Loupedeck support

Yes, a Wacom Intuos Pro M – I have written several times about it.

Haven’t read anything of your Wacom posts, sorry, but honestly, PL5 ist not exactly sky-high in my usability rating, so I’m not surprised that this part of input devices is not covered.

I’m considering buying the “TourBox” instead of a Loupedeck…Worth it?
Does somebody here already use one? Does it work? Could you share your feedback about using it with Photolab?

Thanks.
Ian.

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I tried Loupedeck’s “Live” last year. Didn’t work well with PL due to the lack of enough shortcuts and connection to local adjustments. So, if TourBox also is based on shortcuts, just make sure you can return the device. Loupedeck took it back and refunded it, I also criticized their app (at the time, now they had a couple of updates). Main critic from me is no language supported other than English in their standard app. And I must say, I have zero tolerance for a European manufacturer not to respect our language diversities.

I never tried the Loupedeck, and probably never will (too expensive, looks like a “keyboard with knobs” to me). What I find interesting with the Tourbox is that it looks like a gaming controller, it’s very compact and doesn’t require software companies to use any SDK/API to make it work…

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+1 for adding Loupedeck support to PL.

Unfortunately PL has always been very poor with scripting capabilities. On Mac it never had support for AppleScript and no surprise it doesn’t support Apple Shortcuts nowadays.

A couple of years ago I’ve programmed an AppleScript suit named APHub to be able to still use my beloved Aperture for DAM but make all advanced photo edits in newer apps like Photolabs or Capture One while preserving all edits inside the Aperture database. While it was easy to interface with Capture One via AppleScript, I’ve had to use GUI scripting with Photolabs to get it working with limited functionality.

Interestingly you can use the mousewheel to adjust values in PL by mousing over the slider and holding the cmd key. PL detects the slider under the mouse cursor and changes the value of the slider.

So the logic to change a slider with a wheel (or knob in case of Loupedeck) is already there but there is no interface to trigger that logic from outside PL.

If DXO would implement the hooks to trigger that logic from outside, Loupedeck or PL users could programm a plugin to make the Loupedeck knobs work in PL.

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Not on Windows, you have to click on the slider before you can change the value with the mouse wheel.
But the hover of the cursor is detected since it changes its appearance a little.
I already talked about it here.

From time to time over the past 10 years, I’ve advocated that PL needs to define it’s keyboard and mouse interfaces in a very clear and open way.

This isn’t just for the automation geeks or those who want to use tools like a LoupeDeck.

It’s an accessibility issue, and one that may well come back to bite PL in the backside if any regulatory agency group decides to take notice.

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Is there one for “RAW converters and midi controllers”? Just asking…

I fully agree. I’d love to be able to use the keyboard as much as possible for adjustments. And if Loupedeck or similar deviced would be supported it would make PhotoLab much better to be used.

Yes, adding an API or at least Apple Script would be the way to go so that anyone can build external devices for PhotoLab. There’s lots of geeky people using RAW software who would appreciate the ability to add an external device.

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Any news from DXO side? Atleast adding some more keyboard shortcuts for the very common controls would be a middle point. This would let hotkeys be used in third party tools like Loupdeck can still take advantage of some of them.

I only count on the normal interface about 20ish sliders. If we could assign, for example, hotkeys to exposure to be Ctrl + shift + 2 for reduce by 50 and ctrl shift + 3 for increase by 50, you could then map it to tools like this.

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PL 4: NO
PL5: NO
PL6: NO
PLx: … I don’t believe in miracles (any more in that company) … sorry for that.
BUT - still open to be convinced to the contrary - maybe for xmas ?! :wink:

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Maybe a two-key hotkey would make more sense, than using all combinations of ctrl, shift and alt. Maybe F6+“function” makes more sense:

  • F6+E for Exposure
  • F6+W for White balance
  • F6+H for Horizon

etc.

I’d really like to have that too.

API would be better… could make it OS agnostic then, many of us don’t use Apple or like me use both Windows and OSX.

Would even work on this myself if there was an API layer.

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AI would be fine, but would require active support by manufacturers of such devices. And if they decide, that the DxO user base is too small, they might not implement this. The use of hotkeys has the advantage of being independent of operating system and devices, as long as they are able to send keys.

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Keyboard shortcuts would be great…probably more beneficial for me than Loupedeck support. I’ve used a Logitech G13 gaming keyboard for a number of years with the keys programed to make adjustments in Lightroom. Being able to nudge up or down sliders, by a pre determined amount, just by tapping keys is a very fast way of editing. I’ve never used Loupdeck but I can’t imagine turning dials would be any quicker.

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I honestly don’t understand why DxO struggles so much with the keyboard shortcuts - even though so many users have been asking for this for years. So many other programs like Photoshop, FastRAWViewer and even freeware like Xn-View offer the possibility to define almost EVERY command as a shortcut.
In my eyes, it’s not just a gimmick, but something that would increase the feel and workflow enormously; for some hesitant people maybe even an argument to finally upgrade - or NOT if they don’t finally move :thinking:

Happy New Year !
Markus

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First, there’s no standard for shortcuts although some are re-appearing but all the “interesting ones” need to be learnt by heart. For every single app you want or need to use. Some of us are very good in learning characters, but altogether it’s training “muscle memory”: In which position the fingers of your hands need to be relatively to the keyboard to increase exposure?

Some of us are better in learning these positions, others prefer to know second left knob, when top right button shows a blue icon. And while the shortcuts don’t need to be logical or language specific (Colour / Contrast / Copy / Cyan / Curve / Clonebrush… and soon you’re running out of ALT+CMD+SHIFT+CNTRL combinations for C, but in my language only Cyan is written with a C if the translators are big fans of Denglish. In German it’s Zyan), the order of the knobs can follow a workflow. Some might find that more intuitive, others less so.

Perhaps I should have said “I can’t imagine moving my hands around to turn dials would be any quicker than tapping keys with my left hand, on a dedicated small programable keypad like the G13, whilst also having my right hand on the mouse for other tasks”. With muscle memory this for me is by far the quickest way to plough through a shoot with a few hundred images. Knowing that a tap of the G4 key will up the exposure by a third at a time, the G11 to reduce by a third, the G5 or G12 to up the whites or blacks by a pre determined about…Maybe something like the Loupdeck would be the next fastest option. I don’t know, but I’m sure both would certainly be quicker than selecting and dragging sliders with a mouse.

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