Filed under: Design, Internet, Linux, Open Source
Get that HDR look in Linux with Qtpfsgui
by David Chartier May 24th 2007 at 4:00PM
Before you ask: no, the headline is not a typo - Qtpfsgui is an app for the Linux users in the crowd that brings the oh-so hyper-realistic High Dynamic Range look to images without the need for a larger app like GIMP. However, Qtpfsgui isn't an image editor, per se - it only provides the specific tools for merging different exposures of the same image into an HDR image, so if you were shooting by hand or need to re-align one of your shots for some reason, Qtpfsgui is not the tool for those particular jobs.
Qtpfsgui works with JPEG, TIFF and RAW formats, but be careful if you edit any of these images before bringing them to Qtpfsgui, as it relies on the exposure data in the EXIF tags to properly HDR-ify your images.
Nathan Willis has a nice writeup at Linux.com covering more of what Qtpfsgui is capable of, otherwise you can snag your own copy from its home at SourceForge.
Thanks again FreeRhino
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Racetrack-Owner said 9:42PM on 5-24-2007
Qtpfsgui. And the Linux guys wonder why they haven't stormed the desktop market.
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Naser said 8:42AM on 5-25-2007
Ok, one question, can anyone tell me how this pronounced?
I for one am not using anything that I can't pronounce :)
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Naser said 8:42AM on 5-25-2007
Ok, one question, can anyone tell me how this pronounced?
I for one am not using anything that I can't pronounce :)
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Shunnabunich said 2:25PM on 5-25-2007
Naser: It's pronounced either "kew-tee-pee-eff-ess-gooey" or "I should've sprung for that goddamn Mac instead", depending on your mood. :P
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Squid said 5:43PM on 5-25-2007
The attitude here just shows how uneducated the average desktop user is. If what sells a product for you is not it's performance or usability but a slick name and marketing campaign, then we are in for a sad future of applications with tons of flash and little substance.
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Se7en said 5:51PM on 5-25-2007
"The attitude here just shows how uneducated the average desktop user is."
Oh, what elitist bullshit. You think you can only have one or the other? A lot of applications are both useful, and have decent marketing and yes, good and descriptive product names.
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Julian said 7:09PM on 5-25-2007
Please note one of the primary reasons FLOSS applications generally - not always - have odd/eccentric names is that they don't have the startup capital to register a trademark and/or fight a trademark dispute. It has nothing to do with a lack of marketing ambition per se.
Such names are part of what you must accept if you choose to use open-source applications a lot of the time.
If you want to know the scale of the problem, please refer to Apple's recent trademark of the word 'Numbers' for their up and coming accountancy application. An application with the acronym 'HDR' in it (like 'HDRTouch' or 'LinHDR') would be stepping on a giant's toes.
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bumpy said 7:03PM on 5-25-2007
"Oh, what elitist bullshit. You think you can only have one or the other?"
Get over yourself. What we have here in fact is one and not the other, and some guy who refuses to use a good product because of the name. Is that stupid or what?
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Tzafrir said 7:38PM on 5-25-2007
I'll happily use it, but how am I suppose to recommend it to my coworkers?
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Dave Chartier said 12:59AM on 5-26-2007
While I can appreciate having to dance around the behemoths in the software industry, I still don't buy that as an excuse for completely ridiculous names like Qtpfsgui. The Linux industry is OSS, which means these companies wouldn't have much of a reason to go after these apps unless they were directly ripping off the name of a major commercial product. There are a ton of 3rd party Windows and Mac OS X developers who offer all sorts of great software with equally great and relevant product names, many of them commercial software which means *these 3rd parties are making money with their products.* Just look at RapidWeaver for the Mac and all the 'pod' accessories and software available.
It's a tricky situation, sure, but nowhere near an impossible one. Great software can - and arguably should - have a great name.
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Eric said 2:10AM on 5-26-2007
I'm sure its a cool tool and everything, but the cryptic name will only create confused looks, and if someone does decide they like it, they won't be able to remember (or spell) the name to let their friends know.
Even if they did tell their friends, how are they going to google this if they only remember that there is a q and a t in the name?
"Qtpfsgui. And the Linux guys wonder why they haven't stormed the desktop market." Whoever made this seriously needs to do some serious rebranding. At least call it "Joe's cool HDR tool" or something that can be remembered...
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Jonathan Massey said 12:51PM on 5-26-2007
it's called qt pfs gui because it's a GUI for PFS that uses QT!!!
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bumpy said 10:33AM on 5-26-2007
The name is sensible if you examine it. Qt is for Qt4 (a Trolltech product), pfs is the internal file format, and gui should need no explanation.
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Eric said 1:52PM on 5-26-2007
The name is sensible if you have any clue to whatever it is you are talking about. So, Microsoft Word should be renamed "MSDOCWPGUI"? Photoshop "ADBPSDAPP".
Yeah, so refreshingly sensible...
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freakcode said 5:53PM on 5-26-2007
Wtf! Use the goddam app and stop picking out the name, stupid users!
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freakcode said 6:05PM on 5-26-2007
Ok you can call it "Flidr" (web 2.0-ish) or "PhotoMate" (mac-ish)
Now shutup and go use your Mac.
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