Neue Testversion 24.40b15

[pixel8tor]

No problem with Histogram on macOS. I noticed earlier that in Grayscale mode histogram have very low contrast. Could it be invisible due some UI color settings?

Thanks shijan for pointing me in the right direction. That was the problem. When I disable "Use Own Brightness" (mine was set to 140), the histogram is visible again. And yes, I agree, the histogram is too low contrast. Shouldn't there be an internal check so this kind of UI issue doesn't confuse the user, like me?

[Herbert123]

I don't really understand what you are doing and what the problem is.

As always: A PLD document and a detailed description of the steps to reproduce the problem would be helpful.

Today I revisited the same document, and suddenly after adding printer's marks and exporting the second page as PDF, the bleed reoriented/reset itself from landscape to the correct A4 portrait orientation.

I have no clue why PhotoLine suddenly decided to change the bleed from landscape (incorrect) to portrait (correct).

To double-check, I saved a new version, and then opened the older version that had the bleed orientation issue. But to my surprise it no longer had that issue either.

So wherever the bleed setting is stored, it seems to be external to the document somehow. Perhaps in PhotoLine's settings somewhere?

In any case, it is resolved. But I haven't got the foggiest why.
But it also means I can't share my file now with you, because the bleed issue is resolved.

I don't really know. There is a single file format that has a concept of bleed, and that file format is PDF. So the bleed setting is in the PDF options.

Usually our users don't think about bleed when creating a document. Only when they want to send the document to the printer and realize that the printer wants a bleed, they set a value.

Bleed is such a fundamental part of the printing process, that I don't even question the existence of a bleed setting in a semi-pro or professional design application in a document setup dialog... It's always just there - as natural as breathing is for a human being, the bleed setting is just as natural and expected in printing and for a graphic/layout designer.

That is why I expect this setting to be part of the document setup, just like every other layout/design software on the market. It's very very strange to have to change the PDF output setting for this. I do understand the rationale, yet it is so... incredibly odd. As if the bleed setting is something that is tangential or of secondary importance to print layout.

And setting a bleed is just one step, adjusting all the layout elements to run into that bleed is another (even more) important step. In PhotoLine the bleed frame isn't 'sticky', so elements do not snap to it. That's another thing that I have never experienced before in a design app. I've been working in PhotoLine for so long now that I have gotten used to these little quirks, but in the end these do hinder the workflow (as does the lack of a true symbol library and page masters or layers that can be shared across pages).

I just want to be able to snap to the bleed guides, and not having to eye-ball it or manually calculate the exact bleed size.

Anyway, as long as the bleed guides can be made sticky for snapping I can live with the bleed settings being hidden away in the PDF export settings. I don't mind that much, but the lack of snapping is frustrating.

Objects that must run off the page into the bleed area snap to the page edge instead when the entire page is displayed, forcing me to zoom in closer to place objects in the bleed zone - but always eye-balling it, or use extreme zoom, or calculate with positioning.

Can we please have bleed guides snapping, please?

If I encounter that page bleed orientation issue again, I will let you know.

Thanks!

[Herbert123]

Just to add what I originally did:

1] create a new portrait mode A4 document, 4 pages.
2] added some assets for layout
3] activated 1/8" bleed in the PDF export settings
4] turned on bleed guides in view menu

Result: instead of the bleed guides/frame surrounding the A4 portrait page orientation, somehow the bleed guides only are displayed as if the page is an A4 in landscape mode.
Refer to my screenshot earlier.

[Herbert123]

And regarding bleed settings in the PDF export: I have a clear case against this:

Today I created various layouts. Two needed a larger bleed setting of 3/8 inch.

Just now I return to my brochure project, only to discover that the bleed settings for that document had changed to mirror the one for the other two layouts. So instead of 1/8 inch, I got 3/8 inch.

At the very least the PDF export should remember the bleed setting for each document that we create. Bleed settings can change depending on the project and output requirements.

So bleed settings should be part of the document and/or even page settings rather than PDF export settings... At least, that is how I view this. That the bleed changes for an existing document just because I changed it for another layout is unwanted behaviour in my opinion.

[der_fotograf]

I don't use the document mode at all, but today I had some time and thought: Well, maybe I can dig into it.

But nope, there is something weird going on in the dialog.

I can select a document format, no problem, but as soon as I want to add guides, I get this:

Screenshot 2024-06-21 at 14.03.49.jpg

The selected item shows something from an old rise/fall/shift lens I had years ago, but on the preview page it displays DIN A 4 Portrait 1 cm. But as soon as the page is created, there is just a plain margin rectangle.

My guess: the bug is hidden somewhere in the settings for the document.

Another problem seems to be the Print Options. When I first select 100% and then 50%, the width is set to 104,99 mm, but unfortunately with an offset of 1 cm from the left paper margin.

Screenshot 2024-06-21 at 14.13.14.jpg

This is quite unusual, or maybe I'm spoiled by Scribus (an open source publishing software with the cleanest and recognized best generation of PDF documents, it event beats all Adobe and Serif products)

[Herbert123]

The New Document and New Image dialogs have been in need of an overhaul for some time. Currently presets are stored in and selected from a list at the top.

But I have so many different templates and document formats that that list quickly becomes impossible to use.

