Aperture Updated to Version 2.1

Today Apple released another relatively major update to Aperture, its professional image editing and management software. Version 2.1, available through direct download or through your computer’s Software Update feature, adds a number of improvements.

According to the details available in the Software Update dialog:

Aperture 2.1 updates various features of the application and addresses issues related to performance and overall stability. The updates include the following:

• Dodge & Burn Plug-in. A sample plug-in is pre-installed, taking advantage of the Edit API introduced in Aperture 2.0. The plug-in adds brush-based tools for Dodge (Lighten), Burn (Darken), Contrast, Saturation, Sharpen and Blur.
• Customize Default Adjustment Set. You can now specify which adjustments appear by default in the Adjustments Inspector/HUD.
• Updated Crop Tool. A simplified UI makes it easier to preserve an image’s original aspect ratio, match the aspect ratio of your display, or use one of the standard preset aspect ratios.
• Sorting in All Projects View. A contextual menu allows you to sort the All Projects view in ascending or descending date order.
• Show on Map. A contextual menu allows you to choose the Show on Map by right-clicking (or Control-clicking) on an image that contains GPS data.
• Access to Toolbar on Second Display. When using multiple displays in Full Screen mode, the Full Screen toolbar is now accessible on a second display.
• “Snapshots” book theme. This additional theme includes new “photo border” frames in which to place images.
• Flip Images. You can now flip images horizontally or vertically within Aperture.
• Vignette. The range of gamma and exposure settings available has been expanded.
• Save Books as JPEG or TIFF images. Automator actions have been added to Save as PDF pop-up menu in the Print Book window to automatically generate JPEG or TIFF images from book pages.
• Update EXIF from Master. This command allows Aperture to reread EXIF from a master images after they have been imported.
• Extended AppleScript support. The “Reveal” verb in the AppleScript dictionary has been extended to include containers such as projects and albums.

The update includes fixes that impact the a number of areas, including:

• Image import
• Image migration
• Erasing memory cards after import
• Quick Preview
• Batch Change
• Auto-stacking
• All Projects view
• Tooltips
• Smart Albums
• Tethering
• Adjustments inspector
• Viewer
• Loupe
• White Balance
• Definition
• Lift & Stamp
• Handling of externally edited images
• Reconnecting referenced files
• Keyboard customization
• Deleting images
• Metadata presets
• Book themes
• Borderless printing
• Web Page/Web Journal export
• Exporting versions
• Export Plug-in support
• AppleScript support

Improvements

I’m pretty excited to sample most of the major improvements listed above. Short of the “Snapshots” book theme, they all seem pretty worthwhile. I would really love to see some more work done on the web gallery functionality. Lightroom definitely holds the upper hand there…no surprise since they own Flash.

Well, download and enjoy. If you don’t have Aperture, it is available as a 30-day free trial. If you have Aperture 1.0, the upgrade to version 2 is $99. The full install is $199 (and quite a bargain, if you ask me).

See more posts about Aperture here.