DxO OPTICS PRO 6.2 Owner's manual
- Category
- Graphics software
- Type
- Owner's manual
2
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 4 Introduction to DxO Optics Pro 6
4 1.1 The basic concept: automatic corrections
5 1.2 Basic principles of an image enhancement session
6 1.3 Additional post-processing:
DxO Optics Pro rst
Chapter 2 8 Your rst automatic processing session
8 2.1 Step 1: Selecting images
9 2.2 Step 2: Adjusting the correction settings
10 2.3 Step 3: Image processing
10 2.4 Step 4: Viewing results and
making adjustments
Chapter 3 12 “Select” tab
12 3.1 Creating a project
13 3.1.1 Selecting images using standard navigation
14 3.1.2 Selecting images from the database of previous
projects
14 3.1.3 Selecting images from a Lightroom catalog
14 3.1.4 Selecting images from multiple sources
14 3.2 “PROJECT” pane
15 3.2.1 Icon bar
16 3.2.2 Thumbnail icons
18 3.2.3 Commands accessed by right-clicking
18 3.2.4 Stack management
Chapter 4 20 “Customize Settings” tab
20 4.1 The “IMAGE” pane
21 4.2 Adjusting settings
22 4.3 Virtual copies
23 4.4 Workspaces
23 4.4.1 The “DxO - First steps” workspace
24 4.4.2 “DxO - Essentials” workspace
25 4.4.3. “DxO - Advanced user” workspace
25 4.4.4 Creating your own workspace
25 4.5 Detailed information for all settings
26 4.5.1 Image checking palettes
28 4.5.2 Correction palettes
43 4.5.3 My Palette
43 4.6 Presets
43 4.6.1 What is a preset?
44 4.6.2. Presets supplied with the software
45 4.6.3 Applying presets
46 4.6.4 Creating presets
46 4.6.5 “Preset Editor” palette
Chapter 5 49 “Process” tab
50 5.1 “Process” tab commands
50 5.2 JPEG output formats
50 5.2.1 Quality
50 5.2.2 Destination
51 5.2.3 Sufx
51 5.2.4 Size
51 5.2.5 Interpolation
51 5.2.6. Resolution
51 5.2.7 ICC Prole
51 5.3 TIFF output formats
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51 5.3.1 Quality
52 5.3.2 Destination
52 5.3.3 Sufx
52 5.3.4 Size
52 5.3.5 Interpolation
52 5.3.6. Resolution
52 5.3.7 ICC Prole
52 5.4 DNG output formats
52 5.5 Processing
Chapter 6 54 “View” tab
54 6.1 “View” tab commands
55 6.2 Next steps
55 6.2.1 Modify corrections on certain images:
55 6.2.2 Export images to Lightroom or Flickr:
55 6.2.3 Open the processed images with another application:
55 6.2.4 Process images that have not yet been processed:
55 6.2.5 Start a new project:
55 6.2.6 Quit DxO Optics Pro:
Chapter 56 7 DxO Optics Pro menus and preferences
56 7.1 File menu
57 7.2 Edit menu
57 7.3 Project menu
58 7.4 View menu
58 7.5 Image menu
59 7.6 DxO Optics Modules menu
59 7.7 Help menu
60 7.8 Right-clicking on thumbnails in the “PROJECT” pane
60 7.9 “Preferences”: Customizing the DxO Optics Pro
interface
60 7.9.1 General
60 7.9.2 Process
61 7.9.3 Display
The pictures of this manual are from Jean-Marie Sepulchre.
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Chapter 1 Introduction to DxO Optics Pro 6
DxO Optics Pro software improves your photos in just a few clicks of a mouse,
using powerful algorithms that automatically determine the settings required for
optimal picture quality, image by image, based on a detailed understanding of
the sensor and optics defects in over 2000 camera camera/lens combinations.
If your camera/lens combination is not included on the list of those supported by
DxO Labs, you will still be able to make the same range of optical corrections,
but you will have to adjust them manually.
Starting out from the basic corrections, you can add your personal touch to
optimizing your images, combining the choice of automatic correction for cer-
tain images and giving free rein to your creative spirit by carrying out manual
adjustments that go beyond simple correction.
The software can apply global and local optimization of highlights and shadows,
brightness correction, white balance, color, sharpness and perspective, distor-
tion correction, vignetting – and even correct purple fringing and chromatic
aberration.
