Apple Aperture 3 Software

What's New?

Faces - Find a Face in a Crowd

Faces automatically detects faces in your photos. Once a face is detected and identified, Faces can recognize that face and then scan your entire library -- or individual projects -- to find others just like it. It can even find a specific face in group shots. The more you use Faces, the smarter and more accurate it gets, making it easier to find shots of a particular person

Faces - Put a Name to the Face

When Faces shows you an unidentified face, simply type in the person's name. When you export your final images, the name is embedded as a keyword

Faces - Aperture Takes Faces Further

Aperture 3 expands on the power of Faces in iPhoto '09. Not only can you view the people you name across the entire library, you can now see them in individual projects. And the new Show Unnamed Faces pane displays all the detected-but-not-yet-named faces in a project to help you easily add names

Places - Organize Your Library by Location, Location, Location

If you're shooting with a GPS-enabled camera, Aperture 3 uses reverse geocoding to convert location coordinates into familiar location names, then displays those locations on the Places map. If you're using a separate GPS tracking device, the path of your photo journey appears on the map when you import a track log. You can even extract locations from iPhone tracker apps or your iPhone photos. Which means you can instantly find all your Yellowstone photos, for example, without typing the word "Yellowstone." Photos can be organized by country, state, city, or a point of interest such as Old Faithful or the park visitor center

Places - Put Your Photos on the Map

If a photo doesn't include GPS metadata, simply drag the photo to the spot on the map where you shot it. A pin appears. Then, when you're searching for photos, use the map's navigation menu to quickly find the location. When you click the pin, Aperture displays all the photos taken there

Places - Easy Course Corrections

If you need to change the location of your shot, drag the pin on the map across the street or across the country. The GPS data associated with the photo updates automatically, so you know where your photos are at all times

Brushes - Precise Brush Control

Brushes let you paint in a wide range of effects to selectively fine-tune your photos. With precise control of the size, softness, and strength of each brush, you can adjust only the parts of the image you want, leaving the rest untouched. For example, you can burn the green of a palm leaf lying on a beach to decrease the exposure and make it darker, without touching the rest of your photo. Or you can dodge just its shadow to increase the exposure and bring out the detail of the sand. No matter how much you change an image, you can always go back to the original

Brushes - Brush in Special Effects

Never before have so many special effect options been so easy to use. Smooth skin, change the color of the sky, blur the background, sharpen lines, intensify colors, and more

Brushes - Quick Brushes for Quick Fixes

Fifteen Quick Brushes handle the most common touch-up jobs with just a few strokes. Dodge and burn, for example, or add a polarizing effect. Smooth imperfections in skin, reduce saturation, or sharpen detail. All Quick Brushes are easily accessible from the tool strip

Brushes - Brush Inside the Lines

The Detect Edges option helps you make adjustments exactly where you want them. Say your image is of a dark mountain skyline against a red sunset. The brush actually sees the edge of the mountain, so you can brush color into the silhouetted mountain without splashing color into the sky. Or darken the red of the sunset without affecting the mountain. Detect Edges makes retouching easier and saves you time

Adjustment Presets - One-Click Quick Fixes

Ready-to-use Quick Fix adjustment presets sharpen images, pump up vibrancy, perform quick exposure shifts, make easy white balance changes, and recover blown highlights. You can also experiment with a variety of effects, from sepia to cross process color shifts to black-and-white in different contrast grades. Apply any combination of adjustments with a single click. And because adjustments are nondestructive in Aperture 3, another click can remove effects and return your photo to its original state

Adjustment Presets - Experiment with Different Processing Techniques and Styles

How would your photo look in sepia? Or in high-contrast black and white? What if the shot had been taken with a toy camera? Adjustment presets let you apply these effects and others instantly to a single photo or across an entire project

Adjustment Presets - Instantly See Adjustments in a Preview Screen

It's easy to see how different adjustment presets will change your image. Move your cursor over the different preset options, and a pop-up window previews the image in each effect as quickly as you can scroll

Adjustment Presets - Create Your Own Adjustment Presets

If you've created just the right look for a photo and want to apply it across a project, Aperture 3 saves you hours of work. Just save your refinements as an adjustment preset and apply it wherever and whenever you like. You can also import adjustment presets created by other Aperture users or export your own to share

Full-Screen Browser - Full-Screen Everything

Browse through your entire library in the full-screen Browser, quickly moving from project to project without leaving full-screen view. Make selects and compare them side by side. Zoom from 25 percent to 1000 percent to study details. Even browse your video. All on your brilliant Apple display

Full-Screen Browser - No Obstructions, No Distractions

You want to see your photos, not control panels. The Aperture 3 Vanishing HUD feature lets you temporarily hide the Adjustments inspector so you can work on your photos full screen, with nothing in the way. Just select the control you want and hold down the Shift key. Everything but that control melts away, leaving you an unobstructed view of your work

Full-Screen Browser - Instantly Browse Through Your Projects

With Aperture 3, browsing through your library becomes a visual feast. Use the Library Path Navigator to instantly move between projects, then view resizable thumbnails using every inch of your screen. Not only is it easier to find what you're looking for, you get a beautiful view of all the great shots you've taken

Advanced Slideshows - Use Familiar iPhoto '09 Slideshow Themes. And More.

If you're moving from iPhoto '09, the slideshows you created with themes such as Snapshot and Shatter are preserved in all their brilliance. Aperture 3 includes all iPhoto themes and two new themes: Watercolor Panels and Photo Edges. Each theme gives you a professionally designed layout, title treatment, and transitions to create a distinctive backdrop for your photos. Choose a theme, drop in some photos and HD video clips, and produce amazing slideshows in seconds

Advanced Slideshows - Combine Photos, Audio, and Video Clips in One Show

If your camera records video, you can import it into your library along with your stills and include it in your slideshow. Just drag a video clip into the slideshow as easily as you add a photo

Advanced Slideshows - Create and Edit Layered Soundtracks

To personalize your slideshow, just add music from your iTunes library (DRM-free only). Then drop in audio clips stored in your Aperture library -- voiceovers, narration, or other sounds recorded on location -- for a multilayered soundtrack. If you're including video in your slideshow, you can add the audio from the video, too

Advanced Slideshows - Tap Out the Time of Your Fades and Cuts

Talk about fingertip control. With Aperture 3, you control the pace of your slideshow with the tap of a finger. As you watch the slideshow, press the Return key to determine when each slide begins and ends. As you tap out each slide change, Aperture 3 records your custom timings

Advanced Slideshows - Add Titles, Borders, and Colors

When using the Classic and Ken Burns themes, you can add titles anywhere in the slideshow in your choice of font, size, and style. Choose borders and background colors. Scale photos. Even control fades and adjust transition times

What is Aperture?

