What I’ve learned in the first 24 hours of ASP2

[JaronRH]

Good thoughts but I think your biggest obstacle is going to be rebuilding your brand. You've neglected/ignored users failed on promises and really left a bitter taste in peoples mouths. I remember beta testing AS1 (never invited to AS2) and I didn't even get a response to anything I submitted as a tester much less a user. As a result, I've since moved on to LR and have invested in plugins in the LR ecosystem. I can agree with others that AS2 isn't a 2.0 upgrade and it's certainty not enough to make me move away from my LR workflow at this time. You can't make an inferior "me too" product and expect to get users back. You need something that really makes a splash at this point in order to get users back and you need to build a track record that shows you really will/have changed.

-Jaron
J. Horst Photography

[Arnfinn]

I think one of the most popular plug-ins is the gradient filter. Did you ever thought about simply adding a gradient masking method to Bibble's layer functionality? Should be easy to implement and it would make the layer feature significantly stronger.

I totally agree, because with the plugin you are limited to a black, white or colored overlay, where with a layer you can do basically anything. I actually suggested this myself yesterday http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php ... 85#p288285

[ferdinand-paris]

I actually suggested this myself yesterday

I've been suggesting it for years. I gave up back in the B5 days because it seemed that once there was a plugin, esp a commercial one, then it wouldn't ever happen. They didn't want to cut the ground from underneath the developers. And they didn't have the resources to do everything, so they were relying on plugins to fill gaps that they didn't have the resources to fill themselves. Which is partly why so much effort went into the SDK. The best you could hope for was for the plugin to be purchased by Corel, as happened to a couple of them, but in this case it wouldn't be the same. We want to define layer regions using a gradient.

[afx]

So one easy action, work on the sticky threads in this forum "Beta Version for Testing" from Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:08 pm still sticky?
rhadamanthys

Shouldn't we blame AFX for this?

I can't make stuff sticky ;-(
One of the admins has to do it.

cheers
afx

[Greg Wood]

Greg

It's encouraging to see that you have a positive attitude to all the constructive criticism that we have made. Can I suggest that you make it clear to us which channels we should use to report bugs? As you note, many of us are frustrated that bugs we reported through the Survey Monkey page seem to have gone ignored. And there is (for marketing reasons I can understand) no mention of how to report them on the ASP2 Support tab on the Corel website. And if this is a user to user forum (as we are always being reminded) then how the [expletive deleted] are we to make sure Corel knows about the bug?

Hi Dutchmm -- this is near the top of my 'to do' list. Stay tuned.

[Greg Wood]

Greg, thank you for your thoughtful and thorough "after 24 hours" posting here on the User to User board. I hope the suits upstairs will continue to support you and your team in implementation of your plan. You folks are facing a big challenge turning things around.

Something that should be done immediately by the people running the Corel website is take down the link to an old YouTube video https://store.aftershotpro.com/1184/pur ... anner_ASP2 suggesting PaintShop Pro X4 as a companion for the AfterShot Pro. Doesn't the webmaster know PSP is in version X6? Does anyone care? Those kinds of SNAFUs make potential customers wonder who's in charge here.

Bob

Hi Bob,
I see an issue with a video on our site that I'll address, but allow me to say that in many cases, there is value in leaving older videos on the site that are still relevant and useful to those trying to learn the software. I'll try to locate that specific video and make some markups to make it more current. Thanks for the post

[Greg Wood]

Thanks for the "mea culpa", Greg. It's good that Corel is finally putting some resources and attention on AfterShot Pro. I got so fed up with the constant updates and come-ons from Corel for all their other products--notably Paint Sho Pro and Video Studio Pro. As soon as I buy one version, a newer one pops up. But nothing but silence on ASP, the only Corel program I had used regularly.

I was hoping to see some sort of video file handling in ASP--even just showing them in the library is a start. Otherwise ASP is kind of useless as an asset management tool for me if all my video files are "invisible" in the library.

