Marking points on a curves layer

ive always adjusted dynamic range by doing a CURVES layer
then alt-clicking on a photo to mark the points on the curve, then
stretching the points apart. that was cs3...
now in cs4 that no longer works; i cannot alt-click on photos
to mark points on a curve, i have to add a step of clicking on that
'pointer-finger' icon in the curves dialog in order to mark points
(personally the old way shouldve not been removed; 'adding' a step
to mark points is not really progress to me).
now that theyve added an extra step of having to click on the
finger-point icon to mark points on a curve, is there a way i can
add this icon to the configurator?
AND
is there a bit of coding which can allow someone at least to
mark a point on the curve AND mark that same point with a color
sampler point? that way i can see on the curve where i am as well
as see on the photo where i am; otherwise i have to mark it on the
curve than mark that same point again with the color sampler
point....this option shouldve been some ALT or CTL addon to marking
curve points, so one can do both at once. so can this be done with
a single configurator tool, marking both at once?
tx for anyone who finds the solution, unless there is some
way of marking points on a curve and im just overlooking it, all i
know is the old quick way no longer works...

I agree Gary that in some ways the new curves is worse than
the old CS3 modal curves dialog, for the reasons you have said. Did
you know that you can still bring up the old curves dialog? which
still has the command place points shortcut, and the control TAB
shortcut to switch between points - if you record an action in CS3
and read the action into CS4 yoyu will find it brings up the old
dialog. These actions can of course be assigned to F key shortcuts.
There is also a configurator panel that John Knack put on his blog,
which has buttons to do the same thing.
Incidentally its the command key and not the option key that
used to place points

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Adobe Standard profile for 5D mark II includes tone curve?

In ACR, I see a "Point" tone curve with the "Adobe Standard" profile on Canon 5d Mark II files.
I've never seen a tone curve before on standard profiles for other cameras. I understand that tone curves are included in the camera standard, faithful, portrait and landscape profiles in attempt to match the in-camera jpegs. But I thought the Adobe Standard profiles were supposed to target only color (hue/sat) and leave tone up to the user.
Can someone verify that your system includes a point tone curve on 5D2 raws. Maybe my config is messed up.

Dear Eric,
I have Photoshop/Bridge CS3 and Camera Raw Version 4.5.0.175 on Windows XP (SP2).
To "see" tone curves I launch Bridge, navigate to a folder, double-click a raw or DNG file and get the ACR window.
In the ACR window, I click on the "Camera Calibration" tab and navigate through the various Camera Profiles.
For each profile, I click on the "Tone Curve" tab and view both the "Parametric" and "Point" curves.
For canon 5D Mark II DNG files there is always a "Medium Contrast" Point Curve, under every camera profile. I do not have a Canon 1Ds Mark III, but I have downloaded a sample raw file and converted it to DNG. For this DNG I also see a Medium Contrast Point Curve under every profile.
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When I downloaded the latest DNG converter and DNG Profile Editor, I'm reasonably confident I also downloaded and installed the most current camera profiles.
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For the Canon 1DS Mark III image I see all those profiles, plus ACR 4.4 and ACR 4.3
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And a reminder, all this was after I had created a number of custom profiles from Macbeth Color Checker images using the DNG Profile Editor. Those custom profiles created a problem with Bridge previews, so I removed all of them before viewing Point Curves as described above. Still hoping to get some feedback on the Bridge preview problem I described in this message:
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3bb6a869.59b790c8

Recreating merged curves layer by guesswork

Hi folks, I have a picture I once added a curves adjustment layer to. Unfortunatley I don't have the .psd anymore, only a composite .png (the final image) and the source image.
I tried to recreate the curves adjustment layer on top of the source image and compare it to the final image, but I don't get anywhere close to it. I must say though, that generally speaking I have decent curves skills I would say, I intuitively know how they react and affect the output. But the curves layer I used back then involved independent R,G and B curves plus a RGB curve, with about 3 to 4 control points each.
So intuition and guesswork didn't get me anywhere, that's why I was wondering if there was something like a more strategic method defined by rules which would inevitably lead to the correct result if followed correctly ?
If not, is there a different way of recreating the final image from the source image?
Many thanks.

