4. 2x Feature request - permanent brightness dimming + dynamic brightness dimming

2x Feature request - permanent brightness dimming + dynamic brightness dimming

  • R

    Hi, have been using f.lux for years and I just love it. I really do, and I install it on every computer I happen to use :-)

    I have discovered today the brightness feature (ALT+Pg-up/pg-dn) which is outstanding for my personal PC as I have a DELL all-in-one and the minimum brightness I can set on the screen is far too high. Until I was tweaking the Intel driver reducing gamma and setting other weitd parameters which affected the picture quality. This F.lux feature seems to be exactly what I was looking for instead.

    On this very topic I would like to suggest:

    • Can the brightness (dimming) setting be made permanent on a daily basis and not one-off until Sunrise? With perhaps an option to apply during the day/night or both

    • Can the brightness be dynamic based on e.g. periodic inputs from the webcam?

    Many thanks for the great software!!
    :-)

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  • V

    I would like to second this request, and it's unfortunate it's gone unanswered all this time. I just started trying out f.lux, and so far it seems extremely functional and well-designed, but these two requests are exactly what I find to be lacking with it as well. Even with the blue light filtering, the monitor is just too bright for comfortable use most of the time, and so I have to darken it as well. I've been doing so with PangoBright for a few years now, but f.lux so far is proving to be a better and easier solution, and I do like the color temperature adjustment as well. But as I said, that's just not enough, and while f.lux's ability to adjust the brightness is great, it would be so much better if it could be automated on a schedule and, less crucially but still important, to have manual changes stay in effect permanently instead of just until the next sunrise (of course, this would only apply if the brightness isn't set to adjust on a schedule).

    There are a few other requests I have as well. One has been mentioned elsewhere, which is to make the size of the brightness steps customizable, perhaps even on a curve (there's only three steps between 100% and ~50% brightness and then another nine steps to ~0%). Another is to make the hotkeys configurable and add more hotkey options. I'd like to be able to choose the key combinations for different things (e.g., on my keyboard, in typical Lenovo fashion, they've put some keys in backwards and counter-intuitive places, and the page up key is to the left of the page down key, so I keep going the wrong way when adjusting the brightness). And it would also be nice to be able to set presets with key combinations to access them. And I'd also really like to be able to set one to cycle between 0% and normal (whatever it was at before going to 0% or, if controlled by a schedule, what it should be based on time) brightness, so I can very quickly maximally dim the screen then get it back to normal. And speaking of max dimming, when I first installed f.lux I was able to dim it completely, then one more step down would go to the Darkroom mode; however, after rebooting, it goes straight from very dim, but not completely black like before, to Darkroom mode, skipping over the point where it's totally dark. I'm not sure why it's changed, but I'd like it to function as before, so I can set the screen totally black.

    Also, I'm curious why f.lux controls brightness the way it does instead of using DDC. Dimming the backlight would be more energy-efficient and would likely look and work better. I imagine it wouldn't provide the same level of compatibility, but it seems like there should be an option to choose one method or another based on if the monitor supports DDC.

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  • C

    there are options that allow you to adjust daytime color on both v3 and v4 which can achieve same result of all day low brightness.

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  • V

    If that's the case, it's certainly not obvious how to do it. I don't see any way to do it, nor does it make sense it would even be possible, since changing the color temperature by definition does more than just shade/dim the display. If you're saying that by lowering the temperature it makes it less bright, sure, but it also makes everything look significantly different (yellow/orange tint), and that's not what I want. I want everything to look normal, just darker. If that's truly possible, I"d appreciate an explanation of how to do it or a link to an explanation or something. And even if it is possible, it just seems like adding a schedule ability, which the program already has, for the dimming ability, which the program already has, would be relatively easy, since you're just taking two already existing components and combining them, and then it would be much more obvious and user-friendly.

    By the way, I'm running the latest version (4.55), I just posted here in the v3 discussions since I felt it was better to do so in response to the OP, since it's dealing with the same thing and despite being on the newer version this remains the same, so it's still applicable.

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  • f.lux team

    Yes, we have been working on this for about 2 or 3 years, and we cut it at the last minute to get v4 done.

    There will be a version of this in the future - we think it is extremely important. But we have to be careful about it, because laptops go a lot of different places where the screens have to be readable, and also, there are tons of interactions with all the power-management software that comes with your computer. It seems like it would be easy until it isn't. :)

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  • V

    Thanks herf! That's good to hear. Any idea if the other things (adjustable steps and hotkeys) will likely be implemented? And do you have any ideas as to why I lost the ability to turn it down to 0% (completely black) after rebooting?

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  • f.lux team

    I don't think we've ever allowed completely black... What do you mean?

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  • V

    As I mentioned before, when I first installed it, I could use Alt+PgDn to make the screen almost completely black (it wasn't quite 0%, but probably 1-2%, as I could just barely see stuff). Then one more would switch it to Darkroom mode. After rebooting, without changing anything, it would no longer go that far dark. Now it only goes to 9% then straight to Darkroom, skipping over the ~0% step. I like to be able to turn it completely dark (e.g. to be able to blank the screen when watching TV without having to turn the monitor on and off) and was disappointed to see this functionality disappear after rebooting. I can only assume it's related to the reason why a screenshot taken while the screen was dimmed was also dim before rebooting, but after the reboot this problem went away (and btw, I originally thought the screenshot being dimmed was just how it was and was disappointed by that, until I searched the forum and found a post stating the behavior would change after rebooting).

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  • the dimming is bothering me i got my flux deleted then the dimming is still here >:(

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    C
     1 Reply
  • C

    @Andis-Olbiks install the softaare back, disable it in the software, then uninstall again

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  • R

    Is there any update on the OP please? I have installed the latest version (v4.55) and I still see no option to make brightness dimming a permanent setting.

    Thanks

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  • R

    bump bump

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  • E

    I would also like to have a setting to permanently change the brightness setting, instead of the brightness resetting every day at sunrise.

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