Topaz Labs released Impression 2 - an updated version of their painterly effect software that has also new features. The update is free to anyone who already owns Impression. For those who don’t own it, Impression 2 is currently on sale (40% off!) with coupon code "2IMPRESS". Some of the new features are
30+ New effects - Impression 2 now comes with over 140 effects!
Larger Brush Panel - no more squinting to find the brush you need.
Masking - Impression 2 now includes masking in application! Using a brush, color range, luminosity range, or spot masking, the masking panel even includes our color aware tool.
Topaz Community - now you can share your created effects with the other users of Impression 2 with a click of a button. Not seeing an effect you like? Browse the Topaz Community to surf an ocean of custom user made effects.
New brush customization options:
“Number of strokes” options to change the number of strokes applied to the image.
“Large Brush Volume” that adjust paint volume in large areas of color to help focus on the details.
“Stroke “Rotation Variation” to add randomness to your effect strokes.
Highlight and Shadow control in the lighting menu.
Support for High DPI (4k) monitors in Windows 7/8/10
The older DxO OpticsPro 9 Elite is now available for free (the page is in German, you just have to enter an e-mail address and the download link with the serial number will be sent to you).
Capture One 9.2 ($269.95) released with support for the following cameras (more info available here):