Note for users of DxO Optics Pro 5: a number of options available in version 5 have
been deliberately hidden by default in version 6, but can be shown by changing your
settings under ‘Preferences’.
1.1 The basic concept: automatic corrections
As everyone who has worked with photography knows, every image is unique,
even images from the same batch. There are an almost unlimited number of
factors that must be considered when taking a picture, such as type and model
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of camera and lens, image content, constantly changing weather and lighting
conditions, manual and automatic settings, the photographer’s personal taste,
and so on.
With lm-based photography, unless the photographer developed his or her
own lm and prints, much of the workow was left to professional development
houses. Digital photography has changed this and has moved control over all
aspects of the picture creation process into the hands of the photographer. As
well as actually taking the picture, this involves saving, correcting, creative
interpretation, archiving and much more... DxO Optics Pro offers you a range of
incredibly powerful image enhancement tools that you can integrate easily into
your own workow.
DxO Optics Pro does not work in the same way as other post-production pro-
grams. Rather than presenting you with an uncorrected image and expecting
you to make corrections and adjustments manually, DxO Optics Pro automati-
cally determines the best combination of settings for each image you want to
process.
In fact, DxO Labs has calibrated and measured the defects in over 80 camera
bodies and in more than 2000 camera/lens combinations. The measurements
for each camera/lens combination are stored in a DxO Optics Module, which is
used by DxO Optics Pro to automatically correct the defects for this combination.
There are therefore as many DxO Optics Modules as there are calibrated camera/
lens combinations.
Provided the type of camera body you use to take your pictures has been cali-
brated by DxO Labs, DxO Optics Pro can:
• convert and reduce noise in RAW images (e.g. CR2, NEF, RAF, etc.)
• reduce noise in JPEG images
If, in addition, the DxO Optics Module for your camera/lens combination is availa-
ble, you will have access to all DxO Optics Pro corrections, including automatic
optical corrections. If there is no DxO Optics Module available, you will still have
access to all of the DxO Optics Pro corrections but the optical corrections will be
in manual mode (adjustment by user required).
If the type of camera body used to take your photos has not been calibrated by
DxO Labs, DxO Optics Pro will not be able to read its RAW les but will still be
able to make corrections to its JPEG les, including manual optical corrections.
NOTE: If your workow involves using other software as well,
the DxO Optics Pro software must be used as the rst step in pro-
cessing your images. See chapter 1.3 for further information.
1.2 Basic principles of an image enhancement
session
The way the DxO Optics Pro workow is organized deserves a few words of
explanation. Unlike traditional image editors, DxO Optics Pro works on projects,
not directly on images.
A project is a logical group of images that you want to process. The rst stage
in any project is therefore to add your images to it. As you add your images, a
combination of settings (a preset) that describes all the corrections that need to
be made is automatically associated with each one. Managing a project involves
four main steps, each of which has its own tab:
• Select
• Customize
• Process
• View.
Two steps are essential: adding images to the project (“Select” tab) and then
the automatic processing of all the images in the project (“Process” tab). Note
that processing can also be started by right-clicking on one of the thumbnails in
the “PROJECT” pane (cf. chapter 3).
There is also an intermediate step, in the “Customize” tab, which allows you
both to preview the corrections that will be applied to your images when they
are processed, and to manually adjust certain settings on particular images. The
new settings are saved and will be applied when the image is processed (in the
“Process” tab). They can also be saved as presets and applied subsequently to
other images. If you close the software before you have processed your images,
but after you have saved your project, you will nd the same settings for these
images next time you open your project in DxO Optics Pro. Lastly, a nal step
(“View” tab) allows you to check the corrected images.
When you add an image to DxO Optics Pro, the program reads the information
stored in the image’s EXIF data about the camera and lens you have used. This
information is used to link the image to the appropriate DxO Optics Module
and to automatically determine the optimal optical correction settings for one.
Generally, you can then simply start the image processing without making any
manual adjustments to the settings.
REMEMBER: The image data read by DxO Optics Pro must not
have been changed since they were generated by the camera.
If the distortion, lens softness or vignetting corrections are not
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available in auto-mode, it means that the DxO Optics Module
you need has not been loaded onto your system or that the le’s
EXIF data have been changed or corrupted.
Example of a wide-angle lens, with (above) and without (underneath) a DxO Optics Module.
