If you want to restart with the default settings or just started processing on a new image, it is a good idea to click on the Reset button. The Reset button performs the action that was last chosen on its menu. This menu appears when you click on the arrow button to the right of the Reset button.
Clicking the small arrow button to the right of the Reset button displays a menu with various reset options. "Default Settings" deactivates a lot of other controls, but activates the default setting for the Auto Contrast and Exposure Fix options."Original Image" deactivates all corrections and displays the uncorrected image. "Preview Settings" loads the settings that were used for correcting the previous image. "Own Defaults" opens the preset file that was either already specified, or if this is not the case, will prompt you for one. "Logged Settings" will try to open a preset that was automatically saved when you corrected the same image the last time.
If you click on the arrow-down button at the left of the Mode combo box, a menu will be displayed. This menu includes options for opening and saving presets and a list of all presets from the presets folders. A preset is file that stores the effect settings of LightMachine. It can be used to restore often needed settings.
Open Presets
Several global presets are already delivered with LightMachine, which can be useful as a starting point. They only deliver rough values, but they may be useful as a starting point for a manual color correction or artistic effect. They are located in the Presets sub folder of the installation folder. They change all settings of LightMachine. In contrast to that the local presets, which are located on tab sheets, only influence a few controls.
When you choose the Open Preset menu item, a file dialog displaying the files of the Presets sub folder appears and let you select a preset file. The folder of the last opened preset is displayed by default in the file dialog.
Save Preset
You can save the current
LightMachine settings as a preset with the help of the Save Preset menu item.
Please save presets into the Presets sub folder at
Windows 2000/XP: c:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application
Data\ThePluginSite\LightMachine\
Windows Vista/7: c:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\ThePluginSite\LightMachine\
otherwise they will not appear at the bottom of the menu.
You can open a saved preset again with the Open Preset menu item or by selecting them on the same menu.
Undo / Redo
The Undo / Redo option restores the control settings that were used before the preview was updated, because you changed a slider value, pressed a button or moved a spot light. If you didn't do any changes to the LightMachine settings and select this command a second time, it will perform a Redo and restore the settings that were used before you used the Undo / Redo command for the first time.
Preset Items
At the bottom of the menu is a list of LightMachine presets. In case you already saved presets in the application data folder (see "Save Preset" above), they are displayed first followed by a separation line. Then the included presets, which are located in the Presets sub folder of the installation folder, are shown.
If you choose a preset from this menu, it is immediately applied and changes all settings. Choosing a preset directly from the menu, is faster than hunting it with the Open Preset command.