Manual Software Hydra

Hydra 2.2

User GuideFebruary 2010

Contents

1. Welcome to Hydra 4What You Need 5

2. Installing Hydra 6Downloading Hydra 6Registering 6

3. Getting Started 7Taking Photos 7

Compact CamerasDSLR CamerasUsing a TripodiPhoto Import

Application Overview 9Document WindowInfo PanelMatching PanelLoupeFullscreen Mode

Hydra Documents 12Creating New DocumentsManaging DocumentsDocument Details

How to Create an HDR Image with Hydra 13Image AlignmentMerging Images Together

4. Hydra’s Image Processing Pipeline 16How does the image processing pipeline work? 16Importing Images 17

Importing from FilesImporting from iLife Library

Aligning Images 19Alignment methodsAutomatic AlignmentManual Alignment TuningAdding More Reference Points

Merging Images 21HDR Merging Method8-bit Blending Method

Saving Output 25

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5. Aperture welcomes HDR Imaging 26Installing the Plug-in 26Entering License Information 26Usage 28Invoking the Plug-in 28Configuring HDR Output 29

Image AlignmentTone Mapping and Visual Settings

Additional Settings: Presets and Preferences Window 31

6. Create HDR Images within Lightroom! 32Installing and registering 32HDR Processing within Lightroom 33Preferences 36

7. Preferences 37Showing Welcome Window 37Automatic Image Alignment 38Show Advanced Settings by default 38Changing Preview Quality 38Interactive Reference Point Alignment 38Use Hardware Rendering (GPU) 38

8. Troubleshooting 39

9. Keyboard Shortcuts 40

3

1. Welcome to Hydra

Hydra is an application meant for easily creating High Dynamic Range (HDR) images from a series of regular photos. HDR images go beyond the physical limitations of digital cameras and are closer to what your eyes can see.

When taking photos of landscapes, or even indoor scenes, it is usually impossible to have all parts of the image properly lit because of camera sensor physical limit. You have to choose between a right foreground but with a burnt sky (white), and a nice sky but with an underexposed foreground (dark). With Hydra, you can combine both photos as a single one with proper exposure all over.

Moreover, Hydra is meant to be an easy to use and straightforward application. It fits well the iLife experience. Photos enter the Mac through iPhoto, Hydra imports them directly from iPhoto library, process them, and then it re-exports them to iPhoto. You can then bring all this to your iPod or iPhone, as usual.

Hydra has now an Aperture Plug-In as well. So you can enjoy Hydra’s features without leaving Aperture.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Hydra 4

What You NeedHydra requires any Mac with Mac OS 10.5 Leopard, and at least 64 MB of video RAM.

Remark

In this tutorial, you need to choose menu commands, which look like this:

Choose Hydra > Register.

The first term after Choose is the name of a menu in the Hydra menu bar at the top of your computer screen. The next one is the item you choose from that menu.

Chapter 1: Welcome to Hydra 5

2. Installing Hydra

Downloading HydraHydra is provided as a zip file that you can download from our website (http://www.creaceed.com/hydra). Once downloaded, the file is automatically unzipped and saved in the “Downloads” folder. Drag and drop Hydra in the “Applications” folder.

RegisteringTo fully enable the application, you need to register your own copy of Hydra:

• First, check you are connected to the Internet. Otherwise, you won’t be able to register.

• Then, open Hydra, and choose Hydra < Register. The registration panel appears.

• There, enter your name and email address.

• Copy and paste the code you received by email in the field “License key or activation code”. Pay attention, the activation code is case sensitive.

You are now ready to use Hydra!

Chapter 2: Installing Hydra 6

http://www.ex-cinder.com




3. Getting Started

Is it the 1st time you render an HDR Image? Don’t worry, this chapter is made for you. It will teach you step by step how to use Hydra.

The first section illustrates how to take photos of the same scene with different exposure settings. The second one gives you an overview of the application and its documents. Then, we explain how to combine these photos as a single HDR shot using Hydra.

Taking PhotosTo use Hydra, you first need to take photos with different exposure settings. The main idea here is that each photo should have at least some parts of the image correctly exposed. Sometimes, you will need 2 photos, sometimes more (up to 10), depending on lighting conditions.

