User Guide

User Guide Neat Image

20-Nov-03

11. Questions and Answers

11.1. General questions

Q What is the difference between Demo, Home, Pro and Pro+ editions of Neat Image?

A The Demo edition of Neat Image has some of the advanced functionality disabled. In particular, it does

not save images in TIFF and BMP formats and does not copy to the clipboard (the Demo edition only

saves images in JPEG). Pro+ includes a plug-in version of the filter. Please see the Detailed feature

map for more information.

Q Should I uninstall Demo prior to installing Home / Pro / Pro+ edition?

A This is not necessary. However, you will not need Demo anymore because you are installing the Home

/ Pro / Pro+ edition, which has all the functionality of Demo plus added features. To uninstall Demo,

use the Uninstall shortcut in the Windows Start menu: Start menu->Programs->Neat Image

Demo->Uninstall. That will remove Demo. You may need to manually (re)move images and/or

profiles that you put in Neat Image Demo subfolders.

Q Should I uninstall the older version of Neat Image prior to installing a newer one?

A Yes, this is usually necessary. Please uninstall old version of Neat Image and only after that proceed to

install a new version. This will ensure that important files are not mixed up.

Q Are you going to release a Mac OS9 or OSX version?

A A Mac version of Neat Image currently is under development.

Q I think I have found a bug. How can I submit bug report?

A Please use the online bug report form

on the Neat Image web page; please fill it out to let us know all

the details necessary to reproduce the problem.

See more information about bugs in the Known issues subsection, page 47, and about bug fixes in the

file WhatsNew.txt supplied with the software (also see the History

section on the Neat Image web page

for the most up to date information).

Q What about batch processing?

A Neat Image supports batch processing starting in version 2.0. Please refer to the Queued processing

section, page 16.

Earlier versions of Neat Image (v1.x) can use Neat Batch - Batch Processing Assistant

(http://www.tawbaware.com/neatbatch.htm

), which adds a simple batch processing functionality to

Neat Image. This free software is written by Max Lyons.

Batch processing is also possible with Neat Image plug-in used via Photoshop batching mechanism.

11.2. Filtration-related questions

Q Why do I receive some crystal-like artifacts in the filtered image?

A The crystal-like artifacts (usually these are the residual JPEG compression artifacts) look like thin lines

in the filtered image. They can be easily eliminated by increasing the high frequency noise level in the

filter settings.

Note: presence of many residual artifacts is usually a consequence of using a poorly built device noise

profile or a profile built for another device and/or device mode.

Q Filtered image looks 'plastic'. Why?

A The reason is that too much filtration was applied. Let Neat Image keep some noise to have

natural-looking results. Adjust the noise reduction amounts; for example, reduce Y channel amount to

50-70%. Also, make sure the device noise profile does match the image processed. Using an