Import - Aperture 3 Lets You Get to Work Faster

The fun begins even before you finish importing your photos. Double-click thumbnails in the Import window to view images, play videos, and hear audio files before they're fully imported. If you're on a deadline, you can begin adjusting an image even if it's still being copied from your memory card to your Mac.

While the files are importing, Aperture 3 grabs data like shutter speed, aperture, lens, and focus points and starts sorting it right away. You can even add your own keywords and automatically apply an adjustment preset on import.

For extra flexibility, Aperture lets you store your images wherever and however you like -- directly in Aperture 3, on external drives, or in their original folders. Choose to import RAW and JPEG images together or as separate images so you can work with them individually. And Aperture 3 can automatically back up your master images to a second drive during import

Organize - Organize by Faces

The popular Faces feature in iPhoto '09 comes to Aperture 3, where it has even more power. As in iPhoto, Faces uses face detection technology to find faces in your photos. Once you identify a person, Faces quickly scans your library, or an individual project, to find more photos of that person. Let's say you want to find photos of the bride's father in the O'Rourke wedding project. Once you've identified his face in one photo, Faces finds other photos he appears to be in. You simply confirm the suggested matches to apply his name to those photos

Organize - Organize by Places

There's no easier way to organize photos than with Places. Places converts location data from GPS-enabled cameras and geo-tracker devices into common location names. Then it displays those locations as pins on the Places map. If your camera doesn't capture GPS data, you can assign locations by dragging your photos to the map. Later, when browsing your photos, just click the location pin on the map and all the photos shot there are instantly displayed

Organize - Organize Any Way You Want

Group your projects by year or organize them in hierarchical folders to bring order to even the largest photo library. Add descriptive keywords, captions, or information such as copyright and contact details to any of your photos. Then use the powerful Aperture search engine to find photos based on almost any criteria. You can even search for photos based on the image adjustments applied to each photo

Compare and Select - Browse Photos Full Screen

Use every inch of your beautiful Apple display to make selects and compare images side by side. Browse your photos at high speed, instantly navigating between projects. When it's time to make selects, use ratings, flags, and color labels to organize your best shots. Use the Loupe to examine detail, or zoom and pan multiple images at once

Perfect and Enhance - Adjustment Presets

Dozens of ready-to-use adjustment presets let you apply professional-style imaging effects to a single photo or across an entire project. Quick Fix presets can take care of common problems including blown highlights and low contrast. Other adjustment presets apply processing techniques and styles, such as a toy or vintage camera look. You can also create your own adjustment presets or import presets from colleagues. And since all adjustments are nondestructive, you can revert back from the changes you make at any time or even restore your original master images.

The Zoom Navigator displays a thumbnail to help you move around a zoomed image, so it's even easier to find and perfect details

Perfect and Enhance - Precision Brushes

Nondestructive brushes let you make selective adjustments to specific parts of your image without creating masks or layers. Control brush size, softness, and strength while you dodge and burn or apply effects such as blurring, skin smoothing, and polarization. Fifteen Quick Brushes handle the most common touch-up jobs with a few strokes. Detect Edges makes it easy to retouch areas with greater accuracy -- deepening the colors of a mountain range, for instance, while leaving the sky untouched

Share - Custom Multimedia Slideshows

Create impressive multimedia slideshows with photos, custom titles, HD videos, and layered soundtracks. It's as easy as dragging your photos and videos into one of the themed slideshow templates in Aperture. If you want a more customized slideshow, you can choose the Classic or Ken Burns theme and control transitions, background and border colors, and the font, size, and style of your titles. Sharing slideshows is simpler, too. Aperture exports your slideshows to iTunes so you can sync them to your iPhone or iPod touch, then share them anywhere

Share - Export. Easy.

When you're ready to share your photos, you can send them to Flickr or Facebook with a couple of clicks. Or take advantage of a variety of export plug-ins to upload photos directly to sites including SmugMug, iStockphoto, and PhotoShelter. Because Aperture is integrated with the Mac OS X Media Browser, you can easily include photos from your library in iLife or iWork documents. Or make them "to go" by syncing them to your iPhone, iPod, or Apple TV

Share - MobileMe Gallery Showings

Aperture offers fully integrated MobileMe Gallery support, so you can publish your photos using your MobileMe account. Simply select the photos you want to share and click the MobileMe button. Keep your gallery private, make it public, or share it with select people. Visitors can download JPEG or original RAW files directly from your site and even contribute their own photos to your gallery ¹

Please Note:

MobileMe is available to persons age 13 and older. Annual subscription fee and Internet access required. Terms of service apply

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Print Products - Your Book. Made to Order.

Create and order premium-quality photo books right from Aperture. You have the tools and professional book templates to design books in small, medium, large, and extra-large 13 x 10" formats. Use one of the 11 themed templates, or customize a template by adding, removing, and resizing text and photo boxes to create a one-of-a-kind book. For a professional touch, all hardcover books come with a full-bleed, satin-finish cover with a wraparound dust jacket

Print Products - Travel Maps

Use either of the new themes to illustrate your photo books with customizable maps, showing the locations of any or all the photos in your book. If it's a book of your travels, you can drop in a map that uses the location data stored with your photos to map your journey

Print Products - New Book Themes

Aperture 3 includes two new book themes: Photo Essay, a simple, elegant, photojournalist-style layout; and Journal, which includes scrapbook-style borders and large spreads

Print Products - Printing Prowess

You have many printing options with Aperture 3. Customize the margins, crop on the fly to match the aspect ratio of your paper, and add borders in custom widths and sizes. Create a sheet of wallet-size prints or passport photos. Take advantage of the color-managed print engine for reliable color rendition. Adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness to fine-tune your images. Add metadata to large prints or contact sheets with your choice of font, size, and style. Include watermarks or your own header -- including a logo -- on every printed sheet. And when your settings are just the way you want, save them as a preset for future prints