Camera brands offer different settings for changing exposure. We provide here a common approach that should be applicable to your particular camera. However, you should refer to your camera guidelines for specific requirements.

Compact Cameras

Nowadays, compact cameras (a.k.a. point and shoot cameras) offer fairly extensive settings to control the process. The easiest way is to set your camera into manual mode (as opposed to automatic) and change the exposure bias. This is usually expressed in EV units (Exposure Value), with 0 as a reference for a regular shot, negative values leading to underexposed photos and conversely for positive values.

To take photos with different exposures (for instance):1. Change the setting to -2 EV, and take a shot of the scene.2. Set it to 0 EV and take another one.3. Set it to +2 EV, and take a final shot.

If your camera does not have an exposure bias setting, try changing shutter speed (a.k.a. exposure time) and/or aperture. Changing these settings impacts the corresponding EV as follows:

• Doubling the exposure time increases the EV by one.

• Doubling the aperture (f-number) increases the EV by two.

Depending on your camera, these settings may be expressed differently. Therefore, we encourage you to check this in your camera user guide.

Chapter 3: Getting Started 7

Chapter for HDR newbies

If possible, it is usually better to change exposure time instead of aperture because changing aperture affects not only image brightness (what we need to change between shots) but also the depth of field. And merging images with different depth of fields will lead to artifacts such as ghost edges.

DSLR Cameras

DSLR cameras offer more accurate control when taking pictures. Automatic mode can add different post-processing filters to your images which could mislead Hydra. That’s the reason why we usually recommend to take photos in one of the manual modes (Program, P - Shutter Priority, S or Tv - Aperture Priority, S or Av - Full Manual, M).

As for compact cameras, some DSLRs have an exposure bias setting, where you can conveniently choose -1EV, 0EV, and +1EV for instance.

DSLRs sometimes have a bracketing option, meaning that you can automatically change the exposure setting between shots, basically shooting 3 times to have different exposures of the same scene.

We usually recommend taking 5 or 6 shots with different settings, then choosing a representative subset of 3 with appropriate exposure everywhere.

The same remark stands here that changing the exposure time between shots is usually preferable to changing the aperture to have the same depth of field in the various photos.

Using a Tripod

Using a tripod is not required by Hydra. Hydra actually uses the same warping technology as Morph Age which enables it to align images despite motion or displacement between shots.

However, stable and sharp images are always better than blurry images especially for making an HDR. Using a tripod is still possible with Hydra if you want. You just have to skip the alignment process.

iPhoto Import

Simply plug your camera to your Mac. iPhoto will ask you to import them, which you can reasonably accept. You will be able to add these photos to Hydra directly from your iPhoto library.


Application Overview

Document Window

Each document, you open or create in Hydra, is associated with a document window.

The document window will be your working environment for editing your photos and it is also where most visual things happen.

In the document window you can see:

• Imported image stamps in all modes except Matching

• Selected Image or HDR Preview.

The buttons at the bottom of the document window allow you to:

• add a new photograph

• open the Info panel

• enter fullscreen editing

• show or hide the loupe

• compare the HDR result to any of the original images (from A to J).


Info Panel

The Info panel is where you control the various aspects of image processing in Hydra, as described in chapter 4.

It is visible by default, even in fullscreen mode. After closing it, you can bring it back by clicking the “i” button on the document window, or clicking Command + I.

The Info panel is now available in 2 versions:

• only basic options are shown by default (Picture 1)

• pro options are shown in addition to basic options (Picture 2). You access all pro options by clicking the button “Pro” in the top right corner of the Info panel.

Picture 1: Import Basic options Picture 2: Import Pro Options

Matching Panel

When you choose the Align option of the Info panel, Hydra automatically opens the matching panel. It allows you to manually locate corresponding points in the various images as described in more details in chapter 4. You can move from one point to the other by clicking Tab.


Loupe

At any time, you can open or close the Loupe Tool by clicking or pressing Command + L. The loupe enables you to see full quality (1:1 zoom) details in the same way as it will appear in the rendered image. When changing settings in the Info panel, the loupe will typically recompute its content in the background.

Using the Loupe, you can also navigate in the image. You just have to click and drag inside the loupe.