If its just one curve, you can probably do it. But all three, plus a master adjustment might prove too much if the change were drastic. Still worth a go. Even if you just place the 4 color samplers in quarter tones, you might have some luck.
As I said above, it doesn't matter whether it's 1 or 3 curves, because
the RGB channels are treated independently (both by color picker and the
curves layer). The master adjustment is more problematic, right,
but theoretically it shouldn't be a problem either, because two curves
can be "merged" ... well, not in Photoshop (I might suggest that as a
feature one day), but mathematically.
Curves are functions. Take an easy function like f(x) = 1.5*x + 2x
this equates to: f(x) = 1.75 * x
(where x = input and f(x) = output in Photoshop curves adjustment)
I have started working with this method and so far it looks promising,
hope it turns out right
I'll let you know
You inspired me to finally get at what Martin Evening was doing below. If you only had a gray strip in each channel...
http://photoshopnews.com/2007/09/05/how-to-express-blend-modes-as-curves/
Looks very interesting. I'll have a look at it one rainy day ...

Color sampler onto curve layer?

I believe I knew how to do this but the brain cell that had the information must have died......
I BELIEVE I used to take the color sampler and put a sample on my image. Then I created a curves layer. AND, by holding some combination of shift/ctrl/alt and clicking the color sample, the values would transfer to the red,green, and blue layers of my curves layer. From there I could make adjustments...
In CS4 I'm trying to do this, and I can't get it to work... It isn't the same as using the eyedroppers on the curve OR the hand above the eyedroppers. It actually copied the color sample values onto the individual color channels..... How do I do this in CS4?

OK, I may just be having an extraordinarily stupid day, so bear with me..........
The url's in the previous reply don't work any more - I presume this is because the forums have been reorganized?
But, beyond that - here's what I RECALL doing in the past.......................
In my image, create a color sampler point using the color sampler tool.
Create curve adjustment layer and make that layer the current layer.
Go back to my image and press ctrl+shift and click on the color sample.
This would put the rgb values (puts a point on the curve) from the color sample on the red, green, and blue channels of the curves layer.
After reading the last couple replies, I did the same thing. And I went "back to my image" and clicked on
the color sample. I'm STILL not getting the values on my curve layer......
What am I missing 'cause this can't be as difficult as I'm making it.........?

Query Curves Layer for current settings

Hi All,
I am trying to work out how to query a curves layer for it's current settings. I have used the script listner to capture the code on how to apply settings but can't work out how to query the settings. The output from the script listner when applying new settings is as follows:
// =======================================================
var idsetd = charIDToTypeID( "setd" );
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        var ref13 = new ActionReference();
        var idAdjL = charIDToTypeID( "AdjL" );
        var idOrdn = charIDToTypeID( "Ordn" );
        var idTrgt = charIDToTypeID( "Trgt" );
        ref13.putEnumerated( idAdjL, idOrdn, idTrgt );
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                var desc21 = new ActionDescriptor();
                var idChnl = charIDToTypeID( "Chnl" );
                    var ref14 = new ActionReference();
                    var idChnl = charIDToTypeID( "Chnl" );
                    var idChnl = charIDToTypeID( "Chnl" );
                    var idCmps = charIDToTypeID( "Cmps" );
                    ref14.putEnumerated( idChnl, idChnl, idCmps );
                desc21.putReference( idChnl, ref14 );
                var idCrv = charIDToTypeID( "Crv " );
                    var list4 = new ActionList();
                        var desc22 = new ActionDescriptor();
                        var idHrzn = charIDToTypeID( "Hrzn" );
                        desc22.putDouble( idHrzn, 0.000000 );
                        var idVrtc = charIDToTypeID( "Vrtc" );
                        desc22.putDouble( idVrtc, 0.000000 );
                    var idPnt = charIDToTypeID( "Pnt " );
                    list4.putObject( idPnt, desc22 );
                        var desc23 = new ActionDescriptor();
                        var idHrzn = charIDToTypeID( "Hrzn" );
                        desc23.putDouble( idHrzn, 127.000000 );
                        var idVrtc = charIDToTypeID( "Vrtc" );
                        desc23.putDouble( idVrtc, 127.000000 );
                    var idPnt = charIDToTypeID( "Pnt " );
                    list4.putObject( idPnt, desc23 );
                        var desc24 = new ActionDescriptor();
                        var idHrzn = charIDToTypeID( "Hrzn" );
                        desc24.putDouble( idHrzn, 255.000000 );
                        var idVrtc = charIDToTypeID( "Vrtc" );
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                    var idPnt = charIDToTypeID( "Pnt " );
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                desc21.putList( idCrv, list4 );
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    var idCrvs = charIDToTypeID( "Crvs" );
    desc19.putObject( idT, idCrvs, desc20 );
executeAction( idsetd, desc19, DialogModes.NO );
I want to query the Hrzn and Vrtc parameters for 0, 127 and 255 on an existing curves layer.
Any help in working out how to do this would be greatly appreciated.
Thx in advance.

