This is a discussion forum, right? It says so on the label (somewhere, I’m told). So, in my inimitable, annoying style I want to discuss something, without fear of being excommunicated (factually, demonstrably, this is the most benign forum I have used since the world-wide-web came into existence. It is sustained by people who are (unlike me) invariably well-informed, positive and helpful, so any fear of excommunication is probably unfounded).
So, appropriately equipped, with my trusty lead filled chicken (expression freely plagiarised from Private Eye in the Idi Amin period (q.v.)), I shall proceed to beat the authors over the head, for today The Topic is (groan, not again) the darktable User Manual, but with a slightly sharper focus than my previous rants on the subject.
Now I want to make it plain that I regard this manual as, (in my considered and irrelevant opinion), one of the best I have (partially) read, for what is also an outstanding product. The chief defect, I find, of said manual is that its authors are, by examination, obviously extremely technically well informed, are of an intellectual capability far in excess of my own, are skilful crafters of documentation in a highly concise and pithy style which is dense with important information – and write for people like themselves.
Please, could I have a version which is written for somebody like me – running well towards the rear of the human race, if not even (to mix a metaphor) wearing the Lanterne Rouge, and desperately in need of a toilet break?
An example if I may: the section on parametric masks.
This occupies just over a page of A4, if it were printed (I guess), including screen shots and diagrams. I have read it (considerably more than partially) numerous times in its 3.2, 3.4 and 3.6 guises. It’s a measure of how little I was able to glean, from such a condensed explanation of such an important topic, that the YouTube videos by such great contributors as Aurelien, Bruce, Rico etc caused a step change in my understanding – from ignoramus to ‘pathetic’. Now recently we have been blessed by Nicholas’ ‘Dabble’ videos, with a 4 episode series on masking in general, the last of which was on parametric masking. It lasts about 35 minutes, or about 10 times longer than it takes me to read the manual – and has gifted me another step change in my understanding of this wonderful capability of darktable. I now consider myself at an ‘introductory’ level of understanding – after a recent 35 minutes of video and 3 to 4 hours of experimentation.
How can a one and a half page of the user manual hope to match that? (Yeah, I know the response is going to be … well, I’ll comment on that in a while).
But, without wishing to disparage these videos in any way, I still have unfulfilled wants for deeper explanation of parametric masking (drawn and combined masks are intended to be the subject of a later rant) that are just not fulfilled in the user manual. Some initial examples are:
• can I have a deeper explanation of ‘exclusive’ , ‘inclusive’ and their inverted equivalent combined masks, with worked examples, especially covering the topics of channel polarity and of the need to invert channel masks twice, for the ‘inclusive’ case, as suggested in the manual, please?
• Could it be confirmed that ‘exclusive’, ‘inclusive’ and their inversions apply to combined parametric masks as they do to combined drawn and parametric masks?
• Can I create a combined (inclusive) parametric mask using the same channel (e.g. luminance) but with settings for the darker parts of an image (ground) and lighter parts (sky), or should I be using 2 instances of a module, with a luminance channel parametric mask for each – or should I be using some other technique altogether?
• Can I have an explanation of how I can use a parametric mask created in one module, in another ? (I had toyed with this for over a year and given up, until I caught a glimpse, out of the corner of my eye, while comfortably numb, of the use of something called a raster mask – which sounds like something one would purchase in the mercifully-now-escaped colonies of the Caribbean Sea).
• Can I save a mask as a preset to use in another image? Does this make sense? Or is this covered by the ability to copy history between images?
• Where can I make best use of Jz channel masks? Right now this channel seems to give little opportunity for masking, when the image is viewed using the ‘C’ key option.
• When to use the output data sliders and when to use both input and output?
• A more informative explanation of the mask refinement and additional controls, for example by use of illustrated examples.
As should be obvious, with my limitations I am looking for a lot more guidance. Yeah, I know the response is going to be “that’s not the objective of the manual”, but, really, should I be dependant on the ‘gifts’ I get from the YouTube video creators or should I be expecting even more gifts from the, largely unthanked, manual authors?
Now that’s a whole other topic: what is the motivation to develop FOSS applications and how should I, as a selfish user, react when those applications don’t ring all my bells? On that last clause, I found myself feeling particularly guilty when reading a discussion (in another part of this forum) on the apparent reduction of momentum within the RawTherapee development team. The comments there were most sympathetic and reminded me again that behind all these magical FOSS products are real human beings with real stresses and strains in their lives, that are felt in a way the commercial world can brush off.
So, thank you, those of you who are gifted enough to be code developers – and manual authors. But can I have more, please? I can’t do it - I’m too old and lack the necessary skills and knowledge.