When you are aligning points, you can quickly show the point location in the loupe by double clicking the point in the document window or in the Alignment panel, or by holding the Control key and dragging a point in the Alignment panel.

Fullscreen Mode

At any time during editing, you can switch to fullscreen mode for a more

comfortable workspace. Click the Fullscreen button or Command + F. Click Command + F again or Escape to come back to regular windows.

In fullscreen mode you can show any image you imported into Hydra as well as the HDR output.


Hydra DocumentsHydra documents always store the original images so that you can re-create at any time a new HDR with different composition settings, with no loss, or even at a later time when new features are introduced in the application.

Creating New Documents

You can easily create a new document as in most Mac applications:

• Choose File > New

• Or press Command + N.

Managing Documents

To open an existing Hydra document:

• Double-click the document from the Finder

• Or choose File > Open... in Hydra

• Or press Command + O.

To save a document:

• Choose File > Save As...

• Or press Command + S.

Document Details

Hydra documents are actually file packages, meaning that you can always inspect package contents from the Finder to retrieve original image files.


How to Create an HDR Image with Hydra1. Open Hydra by double-clicking its icon in the Finder. 2. Hydra creates an empty, untitled document for you.

3. From there, you can either locate some pictures on your disk and drag and drop them in the document, or simply browse your iPhoto library from within Hydra. We’ll do the latter.

4. In the Info panel, click the media browser icon, , and choose the photos you want to import into Hydra.

5. Select up to 10 photographs and drag and drop them into Hydra document.

6. From now on, 2 additional steps are required: image alignment and merging.


Image Alignment

As images are usually taken without a tripod, they need to be aligned. Hydra supports automatic alignment, and even offers the possibility of manually tuning it. We’ll stay with the automatic method at this time.

7. Choose the Align option in the Info panel (or Command + 2).

8. Click the Auto Align Images button. 9. Hydra adds a number of reference points (shown as dark and red squares) to

your images. These points are automatically located on each input image and cause a warping that fits the images together. All images are aligned to the reference one (the one with a bullet •).


Merging Images Together10. The final step is to merge the images together. Hydra will use the part properly

exposed of each input image.

In the Info panel, choose the Merge option (or Command + 3).

11. Select Tone Mapped and tune the rendered effect in real time by moving the sliders Exposure and Mix.

12. When satisfied with the preview, click Render. 13. Then, choose the location, the file name and the file format. You can also send

your HDR Image directly to iPhoto or Aperture. When you are done, click Render.

14. Congratulations, you’ve just rendered your first HDR image using Hydra 2.1!


4. Hydra’s Image Processing Pipeline

How does the image processing pipeline work?Photo Import:You import from 1 to 10 JPEG or RAW photos into Hydra. Although you typically use at least 2 or 3 photos, working with a single RAW photo as Hydra input is also supported, as RAW images can have a much higher dynamic range than JPEGs.

Pre-processing: you ask Hydra to align images either automatically or manually (if requested), and they are adjusted in terms of sharpness, contrast and color temperature. The exposure value of each image can be overridden, which will impact the next step, the merge process. At this stage, individual images can be exported with the warping effect applied (alignment), (0).

Merging: Hydra merges them and renders the final output. Images are then merged based on their individual exposure value. Images are combined into a single high dynamic range image (32-bit floating-point). When choosing OpenEXR as output format, you get the output of the merge box (1).

The Exposure Correction permits to navigate into the computed HDR image. You can make it brighter or darker to inspect details at various exposure values. If no tone mapping option is activated, a 8-bit file can be exported at this step (2).

Tone Mapping is then applied. It converts a 32-bit HDR image to a regular 8-bit image that can be printed or displayed on traditional screens. Different tone mapping techniques are proposed, leading to different results.

Finally, a post-processing step is applied to further enhance the output. This includes sharpness, contrast, and color saturation. You typically save this to a file as final output (3) when tone mapping is active and a 8-bit file format is chosen for output.

Hydra keeps a 32-bit pipeline as long as possible in the image processing chain to preserve maximum information from the input images.

