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[Solved] Nik Collection Filters Crash Photoshop on macOS High Sierra

Problem: Nik Collection filters will crash Photoshop on the laptop with High Sierra. This issue is easy to reproduce, Nik Collection filters crashes immediately when trying to save the results of the filter back to the Adobe Photoshop’s layer stack.

The official reply from DxO support about this issue on Nov 15, 2017 as below

We are proud to have added the Nik Collection to the DxO family starting October 25, 2017.
This acquisition is recent, so we do not yet support the various plug-ins of the Nik Collection in their original version.

Content Summary

Solution 1: Apply the filtered effect to the current layer
Solution 2: Smart Objects

Solution 1: Apply the filtered effect to the current layer

Works for layers that are not Smart Objects and Nik Collection filter is setup to not make a new layer itself. Change the Nik software (within the plugin, under settings) so it does not create a new layer when the filter is applied. If you don’t use a smart object it works fine as long as you don’t ask it to create a new layer when applying the filter.

Step 1: Open an image using Photoshop.

Step 2: Open Nik Collection and Color Effects Pro 4.

Step 3: Go to HELP > SETTINGS >  AFTER CLICKING OK. Change After Clicking OK setting to Apply the filtered effect to the current layer then OK.

Step 4: Click OK on the bottom of the settings box in Nik Collection to make the change effective.

Step 5: Before you take the image from Photoshop into Nik Collection filters, make a duplicate layer in Photoshop first, then Nik plugin effect is copied into that layer when you bring it back to Photoshop from Nik Collection. You can then change it’s opacity just as before.

Nik Collection filters settings

Solution 2: Smart Objects

Tested using Nik Collection Smart Filters applied to Smart Objects as this was causing Photoshop to crash every time when crop an image.

Step 1: Right-Click and disable the Nik Filter in the Layers view.

Step 2: Crop the image.

Step 3: Choose some other tool like the Move tool.

Step 4: In the Layers view, right-click the Nik Filter and select Edit Smart Filter.

Step 5: Click OK to close the Filter window and the filter should be re-enabled and re-applied to the image without crashing.

Alex Lim is a certified IT Technical Support Architect with over 15 years of experience in designing, implementing, and troubleshooting complex IT systems and networks. He has worked for leading IT companies, such as Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco, providing technical support and solutions to clients across various industries and sectors. Alex has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore and a master’s degree in information security from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the author of several best-selling books on IT technical support, such as The IT Technical Support Handbook and Troubleshooting IT Systems and Networks. Alex lives in Bandar, Johore, Malaysia with his wife and two chilrdren. You can reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Website | Twitter | Facebook

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