Please send an e-mail to support@lucispro.com if you need any assistance with using Lucis Pro 6.0.
For sales on or before March 4, 2009, a 32-bit software patch is available (click here). This software patch will upgrade your 32-bit Windows and Macintosh Lucis Pro 6.0 to version 6.0.4, which adds memory tiling. Anyone who bought Lucis Pro on or before March 4, 2009, needs this patch. If you are a Windows customer and need the 64-bit Windows version of Lucis Pro 6.0 please send an e-mail to bwilliams@imagecontent.com. It is best to wait until you actually need the 64-bit version as only one DVD will be sent out per order.
Windows Photoshop CS5 Compatibility: The Windows Lucis Pro 6 works in both the 32-bit version and the 64-bit version of CS5. We found one rare and intermittent installation issue when installing the Windows 32-bit Lucis Pro 6 into the 32-bit version of CS5 and we have an easy workaround. During the installation sometimes the installer does not list CS5 as a option. If this happens, select "Other" and then install Lucis Pro 6 into the filters folder which is under the plug-ins folder of CS5.
Macintosh Photoshop CS5 Compatibility: The Macintosh Lucis Pro 6 works in the Macintosh 32-bit version of CS5. The Macintosh Lucis Pro 6 is 32-bit software. Therefore it will not work in the 64-bit version of CS5.
Developing a Macintosh 64-bit version of Lucis Pro 6 is a difficult and very expensive project. There is no easy upgrade. On top of this, the vast majority of users will see virtually no benefit from running Lucis Pro 6 in 64-bit mode. At this point using the Macintosh Lucis Pro 6 in CS5 is just a little inconvenient because you have to switch to 32-bit mode.
So I am faced with the unusual combination of my Macintosh customers wanting 64-bit software that is very expensive to develop yet would be just a convenience, therefore not worth much in terms of an upgrade fee. Therefore I would not recoup my software development costs from upgrade fees. I would not even come close.
When Lucis Pro 6 software sales grow to the point where I can simply pay for the development of the Macintosh 64-bit version and not need to recoup the software development money from upgrade fees I will develop it. I care deeply about my customers, so I would love to be able to provide the Macintosh Lucis Pro 6 64-bit software very soon.
In the unlikely event that I determine that I cannot develop the Macintosh 64-bit version of Lucis Pro 6 before July 2011 I will give my Macintosh customers 2-years notice that I will be stopping Macintosh software sales and I will become a Windows only software company.
If you have any questions please e-mail me at bwilliams@imagecontent.com.
Switching from the Macintosh Photoshop CS5 64-bit mode to 32-bit mode: To switch between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the program just select the application icon, choose File->Get Info, turn on the 32-bit option, and restart Photoshop.
You have a 30-day Product Return Period. Please read the Product Return Policy on the Lucis Pro online store for more information.
IMPORTANT: Lucis Pro requires a lot of RAM. As you use Photoshop the RAM Photoshop accesses becomes fragmented. So if you have been using Lucis Pro on images less than 250 MB in size with no problem and then at some point get a “need to tile message” it means the RAM is fragmented. To defrag the RAM select Edit | Purge | All. Or you can restart Photoshop.
Click here to learn how to easily create LucisArt 2 effects using Lucis Pro 6.
Click here to learn how to easily create LucisArt 3 effects using Lucis Pro 6.
International Sales: Click here for information about ordering Lucis Pro 6 outside of the US and Canada.
There are no teacher or student discounts available. ICT primarily sells to professional Photographers and scientists.
Installation: Lucis Pro 6.0 has an automatic installation process. Just insert the DVD and follow the instructions on the screen. Lucis Pro 6.0 may be installed in Photoshop CS3-CS4 and Photoshop Elements 6-7, and then you can choose other programs that accept Photoshop plug-ins. However operation in other programs is not guaranteed. If the version of Photoshop you wish to install Lucis Pro into does not appear as a choice please select "Other" and then navigate to the filters folder which is under the Plug-ins folder in Photoshop. Please see the FAQs below if you wish to install the Windows 32-bit version of Lucis Pro on a Windows XP or Vista 64-bit computer.