You may want to change the settings for the corrections applied to one or more
images. In the “Customize” tab, you have access to various workspaces where
you can access an increasing number of settings, so that you can gradually rene
your settings at an increasingly complex level.
TIP: You can restore the software’s default values in the rollups
by rechecking the auto-mode option to the right of the sliders
(‘magic wand’ icon). Otherwise, you can simply use the DxO
default v2 preset to restore all settings to their default value.
Your original image remains unmodied throughout the process. It is only during
the processing stage (activated in the “Process” tab) that DxO Optics Pro creates
a new image, which is still separate from your original image, and saves the
corrections to be applied in its own project database and (if the user chooses
this option) in a small additional le, known as a “sidecar”.
The rst time you use the software, it will be congured to save corrected images
as JPEG les, but you can choose from one of three output le formats, which are
described in more detail in the Processing chapter of this user guide, and even
generate several copies of the le in different formats (le type, compression
factor and image size) at the same time.
1.3 Additional post-processing:
DxO Optics Pro rst
DxO Optics Pro automatically identies the DxO Optics Module to use for your
images by reading the EXIF data from your pictures. These data are stored in
your image le and provide a wide range of information, such as the date the
shot was taken, the camera it was taken with, the focal length, aperture, aper-
ture, speed and so on. Some cataloguing and retouching software can change or
corrupt EXIF data, which means DxO Optics Pro will not be able to identify the
appropriate DxO Optics Module or therefore automatically correct optical defects.
To make sure you can access the full range of DxO Optics Pro functionality, if
your workow involves using other software as well, the DxO Optics Pro software
must be used rst and you must proceed as follows:
1. Copy the data from your camera or memory card using your computer’s
operating system rather than an upload program, even one provided by
the manufacturer
2. Process the images in DxO Optics Pro and save the copies in a working
directory
3. Then go on to the other steps in your post-production process, particu-
larly local retouching or preparing prints, for example using the various
versions of Photoshop™ or any other post-processing software
It is important to note that if you rst open your RAW les with Adobe Photoshop
or Lightroom to convert them into TIFF or JPEG les, DxO Optics Pro will not be
able to process optical defects (such as vignetting, lens softness, distortion or
chromatic aberration) automatically because the conversion changes the le’s
EXIF data. The same applies with most manufacturers’ conversion software,
except for recent versions of Nikon Capture.
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If you want to manage your photos in an image database manager, don’t ins-
tall your original RAW or JPEG les into it, but only copies and photos already
correc¬ted by DxO Optics Pro
With Adobe® Photoshop Lightroom™, however, you can make use of the option
to select DxO Optics Pro as an external editor: this will make DxO Optics Pro
the default program for opening RAW les so that it can apply its corrections
automatically.
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Chapter 2 Your rst automatic processing session
DxO Optics Pro has been designed to be simple and efcient in every way. This is
particularly important for photographers who have to process a large number of
images. You can nd out how quick and easy DxO Optics Pro is to use in just a
few minutes before you go on to explore the settings explained in the rest of this
document.
2.1 Step 1: Selecting images
Unlike traditional image editors, DxO Optics Pro works on projects, not directly
on images. As chapter 1 explained, a project is a logical group of images that
you want to process. You are therefore going to create a new project by adding
images that are then processed individually based on the settings you have cho-
sen. To try this out for the rst time, select a few photos you know well!
To do this, add your images to the “PROJECT” pane in the lower part of the
workspace in the “Select” tab. In the upper left-hand section of the “BROWSE”
pane, click on the “File system” icon: a browser showing the contents of your
hard disk will appear in the left-hand column. Select the folder where your images
are stored. You will see their thumbnails or le names appearing in the right-
hand pane of the main window: you can choose to view them in list mode or as
thumbnails of various sizes.
To import one or more images, simply drag and drop your les into the “PROJECT”
pane. You can also select images with your mouse using Shift + Click or Ctrl
+ Click. When you add images, you are not creating additional copies of your
images, but merely recording references to them in a le that keeps track of all
the details of your project. This helps make efcient use of the space available
on your hard disk.
Images in the top left pane and that have been added to the Project are labeled
with a white check
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“Select” tab
At the top of the window on the “Select” tab, the dropdown menu to the right of
the “Add to project” button is set to the “DxO Default v2” preset by default. When
you add images to the project, each of the images you add is automatically linked
to a combination of settings (a preset), which determines all the corrections to
be applied to the image. If you do not want to use the default preset, you can
select a different one, either one from DxO Labs or one that you have created
yourself. For your rst attempt, we recommend you use the default preset, which
applies all the software’s automatic corrections.
