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Qimage Pro

Qimage Pro

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Overview
Listing of major functions
FAQ
Operational Notes
Troubleshooting
Visit the Qimage Pro homepage for the latest release

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The fastest way to learn

Here's how to be a pro at Qimage Pro... in minutes!

If you are new to Qimage Pro, you may find it easiest to simply take a tour of the software.  You can do this by starting Qimage Pro and pointing at different functions or objects on the screen.  Simply hold the mouse pointer steady for two seconds over any object or function on the Qimage Pro screen and a hint will appear.  The hint will inform you of the intended use of the function and may suggest other ways to perform similar functions.

This will help familiarize you with Qimage Pro software, and if you need more detailed help you can always go to the "Contents" section of the help system later.  It will also allow you to try a function immediately after reading the hint.

One final note: a function must be "active" for you to be able to view the hint.  For example, to view the hint associated with the "Edit" button, you must first add at least one image to the queue so that "Edit" is an active function.  In other words, you cannot get hints for functions that are "grayed out".

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Overview

Overview

Qimage is designed to take the hassle out of arranging photographs on a page when printing multiple photos. Using an image editor to line up photos page by page is very labor intensive and time consuming. The Qimage concept is a basic but powerful one: allow users to select multiple images for printing and the ability to select the size of each image, without concern for placement on the printed page. A close example of this concept can be seen in today's word processors. Word processing now requires only a minimal amount of manual formatting. Word processors know when it is time to word wrap, time for the next page, know how to keep indentations, automatically repaginate when words/sentences/etc are removed, and so on. Why shouldn't this level of ease exist when creating a "document" containing images? Well, now it does.

What is an Image Document?

Imagine how cumbersome it would be to create a text-based document the way that most image editing programs operate. Look at the paragraph above and imaging that you have to select each word separately and click/drag each word to the proper position separately. Sounds silly, but that is exactly what you are forced to do with the average image editor or printing program. Qimage breaks this habit by introducing a sense of organization to image printing and expanding the focus to the document level. At this level, it is unnecessary to select, drag or manually manipulate images on the printed page.

Image printing on a simple level

When you think about the needs of the digital photographer at the simplest level, he or she needs the capability to identify multiple images for printing. In addition, these images must generally fit within certain limitations by choice (more important/detailed images may need to be printed larger) or necessity (image is being printed for a certain size frame). In both cases, it is easiest to identify the restrictions (bounds) for which the printed image must fit. Once, the bounds of each image are selected, Qimage can paginate the document in a variety of ways while minimizing paper use. The digital photographer's needs will dictate what options are used to automatically paginate (place) images on the printed page(s).

Understanding image bounds

Each image placed in the print queue is automatically placed on the page and arranged based on a variety of options. One factor affecting image placement is size. Obviously, the larger the image, the less images of that size will fit on a single page. The first requirement in Qimage document creation is identification of printed size. Qimage uses bounds to identify image size. Bounds identify the requested image size both horizontally (width) and vertically (height). Identification of bounds is simplified by the fact that you need only identify a general size. For example, let's say 24 images have been downloaded from a digital camera and are ready for printing. The desired size of each printed image is 5 x 3. Whether the images will be cut from the page and placed in individual frames or will simply remain on each page for placement in an album, it is desirable to identify the ideal size (5 x 3) and let Qimage fit the image as close as possible to this size. To do this, the user selects 5 x 3 bounds, marks all 24 images, adds them to the queue and clicks "Print". Each image will be printed within a 5 x 3 "frame" on the page. Qimage will size each image as close to 5 x 3 as possible without any of the image being "cut off". For example, let's say that all images are 1280 x 1024 in resolution. The largest size possible that will fit in a 5 x 3 frame at 1280 x 1024 resolution is 3.75 x 3.0, so all images will print at 3.75 x 3 inches because if the image were any larger, the height would exceed 3 inches.

Automatic pagination

Now that size(s) have been selected and images placed in the queue, Qimage will automatically place all images on page(s) and create the printed document. There are a variety of options available that control how automatic placement is performed (see Qimage Functions below for more details). These placement options range from "Compact" to "Template" and are well suited for anything from minimizing paper use to lining up images to minimize paper cutting. Placement options can be changed "on the fly" and the image document will automatically repaginate images to conform to the new style. In addition, when images are removed/added to the document queue, the document is automatically repaginated to allow for the change thereby eliminating the need to perform this laborious step manually.

Note that an image document is paginated in a similar fashion to a text document (left to right, top to bottom). This is an important concept to understand if you would like to get three 4 x 6 prints on a page. Since Qimage prints left to right first and will not go back up to fill "holes" in the page, "Portrait" page orientation must be selected along with 4 x 6 bounds. This will ensure three 4 x 6 prints on each page.

Page editing when manual adjustments are needed

Qimage also allows the capability to make manual adjustments to images in the document (size, positioning, rotation, etc). Use the "Page Editor" to perform these tasks and to preview the document prior to printing.

What are associative filters and batch filtering?

Qimage Pro now offers batch filtering. Batch filtering can be used to modify the contrast, brightness, sharpness, etc. of any number of images with a single command. Filters can be saved, restored, and applied to all images in the queue, or individual images. Batch filters can address digital camera-specific problems (some cameras produce images that are too soft, oversaturated, etc) or photographic sessions that were performed in non-optimal conditions (large room with inadequate flash, etc). Modified images can be resaved, or you can simply choose to associate the filter with the original image. Associative filters are a powerful option that allows the original image to be archived/unmodified. When a filter is associated with an image, Qimage Pro will open the original image and apply the filter prior to ALL operations (including thumbnails). This is particularly powerful when dealing with JPEG images. Associative filters ensure that: (1) you do not have to save another copy of the modified image and (2) since the original image is still intact, reapplying the same filters to the original image ensures that no JPEG compression is lost. Storage is saved (less than 50 bytes are needed to store the filter) and maximum image quality retained. No more saving modified images in an uncompressed format to avoid further JPEG losses! See the Batch Filter function below for more detail. See the FAQ at the bottom of this document for useful tips on using associative filters.

Print Interpolation

Qimage Pro now offers two types of high quality print interpolation methods: bicubic spline and Mitchell interpolation.  Interpolation can greatly increase printed quality when images are printed at large print sizes.

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Qimage Pro Functions

Qimage Pro Functions

Add to Queue
Auto Rename
Batch Filters (to enhance/crop images)
Blemish/pixel corrector
Bounds (to enter size manually)
Context Sensitive Help
CCD Noise Filters (dark current, shadow noise, and high ISO filters)
Comparator
Cropping Images (to fill print size exactly)
Cutouts (framing images)
Delete Filters
Editor Functions
EXIF Hotbar
EXIF info (view image info)
Exposure correction
For Best Fit
File Dropdown Menu
Folder History
Freehand - manually placing images on the page
Full screen view
Global Filter
Hairline Border (around all images)
Image Positioning
Info Stamp
Interface (filenames versus thumbnails)
Interpolation (increasing resolution)
Lossless JPEG Transforms
Margins
Mirror
Page Editor - defined
Page Orientation (portrait/landscape)
Page Preview
Plugins
Preview first option (when viewing filenames only)
Print Image Information (under each print when printing)
Print Prescaling
Printer Font
Printer Setup
Quick Size (Drop Frames)
Red Eye Correction
Save Page (to file)
Scrapbooks
Selected Thumbs/Files (Copy, Move, Rename, Auto Rename, Delete, Recycle)
Slide Show (to view images in the queue full screen)
Templates (creating manual templates and retaining image positions)
Thumbnail font
Thumbnail Manager
Units (of measure)
Utilities (file manager, Flash card copy/move)

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: I can't seem to get three 4 x 6 prints on one page? If I want to print 4x6 or 6x4 prints and get three on a single page, how do I do it?

