It has been a long time since the last version of DigitalLith. I can blame the fact, that it is the update of the tutorial which causes a delay in releasing new versions – and that would not be totally wrong. But I also do not want to release new versions just because there is one new feature.
For the future the plan is to release a new version every year late December or early January. That is also the reason I put the 24 as the version number as you are now able to download the version of 2024.
And it is a version which has some features that I was after for some time. It is also a version which makes maintaining the program a bit easier (I know that is not the most important feature for the users of the program).
But let us have a look:
- There are new modes to apply the patterns depending on negative density. Previously you only could apply the pattern in a way that corresponds to the paper-only option of the streaking modules. Now there is a new selection which lets you choose to use the classic one or three new modes which will make the pattern more prominent where the negative has more density or less density:
- New – just use the negative density
- New Lights – make the effect more prominent in the highlight areas
- New Shadows – make the effect more prominent in the shadow areas
- When dealing with lookup tables you can now apply a lookup gradient also for LUTs defined as pngs. Remember to hit enter when changing the gradient parameter so that it gets applied to the coloring and you can preview the change.
- There is another change to the lookup tables. When defined via lookup data, the distribution now can be changed in program (like in the LUT generator). That means you are able to create the LUT with given distribution and then decide later in program.
- There are now five streaking types which replace all the streaking. The SDK is gone, there is no more dynamic loading of streaking modules nor for process modules. This gives me the freedom to change or add features to the streaking modules without going through a backward-compatibility-nightmare. All the streaking in presets or in settings stored in files will get migrated to the new streaking modules.
- Some built-in streaking types now also have a grain gradient which works like the grain gradient parameter in the process module.
- Creating a new preset got improved, now you can select an already existing category through a list and do not have to type it all the time.
- Another feature when creating a preset: You can now create a lookup table from an existing coloring definition and store it as lookup table in the preset.
- When storing the image you can now also add a timestamp to the file name. This is useful when developing the same image multiple times. DigitalLith has the feature to use a unique name, but if you happen to have moved previous developments to another place DigitalLith will start from the beginning with its numbering and you can end-up with two developments of the same name again. Not so if you include the timestamp in the filename.
- There is now an emergency quit out of the program. If you select to quit that way, no files are being written. You can use this in the case you deleted some presets by accident or if there are some issues with loading the files (in the case you edited them on your own – what I do sometimes).
- There is a new cloudy streaking modules which very quickly got my favorite module. It allows to add a cloudy pattern to the image and made all my use of patterns to simulate this effect obsolete. There is another post about this module to come. In the meantime, the above image is done with a bit strong cloudy streaking.
There are more changes. Have a look at the changelog on the DigitalLith homepage to see them all.
About the removal of the SDK … I have to say that I do not think that there is anyone except myself using it. Otherwise I would have heard back. If you develop a fairly complex program and never get a bug report, then that is a clear sign that it is not used at all. For that reason I think it is save to just no longer support an SDK.
As always, here is a link to the DigitalLith homepage: Click!