This is a bit of a hack but it should give you a place to start.
// Works with RGB or CMYK images.
// Does not work at all with greyscale, or indexColor
// Does not work correctly with Lab
function convertBCD( num ){
    var res = new Array;
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        num = num - 8;
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        res.unshift(0);
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    }else{
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function getCurve( numberOfPoints ){
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var ref = new ActionReference();
ref.putEnumerated( charIDToTypeID( 'Lyr ' ), charIDToTypeID( 'Ordn' ), charIDToTypeID( 'Trgt' ) );
var rawDesc = executeActionGet( ref ).getList( stringIDToTypeID( 'adjustment' ) ).getObjectValue( 0 ).getData( stringIDToTypeID( 'legacyContentData' ) );
var pointer = 2;// used to read rawData similar to reading a file
var flag = rawDesc.charCodeAt( pointer );// char at offset 2 always == 1 so use to validate data
if( flag != 1 ) forceError;// unknown problem with rawData
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// now need to map rawData curves in curvesArray to known channel curves
var acvArray = new Array;
if( bcdArray[0] == 1 ) {
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} else {
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if( bcdArray[1] == 1 ) {
    acvArray.push( curvesArray.shift() );
} else {
    acvArray.push( [ [0,0],[255,255] ] );
if( bcdArray[2] == 1 ) {
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} else {
    acvArray.push( [ [0,0],[255,255] ] );
if( bcdArray[3] == 1 ) {
    acvArray.push( curvesArray.shift() );
} else {
    acvArray.push( [ [0,0],[255,255] ] );
if( bcdArray[4] == 1 ) {
    acvArray.push( curvesArray.shift() );
} else {
    acvArray.push( [ [0,0],[255,255] ] );
if(app.activeDocument.mode == DocumentMode.RGB){
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        alert(cNames[c]+': '+acvArray[c]);
if(app.activeDocument.mode == DocumentMode.CMYK){
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    for(c=0;c<acvArray.length;c++){
        alert(cNames[c]+': '+acvArray[c]);

How to mark points on a graph

Hi All,
I want to write a program which plots data on a surface graph then
allows the user to click on the graph and "mark" points on the plot. The
program should change the color of the "marked" points on the graph.
Based on the sample code provided by "Ben" here
(http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=144155#M144155)...
I wrote the attached code which uses "event structure" and cursors to do
the job. I used cursor to read the X,Y,Z position of the clicked point on
the plot and store them in arrays. These arrays then were feed into a
new plot added to the graph using CWPlots3D.Add() method. However, my
code does not draw the second plot (which would show marked points in
green) nor it does not get the marked points coordination correctly. I
appreciate your help to correct the code.
Thank you,
Attachments:
change read xyz.vi ‏27 KB

Hi Trin,
I have altered your VI a little bit to get the marked points in an array. You will realize that the mouse up event is requested in a parallel loop, that's because this event doesn't get triggered ifyou drag a cursor.
All you have to do now is to make a graph from the array and create new cursors. But leave Cursor 1 always as the last one and save the past values to new cursors. But maybe you don't need to set a cursor on each marked point.
Kind regards,
Kleisi
Attachments:
3D_Example.vi ‏39 KB

Mark points on 3D graph

Hi,
I need to mark points (by changing the color of the point)on a 3D graph
which the user would select using mouse clicks. How should I implement
this? Should I use both cursor and mouse event handler in my VI?
IS there any similar example code available?
Any helps would be greatly appreciated
Cheers,
Trin

Start reading at reply #7 in this thread.
I would use a seperate plot to handle the highlighted points. Just add the new point and redraw that plot as they go.
The code for that example is all there.
Have fun,
Ben
Ben Rayner
I am currently active on.. MainStream Preppers
Rayner's Ridge is under construction

Cs2 or cs3 can I select a point on a curve without clicking on it?

When I have a very subtle correction it would be nice to select a point and know for sure it was input 43, output 44 and had not been input 42, output 44 because in trying to select the point on the curve I moved it ever so slightly.
alan

> Control-tab will cycle through the points.
Hey, nice tip J.

Cs6 , how can i add a anchor point in the curve in the channel Red or Green?