A: Because of the algorithm used to place images, you need to set up the document in portrait mode and select 4 x 6 size (not 6 x 4) to be able to get three 4x6 images on one page. To do this, simply click the "Document" tab and set the "Page Orientation" setting to "Portrait". Then, make sure that the "Images" tab indicates 4 x 6 size. Note that due to mechanical limitations, some printers are not capable of printing 8 x 10 or larger on one sheet of paper. If you look at the small preview page on the main screen, Qimage Pro lists the maximum printable area on the page. This area is limited by: printer border limitations and page margins set in Qimage Pro. If the printable area above the preview page on the main screen of Qimage Pro indicates a width less than 8 inches or height less than 10 inches, it is not possible to print three 4 x 6 images on one page. If your page margins in Qimage Pro are set to zero and you still have a printable area less than 8 x 10 inches, the limitation is due to printer mechanicals and it will not be possible (with any program) to print three 4 x 6 images on one page. In this case, you'll have to reduce the size slightly to get three images on a page.

Q: What's the big deal about associative filters? Why do you say they are so powerful?

A: In digital imaging (like many things in life), it is always important to retain the original. This becomes especially important when using lossy compression schemes such as the JPEG (JPG) images downloaded from most cameras. Associative filters allow you to maintain the original/untouched image but associate some needed "whole picture" filtering/enhancement. By creating a filter that is applied to the original image, we bypass two major hurdles: (1) There will be no further JPEG losses to "modified" images, and (2) the "modified" image does not have to be resaved because the filter is automatically applied every time Qimage Pro opens the image... for literally every operation. Number (2) becomes very important in a "JPEG world" because due to the fact that JPEG compression losses are additive, we would have to save the modified image in an uncompressed (or at least much larger) image format to retain the kind of quality that you can get from associative filters.

Q: How can I use associative filters to automatically rotate images that are taken in portrait mode with my digital camera.

A: This is one of the simplest uses for an associative filter. Just follow these steps.

(1) Navigate to the folder that contains the images. Select all images (by looking at the thumbnails) that are rotated.

(2) Add these images to the queue... you are now ready to use a batch associative filter on images in the queue.

(3) Click the "Queue actions" tab and then click "Batch Filter"

(4) The first image in the queue is displayed. Click in the "Rotate" box in the upper right and enter 90 (or -90 depending on which way you want to rotate).

(5) Click "Filtered" under "View:" at the bottom. If the image on screen is rotated the correct way, we are ready to batch process. If not, simply enter a new value in "Rotate" and press the "Filtered" button again. Remember that you do not have to reset the image to the original before making a change to a parameter. All parameters apply to the original.

(6) Click "Go" on the top menubar and select "Apply filter..."

(7) When the Application window pops up, select "All images..." under "Scope"

(8) Next click "Associate" and then click "Ok"

A very small associative filter (file) will be saved with each image in the queue. Qimage Pro will read the filter and use it for every operation (including thumbnails, printing, etc.). By doing this, you avoid wasted space (because another (rotated) version of the image is never saved). You also avoid any/all JPEG losses that would be present in a re-saved JPEG file. Since Qimage Pro opens the original file (unrotated) and then applies filter parameters, there are no JPEG losses.

Q: I have created a complex filter that I want to save for use later, but I don't want to apply it to any images. How do I do this.

A: Simply go to the batch filter, create your filter, and then click the "Load/Save" button on the top menubar and then click "Save...". The saved filter is saved by default in the Qimage Pro folder. To test it or apply it later, just repeat the process and select "Load..." rather than "Save...".

Q: Some images have filters that I no longer want applied. How can I remove the filters?

A: Follow the process outlined above (in the 8 steps). When you get to step 4, click the "Clear parameters" button near the bottom of the filters panel. Skip step 5 and continue with steps 6-8. The Application dialog will recognize that you selected a neutral filter (all zeros) and will actually delete the filter files (*.flt) from associated folders/images for images in the queue.

Q: More complex filters seem to take longer to load/print. Is this normal?

A: Yes. Qimage Pro only performs filtering/enhancement when needed. In other words, if all you do is rotate an image, Qimage Pro only performs a rotation and skips all other steps. The more non-zero values that you enter, the longer Qimage Pro will take to view/print images. Qimage Pro, however, is very efficient about calculations and the processing time associated with filters is normally small if not negligible. Due to the initial high print speed of Qimage Pro, filters should not add any significant time to your printing/viewing chores.

Q: I understand that associative filters do not modify the original file, but how does Qimage Pro handle images that have a rotation filter. Will these get rotated twice if the software "automatically rotates" images to fit within bounds?

A: Don't think about it that way. Think of it exactly like you "really" rotated the image. Qimage Pro handles all the details so that every operation is done as if you had actually resaved the file (except there will be no JPEG losses like there would if you actually resaved a JPEG file). Of course, other programs will still see the original as "the original".

Q: I would like to view/print my images in black and white. Can I do this without selecting black ink only on my print driver?

A: Sure. Just set an associative filter that has -100 in the "All Channels" saturation and batch process the images in the queue. Be aware though, that you'll lose whatever filters (if any) that you had before.

Q: I set an associative filter with a sharpen value of 2. Now I want to increase this to 4. If I enter "4" in the sharpness parameter is the filter going to add "4" to the previous "2" and get "6"?

A: No. Filters are not additive. Any filter you set is identifying new parameters.

Q: Some of my image folders have Qimage Pro thumbnails (files with {Q} extension). I would like to remove thumbnails from directories that I no longer access. How can I accomplish this?

A: Simply "uncheck" the "Save thumbs" box under "Interface" on the main screen. The "Refresh thumbs" button will change to "Delete thumbs". Navigate to any folder you wish. If the current folder contains thumbnails, the "Delete thumbs" button will be enabled. If no thumbnails exist in the current directory, the button will be grayed out. Simply press the "Delete thumbs" button and Qimage Pro will erase all thumbnails in the directory. Remember, you do not have to save these files if you do not want to. On faster machines, thumbnails are not usually needed. When you "uncheck" the "Save thumbs" box, Qimage Pro will not save any thumbnails to disk. The above is no longer true beginning with v5.0. Thumbnails are now stored in the program files/qimage/thumbs folder. If you have thumbnails in image directories from using an older version of Qimage Pro, the new version will migrate these thumbs to the new directory and delete the old versions as you access the folder.

Q: How do I select multiple thumbnails or files and drag them to any position on the page.

A: You can click on a thumbnail/file in the list to select it. To mark more than one, hold the Ctrl key down before you press the mouse button on the next image (like any Windows function). Once you have all the thumbnails marked, click anywhere in the thumbnails and hold the left mouse button down. Keep holding the button while you drag the mouse pointer over to the small preview page in the upper right. When you release the left mouse button on the small preview page, the images will be placed on that page at the location dropped. Note that if you want to drop the images before an image on the preview page, drop them on the left side of that image. Dropping the images on the right side of an image on the preview page places the new images after the image on the preview page. If you drop images on white space (not pointing to an image), the images will not be placed on that page. Instead they will simply be added to the end of the document. These three techniques allow you to perform any and all add functions by simply dragging images.

Q: I know Qimage Pro has the capability of adding text annotations, but I can't find the function. Where is it?

A: More detailed page editing functions can be found in the page editor. Once you have added images to your document, click the page editor button. You may now click the right mouse button on any image on the page for a full list of editing options. Select "Text Annotation" from the options list and you will be prompted for the annotation for the selected image.

Q: Images on the page editor look grainy. I would like to see more detail. How do I do this?

A: Qimage has many options which allow the user to either save time, or see detailed information depending on need. If images look grainy in the page editor, it is because the "view" option at the top of the screen is set to "Thumbs/Small Images". When this setting is in effect, Qimage loads the thumbnails to save time. To see the detailed image in high resolution, simply change the "view" option at the top of the screen to "All Images".

Q: I use a folder for editing many images and have deleted some old images and added some new ones. How can I delete the old thumbnails (files with {Q} extension) and create new ones for the new images?

A: Just click the "refresh thumbs" button. This will delete all old thumbnails and create new ones based on what is currently in the directory/folder.

Q: I have some folders with hundreds of images in them. I like to keep Qimage Pro in the "thumbnail" mode all the time, but when I go to a new folder that has many images, do I have to wait for Qimage Pro to load the thumbnails before I begin adding images?

