[The Squirrel Mafia]

^ I compile my own builds all the time. I'm on DEV 5.8-3139 right now. I use msys2 & follow the directions in RawPedia. I usually build a Windows 64bit generic one for those that want to play with it. You can get it from my Google Drive. I don't know how to compile an AppImage for Linux yet.

[ChristianRock]

^ I compile my own builds all the time. I'm on DEV 5.8-3139 right now. I use msys2 & follow the directions in RawPedia. I usually build a Windows 64bit generic one for those that want to play with it. You can get it from my Google Drive. I don't know how to compile an AppImage for Linux yet.

That's the build I'm running right (5.8-3139) now but I got the Win64 installer from the GitHub... it's the one that's giving me the lockups. I'll install yours to see if it makes a difference...

[ChristianRock]

I got the latest WIndows build and it seems a bit more stable... and a bit faster as well.

I'm starting to like this... I'm finding it a bit easier to get around ,and it's still quite fully featured - in some cases more so than RawTherapee. I like how it handles the exposure with the Tone Equalizer. Looking at the code commits, I keep seeing how the developer keeps substituting RawTherapee code with DarkTable code where he thinks the DarkTable code is better. I'm pretty sure the Exposure and Color handling has a lot of DarkTable code, images look more like what I was getting out of DarkTable, but with a much nicer (IMHO) interface, and much nicer file management (or lack thereof, which I prefer). In fact, color handling, I think, is better than both RT and DT. Oh and I get to use the RT HaldClut film emulations which I like better than what is there for DT.

I'll keep using it... I was just playing with these from a couple of weeks ago:

[ChristianRock]

With the most recent version that I downloaded for ART (1.18.1) I'm now moving from RawTherapee to ART.

I really like how the developer (Alberto Griggio) has been moving the good bits and peaces from DarkTable into the RawTherapee interface - after having cleaned up the interface by removing a lot of over complicated bits and just reorganizing things in the way that makes sense.

Up to version 1.16.x I was seeing some performance issues and before that, some crashes. 1.18.1 has been stable (I've had no crashes in the last couple weeks) and seems to perform acceptably fast, at least as fast as RawTherapee now. Plus, I found out that with RCD+Bilinear demosaic'ing I can get the same level of detail as AMaZE but with a much better sense of depth to the image. And for whatever reason, RCD+Bilinear doesn't work nearly as well in RawTherapee. I tried it.

Here's a picture with very basic editing in ART using RCD+Bilinear:



Here is the same image with basically the same processing in RawTherapee, using AMaZe, which is what I would have been doing for years now:



Someone I trust in another thread also sees the difference in depth, even with these reduced size JPEGS, so I guess the difference is not just in my mind

[GUB]

I don't know how to compile an AppImage for Linux yet.

I have been trying to do an ART appimage install all morning. The process is new to me. After failing I tried another app (aphototoollibre) and it installed nicely. Wondering if the ART app is currently broken. Or something I don't understand.
As for tar.xz installation I am dead in the water for that too. I just don't seem to be able to understand the tar extraction installation process via terminal in general and in this case there is no configure file so ./configure just comes up with a fail.
I have an ART-1.18.1-linux64.tar.xz on Ubuntu 20.04.5 downloaded ready to go if anyone can help me through it.

[ChristianRock]

I did the Windows install and it was flawless... sorry if I can't help with the Linux installation. But I thought you just unzip it and run that installer file? I thought that .tar file was supposed to self-install like the Windows .exe file that I downloaded.

[GUB]

I did the Windows install and it was flawless... sorry if I can't help with the Linux installation. But I thought you just unzip it and run that installer file? I thought that .tar file was supposed to self-install like the Windows .exe file that I downloaded.

Na via the terminal not that smooth but probably safer in that you have to be root.
Installing via the repositories is easy as but still via password.. And most things you need are there.
But still an awful lot out there not in the repositories probably because they are beta or don't tick the boxes for stability and security.
Most compressed downloads have a readme file(for your instructions) and a configure file(for the computers instructions) but ART seems to have neither.

[ChristianRock]

There's a pixls discussion group on Art. Perhaps it can help: https://discuss.pixls.us/t/my-build-recipe-for-art-on-ubuntu-20-04-and-later/34240

[ChristianRock]

I have to say, having the Tone Equalizer in the Exposure section and applying it to the whole image makes the process a whole lot easier. It's the one module I missed from darktable.
RawTherapee has an earlier version that Alberto did, but only under Local Adjustments.