Features

Full Screen - Full-Screen Projects View

Display all your projects full screen using the new full-screen Projects view

Full Screen - Full-Screen Browser

Use the new full-screen Browser to view, select, and reorder thumbnails. To see a single image full screen, simply double-click it

Full Screen - Library Path Navigator

Use the full-screen Browser to navigate the hierarchy of your entire library, moving from project to project without leaving Full Screen view

Full Screen - Full Screen View Brightness Control

Change the background luminosity in Full Screen view as desired, just as you can change the luminosity of the Viewer and Browser

Full Screen - Simplified Filmstrip

The filmstrip in Full Screen view has been streamlined to provide more room for thumbnails and make navigation easier

Full Screen - Snap-to-Edge

Use the new control to snap the Inspector HUD and/or the filmstrip to the edge of your display, allowing them to remain onscreen without overlapping selected images

Import - Simplified Import Window

Customize the Import browser by showing only the import settings you want to use. Hiding unneeded options allows you to create a simpler, uncluttered Browser window

Import - Recent Destinations

Aperture 3 remembers the projects most recently used, allowing you to quickly add more items to them when importing new photos, video clips, or audio clips

Import - Adjustment Presets on Import

Automatically apply adjustments to images as they are imported using new adjustment presets. You can choose any combination of image adjustments, including Auto Levels, Auto Exposure, and Auto Curves, as part of the preset

Import - Autosplit Projects

On import, Aperture can use time-stamp data to automatically split photos into separate projects by day, week, or intervals of 2 or 8 hours

Import - Autosplit Headers

Before you import photos, Aperture 3 shows you the groups into which they'll be split in the Import window, giving you an opportunity to change the autosplit setting to suit your needs

Import - Default Import Location

Set a preference indicating where you want Aperture to import new images -- into a new, automatically created project or into the project selected in the Library inspector

Import - Selection Checkboxes

Use the checkboxes on image thumbnails to identify the photos you want Aperture to import. After selecting multiple photos, use Check All to quickly select all images for import, or Uncheck All to reset import status

Import - Preview Images Before Import

Double-click any image in the Import window to view it at a larger size. You can also play video and audio clips before importing them

Import - Double-Click to Close Column Browser

Double-click the resize handle on the column browser to instantly maximize the browser and viewer space in the Import window

Import - Expanded EXIF Data in Import Window

Display EXIF data -- such as f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO -- for each of the images before importing them

Import - New Project Options

Create and name a new project directly from the Import pane, avoiding the need to switch to the Library inspector to set it up

Import - Create Metadata Presets on Import

Create new metadata presets in the Import window as needed. The presets can contain any combination of metadata fields you want to include in the imported images

Import - Filter File Types

Set Aperture to include or exclude specific types of files, such as video clips, audio files, or audio attachments, on import

Import - Locked/Flagged Image Support

Selectively import only the images you have tagged or locked in the camera. This new option makes it easy to import your most important images first

Import - Backup on Import

Automatically back up your master images to a second drive during import, freeing you from the need to perform a separate, manual backup

Import - Faster Thumbnails on Import

Image thumbnails load faster when you're importing photos into Aperture 3, so you can see and begin working on images quickly

Import - RAW+JPEG Import

Enjoy more control over how Aperture imports photos you capture in the RAW+JPEG format. Choose to have Aperture import RAW and JPEG images as joined pairs or separate images. If you prefer, you can also have Aperture automatically import only the RAW images or only the JPEG images

Import - Import Matching RAW

If you imported only the JPEG images of RAW+JPEG pairs, you can select any imported JPEG images captured in the RAW+JPEG format and have Aperture import the matching RAW image from each pair

Import - Actions on Import

Select any AppleScript script to automatically run immediately after import

Import - Drag and Drop from Import Window

Select any combination of photos in the Import window and drop them into any project in the Library inspector to import them into the project

Import - Drop on Aperture Icon to Import

Quickly import photos into Aperture from the Finder by dragging selected images or an entire folder of images and dropping them onto the Aperture icon. Drop selected images on the icon, and Aperture creates a new, untitled project for them in the current library. Drop a folder on the icon, and Aperture creates a new project based on the name of the folder

Import - Adjust During Import

During import, Aperture 3 lets you make adjustments to new images even while they're being copied from a flash card or external hard drive. View and adjust full-resolution images at any point during the import process, while Aperture handles the file copying in the background

Organization and Library Management - Customizable Project Order

Arrange projects, albums, and other library items appearing in the Library inspector in any order you want

Organization and Library Management - Select Multiple Items in Library Inspector

View, move, or delete multiple projects, albums, or folders by Shift-clicking (for contiguous selections) or Command-clicking (for noncontiguous selections) any number of items in the Library inspector

Organization and Library Management - Flagged Items

Flag any item in the library by clicking the Flag button or pressing the Slash (/) key. To view flagged items, click Flagged in the Library inspector

Organization and Library Management - Color Labels

Apply up to eight different color-coded labels to images to organize and group them. Add a custom name for each color label in Aperture preferences. Simple keyboard shortcuts allow you to apply labels using the keyboard

Organization and Library Management - Converts Color Labels in Finder

On import, Aperture 3 automatically converts color labels assigned to images in the Finder into Aperture color labels. Conversely, if you export images, color labels assigned to them in Aperture are converted to Finder color labels

Organization and Library Management - Aperture Trash

Aperture 3 places deleted items in the new Trash folder that appears in the Library inspector. As in iPhoto, you can retrieve unintentionally deleted items from the Trash by dragging them back into the desired project

Organization and Library Management - Project Info

Enter and view information about each project -- including a description, location data (with map), and number of items -- in the new Info heads-up display (HUD). You can also use this window to set the key photo for the project

Organization and Library Management - Library Inspector Filtering

Use the new search field in the Library inspector to search within the pane for projects based on name, description, or any Faces or Places data associated with the photos in the project

Organization and Library Management - Show in Project

Select a photo in a Smart Album, for example, and Aperture can display that image within the project it belongs to

Organization and Library Management - Duplicate Project Structure

Easily duplicate the structure of a selected project or folder -- including its hierarchy of folders, Smart Albums, and other elements -- without duplicating the images. This new Aperture command allows you to "clone" the structure of a favorite project or folder and use it for another campaign, event, or photo shoot

