Could it work as an ‘Activated tools’ AND ‘Favorite tools’ tab? So it contains favourites, but also anything that is active?
The UI part could then be reduced to a function ‘Make the active tools stay in this tooltab, and hide the inactive tools’.
This would mean:
This tooltab can be preconfigured with mainstream (sub)tools for fresh installs.
A user can easily ‘lock’ these tools to the tab after using them. Perhaps a Pin icon instead of a Star.
Any pp3/image opened will have an overview of all active functions in this tab → convenient
The tooltab can be called ‘Pinned items’ with a mouseover ‘Pinned and active items will be shown here’.
Example of unpinned/pinned icons:
The UI work could then (largely) be avoided, but there would be new work in automatically putting active items here (which may be impossible because it would require a restart of the program for example).
Edit: I have been thinking a bit more about this and it would make sense to have the ‘pin’ for each function that appears in the ‘Active tools’ section. (My first thoughts were about a single pin for the complete section).
Thus, the ‘Active Tools’ tab shows which tools are active. Once a tool appears here, it can be pinned to stay.
If it were to be an active functions overview with the option to pin favourite functions, the functions would need to be duplicated and not moved.
The order of operation would be:
Find the function in one of the current toolboxes and activate it.
The function will then be active in the active panel.
In the active panel, the following states exist for each function:
It is not visible and inactive
It is active
It is active and pinned
It is inactive and visible (for an edit session where it has been used and made inactive)
It is inactive and it is visible because it is pinned.
1->2: activate the function in its normal way. A copy appears.
2->3 and 4->5: user clicks on pin of a function
2->4: user deactivates function. To allow enabling again, the function stays visible for the current session.
5: if a function is pinned, the function is always shown. Pinning is kept as part of preferences.
I don’t see it as a problem if the tools in favourites disappear from their original tab. When you add a tool to the favorites, you’re probably well aware that it is now in favourites, and you will not have to look around to find it. If it disappears from it’s original tab, it makes that tab even less cluttered and easier to browse.
You could just add a label with the tool name and a “favorites” star. Clicking the label will open the tool from within the favorites tab. That way you don’t need to duplicate tools but still be able to use it from the usual place.
I think a combination favorites/active is the best one. It is the place to go to for any image. For a fresh raw it has my favorite tools. For an edited image it also has the active tools (guess they are favorite for that image - in any case I should use those).
Now, showing active tools in the tab means they must be duplicated. Otherwise each tool would disappear from its home tab the moment it is activated…
Please dont move tools, that will be super confusing. For consistency sake please make duplicate or reference in favorites tab.
please make an option to have active tools, rather than force them into the favorites tab. Or maybe two tabs, active and favorite, or a toggle or something.
Duplicating tools will definitely slow down opening of the editor. On Windows it also means increasing number of gdi handles which are a limited resource. For SETM this is no problem, but in METM it will reduce the max. number of opened editors.
Well, its not that you would want the tools duplicated, like two sets of exposure in series, two sets of white balance with different settings, etc.
It would be nice if it were simply an linked instance where the parameters carried over. So changing the setting on the favorites tab would change it in the home location. In this sense it would simply be an instance/link of the parameters through the UI. But then I’m just a user, so i dont know how these things really work behind the scenes.
I can say for certain that from user perspective having tools in both locations (again linked, not in series) would prevent confusion and make for a faster workflow.
Same reason I don’t like having the active modules automatically placed in the favorites tab. Now instead of knowing where things are the UI becomes an ever morphing landscaper of rearranged settings. And of course this implies some arbitrary rules about the order active modules will be placed. That sounds damn confusing. More time spent hunting. Not good.
I cant think of any other software where the interface is constantly rearranging it self.
I’m currently exploring Darktable (windows version) and DT has this favourite tab. I find it very convenient and welcome it in RT.
When you are new to RT (or DT for that matter) there is a lot to learn but it has become much easier to be a new user when the auto matched facility was introduced. If RT is shipped with some basic tools in the favourite tab a new user could just focus on the favourite tab and quickly get good results editing his (or hers) images.
I agree! Not everyone is in need of all the complexity that RT offers. To be able to place “Favorites” under a separate tab would allow for placing basic edits in one place. This is available in programs like ACR and Lightroom.
In RT development version the favortites tab is already available. But currently it’s hidden when no tools are moved to it. (though you can test it by editing your RT options file. Just open it, search for Favorites=
and for example replace the line by Favorites=sharpening
Et voila, at next start of RT it shows the favorites tab with the sharpening tool.
What we need now is a gui to configure the favorites tab (not my part as I’m not a gui specialist) and to find a consens whether we move or duplicate tools to the favorites tab…
As a new user, I agree a favorite tab is good idea.
As a user I would also agree that if a module is inserted in the favorite tab, it could be removerd from its original placement.
On the same order of thought, I would also suggest another special tab for “All the modules I don’t use because I don’t understand how they work and what they do”…
This would permit keeping only those we like to use and deglog the interface.
Just an idea like that!
Hall Ingo,
That would be wonderful! The variety of filters in RT is so large that it is quite difficult to always select the important filters. With the favorites, working with RT is much easier and better. I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks
micha
I could leave my actual favourites in place and stash ones I dont use. Will give it a go!