DevAdjust Lightroom Plugin

Define relative adjustment presets & combos for tweaking develop settings. Supports all photo file formats - virtual copies too.

Featuring:

• Apply full-strength or 1/3rd strength - forward and reverse.
• Supports all numeric settings for which relative adjustment makes sense.
• Instant Access via File Menu or keyboard shortcut: 'Alt/Opt-F,S,D'.
• User notes displayed as preset/combo tool-tips.
• Presets can be applied at individually specifiable intensity in combos.
• Supports organization into preset and/or combo folders (displayed as tabs).

PLEASE SEND ME ANY PRESETS YOU CREATE THAT ARE WORTH SHARING - OK? AND, LET ME KNOW ABOUT PRAISE & LAMENT...

PS - don't play with the busy button! (its an output - not an input)

Quick Links (intra-page)

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Revision History
Download

ScreenShot #1

ScreenShot #2

ScreenShot #3

 

See the readme file after downloading for usage and other notes.

 

DevAdjust FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

(no particular order)

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These FAQs come partly from users, and partly from my imagination. Please let me know if there are errors or omissions in this FAQ - thanks.

NOTE: The following Q&A's assume that the plugin is working as I expect... If, after your best effort, still "no go", please let me know.

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Question: What is this "DevAdjust" of which you speak?

Answer: DevAdjust is the successor to XmpEdit, but does not use XMP. It should preserve your previous presets and actions, but uses new capabilities introduced in Lightroom 3.0 - thus it won't work in Lr2.

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Question: Will DevAdjust work in Lightroom 2.

Answer: Nope - just Lr3.

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Question: Does DevAdjust support all file types.

Answer: All photo file types that Lr3 itself supports, including virtual copies.

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Question: What do I need to do to upgrade my existing xmp-edit presets and actions(combos)?

Answer: Run 'Optimize' from the Plugin Manager.

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Question: What if I apply adjustments via the form, or a preset/combo and I want to undo it?

Answer: You have 3 options:

1. Hit it again in reverse.
2. Edit Menu -> Undo.
3. Edit History list.

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Question: What if I increase the post-crop vignette mid-point on a photo that doesn't have a post-crop vignette - and other stuff like that...

Answer: Presently, nothing will happen. I can imagine this being desirable or un-desirable depending on your intentions, and I am hoping to add an auto-enable switch to handle case when adjustments are made to things that aren't yet enabled.

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Question: What exactly is a develop preset file?

Answer: There are 3 things that could be considered develop preset files:

1. Ordinary Lightroom presets that are absolute and visible within Lightroom proper. You can find the default location for these via the Presets tab of Lightroom Preferences, but they may be stored in the Lightroom Settings catalog sibling folder. - These have nothing to do with DevAdjust.
2. Lightroom Plugin Presets are accessible to only the plugin that created them and are invisible in Lightroom proper and to other plugins. DevAdjust uses these only temporarily for applying changes. They are stored somewhere like this: C:\Users\{User}\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Plugin Develop Presets\com.robcole.lightroom.develop.DevAdjust (Mac people must translate - let me know and I'll update...) - the names should look familiar, since they're the same as what you see in the Edit History List - these presets are also absolute and can be deleted at any time (DevAdjust optimization will delete them).
3. DevAdjust's relative presets - these are stored in lua files in the preset directory you define in the plugin manager. These are what you see in DevAdjust, and what gets backed up...

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Question: What is this optimization stuff all about...

Answer: Optimization does these things:

• Reads all presets & combos, and checks the integrity of the data contained in them.
• Repairs broken links in combos due to moved or renamed presets.
• Re-saves all preset and combo files in the newest format.
• Deletes temporary settings files in the Lightroom's Plugin Presets Directory - NOT DevAdjust/Your Presets Directory - Lightroom must be restarted for this last bit to take effect.

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Question: I can't tell if the optimizer is doing anything...

Answer: Try reseting the warning dialogs, then after running the optimizer, make 'View Log File' the default.

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Question: I can't tell if the backup is doing anything...

Answer: Try reseting the warning dialogs, then after running the backup, make 'View Log File' the default.

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Question: How can I see exactly what's in a DevAdjust plugin preset?

Answer: Load it into DevAdjust's adjustment form, or look at it in the above mentioned preset folder using a text editor.

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Question: How'd you get all those great names in the Edit History List?

Answer: I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you ;-}

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Question: what can/can't be used in preset and/or combo comments?

Answer: Anything that won't break a Lua "long" comment - stay away from '--[[' and '--]]' and you'll probably be OK.

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Question: Can I specify a combination of presets, and combos, in a combo?

Answer: Not any more. Nobody who has yet complained was making combos of combos, and it just makes the code simpler to restrict combos to presets.

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Question: Why are the '>' and '>>' buttons 1/3 and 1.0, instead of 1 and 3?

