PCUGR Shareware SIG - February 23,
2002
Rawls Frazier,
Facilitator
rfrazier
Nice turnout - 9 people -
especially considering the facilitator's reminder was "bounced" by
Yahoogroups. (So much for modifying one's profile and then not testing with
a less critical note :-( Anyway, most of this SIGs focus was on digital
imaging to complement the February General Program. But there were a few
side trips as well.
To get started, Jerry
demonstrated how even a beginner can do some sophisticated image
manipulations with the tools available now for reasonable prices, showing
his photos of Steve, wherein he removed some distracting things from the
pictures. Impressive! Thanks, Jerry!
 Clover
Stornetta Farms |
| Next, we got side tracked right away! Just,
because, we
made a stop at Clo's
home to visit one of the "punniest" places on the net.
Lots of interesting stuff from our favorite bovine, especially the
collection of Clo billboards
from year's past. The place to go see Clo's line when you are on-line. |
Journal
E
Ok, back on
track. Journal E
is an interesting ezine which we used as a jumping point to some interesting
photography on the net. Clicking the photo
link gets you to a collection of photo essays. Unfortunately for those
present, we clicked on the "Photo" link in the middle of the page
and ended up at the "Media Lab" location instead of the desired
photo page. The link above will get you there! And it is worth
the visit. Currently featured is an impressive gallery of nature photographs
by Mark Oatney. I was most impressed by his creative use of soft focus and
color. As impressive, is the nice fade-in display of the photographs by the
site. For something more avant garde, click on the PDNOnline
link.
Back at the Journal E home
page, we clicked on the MSNBC partner link and then surfed over to the Olympic
picture page. Wow! The collection here are truly gorgeous! Each day has
it's own set of featured photographs and each photo is a winner. For those
interested in photography of any sort (digital or otherwise), these are
inspiring examples of composition and color. For everyone else, these are a
great photo essay of the games. Take a look.
ConnectCheck
ConnectCheck
bills itself as the DSL and Cable Modem Quality of Service site. Basically
one registers with the site, downloads a specialized application and uses
this combination to benchmark speed performance. Statistics are kept such
that the current speed, prior 6 hrs, prior day, and last 30 days can be
viewed. One can also learn about general performance in selected areas
(e.g., one's zipcode). The service is free however the provider asks that
you supply some general information about the type of connection you have
and who your ISP is. In addition to information
provided to you about your connection speeds, ConnectCheck provides
aggregate information to DSL and cable modem providers.
2Flyer
Screen Saver Builder
2Flyer screen saver builder
is a shareware ($15) program for building screen savers out of your images. The program is straightforward to use
- the interface pictorially leads you through the process to build the saver. Image selection is first
(individual images or whole folders), followed by music, if desired
(multiple music files, looped or not), then transition effects followed by
some other options (captions, image sizing, background colors, how the saver
responds to mouse or keyboard actions, etc.) and, finally, building the
project as an executable install file. All along the way a preview button is
available to monitor progress. Projects can be saved for later
completion or reuse / modification. A "pro" version is also
available for those who want to add video or flash animations or create web
based screen savers.
HotMedia
The next item we looked
at was IBM's HotMedia, a free, Java based program for incorporating
interactive media into web pages without the need for specialized servers or
plug-ins. This software is truly an industrial strength development tool and
rather than dive into it's considerable depths, we focused on one feature,
the "virtual tour". These are panoramas (including 360°
wrap-arounds) that you can scroll back and forth or up and down with your
mouse or set to automatically sweep by themselves. We took a look at some examples
to demonstrate what was possible. Realtors and people renting properties can
obviously make great use of this type of presentation, but it is also a nice
way to enliven a personal slide show. For those looking for something less
complex and willing to pay for commercial software, take a look at Roxio's
(ex-MGI) Photovista
panorama software.
Vueslide
Screen saver creators, virtual tour makers and next - slide show software. Vueslide
has got to be the simplest to use. Just put the program file (there is only
one file - no install) in the folder with your .jpg, .gif or .bmp files and
start 'er up. The program displays the files one after the other, changing
every 5 seconds. One can manually navigate with the space bar or backspace
key. Clicking the left mouse button zooms in while right clicking zooms out.
A sample
autorun.inf file is also available for those who want to use Vueslide on
a self-running CD. Freeware from Hamrick Software.
Photoplayer
Another
slideshow program we took a look at was Photoplayer
from Unidream. This comes in two versions - one freeware and the other,
"plus" version, $20 shareware. We took a look at the freeware
program, which just does the basic slide show. The plus version adds
features like annotations, batch file renaming & resizing, and the
ability to create web (HTML) slide shows. Both of these programs feature the
ability to create a custom autorun.inf file so you can put your files on a
self-running CD. Both also come as single .exe files, so there is no special
install needed. The author calls this "greenware" because it
doesn't pollute your system with files all over the place. The software also
doesn't write to the registry unless you tell it to "memorize" the current settings.
Starting the freeware
program is a bit slow - it takes a while for it to scan the folders on the
system. But once done you are presented with a two pane Windows Explorer
like view. On the left is the usual tree of folders (which can be hidden at
the click of a button) and, when pointed to a folder with images, pictures
are displayed on the right. By default, when started, the software displays
the images in slide show mode. A well labeled tool bar at the top of the
window gives you complete control from there. The memorize settings feature remembers all the current settings including which folder is
being displayed and significantly speeds up program loading. Alternatively,
one could create a shortcut to the program and use command line arguments for
the same effect. The custom autorun.inf function uses a friendly dialog to
create such a command line. Besides the window view, a full screen mode is
available to present the pictures without any other windows, the taskbar or
other tool bars to interfere. Access to the program controls in this mode is
via the right mouse button.
