Apple Releases Aperture 3.3 with Unified Photo Library, More

Apple released Aperture 3.3 on Monday, an update to the company’s professional photo management software. One of the main changes is a unified photo library for iPhoto and Aperture that allows both apps to view the same libraries. It also includes support for the MacBook Pro with Retina Display that was also announced on Monday.

The update includes a number of other changes, as well, including an update to some of the terms (out is “Master,” in is “Original”), and more.

Aperture 3

Aperture 3

Apple’s patch notes:

What’s New in Aperture 3.3

  • New unified photo library for both iPhoto (v 9.3 or later) and Aperture; no import/export required; Faces, Places, slideshows, albums and web sharing work across both applications

  • Support for AVCHD video has been added

  • Aperture now lets you use camera-generated previews for faster browsing of RAW files immediately after import

  • Highlights & Shadows tool has been updated to deliver higher-quality results and work with extended range data

  • A new Auto Enhance button has been added to the Adjustments panel

  • White Balance tool now includes Skin Tone and Natural Gray modes to simplify color balance

  • Auto button has been added to the White Balance tool for one-click color balancing

  • Set Desktop command has been added to Share menu so you can set a desktop background from within Aperture

  • A new Manual option allows you to drag and drop projects to customize sort order in the Projects view

  • New preference allows you to set the background brightness of the full screen browser

  • Facebook, Flickr, and MobileMe albums are now displayed as thumbnails in the main window when accounts are selected in the source list

  • Minor terminology changes, including “Original” instead of “Master” and “Info” instead of “Metadata”

  • Source list includes a new “Recent” section, showing Last Import and recently-viewed projects

  • Raw Fine Tuning is no longer displayed in the Adjustments panel by default

  • Faces can now be named by dragging them from the Unnamed Faces browser to existing snapshots on the corkboard

  • The Faces corkboard now includes a menu that allows you to set the order of face snapshots

  • Newly designed monochrome source list and toolbar icons

  • Addresses numerous issues related to overall performance and stability

Aperture 3.3 is free to owners of version 3.x. You’ll find it in Software Update as a 554.9MB download, and it has not yet been added to Apple’s Downloads site as of this writing.