Organization and Library Management - Specify Sort Order in Library Inspector

Use the new Library inspector to specify a default sort order for each folder or project in an Aperture library. This allows you to maintain a persistent sort order for folders and projects. You can create a custom sort order or have Aperture sort by name or date

Organization and Library Management - Reveal Library

Click the Reveal Library button in Aperture preferences to see where your currently selected default library is located in the Finder

Organization and Library Management - Version-Stacking Options

Specify whether you want Aperture to automatically stack newly created versions with their "parent" images

Organization and Library Management - Project Merging

To merge two projects into one, use the Projects view to simply drag one project tile onto another. Alternatively, you can select two or more projects in the Library inspector and choose Merge Projects from the File menu

Organization and Library Management - Merge and Sync Libraries

To merge two or more Aperture libraries, simply drag one Aperture library into another. If any of the merged projects match those already in the library, Aperture automatically updates those items with the most recent changes

Organization and Library Management - Export as Library

Export any item or combination of items -- for example, projects, albums, slideshows, or books -- as a standalone Aperture library. Once you create standalone libraries, you can open them on any Mac running Aperture without having to first import them into an existing Aperture library

Organization and Library Management - Fast Library Switching

Close one Aperture library and open another on the fly by selecting the desired library from the Switch to Library submenu -- no need to quit and restart Aperture

Organization and Library Management - Recent Libraries Menu

Switch among frequently used libraries faster. Use the Switch to Library command to display a list of your most recently opened Aperture libraries

Organization and Library Management - Library Chooser

Hold down the Option key when opening Aperture to display the Library Chooser window, which lists all the Aperture libraries available on your Mac. Then pick the one you want from the list or click Create New to start a new library. The Library Chooser window displays the location of each library, along with the number of masters and versions each library contains

Organization and Library Management - Project Grouping

In Projects view, group library projects by year or by folder for easier browsing

Organization and Library Management - Navigating Project Groups

When you have grouped projects in Projects view, simply click a header to "drill down," filtering your view down to a specific group of projects. For example, click the 2009 header to view only projects with photos from 2009

Organization and Library Management - More Project Sorting Options

In Projects view, sort your projects by name or in the custom order defined in the Library inspector

Organization and Library Management - Expand and Collapse Library Elements

Hide or reveal the Projects & Albums section of the Library inspector for a less cluttered look

Organization and Library Management - Library Name Display

Aperture 3 displays the name of your current library at the top of the Library inspector. This allows you to see at a glance the name of the current library, a handy feature if you frequently switch among multiple libraries

Organization and Library Management - Easier Project and Album Naming

When you create a new project or album, a dialog prompts you to enter a name and gives you the option of including currently selected items in the new album. If you create a new project, the dialog also lets you move selected items into the project automatically

Organization and Library Management - Choose RAW or JPEG as Master

If you import RAW+JPEG pairs, you can now tell Aperture whether to display the RAW or JPEG as the master image, on an image-by-image basis

Organization and Library Management - Metadata/Adjustments Sync for RAW+JPEG Pairs

Apply metadata and image adjustments to either the RAW or JPEG version of a RAW+JPEG pair. The two stay in sync as you switch between them

Organization and Library Management - Aperture Library First Aid

Hold down the Option and Command keys when opening Aperture 3 to access new Library First Aid tools. The tools can check the database for consistency and make needed repairs to the database, to permissions, or to other library elements

Organization and Library Management - iLife/iWork Preview Sharing

Use the new preview-sharing options in Aperture 3 preferences to optimize the application's performance. You can now opt to have Aperture share previews only when you quit the program, instead of when you switch to other applications during a work session

Metadata - Camera "LCD" Panel

Aperture 3 includes a new LCD-style pane -- called Camera Info -- at the top of the Metadata inspector. Camera Info displays important photo information, including camera settings, labels, and flags. The easy-to-read display emulates the LCD screen on many digital cameras

Metadata - IPTC Core Metadata Support

Aperture 3 supports all IPTC Core metadata fields and provides a new IPTC Core metadata view

Metadata - Write IPTC Metadata to Master

The Write IPTC Metadata to Master command will write IPTC metadata into the master file of the selected version, eliminating the need to export master images in order to embed this data

Metadata - Batch Rename Masters

When using the Batch Change feature to rename photos, you now have the option of applying the name change to the master image files on disk

Metadata - Import XMP Sidecar Data

While importing images, Aperture now imports metadata from XMP sidecar files located with them

Metadata - Sizes Displayed in Megapixels

Aperture 3 now displays image size in two ways: pixel dimensions (for example, 4372 x 2906) and megapixels (for example, 12.7MP). The addition of megapixels means you no longer have to multiply pixel values yourself

Metadata - Visual Feedback When Keywording

When you assign keywords to photos in the Viewer by dragging and dropping, Aperture now highlights the images and displays an "Assign Keywords" text alert

Metadata - New Default Metadata Views

Aperture 3 provides an improved set of metadata views, including GPS, IPTC Core, and Custom Fields

Metadata - Improved Editing of Metadata Views

Aperture 3 organizes all supported metadata fields hierarchically with sections you can expand and collapse. This makes it easy to choose the fields you want displayed

Metadata - Focus Points

Hover over the Focus Points button in the Camera Info pane to see the focus points used by your camera to autofocus the image. You can also click the button to turn the display of focus points on or off

Metadata - Editable Rating, Label, and Flag Controls in Metadata Pane

Aperture 3 now allows you to change ratings, apply color labels, and turn flags on and off in the Metadata pane

Metadata - Large Caption Metadata View

Switch to the Large Caption view when entering captions. In this view, Aperture increases the size of the field and font, making caption writing easier

Metadata - IPTC Date Created "Date Picker"

The Date Created field is now prepopulated with the current date and time. Selector buttons make it easier to enter a specific date and time in the correct format

Metadata - Modeless Reordering of Fields in Metadata Pane

Click and drag field names at any time to rearrange metadata in exactly the order you want

Metadata - Metadata Pane Map

If GPS data is available, click the Map button to display a small, resizable map at the bottom of the Metadata pane, showing the location of your photos. Aperture can display the location using Terrain, Road, or Satellite view

Metadata - Selectable Location Names

Choose the location name you want assigned to each photo. In Aperture 3, a location can include the name of a country, state, city, and point of interest. You can decide whether to use a point of interest -- such as Kealakekua Bay -- or simply the state -- Hawaii -- as a photo's location name