TIP: for expert or pro users working with RAW formats, you can
achieve a more natural color rendering by selecting the “DxO
Default v2 - Neutral color (RAW only)” preset
2.2 Step 2: Adjusting the correction settings
Under the “Customize” tab, the project to which you have just added your images
appears in the lower part of the screen in the “PROJECT” pane and shows the
images you have added to the project. Above this pane, you will see the “IMAGE”
pane, which allows you to preview image corrections. When you click on a thumb-
nail in the “PROJECT” pane, you will rst see an uncorrected version of your
image displayed, followed a few seconds later by a view of the corrected version
(clicking on the image lets you toggle between ‘after’ and ‘before’ views). You can
also choose to display two images side by side, “before” and “after” correction.
“Customize” tab: example of “before/after correction” display, in the “DxO – First steps“
workspace
If you are not satised with the default correction, the simplest thing is to try
a different preset from the dropdown menu. You can also, however, adjust the
settings applied to your images manually, using the correction palettes. These
palettes are organized in “workspaces”.
• The “DxO - First steps” workspace
• The “DxO – Essentials” workspace
• The “DxO – Advanced user workspace
Only the “DxO - Advanced user” workspace gives you access to all possible set-
tings, however you can move instantly from one workspace to another.
For your rst attempt, we recommend that you concentrate on the “DxO - First
steps” workspace and explore how a simple action with a slider can change your
photo. To evaluate sharpness and noise reduction, display the image at 75% or
more. This “DxO - First steps” workspace lets you access the following rollups:
• Exposure compensation, which can be used to lighten or darken the
image, but also to recover overly white highlight detail from a RAW le;
• DxO Lighting, which can be used to balance the overall contrast of an
image and lighten shadows;
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• Vignetting, to compensate for the optical defect that darkens the cor-
ners of the image1;
• Distortion, to compensate rounded distortions of the image2;
• Lens softness, to correct the inherent lack of sharpness of the lens3;
• Unsharp Mask, to correct the photo’s overall sharpness3 (Essentially
useful when the “Lens softness” rollup is not available because the
appropriate DxO Optics Module is absent);
• Noise, to automatically remove noise, depending on the ISO setting
used to take the picture4;
• Chromatic aberration”, to remove chromatic aberrations and purple
fringing5.
Palettes and rollups available in the “DxO - First steps workspace”
You can try out the effects of these very powerful corrections on a few test ima-
ges: moving the sliders even slightly can have a signicant effect! Never forget,
though, that all these corrections are reversible, because they don’t affect your
original le: so when you rst try out the software you can play with going a bit
too far to learn how the software behaves.
1 Automatic or manual adjustment depending on whether or not you have the appropriate
DxO optics module
2 Automatic or manual adjustment depending on whether or not you have the appropriate
DxO optics module
3 To see the effect of this correction, the display must be set to at least 75%
4 To see the effect of this correction, the display must be set to at least 75%
5 To see the effect of this correction, the display must be set to at least 75%
2.3 Step 3: Image processing
Once you are satised with the settings you have applied to your images, you
can process them to generate a corrected copy incorporating all of your settings.
The rst time you use the software, it is congured by default to generate high-
quality JPEG les and save them in the same directory as the original images.
After you have clicked on the “Start processing” button to start the process, the
thumbnails selected for processing are displayed and a progress bar shows you
how much of the process has been completed.
A clock appears over images that are waiting to be processed and two cogs over
those that are currently being processed. A green tick replaces the asterisk once
processing is complete.
“Process” tab
2.4 Step 4: Viewing results and
making adjustments
Once processing has nished, you can check the nal images in the “View” tab.
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“View” tab
If you are not completely satised with the results, you can go back to the
“Customize” tab and make the necessary adjustments. When you restart the
process, only the images for which you have changed at least one setting will
be processed; the new versions will overwrite the previous corrected version.
To avoid overwriting the previous versions, use the “Virtual copy” functionality
explained later on in this guide.
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Chapter 3 “Select” tab
“Select” tab
3.1 Creating a project
When you open DxO Optics Pro, the application opens at the rst tab, “Select”,
which you use to add images to your project. A project is a logical group of
images that you want to process during your session.
