DxO Optics Pro 8 workflow and ergonomics

FILE Mode

Search the contents of your computer

Getting started

When you start DxO Optics Pro 8, the Organize tab opens by default.
On the left side of the screen, use your computer directory to browse your files.
Select a folder. The photos it contains will appear in the Image Browser.

Editing photos

Sort your photos directly (i.e., rename, add notes, delete, move, copy, etc.).
Select an image. It will appear in the central window. DxO Optics Pro will automatically apply the optimal set of corrections using the DxO Default preset.
View your image before and after corrections by clicking on the photo.

Processing

Select one or more images and click on the Process selected images button.

After a few moments, the corrected images will be created in the folder you have chosen.

Optional steps before starting processing

The Customize tab allows you to fine-tune the corrections to be applied to your images. The number of correction palettes you can access will depend on the workspace you’ve selected (fewer palettes for First steps, more for Advanced user).
The Process tab lets you follow the progress of your processing, as well as define image output conditions (i.e., destination folder for processed photos, format, suffix, ICC profile, image dimensions, etc.). By default, JPEG images are generated in the current folder with with the suffix “ _DxO.”

IMPORTANT: When you open an image in DxO Optics Pro 8 that was already processed using version 7, DxO Optics Pro will not apply any changes to it by default. You must expressly select the DxO Default preset to apply its version 8 settings.

PROJECT Mode

Select a set of images to process

The concept

Use the projects mode to select a large number of images to process, or to regroup photos from different folders for processing.
If you want to process the same image in different ways, you can do so by making virtual copies. (For more information, see the User guide).
Whether you view an image from its source file or from within a project, the correction settings for it will be the same.

How do I create a project, and how do I add images to it?

Select the images you want, then right-click and choose “create a project from the current selection.” The new project will open immediately, and you can give it a name.

How do I add images to an existing project?

Select the images you want, then right-click and choose “add the current selection to a project.”

How do I open an existing project?

In the Organize tab, click on the “project database” icon to see the list of your projects, then select the project you want to open.

Using DxO Optics Pro with an external editor or cataloger

DxO Optics Pro offers great flexibility for displaying and sorting photos before processing them. We recommend using DxO Optics Pro at the beginning of the image processing workflow to take advantage of its RAW conversion and associated denoising technology.

This said, you can also start your workflow using external catalogers or photo viewing tools. Two very simple procedures allow you to move your photos from an external cataloger into DxO Optics Pro: “drag-and-drop” and “open with.”

How does “drag-and-drop” work?

Select one or more images from a cataloger preview or file list, then drag and drop them into the DxO Optics Pro image browser. Once you’ve dropped them into the image browser, DxO Optics Pro automatically creates a new project (which it will prompt you to rename) containing those photos.

Note: The drag-and-drop feature is not currently available for the Windows version of Adobe Lightroom. Also note that from version 7 onwards, DxO Optics Pro does not offer a tool for importing images directly from Adobe Lightroom to DxO Optics Pro for image processing without first opening them using the original software.

How does “open with” work?

Select an image in your cataloger or preview tool, and then use “Open With DxO Optics Pro” (you may need to right-click to perform this operation).
If DxO Optics Pro is already open, the chosen photo will be added to the current project in process. If no project is currently open, DxO Optics Pro will place the chosen photo into a new project (which it will prompt you to rename).
If DxO Optics Pro is not already open, it will launch and then place the chosen photo into a new project (which it will prompt you to rename).

Start processing. By default, the images are generated in the current folder, but the Process tab allows you to choose another output folder if you want.