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

v2014.211    Apr 21, 2014

Priority: Med

v2014.211 adds raw lens corrections for the Olympus 12-40 f2.8 lens for E-M* cameras and fixes some sizing bugs WRT uncropped prints with mats.

Mike

In Editor (Tabs: Adjust, Levels, +Curves, Sel. Color) if I select "+Curves" check the "In" box with the up/down arrows.

I believe this box goes from blank, and 0 to 255, but the text of the numerals above 100 gets cut off making 255 look like 25 due to narrow column?


Mack

Fred,

Here is the screen snap.  Windows 8.1 64-bit if it matters.

Shows 96 clearly, then maybe 125 or 128, then 140 something (144?) in the pull-down.

Odd curve in the window is something I saved to pull up the shadow detail to make a step target more linear so I use that Curve part a lot.  Otherwise it goes to black too soon.  Would be nice if there were 21 spots (Instead of Loc. 16 across as it is now) for a generic 21-step calibration tablet too.  I made a 16 step especially for Qimage, but it's not as good for setting tonal linearity as I would like.  51 steps that is also out there is too much, imho.

Mack

I get the same, now that I see where Mack is located.
Frankly, I use curves a lot, and never even tried that wheel. Never found a use for it.
I either use the eye dropper on my image to get my location and then type in a slightly higher number to lighten that location, or I just drag my points.
Those are random setting points .... Let's see what Mike says.

Fred

Terry, somewhere down the line ask Mike about adding at least 21 steps to the LOC window over 16 please.

I noticed with the Canon 9000 II printer that only has one black ink, I have to kick the black up at the dMax (black) end of the scale pretty quick in the Qimage Curve tool or else the black shadows get bunched up in there.  The Epson that has 3-4 blacks, I can get a smoother transition into the blacks (shadows) and leave the Curve alone once made with the i1 Profiler.

If I only use the Qimage default of 16 LOC steps, I cannot get a smooth black transition with one-black ink printers even using x-rite's i1 Profiler.  A 21-step gray tablet seems to be more helpful in getting the shadows back using the Curve tool, but it is finicky to do so with only 16 settings.

You can see a bit of the step tablet in my screenshot above where it goes from black (#1) to the next LOC step 2 using the odd Curve I made up for the Canon.  Without it, the tablet is black in steps 1-3 before showing a gray.


Mack

Terry, yes I "generally" enter the numbers via the keyboard: LOC, and the "Out" that moves the curve to where I want it after reading it into a linearity formula in a spreadsheet.  Either way, the LOC seems to change one entire number from 0-16 (17 numbers with zero included) with the mouse as well.

I tried to do something like 4.5 for a LOC which Qimage accepts, but it seems to round down to 4 doing that on the curve's line itself and wipes out my "Out" setting I used for LOC 4.  Even 4.9 rounds down to 4 on the curve too.  So I guess 0-16 is it and nothing else?

Most of the old Kodak and Stouffer calibration gray scale step-wedge targets use 21 steps of 5% each to set up print ink linearity.  The Qimage 16 step LOC seems odd, excluding zero is added making it 17 steps.  I'm not getting the tones to separate it that well in the dark areas with only 16 numbers.  Shadows, with the single black ink printers, seem to lose detail without fiddling with the 0-3 area of the LOC for me in Curve part of Qimage.

You can see in the screen capture above where the curve I used lifted the #2 out of darkness with the steep curve off the zero point (Made for the Canon printer.  Epson is fine, but it has more black inks too.).  Another LOC point down there would help.

Fwiw, "How to make and print a 21 step tablet in PS" is here: http://www.jnevins.com/stepwedge.htm  My Canon is showing me some odd colors in the middle too (yellow in some steps and magenta in others), but I could use the Curve and negate them in the RGB part individually I guess.  Epson is fine and seems to point to the need for more black inks too.

Mack

 

In the LOC box (horizontal), I cannot enter 255, only goes up to 16?  Rounds down too for any whole number placed there too (e.g. 4.9 rounds down to 4, etc.).

The other boxes (Especially the OUT) I can which move the vertical part of the curve form 0-255 (Which makes that 0-16 LOC number on the curve darker or lighter in the print.).

***********************

Aside, I see today Keith Cooper released a new B&W Test Image with 51 steps of gray http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/bw_printing/bw-test-image-2.html, or another with 21 steps to set up linearization curves.  That's why I would like to see a LOC ability to set 21 steps instead of 16 since 21 seems to be some industry standard set by Kodak and Stouffer in the past.  51 is a bit much to put into Qimages Curves part manually - beside it not being able to do more than 16 in current state.

I also noted from the new test image above when I tried it today, the Epson printed and centered it fine in Qimage.  The Canon 9000 II shifted downwards a bit and the border was off at the end.  However, I think the Epson 3880 has a better sensor for the beginning of the paper feed so it might be a Canon engineering goof.  The Canon also didn't do well on the faded black spot near the A4 in the new K.C. test image either and produced some bad banding there where the Epson was smoother.  The Canon might go into the trashcan soon I I just replaced the head too and it still does it.  I suspect the Canon Pro-100 with the other two gray/black inks does better on B&W than the 9000 II which had a Green and Red ink and seems the Pro-100 is the same model, just they ditched the green and red for the two grays to make the gray step transition smoother (or do the "Curve kick" like I had to do above in Qimage.).


Mack

Terry, I got that 0-16 LOC X-axis stuff.  However, it's too small of a range.

What I'd like to propose is at least 0-21 for that box so I can use the generic industry standard 21-step gray scales (Kodak & Stouffer) and now Keith's 21-step wedge to set the values read from those in Qimage.  I think even my i1Profiler uses a 21 step tablet in its Colorport section to read from.  With Qimage locked into such a small LOC value range of 0-16, I cannot do so.  As it is, blacks get bunched up and it's too hard to separate them with such a small 0-16 range to work within, so it needs a finer (or more available LOC numbers) range to work with.

I tried to do so by fooling it into a LOC=4.5 but it rounds down to 4 so I am stuck with 0-16 for any and all X-axis movements.  I need to apply more than 16 sets to the curve from these wedges to smooth out the tonality and make it linear.

I don't know what to make of the 51 step gray wedges, but they seem to be showing up more in digital land.  Especially in setting up the the 8 tanks of differing black and gray piezo inks.

Mack