The tab is split into three panes:
• The left-hand pane, “BROWSE” is used to navigate through the direc-
tories on your hard disk, or the database of your previous projects, or
your Lightroom catalogs if this program is installed on your system
• The right-hand pane, shows the content of the directories or catalogs or
projects selected in the “BROWSE” pane
• The “PROJECT” pane at the bottom is where you will place the images
you want to process
“Thumbnail mode” display. Grey blue thumbnails are selected thumbnails.
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“List mode” display
TIP: If you can’t see all three panes, check that the vertical
and horizontal separation bars have not been moved to the very
top or bottom or side of the screen. The separation bars can
be identied by the three dots in the middle of the separator.
Simply slide the bar from the edge of the screen to the centre
to restore the invisible pane.
3.1.1 Selecting images using standard navigation
When you rst launch the application, the “BROWSE” pane is congured to navi-
gate through the directories on your hard disk. Simply navigate to the directory
where you have saved the images you want to add to your project. Once you
have selected the directory you want, its contents will be displayed in the right-
hand pane, either in the form of a list or as thumbnails (select from the “View”
menu or the icons in the icon bar of the “Select” tab). Your images can be sorted
or ltered to only show RAW or RGB les, etc.
You can adjust the size of the thumbnails in the right-hand pane using the slider
in the icon bar in the same pane.
You will see some gures to the right of the “Selection” label on the icon bar of
the “Select” tab.
If you see a display such as 1/36, the 1 indicates the number of images selected,
whilst the 41 refers to the total number of images in the selected directory. If you
see a display such as 1/36 [41], the 1 indicates the number of images selected,
36 refers to the total number of visible images in the selected directory, and 41
indicates the total number of images in the selected directory. This means that
a lter has been activated to mask some of the images.
To add images to your project, select the appropriate lines or thumbnails in the
right-hand pane and then click on the “Add to project” button (in the icon bar of
the “Select“ tab) or drag and drop them into the “PROJECT” pane. In either case,
the images you have selected will appear in the “PROJECT” pane (at the bottom)
with a preset for the correction settings to be applied to your images. You can
choose to link a different preset to your images when you are adding them to the
project (from the dropdown menu in the icon bar of the “Select” tab). For your
rst few attempts, keep the default ‘DxO Default v2’ preset. You will be able to
change the preset for the images in your project later by right-clicking on the
thumbnails in the project or in the “Customize” tab.
In chapter 4.6 of this guide, you will nd out how to create your own presets.
NOTE: when you close the software, the last preset selected
(from the dropdown menu on the icon bar of the “Select” tab)
will be saved and used by default next time you add images.
Access to presets
Of course, if you need to apply different combinations of settings to different
images in a project, you can add the rst batch of images with a rst preset, and
then select and apply another set of parameters to the second batch. Remember
that each image in your project is treated individually, which means that you
have practically unlimited exibility in terms of processing options: you can even
choose a different preset for each separate image, even though they are all in
the same project. This very advanced level of customization within an overall
batch-processing framework is one of the real strengths of DxO Optics Pro and
distinguishes it from many other software programs that rely on a single “recipe”
for each batch processed. Images in the top left pane and that have been added
to the Project are labeled with a white check
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“File directory” browsing
3.1.2 Selecting images from the database of previous projects
In the same way that you can browse your hard disk to nd images, as explained
in the previous section, you can also navigate through the DxO project database
to nd a previous project. To do this, select the “Database” icon from the group
of icons at the top of the “BROWSE” pane. When you click on the icon, the left-
hand pane is updated to show a chronological list of the projects you have already
processed (it will be empty if you are using DxO Optics Pro for the rst time).
If you click on one of your previous projects, you will see the thumbnails for all
the images that belong to this project appear in the right-hand pane. To upload
this project, double-click on the project name (or select the project name and
upload by right-clicking).
You can also access a project that has been saved in the project database from
the “File” menu > “Open project”. These are listed in chronological order, with
the most recent project processed at the top of the list.
NOTE: if you move your source images after you have run a
project, DxO Optics Pro may not be able to nd them to run it
again
“DxO Optics Pro project database” browsing
3.1.3 Selecting images from a Lightroom catalog
If you have Lightroom catalogs stored on your hard disk, you can browse them
directly to select your images. To do this, select the “Adobe Lightroom catalogs”
icon from the group of icons in the upper right-hand corner of the “BROWSE”
pane. When you click on the icon, the left-hand pane is updated to show the list
of Lightroom catalogs stored on your computer.
