I don't understand...

[StepHock]

Ok, I understand that Gemstone is pitched at people who want photo editing without the organisational ability, i.e. Photoshop. What I don't understand is why so many procedures are available in gemstone and not Ultimate (or other versions of the Studio family). If I have to come out of Ultimate and into Gemstone, I might as well come out of Ultimate and into Photoshop. I so want to give up Adobe, but you people are making it really difficult. Please consider adding at least AI to Ultimate.
Please?

[KeithReeder]

I'm really not sure what your complaint is...

[EcuaDrive]

I'm also one that don't understand... i have folowed ACDSee from the start and liked the development of the "Pro" version, and expecting this to be the "top of the line" from ACDSee??? But what now... Gemstone...??? Why? I feal sheated.

[Harry B]

I'm really not sure what your complaint is...

Keith, the complaint is that Ultimate is not really Ultimate. Gemstone has been created with features that are not similarly available in Ultimate. This smacks of marketing department desperation to gouge more coin out it's customer base and is nothing short of false advertising. I left Adobe because of it's deliberate cash grabbing modular structure, I fear that ACDSee is going the same way.

[KeithReeder]

Keith, the complaint is that Ultimate is not really Ultimate. Gemstone has been created with features that are not similarly available in Ultimate. This smacks of marketing department desperation to gouge more coin out it's customer base and is nothing short of false advertising. I left Adobe because of it's deliberate cash grabbing modular structure, I fear that ACDSee is going the same way.

Unless Ultimate is marketed as having features it doesn't have, there's no false advertising here - enough with the hyperbole, OK?

It is far from unusual for a company to pilot new features before committing them to their flagship products.

It strikes me as blindingly obvious that Ultimate (and Professional - because hey, we're taking their names seriously, and obviously professionals need these features - right? 🙄) will be updated with the AI and other new features that we all suddenly can't live without (despite having done just that so far) when the time is judged to be right.

(Hyperbole again. Irritating, isn't it?)

Here's the thing: instead of the OP vaguely waffling on that he "might as well go into Photoshop...", how about he - and you - actually spell out the features which you would like to see transposed from Gemstone to Photo Studio?

Y'know? Actually give ACD Systems a clue..?

On top of which: as we're effectively talking about feature requests for Ultimate, why are we discussing them in the Gemstone forum and not the Ultimate forum?

[soaptrail]

I have just received an email from ACD telling me to buy ACD Ultimate and Gemstones for a special price. But as a Pro user for 10+ years I am confused why I would switch. Maybe Gemstone is not for me. I like Pro and viewing the Gemstone page the only concrete example of differences between the two is Gemstone lacks any sort of organizational features, it is a pure photo editing tool.

[EcuaDrive]

I have just received an email from ACD telling me to buy ACD Ultimate and Gemstones for a special price. But as a Pro user for 10+ years I am confused why I would switch. Maybe Gemstone is not for me. I like Pro and viewing the Gemstone page the only concrete example of differences between the two is Gemstone lacks any sort of organizational features, it is a pure photo editing tool.

I was totally sure that the "ACDSee Photostudio Professional" should be top of the line when it comes to photo editing... I have followed ACDSee from the start.

[Greyfox]

I was totally sure that the "ACDSee Photostudio Professional" should be top of the line when it comes to photo editing... I have followed ACDSee from the start.

My understanding is that the flagship product is ACDSee PhotoStudio Ultimate, and the highest in cost.

Prices from https://www.acdsee.com/en/store/

Ultimate $149.99 USD.
Pro $ 99.99 USD
Gemstone $79.99 USD
Home $59.99 USD

Here is a detailed comparison of ACDSee Home, Pro, Ultimate and Gemstone.

https://www.acdsee.com/en/product-comparison/

[TomV]

Ok, I understand that Gemstone is pitched at people who want photo editing without the organisational ability, i.e. Photoshop. What I don't understand is why so many procedures are available in gemstone and not Ultimate (or other versions of the Studio family). If I have to come out of Ultimate and into Gemstone, I might as well come out of Ultimate and into Photoshop. I so want to give up Adobe, but you people are making it really difficult. Please consider adding at least AI to Ultimate.
Please?

I do not understand your complaint because I see Gemstone as a mediocre product that is not worth paying for. How many features in Gemstone are not Ultimate? 3?

I have been using Ultimate for the past 5 years. I checked out Gemstone recently and the file management features are so bad that it makes GIMP look good. If you RAW edit a few files on occasion then I suppose it is OK, but the use of Windows for file management as opposed to a subset of the other ACDSee products is very cheap. It is a hard sell for an upgrade from Gemstone when it is so bad.

[soaptrail]

I need to upgrade my ACDSee Pro because i have a new lens that is not in my current version. I was trying to understand if this is meant to be a replacement for ACDSee and Pro but sounds like if it is that will be a several years. Now i think this is a meant to be separate product. I read a review and it looks like Gemstone is supposed to be an AI tool, e.g. it will find your subject and blur the background. Of course it is not always perfect so maybe in a few years it will be worth buying.

[Greyfox]

..I was trying to understand if this is meant to be a replacement for ACDSee and Pro

ACDSee Home, Pro and Ultimate are all asset management products. Pro doesn't have layer editing, Ultimate does.
Gemstone is a photo editor with RAW development, multi-document interface, and layer capability, but without asset management.
A full comparison can be seen at https://www.acdsee.com/en/product-comparison/

I read a review and it looks like Gemstone is supposed to be an AI tool...

The "Artificial Intelligence" advertised is specifically about the four "Quick Actions" in Gemstone, and they represent only a small part of the overall tool set.
Those "Quick Actions" (Remove Background, Select Subject, Blur Background, and Black & White Background) are also available in ACDSee Ultimate 2023, as "AI Actions", plus an additional Select Sky.

....it will find your subject and blur the background. Of course it is not always perfect.

All four of the Quick Actions involve distinguishing the subject from the background. In some cases where the subject is well defined from the background, these particular "actions" can give quite good results much faster than could be achieved manually, but in other cases the results are not so good. That is to be expected.

Whilst the algorithms used in these "Quick Actions" and "AI Actions" may have been derived using the results of "Machine Learning", I've seen no evidence that on a local PC they learn from use over time. Improvement would require ongoing (and arguably frequent) updating of the algorithms, and that so far has not happened.