A: No. Qimage is loading the thumbnails in the background. You may perform any operation you like while Qimage Pro is loading thumbnails. You may select thumbnails that have already been loaded while Qimage Pro is still loading more, and if you know the name of images further down on the list, you can even select them before the thumbnail appears. Keep in mind that Qimage Pro will only need to load the thumbnails once if you check the "Save thumbs" box. The next time you go into the folder/directory, Qimage will load the thumbnails very quickly.

Q: I would like to leave a margin on one side of the paper so that I can punch holes, etc. Can this be done?

A: Most print drivers have an option that allows you to select a "custom paper size". Open your print driver and click the "properties" button. Select "paper size" and locate the option to create a custom paper size. You can then enter the size of the area you would like to print on, and the print driver should take care of the rest.

Q: When I select "Print file information", sometimes the filename, resolution, date, etc. print, but sometimes only the filename prints. What am I doing wrong?

A: The amount of information that can be printed depends on the size of the printed image. For example, if you print images at 4 x 6, probably all of the information will be printed. If you then decide to print 2 x 3 images, it is possible that only the filename will fit under the image. It all depends on the size of the printed image.

Q: What does the "swap" button do in the page editor?

A: For any image that is not square (same horizontal and vertical resolution), this will have the effect of rotating the image 90 degrees. This is true only if the "for best fit" option on the main screen bounds is set to "rotate image". The swap button simply has the effects of turning the bounds 90 degrees. What Qimage does when the bounds are turned 90 degrees always depends on the settings under "for best fit".

Q: When downloading images from my digicam floppy adapter, I have to click dozens of times on different directories, go to the A: drive, select the folder, mark the files, create a new directory to store them in, copy them, etc. How can I simplify the tedious steps of downloading images from a digital camera floppy adapter (or other file source).

A: Use the File Utilities, Copy/Move Images option. See instructions under "File Utilities" above.

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Operational Notes

Overall operational Notes

u u Spool space - Qimage preserves full image detail when printing to your printer, regardless of print size. For this reason, your printer may require a very large hard drive "spool" space. Requirements of over 100 megabytes of spool space are not uncommon when printing a few dozen images in one image document. Please make sure that your print spooler or print driver is pointing to a drive with plenty of free space for spooling high resolution images.

Qimage performance - Qimage literally loads the binary image from each image file and passes this information directly to the Windows print driver. This method is conversion-free and ensures the highest possible print quality. If your printer is printing slowly, or Qimage is taking longer than expected to print, please check your print driver/spooler settings or check with the manufacturer for information on optimizing printing for your printer. Any delays in printing will be the result of print driver/spooler setup, not Qimage. When your print driver/spooler are set properly, Qimage will normally finish printing a document with several dozen high resolution images in a minute or two on even the slowest Pentium computers. Your print spooler should then feed data to your printer as fast as the printer can handle it. This can take a substantial amount of time on some printers, but your system should be free to perform other tasks while your printout is being spooled.

Thumbnail storage - Qimage no longer stores thumbnails in the same directory as the original images (beginning in v5.0). Qimage thumbnails are always about 10k or less in size and are stored in the program files/qimage/thumbs folder. To prevent the saving of thumbnails on the hard drive, simply un-check the "Save thumbs" box on the main screen. You can also click "Utilities", "Thumbnail Manager" to use explorer to clean up old thumbnails.

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Trouble Shooting

Troubleshooting

This section is designed to help all users troubleshoot problems that may arise when using Qimage Pro. The following is a list of common problems that can occur during operation. Since Qimage Pro allows a wide range of flexibility in program options, many of the errors listed occur because of bad (corrupted) images, improper settings, bad video or print drivers, etc.

Problem	Resolution
Thumbnails on main screen do not display entirely, are smudged, or do not update properly.	There are several things that can cause this problem: 1. Your video board may not be able to support video acceleration when set to the high setting. Check http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/imaging/notice.htm for details on how to reduce video acceleration.  2. Your video driver may not be able to support the thumbnail font that you are using. Select "Options", "Thumbnail Font" and try a smaller/different font.  3. A video driver bug. If the above fails, you will need to download a new driver for your video board. Download the video driver from the manufacturer of your video board, NOT the manufacturer of your computer.
When pinting, an error appears such as "Incorrect Parameter", "Win32 Error" or the program finishes printing but a blank page is ejected from the printer.	The most common cause of this error is that the print driver ran out of memory and could not handle the amount of data being passed to it by Qimage Pro. Check "Options", "Print Interpolation" and make sure that the threshold is set no higher than 200 dpi. Values above about 260 dpi take an immense amount of memory and do not result in higher print resolution.
When printing a contact sheet with many small images, an error message appears such as "Win32 Error", etc.	When printing many small images on one page, much less memory will be required if you use print prescaling. Try "Options", "Print Prescaling" and make sure the option is on.
Any other error message appears while printing, especially on an HP Inkjet printer.	Some HP Inkjet printers need to be passed data at the "native" resolution (dpi) of the printer. Access "Options", "Print Prescaling" and try the option both "on" and "off" to see which works best for you.
An error appears as you move the mouse pointer over the thumbnail or file area, or an error appears on startup (most often the address 00916CD).	One or more of the images in the current folder could be corrupted or unreadable for some reason. When you move the mouse over the thumbs/filenames, the EXIF Hotbar attempts to display EXIF information on the bottom status bar. If this happens, try turning off the hotbar using "Options", "Interface", "EXIF Hotbar" and uncheck the option. When starting Qimage Pro, make sure not to move the mouse pointer over the thumbnails until you turn off the EXIF Hotbar. If you are unable to start the program, try starting Qimage Pro in safe mode by holding the shift key as you start the program. You can then turn off the EXIF hotbar and reset the interface to thumbs if you like.
A message such as "EPrinter Error" appears immediately on startup of Qimage Pro.	This indicates that the settings normally stored by Qimage Pro regarding your printer, have become corrupted. You can start Qimage Pro in "safe" mode by holding down the Shift key as you start Qimage Pro. This should clear the error.
Any other startup problem is occuring which prevents Qimage Pro from starting up.	There are two files that control all the settings in Qimage Pro. If all else fails, you can delete these two files to "reset" Qimage Pro to "factory defaults". c:\program files\qimage\qimage.ini c:\program files\qimage\qimage.prn
Print output is blocky or "pixelated".	You may have print interpolation turned off. Check "Options", "Print Interpolation" and make sure the Threshold is set to at least 120 dpi but no higher than 200 dpi for normal use (160 dpi recommended).
Print output is blurry or soft.	You may have the print interpolation threshold set too high. In this case, images may get interpolated before they actually need interpolation. As above, check "Options", "Print Interpolation" and set the threshold to about 160 dpi.
Print output has horizontal lines.	This is most likely due to a bad or empty print cartrige. Run your printer through it's quality test to determine if the cartrige needs to be replaced.
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Add to queue

Add to Queue - add the images selected in the top window to the queue (bottom window) at the size shown under "Bounds". As alternatives, you may double click thumbnails to add one at a time, press the insert key, or drag the selected images onto the preview page in the upper right corner of the main screen. When you drop the images, they will be placed on the page/position where you dropped them.

Access:

u Right click in the thumbnail view. When the popup menu appears, select "Add to queue".

u Press the insert key.

u Drag directly to the preview page (upper right).

u Double click to add one at a time.

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Auto Rename

Auto Rename - Auto rename provides a method for renaming files to the stored image date/time, etc. There are two ways to auto rename in Qimage Pro.

Method 1 - When you use the Flash Card Copy/Move Utility (accessed by clicking "Utilities" from the top menu bar on the main screen and then clicking "Flash Card Copy/Move"), you can rename files as they are moved from one folder (or flash card) to another folder. If you check the auto rename box before clicking the Copy/Move button, the files will be renamed after they are copied.

Method 2 - You can auto rename files that already exist without copying/moving them. To auto rename existing files, simply navigate to the folder containing the files and select the files to be renamed. Then click "Selected Thumbs" from the top menubar and select "Auto rename" from the dropdown menu.

