Graphics

Your raw files,and nothing destroyed

darktable, on a Void Linux desktop of your own.Cull on the lighttable, develop in the darkroom, export to the volume.

darktable 5.6.04 cores · 8 GBOpens in a browser tab

hub://darktable

$ dxflow workflow create --identity darktable hub://darktable --start --link

01Pick a machinecores, memory and a rate per hour

02Create the workflowpulled from the hub, once

03Run it, then stopstopped when the work is done

The application

Edits are a recipe,never the file

Every change is stored beside the raw, so the original is always there.

Lighttable first

Import a card, rate and colour-label, and find the frames worth working on.

The darkroom modules

Exposure, colour balance, denoise and lens correction, in a history you can rewind.

Export the set

Apply a style to a hundred frames and write JPEGs out in one pass.

How you run it

Every defaultis one override away

The session reads its settings from the environment, so you set them on the start line.

VNC_PASSWORDWhat the tab asks for. It ships as dxflow, and everyone reading this knows that.

PANEL and TASKBARBoth hidden, so the lighttable has the whole screen. Show either one to get the desktop back.

AUDIOOff here. Turn it on and the desktop sound is streamed beside the picture.

start it your way

$ dxflow workflow start darktable --override env.app.VNC_PASSWORD=something-long

$ dxflow workflow start darktable --override env.app.TASKBAR=show --link

The session

The lighttablefills the screen

Streamed to your browser, with darktable already maximized.

6082Browserin the tab, at /vnc.html

5901VNCin a native client

/volumeStorageyour files, kept between runs

Open it from anywhereStart with --link and the session comes back on an HTTPS address.

Set a password firstVNC_PASSWORD defaults to dxflow, and everyone can read this page.

Good to know

The raw fileis never touched

Everything you do is an edit history beside the image, which is what makes a shared volume a sensible place to keep a shoot.

Non-destructive by design

The developed look lives in a sidecar and the database. Go back a year later and every step is still adjustable.

Export is where the time goes

Culling is light; developing a set of raws is not. More cores turn a batch export from a coffee break into a moment.

Keep the library on the volume

Raws, sidecars and the database under /volume means the catalogue is still yours at the next start.

The image

Pulled once,then it stays

darktable arrives as one image. This is what comes down the first time, and what the disk should have free for it.

380Mamd64compressed, the way the registry counts it

376Marm64compressed, the way the registry counts it

20GOn diskunpacked, with room to work beside it

ghcr.io/dxflow-ai/darktable:latestPublished from the hub, pulled on the first start and kept for the ones after it.

Either architectureamd64 and arm64 are both published, and the machine pulls the one it runs.

What it asks for

What it wants,and what it needs

The definition asks for 4 cores and 8 GB. The image comes up on less than that, and a start given --fit trims the ask to whatever the machine actually has.

4 cores · 8 GBAsks forwhat the definition writes down

2 cores · 4 GBRuns onthe least the image comes up on

Not neededGPUit works on the cores alone

The ask is not the floorThe definition writes down what suits the work. The image itself starts on less, which is what the second figure is.

--fit caps it to the hostA start given --fit trims each step to what the machine actually has, for that start alone. The definition is never rewritten.

Machines that fit it

darktable asks for 4 cores and 8 GB. Cheapest first.

E2 Standard-4

$0.168/ hour4 cores · 16 GBStart this machine

T4g XLarge

$0.168/ hour4 cores · 16 GBStart this machine

C7g XLarge

$0.181/ hour4 cores · 8 GBStart this machine

Run darktable on your own machinePick a machine that meets it, and it opens about a minute after you ask.

Start darktable Browse workflows