[ChristianRock]

Mr. Alberto Griggio released ART 1.19 earlier this week. Someone tried it out and saw a small issue with how previews are loaded after a resize - they won't load until you press F5.

So Mr. Griggio immediately jumped in, fixed it and released 1.19.1 today.

Top stuff. I'm very happy with ART. Earlier this week I downloaded K-1 RAW samples because I was considering buying a semi-broken one (that is now gone). ART handled the 36MP files very well, editing was pretty quick. Colors from the RAW files were very nice and with ART I was able to quickly have them the way I like. And with the Tone Equalizer to dodge and burn I get the exposure levels throughout the image just the way I like them and looks natural. aggrigio says that "frustration is the opposite of fun" in his FAQ and I see that in the way he rebuilt RawTherapee. These controls are just fun to use.

[ChristianRock]

Version 1.20 is out, I installed it and used it today... everything worked well.

I did some tweaks to my K200D "init" preset that pretty much gives me great, natural looking pictures. I pretty much don't need to think about using the film emulations I've used so often... I'm getting what I want without them, and it has a lot to do with having the Tone Equalizer to emulate the dynamic range of film.

I also used it on some K-S2 files just to see if it worked well, and it does, though on the K-S2 it reduces the exposure in about a half step for some reason. But I'm pretty happy and this makes editing pretty fast.

[bofh]

Version 1.20 is out, I installed it and used it today... everything worked well.

Here too - with one exception: I use 1.20 for a week already.
Meanwhile ART became my preferred software for the monochrome images of the converted K-5II (I call it "K-5IIm"), because ART has all the tools I need to post process the images. Currently it has the advantage over darktable that ART is capable to remove hot pixels from monochrome images.

E.

[ChristianRock]

Here too - with one exception: I use 1.20 for a week already.
Meanwhile ART became my preferred software for the monochrome images of the converted K-5II (I call it "K-5IIm"), because ART has all the tools I need to post process the images. Currently it has the advantage over darktable that ART is capable to remove hot pixels from monochrome images.

E.

Yeah I had not seen 1.20 until yesterday.

Antonio has been getting good bits from darktable into ART... so you might not even need darktable anymore, regardless of the hot pixels issue I just find it so much easier to use ART.

[bofh]

Antonio has been getting good bits from darktable into ART... so you might not even need darktable anymore, regardless of the hot pixels issue

ART is a great piece of software and very useful.
As well as RawTherapee and darktable are.
And the limiting factor in my case is still between keyboard and chair...

On the other hand: all three tools have their own pros and cons. So my approach is to choose the tool which suits best for me in a specific situation.
For monochrome images it's currently ART. For colourful images it's darktable, because I like the modern scene referred approach and that it can use the GPU for calculations, which speeds up iterative processings a lot.

I just find it so much easier to use ART.

Probably your "post processing history" is different to mine.
My first attempts in post processing were with an early version of RawTherapee and I struggled a lot. Then I tried out darktable and struggled comparably but different. Meanwhile I got used to darktable, did some footwork to understand the basics of post processing and now I can work with both tools and appreciate that there are these two very good and different options.

E.

[ChristianRock]

ART is a great piece of software and very useful.
As well as RawTherapee and darktable are.
And the limiting factor in my case is still between keyboard and chair...

On the other hand: all three tools have their own pros and cons. So my approach is to choose the tool which suits best for me in a specific situation.
For monochrome images it's currently ART. For colourful images it's darktable, because I like the modern scene referred approach and that it can use the GPU for calculations, which speeds up iterative processings a lot.


Probably your "post processing history" is different to mine.
My first attempts in post processing were with an early version of RawTherapee and I struggled a lot. Then I tried out darktable and struggled comparably but different. Meanwhile I got used to darktable, did some footwork to understand the basics of post processing and now I can work with both tools and appreciate that there are these two very good and different options.

E.

Indeed, my PP needs are probably much simpler than yours. I actually had to look up GPU calculations as I am not familiar with the term

Typically, I spend from 10-30 seconds on an image, after deciding it's worth editing. Never more than a couple of minutes. So ART suits me well, but there's a ton of things in there that I don't really use, so it's not like the program isn't well featured.