Changing the auto rename format - To change the format for renaming files, click "Utilities" and "Copy/Move/Rename format" and change the renaming parameters. You can close the rename parameter window by clicking the "x" in the upper right (your parameters will still be saved).

Renaming note: Qimage Pro will use the date/time stored in the EXIF header if one exists. If no EXIF header is present, Qimage Pro will use the date/time stamped on the image file itself (file date/time). Qimage Pro will never overwrite a file when auto renaming. If a file already exists with the given rename format, the next image renamed will be succeeded with an occurrance number. If for example, you had three images with the same date/time (not likely), you would have something like this:

1999-06-15 13:46:20.jpg
1999-06-15 13:46:20(0001).jpg
1999-06-15 13:46:20(0002).jpg

Flexibility: Qimage Pro is very flexible in renaming format. For example, you don't have to use the date/time at all. If you simply want to rename all files by the camera that they came from, you could set the rename parameters to "Nikon 950 " and Qimage Pro would save files as:

Nikon 950 (0001)
Nikon 950 (0002)
Nikon 950 (0003)

Limit: Qimage Pro does have a limit of 9,999 files when auto renaming, so if you reach "Nikon 950 (9999)" for example, the remaining images will simply not be renamed.

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Batch Filter

Batch Filter - The batch filter is located on the "Queue Actions" tab. Click the Queue actions tab and then click "Batch Filter". The first image in the queue is shown. Make any modifications necessary to the image and:

u At the bottom of the filters, click "Filtered" to view the filtered image (changes are not additive so you don't need to reset or click "Original" to clear the filter before trying a new one).

u Click "Apply" and "Current filter" on the top menubar to apply the filter to the current image (or all images in the queue).

u Click "Associate" to associate the filter with the image(s). A small (~1000 byte) file will be saved with the image (extension flt) OR Click "Save" to save a new version of the image at full resolution.

u Click "Ok" to apply the change(s).

u For information on individual filtering options, go to the main list of functions and click on the filter option.

------------------------------ OPTIONAL ------------------------------

Click "File" on the top menubar to load or save the filter parameters in the Qimage folder.

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Blemish/pixel corrector

Blemish/pixel corrector - Use this option to remove blemishes, red eye, unwanted small objects, or stuck pixels from your photos. To access the blemish corrector, add the images that you would like to correct to the queue and then click the "Queue Actions" tab and select "Batch Filter". You can then check the "Blemish/pixel corrector" box to enter pixel locations manually, but most of the time you will want to visually "melt away" the blemish. To do this, perform the following steps:

u Once you have selected "Batch Filter", right click on the blemish in the image and a zoomed window will appear.

u Using the zoomed window, click in the center of the blemish and drag just past the edge of the blemish. To blend away abnormalities in photos (freckles, sores, etc) always drag from the center toward the right. This will cause the edges of the defined area to be blended inward. To remove red eye, click in the center of the pupil and drag left just past the edge of the pupil (into the iris of the eye) to darken the pupil and remove the red color.

u The blemish and correction radius will be added to the blemish list (you'll see the list to the right). Qimage Pro uses negative radius numbers to indicate red eye correction and positive radius numbers to indicate normal blemish removal.

u If the next blemish is the same size, you can simply single click on the center of the blemish and Qimage will use the last radius you selected. If the new blemish has a different radius, you can click and drag as before.

u IMPORTANT: When finished correcting all blemishes and any other enhancements you selected, you must click "Apply", "Current Filter" and "Ok" from the top menu bar to associate your filter with the image(s).

Summary of the two methods of blemish correction:

Consider the above icon. It is a reminder to always drag from the center toward the left to correct red eye and from the center to the right to fill in blemishes. Remember that Qimage Pro will "pull" the edge color inward to fill in blemishes when dragged to the right. In contrast, it will perform a darkening of pupil when dragged to the left.

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Bounds

Bounds - identifies a rectangle within which the printed image will be fitted. When images are added to the queue, they are added at the bounds identified. You may enter different bounds for each image, or select many images to be added at the same bounds. The bounds can be changed later using the "Page Editor" (Edit button under the preview page).

u Data entry - enter the horizontal bound (width) and vertical bound (height) of the printed image. You may enter inches or millimeters (depending on your units setting), or number of images on page (2x, 4x, etc).

Notes - click "Ok" to set the bounds entered. Note that the new bounds will only apply to new images selected and will not apply to images already in the queue. If you want to apply the change to images in the queue, you must click "Apply to Images in the Queue" instead. Click the "Standard" box to select a common print size.  See drop box for a simple way of visually setting the size of images.

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Context Sensitive Help

Context Sensitive Help at Runtime

Remember, you can get help on any function in Qimage by holding the mouse pointer steady over that function for at least two seconds.

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CCD Filters

CCD Noise Filters - Qimage Pro provides two filters specifically designed to remove anomalies associated with CCD's  in digital cameras.  These filters can easily be applied to one or all images in the queue by checking the box(es) found in the batch filter screen.

Dark current filter - Use this filter to remove unwanted "specks" of falsely-lit pixels from night shots or shots with long shutter duration.  This filter needs no dark frame reference so it will work under any conditions.

Shadow noise filter - Use this filter to eliminate shadow noise found in most 2.0 or higher megapixel cameras. This filter will eliminate most 'background' or 'shadow' noise while maintaining a high level of sharpness.

High ISO noise filter - This adaptive filter works by comparing signal-to-noise ratio of each RGB channel and filtering each channel appropriately.  Use when noise appears in an image (usually at high ISO values over 200).

D1 ISO noise filter - Specifically designed for the Nikon D1 digital camera, this filter will remove both banding noise and high frequency noise (dots) from images at high ISO. Note that this filter will ONLY work on original images (JPEG or TIF). This filter will NOT work if you have already modified the original image in any way (smoothing, despeckle, etc).

D1 Color filter - Specifically designed for the Nikon D1 digital camera, this filter will correct color anomalies found in camera JPEG images such as the magenta shift, yellow to orange shift, etc. This filter, which also converts the image to Adobe RGB color space, should ONLY be used on JPEG's acquired by the camera. Do not use this filter on NEF images, as they have their own color correction scheme found under "Options", "NEF Format Options".

To access these filters, add the images to the queue first and then click the "Queue Actions" tab and then select "Batch Filter". Check the appropriate box(es) and click "Apply" and "Current filter" from the top menubar and click "Ok".

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Image Comparator

Image Comparator - Qimage Pro can be used to compare two images side-by-side. Simply add two (or more) images to the queue and right click in the print queue at the bottom of the main page (this is where the file names are displayed). If you have more than two images already in the queue, you can compare any two images by selecting the two images first. After right clicking in the print queue, select "Comparator" and Qimage Pro will display the two images side-by-side.

The images are initially loaded at a 1:1 ratio (1 screen pixel = 1 image pixel) so that you can scroll both images to see details, however, by right clicking on either image, you can zoom in/out, rotate the image or brighten/darken the image(s). Note that this screen displays EXIF information above both images. Also be aware that the brighten and darken function are only available as an aid to assist in comparing the two images. Any filtering or editing should be performed first using the batch filter.

To scroll the image when the image is larger than the display box, you can left click and drag the image with the "hand" or scroll using the scroll bars on the bottom and right of the image.

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Cropping

Cropping - You may have noticed that you sometimes cannot fit an entire picture within a "commonly used" frame. For example, there is no way to fit a 1600x1200 image into a 6x4 frame without cutting off (cropping) some of the image. If you set the "For best fit" option (located on the "Images" tab in the lower right) to either "Rotate Image" or "Rotate Bounds", Qimage always forces the entire image to fit in the frame. Due to the 1600x1200 aspect ratio of the example image, you will always get a 5.33 x 4 inch print because that is the largest size that can fit in the frame without cropping.

If you set the "For best fit" option to "Crop Image" however, Qimage will crop out the middle of the image to fit in a 6x4 frame (a little will be trimmed off the top and bottom). The Qimage default crop is always the middle, however, you can change this. To select the area to be cropped, click the "Batch Filter" button on the "Queue Actions" tab. You'll notice the cropped area in the middle of the image. Simply click inside the cropped area and drag it where you like. To complete the action, click "Apply" and "Current Filter" on the top menubar and "Ok".

