I thought I would pose the question of what new features we have discovered or love in the latest version of DT. As a general user I find it hard to follow GitHub and all the changes that are taking place with the development of DT. Even when we are given a weekly build during the development stages it can be hard to know what changes have been implemented. So I thought it would be nice to share some of what is new and exciting in the latest stable release of DT.
Here are some new features (at least to me) that I have stumbled upon.
the local contrast module has new presets which are fantastic. One is called clarity and one is called HDR local tone-mapping. There also seems to be the option of local laplacian filter or bilateral grid for the mode. Using these presets as a starting point I can do so much more with my images. I was worried that this module would fade into oblivion since diffuse or sharpen module offered a local contrast preset, but this new improvement to the local contrast module allays my fears.
The second big improvement is filmic V7. We still can pick our old favourite modes for filmic, but V7 seems more intuitive and easy to use. I simple adjust the white and black relative exposure sliders in the scene tab and I usually do this with the auto tune levels option. Then I go to the look tab where there is a new slider for highlights saturation mix. I move this slider left and right and decide the most pleasing position for the image being edited. This replaces the need to experiment with preserve chrominance in the options tab of early filmic versions.
I also like the way that instances of processing modules include the name of the preset used and this feature is recorded in the snapshot name when snapshots are made.
I look forward to hearing what others have found in DT V4.4 that I may have overlooked.
Ah, so it is not just my new laptop that makes it faster. Big speed improvements seen by me as well. I can even move a slider and see a change happen before my eyes instead of waiting for the working message to disappear.
I love how modules are now named after the preset they use. I had a bunch of pre-existing auto-presets already, and with the upgrade to 4.4, they magically became much more obvious. That’s brilliant!
I also very much like the new crop UI and rotation shortcut. Makes those common adjustments so much easier!
I really like Darktable user experience and functionality overall
To the point that I feel uncomfortable using other software.
However, I am wholeheartedly for any speed improvements, so that’s the first thing in plus.
Secondly, I find nice and convenient those options for choosing workflow (scene-referred sigmoid and so on).
By the way, the invention and incorporation of Sigmoid slowly tempts me to switch over from my beloved base curve
Visible names of used presets in modules are welcome as well.
Hi Michal,
In my view both Sigmoid and filmic are improvements on the base curve approach. However, I recently rediscovered the fusion option in base curve which works well for the occasional image with challenges. Filmic 7 is also very easy to use now. I switch between filmic and sigmoid. Some images just work best or easier with one or the other. I don’t feel one size fits all.
Hi!
First and foremost, try to disable chroma preservation in base curve - you may be suprised how good it looks. Also it’s important to use it at the end of the pipeline, just as Filmic.
It is not really off topic. I have tried to open this discussion so we can all share the great new and if it comes to that even old features that we love in DT. Because I have been use the weekly builds for so long I forget what is really new in DT. I will look at base curve again and try disabling preserve chrominance. It is just great that we have choices and are not forced down one pathway.
Hi @priort I presume they snuck in sometime with 4.3 or maybe even earlier. I just never discovered them before, but they are really helped me understand and appreciate the capabilities of the local contrast module more. I usually install the weekly windows build, but it can at times be hard to know what is different each week. I try reading the GitHub link supplied but it is not always easy to understand. A lot of the time it reads as if the code is being tidied up, bugs are being fixed. All of which is important.
If you put detail to 500%, lights and shadows to 0%, it makes for a nice tool to easily find dust spots - I called my preset “dreck-check”, which has a nice ring and means “dirt-check” in German
I just played with that idea on some super noisy images and it helped to set the wavelets for noise reduction. I will remember that one for the future.
Not sure what these are. A quick search of the manual revealed nothing.