Metadata - Metadata Overlays Button

Use the new Browser & Viewer Metadata Overlays button to switch between alternate metadata sets, a large set and a smaller set. This button makes it easier to hide or show metadata in the Viewer or Browser

Metadata - Simplified Custom Field Creation

To create new fields to store custom data, simply choose Manage Custom Fields from the Action pop-up menu in the Metadata pane and set up as many as you need. To see all the custom fields you've created, switch to the Custom Fields metadata view. You can also choose to include custom fields in any metadata view

Search - Search by Photo Usage

You can now find items in your library based on whether they have ever been exported, e-mailed, printed, or ordered as prints or in a book

Search - Search for Attachments

Quickly find any photos that have audio files attached to them

Search - Search by Place

Filter and search projects based on any location name associated with the corresponding GPS coordinates. Aperture 3 also lets you search for photos that don't yet have a GPS location, so you can add it manually

Search - Search by Face

Find photos based on named faces. This powerful search option lets you quickly find only photos containing faces or just those containing unnamed faces. You can also filter out photos in which Aperture detected no faces

Search - Search for Externally Edited Photos

Use this new search option to quickly find any images that were edited using an external editor or plug-in

Search - Search by Label

Find photos across your entire library based on color label. You can search for multiple color labels simultaneously. For example, you can have Aperture find all photos tagged with either green or blue labels

Search - Search by File Type

Aperture 3 lets you search for images by type -- for example, RAW, JPEG, or TIFF -- as well as for audio files and video clips

Search - Search by Album Name or Project Path

Search for images based on which album they are in or based on the folder hierarchy you've set up in your Aperture library

Search - Improved Search by Text

When searching metadata by text string in the Filter HUD, you can use the pop-up menu in the Text field to switch between full-text search (all available metadata strings) and the faster limited-text search. Limited-text search now searches additional items, including keywords, version name, caption, filename, project name, and capture year (if the input appears to be a number, such as 2002)

Search - Quick Label Filtering

The search field in the Browser now contains a pop-up menu that lets you quickly filter a set of photos by color label, without having to open the Filter HUD

Search - Smart Album Scoping

Control the scope of searches performed by Smart Albums with the click of a button. In Aperture 3, you can set the scope of a Smart Album search to the container the albums are in -- for example, a project -- or instantly widen the scope of the search to include the entire library

Image Adjustments - Nondestructive Brushes

Make nondestructive image enhancements to specific areas of any photo using new adjustment brushes. Use brush strokes to modify -- brush in or brush away -- most of the standard image adjustments available in the Adjustments inspector. You can control the size, softness, and strength of each brush with intuitive sliders

Image Adjustments - Support for Pressure-Sensitive Tablets

If you apply image adjustments using a graphics tablet, such as the Wacom pen tablet, you can use pressure to control the strength of the brush

Image Adjustments - Detect Edges

Turn on the Detect Edges option, and Aperture will detect hard edges as you brush, making it easier to brush adjustments into specific areas of a photo

Image Adjustments - Feather Tool

Blend adjustments more easily -- and achieve more realistic results - by taking advantage of the feathering tool available for each imaging adjustment brush

Image Adjustments - Brush Overlays

Examine the selective adjustments you've made using any of the adjustment brushes as a color overlay or as isolated brush strokes, choosing from four view modes: Color Overlay, Brush Strokes, On Black, and On White

Image Adjustments - Brush Ranges

Restrict enhancements to the particular tonal range -- highlights, midtones, or shadows -- for any brush you use

Image Adjustments - Apply/Clear/Invert Brush Strokes

For any brush, use menu commands to apply the brushed effect to the entire image, remove all the brush strokes, or invert the brush strokes to change the affected area

Image Adjustments - Adjustment Presets

If you use a combination of adjustments frequently, save it as a preset. Then apply the preset to individual images or a batch of images. Aperture 3 includes dozens of ready-to-use presets, and you can easily create your own and export them for use by others

Image Adjustments - Live Previews

See the result of an image adjustment before applying it with a live preview. The Presets pop-up menu in the Adjustments inspector displays a preview of each preset applied to your image, allowing you to assess the effect of the preset before you apply it

Image Adjustments - Add/Replace Preset

Hold down the Option key when choosing an adjustment preset to have Aperture replace all previous adjustments with the new preset

Image Adjustments - Autofix Preset Support

When creating an image adjustment preset, you can opt to include Auto Exposure, Auto Levels, and Auto Curves adjustments

Image Adjustments - Support for Brushes in Presets

Create presets that include brushed-in or brushed-away adjustments for special effects -- for example, adding interesting edge treatments to images

Image Adjustments - Improved Histogram

Use the redesigned -- and more vivid -- histogram to see the intersection of the red, green, and blue channels more easily

Image Adjustments - White Balance Shortcut

To select the White Balance eyedropper, simply press Command-Shift-W instead of manually selecting it

Image Adjustments - Adjustments Pop-up Menu

Easily add image adjustment tools by using the simplified pop-up menu at the top of the Adjustments inspector. See at a glance the adjustment tools already available in the inspector by looking for the dot next to the name of each tool

Image Adjustments - Create Multiple Instances of Adjustments

Apply multiple adjustments of a single type to different parts of an image by creating multiple adjustment bricks for each adjustment. For example, set one Levels adjustment to create the perfect sky. Then add another Levels adjustment brick to selectively perfect skin tones. To add a new instance of an adjustment, choose the Add New option from the Action pop-up menu in each adjustment brick

Image Adjustments - New Auto Buttons

Quickly make exposure adjustments by using the Auto buttons now available in the Exposure, Levels, and Curves adjustment bricks

Image Adjustments - Chromatic Aberration Filter

Remove the color fringing that can occur along edges due to optical issues by using the new Chromatic Aberration filter. The adjustments can be brushed in or brushed away as needed to achieve desired results

Image Adjustments - Powerful New Curves Tool

Use the new Curves tool to adjust exposure and tweak color. Curve adjustments can be applied to luminance, RGB, or individual color channels. You can set the black, white, and midtone points, as well as place custom points along the curve using a target tool. All Curves adjustments can be brushed in or brushed away as needed to achieve desired results

Image Adjustments - Linear or Gamma-Corrected Mode

The Curves tool can operate in two different modes -- Linear and Gamma-Corrected -- depending on which best suits the image. Linear mode is best when dealing with extended range data and highlights, while Gamma-Corrected mode can be especially helpful when working with shadows

