MEPIS Community Forum

If anyone has kept up with Commercial Software for Photography, Bibble Pro was one of the few high quality products that offered a Linux version, with very fast raw conversion speed and loads of image management and editing features. See more about Bibble Pro 5 here:

http://www.bibblelabs.com/products/bibble5/

Well... Corel purchased Bibble Labs and has now released Aftershot Pro based on Bibble, and it's still cross platform with versions for Windows, OS X and Linux. See more about it here:

http://www.corel.com/corel/product/inde ... rod4670071

Corel is selling Aftershot Pro for $99. Bibble Lite was running $99, but Bibble Pro was running $199 (more features, and the Pro version allowed you to use the same license key on more than one OS). So, from outward appearance, it's a good deal compared to Bibble Pro (since you can get Aftershot Pro for the same price that Bibble Lite was selling for)

Also, they have an offer where existing Bibble users can buy the new Corel Aftershot Pro product for only $19.99 right now. See the link at the bottom of this page:

http://bibblelabs.com/press/pr20120109.html

I just bought it this morning and downloaded the 32 bit and 64 bit .deb files for it. Note that It doesn't appear to care if you've got an existing install of Bibble Pro or not, as the license key works fine if you plug it into a trial install of Aftershot Pro to make it full/registered in an OS without Bibble Pro already installed. I installed it in Mepis 11 on a PC that didn't have Bibble Pro already on it with no problems.

But, given that it's a new product, they may be doing it that way on purpose (letting anyone get it for $19.99 with no validation of an existing account) for promotion purposes. I just used the link from the bottom of that press release page to buy it for $19.99 (you'll see the license key for it on the order confirmation page after you buy it, and they'll also send you an order confirmation via e-mail with the license key in it, using the e-mail address you use to setup an account there to buy it).

This link (then select your region and you can add the download version of Aftershot Pro to your cart using the discount price):

http://aftershotpro.com/preferred_pricing.html

I won't have a chance to run it through it's paces until later, as I'm going into the hospital tmrw for surgery. But, after I'm out, I'll see how it works (and on the surface, it looks like it will work just like Bibble Pro 5, and hopefully even better).

Note that I have no affiliation with Bibble Labs or Corel, and no hidden reason to promote it. We do have a news article about the new product on our site (I'm the forums administrator for a digital camera review site). But, so does every other digital camera review site around. lol

One of our forum members passed on the info about the promo pricing to me with a link to the page about it at Bibble Labs, and I thought it was too good to pass up and bought it for my personal use for $19.99

So, I just thought I'd pass on the info about it here in case any photographers are viewing the forums, since Bibble Pro has always been one of the best tools around for photographers using Linux, with very fast raw conversion speed and lots of useful features, and Aftershot Pro looks just like Bibble Pro on the surface.

That's always been one of the weak areas with Linux (few Pro quality tools for Photographers, as Adobe doesn't offer anything like Lightroom for Linux). So, I'm glad to see Corel continuing with a Linux version after purchasing Bibble with their launch of Corel Aftershot Pro.

I wish I could have gotten in on the $20 deal. But since I'm not an avid photographer I will just use Digikam until I am settled in with Linux completely. In Windows I have been using PaintShopPro8. Which was still when Jasc owned it. However, if Corel ever offered a Linux version I think I would have to purchase that. I love my Paint Shop Pro and Photo Album set.

I do have a friend that is really getting into photography and wants me to build a new system for him in the future. He is interested in Linux but only knows about Photoshop for doing photo editing. So I am afraid that might be a stumbling block for him to go to linux. His current photo editing software is an old version of Microsoft PictureIt. I think thats the name. Its a very simple to use mass market product. What would be your recommendation for simple photo editing in Linux. And how does something like Aftershot fit into the picture? I looked at it briefly but it didn't seem as intuitive to me as PaintShop Pro did. But I think it serves a little different purpose.

I'm just asking because you sound like a photographer and I am looking at which direction would be the best to go for easy photo editing and enhancing for someone new to Linux and new to photography. My friend won't hesitate to spend the $100 for Aftershot if that's the best and easiest. But if there is something easier to get started with I will recommend that first. SO just give me a quick run down on your thoughts about photography in linux. Thanks.

Corel Aftershot Pro (formerly Bibble Pro) is very nice for image management and basic editing (white balance, tone curves, sharpening, cropping, etc.).

It's not going to give you the editing ability of Photoshop CS5. But, many photographers find that a package like Corel Aftershot Pro is great for saving a lot of time converting raw files (and it also works with jpeg files), basic image enhancement, rating, tagging and and culling images, etc., and it does most of things a typical photographer needs, saving a lot of time.

It's closest competitor for Windows and OS X would be Adobe Lightroom; where photographers would use it to import raw files into catalogs, make basic corrections for white balance, sharpening, tone curves, etc., then export them to another format if more advanced editing is needed using a product like Photoshop CS5.

Now, Corel Aftershot Pro does have a few features that Adobe Lightroom doesn't have. For example, it allows you to create layers and add regions for selective editing, where on may want to increase saturation in one area but not another, or use fill light on the bottom of photo without impacting the sky, etc; using the amount of opacity desired for the edited portions. IMO, it also has better viewing and metadata options compared to Lightroom (viewing photos without using catalogs, viewing photos from more than one catalog at a time, etc.).

Of course, Aftershot Pro runs on Linux, and Lightroom doesn't. ;-)

You can also use the same license key with multiple operating systems with Aftershot Pro. So, if you have a system with OS X, Windows 7 and Linux, you can use the product in all three.

Here's a link to a new Webinar that demonstrates a lot of it's features. The selective editing functions (creating layers with regions for editing) are demonstrated starting around 30 minutes into it (most of the first portion of the webinar is geared towards professionals doing events like weddings, where a product like AfterShot Pro can save a lot of time). It's a great product for streamlining workflow (as is Adobe Lightroom).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i633ZBya9Fc

You can see more about the features if you look at the site for Bibble Pro (Corel Aftershot Pro has the same features, as Corel just purchased Bibble Labs and relaunched the product as Aftershot Pro. You can click on one of the features (selective editing, etc). at the top of the page to see more about it:

http://www.bibblelabs.com/products/bibble5/features/

I'd suggest that your friend just download a trial version and see what he thinks about it.

As much as I like some of the open source products like digiKam, DarkTable, etc, they're really not in the same class as a product like Bibble Pro (now Corel AterShot Pro) for quickly browsing through raw files, making basic corrections, narrowing down a set of keepers, then exporting them to a usable format (jpeg, tiff, etc.) for further editing if needed, as they feel "slow as molasses" in comparison when trying to work with lots of images and make fast corrections. So, if you're working with a lot of images (especially raw files that can bring other products "to their knees" due to time needed to build previews and raw conversion time needed), a product like Aftershot Pro is great.

It would be nice to get some of this into the Wiki...