There is no clear concise explanation of the difference between Clone and Repair in the manual.
A search in the forum tries to give examples but wordy and not clear.
There must be a clear explanation somewhere of the difference in functionality.
Aubrey
Very broadly, Audrey, Clone is best at copying “something” from one part of your image to another - while Repair is best at replacing/hiding an unwanted area in your image.
That being said, tho; the differences can be subtle - and, if you don’t get the desired result from one of the modes then switch to the other mode … sometimes that can provide a better result.
John M
This is a problem which seems to bedevil every photo processing package under the sun. They have all manner of tools which affect the image or part of the image in specific ways, but far too little useful information about what they actually do. Sometimes the name is the only clue, and names are sometimes poorly chosen. People have to find out what they do on a trial and error basis, and unofficial advice spreads by Chinese whispers.
My understanding, for what it’s worth, is that CLONE copies pixels from source to destination exactly as specified. Whereas REPAIR tries to do something ill-defined but more intelligent and nuanced based on pictorial content. Sometimes REPAIR gives a great result, but sometimes especially at the edges of the photo it produces nasty smudgy results.
« Sometimes REPAIR […] especially at the edges of the photo […] produces nasty smudgy results. » I can only confirm…