Return settings adjustments capability to physical U-Points

I have no doubt that sometimes they can be effective and useful in their current “form”, but the “future” seems to tell us to explore something else if we want to improve our products and the results our users can achieve using them.

If we decide to evolve CP’s controls into something else (like a normal palette for instance) I’m afraid we cannot afford to keep their current implementation at the same time, by having like a setting where you can decide which “form” works best for you.

If we decide to abandon the “equalizer” is not a mere “form” shifting/redesign, it’s about revisiting and empowering what Control Points can do in the first place. Having a “double” UI/system will force us to maintain the old CP and the new CP, knowing that the new ones will provide way more features and functions…and knowing that this extra development effort to keep the old ones doesn’t offer any real added value to the user…

As human beings we are extremely flexible and can adapt easily, but at the same time we’re always afraid of any change. I’m pretty confident that if we want to get better CP and local adjustments, the current paradigm must evolve into something else. And it will be better :wink:

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Oh, I’m not worried about being unable to adapt. I’ve been working in IT since the early 80’s. I’ve spent my life adapting. However, I still really loved the control that was possible at the U-point.

Thanks again for taking the time to give such a thoughtful response.

Craig

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I can understand your arguments for changing the UI for future expansion. Please also consider reducing the ‘cognitive’ gap when using u-points (or control points) Right now, with the new UI, one has to scroll to the controls which are “off page”. I often move the u-point around slightly, adjust a parameter slightly, move point around, while observing the effect. The current UI makes this kind of fine tuning very hard.

One option to consider is keeping the UI simple by hiding those controls not in ‘current use’, or not directly related to a control point, when a control point has been selected on screen. I maintain that when a user has selected a control point that’s what they intend to work on. The point becomes active and all the controls for that control point should be “ready to hand”. This would create a form of ‘modal’ interface, and that too has its downsides, but somewhere is a balance between having so many controls that they don’t fit on a screen and having just the ‘current working set’ of controls on screen.

Thanks for listening.

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Put me in the new UI camp. I love the new UI and hated the old one. Can’t wait for the same thing to happen in PL.

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Very much so. Not our decision in the end :slight_smile:

Yes - that’s the “killer” reason for shifting the controls over to the palette … As an important example; it’s not possible, with the current LA controls, to fine-tune slider values with the arrow-keys (and there are, as of now, 30 votes from users requesting this capability).

John M

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So the big question for me is if this new UI that separates the control point from its controls finally provides for easy, fine control of the warmth, hue and tint? It frustrates me no end that I cannot adjust warmth in anything less than 160K steps - IF I’m really careful. And that business of dragging out into outer-space to get your finer increments is absurd. It’s like trying to start your car in top gear. I don’t want to upgrade from v3 until that frustration is out of the way for me.

Craig, please tell me something: I also got to know and love control points via Nikon Capture NX and that is why I shifted to PhotoLab when Capture NX2 became defunct but I find the selection with PhotoLab is not as clearly defined as it was with Capture NX2. Is that your experience too?
I posted this comparison some time ago:

I have been using Control Points since I went digital with a Nikon D200 ay back when. . I used Nikon Capture that was based on Control Points with the changes made on the image area. I have tried NIK 4 in Silver efex and Vivesa with control point commands along the side. Yes it is different, but if that change means more or better control of local adjustments for a point on the image, I am OK with it. I also use DXO PL4 Elite, and find using Control Points right on the image area to be difficult sometimes (and my monitor is 30 inches). For me the important thing is getting the sliders to work the best. I can adjust to the location change if needed.

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The ability to make quick adjustments right at the control point are one of the primary reasons I’ve bought and used the Nik plugins since they were still with Nik. It’s more intuitive. The tool and controls are right there at the spot you’re looking at changing. Not every adjustment needs the “power/fine tuning” you describe. You don’t have to have every tool appear in the point control. There have been two places to make adjustments for a very long time and it’s never been difficult. Just change the check box in the palette from “show or hide this slider” to “show or hide this function at the control point”. That way the user can limit their most used adjustments on the point interface and allow all the the rest and the fine tuning on the palette. It doesn’t take much “cognitive load” to know which functions are where, especially when it’s set that way by the user. You could always make them all off by default and have a preference toggle that turns them on for those that like them. A much bigger “cognitive load” is the fact that the different tools in the collection are getting interface changes incongruent with each other so now you have to remember how the U-points work in each separate tool rather than how they uniformly work in the collection as a whole. Being that the software is sold only as a collection the least you could have done when selling it as a full version upgrade would have been to upgrade the interface in each tool within the collection so that they were uniform.

