Nik Software was a software developmentcompany established in 1995 as Nik Multimedia Inc.[1] and based inSan Diego, California.[2] The company developed multiple image editing plug-ins and tools fordigital image processing software applications. Nik Software was acquired byGoogle in 2012.[3]
Nik Multimedia was founded in 1995 by Nils Kokemohr inHamburg. The firm focused ondigital photography andgraphic design. They initially developed Nils Efex! and Nils Type Efex! which were acombination ofPhotoshop extensions andtextures.[4] The firm was then acquired in 1998 by the TECHnik Group and re-launched to focus on the expansion of the digital imaging and photographic markets.[5] In 1999 Michael J Slater joined as CEO of the company which subsequently grew into a respectedsoftware research and development company.
In February 2006 the company was renamed Nik Software[6] and announced an investment and cooperation Agreement with Nikon Corporation,[7] who in 2010 held a 35% stake in the company. In 2010, the company had 120 employees — around 40 of whom were located inSan Diego where the company was headquartered while the remaining staff (primarily engineering) were based in Hamburg, Germany.
In September 2012, Nik Software was acquired byGoogle for an undisclosed amount.[8][9]
Neal's Efex and Type Efex were the first two products to be marketed by Nik Multimedia inc. they offered a collection of extensions for Photoshop 4 to alter the look of typefaces.[10]
In 2009, Nik packaged its range of award-winningphoto editing plugin applicationsDfine 2.0, Viveza, Color Efex Pro 3.0, Silver Efex Pro andSharpener Pro 3.0 together in a single Collection.[11] TheComplete Collection Ultimate Edition sold for US$599.95 and theComplete Collection for Lightroom and Aperture for US$299.95.
After acquisition, Google relaunched the collection of six applications[12] as theGoogle Nik Collection and reduced its price to $150[13] and then, in 2016, made it completely free to use.[14][15]
In 2017 Google sold[16] the, now seven-application, collection toDxO Labs for an undisclosed amount.[17] DxO Labs have since added an eighth application:Perspective Efex.[18][19]
Snapseed is an image editing application. It was initially released in 2011 foriOS. Subsequent versions were designed to run onMacOS andMicrosoft Windows. Following the take-over, in December 2012, Google released Snapseed[20] forAndroid[21] and the desktop versions were discontinued.[22]
Capture NX is a stand-alone photo editing program co-developed by Nik Software andNikon, released in 2006.[23] A new version of the program, Capture NX 2, was released in 2008.[24]
^"Company".nikmultimedia.com. Nik Multimedia Inc. Archived fromthe original on 2003-04-13. Retrieved15 March 2023.Acquired in 1998 by The TECHnik Group and re-launched to focus on the expansion of the digital imaging and photographic markets, nik multimedia, Inc. offers a variety of software solutions for various markets and applications including the photography, graphic design, pre-press/publishing, scientific imaging, and web publishing markets.
