Working on Version 5 - Status and hopeful beta of new UI

[sagelight]

There is one silver lining about taking a break with Sagelight. Before I had to stop working on it for a while, I was in the middle of writing Version 5, and taking a break has given me a lot of objectivity about Sagelight: what works well, what doesn't, and so-forth.

The Power of Sagelight and Limitations of the UI

Sagelight is very powerful editor, and I really made two editors in one: a simple UI with some great functions, and an advanced editor with even more power. That merging of two styles, I think, ultimately limits Sagelight. Functions like the Light Blender, UI, Tone Blender, etc. are super-powerful, but they have so many options they tend to get confusing.

These should be separate programs called out to from Sagelight. It makes much more sense when a separate program has a lot of options, but when its in the body of a singular framework, it comes off as cluttered and too complicated.

The Light Blender is a good example. It is a really nice function, but there is a lot to it. In the context of a function in Sagelight, it can be overwhelming. As a separate program/filter it makes more sense to have the more advanced options.

With the new UI, I have distilled a lot of the great parts of these functions and put them in the Quick Edit mode, and then I will later on make standalone versions of them for more professional applications (that can be called from Sagelight as an external filter).

I like the new UI more than I thought

This is where taking a break turned into a silver lining. I've been working on updating Sagelight and making the new UI (Version 5) as a beta. When I switch from the new UI to the current version, I feel a little lost! The new UI, for me, is that much better.

I basically over-powered Sagelight and the current UI does limit that power. The new UI shows it off that much more, and adds a much better context for using the external functions (i.e. HDR, Retinex, etc.).

A Beta of the new UI

I am working on a beta of the new UI and will be making some videos. I am just restarting the website right now, and will get this as soon as I can.


What's new in Version 5

There's quite a few new things in Version 5, which represent a definite advance for Sagelight.


1. A New UI. As mentioned, this makes Sagelight much easier to use and shows its power off even better.
2. Noise Reduction. Though I haven't been able to develop Sagelight as much as I like in the past 3 years, I have been working on development of various image-processing algorithms. Version 5 feature a more simplified noise reduction that also works with the preview correctly when viewed at less than 100%,
3. Noise Reduction in Quick Edit Mode. I also have an algorithm to finally put noise reduction in the Quick Edit Mode. I am really looking forward to this, as its been needed for a while and gets it much closer to competing with Lightroom.
4. Wavelet-based Surface Blur, other functions, revamped functions. I added a nice wavelet-based Surface Blur function, and there are a number of functions coming from that as well. One of the main elements of Version 5 is revamping the UI on many functions, to make them more easy to use and more powerful. I am also removing a number of functions that no longer make sense.


Version 5 is 70% complete, and I will be developing it again soon, as soon as the website picks up. I am going to let donations fund the development until I get back to selling Sagelight with Version 5. (If the donation model goes well, then I can also give Version 5 away for free, too, but we'll have to see what happens. Traditionally free models for software as large as Sagelight don't work to fund all expenses, but you never know)

Version 6.

Much of version 6 is already planned and is in development. I would put these things in version 5, but I since I am almost done with Version 5, I can get to Version 6 pretty quickly once Version 5 is out.

Version 6 features the following:


1. Neural-networking based functions. This is already in development, and the neural networking engine has already been written. This features things like 'neural style transfer', where you can apply styles of one image onto another. It will also include HDR functionality and whatever development comes from it.
2. Masking revamp. The masking in Sagelight is powerful but also suffers from the UI holding it back. I have scissor functions and other masking routines already written, and am designing an overall revamp of the masking to make it more fluid within Sagelight.
3. Cloning, Dodge And Burn, anything with brushes revamp. Anything using brushes needs to have a better undo/redo structure. This is being re-designed with unlimited undo/redo (^Z,^Y). These are also great functions that have been held back by the current UI.
4. Cloning, Patching in the Quick Edit Mode. This has been asked for, and it's easy to do since I've worked on the main interface. There will be more aggressive cloning and patching as separate functions, as well as these new functions that are the same method used in Lightroom.
5. Undo/Redo, Blend Images. This is being completely redone. The current implementation is an effect of trying to merge more pro-functions with a simplified interface. With the masking, this will have a new structure that makes much more sense. I am thinking something closer to how Adobe manages layers, where you have masking layer, opacity on the layers, etc. which will be much more independently controllable and easier to understand and change.
6. TBD. Other things are TBD, based on what I am hearing people would like. If I can get Sagelight back on track, I should have the room to get all of this done now that I am not dealing with family issues.



As mentioned, the development will be dependent on donations until I get Version 5 completed, and I hope that turns into a good model for the future. I am going to be working on some Sagelight examples, of both the current version and version 5-in-development, once the site is back up for a few days.

Rob