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Hi Jeffery,
Welcome to the forum!

I understand your point of view, and changing habits are always something we, as humans, prefer to avoid . Sometimes, to evolve and lay down the future roadmap of a product, you have to change things which were put in place years ago.

But you have a strong point: speaking of a “Collection”, a user might expect (perfectly legitimate) to have access to, according to a dictionary, “a group of objects sharing some particular characteristic or theme that have been brought together…” Even if we may concur that the Nik Collection’s plugins do share a common DNA and some other characteristics, at the moment, they do not fully share their UX/UI. In an ideal world we’ll love to iron out those discrepancies on day one, but realistically it has to be done with incremental steps.

But again, I can absouletly feel your frustration and disappointment.

@StevenL I would add one comment, which I have raised elsewhere.

At the moment, it is very difficult to distinguish visually which of the tools in the palette apply to U-points.

It would be very useful if they could be “contained” as a group in a dedicated palette item.

I, for one, am very much looking forwards to this feature arriving in PL :blush:

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Only realistically from your perspective, accompanied with a disillusionment about what your customers want and need… Realistically for your customers is a stable (which v4 was not) release with a consistent UX/UI across the collection. And did I mention stable. Oh yeah… I did.

Welcome to the forum @PaulPorter!

I do agree with you about a consistent UX/UI across the collection, and this is what we aim for.
We are paving the way to achieve that, but it’s not already done: this is a long effort. In an ideal world, we’d love to always bring everything better and immediately, but it’s not always compatible with the reality. You need time and have to schedule your future updates over the next versions…

Having said that, in the real world, users and customers do want (and, of course, 100% deserve) a stable version, and with the latest update, in some cases, this wasn’t delivered! We are currently doubling down to fix what went wrong.

I know, I know, it shouldn’t happen (in the ideal world) in the first place, but unfortunately sometimes, odds play against you.

In such a scenario, the only thing you can do in the real world, is working hard to fix the issue.

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That is quite possibly the worst change ever made to a unique tool. all that is required an option in preferences to control the adjustments either at the panel or the point. Then one has a professional tool fit for purpose. To remove the u point sliders is an act of vandalism.

I disagree but we are all entitled to a point of view.

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Indeed we are… I am however bemused by the antipathy festering in some quarters … why buy a product with a unique point of differentiation and then proceed to make it look and feel the same as everything else in the market … strange… On my part I have been consistent with my criticism of this ever since it emerged that they had vanished without prior warning and despite the fact that the promotional material for the new version clearly showed the u points sliders very prominently. My criticism is simply on the basis of usability for the many of us who work quickly in a dodge and burn fashion, almost in auto mode without dwelling on images from afar of the screen. Ergonomically speaking I have yet to receive an argument which suggests that the eye and hand coordination, particularly or large screens is somehow improved by the removal of the sliders from the points. Instead all I have had back, have been comments about moving with times, new technology and and a fair bit of waffle. All of those changes, could and should been able to be controlled either from the panel or the siders. These are simply handles that control the tech, they are not THE tech. It would not be beyond the wit of a technology brand to offer customisation at the preferences panel and even dimming of points not being manipulated. Then one would have a truly flexible tool

I have no wish to debate this further. As I said - we are all entitled to an opinion. We all see things differently. A product cannot be all things to all people, so business/development decisions have to be made. There will inevitably be dissenters.

Photoshop is all things to all people some users use a bit some a bit more. Customisation is a trend beyond one sector of commerce, it allows diversity and brings in multiple income streams…myopic narrowing of possibilities is not a good strategy for any brand

In your opinion and by your own interpretation of the facts. No more to be said.