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Cutouts

Cutouts - Use cutouts to add a "scrapbook" effect to your printouts.

When an image is printed, it is normally printed as a rectangular print like the one below.

Cutting out a portion of the image can add personality to your prints. An oval cutout was used on the print below.

Access: To use cutouts, the concept is the same as batch filtering. You are using a mask which is placed on top of the printed image. For this reason, the cutout feature is located in the batch filter. To use a particular cutout on an image, the image must be in the queue, so it is most efficient to add all image and place them where you like on the page first. Then, to use cutouts on the images, perform the following steps:

1. Click the "Queue Actions" tab on the main screen.

2. Click "Batch Filter"

3. In the "Image Effects" box, click the dropdown box to select a cutout by name or click the "Cutout" button on the left to select a cutout by viewing thumbnails.

4. After selecting a cutout, the screen will update to show you what the effect looks like.

5. Note that cropping and cutouts go hand-in-hand so if you crop off an area, you'll see how the cropping affects your cutout area.

6. Close the batch filter screen and apply the filter on your way out of the batch filter.

That's it. The images will remain in the selected cutouts for both display (in the slide show) and on printouts until you remove the associated filter.

The Power of Cutouts!

Note that although some cutouts are provided with Qimage Pro, there is no limit to the cutouts that you can design yourself. Cutouts are a very powerful feature and once you understand how they are created, you can create your own designs. The section below described how to create your own cutout designs.

The simple story: Cutouts are located in your Qimage folder under a subfolder named "cutouts". If you accepted the defaults when installing Qimage Pro, your cutouts will all be located in the "c:\program files\qimage\cutouts" folder. To add a cutout to the list of available cutouts in Qimage, you need only create an image file (in any format) and copy it to the "c:\program files\qimage\cutouts" folder.

How to create a cutout image: To create a cutout, just use your favorite image editor and create a new image in 24 bit color format. The image can be anything you like, only there is one special color to be aware of; the color (1,1,1) is transparent. In other words, the original image will "show through" the cutout for any pixel in your cutout that has red value 1, green value 1 and blue value 1. Given this, if you look at the cutout above, it is no more than an all white image with a circle in the center filled with RGB color (1,1,1). Why is the image above an oval cutout and not a circle? Because the cutout is always stretched first (distorted) so that it fits over the target image exactly. This is handy because if you look at the oval cutout supplied with Qimage Pro (which is actually a circle), the top, bottom, left and right edges always touch the edge of your photo giving you the maximum possible area inside the oval!

Complexity: It doesn't take long to realize that you can get pretty complex with your cutouts. Just be aware when creating new cutouts that they are always stretched to fit the image and THEN stretched again to fit on the paper. For this reason, always create cutouts of high enough resolution for the application. If you create a circle cutout that is only 50 x 50 in resolution, obviously the cutout itself will look jagged when printed (but the underlying image may not). Cutout resolutions of at least 1000 x 1000 are recommended.

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Delete Filters

Delete Filters - Qimage Pro now offers a quick way to remove associative filters and revert to the original image. To quickly remove associative filters from images, simply add the image(s) to the queue. Next, select the image(s) in the queue for which you would like to remove filters, right click in the queue and select "Delete Filters".

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Page Editor Functions - listing

Page Editor Functions

All - apply selected bounds to all images in the queue (document).

Bounds - see "Bounds" under main screen functions above.

Click/Drag - click and drag the lower right corner of the selected image to resize the image visually.  Click and drag the upper left corner of the image to move the image visually (will set image positioning to "Freehand" mode automatically).

Details - click details to view embedded image information such as shutter speed, flash, zoom, etc.

Go To - select a page and the page editor will display that page.

Print Page - click this button to print only the page being viewed. Return to the main menu if you would like to print the entire document.

Selected - apply the selected bounds to the highlighted image only.

Swap - rotate the "picture frame" (bounds) 90 degrees. The effect of this function depends on the "For Best Fit" function (see main screen functions). If "For Best Fit" is set to "Rotate Image" this function has the effect of rotating the image 90 degrees. This can be useful in some circumstances.

View - select the level of detail desired on the page preview.

Select "Templates Only" to show only the name, position and orientation of each image on the page (fastest).

Select "Selected Image" if you wish to show the actual image only for the highlighted image.

Select "Cached/Small Images" to load images only if they can be loaded quickly.

Select "All Images" to view all images on the page (slowest). The "All Images" option will show you exactly what your printout will look like.

See the main screen functions for document options.

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EXIF Hotbar

EXIF Hotbar - The EXIF hotbar automatically shows image information on the lower status bar of the main screen as you pass the mouse pointer over images. This allows you to quickly examine f-stop, shutter speed, etc. instantly. Note: if you have images that are corrupted or unreadable, you may want to turn this feature off so that Qimage Pro does not try to examine each file as you pass the mouse pointer over the thumbnails. To turn the EXIF Hotbar on/off, click "Options", "Interface", "EXIF Hotbar" from the main screen.

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EXIF and other image information

EXIF and other image information - Any embedded image information (exposure info, f-stop, etc) can be displayed in two ways:

u From the slide show (click "Queue Actions" tab and click "Slide Show"), press the "Details" button in the upper right. Image information will be displayed for the image currently being viewed.

u From the thumbnail view, right click on a thumbnail. When the popup menu appears, select "View image info".

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Exposure Correction

Exposure Correction - This filter brightens underexposed images by expanding the dynamic range of the image.

To access these filters, add the images to the queue first and then click the "Queue Actions" tab and then select "Batch Filter". Check the appropriate box(es) and click "Apply" and "Current Filter" from the top menubar and click "Ok".

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For Best Fit option

For Best Fit: - when you think about how to fit an image within a frame (bounds), there are three ways to maximize the space used so that the image is as large as possible. Consider 4 x 3 bounds and an image that is 768 x 1024 in resolution. Since the bounds are wider than they are tall, and the actual image is taller than it is wide, it would make sense to rotate either the picture frame (bounds) or the image itself. If one or the other is rotated 90 degrees, an optimum fit can be achieved. Select "Rotate Bounds" to rotate the picture frame to fit the image. In the above example, the image would print upright (768 x 1024) on the page, but the bounds would be 3 x 4, not 4 x 3. If "Rotate Image" is selected, the image itself will be rotated on the page. In this case, the bounds will remain 4 x 3 for that image and the image would be rotated 90 degrees (1024 x 768). Basically, you want to set this option to "Rotate Bounds" if it is important that all images print upright (unrotated) on the page. Select "Rotate Image" if you don't mind that some pictures are rotate, but uniform placement on the page is more important. The final "Crop Image" option actually crops the image so that part of the image covers the entire frame. This option can be very useful when you need to fill a 4 x 6 frame, etc. without any white space being printed. Note that this option crops either the edges or the top/bottom of the image, leaving the center to fill the frame. To select the area of the image that gets cropped, see the Cropping Images section.

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The file dropdown

File - offers two options for saving/loading Qimage Pro information. Settings describe all parameters of your image document (page orientation, bound size, rotation, cropping, etc.). If you have several different sets of settings that you like to use, simply select "File" then "Save Current SETTINGS" from the menubar at the top of the screen. All parameters that describe how the image document is formatted will be saved. You can load the settings in the future any time you wish. You may also load/save sessions. A session describes everything about a document including the images in the queue! When you have formatted your document and added images of your choice, you may click "File" and "Save SESSION" from the menubar and later retrieve the session to restore document layout and all images in the queue.

Note that if you have created a document with blank templates and you wish to save the template, you must "Save Current SESSION". After the session is saved, you can "Load SESSION" in the future and you will be able to drag images and drop them onto the predefined templates.

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Folder History

Folder History - Allows you to quickly navigate to any of the last ten folders used in Qimage Pro. Click "Utilities" from the top menu bar and then select "Folder History".

