I’m currently working on optimizing shortcuts. Darktable comes with about 290 pre-configured shortcuts by default.
I want to be able to select all my important functions with my left hand, so my right hand is free for the mouse.
I’d be interested to know how you handle this.
Do you use shortcuts at all?
If so, what are your most important shortcuts?
Do you use your own shortcuts or the default ones from Darktable?
I would be very grateful for your feedback!
[Shameless plug]
Maybe it’s a bit orthogonal, but I am working on something that makes you access basically everything with 3/4 shortcuts:
I think this is a nice complement to DT’s shortcuts philosophy. You can still set ad-hoc shortcuts for a few widgets that you use all the time, and rely on these more generic ones for less frequent tasks.
AND, you can use the same shortcuts to operate on all instances of the same module.
I have used some default shortcuts for a long time, and also a few of my own. I have recently, inspired by discussions here started to experiment more with shortcuts for processing (adjusting sliders). I have made shortcuts for the most used modules and sliders and I find that it speeds up my processing quite a bit.
My biggest challenge is to find a consistent system for the shortcuts. I like them to be as logical as possible, with keys that say something about what they do, like E-scroll for exposure. The problem is that sometimes they crash with default shortcuts, and sometimes the same letter can be assiciated with different things, so I might revise my system at some point.
I’m following your topic closely and think it’s a good idea.
However, I prefer a keyboard layout that allows me to work “blindly” and only need to look at the modules in an emergency. The combination of a pressed key and the mouse makes it a very comfortable way to work.
Hi Chris,
I use dt since early this year and use the dt given shortcuts for expanding / closing parts of the screen every time I need/want them. I use the shortcuts for enlarging/normalizing the picture often. I use shortcuts during culling/rating/tagging. I’ve made my own module group and am able to standard develop a picture in around a minute.
Recently I started to experiment with own made shortcuts but I have not yet found out how I want to organize that. It should be logical since otherwise I would not remember the shortcuts.
I am also watching the developments in this thread: [edited] Added ability to scroll through modules and widgets - #21 by dterrahe
So not yet I may help you. But I would like to key in a letter or number and then use the scroll wheel to change values.
Question for you and other to chime in: do you use the ‘quick access panel’? I have not yet tried it but that seems to be a possibility too for me.
Kind regards, Jetze
Agreed. In this case, the aspect that you may find most valuable of my proposal is that it lets you operate multiple instances of the same module with the same keys. DT’s default way to decide to which instance the shortcuts apply is not very flexible.
Thank you for your reply. If you have a spare moment, what are your 10 most important keyboard shortcuts that you use?
Thank you for your feedback. It’s also good to know that you haven’t yet found a “perfect” solution.
I had already started customizing the quick menu, but quickly realized that there wasn’t enough space and that it works better for me if I can expand individual modules.
With the exception of rating, I only use shortcuts in the darkroom.
I use a lot the shortcuts to toggle on/off panels. I generally work only with the right panel, and open the left one only for navigation and duplicates.
I have set a few shortcuts for the sliders that I use the most (exposure, agx contrast / lift / slope, several ones in color balance RGB, etc.) but I haven’t developed the muscle memory yet and it comes more natural just to operate the module visually.
I use the search box a lot. I set / to trigger the search box, type something until I only see one or two modules there (you can also search via instance name, which is very handy) and then from there I mostly work with point and click.
I recently spent some time setting up my quick access panel, and I have not gotten into the habit of using it yet. What discourages me is that I very often have at least two instances of exposure (one for vignetting/subject isolation) and color balance RGB (one for technical adjustments and one or more for creative ones) and the QA panel does not let me access those.
That will be slightly prohibitive for me too as I do often use multiple instances of modules.
I do use shortcuts for my most common operations but only a select few.
I have disabled most of the defaults (to prevent accidents when I’m not looking at my keyboard) and just create my own generally using a single letter press to represent a module or control (based on the name of that module/control).
For modules, I tend to use the letter-key-press to toggle the module off/on (or sometimes to toggle focus, for example, for crop), combined with shift to expand the module, and with single-click to show the preset menu.
For controls I’m mostly editing sliders so it’s the letter-key-press plus scroll to alter the value.
I also have a single combination to open a new exposure instance with drawn mask, since I do this a lot
Ah, nice. This makes me remember that I also have two shortcuts that I use for masks:
m to toggle the mask overlay on/off for the focused module, andm (double) to toggle the drawn mask elements for the focused moduleI also like fallbacks and I keep them on.
Yes, I also changed/disabled some of the defaults. For example, it is too easy to reject an image hitting R by mistake. I changed that to Ctrl + R because I want to be intentional about it. Same for ratings, sometimes I change them by mistake and then the current image disappears from the filmstrip if I have some rating filter enabled, and I have to go back to the lighttable and search for the lost image)
I hardly ever use keyboard shortcuts (but then, I have the most common functions on a MIDI device)
I use shortcuts extensively. Both for going to modules, changing parameters with button+mousewheel, applying presets etc. See my thread here.
How did you set that up? Lua?
Actually I tell a lie, my shortcut is just to create a new instance, but drawn mask is just one more click away…
Edit based on what @Terry said below: other than the exposure and agx, I don’t use shortcuts for editing either. And I only use those two to get a base to start from, then the rest of the exposure and agx edits are done with a mouse
I hardly ever use shortcut for editing steps. I just use short cuts for non-editing purposed such as Ctrl+E to export, Ctrl+F to show/hide film strip. I create a lot of styles and presets to reduce repetitive tasks.
I edit with one hand on the keyboard, the other on the mouse. It’s quite rare I need to touch a slider manually.
Yesterday I showed Darktable to a friend. His mind was properly blown by the flexibility of Darktable’s shortcut system.
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, I understand. As far as I know, no other software in this area offers this advantage.
It’s an absolute killer feature and makes darktable an incredible program when you use it.