PolyView by Polybytes. Copyright 1995-1999 Polybytes ============================= PolyView is a shareware graphics viewer, file conversion, image manipulation, and printing utility for Windows NT and Windows 95. PolyView supports the majority of the popular image formats available on Windows and Unix systems. PolyView is authored and copyrighted by: Polybytes 3427 Bever Avenue S.E. Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52403-3161 e-mail: polyview@polybytes.com www: http://www.polybytes.com fax: 319-366-5186 ============= INSTALLATION: ============= The executable file for PolyView downloads and distribution is a self-installing executable that provides all the operations necessary to install and run PolyView. Simply run the .EXE file from the Explorer or File Manager to install. ============= DISTRIBUTION: ============= PolyView is a shareware program and as such it is permissable to load it onto any and all computer systems and networks. See the accompanying License.txt file for further information. ============== RELEASE NOTES: ============== Version 3.31 ============ A multipage DCX or TIFF file is now converted to multiple single page files during the Format Conversion operation if the destination format is not a multipage format. International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) information is now extracted from JPEG and TIFF files. Use the IPTC Info command on the File menu to view this information when it is available for an image. The F2 key now pauses or continues a slide show. The PolyView registration key information is now stored at the machine level instead of the user level. With this change all accounts on a single machine will have access to the registered form of PolyView when the machine has a valid registration for any account. PolyView will now ignore incorrect strip byte counts in TIFF files. There appear to be quite a few of these incorrectly written files around. TIFF bilevel images (1 bit/pixel) are now always written with zero bits indicating white and one bits indicating black (photometric tag 0). Some TIFF viewers incorrectly display bilevel images that use zero bits for black and one bits for white (photometric tag 1). JPEG format added to the Save as type selection list when saving 1 and 4 bit(s)/pixel images. Fixed a problem that mangled the final name when the destination name of a file Rename operation contained a period. Fixed a problem with hidden thumbnails becoming unhidden after a change to their folder was detected. Fixed a problem that caused hidden thumbnails to be added to the slideshow invoked by the "S" key. Fixed a problem that caused a PolyView crash if the Properties command on the Options menu was invoked on a system with no default printer. Version 3.30 ============ Image printing enhancements Added the Print Composer to support the printing of multiple images per page with various standard and custom sizes. The number of images that can be printed on each page, as specified by the Batch print images per page item on the Printing tab of the Properties dialog, can now be selected to be 12, 16, and 32 images (in addition to the 1, 2, 4, and 8 images previously selectable). Thumbnail database enhancements Added the ability to store Relative Thumbnail Databases with the Save Relative Database command on the File menu. This type of database uses an internal file naming mechanism that assumes all the image files are at or below the folder level of the database itself. This eliminates the naming difficulties associated with the use of different drive letters for CD and network drives on different computers. Added the ability to use read-only thumbnail databases from Albums , the Thumbnail Explorer , and the Thumbnail Database Browser . This capability is useful with CD based image collections, or when a collection is to be shared from a common network location. Format support enhancements Added SGI Image Format (RGB) write capability (registered users only). Digital camera information found in JPEG images (EXIF and Olympus) is now transferred to a JPEG image that is exported or saved from the original image. Added MMX optimization in the reading of interlaced PNG images. Property/options changes Added a Fonts tab to the Properties dialog to view and modify the fonts used for the slide show name display and the various fonts used when displaying and printing thumbnails. The Favor absolute timing option has been added to the Browsing tab of the Properties dialog to provide a slide show timing mechanism with a predictable elapsed time. The Fully erase background between slides option has been added to the Browsing tab of the Properties dialog to start each image in a slide show against a clean background. Added the Always maximize images option to the General tab of the Properties dialog to always open images in a maximized child window. Web page generation enhancements Images can be resized for display to fit a standardized width or height. Start page and image page text colors can now be specified. The locations for storing the main HTML, image HTML, thumbnail files and image files can now be separately specified. Command/operation enhancements Added an image preview display to the File Open dialog. Added the Create Multipage Image command to the File menu of the Browse and Explore windows to create a multipage DCX or TIFF image from a selected set of images. The Open this image (set) command in a browser now opens all selected images. Added the Enlarge small images option to the General tab of Properties. When this option is selected small images will be expanded to fit the display space when opened. Thumbnails in albums and Explore windows can now be sorted by image width and height. The current state of file sorting (name, date, size) in a browser is now maintained when different folders are selected for display. The Paste into image command will now allow the source image to be the same size as the destination image. Previously the source image had to be smaller than the destination. Added the Select Marked Images command to the Edit menu of the folder browser and Explore windows. Added the Browse Image’s Folder command to the Browse menu of an open image to open a folder browser on the folder containing the image. Added image resizing to the batch format conversion operations. Added the New Album Containing Marked command to the File menu to create a new thumbnail album from the currently marked images. Other changes The behavior when viewing a double-clicked image from the Windows Explorer in full-screen mode has been changed. Under these conditions, and when the Open to Full Screen mode behavior has been selected on the Files tab of the Properties dialog, PolyView will now automatically close when full-screen viewing mode is terminated. Redesigned the presentation of the menu pages in the help documentation to make it easier to find specific command information. Bug fixes Fixed a decoding problem with yet another variant of SFW image files. Fixed a problem with animated GIF scripts and folder paths containing space characters. Fixed a problem with rotating 16 color images. Fixed a problem with handling screen resolution or dimension changes while PolyView is active. Fixed a problem with correctly parsing EXIF information from certain digital camera models. Fixed a problem with the View Next/Previous in Directory commands on the View menu after an in-place image resizing operation. Fixed a problem with a disappearing expansion icon next to the My Computer icon in the folder browser . Fixed a problem with soliciting the name of a new untitled album. The Empty Marked List command on the Browse menu now correctly updates the visual marking on thumbnails and file lists. Using the transparent color picker tool now returns the correct image color when the screen display setting is 16 bits per pixel or lower. Folders in the Windows Briefcase are now expanded properly in the browse and Explore windows. Fixed a problem that resulted in printing color images with too light an intensity when the Universal Printing Method was in effect. Fixed a startup positioning problem with certain configurations of the Windows taskbar. Fixed a problem with the Change Color Depth command that shifted images up by one pixel when reducing the color resolution. Fixed a problem with TWAIN image acquisition that could save 1 bit/pixel images as negative images with some scanners. Previous Versions ================= Release notes for previous versions can be found in the PolyView help file.