Capture One Plugin

The Macro Studio plug-in for Capture One sends a focus bracket from Capture One to Macro Studio for stacking. When you save the stack, it appears in Capture One beside your frames. The plug-in works on Mac only.

Installing the plug-in

In Macro Studio, choose Integrations → Install Capture One Plug-in…
In Capture One, choose Scripts → Update Scripts Menu, or restart Capture One.

Stacking from Capture One

Select the frames of one focus bracket.
Choose Scripts → Stack in Macro Studio (RAW) or Scripts → Stack in Macro Studio (TIFF).

Macro Studio stacks the frames and opens the result.

Everything in one send becomes one stack. For a folder of brackets, use Autostack in Macro Studio instead.

RAW or TIFF

	RAW	TIFF
What’s sent	Your original files, untouched	A 16-bit TIFF of each frame, made by Capture One
Your Capture One edits	Not included	Included
Raw DNG	Yes, when camera-raw mode is on	No
Files written to disk	None	One TIFF per frame, beside your photos

Start with RAW. Choose TIFF when you want to stack Capture One’s own conversion of your RAW files, with your edits in it. TIFF also works for files Macro Studio can’t open itself.

With TIFF, Capture One shows its progress while it makes the TIFFs. They’re saved in a folder named MS-export TIFFs beside your photos, with one subfolder per run. Each TIFF takes about 6 MB per megapixel. You can delete them, but Macro Studio needs them to reopen a DNG saved from that stack and use Retouch or change the Look.

If a photo’s folder can’t be written to, like a locked card, the TIFFs go to a temporary folder instead, which is cleared after about a week.

The TIFFs are made with a process recipe called Macro Studio TIFF, which the plug-in adds to your Process Recipes. It stays switched off, so your own processing doesn’t use it.

Getting the result back into Capture One

Save the stack in Macro Studio, into the folder your frames came from.

In a catalog, each file you save is added to the catalog beside your frames, and selected.
In a session, the file appears in the folder you’re browsing, selected.

If you save in two formats at once, both files come back.

In a catalog, only your first save is added on its own. The plug-in waits up to two hours for it. If you save again later, take longer, or close Capture One first, add the file with File → Import Images…

Using Open With instead

You can also select frames and choose Image → Open With → Macro Studio. Macro Studio stacks them the same way, but nothing comes back on its own. In a catalog, add the saved file with File → Import Images…

If nothing happens

No Stack in Macro Studio in the Scripts menu. Choose Scripts → Update Scripts Menu. If it’s still missing, install the plug-in again.
“Macro Studio has not been launched on this computer yet.” Open Macro Studio once, then try again.
“Select the frames to stack first.” One image isn’t a stack. Select at least two frames.
“Capture One can’t find” some frames. They’re on a drive that isn’t connected. Connect it and try again.
The result isn’t on screen. In a catalog, the result goes into the folder you saved it in, not into an album or project. Look in that folder, or under All Images. In a session, it shows only if you saved it into the folder you’re browsing.