Adobe Software Compatibility: Lucis Pro 6.0 requires either Adobe Photoshop CS3-CS4 or Photoshop Elements 6-7. It will not work with earlier versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
Does Lucis Pro 6.0 have demo or trial versions available?
What is a dongle?
On how many computers may I install Lucis Pro 6.0?
Is Lucis Pro 6.0 cross platform?
How large an image can I process with Lucis Pro 6.0? What is memory tiling?
How can I avoid "not enough RAM" errors?
I want to install Lucis Pro 6.0 software into CS4 and it is already installed into CS3. How do I do that?
I have a Windows 64-bit computer. I installed Lucis Pro 6.0 into the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4 (Photoshop CS4x64). How do I install it into the 32-bit version of Photoshop CS4?
Does Lucis Pro 6.0 work with Corel Painter or Paintshop Pro?
Does Lucis Pro 6.0 have demo or trial versions available? There is no downloadable demo or trial software because of the problems with hackers. Lucis Pro 6.0 is protected by a dongle, a USB hardware key. ICT will be posting video and other information so you can see how Lucis Pro works. There is a 30-day return policy (please visit Product Return and Refund Policy for complete information.)
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What is a dongle? A dongle is a hardware security device that looks like a small memory stick. It is plugged into a USB port on the computer. Lucis Pro 6 will not work unless the dongle is installed. The dongle may or may not work from a USB hub- it depends on the hub. The Lucis Pro dongle is driverless, meaning that you do not have to install any dongle software (also called a dongle driver) on your computer. You only install the Lucis Pro 6.0 software. Starting in October 2009 the Lucis Pro 6 dongle is universal (works for both Windows and Macintosh) so you do not have to specify your platform.
One dongle comes with your software purchase. You have the option to buy a second dongle for $60. If you do not buy a second dongle when you buy your copy of Lucis Pro 6.0 you may order a second dongle later but the cost will be $100 plus any shipping and customs charges.
Buying a second dongle does not mean that a second person can use Lucis Pro 6.0. The license is a one user license. But having a second dongle means that you can install one dongle on your desktop computer and one on your laptop computer and not worry about moving them. It also means that if you misplace or break a dongle your use of Lucis Pro 6.0 is not interrupted. Broken dongles are replaced for free during the first 30 days if they are returned. After that broken dongles are replaced for $100 plus shipping and customs charges if they are returned. Replacing a lost dongle is $250 (plus shipping and customs charges) because each dongle represents a copy of the software.
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On how many computers may I install Lucis Pro 6.0? You may install Lucis Pro 6.0 on up to 3 computers. However Lucis Pro is protected by a dongle so it will only work on the computer where the Lucis Pro dongle is installed. The Lucis Pro software checks for the presence of the dongle frequently and will quit working if the dongle is removed. So to use another computer you have to move the dongle to that computer.
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Is Lucis Pro 6.0 cross platform? No. There is a dongle for Windows and a different dongle for Macintosh. The Lucis Pro DVD has the software for both platforms. When buying Lucis Pro 6.0 there is an option to purchase an extra dongle for $60 which can be for either platform. A Macintosh or Windows dongle may be exchanged for a dongle compatible with the other operating system for $100 plus shipping and customs charges provided that the dongle is returned to ICT first (at the customer's expense).
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How large an image can I process with Lucis Pro 6.0? What is memory tiling? If you have 4 GB of RAM or more you should be able to process 250 MB images (CS3) to 350 MB images (CS4x64) without using memory tiling. With memory tiling images up to 4 GB can be processed by dividing the image into sections or tiles, processing each tile separately, and then reassembling the tiles into the final image.
IMPORTANT: As you use Photoshop the RAM Photoshop accesses becomes fragmented. So if you have been using Lucis with no problem on images 250 MB in size or less and then at some point get a “need to tile message” it means the RAM is fragmented. To defrag the RAM select Edit | Purge | All. Or you can restart Photoshop.
If your image cannot be processed in one pass, and you will be asked whether or not you wish to tile the image. Unless you are processing a huge image please avoid using memory tiling. Tiling is slow and there can sometimes be artifacts at the edges of the tiles in areas of the image where the contrasts do not vary much, such as a clear blue sky. However note that with most images the contrasts vary enough that artifacts from tiling will not occur. Because of the possibility of these artifacts, you will be warned before the software processes any image that is large enough to require tiling.
