Soft proofing user experience

Software darktable
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There are a couple of things about using soft proofing that could do with a bit of polish if any dev felt inclined.

I run DT in Window whether that changes things.

  1. Selecting a soft proof profile. The right-click pop up menu to select the target profile is hard to use when you have dozens of profiles to pick from. The fly out menu containing them is hard to scroll and can become separated from the rest of the popup menu. I suggest adding a separate browse dialog to select the profile.
  2. Maintaining a separate DT directory of ICC profiles from the system is a pain - it means when I add a new profile I have to add it twice. It also opens the door to using different versions of a profile between editing and printing. I get that the current arrangement will need to be maintained for compatibility reasons. The aforementioned selection dialog could address the issue by allowing icc profiles to be selected from any folder with a short cut to both the DT folder and the system folder.
  3. There is no way I can see to select the rendering intent for the soft proof profile. It makes a difference when looking at clipping warnings. This should be on the pop up menu and not in the new dialog I suggest above.
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I don’t use soft proofing enough to share your concerns, but you have made some well thought out points here. I wonder if a proposal in github would be appropriate to reach more developers for consideration. I especially agree about the potential for problems pointed out in not using the profiles in the system’s folder.

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I haven’t used soft proofing in a long time but…

I was using it to have images printed at a print service, so I downloaded their color profiles and stored them in darktable config folder and used them from there. Installing them in the system color profiles would serve no useful purpose because they are for printers and papers at the print service.

I’ve also used profiles with my local printers, inks, and papers, but I find no problem with having them stored in 2 places, especially since the printers are connected to a different computer.

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I agree that installing print service profiles into the Windows system isn’t particularly useful.

The issue is that the profiles for my local printer, including those I create using ArgyllCMS, have to be installed into the system for me to use by printing software (Epson Print Layout, QImage, etc.) and then also installed into the darktable for soft proofing purposes.

Other Windows photo editing software (Adobe, Affinity, On1, etc.) all look to the system folder for profiles rather than insisting on having their own private copy.

If there is a way for me to redirect darktable to only look in the Windows system for profiles, I’ll take that - as long as the UI clumsiness of selecting a single profile from a list of dozens can be addressed.

I might try a hack for now and setup a symlink from darktable…

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Setting up a symlink works so takes away most of the pain.

From a command prompt, CD into the darktable color directory

cd %userprofile%\appdata\local\darktable\color
ren out out_orig
mklink /d out C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color

This keeps the original “out” folder if needed. Or delete it if not needed.