JPEG or RAW

Pre Processing

Pre Processing

MergeExposure Correction

Tone Mapping

Post Processing

8 or 16-bit 32-bit 8-bit

1

2

3

OpenEXR or 32-bit TIFF

8-bit TIFF or JPEG 8-bit TIFF or JPEG

Aligned TIFF0Possible file outputs

Chapter 4: Hydra’s Image Processing Pipeline 16

Chapter for experienced HDR users

Importing ImagesThe images you import into Hydra must have the same size and must ideally come directly from the camera (some parameter tags from the camera may be used at various stages of the pipeline for more accurate processing, if available).

Hydra supports any image file formats: JPG, TIFF, PEF, DNG and RAW*. They are internally converted to a high quality 32-bit representation.

* Hydra supports RAW format for cameras compatible with Aperture.

If your camera is not supported, you can convert your RAW images to DNG format with a free application called DNG Converter from Adobe, Inc. (you can download it from http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3893).

Hydra names imported images alphabetically from A to J (maximum 10 images). The image used as a reference for aligning images is marked with a dot (•), meaning other images will be aligned against that one.

In the Import option, you can provide relative exposure settings (or stops) for input photos. Click the override exposure button and provide a value.

Importing from Files

You can import image files into Hydra in 2 ways:

• Choose File > Import Images and select a number of images (up to 10)

• Drag and drop the image files directly in the document window.


http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3893

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3893

Importing from iLife Library

To show the iLife library browser, click this button in the Info panel (Import option). In the browser, you can navigate through your photo collections, select the ones you want and drag and drop them directly into your Hydra document.


Aligning ImagesPhotos are aligned either automatically or manually in full quality. Hydra uses 2 techniques to provide unmatched alignment of pictures:

• a smart correspondence method for identifying motion between shots

• the same advanced warping technique as Morph Age.

As a result, you don’t have to use a tripod when you take photos.

Alignment methods

By clicking the pro button of the Align option, you can choose the alignment method to use:

• Hydra uses the constrained warping (a.k.a. homography) method by default: When you move a reference point, it warps the whole image. You can already have very good results with only 4 reference points. It does a very good job for little distortions.

• Unconstrained Warping (a.k.a. free form) method. It warps the image locally. You should use this alignment method when you have to distort images a lot. However, you need much more reference points to get good results and it could lead to some artifacts in your HDR output image.

You can see the whole list of reference points used on your photographs. You can

easily remove one by clicking .


Automatic Alignment

To execute automatic alignment, click the Auto Align Images button from the Info panel (Align option). This creates a number of reference points on one image, which are automatically identified and located on the other images. These points are represented as colored squares in the document window.

You can specify the point density of the automatic method by moving the corresponding slider. Increasing the reference point density means that more points will be created. This is usually a good idea when there are enough details in the image.

You can select and move these points respectively with the mouse and you can remove a point with the Delete key.

Manual Alignment Tuning

In rare circumstances, image alignment may be inaccurate or even fail, usually because of a lack of contrast. For this reason, Hydra has a manual mode for adjusting reference points in different images.

To adjust the correspondence, simply move the images under the cross in a way that they are centered on the same detail on every image. This is made on the full resolution image at a 1:1 zoom (native resolution), but you can zoom further if needed.


If an image is too dark (or too bright) and the image details cannot be identified in it, simply uncheck the corresponding Match button, so that it isn’t used for that particular image.

You can move easily from one reference point to the next by clicking the Tab key.

Adding More Reference Points

You can always add more reference points by first selecting the Add Point tool and clicking at the desired location in the image. Then you adjust its position in various images through the Matching panel.

Merging ImagesYou now have to merge your aligned images so that Hydra will render an image with the appropriate lighting, and which picks the best parts of each input photographs.

From the Merge option, you can choose between 2 methods to achieve this:

• The HDR merging method combines input photos to create a true HDR, 32-bit per component image. Computed (or overridden) exposure of input photos impacts directly the result of this merging process. When using the HDR merging method, you also have the opportunity to use Tone Mapping. This method was introduced in Hydra 1.5 and is the preferred merging method.

• The 8-bit method (inherited from Hydra 1.0.).

Remark: We advise you to use HDR merging because the rendered images are usually of better quality.


HDR Merging Method

It constructs an HDR image from individual photos (which have first been aligned). For this process to succeed, relative exposure settings (or stops) for input photos must be either known (from EXIF tags) or provided by the user. To override exposure settings from the Import panel, click the override exposure button and provide a value.

