Corel AfterShot Pro

Corel has introduced AfterShot Pro, which is basically just a rebranded version of Bibble Pro. Corel bought Bibble some time ago, so this was obviously coming. Bibble has always been a special kind of RAW-converter, because it’s the only one that allows plug-ins into the RAW workflow itself. In programs like Apple Aperture and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, a plug-in gets a rendered RGB-image to work with, which means that plugins can never be used seamlessly in the workflow. It also means that a plugin that needs to act at the beginning of the workflow, such as a noise reduction plugin, works less well because it is forced to work at the very end (after sharpening, for example). Bibble has never been able to persuade many developers to build plugins for their application; only a handful of plugins exist. Perhaps Corel will be able to persuade a few more. And perhaps Corel will force Apple and Adobe to rethink their plugin strategy…