party plugins, we clearly understand the popularity of this request and are actively exploring its implementation. Our engine and layers make that support possible, so we'll definitely share an update regarding this functionality in the future.
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Kate, thanks for the update. The current behavior is counter-intuitive and defeats the entire purpose of Presets.
Many users may attempt a series of edits and then decide to see what the Presets will do. Destroying all the previous work is a big time waster and it is good to see "[y]our team has already created a special request for our product team to reconsider the logic and apply the Preset on top of the already existing edits."
Removing Powerline Erase cannot be an expected result of applying a Preset.
Hope this is fixed by V1.1.0 - If not, you must insert a modal warning to the user that applying the preset will destroy all work.
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I was/am a Luminar 4 user who pre-purchased NEO, I took the bait. Just returned from a trip with lots of photos and learned that the full version of NEO was available. I have about 100+ photos but will end up with 3040 keepers if I am lucky. I haven't discovered a way to add jut the pictures I want to process. NEO has you load the 1000+. If there really is a way to add selective pictures I can't find it.
I have quickly learned that the Topaz Plugins are no longer available. They are a part of my workflow ..I'm going back to Luminar 4. NEO isn't ready for me yet...
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Hi Ed Uthman,
I'm sorry to hear about this problem. Can you kindly reach us via https://skylum.com/support ? Thus we can collect more information to find the solution for this issue. Thank you
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Hi Michael Gordon,
Please also reach our support team via https://skylum.com/support so we could take a closer look at the issue you have encountered.
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