Anyway, all this security stuff might end up being a problem for everyone with future versions of OSs on both platforms. In listening to a few Mac podcasts recently I started to wonder how the new rootless thing with El Cap is going affect QTR (if at all). I can understand why companies are doing it, but i just don't know enough to see what problems it might cause for everyday QTR users.
The QTRgui: Some people might be more comfortable with the Windows QTR curve creation tools, but there are certain things that are completely bonkers with some of the input field labels (like "density" for the cross over points and the "copy data" button for the measurement values in the linearization tab). I don't mean to just rag on the design or any past documentation, and I hope that at some point someone is able to update the interface and make some of the inputs a little easier to deal with.
The QTRgui: Some people might be more comfortable with the Windows QTR curve creation tools, but there are certain things that are completely bonkers with some of the input field labels (like "density" for the cross over points and the "copy data" button for the measurement values in the linearization tab). I don't mean to just rag on the design or any past documentation, and I hope that at some point someone is able to update the interface and make some of the inputs a little easier to deal with.
I do find that working directly with the text file can often be easier than navigating the curve creation tools interface. The problem with the PC is that I think you NEED the curve creation tools to actually create the quad curves from the "instructions/recipe" in the ink descriptor file. If you are not finding the curves in the profile/curve selection drop down it might be because they are not installed until the ink descriptor file is opened in the curve creation module and the "show curve" button is clicked (I am pretty sure that is the only point when all the ink partitioning/gray curve/linearization calculations are done). Maybe Roy can correct me on that, and maybe there is a way the curve creator/installer can be run in a terminal process like it is on the mac (i am not sure what is done in Perl and what is based on other stuff going on for the Windows side—all that is just beyond me at this point).
As far as the thing about .acv curves: .acv curve are just photoshop curves that can be linked to in the gray_curve= line in the ink descriptor file, and can then be used to edit the base gray ramp (along with any of the other settings you may have used to create the initial profile). It is just defining the input;output points
Instead of messing around in Photoshop and creating a correction curve by hand, saving it, and then pasting it into the qidf file (and hoping the file path never changes), I created an excel spreadsheet template that automatically creates a 21-step correction curve based on the standard Lab_L measurement data. It works on a pretty basic linear interpolation using the two closest densities between the known and ideal densities. I have all the actual formulas hidden and/or locked away so nothing can get inadvertently moved or potentially broken (and so it looks pretty). I started writing about the whole correction curve process but it was taking too long and I just wanted to make this thing available to people. Basically, all you need to do is enter the measurement data—by either pasting the whole column from the measurement text file or one measurement value at a time—and then copy the correction curve values into the gray_curve= line in the ink descriptor text file (or the gray curve input in the QTRgui). I am working on an easy-to-use Density to Lab_L conversion worksheet for people using a good ol' densitometer (it is already done I just need to move it and make it look pretty too). You can use the linearize data script to parse out the Lab_L data and then open the -out.txt file in excel, then copy and paste the measurements into the worksheet.
In any case, this tool should be helpful for getting a somewhat straight line prior to actual linearization, hopefully doing away with some of the "Lab values not in order" error when creating custom QTR profiles. It might even/should be useful for creating correction curves for digital negatives/alt processes, but I haven't been able to test it for that yet. It should be pretty self-explanatory, but I will try to write up a quick blog post with screenshots and more detailed instructions soon.
Here is a link to the free Excel template/worksheet in my public BWMastery QTR Toolbox Dropbox folder.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cpdt5dm4zuppr62/BWMASTERY-21-step-QTR-Correction-Curve-Tool.xltx?dl=0
Richard Boutwell
http://www.richardboutwell.com
http://www.bwmastery.com
As far as the thing about .acv curves: .acv curve are just photoshop curves that can be linked to in the gray_curve= line in the ink descriptor file, and can then be used to edit the base gray ramp (along with any of the other settings you may have used to create the initial profile). It is just defining the input;output points
Instead of messing around in Photoshop and creating a correction curve by hand, saving it, and then pasting it into the qidf file (and hoping the file path never changes), I created an excel spreadsheet template that automatically creates a 21-step correction curve based on the standard Lab_L measurement data. It works on a pretty basic linear interpolation using the two closest densities between the known and ideal densities. I have all the actual formulas hidden and/or locked away so nothing can get inadvertently moved or potentially broken (and so it looks pretty). I started writing about the whole correction curve process but it was taking too long and I just wanted to make this thing available to people. Basically, all you need to do is enter the measurement data—by either pasting the whole column from the measurement text file or one measurement value at a time—and then copy the correction curve values into the gray_curve= line in the ink descriptor text file (or the gray curve input in the QTRgui). I am working on an easy-to-use Density to Lab_L conversion worksheet for people using a good ol' densitometer (it is already done I just need to move it and make it look pretty too). You can use the linearize data script to parse out the Lab_L data and then open the -out.txt file in excel, then copy and paste the measurements into the worksheet.
In any case, this tool should be helpful for getting a somewhat straight line prior to actual linearization, hopefully doing away with some of the "Lab values not in order" error when creating custom QTR profiles. It might even/should be useful for creating correction curves for digital negatives/alt processes, but I haven't been able to test it for that yet. It should be pretty self-explanatory, but I will try to write up a quick blog post with screenshots and more detailed instructions soon.
Here is a link to the free Excel template/worksheet in my public BWMastery QTR Toolbox Dropbox folder.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cpdt5dm4zuppr62/BWMASTERY-21-step-QTR-Correction-Curve-Tool.xltx?dl=0
Richard Boutwell
http://www.richardboutwell.com
http://www.bwmastery.com