tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826231802859523569.post1592113860144094381..comments2024-02-12T03:21:03.402-08:00Comments on Ron Martinsen's Photography Blog: REVIEW: onOne Focal Point 1.02 -vs- Alien Skin Bokehronmartblog.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06815090271742112506noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826231802859523569.post-76273538948040095552011-01-12T00:05:43.420-08:002011-01-12T00:05:43.420-08:00I'm aware that a lot of people need to pick an...I'm aware that a lot of people need to pick and choose what add-ins they buy based on their own budget. Before I ran this blog I was the same way and I was tighter than a Nun's... well, you get the idea. <br /><br />This is why I wrote this article:<br /><br />http://www.ronmartblog.com/2010/12/what-plug-ins-should-i-buy.html<br /><br />This was my attempt at being as clear as I could as to what my stack ranking is based on having all of these installed and how I actually find myself using them or not. <br /><br />I will say that the perf problems you have with Focal Point are not normal, BUT it sounds like you have an advanced machine so I've seen a lot of software that does hardware acceleration have experiences like you have due to problems with either the driver or some issue with the software's hardware acceleration code. This can be resolved generally by contacting the software company (in this case onOne Software) and getting it sorted out. I saw this same perf issue with Nik Software's HDR Efex, but I got it resolved after getting an updated video driver on my machine. <br /><br />Focal Point 2.x made some performance improvements as well (in fact the whole Perfect Suite is the most peppy version of onOne products I've seen to date). <br /><br />In fact, to my knowledge all of the recent wave of onOne products actually offer multiple options to improve performance - one of which is to bypass hardware acceleration and use a screen rez version of the file just like AS does and the performance is very good. <br /><br />I don't have anything against Alien Skin Software - they make good products and I have favorable reviews of Bokeh and Blow-Up. I did more recently discover that while Blow-up beat GF in my display output testing, GF was much stronger when applying its resizing to prints - especially huge prints. <br /><br />Thanks for your feedback and my apologies if my response seemed a bit harsh, but I get more spam comments than valid comments so I was wondering if this was someone with a hidden agenda.ronmartblog.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06815090271742112506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826231802859523569.post-79133548391323825542011-01-11T23:07:30.543-08:002011-01-11T23:07:30.543-08:00I honestly dont have one. But..I read the article ...I honestly dont have one. But..I read the article and the follow ups, and for some reason it sounds like it favors FocalPoint. Yes You do mention the lens matching as a advantage, but in reality I dont know anyone including myself that does lens matching and leaving that set in default. pixel tweakers and anyone looking for a nice result will tweak that setting. I did read your other reviews and they are actually very helpful to new comers and even advanced shooters, and I encourage them to read on, but I cant imagine anyone sitting through a file from a 5Dm2 to load FP. What the GENIUS at Alien did(Hey send me a free copy), is he had the programming save a low res version, so you see the sim on it, then it does take time to apply it. Bingo! Done! My other agenda is that I am having less and less use for a $400+ OnOne suite I purchased(FocalPoint was one of the top2-3 reasons for purchase)..I wish to replace FP with Bokeh, Fractal and Frames is about all the use for OnOne, as Nik, and even Topaz takes care of it. I guess its normal for each company to have their "star" plugin, but they are Sooo pricey, and us "pro's" dont get academic versions as our work gets published, so imagine a solo artist shelling $500 average for each suite! and they will use 10-25% of each. My overall point is...FP is not even close to being a viable option in MOST real world usage. Thats how slow it is. So you sound like its neck and neck, or even FP having the lead, and its not. Other than that, I really do appreciate your posts and I wouldnt waste the time to post if I didn't mean to be constructive. Shoot on!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826231802859523569.post-83964963983116772172011-01-11T11:07:55.694-08:002011-01-11T11:07:55.694-08:00I'm not sure what your agenda is here Anonymou...I'm not sure what your agenda is here Anonymous, but did you really read the article? I say:<br /><i><br />Short of having the real thing, Alien Software's Bokeh seems to be the product of choice for simulating what some of the great lenses</i>ronmartblog.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06815090271742112506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826231802859523569.post-31481367167120840112011-01-11T09:01:11.859-08:002011-01-11T09:01:11.859-08:00Focal Point is SOO slow you might as well do it ma...Focal Point is SOO slow you might as well do it manually. I run a i7 SSD drive system with 16GB ram. It is bad programming for it to be so slow! Bokeh is fast and a MUCH cleaner finish FP leaves nasty ring around the spider. Also you have to load FP via Autmation (could be a good thing), not practical in regular plug in use. I think FP has good intentions but the speed fails it. I honestly cant see anyone make this comparison and end up likeling FOcalPoint. You should try using a file that is realistic. <br /><br />Your review sounds like its in favor of FP, and that is your opinion, but you explain that in the disclaimer as you are paid by them and no longer get coupon for Bokeh. Which is a much better program.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826231802859523569.post-33773775189836262392010-11-10T15:05:39.237-08:002010-11-10T15:05:39.237-08:00Having played around with both FocalPoint and Boke...Having played around with both FocalPoint and Bokeh, there is one huge feature in FocalPoint that is sorely missing in Bokeh - the ability to paint in a mask so it's not blurred out. For complex scenes where depth of field is not a simple circular, oval, or planar, to create a realistic bokeh, you need the ability to paint in different degrees of blurring. FocalPoint has it, but the latest version 2 of Bokeh still does not. Bokeh's got some cool effects to give highlights different shapes, etc. which is missing in FocalPoint though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826231802859523569.post-36852979799806321802009-11-24T04:32:11.192-08:002009-11-24T04:32:11.192-08:00I just came across your blog and wanted to thank y...I just came across your blog and wanted to thank you. I have been trying to find a comparison between onone focal point & Alien Skin's Bokeh. After hours of surfing the net I found your blog. It is w/o question the only true side by side comparison. I found myself reading many of your other posts for another hour. I will be keeping up w/ your blog as it is very photographer friendly.scott craighttp://www.scottcraigphotography.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826231802859523569.post-29127097504650484062009-06-09T07:11:51.845-07:002009-06-09T07:11:51.845-07:00Hi Ron,
Thanks for your review. I just wanted to ...Hi Ron,<br /><br />Thanks for your review. I just wanted to point out that Bokeh has built-in radial and planar tools, which can be used to quickly isolate a subject without using a selection mask. They can also be used to create a tilt-shift effect.<br /><br />Jim White shows how to use the radial tool in this <a href="http://www.alienskin.com/bokeh/Bokeh-Radial.aspx" rel="nofollow"> tulips video tutorial </a>. All of the examples in this <a href="http://www.alienskin.com/bokeh/Bokeh-tutorials-fake-model.aspx" rel="nofollow"> fake-model photography tutorial </a> were also created using the radial tool.<br /><br />Jim also has a <a href="http://www.alienskin.com/bokeh/Bokeh-Selection2.aspx" rel="nofollow"> baseball video tutorial </a> that shows how to use the planar tool together with a selection mask to achieve a realistic depth-of-field result.<br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />Terence Tay<br />Alien Skin SoftwareUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15904264426127522351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5826231802859523569.post-51829927858025569632009-02-25T22:31:00.000-08:002009-02-25T22:31:00.000-08:00Thanks for the review...Thanks for the review...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com