ART v1.0 is out

You can mostly read Rawpedia… But if you want to write some docs, have at it!

Working fine on Linux Mint Xfce 19.3.

I think the capabilities of this great program are vastly understated. I find that it just does everything you want to do in an intuitive manner, and you don’t spend time wrestling with it!

I particularly like the tone equalizer as a way of bringing back shadows (I find the soft light can bring back a little saturation and contrast)

Another fantastic tool that is hidden away is the delta E mask (under colour correction / mask) where you can quickly select regions of a similar hue / lightness / saturation, adjust the range selected, then change the tones and colours of the selected regions. It can also be used in conjunction with area masks to quickly select objects. I find it a very intuitive way of working. Does anybody think that this tool should have another name in addition to delta E mask as the average user may not be aware of what delta E means? Zone picker?

Thanks again for all the hard work!

I don’t know, since I’m aware of the meaning of deltaE. Maybe “Color zone” but with H curves you can already select by color. Or “Color similarity”?

Works fine on Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS . Many thanks to @Carmelo_DrRaw for the Appimage and to @agriggio for all the work that has gone into this.

Checked on Mageia (a linux rpm based distribution), all is OK.
@Carmelo_DrRaw good job :+1:

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I would imagine it’s not obvious what it does for many new users coming from other popular imaging software. If I’m not mistaken, it’s similar to how the masking works in the Local Lab build of RT, which is the only reason why I knew what it did.
Based on the fact that I consider ART to be a lot more approachable than RT for new users, I would be in favour of using some more user-friendly names for tools like this. It was already done for Slope Offset and Power, so perhaps a similar thing could be done for DeltaE?

On a similar note, I read recently Alberto’s description of Log Encoding as a poor man’s version of darktable’s Filmic. I had never thought they were similar and Log Encoding doesn’t really mean much to me. Is there a more “photographic” term that could be applied to that one?

How about something like “HSL Range”?

I am certainly open to more “photography friendly” names for tools, but they need to be reasonably precise and not overlapping with other tools. HSL range is potentially confusing, as one might wonder what’s the difference with using the individual HCL masks. “color zone” might be better, but I don’t know if it’s clear enough… I need the opinion of people who think deltaE is unclear, because to me that’s perfectly clear :slight_smile:
regarding log encoding, I suppose it could be renamed to something like “perceptual tone mapping”, but would that be any better? the key issue is that it has the same purpose as dynamic range compression, but a different way of achieving the goal… (calling it ‘filmic’ is not good either, as there are no toe/shoulder/contrast controls, they are left to the tone curves)

The term “log” has a lot of prior traction, given the log-encoding modes of some video cameras. I’d rather make it part of the vernacular, as I’m growing weary of names that hide the fundamental behavior…

Same opinion about DeltaE…

Yes, “Ok, Boomer” and all that… :smiley:

Well, existing users of ART/RT and Pixl.us in general will have no problems with keeping existing and technical names. I personally have no real problem keeping them as is because I’ve spent the last 3 months getting to know these kinds of products.
The question is whether we want to attract new users, especially refugees from popular commercial products. It’s a common complaint that all of the leading FOSS products have a steep learning curve and obscure tool names contribute to that. It’s the age-old debate on here really - should the tools try and cater more to the masses or just focus on the enthusiast community?

I know ART started as more of a personal side project, so perhaps attracting the masses is not really part of the plan.

And what about “Selection by Light range”
What is obvious is that the use of this tool allows to fully understand what is behind the delta E term.
It is no the case of Log Encoding which is much more difficult to grasp. However the use of the word Log, can lead us to think that it is a non linear tool the use of which may be more sensitive and specific.

Hi,

good, because that’s what it is, indeed.

the use of which may be more sensitive and specific.

it can be very sensitive, indeed. But keep in mind that many of the operations you do on an image are in fact nonlinear (particularly those that manipulate contrast)

Anyway, so far I have no better name, but please keep suggesting alternatives!

“A very intuitive way of working”. Those were not exactly the first words that came to mind when experimenting with this tool. :upside_down_face: But it seems to do its job.
But what those C and L sliders are for, and others like contrast, exactly, is not very clear to me for the moment. A more photographic vocabulary would be welcome. DeltaE isn’t clarifying as well, although I understand the delta part. I think tooltips would help here.

I also think that details can be offered as tool tips. DeltaE can stay deltaE, but the tool tips can say that deltaE is a general term that corresponds to a measure of the difference between colors.

Regarding Log Encoding, it’s name is not straight forward but maybe, I fit could be grouped with DRC in a more general “Dynamic range manipulation” tool, then users would understand that the Log Encoding subtool is one of 2 ways to manipulate dynamic range.

I think we should collectively agree on never using the word “intuitive” ever again. As a maths geek who shoots film and solves differential equations in his dreams (true story), there are things that are intuitive (even obvious) to me, and will never be for other people (and the other way around).

“Intuitive” is only a matter of cognitive referential. It just means that the “intuitive” thing looks like something you already know. And what you already know depends a lot on your personal history. So, intuitivity is a bogus concept.

Anyway, well done @agriggio !

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the design goal of ART was stated very precisely by Alan Kay: “Simple things should be simple, complex things should be possible.” oh, and also have fun :wink:

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I’m familiar with RT and RawPedia, but some tools in Art are new and not clear how to use properly.

For things not in RawPedia, not explained here, and not able to figure out on your own, you’ll have to ask. Not much written documentation.

That’s an intuitive reasoning :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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