Answer: So that any adjustment is possible: 1/3, 2/3, 1.0, 1.3, 1.7, 2.0, 2.3, ...

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Question: The changes don't seem to be taking effect - what's wrong with this thing?!

Answer: These are some possibilities:

1. You didn't wait long enough - it could take several seconds. Wait for it, and if it still doesn't come, you may have to 'goose' it until Adobe fixes some bugs - for example go to the edit history list and select a different step, then the dev-adjusted step. It is imperative that you wait for all adjustments to take effect, before applying the next - the busy light indicates when DevAdjust is ready again.
2. There is a bug in DevAdjust - visit the Plugin Manager and define a log file + set log mode to "verbose", and reset the warning prompts. Load the most recently modified log file from your documents into a text editor and see if there are any clues - send it to me if its all gobble-de-gook to you.
3. There's a bug in Lightroom...

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Question: Can I nest preset and combo folders as deeply as I want.

Answer: Nope - Like Lightroom, presets and combos can be either in the root of the preset directory or in a folder, but not subfolders of subfolders... - This limitation mostly just makes the code easier to write - let me know if you find it too limiting.

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Question: How can I tell the difference between a preset file and a combo file.

Answer: You can't tell just by the filename extension, which is why I recommend keeping combos in a separate folder(s) from your presets, or at least using a naming scheme that allows you to identify at a glance. You can also try loading as a preset, or combo and seeing whether DevAdjust complains; or open in a text editor... Also, you can add notes that provide a clue.

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Question: What good are these notes you can keep with a preset or combo?

Answer: DevAdjust displays them as a tool tip in the 'Apply' dialog box. You can also load them into a text editor for inspection and modification if desired - its the comment at the top between the '--[[' and the '--]]' markers.

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Question: Is there a keyboard shortcut for quick access?

Answer: Yes:

• Alt/Opt-F,S,D - (short for File Menu -> Plugin ExtraS -> DevAdjust)

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Question: Why don't you show which preset is being edited, so you know which file to save it back to?

Answer: You can load any number of presets into the adjustment form, so it kinda loses its identity... The good news is that you can still see which preset was selected initially on the 'Apply' form if you position them to both be visible, so you can see which to save back to that way.

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Question: I tried loading multiple presets into the adjustment form and it asking me whether to add or overwrite. Add what? overwrite what??

Answer: If you choose 'Add' the values you see in the adjustment form will be the same as if you had applied these presets in succession. Choose 'Overwrite' when you want to choose just the incoming preset's adjustment for a setting that's already on the form.

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Question: Why are all my photos on the 'Misc' tab? - How to create "folder" tabs?

Answer: When you save your presets, just create a folder in the presets directory and put it there. You can even move your presets into folders (1-level deep within the preset directory) using Explorer/Finder and DevAdjust will "adjust".

PS - 'Misc' really just means "in root of preset directory".

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Question: Where's the crop settings?!

Answer: Sorry Lightroom doesn't support them, yet (hopefully they will - I submitted a request, but my experience dictates it won't be until Lr4 - hope I'm wrong) - so DevAdjust doesn't support them. Note: crop settings are supported by XmpEdit, and may be the only reason it isn't completely obsolete (I mean other than supporting good ol' Lr2 that is...)

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Question: What's that busy light do?

Answer: Well, it looks like a radio button, but its not for you to play with! (I tried disabling it so you can't edit it, but then it looks funny...) - Indicates that DevAdjust is still chomping on an adjustment that must be completed before hittin' it again.

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Question: Why was the 2x box neither checked nor unchecked?

Answer: Its no accident - just a little bread-crumb indicating its a really good idea to visit DevAdjust in the plugin manager (which is where the 2x box is first initialized), before using DevAdjust.

Note: Its impossible not to visit the plugin manager before using if you use the plugin manager for installing the plugin, but if you use the old-fashioned way of just copying it to a default plugin folder, all bets are off.

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Question: Whats up with this "all selected" versus "most selected" business?

Answer: Unlike Lightroom proper (whose target depends on whether you are in the grid or not...), plugins by default will either target just most selected photo or all selected photos (depending on how they're coded). Having this option makes it unambiguous and clear - which is my middle name...

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Question: DevAdjust doesn't seem to be working perfectly - is there anything I can do to help it along?

Answer: Yes (well, maybe...) - make sure a log file is specified, and log-verbose is checked, then reset all warning dialogs. Do an optimization, then restart Lightroom. Consider test-mode if you want to ensure no files are written or deleted (although this may affect normal functioning as well so de-select test-mode as soon as you're done with it). Look at the log file in your documents folder and if you can't figure things out for yourself - send it to me.

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Question: DevAdjust seems to be working OK - but is there any way to speed it up?