Image Adjustments - Range Support in Curves Tool

Because the Curves tool supports the "extended range" data sometimes available in RAW images, you can set the Range control in Curves to Extended in order to see the "out of range" highlight data that you may be able to recover. You can then use controls in the Curves tool to pull blown highlights back in and improve detail in highlight areas. Alternatively, you can set the range to Shadows and focus on the lower-left quadrant of the tone curve to make extremely precise Shadow adjustments

Image Adjustments - Quick Brushes

Use the new Quick Brushes pop-up menu in the Adjustments toolbar to gain immediate access to 15 ready-to-use brushes for the most common enhancement tasks. Quick Brushes include Skin Smoothing, Polarize, Intensify Contrast, Tint, and others

Image Adjustments - Skin Smoothing

Use the new Skin Smoothing brush to apply a gentle blur effect, creating smoother-looking skin. Use the Radius, Detail, and Intensity controls to refine your adjustments

Image Adjustments - Edit with Plug-in Menu Item

Use the new "Edit with Plug-in" menu command to find and access editing plug-ins you've downloaded and installed in Aperture

Image Adjustments - Polarize

Deepen color, and darken shadow areas and midtones, without affecting the black and white points in an image using the new Polarize brush. Polarize creates an effect similar to a polarizing filter by using a Multiply blend

Image Adjustments - Intensify Contrast (Overlay) Filter

Use this brush to intensify contrast across an image, making dark areas darker and light areas lighter. This filter produces an effect equivalent to using an Overlay blend

Image Adjustments - Tint

Selectively shift the hue in part of an image, using the Tint brush to change the hue value of affected pixels

Image Adjustments - Blur

Paint a Gaussian blur into any portion of an image, such as the background. Increase or decrease the amount of blur painted into the selection area by using the Intensity slider until you achieve desired results

Image Adjustments - Halo Reduction

Use Halo Reduction to remove blue and purple fringes sometimes produced with certain lenses on overexposed areas. Simply paint over the halos to remove unwanted fringing. The brush can be used to eliminate difficult halos when Chromatic Aberration alone cannot completely remove them

Image Adjustments - Vanishing HUD

If you hold down the Shift key while moving an adjustment slider in the Adjustments HUD, the HUD vanishes, giving you an unobstructed view of your photo as you make adjustments

Image Adjustments - Zoom Navigator

The new Zoom Navigator helps you move around zoomed photos by displaying a thumbnail of the zoomed photo when you hover the pointer over the navigator

Image Adjustments - Dodge and Burn Brushes

Use these Quick Brushes to lighten and darken select parts of an image nondestructively

Image Adjustments - External Editor Menu Item

If you set the application you want to use as your external editor (such as Photoshop Elements) in preferences, Aperture now displays that choice (such as Edit with Photoshop Elements) in the Photos menu

Image Adjustments - Set Color Space for External Editor

In preferences, Aperture 3 lets you define the color profile to be assigned to TIFF or PSD files exported to an external editor for round-tripping

Image Adjustments - Variable-Level Zoom

Easily set the percentage of magnification when zooming images in the new Zoom Navigator. Using the slider, you can set the zoom level from 25 percent to 1000 percent

Image Adjustments - Keyboard Zooming

Use Command-Plus and Command-Minus on the keyboard to zoom images at predefined increments

Image Adjustments - Visible Switch to Show Crop Guides

Aperture 3 provides a checkbox in the Crop HUD to turn rule-of-thirds crop guides on and off

Image Adjustments - Output Megapixel Size when Cropping

Check the Crop HUD to see the resulting size of the cropped image in megapixels, based on the dimensions of the crop

Image Adjustments - Batch Apply Adjustments

Apply any available adjustments to any selected photos using the new Add Adjustment submenu in the Photos menu. Selecting the submenu opens the inspector (if closed) and displays the Adjustments pane

Faces - Face Detection and Recognition

Aperture 3 automatically detects faces in photos when you import them. It then compares the faces and finds similar ones. Aperture supports all the Faces features introduced in iPhoto '09, extending and enhancing many of them

Faces - Show Unnamed Faces

Click the Show Unnamed Faces button to reveal faces detected in your library that have not yet been named. In Aperture, you can limit the unnamed faces displayed to a specific project or album; or you can have Aperture display unnamed faces across your entire library

Faces - Detect Missing Faces

Use the Detect Missing Faces contextual menu command to rescan a selected photo to find potential matching faces that weren't detected during the initial image scan

Faces - Faces Background

Aperture lets you turn the corkboard background in Faces view on or off

Faces - View Faces by Project, Album, or Folder

Instead of displaying all the named people throughout your whole library, Aperture lets you limit the faces displayed in Faces view to individuals named in a specific folder, project, or album. Doing so can speed the process of finding photos of a particular person

Faces - Limit Suggestions to Project

To expedite the confirmation of possible matches in Name mode (for example, "Is this Elizabeth?"), you can set Aperture to suggest only names used in the same project rather than throughout your library

Faces - Export Names as Keywords

When you export photos that include people you've named using the Faces feature, the names are embedded as IPTC keywords in the resulting image files so that the names are "readable" by other applications that display standard IPTC metadata

Faces - Enable/Disable Faces

Turn face detection on or off in preferences. Turning it off stops Aperture from scanning photos for faces when importing new photos and hides Faces in the Library inspector

Places

Aperture 3 extends and enhances the Places technology introduced in iPhoto '09. Places allows you to organize photos based on where they were taken, using GPS data embedded in photos when you took them or location data added in Aperture

Places - Interactive Google Maps

See where you took your photos on an interactive Google map displayed in Aperture. Choose from terrain and road maps or view satellite images with or without labels

Places - Map Zoom Navigator

Use the mini-map (in the lower-right corner of the main Places map) to quickly navigate the large map

Places - View Places by Project, Album, or Folder

To find photos faster, you can limit the locations displayed in Places view to those associated with photos in a specific folder, project, or album, rather than searching across your whole library

Places - Drag and Drop to Add Locations

Assign locations to photos without embedded GPS coordinates by simply dragging the photos onto a searchable Google map and dropping them on a specific location

Places - Consolidated Search Results

When searching for places on a map, Aperture scans the extensive Apple database of locations, as well as the data available from Google Maps, to deliver a consolidated list of matching results

