Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u

v2017.121   Apr 10, 2017

Priority: High

2017.121 includes the following:

• Plugins: This is the first version that is compatible with our new Photoshop, Lightroom, and Elements plugins (sold separately): http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/plugins/
• Print engine: Improved print quality with even smoother gradients, achieving near-16-bit level gradients from any standard 8 or 16 bit Windows driver (even improves monitor gradients).
• Fixes: Some minor fixes including additional support for non-English characters (in floating text).

Mike

This is very interesting Mike.
I am running Qimage Ultimate on my iMac via Parallels is it possible to use the new plugins feature? Lightroom and Photoshop are running on Mac OS X 10.12.4.

Installed the Adobe plug-in. Opened a file  but cannot send to Qimage. File/Export shows the message to use File/automate|Quimate Ultimate...
But Automation tools is grayed out. I must be missing something here.

Forgot to add: Am using Elements 14

Are you in Expert mode?  PSE disables the automation menus in "Quick" and "Guided" modes.  Make sure to click the "Expert" mode up top: see attached screenshot.

Regards,
Mike

You could use the new plugin feature as long as LR/PS are installed on the Windows partition under Parallels where you are running Qimage Ultimate.

If you only have PS/LR installed on the Mac partition, you'd have to open Parallels and install the Windows versions of LR/PS under Parallels too.

Regards,
Mike

Thanks

On my windows 7 unit, I installed the plug-in for LR CC Ok. But for PS CC, I get a message that "The installer could not detect a Photoshop installion." I have tried with PS open and closed, but no plug-in?

We'll put together a manual installation option: should be available later today.  In the mean time, what version of Photoshop are you running?  Photoshop is supposed to store its PluginPath under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Photoshop\<PS-ver>:

(http://ddisoftware.com/tech/qimage-ultimate/v2017-121-issuescomments/?action=dlattach;attach=8133;image)

Inability to detect your version of PS means the registry key couldn't be found.  Curious what your registry looks like in that area; if you are comfortable poking around a bit with regedit in Windows.

Regards,
Mike

Hi Mike,
I am running version 2017.0.1 of Photoshop CC

Thanks
Herbert

Thanks for the info.  We installed 2017.1.0 and installation of the plugins with that version worked as expected.  I guess it's possible that 2017.0.1 has some sort of issue populating the registry.

In any case, the new installer is ready.  Just use the same download link where you downloaded before and now you'll find plugin installer 2017.104 (the old one was 2017.103).  Download the new plugin installer and re-run the install, then follow the instructions at the bottom of that download page for manual install of the Photoshop plugins.

Note: the Qimage version on the download page did not change: Qimage Ultimate is still 2017.121.

Regards,
Mike

Hello all,

today I installed the Plug-Ins on my system with current LR CC Ohotoshop CC ans several Photshop Elemenst versions.

I noticed, that only Photoshop Elements 13 was shown during installation as detected, even if my system has also nstalled Photoshop Elements 14 and Photoshop Elements 15 in parallel to PSE13. I had to install the Plug-Ins manual into PSE14 and PSE15

Wolfgang

Hi Mike,
Everything is working.

Thanks
Herbert

Thanks for letting us know.  We've updated the installer so that it can detect and install for multiple versions of PS/PSE.  We've updated the download page to show the updated version of the plugin (v2017.105) which will handle this.

Regards,
Mike

Hi, Well after ALL the help I received from Fred on here I had to upgrade to the new offerings just await the download link. Thanks, Russ

My comments are regarding the new offering of Plug-Ins for use with Photoshop and other software.  I have completed VERY limited review and am at a loss to recognize what benefit would these be for me. I use QI-U for ALL photo printing and rarely (almost never) print anything using Photoshop.  Elements is available for use but I never used it.

I attempted to watch the Video but seems I never get much from any of these due primarily to the extremely small screen area used for videos.
What would be the best way for me to (find out) for what use and benefits I could receive using the plugins.

I will admit:  QI-U is so near perfect and useful that I have difficulties in recognizing (identifying) what would make it even better. 