NOTE: if your images have been transformed or converted from
RAW to JPEG by Lightroom, DxO Optics Pro will not be able to
apply optical corrections in auto-mode.
3.1.4 Selecting images from multiple sources
You can create projects in DxO Optics Pro using content from a single or multiple
folders. However, you can only display the content of one folder at a time in the
right-hand pane. If you create a project with content from several folders, select
the images in stages, starting with your rst folder and then your second folder
or a Lightroom database: this will ensure that all your images will remain in their
proper folders but will be combined in a single project.
3.2 “PROJECT” pane
Once you nished selecting your images, the “PROJECT” pane will show all the
images you want to process. You will be using this pane at every stage in the
process: “Customize”, “Process” and “View”. You can go back and add more
images to your project at any time.
The “PROJECT” pane is positioned by default at the bottom of the screen but you
can use the “View” menu > “Unlock PROJECT window” (shortcut Ctrl + Shift +
F) to make it oating, including positioning it in full-screen mode at the top of
the screen in whichever DxO Optics Pro tab is active, for example if you have a
large number of images to sort.
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Floating “PROJECT” pane
The “PROJECT” pane can be resized as you want by moving the separation bar
with your mouse. There is a scroll-bar on the far right-hand side so that you can
display all of the images in the project in turn when you use a height equal to
one or two rows of thumbnails.
Simply click on “To next step” to the right of the separation bar to change
tabs from “Select” to “Customize”, “Customize” to “Process” and “Process” to
“View”.
Most of the commands in the “PROJECT” pane are also accessible from the menus
or from the optional icons shown on the thumbnails. A context menu accessible
by right-clicking with your mouse (Ctrl + click on a Mac) also gives you access
to a range of different options, including creating stacks if this function has been
activated in your preferences.
3.2.1 Icon bar
The icon bar sits at the top of the “PROJECT” pane. A tool tip appears for each
icon when you hover over it with your mouse:
Reading from left to right, you have:
• an information button you can use to show the project properties in
a separate window;
• a button that takes you back to the “Select” tab so that you can add
more images;
• a button for sorting the images in the project;
• a button for ltering the images in the project;
• a display such as 1/36, where the 1 indicates the number of images
selected, whilst the 41 refers to the total number of images in the selec-
ted directory. If you see a display such as 1/36 [41], the 1 indicates
the number of images selected, 36 refers to the total number of visible
images in the selected directory, and 41 indicates the total number of
images in the selected directory. This means that a lter has been acti-
vated to mask some of the images.
• a button for showing the properties of the selected image: this opens
a new window displaying the properties of this particular image;
• arrows for rotating the image if it is not automatically displayed the
right way up;
• a button for creating a virtual copy, i.e. a duplicate copy of the image
to which you can apply different corrections than those used for the rst
image you selected;
• the “recycle bin” button to remove the selected image from the pro-
ject (this does not delete the original le);
• the processing button to start image processing;
• a slider for changing the size of the thumbnails displayed in
the “PROJECT” pane;
• the buttons that are only visible in the in the « Customize »
and « View » tabs in case of a multiple selection. They will allow browsing
within the multiple selection without loosing it.
• a button for sending images to Flickr photo galleries (only available
in the “View” tab);
• a button for sending images to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom software
if you have this installed on your computer (only available in the “View”
tab);
• a button that takes you on to the next step.
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TIP: Sorting and ltering images.
Sorting and ltering images work in exactly the same way in the right-hand pane
and in the “PROJECT” pane. Sorting consists of ordering your images based on
criteria selected from a dialogue box that you access from the Sort button.
Sort menu
The options available for the Sort button are as follows:
• Insertion order in the project
• Image format
• Name – alphanumeric by lename
• Name – by le name in alphanumeric order
• Extension – used to separate different types of RAW, JPG and TIFF
images
• Size – by size of le
• Dimensions – by size of le dimensions (denition)
• Date – by le modication date. This option is useful for doing a quick
search of the most recent image les in a folder
• Camera – by type of device
• Lens – by type of lens
• Ranking – by star rating (only visible if this option has been enabled in
preferences).
Filtering affects which thumbnails are displayed in the “PROJECT” pane: if
you uncheck an item on the list the images with these characteristics will be
invisible.
NOTE: Images that are not displayed cannot be selected for the
customization or processing stages.