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Freehand operation

Notes on Freehand placement of images on the page

To gain maximum control over the printed page, you may select "Freehand" placement at any time.  The Freehand option "unlocks" the positioning on every image in your document so that they may be placed (dragged) manually.  The most efficient means for manually placing images in a (large) document is to first set the image positioning option to "Center".  You can then add as many images at any size(s) you like.  The document will be created with images centered on the page.  You can then "switch" to manual by selecting freehand mode and "tweak" the locations/sizes any way you like.  The simplest steps to perform this are the following.

u Click the "Document" tab and select "Center" for the "Image Positioning" option.

u Select size(s) and add the images to the queue.

u Click the "Edit" button near the small preview page on the main screen to open the page editor and drag to place and/or size the images.  To do this, after the page editor opens, simply select the image you would like to move by left clicking on that image. Then you can drag from anywhere in the center part of the image to move the image around on the page.  Point to the lower right of an image (sizing arrows will appear).  Drag the sizing arrow to resize.

Although the above is the simplest method, Qimage Pro offers other features as well.  For example, you can select the "Freehand" positioning option before adding images.  You can then drag images from the thumbnail display directly to the location you want on the small preview page to the right.  The image(s) will be dropped so that the upper left corner is located at the mouse pointer.

The following is a summary of functions that apply to "Freehand" operation:

u Add - to add images to the page while in freehand mode, simply go to the page in question and drag the image from the thumbnails viewer directly to the page.  Note that the image will be dropped at the mouse pointer.  If you want to move the image after initial placement, you must click the "Edit" button since the preview page on the main screen is "write once" and is really meant for the rough draft.

u Add a new page - to create a new page while in freehand mode, simply click the right arrow under the page preview until you reach the last page, or drop the page list down and select the last page.  The next time you click the right arrow, Qimage Pro will ask you if you would like to create a new page.

u "Bring to front" - using freehand mode allows you to place images (all or partly) on top of other images.  An images' position in the queue is what causes it to be "in front of" or "behind" other images.  The easiest way to think of this is that images are placed on the page in the order that they appear in the queue.  Images that are later in the queue will be placed on top of earlier images.  You can use the cut/paste option in the editor to cut an image and replace it in the queue "before" or "after" any other image.  When you paste the image, the paste operation remembers exactly where the image was when you cut it, and will place it back in the same location.  This makes it easier to change the overlap without changing the location on the page.

u Switching to freehand mode - There are two ways to switch from center, compact, etc. directly to freehand mode.  One way is to click the "Document" tab and select "Freehand" under the image positioning option.  The other is to drag an image while in the page editor.  Dragging the image will automatically prompt you to go to freehand mode (unless you are already in freehand mode).  Note that when you switch from any of the automatic modes to "Freehand", your images will stay at the same locations until you change them.

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Full Screen View

Full Screen View - Right click on a thumbnail in the thumbnail view. When the popup menu appears, select "View Full Screen". Note that this option displays only the thumbnail under the mouse pointer (to view multiple images full screen, use the slide show).

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Global Filter

Global Filter - Qimage Pro filters can now be set as "global filters" without associating the filter with images. If you set a filter as a global filter, all images loaded by Qimage Pro will be filtered automatically by the global filter. For example, you might have a lot of dark images taken without flash. You could set the exposure correction filter globally and all images will pass through the filter prior to all display operations AND prior to all print operations.

To set a global filter - Add at least one image to the queue so that you can access the batch filters. Click the "Batch Filter" button located on the "Queue Actions" tab. Set up your filter any way you like and click "Apply" and "Current Filter" on the top menubar, and then click the "Global Filter" radio button and click "Ok". Your global filter is now set. Any and all images accessed will pass through this filter. Important: individually assigned filters override the global filter, so if you have images that have filters associated with the individual image file, the individual filter will override the global filter. To remove filters associated with individual files, just add the file(s) to the queue and access the batch filter. In the batch filter, click the "Clear" button (lower right) to clear all filter parameters and then click "Apply" from the top menubar. Applying a "blank" filter like this will cause the filter (flt) file to be deleted and the image(s) will no longer have an individual filter associated with them.

To remove the global filter - Simply click "Options" from the top menubar and uncheck the global filter option. Rechecking this option later will restore the last global filter set. The global filter is located in program files\qimage\{q}global.flt.

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Hairline Border

Hairline Border - To print a thin black hairline border around all printed images, turn this option on. Select "Options" in the top menubar of the main screen, and then select "Hairline Border" to toggle this opion on/off.

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Image Positioning option

Image Positioning - defines how the images are paginated (placed) on each page.

Data Entry

Compact - use the compact option to fit all images as close together as possible in the upper left corner of the document. This option is useful if you want to use the absolute minimum amount of paper so that the unused portions may be used later.

Center - the center option will result in the same number of images per page as the compact option, except the images will be centered on the page and spaced apart so that images do not look crowded. This option is most useful for creating picture albums.

Manual - the manual option allows you to enter a position (upper left corner) on the page for each image to print. Note that since you are identifying a location on the page, only one image will print per page. This option can be useful for locating an image over other (non-blank) media such as greeting cards, etc.

Template - the template option places each image at a predefined location on the page (grid). The template option is an extremely powerful option as it has many uses. The template that is used is the template currently showing on the main screen under "Sample Page". For this reason, the flexibility exists to select bounds that are different in size from the template. Each image is placed at the next available template location (upper left). If an image takes up more than one template location, the template locations "partially occupied" by the image are unusable. For example, if you select 6 x 4 bounds and later change the bounds to 3 x 2, the working template will change to 3 x 2. The 6 x 4 images will then occupy four positions in the template (2 along the width and 2 along the height). Note that now, however, you have the flexibility of filling the remaining (unused) 3 x 2 positions on the page with any size images you like. For example, you could fill the remaining positions with 3 x 2 images, filling all remaining positions on the page. As you can see, adding images at one size while using a template of a different size (especially when you use exact multiples of sizes at 2x, 3x, etc) allows the flexibility to place many images on a page while still retaining alignment for perfect cutting (images will be aligned by the left edge by nature of this algorithm).

Optimize - The optimize option is the same as the center option except that optimize will rearrange images in the queue to optimize the number that will fit on each page. Use this option if paper usage is more important than the order in which images are printed. Note that Qimage Pro will rearrange images (sometimes placing them on different pages) so if you are resizing images using the page editor it may not always be obvious where the current image (that you are resizing) has "gone" after you make the change since it may end up on a different page after being resized.

Freehand - Allows total control over where images are placed on the page.  In this mode, you MUST take manual control and place all images on the page yourself.  You can start with one of the other (automatic) options and switch to freehand placement later to "tweak" your printout manually.  See the Freehand option for more details.

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Info Stamp

Info Stamp - Stamps selected information directly on image(s). Choose from a variety of general info or EXIF info. Simply select the information that you want stamped on the image(s), the location of the info, and the font attributes and Qimage Pro will stamp this information directly on the image. As with all other filters, the info stamp can be "stuck to" the image in an associative way so that the original is untouched or you can create new versions with the stamped information added in directly in the image.

To access info stamp, add the images to the queue first and then click the "Queue Actions" tab and then select "Batch Filter". The "Info Stamp" checkbox is located near the top of the filter box under the "sharpness" adjustment. When you check the info stamp checkbox, more options will appear. When finished, simply close the batch filter or click "Apply Current Filter" from the top menubar and click "Ok".

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Interface options

Interface - This option allows the user total control over how he/she would like to view/select images. You can work with only filenames when you don't need the overhead of thumbnails (after editing, etc.) or you can enjoy the flexibility of seeing exactly what is available.

u Filenames only - print entire directories without ever having to wait for images to load.

u Thumbnails - Get an instant list of all files while the images load in the background. Be aware that thumbnails are stored in the same directory as the source images. The thumbnails will remain on the drive so that they only have to be built once.

u Save thumbs - Check this box to save thumbnails on the hard drive for future reference. If this box is not checked, you can still work with thumbnails, but they will not be saved for quick loading in the future.

u Refresh thumbs - Click to refresh (regenerate) the thumbnails. This is handy if you have edited photos and need to refresh the thumbnails.