   

Hi Vern,
I had to smile, appreciate, and reply to your post.
I used to have Photo Shop years ago because a club I belonged to considered it a "must" for digital images.
Sort of like an Amateur Radio club, that required that every member own an antenna for 20 meter and 15 meter bands.
I could swap heads. I could do Content aware... but you see, I love photography, and I enjoy shooting scenes that evoke a story or some emotion.
It has to be real to do that. If I have to borrow a moon or a sky, or a tree from another image to make this one look good, that's not me.
If an image needs that, go back and retake it properly.

I found Qimage..... I think it was 1998 or 1999.. it was called Peg Me.
I wrote to Mike, and slowly learned, bit by bit (pun) as much as could understand from Mike's patient replies.
ALL JPGS   at that time.
Then into the Raw era, and I learned and experimented and again, with Mike's guidance produced PRINTS better than anyone else, and still do.
Even friends who own 4900 and 3800 printers will ask me to print for them.

My long winded point is that I personally am like you. I have no use for the new plug ins. I had to Download a Trial Photo Shop for testing, but personally, have no use for the plug in.
I learned how to do up my raws, touch up a tad in the editor, add a mat or two for a final touch, a bit of text, and choose my printer setup for paper, profile, size, etc. and Print.

But other people have a different approach, and have been using PS for so long that they feel the same affinity for it as I do for Qimage.
For them, this plug in is just what they wanted for years.
It really works fine, and it sorts for you as well as the export and print in QU.

I have a professional photographer friend who uses Photo Shop, but prints only with Qimage. (He still shoots JPG, never tried raw) He works his images in PS and then they go to Qimage.  He thinks Santa came early this year, so you see the plug ins are manna from heaven for many.

Stay well,
Fred

Thank you Fred.  I use PSE for 2 or 3 pictures a year where I need layers to do what I need, and for those rare instances, I just save the edited picture and then open it in QU.  So I too do not think I need the plug-ins and probably wont order right now. Having said that, I can't tell you how many times Mike has come up with a new feature that I look at with a "That's nice but not sure I really have any use for that" attitude.  So often I eventually find that not only do I have a use for it, but It becomes a fairly common practice.  While the most obvious example of this for me is the whole raw processing system, there are other examples such as smart color.  Anyway, while I may pass on this for now, it is mainly because QU can do almost everything I want to do and I have little need to do large amounts of editing elsewhere; however, I will maintain awareness of this should my future needs change.  - Mel W

I am glad others are of the same opinion.

Funny, this plug in release happens just when I have a couple of images that require extensive 'fiddling' as I call it.

I was commissioned to take some shots of presentation speaches, some thing I do not like.

Extensive post editing was required to get rid of background clutter.

Elements 7 to the resque, used so little that I had to re learn the thing, took two sessions of about two hours each.  First two hours just to learn the thing.

But then all I have to do is do a basic process in QImage save as .tiff then tart up in  Elements 7 save as .psd and reopen in qimage and then back on familiar ground.

A few minutes in Qimage and two and a half hours in Elements.

Jeff

   

Hi Mel,
Been a while.
On your comments above, I am in complete accord except for one point which you made for me.
You find no need for a feature now, but later on, you find it very useful.... true... but if you take that premise and couple it to another, (Not every feature is a headliner for everyone.) I still think Mike's work, ethics and support, and continued improvement of Qimage Ultimate deserves a little support here and there; even if I probably wont use the new feature.

I can show others though.


Jeff I like the image with the {Q} in the filename better.... just a tad clearer than the other.
But, golly gee, what are those cloth things hanging down from their collars? One is blue, the other brown?

I saw that before. About a year ago, Terry sent me a picture of Eileen and himself, plus his sister and brother in law going out to dinner at MacDonald's. He was dressed just like that.
Fred

That's too down market for me as well as being junk food!  ::)
Terry

Sure, the plugins are only for people who use PS/LR and will not be useful for those who don't.  But that's like saying you have no use for a Toyota dealership in your town because you drive a Ford: for the people who do own Toyota's, it's essential.

Similarly, I would think these plugins will be essential for most people who regularly use PS/LR on Windows and also print.  The plugins allow you to replace the PS and LR print modules with a more powerful and higher quality printing module.  In addition, it also enables another frequently-requested feature for that group: PDF printing.  Just open/rasterize all pages of your PDF in Photoshop and then send to Qimage Ultimate for printing.