Processing extremely large images with memory tiling in LucisArt 3 can be very slow. This applies not only to the actual processing operation (after you select OK in the user interface), but also to the process of actually showing the LucisArt 3 dialog. It is recommended that you experiment with LucisArt 3 settings on a smaller version of the image before trying to process the entire image. You can save some time by processing a small version of the image using your selected settings, opening the larger version, and using Photoshop’s “Last Filter” command (Ctrl-F on Windows or Cmd-F on the Mac) to bypass the LucisArt 3 user interface.
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How can I avoid "not enough RAM" errors? If you should encounter a “not enough RAM” message, there are some things you can try in order to be able to process your image successfully.
1) Close any other Adobe applications, such as Adobe Bridge.
2) Defrag the RAM by selecting Edit | Purge | All. Or you can restart Photoshop.
3) Complete any operations that need to happen before the Lucis processing (such as resizing the image), save it to a temporary file, and then select Edit | Purge | All to defrag the RAM. Open the temporary file and perform the Lucis processing without doing anything else.
4) Set the number of Processing Scan Lines to 31 or 30. This slightly reduces output quality but greatly reduces memory usage. Note that 32 is a cutoff point, so anything less than that is just as good – there’s no difference between 1 and 31, in terms of memory usage.
5) If you are running a 32-bit version of Photoshop, try adjusting Photoshop’s “Available RAM” setting. This can be found in the preferences – on Windows, this can be accessed from Edit | Preferences | Performance, and on the Mac, it is at Photoshop | Preferences | Performance. The first thing to try is increasing the setting – this may make enough memory available for Lucis to complete the operation. If that does not solve the problem, try decreasing the setting. This is not entirely intuitive; why would reducing the amount of available memory solve an out-of-memory problem? The reason is that in some cases, Lucis is not actually running out of memory, but rather out of address space. Reducing Photoshop’s available RAM setting causes Photoshop to allocate less memory, leaving unused address space that LucisArt 3 can use to process images. This is not an issue if you are running 64-bit Photoshop CS4.
6) If none of the other measure has helped, consider upgrading your operating system and/or Photoshop version. Photoshop CS4 is significantly better at handling large amounts of memory than Photoshop CS3. If you are running Windows, the 64-bit version of Photoshop is even better. Running under 64-bit CS4 on a 64-bit version of Windows, the maximum image size supported by Lucis is almost unlimited.
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I want to install Lucis Pro 6.0 software into CS4 and it is already installed into CS3. How do I do that? If you are Macintosh just install the Lucis Pro 6.0 software from the DVD and this time it will give you the option to install into CS3 and CS4. Then run the Macintosh Lucis Pro 6.0 updater twice to update the plug-in in CS3 and CS4. If you are Windows you must uninstall the old Lucis Pro 6.0 first using Add/Remove Programs. Then you can install the Lucis Pro 6.0 from the DVD. This time you will be able to select to install Lucis Pro 6.0 into both CS3 and CS4. After that please run the Windows Lucis Pro 6.0 updater twice to update the plug-in in both CS3 and CS4.
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I have a Windows 64-bit computer. I installed Lucis Pro 6.0 into the 64-bit version of Photoshop CS4 (Photoshop CS4x64). How do I install it into the 32-bit version of Photoshop CS4? Lucis Pro 6.0.4 includes the 32-bit and 64-bit Windows software. So the DVD has setup32.exe and setup64.exe. The installer will assume that you wish to install the 64-bit version if it sees a Windows 64-bit computer so it will run setup64.exe. To install the 32-bit version navigate to and double click on setup32.exe on the Lucis Pro DVD. If during installation Photoshop CS4 does not show up as an option then select "other" and navigate to the filters folder which is under the Plug-ins folder in Photoshop CS4.
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Does Lucis Pro 6.0 work with Corel Painter or Paintshop Pro? Lucis Pro 6.0 is not currently compatible with Corel Painter or Paint Shop Pro. In the next eight months ICT will be looking at making Lucis Pro 6.0 compatible with Corel Painter and PaintShop Pro, and if this is accomplished a free software patch will be posted. However this is not guaranteed. If compatibility with Corel software products is crucial please wait to buy Lucis Pro 6.0 until this issue is resolved.
