Hydra 2.1.3

Hydra 2.1.3 is created as an effective editor tool using a number of regular photographs (up to four) with different exposures (darker and lighter) to create a superior one which is much closer to what one's eye can see. This is because a single photograph cannot represent the full gamut of light because of physical limitations in the sensor. This process is also known as a high dynamic range, or HDR, imaging. See the screencast tutorials for more information on how to acquire such images with your camera.

The output produced by Hydra is much closer to what your eye actually sees. You don't have to choose whether to have a beautiful sky or buildings, take 2 photos (or more) with perfect parameters for each of them, then combine them with Hydra.

The images that Hydra uses are not required to be taken with a tripod, as it is usually the case with HDR software. Hydra uses the same warping algorithm as Morph Age, which permits the alignment of images with offsets above a few pixels. This is a unique feature that means you can take photos anywhere without a tripod to later blend them in Hydra. This will change your way of making HDRs.

Major Features:

1. Input Images
   • Images (TIFF, JPEG, PNG, PSD, PDF, RAW, DNG, PEF and most other file formats)
   • Exposure Value Calculator
   • Input filters (contrast, sharpness, color temperature)
2. Output Formats
   • Hydra Documents (.hydra)
   • JPEG Images (8-bit)
   • TIFF (8-bit and 16-bit)
   • OpenEXR (32-bit) only available in the stand-alone version
3. Aperture Support
   • Import from Aperture Library
   • Export to Aperture Projects
   • Plug-In (processing within Aperture with the same interface as in the stand-alone version)
4. Application Support
   • Real-Time Preview
   • Document Saving (choice of the file name and directory)
5. Alignment
   • Advanced Automatic Image Matching Techniques (free form and homography)
   • Multi-core acceleration
   • Manual Matching with Visual Feedback
   • Non-linear Warping based on Morph Age Technology (CeedMorph)
   • Real-time Previewing
   • Special image border handling (crop or mirror)
6. Merging
   • Ultra-fast GPU accelerated HDR image merging
   • Real-time Previewing
   • Individual Image Influence Parameterization
   • Output filters (saturation, sharpness, brightness, contrast)
   • Smoothness Tuning
   • Blending Tuning
   • Navigation through exposure
   • Loupe Tool with real time 1:1 preview
7. Tone Mapping
   • Perceptive
   • Highlights Compression
   • Local Adaptation
8. User Experience
   • Elegant and Intuitive Interface (the same in the stand-alone version as in the Aperture Plug-in)
   • Zoom and Navigation for Images
   • Switch Regular and HDR Viewing
   • Fullscreen Mode with HUD
   • Connection to iLife, input from and export to iPhoto library
   • Saving/loading HDR Presets, for user-defined effects

Enhancements:

• Fixed Automatic Alignment Crash in Snow Leopard
• Fixed Fullscreen Mode in Snow Leopard

Requirements:

• Mac OS X 10.5.4 Leopard or later
• Any Intel Mac or a PowerMac G5 with at least 64MB of VRAM (GPU) required.
• Mac with Intel processor and at least 128 MB VRAM highly recommended.
• 32-bit and 64-bit architectures supported