Mike Chaney's Tech Corner
March 28, 2024, 04:31:42 PM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
News: Qimage registration expired? New lifetime licenses are only $59.99!
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register  

Professional Photo Printing Software for Windows
Print with
Qimage and see what you've been missing!
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4
  Print  
Author Topic: v2017.121 issues/comments  (Read 27686 times)
russellsnr
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 81


View Profile
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2017, 08:38:02 PM »

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
Logged
vdr
Full Member
***
Posts: 107


View Profile
« Reply #16 on: April 15, 2017, 11:01:42 PM »

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. 

   
Logged
Fred A
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 5644



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #17 on: April 16, 2017, 10:11:09 AM »

Quote
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
Logged
MelW
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 357


View Profile Email
« Reply #18 on: April 16, 2017, 08:14:18 PM »

Quote
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.


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
Logged
Jeff
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 763



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #19 on: April 17, 2017, 08:25:00 AM »

Quote
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.

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 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

   
Logged

Grumpy
Fred A
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 5644



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #20 on: April 17, 2017, 09:03:25 AM »

Quote
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.  -

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.

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

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

Logged
Terry-M
The Honourable Metric Mann
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 3247



View Profile WWW
« Reply #21 on: April 17, 2017, 12:25:25 PM »

Quote
going out to dinner at MacDonald's
That's too down market for me as well as being junk food!  Roll Eyes
Terry
Logged
admin
Administrator
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 4109



View Profile Email
« Reply #22 on: April 17, 2017, 02:55:01 PM »

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
Logged
johnlill
Newbie
*
Posts: 25


View Profile
« Reply #23 on: April 17, 2017, 03:12:49 PM »

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!
Logged
admin
Administrator
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 4109



View Profile Email
« Reply #24 on: April 17, 2017, 03:59:28 PM »

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
Logged
johnlill
Newbie
*
Posts: 25


View Profile
« Reply #25 on: April 18, 2017, 07:58:26 PM »

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.

 
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
Logged
admin
Administrator
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 4109



View Profile Email
« Reply #26 on: April 19, 2017, 02:23:26 AM »

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
Logged
johnlill
Newbie
*
Posts: 25


View Profile
« Reply #27 on: April 19, 2017, 02:33:44 AM »

[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.
« Last Edit: April 19, 2017, 02:36:01 AM by johnlill » Logged
Bart_van_der_Wolf
Newbie
*
Posts: 20


View Profile
« Reply #28 on: April 23, 2017, 01:24:42 PM »


  • 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).

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
« Last Edit: April 23, 2017, 01:27:42 PM by Bart_van_der_Wolf » Logged
admin
Administrator
Forum Superhero
*****
Posts: 4109



View Profile Email
« Reply #29 on: April 23, 2017, 02:58:17 PM »

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


Qimage Ultimate


Mike
« Last Edit: April 23, 2017, 03:12:05 PM by admin » Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
Security updates 2022 by ddisoftware, Inc.