Introduction

Although The Variations Suite is only a few weeks old, we have been working to improve the range of features and usability. Some of the new stuff has been incorporated into the standard version of the scripts, while other features have made it only to the Plus version. Paul and I both feel that the standard versions of the scripts should be useful in their own right - not time-limited, nor adding watermarks nor so feature-bare that they are no good to anyone. If you download a V-Suite standard script, like it and use it, that's great. We'd like to think that the standard versions of the scripts are worth 10 bucks anyway, but we would like some of your money, so we have the incentive of the Plus versions for donors.

With the introduction of version 1.34 of Velvia Variations, we think that the Plus versions need a dedicated page so we can explain what is additional and, more importantly, how the extra features work.

The Dialogue Window

Click here for screenshot

The number of buttons and options has expanded somewhat since v1.0, but the main divisions are essentially the same.

The treatments window is unchanged, and is the same for both Plus and standard version. We changed some of the names, but that's all.

The Extras window is somewhat larger. There is more space for editing options that we're testing out and hope to introduce into VV-Plus. Of course, not all the edit extras would make sense in every script - Color Boost doesn't do much in B+W Variations.

The output options panel is increased in scope in 1.34: partly, the shifting of "Large Previews" from the Preferences panel, but mostly by the addition of Plus-only features:

Treatments to layers: by default, the results of the selected treatment are saved in snapshots (named after the treatment). Checking this option provides the extra flexibility of moving each snapshot into its own layer, so instead of this you get this, which gives the flexibility to work more magic with your pictures using layer masks.

 

The Preferences panel is almost the same as the previous version, except the change to the "Large Previews option mentioned earlier.

Two of these settings apply to the Plus version of the scripts:

Auto-Exit: the script window automatically closes after the selected treatment has been applied.

Save Defaults: when this option is selected, the settings in all the panels are saved when the script is closed and reloaded next time it is run.

One reason the auto-exit is disabled in the standard version is so that we can put up a little "nag" reminder about donating. Not having this guilt-inducing reminder is one the nicest things about the Plus versions.

The Shrinking Window

This is my favourite new feature in v1.34. One of my concerns has been the size of the script dialogue. I have my monitor set to use a resolution of 1920 x 1440, so there's still plenty of room to see the picture, but anyone with a smaller display may find it necessary to exit the script to examine the previews. At the right-hand edge of the dialogue, there is now a long thin button:

When you click it, the window shrinks to this small window and you can get an unobstructed view of your picture or the previews. I figured it wouldn't take long for anyone to remember what this skinny button does, so I didn't waste any more screen real estate on a label.

Batch Processing

If, having played with the interactive version of a script and decided which combination of settings you like, you can save these settings by clicking... wait for it... the [Save Settings] button. You can then run the batch version of the script using the CS File Browser, or the batch action that is also supplied with the Plus upgrade.

The batch process is explained in detailed here.

Preference Settings

Completely new to v1.34 is the ability to customise some of the settings in the Plus scripts:

Personally, I find the most useful thing here is the ability to change the size of the previews. On my PC, it makes a noticeable difference in the speed of preview creation when the size of the thumbnail is reduced. Sometimes, the effect on the subject cannot be easily judged, if you make the preview too small, but you can always use the large preview or change the settings again. Provided you haven't already created a set of previews, the change in size will be immediately effective, otherwise, you will need to save the changes and restart the script.

The impact of changes to background and text colour settings is fairly small, but it can be helpful to set off some images against a different colour.

"Switch off customer layer names" prevents the script prompting for a name/description when a set of previews is created. It will automatically use "Preview 0", "Preview 1", etc. This setting is immediately effective.

"Switch off preview labels" does the same as the output option "omit preview labels", but it does so semi-permanently - until you resave the preferences files or delete the text file that stores the settings. This does not become active unless you save the settings and restart the script. All other settings may be adjusted for the current session. In other words, you don't have to save the settings. If you want big red preview labels for just this run, you can. When you close the script, the changes will be forgotten. The next time you run the script, the default values will be used, unless you have previously saved a set of preferences.

When you save preferences, defaults or edit settings a text file is created in the root folder of drive C. the files are named "xx-preferences.txt", "xx-defaults.txt" and "xx-settings.txt", where "xx" identifies the script - "vv", "bw", "vt". It's perfectly safe to delete these files, except you will lose the data they contain and the interactive script will return to using default settings; the batch script will bleat that it cannot find a settings file.