Subtle Adjustments Control

Optics
#1

I could use a mouse to paint effects OR I can – and do – use a pen and tablet instead: more targeted, better control over the end results intended.

What I’d like to suggest here is that you guys set up the parameter controls for making adjustments to your filters so that we can make the Amount field pertaining to an adjustment active AND THEN be able to use the ‘up’/‘down’ keys to dial in a more controlled, more subtle adjustment.

I find this REALLY HELPS when I’m adjusting layer opacity in PS; making subtle changes with all the various settings I engage with in Lightroom as well.

Just as with those two Adobe clients, I find Optics can at times make substantial changes with just a bit of a move of my mouse; and, as I follow your screencasts it seems that your plugins (like both PS and LR) will often have a bit of a lag rendering changes made “in real time”. (It’s just the nature of all we’re asking the computer to do while we can’t see what’s going on under the hood.)

When making adjustments I will often keep a field active, make a few clicks up or down and then pause to see the changes rendered. Then, using ‘history’ I can move back-and-forth to see which adjustment level I prefer.

Would making the ‘parameter’ fields respond to up and down arrows or + and – become a tweak you guys can implement for our work here in Optics?

Thanks

#2

@MichaelMaersch Currently, if you press Ctrl/Cmd while dragging a slider, you will get finer adjustments.

We’ll see what we can do about adding the ability to use the up/down keys to finely adjust a selected parameter in the next release.

#3

Thanks for the fine tuning tip Marco. The up/down keys are a terrific fine-r adjustment tool. :wink:

#4

I experimented w/that technique you shared Marco and found that using the Ctrl/Cmd key does provide incredibly fine-grained adjustments. However, I found I could pull my mouse clear across my desk and an adjustment I was working on would just barely move at all! (OK, perhaps that’s a bit of a hyperbole, BUT…)

I DO think that the ability of users to simply click on an adjustment number in place then use the Up and Down keys to watch as Optics renders those changes would be The Best Way to provide optimum control over filter strength and changes we would make tickling parts of their parameters as well.

Please.

#5

What filter/parameter were you trying to adjust with Ctrl/Cmd? If you picked a parameter with a ridiculously large range, you may have to drag quite a bit to see an adjustment. Note that even if the arrow keys were implemented, you would experience the same issue on sliders with a huge parameter range. For the majority of parameters, that is not the case. For instance, try using Ctrl/Cmd dragging on the parameters in the Color > Color Correct filter.

For sliders with larger parameter ranges, a preference that controls the amount of fine adjustment, whether using Ctrl/Cmd or the arrow keys when implemented, would help with fine adjustment on larger parameter ranges.

#6

It was in the Effects window Marco; putzing w/the Amount slider there.

Unfortunately I DON’T have a spectacular understanding of many of the named controls w/in the Parameters of many named effects – likely because Optics is sired offa Motion Picture editing software and terminology w/in the editing suite is different than how effect controls are named w/in Photo editing software (generally).

JUST finished a TON of photo illustrations tweaking to adapt them from Looking Good ON SCREEN to Looking Good IN PRINT and found my ability to use the arrow keys So Very Helpful making often subtle changes in order to maintain effects (colorization changes w/contrast changes that came along for the ride) and s l o w l y SEE what those changes were doing even as my well-endowed computer would otherwise have a hard time rendering if I used a slider instead.

I just find using those ‘Up’/‘Down’ keys SO Very Helpful in my ‘anal’ photo editing workflow…