Overall, a nice slide show
program. The only thing missing is music!
LPJ
Slide Show
OK. If it is a multimedia slide show you desire and still want freeware, then
take a look at LPJ
Slide Show. The price you pay is for a more complicated program, but,
hey, not everything is really free :-) The easiest way to use this
program is to put it in the same folder with your images (there is an .exe
and two .dlls that need to be in the same folder). Then just start it up and
the slide show will begin. By default any sub-folders with images in them
will be displayed as well. Want to control this behavior? You can use
command line arguments or you can use an .ini file (a documented example is
provided). It was, however, a bit tricky to figure out all the .ini
settings needed to actually make using the .ini file work. But once done,
this was probably the best way to utilize the software.
When running, the software
displays a simple text menu across the top of the screen (this can be turned
off) which allows you to pause the show, change the speed images are
displayed, access the list of images and go directly to a particular one,
etc. A single help screen is accessible by pressing F-1 which lists all the
options. One option included with the program is a delete function - rather
dangerous for a image viewer, although it can be defeated by setting the
read-only file attribute.
As far as music goes, the
software will play .mp3 files, one after the other in name order, found in
the same folder the program resides in. A function key can toggle the music
on and off. The software is a bit stressed playing the music and
displaying the images - at least on the group computer: the music broke up
some when images were quickly changed. Perhaps with today's faster machines
that doesn't happen.
EXIFViewer
EXIFViewer
is a handy freeware program to look at the embedded text information placed
inside JPEG files, typically by digital cameras. When a folder containing
images isd inside this program, it displays a thumbnail on the left
and the EXIF information in a scrollable window on the right. Images without
such information simply result in an error message. Any of the EXIF data
can be highlighted and copied to the clipboard for use elsewhere (e.g., a
database program). A handy set of right-left arrows are provided to
facilitate navigating through a folder of many images. Although many other
image viewers and editors give access to the EXIF information, this one
stands out for the nice organization and ease of use. The only negative note
is a thumbnail creation function that didn't work correctly.
How to write an essay look here Automatic Essay Writer,- EssaysReasy.com. ImageN
The next
program we examined was an interesting image editor with an unusual user
interface. Starting ImageN
produces a floating picture of a camera. None of the more usual window
frame, menus or toolbars are present. And there are no obvious "controls" on
the camera image, either. The secret is simply to right-click, whereupon a
menu pops up with access to all the functions of the program. Rather than go
into all the features, suffice it to say this program has a fairly full
array of image editing and viewing options as well as support for TWAIN
devices (i.e., scanners) and some digital cameras. The most severe
limitation as an image editor was the lack of being able to select certain
areas and apply various adjustments to only those selections. On the other
hand, the program had a really nice database function that automatically
created a thumbnail index of image folders visited while using the program.
Once created, these thumbnail indexes came up fast and were easy to use to
access an image for editing. Another nice feature of these indexes was being
able to add descriptive text. A search function lets you scan the database
for images that contain all or some of this text, very handy for culling out
groups of photos (e.g., family birthdays only or flowers only, etc.) from a
large collection.
Other features available,
but not explored are a function help create a CD with images that includes a
copy of the program configured to start automatically and a built in web
server for those who want to share photos directly onto the net from their
own computer rather than loading them onto another server (e.g., their ISPs
server). An interesting aspect of this web server is that no external HTML
files are created - thumbnail and image "pages" are created
on-the-fly. (A security caution: running the web server while connected to
the Internet can allow outsiders to make connections to your machine. Be
careful.) Freeware from Pixoid.
PhotoExplorer
Ulead Software, maker of many programs and utilities for image
manipulation, offers their PhotoExplorer
version 6 as Freeware! (Actually, the program is ad supported, although
the ads are just Ulead's.) Some features are missing, most notably support
for GIF files, but overall, this is another useful image editor. (The
missing features are available for purchase in the latest, commercial
version of this software.) Unlike the iconoclastic ImageN, this program
presents a conventional windowed interface with a toolbar filled with
colorful icons, an Explorer like folder tree on the left side and file view
on the right, automatically displaying images as thumbnails. Double clicking
a thumbnail transforms the Explorer like view into a single image view from
which various editing functions can be done. A toolbar button returns back
to the Explorer style view. Image editing is very basic:
straighten/rotate; crop; brightness/contrast and a limited color balance
control. But, the program does provide the option to link editing to a more
capable program. TWAIN support and a function to read images out of cameras
is provided (but was not tested). Thumbnails or images can be printed
directly from the software.
A very easy to use
slideshow creator is provided. Just drag and drop the images from the
thumbnail view onto a "story board" like area. Click the
"show" button and preview the results. An export button converts
the show into a set of HTML documents that you can share with others. A
screen saver builder is supplied as well which creates a .scr file, but
sharing this, while possible, is not automated at all and rather
complicated. That's too bad as the saver that can be built is rather nice -
control of music, transitions, etc is possible on the final product, outside
of PhotoPlayer.
Other nice touches include
an option to send a picture via email, a "drop spot" to a Ulead
provided site where a user can upload and share pictures and easy access to
image information, including EXIF data. Besides the PhotoExplorer, Ulead
also nicely provides some other free stuff worth taking a look at:
http://www.ulead.com/download/free.htmi
To finish things off, Steve
shared with us some hilarious games at miniclip.com (give "Hangaroo"
a try :-) And, speaking of Steve, go to http://stephen.freeshell.org/
if you are looking for a good selection of freeware links.
Thanks, as always, to Bernie Stepan
for the meeting room, Internet connection and coffee supplies
at RE/MAX Marina, Petaluma.
RE/MAX Marina
775 Baywood Dr. #100
Petaluma, CA
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