Help test RawTherapee on Retina/4k etc HiDPI monitors.

I tried to find some literature on Hi-DPI on MacOS, but couldn’t find any.

@Claes @chroma_ghost MacOS seem to prefer setting a bigger or lower screen size and scale it to the physical size (so that all application think they render in a 72dpi constant resolution ?) instead of tweaking the base font size. Could you show a screenshot of another application (not necessarily graphics related) to see if its icons are blurred too in a HiDPI mode, with “Resolution = Default for display” ? Please use filebin.net instead of posting here, there’s already lots of uploaded screenshots.

The RDM tool’s README indicate that some resolution scale all element by factor 2 (those with a thunder symbol in the menu), but not all. Using GDK_SCALE in RT should force a scale of 1:1, but it doesn’t seem to work on MacOS, so everything is still scaled in those HiDPI modes. If you select a resolution that doesn’t scale, everything is controllable and clean in Rawtherapee, but your desktop icon size can be very small.

3 screengrabs: default ( imac pref) / more space ( imac pref) and 5120x2880 ( RDM)
when in “more space” the screenshots’ size increases to 6400x3600, if I set RDM to
7680x4320 sure enough the screenshot scales to that size

apps are Filmulator, Darktable, the preference panel and system menu bar and BTT

https://filebin.net/hdtnkzelne3nnc0f/3_screengrabs_imac.zip?t=hoq69i5c

I don’t own an Apple product, but based on what I have read and heard, they do resolution gymnastics so that all of their products are proportional to one another and high enough in resolution to be called retina, at least Apple’s definition. I suppose it makes it easier for their OSs to deal with the GUI, scaling and drawing. ATM, I cannot find the sources that explain all of this but they exist.

@Hombre
Not sure if this is useful to you: About High Resolution for OS X

hidpi-icons branch is now ready. You can test it before we merge it into dev.

Nothing fundamentally changed, you’ll still need RDM to exploit the full resolution of your monitor for Apple users. Setting a bigger/smaller font size in RT’s Preferences will scale the whole interface.

@Hombre thanks for your work. I can make a test build for Mac but not until after vacation. I’ll be home in about ten days.

I believe the branch was merged to dev by @Hombre, so perhaps some mac users with Retina, 5k, hidpi type monitors would care to test it…

hm. I am not sure if I can help. I have a laptop screen with full hd resolution but with 13 inch. when using normal desktop scaling, everything is pretty tiny…

Then the new feature is made for you. :grin: Test it.

do I actually need to compile the program?

At the link given above you will find dev branch builds ready-made for windows and Mac.

so compiling is necessary for Linux

@betazoid even though compiling is dead simple in Linux, it is not necessary - just grab the latest RawTherapee-dev-* AppImage from: Download RawTherapee development builds

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apparently I have been using this version all the time :stuck_out_tongue:
so that is the reason why the icons were so large sometimes!

the trouble is: on my laptop screen, icon size is ok, mabye a little bit too large, but on my external screen the icon size is definitely too large
what can I do? is there a way to set the icon size/ppi?

Could you be more specific as to your screen pixel*pixel sizes, etc. OS installed. Etc? I ask because I gather you are on Linux?

ok, sorry, I am now on Majaro Mate and the important thing that I did not mention is the fact that I set resolution in appearance - fonts to 120. if I set this to automatic ui/icons look ok in RT
one screen is fullhd@13inch, the other fullhd@24inch

ok. tested it on both screens now. If dpi in on auto in Mate it is perfect. icon size perfect in RT
however - I would like to keep dpi 120/150 on because all other apps (including Mate) are tiny on auto

ok. apparently this is a issue in Mate. there are bug reports. but it would be nice if it were possible to fix this in RT

The size of the ui in RT is controlled by dpi and the font size inside RT.

Set your preferred dpi and change the font size inside RT. Increasing the font size → the ui becomes bigger, decreasing the font size → the ui becomes smaller.

!!! Changing the font size inside RT requires a restart of RT.

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Thanks, it is almost perfect now. Fonts inside RT could be a little bit larger and icons could be a little bit smaller but I can definitely live with that and I guess in the end it is also a matter of taste.