Thanks.
Carl

Hi Carl,
I understand what you're looking for. This one's a bit further down on my list, but we'll definitely consider this.

[Tuvok]

Thank you Greg for your feedback, understanding en support. I have more hope now in Aftershot Pro. As a professional photographer it is important to have a great, stable application with a future. There is a lot to be done to keep up with the other applications in the market. I purchased Aftershot Pro 2 today.

I hope there will be an active beta team present for updates and future version and I am more than willing to take part of it.

[Artem]

Hi Greg,

I think I have a deja vu, because I'm pretty sure that I've already heard such kind of empty words from previous manager. Corel made such a reputation that I don't believe any promises, sorry. So, the only one thing I can evaluate, is Corel doings. And there is nothing good as well. 2 years were spent for 64-bit version? Really? I don't care about 64-bit while I have to search internet for lens profiles. I use Sony NEX with three prime lenses (20mm, 35mm and 50mm). None of it is presented in ASP2. Noise reduction that sucks open-source software? New splash screen? All that great features just for 60$? Corel gotta be stoned if they think that I'll spend that amount of money right after you broke 2-years silence. Nothing personal, Greg.

There is only one thing that can change my mind - real product support, frequent updates and high quality of existing features. But I bet that nothing will really change. Make me eat my words.

[Brainslug]

Hi Greg,

over the last couple of weeks I made several posts about my disappointment and anger about the way Corel treats their customers. So maybe it is time for me to make a more constructive contribution...
I understand that Corel is now primed to do a better job in customer care and feedback. That's great. How about providing a definitive timeline for when HDR support will be available in Linux and Mac? After all, you expect people to pay now for a feature that will or will not show up some undisclosed time in the future. By providing a timeline, and, most importantly, sticking to this time line, there might be a chance to make people believe in Corel's (so far) empty promises again. And by the end of the day, that's what we all want, right?

Cheers!

[damonlynch]

Hi Greg,

Some suggestions:

• In my opinion highlight and shadow recovery is the weakest part of the program.
• I suggest tapping a guru on sharpening to completely rework the sharpening algorithms, covering input sharpening, creative sharpening, and output sharpening.
• Can you bring the Topaz or Nik plugin guys on board? Or failing that can you emulate what Topaz has done with Clarity and Detail? There is some mighty impressive technology there.

In any case, best of luck!
Damon

[maximge]

The 2 year gap since AfterShot Pro 1 was unacceptable

In fact gap stil exists and is increasing, since ASP2 is mostly same software as ASP1 which is in turn is Bibble 5.1. Nothing serious is added since that.

You release vesion 2.0, that's good! But there is no even readme document, which is clearly describes the changes, users must guess what's is new and what is fixed.

Novadays customers expects often and "rich" releases, each release should add interesting features and fix major problems.

That's not what Corel is doing with Aftershot Pro, still many of us love the ASP, please, use its potential.

[GoremanX]

Since the last launch, Corel hasn’t met expectations.

I'll take it one step further... Corel hasn't met basic requirements for this market. Corel has managed to alienate the vast majority of a huge, loyal fan base. What were they thinking, that photographers would put their business on hold until the software caught up to their needs? We needed RAW image processing, so we went looking elsewhere to fulfill those needs. Corel has no-one to blame but themselves for losing that huge, once-loyal fan base.

[charles45]

that's one reason I do not upgrade for v2,it's almost the same as v1.
thanks

[R Frydryck]

Very nice intro to the new ASP2. Written well and lots of nice things to look forward to.

RE:(5a) Plug-ins matter big time.
They do more than you think. With the slow development from ASP1 to ASP2 I am worried that the exiting plugins may or may not happen. With the very real possibility that my favorite ones may never get down. Plugins should really have been part of the ASP2 roll-out. I am sure a lot of us are staying with ASP1 for the plugins.


Upgrade:
The upgrade price is a little weak for both the loyal base that waited, as well as for those that lost faith and moved on after so long of a wait. I think marketing dropped the ball on this one.