bug or just how it works?

Software darktable
1

Not sure if this is a bug or not. In 5.2.1 I was using the technique from @darktablelandscapes on youtube:

  • create a new exposure module, draw an ellipse mask, invert polarity and drag down the exposure of the corners to create vignetting

in todays 5.3.0+705~g9d4907eadf-dirty compile i noticed the following:

  • after creating the ellipse (before the invert), the mask hardly shows in yellow.

  • i have to drag the mask opacity way up to +70% to get a decent effect.

  • when I invert the mask to change only the outer parts, instead of the inside of the ellipse, the mask becomes a solid yellow across the whole image.

  • toggling the ellipse in the mask manager has no effect

  • toggling the ellipse in the ‘drawn mask’ line in the exposure module flips it back to masking the inside of the ellipse

  • then: toggling the ellipse in the mask manager again, finally has the desired effect of masking the outside of the ellipse.

Maybe I misunderstand something?.

2

If the opacity is not 100% then the yellow will look like a haze and then when you invert the semi-transparent mask the yellow will not behave as you want. I suggest you need to use the mask at 100% for the effect you are trying to do.

2 Likes
3

I thought I was going crazy but this seems to be platform or even my setup specific

Background: I have an old macbook, x86 that is becoming too old to run DT comfortably.
I am transitioning to a Lenovo thinkbook, core i5/16GB 2021 model with Intel Iris and debian trixie

This is what I tried:

All Nightly build from yesterday:

  1. MacOS intel build on old 2013 MBP with sequoia and OCLP
  2. MacOS arm build on M1 MBA from my wife
  3. github checkout and build on Lenovo with Debian Trixie per docs
  4. Linux appimage

Expected: draw circle mask, toggle mask overlay—> nice solid yellow circle with feathering
Invert drawn mask in module slider—> solid yellow mask with nice ‘hole’ where circle is
Or: invert drawn mask in mask manager: same behaviour

This is consistent with 5.2.1 on my macs with setup (1) and (2) from above and all the tutorials I’ve seen

On my Linux build as per (3) and (4) I see the following with the same settings as the macs.

draw circle mask, toggle mask overlay—> this shows Half translucent yellow overlay (with the opacity slider at 100%, I expected a solid circle with feathering).
Toggling the mask polarity in the module results in a solid yellow mask across the whole image. Toggling back gives me the half translucent circle again
Hop over to the mask manager and toggle the masks polarity. This gives me a half translucent yellow mask across the image with a hole where the circle is. This looks a bit like what I see on the Mac except for the transparency. Note: the mask opacity is always at 100% as per default

I have not tried it on a different linux platform yet, so it might just be my specific setup.

4

Check the opacity at the top of the screen. This is separate to the opacity slider. Opacity is set by ctrl+scroll. It is also a sticky setting meaning that it will carry over from one session to the next session. Set to 100% using control +scroll before drawing the mask.

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5

sorry for the late reply, I was on a photo shoot holiday :grinning:
stunning fall colors in the “Saar” region southwest Gemany.

Indeed this setting was the culprit. I didn’t even know it was there. Now everything works as expected. Thanks

1 Like
6

Tag @Fenny, Hope you’ll show us some beauties from Saarland!

It is one of my most encountered “inconveniences” in dt. Though I feel no need for asking it to be changed as I greatly like the feature.

I often use the control key when choosing the brush to make a local mask. When using the control key it enables the brush to stay after the first stroke and one may built a mask using multiple strokes. Very often I set the brush ‘opacity’ to a very lowish 10% and make the brush rather soft. I then gradually built my mask over the subject without nasty artifacts.

But I never set the opacity back to 100% and am so often ‘surprised’ when seeing nothing happening making my next mask…

Kind regards, Jetze