Back

Usage Tip #4

I am using this image to give an example of how the two sliders in Lucis Pro can be used to pull out contrast patterns in the image. This image is a stock image so unfortunately I do not have a high resolution version for you to download and use.

Lucis Pro enhances an image based on the image's relative contrasts. As a first step lucis compares each pixel to every other pixel along hundreds of radial line (scan lines) to map out relative contrast. The Enhance Detail slider enhances contrast variations whose magnitude is less than the Enhance Detail slider value. Contrast variations greater than the enhance details slider are diminished. So lucis shifts the relative emphasis of contrast variations. The smooth detail slider enhances contrast variations greater than the Smooth Detail slider value. Contrast variations less than the slider value are diminished.

So using the Enhance detail slider only brings out image detail. Using the smooth detail slider only smoothes image detail. When you are using both sliders you are smoothing the smallest contrast variances and the largest, so you are pulling out mid-range contrast patterns in the image. You are enhancing contrasts variations greater than the smooth Detail slider value and less than the Enhance detail slider value.

The original image below is an 8-bit image. Therefore it has 256 intensity levels. Therefore the difference in intensity (contrast variation) between pixels can be from 0 intensity levels to 256 intensity levels. Lucis works with odd numbers so the scale for the sliders goes from 1 to 257.

To create Variation # 1 I moved the Enhance Detail slider to 51 and the Smooth Detail slider to 29. So in this example contrast variations greater than 29 intensity levels and less than 51 intensity levels are enhanced. The rest of the contrast variations are diminished. You can see the resulting pattern.

I have created 7 variations of this image to illustrate this effect. The slider values are given in the image description below the image. The very last example (variation #8) demonstrates processing the image twice with Lucis.

Key Points:

1) To get a more striking image have the slider values close together and do not smooth the image too much.

2) Checking the Tie Together check box on the Lucis Pro User interface keeps the two sliders a fixed value apart so when you move one slider the other follows. This makes it easier to explore the image variation possibilities when using the two sliders. You have to Uncheck the Tie Together check box to make the difference between the two sliders a different value.

3) When using both sliders is is best to set the number of Processing Scan Lines to 50. It will take longer to process the image but the result will have fewer radial artifacts, if any.

The original 8-bit grayscale image.	Variation #1: This Lucis image was created by moving the Enhance Detail slider to 51 and the Smooth Detail slider to 29.
Variation #2: This Lucis image was created by moving the Enhance Detail slider to 81 and the Smooth Detail slider to 75.	Variation #3: This Lucis image was created by moving the Enhance Detail slider to 125 and the Smooth Detail slider to 77.

Variation #4: This Lucis image was created by moving the Enhance Detail slider to 177 and the Smooth Detail slider to 167.	Variation #5: This Lucis image was created by moving the Enhance Detail slider to 245 and the Smooth Detail slider to 157.
Variation #6: This Lucis image was created by moving the Enhance Detail slider to 129 and the Smooth Detail slider to 125.	Variation #7: This Lucis image was created by moving the Enhance Detail slider to 15 and the Smooth Detail slider to 13.

You can make the Lucis image more dramatic by processing the image a second time to bring out the detail in the Lucis image. Below Variation #4 (to the left) was processed with Lucis to exaggerate the pattern. The number of Scan lines was set to 50. The original image had a lot of graininess that becomes texture and radial lines when the image is processed twice with Lucis.

Variation #4 (repeated): This Lucis image was created by moving the Enhance Detail slider to 177 and the Smooth Detail slider to 167.	Variation #8: This image was created by taking variation #4 and processing it again with Lucis with the Enhance Detail slider value set to 23 and the Smooth Detail slider set to 1.