Hydra computes an EV-histogram for the resulting HDR image. The HDR histogram is represents the merged, 32-bit image before tone mapping. It shows the repartition of light between dark and bright values, but unlike regular histograms, it is represented on a logarithmic scale (EV).

The LDR histogram represents the currently displayed preview, it is a regular 8-bit histogram with a 0-255 scale.

Histograms are computed in a separate thread to keep overall interactivity. They are displayed by clicking the HDR button in the Merge option of the Info panel:

You can change the displayed exposure of the HDR image by moving the exposure slider, virtually traveling through the light intensities of your image.

There is no way to show the entire dynamics of the image as it is more than what can be shown on regular display. To see something that looks like what human eyes see, you have to use Tone Mapping.

Tone Mapping

This technique adapts high dynamics range images to represent them on more classical displays, 8-bit screens or printers. It allows a conversion of a 32-bit image to 8-bit per component JPG or TIFF. This is typically what you should use to put your photos on the web, send them by mail, or print them.

There are 3 Tone Mapping methods:

• Perceptive which will mimic human perception. This tone mapper typically gives the most interesting result but takes more time to compute an image. This is the one used by default in Hydra 2.1.


HDR Histogram

LDR Histogram

• Highlight Compression will compress the larger light values in a way that they fit the 8-bit dynamics. But because the eye has a non-linear sensitivity, gamma correction has to be applied to avoid an undesired washed-out effect.

• Local Adaptation will use a luminance map to pull down exposure where light is higher. This luminance map is derived from the image itself.

8-bit Blending Method

This is a legacy method that can still give good result for certain types of input images, but HDR merging in usually preferred.

You can change blending parameters through the Merge option in the Info panel.

Image Relative Influence

The part just below the top button of the Merge option is the resulting image histogram, which shows how tones are distributed in that image. The left part of the graph is for the dark parts of the image, while the right part is for the bright parts. Higher graph value means there are more pixels in that luminosity.

This histogram is not static though. It has sliders that you can move to change the relative influence that each input image has on the output.


Moving the vertical line separating A and B to the left will decrease A’s influence on the output, and increase B’s influence (and conversely). When you click the HDR button, you see that change in real time in the document window.

Smoothness and Blending Parameters

These parameters are available just below the histogram representation.

The smoothness parameter basically tells how smooth the mixing between image A and image B will be. With a smoothness of zero, the transition between the A area and the B area will be rough:

On the contrary, increasing the smoothness will soften the transitions:

Depending on the effect you want, increase or decrease this parameter.

The blending parameter can be thought of as a kind of global opacity. A value of zero means that images will be opaque in their respective areas. Conversely, increasing this value means that the result will be a combination of A, B, and C at every pixel location. An image can then contribute outside of the area where it has not the best exposure. This parameter is especially useful to decrease the “artificial” effect when creating a blending of landscapes (more difficult to expose).

The correct parameter combination depends on input images and on the expected result. The realtime preview helps you to choose that combination.


Saving OutputOnce satisfied with the preview, simply click the Render button.

There, you can choose:

• the file name

• the file location

• whether you want your HDR image to be exported to iPhoto or to Aperture

• whether you want your HDR image to be opened using Preview.

You can also choose the output file format:

• Jpeg for a smaller file size

• TIFF to avoid re-compression artifacts

• OpenEXR (with the HDR merging method) to preserve the entire dynamics range of the internal Hydra pipeline. Such images can be further modified in Adobe Photoshop (or other editing applications).

Click the Render button, and Hydra computes the full resolution output (same resolution as input images).


5. Aperture welcomes HDR Imaging

Hydra’s Plug-In enables you to do HDR Imaging within Aperture. In this chapter, we first explain how to install the Plug-In and how to register. Then, you will learn how the Plug-In works and how to change its settings. As of version 2.0, the Aperture Plug-In is much more similar to Hydra’s stand-alone version.

Installing the Plug-InBefore installing Hydra and its Plug-In, please check that you installed Aperture properly.

After downloading Hydra, the zip file is automatically unzipped and saved in the “Downloads” folder. Double-click the following icon to launch automatically the Plug-In installation.

Once the installation is complete, you can open Aperture.