Access: Click "Options" from the top menubar and select "Interface".

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Print Interpolation -

Interpolation - If an image is printed too large for the given image resolution (such as a 640x480 image printed at 8x10 inches), it can become blocky. To increase resolution, you can use one of the seven included interpolation filters below. To access Qimage Pro interpolation options, select "Options" in the top menubar of the main screen, and then select "Interpolation".

Increasing resolution of printouts - To increase resolution of prints while not affecting original images, simply set the filter type and threshold for interpolation (bottom of panel). Qimage Pro will automatically increase printed resolution to the threshold indicated. To ensure that prints are NOT interpolated, simply enter 0 (zero) for the threshold.

Increasing resolution of an existing image - Most of the time, you will probably only want to increase resolution of prints, however, you may also want to decrease resolution of images for web pages or increase resolution of images to increase image quality. To increase resolution of an existing image, add the image(s) to the queue and then click the "Queue Actions" tab located on the lower right of the main screen. Then click the "Batch Filter" button. You may then change the resolution of the images in the queue by changing the values in the "Resolution" box on the bottom of the filter panel. The images may be resaved or the "filter" may be associated with the original file so that the image is resized prior to each operation in Qimage Pro. Note that if you apply the resolution to all images in the queue and all images are NOT the same resolution, all images will be changed by the same percentage based on original versus new resolution.

Filters

u Pixel Resize - Do not filter. Simply stretch the image to the new size. This is the fastest option but has the least smoothing.

u Lanczos Filter - A little smarter than a simple resize, but also the slowest filter. Minimal smoothing.

u Hermite Filter - Noticable smoothing while maintaining a good level of sharpness. Relatively fast calculation speed.

u Triangle Filter - A little more smoothing, but not too soft. Also relatively fast.

u Mitchell Filter - About the same amount of smoothing as the triangle filter. One of the slower filters to calculate.

u Bell Filter - Smooth image, bordering on soft. Relatively fast.

u Bicubic Spline - Smoothest but also produces the softest image. One of the slower filters to calculate.

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Lossless JPEG Transformations

Lossless JPEG Transformations - You can apply transformations to JPEG format files without any loss of image quality. To perform lossless transformations, add the image(s) to the queue and then click the "Queue Actions" tab and click "Batch Filter". When the batch filter screen appears, simply click "Apply" from the top menubar and then select "Lossless JPEG transforms". Select the appropriate transformation from the drop down menu and you will be prompted to overwrite the originals or create new images. Click "Ok" after selecting "Create New Images" or "Overwrite images" and the new JPEG images will be saved.

Note: EXIF information is also preserved after a JPEG transformation.

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Margins

Margins - to select new margins for the printed page, click "Options", "Page Margins" from the main menu.

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Mirror -

Mirror - The mirror option can be used to mirror images for the purpose of printing transfers for tee-shirts, etc. To mirror an image, first add the images to the queue and then click the "Queue Actions" tab and select "Batch Filter". Check the "Mirror" box and click "Apply" and "Current Filter" from the top menubar and click "Ok".

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Page Editor command

Page Editor - use the page editor to preview your document prior to printing and to make any manual adjustments necessary.  The page editor will always go to the same page displayed at the top of the main screen in the small preview box.  The page editor also allows drag and size of all images.  Access the page editor by clicking the small magnifying glass next to the main page preview.

Customizing Printouts

Original (centered)                            Drag to customize                                   Drag to size

Although Qimage Pro has many options for automatic control of your printouts, there may be times when you simply want to place pictures manually on the page (see the "Freehand" option for details).  This can easily be accomplished using the page editor (click the edit button next to the page preview on the main page).  From the page editor screen you can visually drag all images to any location on the page.  All images can be moved manually by pointing in the center section of the selected image and dragging to the desired location.  Images may even overlap as they do above.  Dragging to change the size of the image can be performed in a similar fashion by pointing at the lower right corner of the image and dragging to the desired size (right page above).

Additional (non-visual) commands

In addition to the visual placement/sizing of images, there are a number of options available by right clicking on an image.  Options such as cut, paste, etc. allow you to remove images, change the location of an image in the queue, etc.  Location in the queue is also important for overlapping images.  For example, the middle page above shows the car in front of the cat.  This is because the car image appears later in the queue than the cat (later images are placed on top of prior images).  To bring the cat to the front, simply click the right mouse button on the cat and select "cut" to remove the cat.  Then right click on the car and select "paste after" to paste the cat after the car.  The cat will reappear in it's old location but will now be on top of both of the other images due to it's position in the queue.

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Page orientation option

Page Orientation - defines whether the document is being viewed/printed in landscape or portrait format.

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Page Preview - defined

Page Preview - The small preview page in the upper right corner can be used for the simpler editing commands. Click (left or right) buttons to select (one or all) images. You may then use the delete key to remove images. The arrows may be used to view any page.

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Qimage Pro Plugins

Qimage Pro Plugins - Qimage Pro plugins can be obtained from the Qimage Pro Plugin Center at http://www.charm.net/~mchaney/imaging/plugins. When you purchase a plugin, you will be supplied with a small file via email which you copy to your c:\program files\qimage\plugins folder. Once you drop the ".plg" file into that folder, the plugin will be accessible via the batch filter. You can then add images to the queue and filter one/all via the batch filter by dropping down the plugin filter box and selecting your plugin.

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Preview First option

Preview First - preview each of the images selected in the top window prior to adding to the queue. Select "Add" to add the previewed image or "Skip" to proceed to the next selected image without adding.

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Print Image/File Info

Print Image/File Information - check this box to include file name, creation date, resolution, etc. in small text below each image. This option is useful for cataloging images.

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Print Prescaling

Print Prescaling - Most images will need to be scaled to the proper resolution prior to printing. Consider, for example, an image that has resolution 1000 x 1000 pixels. If you wish to print this image at 2 x 2 inches on a 720dpi printer, the image must be scaled to 1440 x 1440 since this is how many "dots" the printer will use. Most printer drivers handle this "scaling" automatically and easily, however, a few printers perform best if the original image is "prescaled" to the proper size before passing information to the printer.

Print Prescaling off (unchecked) - Qimage Pro will send all images to the printer at their native (saved) resolution. The print driver will handle scaling the images to the proper resolution to match printer dpi. This (default) state will result in faster printing times. If your prints show banding or other artifacts, your print driver may not be able to handle the image scaling on it's own (see below).

Print Prescaling on (checked) - Qimage Pro will scale all images to an exact multiple of the printed resolution prior to sending the images to the printer. This will simplify the scaling process for the print driver and (depending on the printer/driver) may produce cleaner results. When this option is on, Qimage Pro will take longer to process each image when printing. Only check this option if your prints show banding or other scaling artifacts.

Confused? Just remember, if you're happy with the quality of your printouts and there is no evidence of banding or other artifacts, simply leave this option unchecked.

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Printer Font

Printer Font - to select the font used to print image information and annotations, click "Options", "Printer Font" from the main menu.

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Printer Setup

Printer Setup - click printer setup to set the options (quality, paper type, resolution, etc) before printing to obtain the highest quality results for proofs, or lower quality for drafts, etc.

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Quick Size (Drop Frames)

Quick Size/Drop Frames - The quick size button offers a convenient way of selecting print sizes from a 3 x 3 array of sizes. Simply click the "Quick Size" button on the "Images" tab from the main screen and drag any number of thumbnails directly to the size of your choice. You can also use the boxes to select a size to work with by simply double clicking on the desired size. You may customize any/every size in the quick size window by clicking the right mouse button in any of the nine boxes. Your size choices will be remembered for future sessions. When dragging thumbnails or selecting sizes, notice that Qimage Pro highlights (in red) the orientation (portrait or landscape) that will result in the most images per page given your current program settings (paper size/orientation/etc). You may drag thumbnails to either the portrait or landscape indicator when dropping thumbnails in a drop box on the quick size window.