Filter menu
Show RAW images – When this option is checked, RAW image les are dis-
played in the “PROJECT” pane. If it is unchecked, RAW les are not displayed.
Show RGB images – When this option is checked, RGB image les (usually
JPG or TIFF) are displayed in the “PROJECT” pane. If it is unchecked, RGB les
are not displayed.
3.2.2 Thumbnail icons
The thumbnails shown in the project “PROJECT” pane include information and
icons you can activate to access certain functions. From the “Edit” menu >
“Preferences...” (see chapter 7) you can select which icons are always shown
in the edges of thumbnails, never shown or shown when you mouseover the
thumbnail.
The default icons are shown on thumbnails the rst time you run DxO Optics
Pro.
3.2.2.1 Default icons:
File name, processing status and the DxO Optics Module status are shown by
default.
Processing status is indicated by:
• waiting for processing
• processed
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• processing error
• not to be processed
• cannot be processed
Images that are too small cannot be processed by DxO Optics Pro. Similarly, the
program cannot reprocess images already generated by DxO Optics Pro (output
images).
Module status is indicated by the following icons:
• DxO Optics Module ready
• no DxO Optics Module available for this image
• DxO Optics Module available for download
• DxO Optics Module ambiguity.
Click on the red arrow icon to download the specied module. The icon will go
back to green once the download is complete. If you click on the red question
mark, a dialogue box will appear so that you can choose the right optics module
(e.g. between a Nikkor 12-24 f/4 and a Tokina 12-24 f/4, which have identical
EXIF data) either for a particular image or for the whole project.
Other symbols will appear if you hover over the thumbnail with your mouse:
• for rotating the image: these function in the same way as the
icons on the command bar in the “PROJECT” pane:
• can be used to remove an image from the project;
• indicates that this image is a virtual copy;
• indicates that images are presented in the form of a stack.
TIP: Creating a virtual copy (see chapter 4.3 for more details)
allows you to apply different settings to the same image at the
same time, rather than going backwards and forwards between
customizing settings and processing images. When you activate
the “Create a virtual copy” command, a dialogue box will ask
you to select the settings to be associated to the virtual copy,
and the sufx you want to add to the name of the copy. For
example, if you want to process the same image in color and
black and white at the same time, create a virtual copy called
“BW” by applying an ad hoc preset.
By combining virtual copies and output options (see chapter 5) you can access
an almost unlimited number of processing combinations.
Virtual copy creation window
3.2.2.2 Additional icons
From the “Edit” menu > “Preferences...” > “Display” you can select other icons
to appear next to your thumbnails in the “PROJECT” pane:
• indicates that the focal length and/or focusing distance haven’t been
properly written by the camera body in the image’s EXIF. This lack of
information may slightly affect the precision of the automatic distortion
correction. These data can be manually entered in the rollups under the
geometry palette. By default, DxO Optics Pro sets the focusing distance
to innity, and the focal length to the value written in the EXIF data;
• can be used to score your images and rank them by quality; they
can then be sorted on the basis of their ranking;
• the ‘trafc light’ indicators are used to show you which images are
to be processed (green light), must not be processed (red light) or where
no decision has been made (yellow light: this is the default value when
an image is added to a project). When processing begins, images with
green and yellow lights will be processed, whereas images with red lights
will not be processed.
Thumbnail inThumbnail in the “PROJECT” pane (all icons enabled)
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3.2.3 Commands accessed by right-clicking
Right-clicking on a thumbnail opens up a context menu, whose commands may
change depending on the preferences selected when customizing the software
(see chapter 7) or on the properties of the image selected.
When all options are turned on, the following commands can be accessed by
right-clicking (Ctrl + click on a Mac):
• Image properties;
• Apply preset to image;
• Create a preset from current settings;
• Copy correction settings to paste them onto another image;
• Paste the correction settings from another image via the clipboard;
• Start processing
• Rotate image to right or left;
• Remove image from project;
• Show input le in Windows Explorer;
• Show output les in Windows Explorer;
• Open input image using…;
• Open output images using…;
• Create a virtual copy;
• Stack: stack images, set a stack master, add items to stack, remove
items from stack;
• Allow processing: Flag: managing trafc lights, if this option has been
activated under “Preferences”.
• Ranking: managing stars, if this option has been activated under
“Preferences”.
Many of these commands are also accessible by using the icons in the top bar
of the “PROJECT” pane or the thumbnail icons, but the quickest way of applying
a preset is to right-click.
