The develop panel in Single
Develop, at the right-hand end of the row under the photograph in Single, opens a small panel for the quick adjustment you want to make while you are still culling: a film simulation and eight sliders, and nothing else. This page covers what it holds, how it behaves and when to go to the edit page instead.
Opening and closing it
Press Develop. The panel opens down the right-hand side, the photograph narrows to make room, and the button turns orange. Press it again to close it. No key or menu opens it.
The panel works on the frame on screen, whatever its decision. You can develop a Hold or an Undecided frame here; the edit page holds takes only. Step to another frame with ← and → and the panel stays open, showing that frame's settings.
It closes whenever Single appears afresh: after a visit to Frames, to Compare (C again, or Esc, brings Single back) or to the edit page. Press Develop again.
What is in the panel
The panel is one column with no tabs. From the top:
- Develop is the heading. An Edited badge in orange beside it shows when the frame carries a film simulation or any of the eight sliders is away from 0. A crop, a curve, a mask or anything else the panel does not show does not light it on its own.
- FILM SIMULATION is six chips: Classic Chrome, Provia, Acros, Astia, Velvia and Eterna. Click one to put it on the frame; the chosen chip is filled. Click it again to clear it. With no simulation chosen, a frame whose sliders have moved is developed over Provia, the neutral one.
- ADJUST is eight sliders, in this order: Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Temperature, Tint, Saturation and Vibrance. Exposure runs from −2 to +2 stops and reads like +0.35 EV; the other seven run from −100 to +100. The orange runs from the middle of the track to the knob. Drag the knob, or click anywhere on the track and the knob jumps there. A slider a hair away from the middle still reads 0 and counts as untouched.
- Reset is at the foot, on the right.
What each slider does is on Tone and Colour.
How a change lands
Nothing is written while you drag. The photograph stays as it was until you let go; then one change is written and the photograph redraws. A simulation is written the moment you click it.
Each change goes into the XMP file beside the photograph's copy in the library, the same file the edit page uses, so what you set here is there when you open the edit page, and the other way round. Nothing is written to the original (where edits are kept). If a write fails, a message says That adjustment wasn't saved, with the file's name and the reason.
What the panel leaves alone
The panel changes the simulation and the eight sliders and nothing else on the frame. Moving a slider here does not disturb a crop, a curve, a mask or a look put on in the edit page.
- A look is not shown here. Its base simulation appears as the chosen chip, and its name and tonal offset stay on the frame. Choosing another chip changes the simulation under the look. Clearing the chip hands the frame back to the look's own simulation, so the picture may not change. To change the look, use the film simulations column on the edit page (Looks and film simulations).
- A scope stays too. Sliders you scoped to the subject on the edit page keep working inside it here, and the panel does not say so.
Nothing else from the edit page is in this panel, Versions and History included.
Reset
Reset does what the edit page's Reset all does, but shows no message. It clears every adjustment on the frame, not only what the panel shows: a crop, a curve, a look or a mask goes with the simulation and the sliders. Saved versions stay.
It is dimmed when no simulation is chosen and the eight sliders all read 0, even if the frame still carries a look, a crop or a curve. Use Reset all on the edit page for those.
The edit page shows takes only, but a Hold, Reject or Undecided frame can still carry a crop, a curve or a mask: a frame you developed as a take keeps its settings when you change its decision, and a sync to Similar frames with those families ticked writes to holds and undecided frames in the group. To clear one, mark it Take with T, press Reset all on the edit page, then give it the decision you want.
When to use the edit page instead
| You want to | In Single's panel | On the edit page |
|---|---|---|
| Choose a look | No | The film simulations column |
| Save a look of your own | No | The Look section at the end of the Colour tab |
| Crop, straighten, rotate, flip or clean a spot | No | The top panel |
| Use a curve, the colour editor, grading, black and white, detail, grain, lens corrections, perspective or masks | No | The six tabs |
| Compare with the untouched original | No | Before / after, \ |
| Watch the photograph while you drag | It redraws when you let go | It follows your hand at half size |
| Take a change back | See below | ⌘Z, or the undo arrow |
| Carry a look or settings to other frames | No | The foot of the film simulations column |
When the panel is locked
On one of the three Earlier library rows, on a frame whose photograph lies outside the library's folder, or when your account is read-only, the panel says so under its heading, beside a lock: This library can't store adjustments or Vixlo is read-only until you subscribe, with a sentence under it. The chips, the sliders and Reset are dimmed and do not respond. Step to a frame inside the library and the panel works again. See When edits cannot be stored and What read-only means.
⌘Z in Single does not take back a change made in this panel. In the cull, ⌘Z undoes the last decision or mark you made, so pressing it after moving a slider undoes your last Take, Hold, Reject, star or label instead, with the message Last culling decision restored, or Nothing to undo when there is none. The slider stays where it is. Reset is the same: no message, and ⌘Z does not undo it. If ⌘Z undid a decision you meant to keep, press ⇧⌘Z and it comes back.
To take a change back, put it back by hand: drag the slider to 0, or click the chosen chip again. Or open the edit page with ⇧⌘E, which opens when the library has a take. Your changes in Single are steps on its ⌘Z, newest first, and each press says Adjustment undone and names the file, which may be a frame the page does not show. They last for the session.