Places - Show/Hide Location Badges

In Places view, Aperture automatically marks the thumbnails of photos to which you have added GPS data with a "pin" badge. You can opt to hide the badges by choosing Hide Location Badges from the Action pop-up menu

Places - Support for GPS Track Logs

In Aperture, you can easily assign locations to photos by importing the track log from a GPS receiver. Then simply drag photos onto the track to have Aperture sync the photos to the location data in the track log. You can also reset the time zone of the track in Aperture

Places - Support for iPhone Photo GPS Locations

Import GPS locations for the photos you take with your GPS-enabled iPhone directly into Aperture. Then use the data to assign locations to photos already in your library

Places - Places Path Navigator

Use the Places Path Navigator pop-up menus in Places view to jump to any country, state, province, city, or point of interest where you have taken photos

Places - Move Pins to Relocate

To reassign locations or correct GPS errors, just click the Move Pins button and drag location pins to a new spot on the map

Places - Command-Drag to Zoom

Want a fast way to zoom the map? Simply Command-drag to create a selection rectangle over the part of the map you want to see, and Aperture zooms the selected area to fill the map window

Places - Remove Location

Remove GPS data you've assigned to any photo by choosing Remove Location from the Action pop-up menu in Places view

Places - Map + Photos View

In Places view, Aperture displays both a map and your photo thumbnails. Click any thumbnail to highlight the location where the photo was taken on the map. Or click any pin on the map, and Aperture selects the corresponding thumbnail. This works when you click multiple thumbnails or pins as well

Places - Show/Hide Tracks and Waypoints

When working with imported GPS track files, you can choose to show or hide individual track paths on the map

Places - Show Unplaced Photos

Easily find photos that don't yet have location data. In Places view, select the Show Unplaced Photos option and Aperture filters the thumbnail browser to display only photos that have not been placed on the map (that is, to which no locations have been assigned)

Places - Smart Album View

After zooming the map to any location, create a Smart Album that will automatically display only photos located in that view. As you add new photos taken at locations in the designated area, Aperture adds them to the Smart Album

Places - Manage Places

Use the Manage Places window to define custom locations (for example, Home, Kathy's school, or Vacation house) using a Google map. Once you've created the location, you can assign it to photos in your library at any time with just a few keystrokes

Web Publishing - Publish to Facebook

Click the Facebook button to publish selected photos directly to your Facebook account. People named using the Faces feature are automatically tagged with Facebook names, and published albums can be automatically updated as you add, remove, or edit photos

Web Publishing - Publish to Flickr

Publish directly to your Flickr account from Aperture. If you've added locations to photos, Aperture includes the GPS information, so photos are automatically mapped on Flickr. Published albums can be automatically updated as you add, remove, or edit photos

Web Publishing - Show Captions in MobileMe Gallery

Opt to have either version names or captions displayed with your photos when you publish them in albums in your MobileMe gallery

Web Publishing - MobileMe Movie Support

Publish video clips directly from Aperture to your MobileMe gallery

Video and Audio - Video Support

Import, browse, and play back video clips -- including HD video -- from digital SLR cameras, point-and-shoot cameras, and digital camcorders

Video and Audio - Audio Support

Import and play back audio clips in standard audio formats, such as AIFF and MP3

Video and Audio - Clip Trimming

Set start and end points (In and Out points) for audio and video clips. You can trim clips during import or at any time after you have imported clips into the library

Video and Audio - External Editors

Aperture lets you designate separate external editing applications for audio and video clips

Video and Audio - Space Bar Playback

To play or pause video, simply press the Space bar after selecting a video or audio clip

Video and Audio - Create JPEG from Frame

Aperture lets you create a still JPEG image from any frame in a video clip

Video and Audio - Import Audio Attachments

If you used the microphone on your digital SLR to record audio attachments, Aperture can import the audio and keep it attached to the corresponding photo

Video and Audio - Audio Attachment Player

When you select a photo that has attached audio, the Metadata inspector includes audio controls so you can play and trim the audio

Video and Audio - Attach Audio File

Turn any audio clip in a project into an audio attachment by linking it to a specific image. Once attached, the audio clip is connected to the image and can be played using the Metadata inspector

Video and Audio - Detach Audio File

Aperture lets you detach audio that was recorded as an audio attachment and turn it into a standalone audio clip

Video and Audio - A/V Rating, Keywords, and Labels

Organize multimedia content in your library using any combination of ratings, keywords, and color labels -- just as you do with photos

Video and Audio - A/V Metadata

The Metadata inspector displays the duration, size, and frame rate for any selected video clip. For audio clips, the inspector displays the duration, format, and bit rate

Video and Audio - Set Poster Frame for Video Clips

Choose any frame in the clip as the thumbnail image representing the video

Slideshows - Slideshow Themes

Aperture 3 offers eight slideshow themes, including six from iPhoto '09 and two new themes: Watercolor Panels and Photo Edges

Slideshows - Saved Slideshows

Create a simple slideshow on the fly. Or build an advanced slideshow and save it in your library for future use

Slideshows - Slideshow Skimming

Once you save a slideshow you're working on, you can skim across thumbnails in the Timeline-style browser to preview transitions, titles, and the timing of the entire slideshow

Slideshows - Transitions

When using the Classic and Ken Burns themes, you can choose from a dozen transitions, including Dissolve, Fade through Black, and Fade through White

Slideshows - Borders and Insets with Fit or Fill Cropping

The Classic and Ken Burns themes give you the flexibility to frame images by defining a custom color border and inset for each photo. Then you can have images cropped to fit within your borders and insets or to fill the screen during a slideshow

Slideshows - Custom Ken Burns Effect

Easily set a custom pan/zoom on each slide using simple iMovie-style controls for setting the start and end cropping rectangles. You can do this in either the Classic or Ken Burns theme

Slideshows - Text on Slides

In addition to the text on the main title slide, you can add text to any slide using any font, style, or color you choose. Aperture allows you to include text from specific fields (such as Date, Location, or Title) or to enter custom text for each slide

Slideshows - Main Titles

All slideshows, including the ready-to-use themes, give you the option to include a main title slide. You can set the font, style, and color for this initial title

Slideshows - Slideshow Display Preference

Specify the screen on which you want slideshows to appear - the main display or the secondary display. This allows you to run Aperture in presenter mode on a notebook computer, using the projected display to show only the slideshow to your audience

