Prefs Tab

 

The Prefs tab contains some options for defining the behavior of LightMachine.



On Start Up

The default On Start Up control is "Previous Settings". This option will load the settings last used to correct an image with LightMachine. The "Default Settings" option will set all controls back to default values, which deactivates the automatic contrast and exposure correction. "Original Image" will start LightMachine with no correction applied to the image. The "Logged Settings" option will automatically open the settings that were applied the last time to the same image. It only works if you previously had the Log Settings check box activated and if you are using Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (see below for more information).

 

On Reset

The behavior of the Reset button can be defined by the On Reset combo box. If it is set to "Default Settings" and click the Reset button, it will deactivate most controls.

If On Reset is set to "Original Image" all corrections will be deactivated and the uncorrected image will be displayed in the preview. If "Previous Settings" is activated on the Prefs tab, clicking Reset will load the settings that were used for correcting the previous image. If you select "Own Defaults", you will be prompted to select an existing preset file. So, if you want the Reset button to revert all controls back to your preferred settings, you must first save these settings to a preset file. See below for more information on saving a preset file.


If you press the Reset button after setting On Reset to "Logged Settings", LightMachine will look in the logfiles subfolder inside the LightMachine folder to see if a preset with the name of the current image has been saved there. This preset may have been automatically saved by LightMachine, because the Log settings check box was activated and you already applied a correction to this image (or an image with the same file name). If LightMachine can find a preset file, it will immediately open it. If LightMachine doesn't find one, nothing will happen.

 

Language

The Language combo box lets you switch to another language. As a result all controls and messages in Lightmachine will instantly appear translated to the selected language.

 

Instant Sliders

If the Instant Sliders check box is activated, the preview is updated while you drag a slider. Please notice that the Undo / Redo feature won't work anymore if you have this check box activated. Instant Slider may also work too slow on computers with an older processor. You can also get the same effect if you hold down the Shift key while draggng a sldier.

 

Instant Preview

If the Instant Preview check box is activated, you can drag a spot light interactively over the preview in the Virtual Studio modes. That makes it easier to place a spot light, because you see its effect while you are dragging it. This feature may work too slow on computers with an older processor. In such a case it is more convenient to deactivate this check box.

 

Multi-CPU Off (x CPUs) (Windows Only)

If you encounter any problems, you can deactivate the support for multiple processors and hyperthreading processors with this check box. The multiprocessor feature currently only extends to mask creation and the local contrast effect. The number in brackets displays how many processors were detected by B/W Styler. For example, for a hyperthreading or dualcore processor you will see "2 CPUs" displayed. If you only have a non-hyperthreading, singlecore processor, this check box will be disabled by default.

 

Histo Zoom

Activating the Histo Zoom check box in the Prefs tab cuts off peaks for some images when displaying a histogram in the Histo tab sheet. This avoids a flat histogram display where only a few high spikes are visible. That's also how Photoshop displays histograms. This options is activated by default.

 

Log Settings

With the Log Settings check box activated LightMachine automatically saves preset files in the logfiles sub folder of the LightMachine folder when you press the OK button to apply a correction to an image. In Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro the presets are named with the file name of the image. In other applications a random number is used, because these applications don't supply the file name of the image to plugins like LightMachine. If you apply LightMachine a second time to the same image and have Log Settings activated, the previous preset file will be overwritten.

At least with Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro this feature allows you to easily find the settings that you applied to certain images by looking into the logfiles sub folder. For other applications you can only look at the file date and guess which preset files was used for which image.

In connection with the Logged Settings option of the On Start Up combo box (see above), you can use the Log Settings check box to automatically make LightMachine start up with the settings that were applied the last time to the same image. So if you need to correct the same image again, you will automatically be presented with the same settings that you used the last time.

In case you don't want to start up LightMachine with the logged settings or forgot to activate that option, you can also open the logged settings by right clicking on the Reset button and choosing "Logged Settings" from the context menu.