Entering License InformationYou need to register the Plug-In separately from your Hydra registration.

That’s the reason why, even if you have already registered Hydra, you will see following message when starting the Plug-In in Aperture.

Click “OK” to open the window “Hydra HDR Processing”.

Chapter 5: Aperture welcomes HDR Imaging 26

Choose “Registration...” to open the registration panel.

Copy and paste the activation code you used to register Hydra in the field “License key”, and enter your name and email address.

You are now ready to use Hydra’s Plug-In for Aperture.


UsageEvery Hydra feature is available in the window “Hydra HDR Processing” within Aperture: Image Alignment, HDR Merging, Tone Mapping,...

Hydra’s features are presented in detail in chapters 3 and 4 above. Therefore, we only describe the Plug-In interface.

Remark: you can resize the window “Hydra HDR Processing” as you like.

Invoking the Plug-InSelect the photos you want to use to create an HDR image.

Click right and choose “Edit with” and then “Hydra HDR Processing”.

The window “Hydra HDR Processing” appears.


Configuring HDR Output

Image Alignment

You can align images either automatically or manually as in Hydra’s stand-alone version. Please refer to the documentation of the previous chapter for more information on how to use this tool.

When you select the Align option of the Info panel, Hydra’s Plug-In version for Aperture automatically opens the Matching panel and the Loupe tool.

Hydra adds a number of reference points to your images (colored squares).


Tone Mapping and Visual Settings

Choose your Tone Mapping method and move the sliders. You will see the result in real time. Please refer to the documentation of the previous chapter for more information on how to use this tool.

When you are satisfied with the output image, click the button “Save”.

The HDR Image is being rendered.

Congratulations! You have just rendered your first HDR image using Hydra’s Plug-In for Aperture. It is automatically imported into your Aperture project.


Additional Settings: Presets and Preferences WindowFrom the window “HDR Image Processing”, you have access to :

• the Presets Window where you will find the presets you saved when using Aperture (left column), the parameter names and their value (right column). It is the place where you select the presets you want to use.

• the Preferences Window where you can change a few options (viewing mode, preview quality...) or add a keyword to your project.


6. Create HDR Images within Lightroom!

From now on, a Plug-In is also available for Lightroom, the application for passionate photographers developed by Adobe. It enables you to do HDR Imaging within Lightroom. In this chapter, we first explain how to install the Plug-In. Then, you will learn how the Plug-In works.

Installing and registering1. The Lightroom Plug-In talks directly with Hydra. Therefore, you first have to

download, install and register the stand-alone version of Hydra before using the Lightroom Plug-In.

Go to chapter 2 of this guide for more information.

2. Open Hydra, choose Hydra > Install Lightroom Plug-In...

3. Hydra confirms the Lightroom Plug-In was installed successfully. In the future, you can access the HDR Plug-In right from within Lightroom.

4. Quit Hydra.

You are now ready to use Hydra from within Lightroom!

Chapter 6: Create HDR Images within Lightroom! 32

New as of Hydra 2.2: HDR Plug-In for Lightroom 2

HDR Processing within LightroomThanks to Hydra Plug-In, you can use the photos available in Lightroom to render an HDR image. It will then be reimported into your Lightroom library. So, you don’t need to perform additional steps like looking for pictures in the Finder or saving the HDR image on the Desktop anymore.

We only describe the Plug-In interface below. Hydra’s features are presented in detail in chapters 3 and 4 above.

1. Within Lightroom, select the pictures to be used for creating an HDR image.

2. Click Export...


3. Change Hydra options if need be:

✦ Locate the stand-alone version of Hydra (if the default location is incorrect).

✦ Choose the file format of the HDR image to be rendered by Hydra (JPEG, 8-bit TIFF, 16-bit TIFF or OpenEXR).

✦ Type the location where the HDR image should be saved (if different from the input image location).

✦ Choose if the HDR image should be reimported into Lightroom or not.

✦ Choose if the HDR image should be stacked with the input images or not.

Remark: in this example, we chose to reimport the HDR image into Lightroom, and to stack it with the input photos.