Slideshows - Set Aspect Ratio

Choose from a number of standard aspect ratios, including HDTV, iPhone, or the aspect ratio of your computer display

Slideshows - Aperture Audio Browser

Use the Audio browser to access audio clips or audio tracks associated with video clips stored in your Aperture library. This makes it easy to build the soundtrack for your slideshow

Slideshows - Audio Controls

Control the volume, fade in, and fade out for each audio or video clip added to a slideshow

Slideshows - Automatic Ducking

You can set any audio or video clip in a slideshow to automatically reduce the volume of the main soundtrack while playing

Slideshows - Secondary Audio Track

Besides including a main audio track in a slideshow (such as background music), you can add a secondary audio track, such as a voiceover or narration, to create a true layered soundtrack

Slideshows - Insert Blank Slide

When using the Classic and Ken Burns themes, you can insert blank, solid-color slides to divide a slideshow into sections. You can also create a blank slide with editable title text

Slideshows - Record Slide Durations

Aperture 3 offers an easy way to sync slide durations to a slideshow's soundtrack. Instead of entering the numeric timing for each slide, you can "record" the slide duration by playing the slideshow and pressing the Return key each time you want a slide to change

Slideshows - Distribute Slide Timing

Use this option to reset the timing of a selected group of slides, so that each slide has the same duration

Slideshows - Fit Selected Slides to Audio Track

Aperture lets you expand or reduce the timing of a selected group of slides to fit the duration of the main soundtrack exactly

Slideshows - Export Slideshow as Movie

In Aperture, you can now export slideshows in a number of predefined formats, including YouTube, iPhone, Apple TV, HD, and 1080p. You can also specify a custom size and frame rate, and export slideshows using either the H.264 or MPEG-4 codec

Slideshows - Video Support

You can now add video clips -- including HD video -- to any slideshow

Photo Books - New Extra-Large Book

Choose the new 13 x 10" size in any Aperture book theme to create an impressive coffee table-style photo book

Photo Books - New Book Themes

Aperture 3 includes two new book themes: Photo Essay, a simple, elegant photojournalist-style layout; and Journal, which includes scrapbook-style borders and large spreads

Photo Books - Travel Maps

Use the new Photo Essay or Journal theme to illustrate your photo books with customizable maps, showing the locations of any or all of the photos in your book

Photo Books - Simplified Book Editing Tools

Redesigned buttons make it easier to switch from editing content and layout to adding new photo and text boxes to a book

Photo Books - Photo Book Plug-ins

Aperture 3 now lets you create and order books from a number of the leading, high-end album companies, such as Couture, Graphistudio, Leather Craftsmen, and Queensberry. Book themes developed and provided by these companies plug directly into Aperture, allowing you to create your book layouts and then connect, order, and upload your finished book with a few clicks

Printing - Custom Printing Presets

Define print settings that include custom margins and borders, and save them as presets that can be reused for future print jobs

Printing - Interactive Layout Tools

Instead of entering dimensions in fields, you can simply drag margin lines and guides in the print preview window to interactively control the margins of your print layout and size photos as desired

Printing - Rulers

Use the new vertical and horizontal rulers to design precise page layouts

Printing - Same Photo Per Page

Select the Same Photo Per Page option, and Aperture will use a selected photo for each printed page. You can use this option, for example, to print a page of wallet-size photos of a single image

Printing - Crop Image to Fill

If the photo boxes on your page layout don't match the aspect ratio of your photos, you can use this option to automatically crop the photos to fill each box. You can further adjust positioning by double-clicking a photo to pan and zoom it within the photo box

Printing - Borders

Aperture 3 lets you easily add borders with a custom width and color to images you print

Printing - Custom Headers

Customize prints by adding a title, a subtitle, or your own logo to the header of any print or contact sheet

Printing - Automatic Page Numbering

Aperture can add page numbers to multipage contact sheets and prints

Printing - Comment Lines

When adding notes and comments to contact sheets, you can now specify the number of comment lines that appear under photos

Printing - N-up Printing

Simply specify the number of photos you want to appear on a page, and Aperture 3 creates the layout for you. Want more control? You can also specify row and column spacing

Printing - Print-Only Adjustments

Compensate for the output characteristics of your printer by adjusting the brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness of images on the fly. The adjustments apply only to the print output and do not affect the image versions themselves

Printing - Print Metadata

You can now include metadata on any print - not just contact sheets. Aperture lets you position metadata to appear below, above, or beside each image

Printing - Set Metadata Font and Size

Choose the font, style, and size for metadata on prints and contact sheets

Printing - Print Watermarks

Now Aperture can automatically apply graphic watermarks not only when exporting images, but when printing as well

Printing - Rendering Intent Control

When printing, choose from two rendering intent options: Relative Colorimetric and Perceptual

AppleScript - Additional Properties

The scripting dictionary in Aperture 3 includes support for new properties, such as color labels, flags, and GPS longitude and latitude

AppleScript - Image Adjustment Preset Class

Create scripts that automatically apply adjustment presets to images

AppleScript - Access to the Trash Folder

The scripting dictionary includes support for moving photos to and from the Trash

AppleScript - Remove Adjustments

You can now use an AppleScript script to remove adjustments from images

AppleScript - Update from Masters

Scripts can now include a command that rereads EXIF data from master images. This can be useful for images imported into previous versions of Aperture that did not support fields for lens type and other EXIF data supported in subsequent versions

User Interface and Overall Design - Enhanced Sliders and Buttons

The Adjustments inspector in Aperture 3 provides larger sliders and buttons that are also easier to use

User Interface and Overall Design - Larger Fonts

Aperture 3 includes larger, easier-to-read fonts throughout the application

User Interface and Overall Design - View Buttons in Toolbar

Switch among the various Aperture views easily by using the five new view buttons in the toolbar. The green checkmark indicates the current mode: Browser only, Browser and Viewer, Viewer only, Faces, or Places

User Interface and Overall Design - Redesigned Toolbar Icons

The toolbar icons in Aperture 3 are larger and easier to understand

Performance - 64-bit Support

With Snow Leopard, the Mac can support up to 16 terabytes of memory, and 64-bit applications like Aperture 3 can take advantage of this larger memory capacity ²

Please Note:

Requires Snow Leopard and Intel Core 2 Duo processor

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