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

v2014.140    Mar 3, 2014

Priority: Med

v2014.140 includes the following:

• Print-to-file: New "RIP individual prints" option allows creating one image file per print (no white space).
• Print-to-file: More user friendly setup options when using "File", "Print To", "File" plus some related bug fixes.
• Print placement: Ctrl + arrows in full page editor now not only finds the edges of other prints but also centers to/within other prints!
• Sound: Fixed a bug where the "click" sound could still be heard even if UI sounds were turned off.

Mike

Feature two


This is easier to follow, and a real help for me.
I am no Einstein, believe me!  Up until recently, I thought EinStein was one glass of beer.!!

So when it comes to taking the weight of having to measure stuff in hundredths, I usually have to ask Terry for help.
He answers in mms, and I have to remind him that I drive on the correct side of the road... inches please!

Calling your attention to the Print to File  setup box, it has been revised and a new feature added.
In the past, you had to type in the printable area of a page if you wanted the image to fit the way it was exactly.
You can still type any size you want..... but the added feature is the new button that says 300 over to the right of the RESOLUTION ROW in Step 1.

Just click it and the Printable area of your current paper size is typed in for you.


In step 2, it's just Easy Peasy, so I can almost skip it.
You have a Smart Sharpen selector, and easy access to various color spaces, plus your printer profile as you had before; just easier to see and manipulate.

Step 3 is pretty much as we had before just clarified....

Screen snaps illustrate a realtime situation.

I open the Print to File screen and the page size is in there from last time. It was 8.5 x 11 paper.
Now I am using A3, and I want to change the page size.
I click on our new button....  Easy?

Enjoy!
Fred

Suggestion:

When in the Editor > +Sel. Color pane, in the "Pixel pos." window, it would be nice if one could click on that pane and use the arrow keys on the keyboard (or even manual input of the coordinates) to get back to some reference spot (eg. Example 700 x 912) to see what changes have been made to the "Curr. Color" eyedropper thing since the eyedropper tool cannot be locked on a spot during an edit.  Would be nice if I could right-click and lock the dropper onto an edit spot too.  It's almost impossible to plant the pixel position with any degree of repeatable accuracy with a mouse.

Unless there is some keyboard shortcuts that can allow for this buried somewhere. 


Mack

Fred, I hit the Target box in the Tone Targeted Sharpen Window and it popped up a bunch of stuff.  It shows "Target the selected RGB value" which I guess is what I am trying for.  I want to redden a skin tone a bit.  I think that tool only applies a sharpening to a color, but I'm unsure of what it does to color.

I don't see a marker anywhere though.  Where it is hidden?  I put the eyedropper in the above area (between the eyebrow) and it put the skin color in there, but messing around in the +Sel Clr. pane and boosting red (R#, which it does) I don't see a marker to jump back to compare it too?

Seems only the eyedropper can get me an idea as the RGB value and what has changed, bit it isn't a "sticky eyedropper" like in Photoshop - and I can't find this marker thingy anywhere

Thanks.

Mack

Fred, I think we're on separate pages.

Example:

In the +Sel. Color pane with the Eyedropper I read this:

Pixel Pos. = 752 715.  I eyedropper click on that spot and see this in the Curr. Color for that pixel:  R=234 G=174 B=162.  This is just for reference.

Now I make a print.  It is too cyan overall and needs more red.

In the editor's +Sel. Color I can apply a 1.20 to the N(eutral, or overall color applied?) R-value instead of the default 1.00.  Screen image in the Editor's pop-up screen shows more red applied, and it prints that way too.  No issues there.

Now if I go back with the eyedropper tool and hit that exact same pixel spot of 752 715 (Takes time!), click on that spot and pray the pixel position doesn't change doing so, it now reads R=255 G=172 B=160.  I know the change of 1.00 to 1.20 Red in the editor has boosted it by a given amount from R=234 to 255 so all is well.  I wanted more red overall and got it.