So I don't even use it anymore to keep track of document templates. Too limited: fine for 10 or so template definitions, but beyond that... So I just manage them all in a folder with subfolders. I know, pretty 'old school'!

I would love to see a thumbnail view with an option to group document formats into categories. That I could make use of in PhotoLine asset project. But not as it stands, even if I want to

Yes, we have the Gallery, but that one doesn't allow us to work with categories either, and its functionality is crippled: no obvious method to create a new document template other than duplicating one. Not possible to drag an existing document page into that gallery either or dropping a gallery document template into the pages panel, for example.

It's a bit of a shame, because these dialogs are one of the first things users see. And I wouldn't mind a start-up dialog with those choices either, that includes a list of recent files. This is all quite low-hanging fruit that would improve basic usability quite a lot.

Anyway, I digress. Some examples from Krita and Inkscape. Look at any other design software for additional examples. I have time in the next few days to work on a mockup / prototype, and will post that here.

2024-0~2.jpg

2024-0~3.jpg

[Gerhard Huber]

I don't use the document mode at all, but today I had some time and thought: Well, maybe I can dig into it.
But nope, there is something weird going on in the dialog.
I can select a document format, no problem, but as soon as I want to add guides, I get this:
The selected item shows something from an old rise/fall/shift lens I had years ago, but on the preview page it displays DIN A 4 Portrait 1 cm. But as soon as the page is created, there is just a plain margin rectangle.

Ich verstehe dein Problem hier nicht.
Du hast die Hilfslinien aktiviert und der Dialog zeigt dir in der Vorschau die Hilfslinien die du bekommen wirst.

Another problem seems to be the Print Options. When I first select 100% and then 50%, the width is set to 104,99 mm, but unfortunately with an offset of 1 cm from the left paper margin.

Im Dialog ist unter "Position" ein Offset für X und Y von 75 px eingestellt.
Und genau das siehst du in der Vorschau.
Im Bildmodus - im Gegensatz zum Dokumentmodus - ist die Standardeinstellung, dass versucht wird, das ganze Bild zu drucken, daher wird die Position auf die Druckränder des aktiven Druckers gesetzt.

[der_fotograf]

Ich verstehe dein Problem hier nicht.
Du hast die Hilfslinien aktiviert und der Dialog zeigt dir in der Vorschau die Hilfslinien die du bekommen wirst.

Nein, sieh mal die Vorschau an. Das ist ein Gitternetz mit Hilfslinien über die gesamte Seite gleichmässig verteilt. Bestätige ich das, erhalte ich ein Dokument nur mit den Hilfslinien für den Rand, sonst nichts. Also Vorschau und Realität stimmen nicht überein.

Ja, das mit der Position ist etwas irreführend. Bei 100% passen die Hilfslinien, aber sobald ich 50% auswähle, wird der Rahmen um 75 oder wie viel auch immer Pixel verschoben. Irgendwie habe ich damit Logikprobleme.

Nun drucke ich kaum noch, weil ich dafür einen Dienstleister habe, bin aber gestern auf die Sachen gestossen.

[Gerhard Huber]

Ich verstehe dein Problem hier nicht.
Du hast die Hilfslinien aktiviert und der Dialog zeigt dir in der Vorschau die Hilfslinien die du bekommen wirst.

Nein, sieh mal die Vorschau an. Das ist ein Gitternetz mit Hilfslinien über die gesamte Seite gleichmässig verteilt. Bestätige ich das, erhalte ich ein Dokument nur mit den Hilfslinien für den Rand, sonst nichts. Also Vorschau und Realität stimmen nicht überein.

Das konnte ich dem Screenshot nicht entnehmen.
Es sollten die Hilfslinien erzeugt werden, die im Popup angewählt sind. Diese sind individuell und entsprechen den Voreinstellungen aus dem Hilfsliniendialog. Ich kann hier bei mir kein Problem feststellen.
Du könntest mir deine "Guides.plg" Datei schicken, die befinden sich im Preferences-Ordner von PhotoLine. Darin sind die Hilfslinien gespeichert.
Dann kann ich testen, ob es damit bei mir auch Probleme gibt.

Ja, das mit der Position ist etwas irreführend. Bei 100% passen die Hilfslinien, aber sobald ich 50% auswähle, wird der Rahmen um 75 oder wie viel auch immer Pixel verschoben. Irgendwie habe ich damit Logikprobleme.

Ich verstehe hier nicht, was das mit den Hilfslinien zu tun hat. Im Dialog Druckeinstellungen werden die Hilfslinien nicht angezeigt. Diese sind nur für die Bearbeitung zum Ausrichten von Ebenen gedacht. In den Druckeinstellungen sieht man "nur" den bedruckbaren Bereich des aktiven Druckers.

[der_fotograf]

Oha, ja, daran hatte ich nicht gedacht, dass ich den Button klicken muss, um die Hilfslinien zu zeigen. Kommt in der Fotobearbeitung bei mir irgendwie nicht vor..

Tut mir leid. Jetzt, nach dem Aktivieren der Anzeige der Hilfslinien sind sie da. Also ist das kein Fehler, sondern wie in 98% der Fälle die Dummheit des Bedieners (= ich) gewesen.