3.2.4 Stack management
If image stacking is activated in “Preferences” (see chapter 7) and you have
grouped your images into stacks, the corresponding icon will appear on the rst
image in each stack.
A “stack” of images is used to organize your images into groups, not only to
reduce cluttering in the “PROJECT” pane but also so that you can apply different
settings to a whole group of images at the same time (without having to select
multiple images each time). In this sense, a stack is equivalent to a permanent
multiple selection.
It is worth thinking about making a stack whenever you have images that may
need the same processing parameters for one reason or another. It may be a
series of linked images on the same subject or a series of images taken in the
same lighting conditions, for example. The possibilities are endless.
A stack always has a “Master” image, the one which appears on the top of a
collapsed stack. This is the image shown on the “Customize” tab when you select
a collapsed stack.
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4 left-hand thumbnails are 4 stacks (see their stack icon)
Creating a stack. Creating a stack is easy: simply select a number of images
and then right-click on one of the images. A menu window appears and the
Stacking option is shown with an arrow pointing right. Click on this menu option
and a sub-menu will appear to the right.
TIP: To select a series of adjacent thumbnails to include in a
stack, hold the Shift key down and click on the rst and last
images you want to form the stack. To select images that are
not adjacent to each other, hold down the Ctrl key and click once
on the thumbnails to include in the stack.
• Stack images. The Stack images option allows you to create a stack in
which the images to the left of the last image selected are stacked under
the last image.
• Expand the stack by clicking on the stack icon to check each of the ima-
ges without having to unstack them. You can also expand the stack for
all the images in the stack in the “PROJECT” pane by right-clicking on
the stack and selecting Stacking and Expand stack.
• Recreate the stack by clicking on the stack icon.
• Change the “Master” image by using the wheel on your mouse, or a right
click.
• Add other images. You can now add other images to the stack by right-
clicking on the stack and selecting Stacking > Add items to stack.
• Remove items from stack. If you expand a stack and click on an image
to select it in the stack, you can then right-click and click Remove items
from stack in the Stacking sub-menu. This will remove the image from
the stack, but not from the project.
• Unstack items using the context menu that appears by selecting Stacking
and then Unstack images.
Once a stack has been created, it stays as a group and can be managed and
manipulated in the same way as a single image.
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Chapter 4 “Customize Settings” tab Using the “Customize Settings” tab is optional, but it allows you to preview the
corrections made by DxO Optics Pro and make any adjustments to the settings
you want.
4.1 The “IMAGE” pane
The “Customize Settings” tab workspace is divided into two primary panes. The
top pane is the “IMAGE” pane, whilst the Project “PROJECT” pane continues to
occupy the lower part of your screen. To work on an image, simply click on an
image thumbnail in the “PROJECT” pane: the image will appear in the “IMAGE”
pane with a preview of the corrections made.
In fact, the rst image to appear will be the ‘before’ image (the original image
you imported into DxO Optics Pro). Then, after a few seconds, this will be repla-
ced by a preview of the ‘after’ image. A message will remind you that you need
to view the image at a zoom of at least 75% to see the effect of corrections on
sharpness, noise and chromatic aberrations. Click on the information symbol to
avoid seeing this message again
Several icons appear from left to right beneath the menu and tab bars:
• “Single image display”: displays a preview of the image as it will be
corrected. The keyboard shortcut CTRL + D for Windows or CMD + E for
Mac lets you toggle the display between “Corrected image” / “Reference
image”, which by default is the uncorrected image, but can be changed
as explained in the “Reference Image” section below.
• “Dual image display”: displays the reference image – by default, the
uncorrected image – and a preview of the image as it will be corrected
by DxO Optics Pro. You can zoom in if necessary to compare the detail
in the same area of each image.
• “Reference image” dropdown menu: you can compare the current
image with various reference images. By default, the uncorrected image
is used as the Reference Image, but the dropdown menu lets you choose
another image. This feature is particularly handy when you have created
Virtual Copies. In this way, once these Virtual Copies have been pro-
cessed, you can compare an image with the various Virtual Copies of it
and see the different corrections applied.
• Information about the image: click on this button to show or hide the
captions “before correction”, “correction preview” and the information
screen about the image’s zoom factor;
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DxO OPTICS PRO 6.2 Owner's manual
- Category
- Graphics software
- Type
- Owner's manual
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