4. Click Export to launch Hydra HDR Processing.

5. Follow the steps for creating an HDR image (aligning and merging images, post-processing...).

6. When satisfied with the HDR image preview, click Render.

7. The HDR image is being rendered.


8. The HDR image is imported into Lightroom, and stacked with the input photos.

9. Click to show what’s in the stack.


10.Congratulations! You have just rendered your first HDR image using Hydra’s Lightroom Plug-In!

PreferencesAs the Lightroom Plug-In talks directly with Hydra, you need to set the preferences in the stand-alone version. Read the next chapter for more information.


7. Preferences

You can change a few options that are global to Hydra in the Preferences window.

You access to the Preferences window by choosing Hydra > Preferences. or alternatively with the ⌘-comma (,) key combination. You can always revert changes to their factory defaults by clicking the Restore all Defaults button.

Showing Welcome WindowYou can choose whether to show the welcome window when opening Hydra.

This welcome window shows a number of options to help you create a new document.

Chapter 7: Preferences 37

Automatic Image AlignmentHydra by default will automatically align imported images. If you don’t want Hydra to perform this for you, simply uncheck that option. You can always start that automatic alignment by clicking the Auto Align Images button in the Info panel.

Show Advanced Settings by defaultBy checking this box, you ask Hydra to show all pro settings on the Info panel whether you want to import, align or merge images.

We advise you to check this box if you are already accustomed to HDR Imaging.

Changing Preview QualityHydra provides an interactive preview of the whole HDR process at a lower resolution than the original images. The full resolution image is only computed when clicking the Render button.

The preview quality (resolution) can be increased or decreased to better match the computing capacity of your Mac. A Mac with more memory and a good graphic card will be able to show a higher resolution preview while a less powerful one will need to reduce this setting to keep Hydra responsiveness.

Interactive Reference Point AlignmentThis option is highly related to how powerful your computer is:

• If you check the box: when you move a point in the manual alignment window, the same move will be applied in real time to the image in Hydra’s document window. To achieve this, you need a powerful computer (high-end MacPro & MacBook Pro).

• If you leave the box unchecked: when you move a point in the manual alignment window, the same move won’t be applied in real time.

Use Hardware Rendering (GPU)• Check the option and your graphics card (GPU) is going to be used for rendering

the HDR Image. We advise you to use this method if you have a powerful computer (high-end MacPro or MacBook Pro).

• Leave the box unchecked and it’s the CPU which is going to be used for rendering the HDR Image. This method is far better for other laptops and computers.

This choice has no effect whatsoever on image quality.

After changing this particular setting, you need to save your Hydra’s document and then to reopen it. Otherwise, your choice won’t be applied.

Chapter 7: Preferences 38

8. Troubleshooting

Do you need some help?

There are 3 ways for you to answer your questions about Hydra:

• Go to http://www.creaceed.com/hydra/faq.html where we regularly add new FAQs about Hydra

• or simply take part in our discussion groups on http://www.creaceed.com/forums.html

• or write to [email protected].

Chapter 8: Troubleshooting 39

http://www.creaceed.com/hydra/faq.html

http://www.creaceed.com/hydra/faq.html

http://www.creaceed.com/forums.html




mailto:[email protected]


9. Keyboard Shortcuts

Action Shortcut

New Document Command + N

Open Document Command + O

Save Document Command + S

Close Document Command + W

Enter Fullscreen Command + F

Show Inspector Command + I

Import option Command + 1

Align option Command + 2

Merge option Command + 3

Render HDR Image Command + R

Delete a reference point Command + Backspace

Move to the next reference point in Matching panel

Tab

Show Loupe Command + L

Manage Presets Command + P

Chapter 9: Keyboard Shortcuts 40

www.creaceed.com

Creaceed, a Belgian company with a passionate team experienced in signal and image processing, provides intuitive and easy to use creative applications to Mac professionals and consumers: Hydra (HDR imaging), Elasty HD (editing QuickTime movies), Morph Age (morphing images/movies), and Prizmo (scanning with a digital camera and OCR in 10 languages). Creaceed also provides Vocalia, a speech recognition application in 6 languages, to iPhone users.

© 2010 Creaceed. All rights reserved.

Responsible Editor : Sandrine Loiseau, [email protected]

HYDRA - USGU/EN - 02/2010

http://www.creaceed.com

http://www.creaceed.com



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