I don't underestimate the percentage of Qimage Ultimate users who use Photoshop to edit (or Lightroom).  It's probably a high percentage of the Qimage Ultimate user base, most of whom realize how difficult it is to do print nesting in the Adobe products.

Mike

I was super excited to see the plugins announcement. But I quickly realized it won't help because I run QU on a Mac using Parallels (Qimage was the only reason that I bought Parallels!). Since my Lightroom license lets me install it also on a Win machine, I installed it in the Windows partition. But, strangely enough, the LR catalog (database, not the images) cannot be accessed from a network drive, and Parallels/Windows considers the Mac partition to be a network drive, I can run LR under Windows but cannot open the LR database. Oh well, I guess I'll continue to do what I have done for years - edit in LR/PS, and export images that I want to print. Then run QU to print.

I'm sure I'm not the only Mac user that keeps hoping for a Mac version of Qimage Ultimate, but I know that's not going to happen!

John,

I don't have an installation here where I have both (Mac/Windows) on one machine.  But in thinking about it, there must be a way to copy the LR database from your Mac partition to the Windows partition so that you can access the same catalog.  In searching, I found this page.  Maybe it will be of assistance:

http://blog.hani-ibrahim.de/en/lightroom4mac-pc.html

Regards,
Mike

Thanks, Mike. The Windows installation in Parallels apparently sees any external drive shared with the Mac as a network drive so the LR catalog cannot reside there. I'll take a look at that article but I'll probably just keep doing what I've been doing for several years. Being able to use the plugins would be nice but no biggie if I can't.

 

What I was suggesting is that you copy the catalog from the external drive that is shared with the Mac onto a drive that is local to the Parallels/Windows installation, thereby copying it from that "network" drive onto the same drive as the LR installation on Windows is using.  Then run the Windows LR version after the catalog is copied.

Mike

[quote author=admin link=topic=3087.msg20858#msg20858 date=
What I was suggesting is that you copy the catalog from the external drive that is shared with the Mac onto a drive that is local to the Parallels/Windows installation, thereby copying it from that "network" drive onto the same drive as the LR installation on Windows is using.  Then run the Windows LR version after the catalog is copied.

Mike
[/quote]
Yes, that would work. I just prefer to work on the Mac version. It would be too cumbersome to try to keep the 2 versions in sync. It's really not a big deal to continue to export the files and then print them with QU. Thanks again.

Hi Mike,

Could you elaborate a bit? Has the dithering changed, or something else that would warrant reprinting some earlier stuff. I've not seen a specific mention in a video about it yet, hence the question here.

I know I could try but, to avoid wasting paper and ink, I'd like to target those tests at something that might be specifically affected. So what is it we are looking for, besides smooth gradients in general (color, gamma related things, large gradient features or small)?

I also wonder about the 'monitor gradients', in what way they are affected, and how that correlates to the printed output which is at a different scale.

Thanks for the continuing efforts to improve our image output, and print workflow.

Cheers,
Bart

Bart,

The only thing that would warrant reprinting anything is if you have any prints of 16 bit/channel photos that showed any faint banding in slowly changing gradients like skies or sunsets.  That's not likely since you have to have very specific conditions to create that condition in the first place and prior versions already mitigated that to a large degree.

I won't go into the technical details since I want to keep it proprietary but I'll just say that it's a way to manipulate the 8 bit/channel data going to your monitor and printer so that they can visually reproduce near 16 bit/channel color.  I'll leave you with two screen captures of the same 16 bit/channel gray gradient displayed in Photoshop and Qimage Ultimate:

Photoshop
(http://ddisoftware.com/tech/qimage-ultimate/v2017-121-issuescomments/?action=dlattach;attach=8188;image)

Qimage Ultimate
(http://ddisoftware.com/tech/qimage-ultimate/v2017-121-issuescomments/?action=dlattach;attach=8190;image)

Mike

Okay. Yes, that was already very useful.


Understood. Thanks for the further improvement. It's the attention to details that makes a difference, even if only visible in special cases.

