"Test Strip" tool -- Missing?!

[Koyaanis]

Did the "test strip" tool from the "layout" menu get put somewhere else? I can't find it in the latest versions.

Had need for it again today and ... it's just gone.

[Ron C]

It's there for me. I'm using PhotoLine 15.55 on a Mac and it's in the Layout menu.

[Koyaanis]

I'm playing with v15.90 beta 10, from a link posted a couple weeks ago. Maybe it's just a beta feature-reshuffling or something and it got misplaced. I keep v12, 13, and 14 installed in their own folders, so if a new one has major problems I can always go back. I used v14 to regain the "Test Strip" function for my momentary needs. Most recently I used it as a fast and easy way to make a multi-view page layout of a reticle graph that needed reproducing on a 3x3 grid. So I could pencil in numbers on each similar chart for some optics tests that I was doing on it. Thanks for letting me know I can go back to 15.55 to regain that feature.

[Martin Huber]

Did the "test strip" tool from the "layout" menu get put somewhere else? I can't find it in the latest versions.

Had need for it again today and ... it's just gone.

It has been removed in the new versions. We intend to clean up the menu and one of the steps is to remove rarely used functions and functions with mostly negative feedback.

Martin

[Paul]

Hmmm. That's a shame it'll be gone soon. I use this function more and more. It's a very fast and comfortable way to approach the colours I want to have in a picture, if it's been delivered from an unknown scource.
Will there be a function to replace this one, perhaps simplified, or a variant of another calibration-like function?

- Paul

[akeller]

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[Twindaddy]

Hi,

for those, who are missing this function (not me ) I recorded a quick and dirty action to emulate the default behaviour (15% all colors). This action creates a lot of layers in your file and groups them all together so you can throw them into the garbage with one click. Only variations of the current layer will be generated, so if you have more than one layer in your file already, make sure, that the one to appear in your teststrip is selected.

HTH.

Cheers,
Markus

[akeller]

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[Koyaanis]

Thanks for making an action to emulate this handy feature, but without all the options ... it just won't cut it for how I have used it often in the past.

I guess I just won't "upgrade" and lose valuable features when the next version is released. I'll "upgrade" by going back to v15.5x.

What a shame.

[Martin Huber]

Thanks for making an action to emulate this handy feature, but without all the options ... it just won't cut it for how I have used it often in the past.

If you record a "Test Strip"-action with 15.x, it should work in future versions, too.

Martin

[Koyaanis]

So ...

In order to emulate the Test Strip function in the newer versions. I'll have to record an action for each of the possible permutations of all of Test Strip's options.

Alignments: 3

"Color" options: 10

Variations: 10

No way to adjust the "Image Width" option after it's recorded as a script, so that handy option is now lost.

Total number of incomplete actions to record: 300

Thanks!

Taking it out makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever.

[Martin Huber]

So ...

In order to emulate the Test Strip function in the newer versions. I'll have to record an action for each of the possible permutations of all of Test Strip's options.

No, you have to record one single action and turn on the "Show dialog" switch for that action (in the action panel).

Martin

[Koyaanis]

Ah, thanks. I don't use the "actions" feature too often. I'll quit whining about it now.

Is there a repository of "actions" anywhere, where people can download them? Something like this being such a useful feature, it would be nice to offer it as an "action" to all future users of PhotoLine. They wouldn't know it exits in previous versions. For me, it was simple to just boot up an earlier version I kept on my computer, apply it once while recording it as an action, then merge it into the latest version's actions. Newcomers to PhotoLine wouldn't have that option easily available.