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Arams · User manual

Use the Arams plugin with Lightroom

Use the Lightroom plugin when you want to choose photographs in your catalog and continue retouching them in Arams. The plugin sends the selected files to Arams; after processing, you choose where Arams saves the result.

This workflow is for Lightroom Classic. The cloud-based Lightroom application is a different product and does not use this Lightroom Classic plugin workflow.

Check that the plugin is ready

Section titled “Check that the plugin is ready”
  1. Open File → Plug-in Manager in Lightroom Classic.
  2. Select Retouch4me Arams.
  3. Check that the status says This plug-in is enabled.
  4. If the plugin is disabled, select it and use Enable. If it is absent or reports a load error, see If it does not work before sending photographs.
Lightroom Classic Plug-in Manager showing Retouch4me Arams installed, running, and enabled.
In Lightroom Classic, confirm that Retouch4me Arams is installed and enabled before sending photographs. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · English

Send photographs to Arams

Section titled “Send photographs to Arams”
  1. In Lightroom Classic, select the photographs you want to retouch. Check the filmstrip or grid so that only the intended files are selected.
  2. Choose File → Plug-in Extras → Export to Retouch4me Arams.
Lightroom Classic File menu with Export to Retouch4me Arams under Plug-in Extras.
Send the current Lightroom Classic selection with File → Plug-in Extras → Export to Retouch4me Arams. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · English
  1. Wait for Arams to open and display the transferred photographs. Confirm the filenames and photograph count before you start retouching.
Two portrait photographs transferred from Lightroom Classic and displayed as decoded thumbnails in Arams.
Check the photograph count and filenames in Arams before choosing retouching settings. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · American English

The command sends the selected source files as they are currently stored on disk. Lightroom Classic catalog adjustments are not rendered into the files transferred by this workflow. If those adjustments are essential to your result, create rendered copies from Lightroom Classic first, then send those copies.

Retouch and save a result

Section titled “Retouch and save a result”
  1. In Arams, select the photograph you want to process.
  2. Choose Local or another processing mode available to your account, then select the required plugin. Adjust the amount while watching the face and fine skin detail; a lower value keeps more of the original texture.
  3. Open the export settings and choose Hard drive.
  4. Choose the photographs to export, the destination, filename, and format. To keep the Lightroom source folder organized, you can enable a new subfolder. Leave Resize to fit off when you want to preserve the original pixel dimensions.
  5. Select Export and wait for the file to be written. Open the saved result at a useful magnification and check the whole frame as well as the detailed areas affected by retouching.

In this workflow, the saved result remains in the folder chosen in Arams; it is not added to the Lightroom Classic catalog automatically. The Lightroom catalog therefore continues to show the photographs it contained before the Arams export. Import the saved result separately if you want to manage it in that catalog.

Lightroom Classic catalog after the Arams hard-drive export, still showing the two original imported portraits.
The Arams hard-drive export does not add its result to the Lightroom Classic catalog automatically. Arams 1.10.2 · Windows · English

If it does not work

Section titled “If it does not work”
  • Retouch4me Arams is missing from Plug-in Manager: start Arams once, close and reopen Lightroom Classic, then check File → Plug-in Manager again. If the entry is still absent, update or reinstall Arams through its normal installer rather than copying plugin files between user profiles.
  • The plugin is present but disabled: select Retouch4me Arams in Plug-in Manager and choose Enable. Preserve any load-error message if Lightroom Classic cannot enable it.
  • Export to Retouch4me Arams is missing: confirm that you are using Lightroom Classic, that the plugin is enabled, and that you are looking under File → Plug-in Extras.
  • Arams opens without all selected photographs: return to Lightroom Classic, verify the selection and filenames, and invoke the command once more only after the previous transfer has finished.
  • A saved result does not appear in Lightroom Classic: this workflow does not add the exported file to the catalog automatically. Locate the folder selected in Arams and import the result into Lightroom Classic if you want it in the catalog.
  • Processing is unavailable: use a plugin and processing mode already available to your account. Check plugin availability separately from the photo transfer.
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