PhotoLine and the Undo List

[MikeFromMesa]

I am relatively new to PhotoLine so it may be that I am missing something fairly basic. I also work on the Mac and this issue may be restricted to the Mac version. In either case I would like to know, but I am having real issues with PL's history via the Undo List. The manual says that the Undo list keeps track of all adjustments made to an image and provides a way to step back and I assume that means that it works in a similar fashion to a history list in software like Photoshop, but my experience with PL is that it does not do that well at all, at least on my Mac.

I loaded an image on my system, made a Histogram Adjustment and then a Curves Adjustment. Neither of those adjustments showed up in the Undo List and, after each, the Undo command under Edit was disabled not allowing me to "undo" the action. I have attached the screen shots to the end of this post. I found I was restricted to only 3 images or I would have posted all 5 screen shots that I took.

As you can see, after each of the adjustments the Undo List, which is at the bottom right of the screen shot, shows only the Start entry with no information about the latest adjustment made and the Undo functionality is disabled.

All of these adjustments were made from the Tools menu. Is there some restriction about undoing a Tools adjustment? In any case the problem is more extensive than that. If I call a plugin I find I cannot undo the plugin call, the undo functionality still being disabled. And, when I do something that does show up in the Undo List (like a selection), that seems to start the history list working as additional entries then show up, but if I then go back in the history list to the Start I also lose all of the entries that did not show up in the history list (like the Histogram and Curves adjustments mentioned before).

Perhaps this is a bug or perhaps I am doing something wrong. Can anyone give me any help? As an aside I also find that I am unable to expand the Undo List horizontally so it is always that narrow list shown in the screen shots. I can expand it vertically by dragging the "handle" at the bottom, but cannot do the same horizontally as there does not seem to be a "handle" on the right or left of the Undo List itself.

Thanks.

[bkh]

I loaded an image on my system, made a Histogram Adjustment and then a Curves Adjustment. Neither of those adjustments showed up in the Undo List and, after each, the Undo command under Edit was disabled not allowing me to "undo" the action. I have attached the screen shots to the end of this post.

Probably, there's not enough undo memory to record the undo step. It seems that PL uses a default of 128 MB for undos, while a single undo step with a 22 MPx raw file requires 150 MB. I'd suggest that you set the default to at least 1000 MB – I have set it to half the RAM in my machine.

Can anyone give me any help? As an aside I also find that I am unable to expand the Undo List horizontally so it is always that narrow list shown in the screen shots. I can expand it vertically by dragging the "handle" at the bottom, but cannot do the same horizontally as there does not seem to be a "handle" on the right or left of the Undo List itself.

There is an "invisible" handle at the bottom right corner – once you are at the right position, the cursor will change to a diagonal arrow (⤡).

Btw., for raw files, it's much better to use adjustment layers for corrections – select the layer above the raw (background) layer in the layer panel and open the adjustment layer panel – there's already a histogram correction and a curve adjustment there. This will lead to a much smaller PL file (since the original raw file will be saved, rather than a demosaiced version), and all your adjustments can be changed back and forth easily, without affecting the image quality (just like in most dedicated raw development programs).

Cheers

Burkhard.

[Hoogo]

On windows you should find the option to adjust the undo in the menu "edit > options > working > undo". It looses a bit of importance when you work more with adjustment layers.

[MikeFromMesa]

Probably, there's not enough undo memory to record the undo step. It seems that PL uses a default of 128 MB for undos, while a single undo step with a 22 MPx raw file requires 150 MB. I'd suggest that you set the default to at least 1000 MB – I have set it to half the RAM in my machine.

You are correct. I changed the memory allocation to 1000 and now it keeps the Undo List correctly; or at least for the limited testing I have done so far. I guess it is a bit surprising to me that it would be set so low by default. And I guess the Undo functionality was disabled because there was not enough memory for the list and so the software did not know how to do the Undo.

Thanks.

There is an "invisible" handle at the bottom right corner – once you are at the right position, the cursor will change to a diagonal arrow (⤡).

Right again. I had checked for the handle on the bottom and on the side but not at the corner.

Btw., for raw files, it's much better to use adjustment layers for corrections – select the layer above the raw (background) layer in the layer panel and open the adjustment layer panel – there's already a histogram correction and a curve adjustment there. This will lead to a much smaller PL file (since the original raw file will be saved, rather than a demosaiced version), and all your adjustments can be changed back and forth easily, without affecting the image quality (just like in most dedicated raw development programs).

Yes. That is my normal mode of operation. Typically I do everything I can in layers but I was playing about with the functionality of the editor and wanted to start as simple as I could and that meant initially staying away from layers.

Thanks for your posts

[bkh]

Glad to know that undo now works for you.

I guess it is a bit surprising to me that it would be set so low by default.

Yes, I guess the default limit hasn't changed for quite a while … Anyway, I reported this in the beta testers forum, and the developers agreed to increase the limit in the next version of PL when PL runs in 64 bit mode.

Cheers,

Burkhard.

[MikeFromMesa]

Glad to know that undo now works for you.

I guess it is a bit surprising to me that it would be set so low by default.

Yes, I guess the default limit hasn't changed for quite a while … Anyway, I reported this in the beta testers forum, and the developers agreed to increase the limit when PL runs in 64 bit mode.
Burkhard.

This was on a Mac so it is the 64 bit version and it was not changed on my system. Although it is now. I guess it works much better when there is enough memory.

[bkh]

This was on a Mac so it is the 64 bit version and it was not changed on my system.

Sorry, I meant to say that this will be changed in the next version of PL. This won't affect you, of course, since you have already changed the limit manually.

Cheers

Burkhard.