As a Topaz Photo user and retired Software Engineer / Developer there are a few things relating to the User Interface that annoy me to no end. I designed user interfaces for over 20 yrs and prided myself on earning the respect of the end users by listening to their suggestions.
Here are some thoughts on what I would do if I were developing the app.
First of all the adjustment sliders are just nearly impossible to use. They are so short that fine adjustment is impossible. Having to enter a specific number over and over is even more annoying. Here is a thought… Why have to hover over a tiny little icon to have a cute little text box pop up with a short little slider in it? Hiding the slider does not seem to save any space at all since the box covers at least to options (Sharpen and Denoise for example) when it pops up. There is plenty of room under / between the options to have a full width, fully visible slider ready and waiting for the user. No control or text would be crowded out. The edit box for the current value could stay next to the control title I suppose, but the slider should be under the title, span the width of the controls panel and be adjustable by click and drag AND, what I think would be a huge improvement, Scroll Wheel adjustable. I think this closely follows LightRoom’s (and many other’s) UI functionality. Also, I have seen posts about sliders staying visible after use. I thought they were supposed to be fixed, but it still happens to me.
Adjusting the brush size for things like Sharpening masks is another very annoying task. It suffers from the same slider issues as above, but even more so because very often I am tryin to adjust the brush to fit into a very specific place and I cant change the size without moving the mouse back to the “Size” slider in the control panel. I have to go back and forth to see if I got it right. I have yet to find a way to adjust the size while the cursor is on the image where I need it. Why not be able to adjust in place using the Scroll Wheel a la LightRoom. Is it some kind of infringement? I can’t remotely imagine that being the case. That is a very common UI function in many apps.
What about the “Feathering” adjustment? Why can’t the brush show an inner and outer circle, again like LR and other apps? I’m not even sure what the feathering does because nothing I can see changes when I adjust the slider.
I will continue to use Topaz, but the UI will continue to be very annoying to me. It could be soooo much Better!!!
Not to take anything away from your valid points may I offer a couple of options to help
It is currently possible, to adjust any Enhancements options by using the Up and Down Arrow Keys.
Simply Click, on an Input Box (For example, the Sharpen Strength) then use the Up and Down Arrow Keys to Increase or Decrease the amount by One Increment.
Topaz Photo, has the same adjusting the Brush and Feathering Keyboard Shortcuts as Photoshop and most other Image Editing Applications.
Simply, place your Cursor anywhere on the screen you like then use the Left or Right Bracket Keys to Increase or Decrease the Brush Size.
Similarly, holding down the Shift Key while pressing the Bracket Keys will Increase or Decrease the Feathering.
However, unlike those options within Photoshop when using the Bracket Keys Topaz Photo gives you a Visible Representation of the Increases and Decreases for both Size and Feathering.
Thanks for the reply. Believe me, I have tried to find ways to streamline these tasks. I just tried it. Yes, the Up/Dn arrows do adjust the values, but there are issues with that. First, the image preview / refresh event is not triggered until the Enter key is pressed. I completely understand one would NOT want to wait for a complete refresh for ever single digit increment. That’s where simple programming comes in. One way is to not trigger the process until arrow key inputs have not been received for some amount of time, 1 second for example. A couple of lines of Software would also force the refresh to stop if it received another arrow while it was regenerating. Another annoyance is the fact that after hitting the Enter key, the edit box is no longer the “Active” control. “IF” the mouse cursor hasn’t moved, you can left click again and do the process again. If it was moved just due to moving your hand from the mouse to the kb and then back from the kb to the mouse or just fidgeting with the mouse while refresh is in process, you have to find the cursor and get it back in the box and left click. Another thing… while going through this process step by step I noticed that if you forget to reActivate the box and hit the Up arrow key, all of the controls roll up forcing you to expand the one you were working with and start the process all over again.
I do see the Bracket keys controlling the “Feathering”. However, if using the slider or the edit box, the effect is not shown until the mouse is clicked, Enter is pressed, or if using the slider, when the left button is released. I believe it would be nice to see the effect live as the value changes (which Shift-Bracket does actually), especially since the image is not refreshed in this mode. In my opinion, the sliders are just not implemented very well at all. Maybe that’s just me. Would love to hear what other users think.
Yes I agree, and rest assured you aren’t the only one asking for changes to the behaviour with those Sliders “Fotomaker” and others have also suggested it within previous Topics and Posts on many occasions
I voted for this and don’t forget you can place a Vote for your own suggestion
