Courtesy Apple
Apple has released an update for Aperture 3. The release is available through the update section on the website, the automatic update feature or the update option under the apple menu on your computer.
The update targets stability in general and a variety of issues, namely: -
Applying adjustments such as Retouch or Chromatic Aberration
Creating and using Raw Fine Tuning presets
Viewing, adding and removing detected faces
Switching target printers and paper sizes when printing
Duplicating Smart Albums
Repairing and rebuilding Aperture libraries
Reconnecting referenced files
Working with GPS track files in Places
Searching for keywords in the Query HUD or Keyword Controls
The full list of changes is substantial and can be found here: – http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2518. One of the main improvements seems to have been in the chromatic aberration correction, which has been significantly beefed up. Occasional slow performance when updating vaults has been addressed and seconds have been added to GPS tracks to allow more accurate positioning of photographs.
My own experience with Aperture 3 has been seamless and the program has been very stable and much faster than Aperture 2. Many issues were reported soon after its release into the wild so hopefully the latest updates will clear the field of all remaining glitches.
Apple has done a remarkably good job as usual, integrating the improvements available through version 3 into the body of the software. Faces is much improved over its initial implementation in iPhoto and while many odd features are suggested as possible faces it has been staggering to see how the software deals successfully with people as they age.
Places is a great addition now that more and more images arrive geotagged. The post capture method of assigning images to places has a slightly left field logical flow and is very un-Apple like in its implementation, but once you have the measure of it, the allocation of photographs to specific locations is very easy.
Brushes takes image correction into the premier league and will markedly reduce the need to move images out of Aperture 3 into external editing software, such as Photoshop. The implementation of layers and masks is an interesting variation on what is available in Photoshop. I have not got anywhere near getting the full potential out of this tool set yet.
There are so many significant improvements it will take some time to get around the total range of options. In the meantime Aperture 3 just keeps getting better and better.