Answer: The biggest bottle-neck seems to be Lightroom itself, not DevAdjust. So, first thing is to optimize Lightroom performance as much as possible. Then, you may be able to get a little boost by setting log-file-path to blank in the plugin manager, and making sure log-verbose is de-selected (contrary to intuition, the log-verbose flag is used to indicate a debug-mode even if no log file is being written).

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Question: Temperature adjustments seem about right on raw files, but are sometimes a little light-handed on the jpegs and tifs.

Answer: I just divide the temperature by 100 before applying to the tif and jpeg targets. It tends to be a little light handed, but there is no perfect formula I could find to convert raw/kelvin temperature to rgb/incremental temperature - I figured light-handed was better than heavy handed. Please inform me if you know of a better way to do it.

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Question: How can I keep my combos from breaking when I re-save, rename, or move a preset.

Answer: When re-saving, the saved preset will assume the identity of whatever file you are overwriting. This is good if its what you want, and bad if its not. If you want it to be seen as the same from your pre-existing combos, then re-save over an existing file - then you can rename, or move... If you don't want it tied to any existing combos, save as a new file.

*** After renaming or moving a preset that is referenced by a combo, re-run the optimizer.
*** After renaming or moving a preset that is referenced by a combo, re-run the optimizer.
*** After renaming or moving a preset that is referenced by a combo, re-run the optimizer.

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Question: How can I import (or export) relative preset files?

Answer: There is no feature built-in per se, but you can merge somebody elses preset files in with your own using Explorer/Finder or your favorite folder sync utility. Likewise if you want to share yours with somebody else, you can just zip 'em up and send 'em or post 'em...

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Question: How can I edit presets and have them show up in the Apply Frame immediately?

Answer: Just clicking a preset name button will allow you to edit it, but no changes made in the preset editor (Adjustment Form) will show up in the Apply Frame without exiting and reentering. A work-around is to click the generic 'Adjustments | Presets | Combos' button, then load which ever presets you want to edit from there - then they will be reintegrated in the Apply Form.

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Question: What are the preset and combo version numbers?

Answer: Preset and combo files are given version numbers to identify format, so far we have:

1. XmpEdit format
2. DevAdjust 1.0-1.3
3. DevAdjust 1.4

PS - I try to make each revision of DevAdjust be able to read all previous versions of presets & combos, but you're better off to backup then optimize your presets and combos each time a new revision of DevAdjust is released that uses a new file format version - I will be sure and let you know in the revision history.

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Question: How can I reorder the folder tabs and presets/combos they contain?

Answer: As it stands, these are organized alphabetically. So you can control the ordering by prefixing with alphanumeric characters, numeric digits as example.

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Question: How can I enter a line-break in the notes field?

Answer: Ctrl-J on Windows, Option-Return on Mac. - Same holds true of metadata fields in Lightroom proper.

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Question: I just installed the latest DevAdjust, but I don't see any of the new default presets - what now?

Answer: Two choices:

1. Merge DevAdjust Presets with your presets.
2. Merge your presets with DevAdjust presets and change the preset directory to point to them.

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Question: Should I keep my presets in with DevAdjust, or merge DevAdjust presets with mine.

Answer: Doesn't matter, but if you keep yours with the DevAdjust presets just make sure you don't overwrite them when you upgrade DevAdjust. I'd be inclined to recommend that you change the preset-dir, then merge new DevAdjust default presets with your own, instead of the other way around.

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Question: Do I have to leave the default preset directory where it is?

Answer: No - it can be moved anywhere, just remember to point to it using the plugin manager.

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Question: How can I share my DevAdjust presets with others.

Answer: Please submit them to me. If they pass my rigorous QA, I will make the available separately on this website, or incorporate into the DevAdjust default set.

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Question: How can I control the size of the Apply Frame window?

Answer: Scrolling is not supported in plugin UI components (other than text in an edit-field using the cursor). So, the vertical length of the frame is defined by the folder with the most presets, for example 1HSL. If you divide those into 1Hue, 1Sat, &1 Lum folders it will be smaller vertically. Width is defined by the longest preset name, in this case it's the '. (no-op) .lua' preset, whose sole purpose in life is to allow you to adjust the width of the frame.

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Question: How come after editing notes in my text editor everything's on one line in the notes field of DevAdjust.

Answer: Notes fields like both Carriage Return & Line Feed together. Most text editors will just use one or the other - if you can configure a DOS-compatibility mode (CR+LF) it will solve the problem.

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Question: Any other hot tips?

Answer: Yes:

• DevAdjust remembers where you put the forms - put them on your secondary monitor - positioned so the 'Apply' form and the 'Adjustment' form do not overlap.
• Use values in your presets that are divisible by 3, like 3,6,9,12,15,18,... that way when you apply at 1/3 the numbers come out even.

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Question: Why do I have to exist DevAdjust to do anything else in Lightroom?

