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DESCRIPTION
Hydra (formerly known as Hydra + Aperture Plug-In) provides human eye-like perception to your photographs by allowing you to create High Dynamic Range (HDR) images from a series of regular photographs (up to 10), either from DSLRs or traditional point-and-shoot cameras. This is because a single photograph cannot represent the full gamut of light due to the physical limitations in the sensor.
Hydra does not require pictures taken with a tripod, as it is usually the case with HDR software. This is a unique feature that means you can take photos anywhere without a tripod to later merge them in Hydra.
Hydra uses an advanced image processing pipeline that first aligns the imported images and then merges them in a smart way to preserve the interesting inputs of each image. This method has been entirely implemented on the GPU to provide interactive previewing. This allows you to finely tune all parameters (matching, merging) in real-time while observing the changing result until you are satisfied, and then render the full resolution image (resolutions above 20 Mega Pixels supported) in less than a minute. The output produced by Hydra is much closer to what your eyes actually see.
Hydra is also available as an Aperture Plug-In so that you can create HDR images right from within Aperture.
Last but not least, Hydra 2.0 introduces many new pro options for people who want to tune import, alignment and merging parameters. Thanks to these pro options, you can preprocess and postprocess your photographs and get the result you are looking for.
Hydra (stand-alone version and Aperture plug-in) is available in English, French, German, Italian and Japanese.
WHAT'S NEW
Version 2.1.1:
- Reference points can now be deleted with the Delete key
- Navigation through reference points with Tab key
- Loupe availability now coherent
- Fixed disappearing document window when importing image with no EXIF tag
- Japanese localization (stand-alone application, Aperture plug-in and user guide)
- Italian localization (stand-alone application and user guide)
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.5 or later.
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| Hydra User Reviews (6 posts) | Write A Review |
 | May 22 2008 |
CAPTSALTYJACK I didn't care for Hydra, to be frank. I took different shots, some of them with 3-bracket ranges, others with 5-bracket ranges. The results that Hydra spit out were poor, weirdly saturated (kind of a "candied" look to it), or underexposed. I took the same exact photo sets and ran them through Bracketeer (GUI frontend for Enfuse), and the results were stunning. With some tweaks, they looked even better. Can't recommend Hydra. Go for Bracketeer, save a few bucks, and get a better performer too.
(Version 1.5.2) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
 | May 14 2008 |
JOHAN ELZENGA The Aperture plugin (1.5.2) works fine on my MacBook Pro, but on my Quad G5 I still get an error that the plugin didn't load.
(Version 1.5.2) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| May 14 2008 |
JOHAN ELZENGA The Aperture plugin (1.5.2) works fine on my MacBook Pro, but on my Quad G5 I still get an error that the plugin didn't load.
(Version 1.5.2) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| May 12 2008 |
DAMPEOPLES Well, they didn't lie, it now has tonemapping as well as an Aperture plugin! The plugin is in beta, and will expire in June or July, but it's been working for me so far. I want to say that it's more like an automator action, where it loads aperture, then imports your rendered image into a folder/project you select, but that's fine with me too! Been playing with this a bit tonight, and it sure is fun. I really need to start bracketing more of my shots, I did it for a while, but got out of the habit. The regular HDR images were great out of this app, it did what it was supposed to do. I suppose the best compliment to get for a HDR picture is that someone doesn't 'see it'. The tonemapping I am still experimenting with, and have had interesting results so far. Gotta love it.
(Version 1.5) | |
| [ 4 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| May 14 2008 |
KBEAT So far, you're the only person I've come across who has gotten the Aperture plug-in to work. Most people can't even get it to load and install properly. I got it working, but it creates 32-bit files that crash my system as soon as I attempt to edit them. I was really hopeful for this plug-in, as I want to save myself a trip to Photomatrix, but so far I'm very disappointed. I left a note about the issues on their support forums, but so far it's gone unnoticed.
(Version 1.5.2) | |
| May 14 2008 |
DAMPEOPLES The docs left out that you may need to create the Plug-Ins folder, then add the plugin to that. It's not very useful at this time within Aperture if you need to align them yourself, but pretty much works perfectly if auto-align works. They're also not that great about answering the forum in a timely manner, but all my emails have been answered. Good luck!
(Version 1.5.2) | |
| May 14 2008 |
KBEAT I got it installed, thanks. I should have more clearly stated that people are having a hard time getting the plug-in to load properly. Although, I didn't have that issue. The problem I'm having is that Hydra creates 32-bit files, which Aperture doesn't support. These files, once they're created, crash my entire system the moment I attempt to edit them. It makes no sense for an Aperture plug-in to create a 32-bit tiff, as they are incompatible with Aperture! So unless I'm missing some crucial step, how do you edit the files created in Aperture using the Aperture bricks?
(Version 1.5.2) | |
| May 14 2008 |
DAMPEOPLES In the Aperture preferences, under the Export option, mine copy has PSD 300DPI selected, I assume that's 8bit. This is the only other thing I can think of, as when Aperture prepares it to export, this is the type of file it generates. I just tried the 16bit, and it is working as well, so I really can't think of anything else that would be causing you problems! I'm no expert though :)
(Version 1.5.2) | |
| May 6 2008 |
DAMPEOPLES You've gotta describe what you did in each app before you talk about 'wow' results. Photomatix is a HDR/Tone Mapping application, Hydra is not at the moment, although Tone Mapping is coming in a future release, according to my communication with the developer, he said in the 'Spring', I emailed him back and told him the dogwoods are blooming and the birds chirping here already :)
(Version 1.0.4) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Jan 22 2008 |
RICHCASTILLO I'm a pro shooter and frequent user of Photomatix Pro. Naturally, this app caught my attention while doing my daily scan of Macupdate. I must admit I have only tried this app with one set of 3 frames (a red covered bridge in Maryland with a menacingly dark cloudy sky) and I have not read the documentation. However, I think that one shot, "do or die" test is a valid test of a solid app, especially considering that I know my way around the Mac. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. A clean Cocca interface is no substitute for missing functionality. The resulting "HDR" image was no better than the middle exposure. Just to be fair, I immediately reprocessed the same 3 images in Photomatix Pro and the result was stunning! If anyone wants to see the comparison just reply. I really wanted this app to work but in my opinion this app is just cool GUI and no real functionality. BTW: the GUI for Photomatix is not at all impressive but man, does it deliver results.
(Version 1.0.1) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
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