vkdt, yay or nay?

[salimphoto (Salim)]

got really interested hearing about vkdt - because I am on a laptop without a dedicated GPU and crappy Intel i915 integrated nonsense, which, you might imagine, struggles with any photo editing software, let alone darktable, what sets it apart from standard Darktable? I’m generally scared of the suckless approach of vkdt (particularly looking at the gutted UI, Aurélien Pierre look away now), as I am generally scared of all ‘suckless’ software, including all the weird “code your own mouse support”, “I hate the GNU license” plan9 people stuff, I am a pleb who maintains that KDE Plasma is supreme, but if I can be convinced… it might just be worth a try…

[Terry (Terry Pinfold)]

Not sure what you are looking for in an editor but today I tried Grainy and was very impressed. It can do more than just film scans. I am sure it is worth a look in your case. I have never touch VKDT so can’t answer your question.

Grainy: a free editor and library made for film scans (Windows/macOS, MIT)

Hi all. I shoot film and get my rolls back from the lab as JPEG scans, usually with a colour cast that is different in the shadows and the highlights. I wanted a simple, local tool for that, so I built one. It is called Grainy, it is free, and the source is on GitHub under the MIT license. [Two film scans before and after Auto Colour] Left: two of my scans as they came from the lab. Right: after one press of Auto Colour, with nothing else done. If you have used a commercial photo editor, t…

[paperdigits (Mica)]

I don’t think it is comparable at all to darktable, except that it is by the original author. I also don’t think it’ll run at all on your hardware, so unless you have access to another machine, you probably won’t be able to run it.

That being said, I think it is quite good. It has a node interface, which enables a lot of cool workflows. It is super fast, moving a slider produces an instant result. The UI leaves a lot to be desired, but it is usable. It needs some very boring things like lens correction still tho.

[salimphoto (Salim)]

Hey, this looks cool, however common sense tells me that it is not in my best interest to switch over from darktable which is a proven feature-complete editor that I love to death to a vibe-coded (using U.S.-military funded LLMs) program that uses an oppressive open-source license (MIT)

also it isn’t even packaged for Linux unfortunately

[salimphoto (Salim)]

@paperdigits

I don’t think it is comparable at all to darktable, except that it is by the original author.

I was under the impression that it was a re-take on what darktable is supposed to be, as it seems to have the same exact UX design schema

@paperdigits

I also don’t think it’ll run at all on your hardware,

How come? I’ve twice the VRAM allocated as the recommended hardware and my GPU is Vulkan-capable, is it really that heavy?

[paperdigits (Mica)]

@salimphoto

I was under the impression that it was a re-take on what darktable

I think the three things it corrects from darktable are:

1. GUI completely separate from processing pipeline, so adding a different GUI is easier (in darktable it didn’t seem possible, too much code tangle between GUI and processing pipeline)
2. Its fast
3. It is nodal, enabling some advanced processing.

@salimphoto

How come? I’ve twice the VRAM allocated as the recommended hardware and my GPU is Vulkan-capable, is it really that heavy?

Your original post made it seem like your hardware isn’t great. You weren’t that specific, so I cant tell you if it will run. I have a 3 year old and CPU with an iGPU on my laptop and or doesn’t run very well there. You should just try it tho, what’s stopping you?

[elGordo (Gord)]

@salimphoto

an oppressive open-source license (MIT)

???

[giusarg]

@paperdigits

I have a 3 year old and CPU with an iGPU on my laptop and or doesn’t run very well there

In terms of performance, it runs very well on a 6-year-old ThinkPad T14 with an AMD integrated GPU, while Diffuse or Sharpen alone makes a Mac M4 Max crawl like slug.

Now, it’s probably comparing apples with oranges, but, as long as the GPU is Vulkan-supported, it should be fine.

In terms of learning curve and user-friendliness… well, it’s like using TWM instead of KDE Plasma (yes, I’m likening darktable to KDE Plasma, and vkdt to TWM, and that says it all…)

[salimphoto (Salim)]

@paperdigits

You should just try it tho, what’s stopping you?

Fair point, I have a batch of files to go through soon so I might as well.

[salimphoto (Salim)]

@giusarg

well, it’s like using TWM instead of KDE Plasma (yes, I’m likening darktable to KDE Plasma, and vkdt to TWM, and that says it all…)

oof, but challenges are fun afterall