Answer: Because thats just the way it is for plugins when they display dialog boxes. I am presently seeking solutions that don't have this limitation, but don't hold your breath...

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Question: Busy button? - What busy button?!?

Answer: The one on the left that looks like a radio button but isn't labeled 'busy' anymore. I found if you label it people can't resist playing with it - please don't: its an output, not an input. It should go on when you hit an adjustment, then go off when its ready for you to hit it again.

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Question: Any way to assign keyboard shortcuts to DevAdjust presets and/or combos?

Answer: Yes, although its presently considered "experimental" and requires you to modify the plugin's Info.lua file, which means you need to take care not to overwrite your changes when you reinstall/upgrade. But if you don't mind getting your hands dirty, look for instructions in Info.lua.

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Question: What are some of DevAdjust's limitations and what are your plans for the future of DevAdjust?

Answer:

1. Improve User Interface.
2. Make busy indicator something that doesn't look like an input! ###1
3. Allow loading of combos too instead of just presets in the adjustment form.
4. Finish support for lens corrections - presently just the settings common with Lr2 are supported.
5. Handle auto-enable (for example, if you say increase grain, but there is no grain - presently it just does nothing instead of adding some - should be an option whether to turn grain on, then increase, or ignore if no grain present).
6. Parametric split adjustments may not be handled correctly in case values should take into account adjacent settings - maybe should be consolidated, although Lightroom handles these pretty "sanely".
7. Parametric tone curve manipulation only - could try and tackle the point curve...
8. Incorporate user-feedback - so make sure you give me some!

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DevAdjust Revision History

(reverse chronological order)

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Version 1.4.4, released 2010-07-14

- Improved fix where potential problem contending for catalog with dev-meta's auto-update/live-edit.

 

Version 1.4.3, released 2010-07-13

- Fixed a potential problem contending for catalog with dev-meta's auto-update/live-edit.

Version 1.4.2, released 2010-07-02

- Minor change to support people who want to assigned keyboard shortcuts to specific presets and/or combos.

 

Version 1.4.1, released 2010-07-02

- Removed the label from the 'busy' light (radio button) so people are less tempted to play with it - its an output, not an input, so leave it alone!
- Added a few more default presets.

 

Version 1.4.0, released 2010-07-01

- Major enhancements, including but not limited to:

• Re-written to restrict usage of lr plugin presets for temporary application only (this allows the "permanent" presets to be simply shared - e.g. on the web).
• Improved optimization.
• Performance optimized to use preset caching instead of constant reloading.
• Preset and combo reading / writing includes integrity checking.
• Re-vamped error handling and logging.
• Added all-selected/most-selected option for targeting.
• White balance handling that allows 'As Shot' photos to have their temperature and tint adjusted too (in previous version, trying to adjust temperature or tint on an as-shot photo would generate an error message).
• Added preset and combo backup feature.
• Added feature to reset DevAdjust-only warning dialogs.
• Added capability to automatically repair broken combos (e.g. when referenced presets are moved or renamed).
• Implemented auto-rgb detection and temperature scaling from raw to incremental rgb.
• Added default "convenience" presets for adjusting each individual adjustment as a preset to avoid having to exit or switch to the adjustment form for a quick tweak.

 

Version 1.3.0, released 2010-06-25

- Re-instated optimization and fixed test-mode.

 

Version 1.2.1, released 2010-06-25

- Added bounds checking to clamp out of bounds values at min/max instead of reverting to default.

- Added tooltip to 'Misc' (root) folder tab to hint at how to get your presets and combos into folders on the disk and therefore onto tabs in the UI.

 

Version 1.2.0, released 2010-06-25

- Added 'Busy' detection & "light" - to eliminate error that occurs when insufficient time has passed between adjustment button presses.

 

Version 1.1.0, released 2010-06-25

- Added 2x checkbox to double effect of '<<', '<', '>', & '>>' adjustment buttons.

- Disabled Optimization due to a bug - hopefully fixed soon as v1.1.1.

 

Version 1.0.0, released 2010-06-24

- File formats have been changed so you may have to redo your 0.0.0 presets and combos - at a minimum load and re-save. Future versions will be backward compatible.

- User interface for applying presets has been re-vamped to be more Lightroom-like.

- Robustification and fixation galore! (and stuff like that...)

 

Version 0.0.0, released 2010-06-15

Rough first draft - Its up and running but still needs some work - see readme file in downloaded zip file.

DevAdjust should read your pre-existing xmp-edit presets (but you must re-save them - see readme file) and actions(combos). Please (IDENTIFY THE PLUGIN) let me know what you think - its a work in progress... And, please (IDENTIFY THE PLUGIN) report bugs.

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DevAdjust Lightroom Plugin - Newest Release - version 1.4.4 - HIGHLY recommended (unless it doesn't work).

Previous Stable Version - NOT recommended (unless newest release isn't working - in which case: please let me know!).