Raw Therapee - Film Simulation

If you use film simulation in your raw workflow (like VSCO presets, DXO film pack presets) you might be pleased to know that the new version of Raw Therapee includes a "Film Simulation" tool that includes many of these presets:

http://rawtherapee.com​/blog/rawtherapee-4.2-is-out

and:

http://50.87.144.65 …php?title=Film_​Simulation

for free. What is even cooler is the method used to produce these emulations. You can use the HALD image and modify it to produce any LUT-like preset you want for use in your raw conversion workflow.

This is totally cool.

kirk

Have you been using Raw Therappee as your main editor? It looks like a good program but I am curious as to hard the learning curve is compared to Adobe. Any insight would be appreciated.

It is not my main converter, but I use many raw converters regularly. Raw Therapee exposes A LOT of controls to the user. That does not mean you have to use them, though. Version 4 has been a huge leap forward in stability, usability and interface design, in addition to the continuously improving conversion quality.

The learning curve is not as steep as you might think if you understand, generally, the essential aspects of raw conversion and are not afraid to experiment. Get a few of your reference images together - you know, the raw files that you abuse to test a converter or a workflow link. Try them in RT and see what you think.

The LR/ACR workflow is very simple and straightforward and will produce decent images most of the time. That said, the user has surprisingly little control over the actual conversion, which is fine for most LR/ACR users. Sometimes, more choices makes for a disaster. If you really want more control over your conversion, then RT might be for you, even if you don't use it as your "main" converter.

have fun!

kirk

Thanks, I will give it a try. I recently tried DXO Optics Pro and found that to have a lot more option than ACR.

Thanks for the heads up Kirk!
I've also been experimenting with DXO and have spent a few minutes with RT since you posted the link
and all I can say for now is I'm going to need some real therapee after seeing all of the control
RT has to offer beyond DPP and ACR, no adjustment brushes as far as I can tell, but I've only spent a few minutes with it so far.

I'm using Win 7, 64 bit, seems to be working OK so far.