Cheers,
Bart

Mike,

Would a plug-in like that have any chance to work with Photoline ?   I have the Photoshop + Lightroom CC license but also Photoline and probably will end with the last one as it is a versatile program covering most of my image creation needs; CMYK +RGB, Vector + bitmap, web design etc. Sure a conversion to RGB bitmaps is then needed for the printed output.

Edit, maybe this is a positive answer; https://www.pl32.com/forum3/viewtopic.php?t=5606&p=42115

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

Ernst,

You can still use QU as an external application but the plugins will do you no good in Photoline because Photoline doesn't support automation plugins; only filters.

Regards,
Mike

Thank you Mike.

Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst

http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm
March 2017 update, 750+ inkjet media white spectral plots

Updated Qimage Ultimate to version 2018.103, then installed QUAdobePlugin.v2017.109.exe.
QUAutomate.8li and QUExport.8be are now located in this folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS5 (64 Bit)\Plug-ins
However, the print from Photoshop via Qimage Ultimate option is not showing up under File>Automate.
Should I move the two plug-in files to a different location?
thanks.

Photoshop CS5
Windows 64 bit Professional
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3 GHz
4 GB RAM

Manual installation of plugins (optional):
Manual installation is not typically necessary as the installer takes care of the installation, however, if you run into trouble and need to install the plugins manually, please follow these instructions:

    Open Qimage Ultimate and select "Utilities", "Explore Qimage Application Data" from the main menu (click "OK" on the warning message)
    A File Explorer window will open: in the File Explorer window, open the "Plugins" folder
    In the "Plugins" folder, open the "Photoshop" or "Lightroom" folder
    Open and follow the manual install instructions in the "readme.txt" file in that folder

From the readme file:"The two plugin files in this directory:

QUAutomate.8li
QUExport.8be

are copies, in case the Qimage Ultimate Adobe Plugin installer cannot detect an installation of Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Photoshop Elements in the Windows Registry.

If needed, simply copy these two files into the Adobe Photoshop Plug-ins directory. A typical location would be:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CC 2015.5\Plug-ins

The directory name may vary based upon the version of Adobe Photoshop installed."



Hope this helps, Bill

Fred

Thanks, Fred. Working in PS CS5 64 bit now, but not in plain PS CS5.

Hi Bill.
The answer is sort of tucked away at the bottom of the download screen.


Have a legacy 32 bit version of Photoshop?:
The plugin installer above will work for all supported versions of Lightroom (both 32 and 64 bit) but only covers 64 bit versions of Photoshop.  If you need to install the plugins on a 32 bit version of Photoshop, please download the ZIP file below and follow the instructions in the "readme.txt" file in the ZIP:

Here is the manual installation for 32 bit versions of Photoshop (for 64 bit versions of Photoshop, use automated installer above): QUAdobePlugin.x86.2017.109.zip (518KB)

Just go back to the download screen and get what you need.
Fred

Ah, ok, missed that - sorry! Will follow up today.

Sorry to be a bother, but I'm not finding the link; maybe I'm on the wrong downloads page or my browser isn't showing it for some reason.
Could you please paste the link for the page where QUAdobePlugin.x86.2017.109.zip is located? Thanks!

Never a bother Bill.
We know each other a long time.
Holler if you need more.
It's in your email for registered user download information
Fred

Ah-hah, that download page -thanks!
Works fine now ;-)

I also cannot get the QImage plugin to work, but with the 2018 version of Photoshop Elements. When QImage loaded, it did say that it found PS Elements and an old version of Photoshop. The directory C:\Program Files\Adobe\Elements 2018 Organizer \Plug Ins onlly has an icon file. I do use plugins in PS Elements by supplying a path to a directory which has shortcuts to many different plugins. I did not see any plugin type of files in the QImage directory. The PS Elements -> Files->Automation Tools does not show anything for QImage and the old Photoshop-> Automate also does not show anything for QImage.

Good Morning,
First question is what version of Qimage Ultimate are you running as your post is in a 2017.121 thread?
That is a year old

I am placing a screen snap of the folder that houses the plug-ins, and another of CS6 with file menu dropped.

Notice the path ...
Hope it helps
Fred

Mike,
I don't have any QI plugins in either the Photoshop CS2 or or the Elements Plugin directories.

Mike,
Did I get the right QI installer to get the plugins?