Digital Light & Color

Also as a comparison between Ver 7 and 8, In Ver 7 with Speck Removal there is an option to adjust the "softness" (and "spacing") of the selection. Is that something that could be added in Ver 8?

Also, in practice I often "paint" the selection around in Ver 7, to try to blend in the effect. In Ver 8 it's a one-shot application. Can you discuss the differences in the design of the two versions for this tool?

The PWP8 speck removal tool determines for each speck what the optimal direction is to interpolate in, so that edges are preserved and have less of a tendency to bleed into the interior of the speck circle. This method also preserves any linear gradient in the background. It would be possible to add a softness setting, but this would just leave part of the speck unremoved. It was designed to be a one-shot application and not to be used as a brush.

The PWP7 speck removal tool interpolated horizontally and vertically and averaged the two. This works OK for small specks but produces visible rectangular artifacts for larger specks.

Speck removal is still something of a work in progress - it may be useful to implement more than one method.

For years, I have been successfully using the spec removal tool to moderate the skin shine from flash reflection as suggested here by Den (see post on May 24, 2006)

http://www.dl-c.com/Discus-1//5234/5237.html?1222389134

Does this discussion of the change in operation of the tool in version 8 mean it will be less useful in this application? Perhaps Den will be able to suggest an alternate approach. I use this tool quite frequently in this specific application.

Sorry, I may not know how to insert a clickable link in these forums and you may need to copy the above into a browser address.

Opps. It seems that I did know how. It just didn't show up as a clickable link until I clicked "Submit"

The Speck Strength slider moderates the speck removal for the current speck -- also the amount slider although this applies to all of the specks.

doug, you can click the Preview button first to see how your post will look like. It is especially useful when you attach an image.