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Red Eye Correction

Red Eye Correction - Red eye/redeye is a condition caused by direct flash photography. When light from a camera's flash bounces off the retina of the human eye, the pupil of the eye appears bright red in the photograph. Red eye can be avoided by using a different flash technique such as bounce flash or indirect flash, however, Qimage Pro offers a tool to correct red eye in photos where red eye was unavoidable. Red eye is considered a "blemish" in Qimage Pro and therefore must be removed via the blemish corrector. Removing red eye is no different than removing a blemish, except that the blemish (red pupil) must be removed by darkening the "blemish" instead of blending with surrounding colors. The only thing to remember here is that you must click in the center of the eye (pupil) and drag the mouse pointer to the left when removing redeye.

For more information on how to remove blemishes and info on how to access the blemish correction, see the Blemish/Pixel Corrector section.

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Save Page

Save Page - After you have created a page (or document with multiple pages) you can save the pages one by one to an image file. This can be handy for creating layouts and sending the image to a professional printer. To save pages, enter the page editor by clicking on the "Edit" button on the main page near the small preview page. From within the page editor, click the "Save Page" button to save the current page to a file.

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Scrapbooks

Scrapbooks - The power of Qimage Pro allows you to quickly and easily create scrapbooks. You can use the page editor to perform manual sizing and placement and use the batch filter to create cutouts for your images.

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Selected Thumbs/Files

Selected Thumbs/Files - When you select (mark) one or more thumbnails, you can right click anywhere in the thumbnail display area to drop down a menu of options. The drop down menu will allow you to perform the following tasks on all selected images:

Add to Queue - Add the selected images to the print/view queue.
Copy Images - Copy the images to another location.
Move Images - Move the images to another location.
Rename Images - Rename the images one by one.
Auto Rename Images - Auto rename the images to the specified format (see "Utilities", "Copy/Move Images" to change the format).
Delete Images - Delete the images.
Recycle Images - Send the images to the recycle bin.

When are the above options available? - The options are only available if at least one thumbnail is selected and the images are not in the queue. If no thumbnails are selected, the options are grayed out. In addition, if any of the selected thumbnails are also in the queue, the options are grayed out (you cannot delete images that are in the queue).

Note: The two options on the right side of the drop down (view full screen and view image info) apply only to the current thumbnail, i.e. the thumbnail under the mouse pointer. These options are for getting information on individual images so they do not apply to selected thumbnails, only the current thumbnail being pointed to.

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Slide Show

Slide Show - a slide show is available for the purpose of viewing images in a detailed format on screen. This option allows detailed examination of each image in the queue and allows final review prior to printing. To access the slide show, add images to the queue and then click the "Queue Actions" tab and "Slide Show". Thumbnails may also be viewed full screen by right clicking on the thumbnail (see Full Screen View for more details).

Slide Show Options - When you first access the slide show, you will notice that a slide show options menu appears first. The slide show options menu includes the following settings:

u View (full screen or windowed): Select the mode for the slide show. Selecting full screen will show all images using the entire screen. When in full screen mode, you can right click to display a control menu that includes "Previous", "Next", and "Exit". If you select "windowed", all images are displayed in a large window. Note that in windowed mode, there are more options available such as rotate image, monitor gamma, remove from queue, etc.

u Stamp on image (number and date/time): Check the appropriate box(es) to have Qimage Pro stamp each image with the information selected. The info will appear in the upper/left corner of the images.

u Flow (user advance or auto advance): Qimage Pro can allow you to manually go forward/backward in the slide show, or you can select auto advance and set the time interval (below).

u Time Interval (seconds): Enter the amount of time to display each image before loading the next (applies only to auto advance).

u Auto advance (Next slide or random): When the time interval expires, Qimage Pro will either load the next image in the queue or a random image.

u Show these options before slide show: Keep this box checked if you change options frequently. If however, you have the options set as you like and do not wish the options box to appear each time, uncheck this box. Note that if you uncheck this box and want to access the options again, simply click "Options" on the top menubar of the main screen and then select "Slide Show Options".

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Templates

Templates - Note that in addition to the thumbnails of images in the current folder, there is always a blank [Template] at the bottom of the list. You can select [Template] as you would a normal image and drag it to the page or add it to the queue (all templates show as red rectangles). Let's say you would like to create a freehand setup that has templates exactly where you want them on the page. For example, some picture frames hold multiple prints of different sizes in different locations within an 8x10 frame. You could add the appropriate number of templates to the queue and manually arrange them on the page to fit in the multi-frame. Next, save the session by clicking "File", "Save Session" from the top menubar on the main screen. The templates and locations will be saved.

When you load the above session by clicking "File", "Load Session", the prior template locations will be restored. If you want to replace the templates on the page with new images while retaining the size and location of the templates, simply drag an image and drop it onto the template on the small preview page (note that all blank templates show up as red rectangles).

Note that dropping a thumbnail on an existing image will not replace that image as it does when you drop on a template. Dropping a thumbnail on the left side of an existing image will insert the new image before the existing image. Similarly, dropping a thumbnail on the right half of an existing image will insert the new image after the existing image. So... is there any way to replace an existing image (not a template)? The answer is yes. Since templates and images differ in their purpose, if you have an actual image that you want to replace, you can do this as well by performing these steps:

u In the small page preview in the upper right, click on any image on the page.

u The image will be highlighted on the preview page and the filename will also be highlighted in the queue in the lower left.

u Simply navigate to any new folder/image and click on it's thumbnail and drag the new thumbnail to the queue, dropping it on the highlighted filename.

u The image will be replaced by the new image.

u Repeat for other images.

Note: you do not have to perform the first step above. It is only to assist you in knowing which file in the queue is associated with which image. If you already know the filename, you can simply drag the new thumbnail directly to the filename in the queue and drop it.

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Thumbnail Font

Thumbnail Font - Click "Options" and "Thumbnail Font" to change the font that appears under each thumbnail on the main screen.

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Thumbnail Manager

Thumbnail Manager - Click "Utilities", "Thumbnail Manager" to open explorer in the qimage thumbnail folder. You can then sort, view and delete as many thumbnails as you like. Qimage Pro no longer stores thumbnails in the same directory as images (starting with v5.0). Thumbs are now stored in the program files/qimage/thumbs folder. If you have old thumbnails created by Qimage Pro, simply navigate to those folder(s) and Qimage Pro will migrate your old thumbnails out of your image folders and into the new thumbs folder automatically.

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Units of measure

Units - Qimage can operate in full metric/English units, and will remember your last setting.

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Utilities

Utilities

u Flash Card Copy/Move - this option is designed specifically for users with digital cameras. Click here to move images from Smartmedia cards or any source directory/folder to a target folder. After images have been copied/moved, Qimage Pro will automatically change to the target folder and load the thumbnails (if you are operating in thumbnail mode). Simply set the "from" directory to the drive/folder that contains the images (a:\imolym for Smartmedia) and set the "to" folder to the folder where the images should be copied/moved to. Note that the "to" folder need not be an existing folder. If the "to" folder is a new folder, Qimage Pro will prompt you to create the new folder. Of course, like all other settings, Qimage Pro will retain the information so that you don't have to remember the "from" folder, etc. Also, remember that the specification for files to be copied can contain wildcards, and works like any other Windows file specification.

u Run File Manager - click file manager to execute the file manager of your choice. This option can be useful for copying/deleting files, etc.

u Folder History - allows quick navigation to any of the last ten folders used for Qimage Pro operations.

u Why use Flash Card Copy/Move when you can navigate to the flash card and select thumbnails and copy/move? - There are two reasons to use the Flash Card Copy/Move utility instead of using the "Selected Thumbs/Files" option. First, the flash card copy/move utility always remembers where you last transferred images from. For this reason, the flash card copy/move utility is easier to use. Second, navigating to the flash card will cause Qimage Pro to automatically load all images if you are working in thumbnail mode. This could take a long time because flash card readers are not as fast as hard drives. If you navigate to the flash card and then copy the selected thumbnails to your hard drive, Qimage Pro will have to read the images twice (once to display the thumbnails and a second time to actually transfer them). For this reason, navigating to a flash card using Qimage Pro is not recommended.

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