Cyberlink Photodirector 2011



CyberLink PhotoDirector 2011 - People Beautifier. PhotoDirector 2011 comes from the company behind PowerDirector, a top-rated video-editing tool. It's an all-in-one photography program for organizing, editing, enhancing, and sharing your digital.

PRESS RELEASE

Experiment with PhotoDirector 2011 Beta and get an official release version for free

London - May 31, 2011 - CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW) is excited to introduce PhotoDirector 2011 Beta by presenting a limited time opportunity to receive the official release version for free. PhotoDirector 2011 Beta allows users to experiment with a vast array of photo workflow, editing and management tools before the official release version is launched in June, 2011. Any user who downloads the beta version and provides valid feedback of their experience by June 20th will receive the official release version for free.

PhotoDirector 2011 transforms your photography by smoothing the flow from the time an image is imported to your PC to its final output. PhotoDirector features a vast array of cutting edge editing tools, including amasing Adjustment Brushes, White Balance, Noise Reduction and many more. Save your favourite enhancements as adjustment presets and upload to DirectorZone.com directly from PhotoDirector 2011, to share them with other users and download an unlimited number of presets created by other users. Native rendering of RAW files from Canon and Nikon cameras allows the user to experience stunningly authentic colour when decoding RAW file formats. With a vast array of dynamic features, PhotoDirector is engineered to bring out the absolute best of your photography.

'PhotoDirector 2011 is the perfect solution for anyone who is passionate about photography,' said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. 'We greatly value our customers' feedback and input and through the PhotoDirector 2011 Beta Program we have an excellent opportunity to work closely with the end user and introduce them to new photo editing software that will transform their photography.'

CyberLink will be introducing PhotoDirector 2011 at Computex 2011 in Suites 1047 and 1048 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei and invites all visitors to join CyberLink for an exciting showcase of its innovative photo software.

For more information regarding CyberLink and the PhotoDirector 2011 Beta Program please visit www.cyberlink.com.

About CyberLink

CyberLink Corp is the leader and pioneer in enabling digital multimedia on PCs, CEs and mobile devices through the use of video editing software, video player software, and other multimedia solutions. Backed by a group of high-caliber software engineers, CyberLink owns its core codec and a number of patented technologies. CyberLink has built a solid reputation for delivering high-quality, interoperable, and fast time-to-market solutions that keep our OEM partners on the leading edge. Our business partners include leaders in the PC industry: top-5 desktop and notebook providers, optical drive manufacturers and graphic-card makers. Today, CyberLink's software solutions include: complete applications for Blu-ray Disc playback and creation; digital home entertainment; and touch-enabled media solution. With customers spanning from multi-national corporations to small/medium-sized businesses, and from power users to home users, CyberLink has enjoyed rapid and consistent growth leading to a record breaking IPO in 2000 on the Taiwan Over The Counter Exchange (OTC: 5203). Currently, CyberLink is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: 5203.TW). CyberLink's worldwide headquarters is located in Taipei. To keep up with market demands, CyberLink has operations in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, including Japan. For more information, please visit CyberLink's website at www.cyberlink.com.

CyberLink has many years experience with video, but none at all with photo editing, and so you might have expected the company's first digital imaging product to be a little on the basic side.

But you'd be wrong. PhotoDirector 2011 isn't another standard editor. Rather, it's a high-end photo management and workflow app that bears a strong resemblance to Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom 3.x, and is similarly packed with professional features.

Open the program, for instance, and you'll find the workflow is clearly defined into three stages. The first, 'Library', is where you import and organize your images; the 'Adjustment' section allows you to enhance, improve and generally get more from them, while the final 'Slideshow' module helps you to share them with the world.

The initial photo import process is quick and easy, while also delivering more functionality than we'd expected. So you're not just choosing a few JPEGs that will then appear in a list. PhotoDirector has good support for a host of RAW formats (particularly Canon and Nikon); can also exclude possible duplicates from your selected images; is able to copy the chosen photos to a folder you specify; and can even organize these into subfolders according to the date they were taken.

Once your photos are imported then a highly configurable browser makes it straightforward to locate the images you need. This can display your collection with thumbnails or text details (including file name, capture date and other metadata). You're able to view one, two, or your selected images side-by-side for quick comparisons -- or view any photo full-screen at a click.

And if that's not enough, you can also filter your photos by various flags, or by whatever combination of criteria you choose: file or folder name, camera, capture date, shutter speed, ISO speed rating and more.

Cyberlink Photodirector 2011

Other options are a little more limited. Text tagging is fairly basic, for instance, and while you can display image metadata, PhotoDirector only allows you to edit the copyright tag. Still, on balance the Library provides an intuitive interface that makes it easy to organize your images and zoom in on any of particular interest.

Photo Corrections

If you spot an image that isn't up to your usual standards, then clicking the Adjustment button will allow you to apply corrections, either manually or via built-in one-click presets.

The manual section provides a Lightroom-like pane, packed with sliders, where you can tweak white balance, tone, brightness, contrast, saturation, levels, HSL and more.

You also get good quality sharpening and noise reduction tools, effective vignetting effect and vignette removal options and of course the ability to crop or rotate an image as necessary.

But perhaps most useful are the 'Regional Adjustment Tools', a smarter set of options that deliver finer control over the tweaks on offer. Spot Removal and Red-Eye tools deliver great results (and again bear a strong resemblance to Lightroom); a very configurable Adjustment Brush (with an accurate 'fit to edges' option) allows you to restrict corrections to the area you define; and the excellent Gradient Mask can apply your tweaks gradually across a large area of the photo.

Or if that all sounds too much like hard work, just click the Presets tab and you'll find a selection of built-in corrections which you can apply at a click: 'Scenery -- Blue skies', 'People -- Soft skin tone', 'B&W --Warm', or whatever it might be. (Other presets are available for download, or you can create new ones of your own.)

Cyberlink Photodirector 2011

But if you make a mistake, don't worry, it's easy to fix, and not just via Undo. An 'Adjustment History' dialog shows all the changes you've made to a photo, and you can revert to any of the previous versions at a click.

What you won't get here, though, are high-end tools like Lightroom's Lens Corrections, Camera Calibration or export plugins. PhotoDirector does provide a capable feature set that goes well beyond the basics, though, so don't let that put you off: the program may still provide just about everything you need.

Slideshow

When you need to share a photo or two right away then PhotoDirector can help; in just a click or two you can have any selected images uploaded to your Flickr or Facebook accounts.

Clicking the Slideshow buttons provides more powerful sharing options, though. Drag and drop a few images onto the work area and you're able to add text captions, define background music and transition effects (if only from a selection of three), and choose the duration each slide will be displayed.

And when you're done, the images may be exported as a complete slideshow. PhotoDirector doesn't have Lightroom's JPEG or PDF Slideshow options, it's video only, but this works well. The program can export videos in three formats (H.264/AVC, MPEG-4, WMV) and multiple resolutions up to 1080p, or you can upload directly to your YouTube account: just like most of the rest of PhotoDirector 2011, it's all very convenient and easy to use.

MSRP is $99.95, and the software runs on Windows XP, Vista and 7 (all 32 and 64-bit editions).