Hi
how can i add an anchor point in the curve in the Channel R / G and B?
in cs5 , with ctrl + click i was able to click on the image and add an anchor point in the curve channel RGB
and with shift +ctrl + click i was able to click on the image and add an anchor poing in the channel Red , 1 in the channel Green and 1 in the channel blue
i know cs6 doesn't have any more ctrl+mouse click , there is the targeted adjustamanent tool
i can do it with ctrl+m and call the curve
but i can't do it with curve adjustament tool
is there a way to add a anchor point in each channel red , green and blue (like the prev photoshop)?
thanks

thanks that's correct! thanks
but it's not 100% correct
to add a multiple points in rgb shift+click doesn't work!
from adobe
Keyboard shortcuts: Curves
You can use these keyboard shortcuts for Curves:
To set a point on the curve for the selected color in each color component channel (but not in the composite channel), Shift+Ctrl-click (Windows) or Shift+Command-click (Mac OS) in the image.
To select multiple points, Shift-click points on the curve. Selected points are filled with black.
To deselect all points on the curve, click in the grid, or press Ctrl‑D (Windows) or Command-D (Mac OS).
To select the next higher point on the curve, press the plus key; to select the next lowest, press the minus key.
To move selected points on the curve, press the arrow keys.
(Curves dialog box) To set a point on the curve for the current channel, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) in the image.
If you’re instead using the Curves adjustment, simply click in the image with the On-image adjustment tool .

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Matthew Kraus

Did you not ask a similar question a while ago?
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4524084#4524084

Creatiing curves layer in Photoshop CS2

Anyone know the applescript command(s) for creating a curves layer in Photoshop? I can create a layer but not a curves layer with the following:
tell application "Adobe Photoshop CS2"
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end tell
I can't find any documentation regarding this.
Pedro

Hello
Try something like this. (Not tested)
--SCRIPT
tell application "Adobe Photoshop CS2"
tell document 1
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end
end tell
--END OF SCRIPT
cf.
http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/photoshop/sdk/index_scripting.html
AppleScriptReferenceGuide.pdf
Regards,
H

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In previous versions of Photoshop, control/tab would highlight points that had been already placed on a curve. In CS4, this command no longer works.
Is there a substitute for it and if there is, what is it?
Thank you for all the help you've given me previously.
Helen Pine

In previous version, when working in rgb, it was very easy to select the point on a curve while mousing over you image. All you had to do was to press down and you would see where that portion of the image was on the curve. If you command + click it would place a point on the curve. In CS4 you have to first click on the finger icon in the adjustment panel. Is there a quicker way of placing points on the curve?

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#(704)# 9:31:41 AM 05/18/04 Normal : Loading : C:\Program
Files\Novell\ZENworks\WMSchApi.dll
#(704)# 9:31:41 AM 05/18/04 Critical : ZENNDSUtil: Failed to load
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readVerifyInformation: initializeContext() failed for master 0,
tree:TWB_COMPANY
#(704)# 9:31:41 AM 05/18/04 Normal : Reading workstation DN and tree
name...
#(704)# 9:31:41 AM 05/18/04 Normal : workstation DN -
CN=ROBOT_TECH00:0D:56:CC:82:20.OU=Workstations.OU= MONROE.OU=NORTHERN.O=TWB,
treename - TWB_COMPANY
#(704)# 9:31:41 AM 05/18/04 Normal : Loading : C:\Program
Files\Novell\ZENworks\WMSchApi.dll
#(704)# 9:31:41 AM 05/18/04 Critical : ZENNDSUtil: Failed to load
WMSchApi.dll. Error: 1114
#(704)# 9:31:41 AM 05/18/04 Critical : ZENNDSUtil:
readVerifyInformation: initializeContext() failed for master 1,
tree:TWB_COMPANY
#(704)# 9:31:41 AM 05/18/04 Normal : RMSessionFinished - Begin
#(704)# 9:31:41 AM 05/18/04 Normal : ZENNDSUtil: Unloaded modules...
#(704)# 9:44:39 AM 05/18/04 Normal : Loading : C:\Program
Files\Novell\ZENworks\ZenLite.dll
#(704)# 9:44:39 AM 05/18/04 Normal : Loading : C:\Program
Files\Novell\ZENworks\ZenPol32.dll
#(704)# 9:44:39 AM 05/18/04 Normal : ZENNDSUtil: Successfully loaded
dependent modules...
#(704)# 9:44:39 AM 05/18/04 Normal : PingXTier: Logged in User:
CN=GAMCCLAI.OU=ENGR.OU=MONROE.OU=NORTHERN.O=TWB
#(704)# 9:44:39 AM 05/18/04 Normal : Failed to open
HKLM\Software\Novell\ZENworks\MiddleTierAddress
#(704)# 9:44:39 AM 05/18/04 Critical : ZENNDSUtil: Failed to obtain
the Middle Tier address
#(704)# 9:44:39 AM 05/18/04 Normal : ZENNDSUtil: Unloaded modules...

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Marking points on a curves layer

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