/Example


What I proposed with the "Sticky Eyedropper" suggestion was to somehow mark or memorize that pixel location so I don't need to try and hunt down that single pixel again to determine the RGB numbers change.  Sometimes it is slight, and maybe not even seen on the monitor than the printer, but a tad more red might help.  Given that the next pixel away from 752 715 may be way off than what I needed, it would be nice if there was a "Sticky Eyedropper" to get back to that exact spot and see what has changed an by how much.  With that, I can take a spectrometer reading from subsequent prints and apply a given value in the editor to match.

Knowing how much it has changed in that RGB number shown under the eyedropper tool on that single pixel, I can then apply to some reading made from the i1 PhotoPro 2 spectrometer to make adjustments to subsequent colors in prints for them all to match.  As it is now, it changes too quickly moving the mouse pointer off that single image pixel unless I write it all down.  Getting back on that exact spot each time I change a value in the color pane is the problem as mouse resolution isn't so great.

I don't think TTS is the tool for this job, but I did see the marker (box) the eyedropper left behind if I click on the eyedropper tool again in the TTS window.  RGB Numbers still change moving the eyedropper either to that box or off it and aren't locked.  They might remain with the pop-up window, but clear the pop up and the RGB numbers all change again.

Hope this is more clear. 


Mack

Fred, "putting a tail on a single pixel" isn't a bad idea!   

Photoshop has had "single pixel" for a long time with its "Color Sampler Tool."  CS6 has the ability to lock-in up to four different pixel areas (Adjustable from 1x1 pixel up to 101x101 Average.), along with the ability to see CMYK 16-bit percentages as well as the RGB numbers for those four selections.

Move anything in the image with the PS editor and you can see each or all of the numbers move.  Quite handy if you need to dig in on a single pixel as in the sample image I attached that has a linen surface to it and anything more than one pixel screws up the numbers.

If you read Lee Varis book "Skin II..." on retouching, he uses the pixel points a lot to determine skin corrections in shadow, highlights, middle values, etc. by using the PS "Color Sampler Tool" and CMYK 16-bit percentages.  It is a very good book on color retouching and interesting means to get there.  Actually with Lee's method, you could set skin "color" up correctly on even a B&W monitor with they way he reads the CMYK data with the PS "Color Sampler Tool."

Of course, I have to be difficult with an "applied texture" to an image prior to sending to the printer with canvas loaded (See attached sample.).  Monitor never shows in the Qimage editor pop-up what comes out of the printer as a 100% match, even with a $1,500 i1 ProfilePro 2 applied.  x-rite even mentioned the issue of one's LCD screen varying both in color (Kelvin) and brightness in 9 areas which makes it diffiult to see a screen even change with the pop-up ediotr filter window, but the numbers don't lie that something has moved.  Change an ink tank and all hell breaks loose at times between the two no matter how good the profiling was.  According to x-rite, you can have two identical monitors and they will never be alike even when profiled.  You get close, but they showed by wandering around on a Mac screen issues with the screen in color and brightness.  Of course, if you have a $5,000 Eizo then maybe they will match since the factory sets up individual areas around the screen that no commercial profiler will do as it only sets a profile to the spot it reads.

Qimage has the ability to see the RGB values change within the Editor with the slopes and colors, etc. just the RGB is always a major hunt with the eyedropper tool to determine how far I have moved something in RGB numbers.  It is quite touchy on the landing spot, but that is my hardware too.

It was only a "suggested addition" to Qimage if it didn't have the lock-in ability for a pixel with the eyedropper, which it appears it doesn't vs. PS.  Actually, a small window with the ability to set and see 4 or 6 RGB values or CMYK percentages since most skin retouchers use those (within bounded markers) around an image wouldn't be a bad idea either.  One could play to their hearts content in the Qimage Editor and watch them change and put them where they need to go.  Can't do that in the current configuration.

Try the PS "Sample Color Tool" sometime and watch the numbers change while you edit.  Quite helpful even with one pixel selected.  More so if you are stuck in some wedding image with a lot of white and massive colors coming in from every direction to sort out.  This linen image attachment was a mess too as to the location and lighting issues.  One pixel off and RGB is very different.

Best,

Mack