Copy

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Marpel
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Copy

Post by Marpel »

Couple questions about the Copy transform, which are by no means urgent and can wait until your return. Just wanted to post this while fresh in my mind.

1. Is there a reason why one has to open the Copy dialogue, then identify the image to be copied via the drop-down list, even when the image's thumbnail is highlighted in the Browser? I find, most often, the image to be copied is already chosen. But if not, it seems easier to choose it in the Browser than the d-d list. Could there be a settings option so the highlighted thumbnail always auto fills the image box? And if that highlighted thumb does not represent the image to be copied, the user could just click and choose from the d-d list, as is currently done.

2. And, I just finished working on a project, where I had to copy a single image multiple times (up to five times each step x about a dozen steps), repeatedly. It became rather tedious to do the Copy operation five times to complete one step, and then having to do it again multiple times for further steps. I realize this particular example would not be shared by many others, but routinely, I do the Copy operation of the same image a few times when I just wish to process the image with a few different settings to compare each result. I wonder if a number box could be added, with a default to 1, so the user could choose the number of copies in a single operation?

Marv
pierrelabreche
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Re: Copy

Post by pierrelabreche »

Hello Marv

Is there a reason for using copy rather than creating branches?
Marpel
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Re: Copy

Post by Marpel »

Hello Pierre,

I may be misinterpreting your question, and if so all of the following may be moot:

If you mean doing multiple different variations to an image in a single stack, using the "hide/reveal" buttons attached to each thumb, the following issues arise (these may be trivial to others but I found them a bit of a pain):

- If I open an image and do a transform, it results in a second thumb below the top one (as it does normally). If I then "hide" that transform by pressing the button, and do a second transform (also having to click again on the top image), that result pushes the first operation down one level, and so on for the number of variations I desire. That means, the transforms are reversed from the top down, in the order I did them. Not that big of a deal, I suppose, but in the process I was doing with multiple transforms, it was easier to keep everything straight in my mind with images along the top of the window (doing multiple copies), from left to right.
- Each time I do another transform, the stack gets longer, and especially when I composite some parts of each image, the stack extends longer than the height of the window, which adds another (unnecessary??) step when I then have to constantly scroll up or down.
- And, I have found that each time I hide one transform and reveal another in the stack to view it, there is a pause for the transform to be "re-drawn" (as if it is doing the transform for the first time).

To better clarify what I was doing that prompted my initial questions: I had a single image open that I wished to add a drop shadow, using a straight edged mask. However, the drop shadow had to increase (meant to portray different levels of panels) in certain areas of the image. Do accomplish that, I had to make multiple copies of the initial image, with different "depths" of drop shadows, then "cut and paste" different areas from each copy into one image. So, to make it easier for me to keep track of the drop shadow depths, I would start on the leftmost image, with the smallest depth, then increase the depth on the next image to the right, and so on. Once done, I would choose one of the images as the main, and composite a part from each of the others into that image. Because I had so many images open, I found it easier to locate the correct image, knowing they were in order across the top of the browser window.

I added the other points in my initial post, as I also routinely do multiple variations of an image, using the more conventional transforms, and wanted a quicker way to compare each variation. Just seemed easier/quicker to click each thumb, than to close one thumb and open another.

Hope that helps,

Marv
tomczak
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Re: Copy

Post by tomczak »

Have you tried inserting a Splitter right below the topmost File Open?

This should allow for creating independent branches of transformations, all using the same topmost image (e.g. one branch for each shadow depth) - which is I think what Pierre suggest as well.

If the branches are similar (e.g. same transformation(s) - different settings such as drop shadow length) the easiest way is probably to first construct a single stream/branch/template of transformations and then Clone it to form several identical parallel branches (below the splitter) which then you can adjust individually.

p.s. Another possibility, I think: in a single branch, follow each Drop Shadow with an Export with save to file and a Compare with Image B set to the topmost File Open and.the output set to Image B.

This way I think each Drop Shadow will have the original unmodified image for an input even if downstream from previous transformations and the series of Exports will save each (shadow) version as a (temporary) file to then reassemble with the Composite or Stack w/masks.
Maciej Tomczak
Phototramp.com
jsachs
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Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Copy

Post by jsachs »

Inserting a splitter is the normal way to handle this situation. To insert a splitter after the current transformation, right click on its thumbnail and select Insert Splitter After. This is similar to creating a Copy, but the branches are created in place instead of each one starting a new top level branch. You now have two branches below the splitter and can start adding new transformations to the empty branch. Or, you can copy transformations from the original branch to the new branch and then modify them as necessary. To add additional branches, right click on the splitter icon and select Add Branch to Splitter. To remove a branch, close the Branch item just below the splitter -- removing the next to last branch deletes the splitter as well leaving you with a single branch. So, you should be able to create a branch for each variation and easily compare them and then close all but the one you want to keep.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
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Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
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Re: Copy

Post by Marpel »

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I will give them a try.

Marv
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Copy

Post by Marpel »

Learn something new every day.

Tried the Splitter operation. Worked perfectly.

I now wonder what the value of Copy is and what it can do that Splitter cannot?

Thanks everyone for the help,

Marv
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Copy

Post by jsachs »

Copy is useful if you have a series of transformations you want to be able to apply to any of several different images located elsewhere in the image tree. If you have a sequence of transformations that starts with a File Open or Paste transformation, you can right click on the top level thumbnail and select Convert to Copy from the context menu. Having done this, you can now apply the transformations to a different image by selecting it in the Copy transformation. This effectively changes the branch from one that can only process one or more files to one that can process any image, even if it is in the middle of a branch.

Also see the last tip in the Scripts help topic for another use for Copy.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
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