NIK 3 and PS 2021?

[Jbear]

Hi Folks,
New here, but not to Steve's work or to photography. Long hiatus from shooting but getting back to it. Kept my D500 and 200-500, but sold everything else. Have added back several lenses, and just decided to replace my D850, and next...the superteles.
While I was "away"...several iterations of PS happened and DXO NIK went from 1 (2018) to 3. So, I installed NIK 3 today and now trying to use Output Sharpener. Fires up normally, but after using the brush tool and hitting apply...the layer just disappears. I'm on a PC W10Home 64. Any insight will be immensely appreciated.
Thanks all...and thanks for having me!
-Joel

 

[dabhand16]

Are you working on the base layer or on a layer further up the stack?

 

[Jbear]

Thanks for responding Graham. I used to work on the image and then open output sharpener at the end...it's own layer. Now I'm doing most of the edits in LR, opening in PS, and sharpening. NIK makes a layer with a mask ...I work on it with the brush...click apply and the whole layer disappears. I can't even lock the layer to see if that works.
Hope that is diagnostic in some way. I am a waaaaay better photographer than a post-processor

 

[dabhand16]

I'm still on the free NIK collection from when Google owned it. Before that I did have one module from NIK and it cost about 80GBP!!! I principally use Silver FX.

Sorry I don't think I can help further but I bet Google knows a thing or two....

 

[Jbear]

I am trying that too.
DXO responded to my help ticket. Their suggestion was delete PS preferences and restart. Did that...no change. Waiting to hear what they suggest next. I know I can't be the only one to have experienced this...or can I?????

 

[dabhand16]

I just Googled this and there seems to be a fix here:

Nik Collection - Problems with Photoshop 2021

Hello, I just got my Photoshop updated to 2021 (previous version 2018). I used the Nik Collection 1.2.11 guite often with my old version so of course I installed this plugin again. But that causes peoblems in PS. Can't work with it anymore. If I open a pic, I can add one new layer with...

community.adobe.com

They speak of a fix here:

Nik Collection - Problems with Photoshop 2021

Hello, I just got my Photoshop updated to 2021 (previous version 2018). I used the Nik Collection 1.2.11 guite often with my old version so of course I installed this plugin again. But that causes peoblems in PS. Can't work with it anymore. If I open a pic, I can add one new layer with...

community.adobe.com

Yet another fix here:

An Easy Fix for Nik Collection’s Recent Crash Issues

If you are a user of one of the popular Nik Collection photo editing plugins, you have probably experienced errors in using the software recently. After Photoshop’s latest update, several users have reported that using the plugins will now force Photoshop to close when the plugin attempts to...

fstoppers.com

 

[Jbear]

Tried those...thank you. Solves some issues...creates others.
Example: With graphics card disabled, I can apply NIK OSharp but brush isn't offered. I can manually add a layer mask and paint. So...usable...not what I paid for though.
Also...the NIK toolbar doesn't load now...but I can go into filters to access.
All around weird and no help from DXO on this yet.
Honestly, I like the software but this is making me consider alternatives cuz I HATE processing! I LOVE taking pictures...that's what I want to spend my time doing...not troubleshooting software!
I guess itz all in da game...you hurd

 

[dabhand16]

A lot of people speak highly of Topaz. Never used it myself.

I've heard of others bemoaning that they have to go to file>automate>plug-in to access some/all plug-ins after PS updates. Maybe the answer lies with Adobe? Deleting the preferences folder seems to sort out a lot of PS issues. I think it also wipes your custom brushes, actions etc so if you give this a go, save all of your custom settings first.

 

[Jbear]

For the benefit of anyone else experiencing the issue...
DXO recommended uninstalling (including previous versions) and reinstall from a link they provided. I did that...no difference. I did notice that CS2021 was not in the list of location choices and had to navigate manually. They said that might be the issue and asked if CS is on my C drive (it is).
Currently...I'm using workarounds but it's a drag. I just paid for the upgrade, so not too excited about spending another $120 for Topaz (I'd need sharpening and NR). I'll see what happens as I use it more. If other issues arise...might not have a choice.
My New Year resolution is to actually learn LR and PS, as for years I've been flying by the seat of my pants. Starting with Steve's LR catalog videos...I have 10's of thousands of images...no method...no naming convention...no catalogs...UGGGHHHH

 

[dabhand16]

Look on the plus side. At least you have something to keep you occupied in any slack time you have due to any covid restrictions you have where you are. I've been in various stages of lockdown since March last year.

You can add keywords etc to one image in LR than copy to all/any other images in that folder. Easy for general stuff but ratings if you use them will be more difficult, but you can still group images to apply ratings in bulk. so you could do the general things like location/date/etc for all images then sort them into batches for the more detailed info.