Artizen's feature list seems to grow by the day, not only is it a HDR editing package but it also offers a wide range of basic image editing functions, including painting tools, an image browser, raw converter and more. It makes the boast that every one of its features, everything from basic brushes/painting to filters and everything inbetween, all of them work in 8, 16 and 32 bit modes. This alone sets Artizen apart from the rest of the pack, as most HDR creation programs only allow you to create the file, alter brightness, exposure and so on, but then for some reason they won't allow you to paint a super simple brush stroke. So that's Artizen's big claim to fame, but how does the program perform?

In general, while Artizen does support all the tools you'd expect to see in an image editor, it can be a bit slow. The computer being tested on is an dual 4200 CPU with 2 gigs of RAM, fairly high end at the time of writing. For some tools a bit of lag in the interface isn't such a big deal, but when you're trying to paint in some subtle brush strokes that lag can get a little bit annoying. The image browser (similar to Adobe's Bridge) is also quite slow at loading images up. Another bit of a speed concern is simply the way the interface is laid out and operated. There's little in the way of sliders for opacity, or panning/zooming shortcuts and so on. So you'll find yourself using the scroll bars, entering values numerically and so on. Not a big point but it could use some streamlining.

So while Artizen does have a huge number of features, I would think that people who are most likely to want this program are photographers wanting to really get into HDRI creation/editing and especially tonemapping. Artizen really goes above and beyond here, with a huge range of different tonemapping modes. Open your image and start playing around with the various tonemappers, their brightness, strength, shadow/highlights, saturation and many other controls (see image below).

You don't have to convert to 8 or 16bit to tonemap either. So not only do you have this level of control, you can also apply your tonemapper then go ahead and apply another tonemapping operation on top of this - providing you with even more control and effects. The only points I wonder about with Artizen's tonemapper are:

- Where is the radius funtion to control blending brightness regions and to help remove that sometimes unwanted halo effect? *Update: Having tested the latest beta, this feature is now in
- Why is there no toning curve? *Update: After talking with the Supporting Computers team, this is not a tonemapping operation but a simple curves function that can be applied after tonemapping

Both of these are Photoshop tonemapping functions, and I would have to say the toning curve for CS2 is possibly a bit redundant unless you are after some bizzare effects. However I have found the radius settings in CS2's tonemapping very useful to control how different brightness regions meet. Whether these features are something that have to be implemented in Artizen or the tonemappers themselves I'm not certain.

For creating HDRs, Artizen's merge HDR function works well, and features image alignment tools - however there is currently no auto alignment feature. I would welcome a brightness/exposure preview tool, since you can't view the finished product or its exposure range until it has been merged. I also find it annoying that you can't get a preview of the files you are using to merge into the hdr, so it can be a bit hit and miss.

The Image Browser itself has its own long line of features, and it works reasonbly well, however it is also quite slow. Just to name a few features: basic zoom and rotate, emailing, printing, converting and creation of albums and web albums. The biggest and best feature however is the ability to view HDRIs and even adjust the exposure level via the + and - keys within the browser.

Pros:
Perform any image editing task in HDR
Lots and lots of features
Image browser can view HDRIs and adjust exposure values
Huge range of tonemapping operators
Non destructive tonemapping
Stack tonemappers
Super low price
(by the way I'm told the price is about to go up, so get in now)

Cons:
A bit slow
Interface could use streamlining
Program crashes on super large 4000 pixel + images

Conclusion
So to conclude, even if it is currently a little clunky and slow - if you're a photographer looking to create your own HDRIs and go nuts with tonemapping, this is the program for you, at an absolute steal - $29.99 USD. And for the more creatively inclined... full image editing capability in HDRI mode!

Supporting Computers have assured me that fixes and improvements for several issues touched on in this review are already in the works, and judging from the speed they get their updates out I don't expect it to be long. The following is the list of planned updates:

- UI Enhancements
- Workflow Improvements
- Core Performance Boosting
- Addition of Several new HDR Related Tools
- New Painting Optimizations
- Updated Livewire

To learn more or give the software a trial for yourself, visit Supporting Computer's Artizen HDR page.

Hyperfocal Design is the host for a growing HDRI & CG community and also a developer of quality textures and HDRIs for graphics professionals.