Copyright: Copyright © 1998 Mario M. Westphal


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	IMatch and the IMatch Image Matching Engine Copyright © 1998, 99 Mario M. Westphal All rights reserved.

Please read the information about License and Copyright before you use this software! Information about how to register your personal copy of IMatch can be found under The Shareware Principle and Registration of IMatch.

There are some restrictions in the unregistered evaluation version. Click here to get more information .

Current users, please read What’s new in IMatch 2?  for information about the new and updated features in this release.

For the latest version of IMatch, additional information, tips & tricks go to http://www.mwlabs.de.

What is IMatch all about?

Many people today have to deal with large libraries of stock photography or image libraries created from postings to the World Wide Web or the Usenet. Whenever it comes to actually finding an image in one of these libraries, whether by color, texture or a specific shape, the trouble begins.

Although there are numerous applications for creating and maintaining image libraries (so-called thumbnailing applications) all of these tools lack the ability to actual perform queries on these libraries. The best you can get is a feature that allows you to assign keywords or descriptions to each individual image and to perform queries to find all images matching a specific set of keywords.

In the last several years, the research field of Visual Information Retrieval brought up some new and fascinating approaches for querying image libraries by image content. These new algorithms are now available in some sophisticated high-end products, often included in databases from large vendors.

The target market for these high price products are professional uses in education, marketing and the industry.

IMatch is probably the first application that allows you to use the same techniques in an easy-to-use environment on your desktop. When you have large images libraries or CD-ROM's with images, you'll gonna like IMatch. It allows you to index all the images on your hard disk and external storage media and to query these databases by image content, color, texture, and shape.

You are now able to:

•	perform image queries against all images stored on your disks

•	find images with similar colors, texture and shape

•	clean up your image libraries by removing duplicate images, even if they have been renamed, cropped, resized or converted into another file format

•	find images that match a given sample within seconds, automatically, without any user intervention

•	drag the results directly from the IMatch Result Window into your favorite imaging application

Although being very powerful, IMatch is quite easy to handle. The image matching capabilities built into the system are hidden below a nice and easy to use user interface. Within minutes you will be able to understand and handle the system.

The completely new developed algorithms used in the IMatch Engine are tuned not only to be as good as possible with respect to image matching , but also to be fast enough to perform queries against very large image databases in only a few seconds.
On a current PC (Intel Pentium II, 333 MHz) IMatch is able to match a sample image against a database holding about 20.000 images in only 1 second! For a databases of 100.000, the match takes, depending on the match method, between 1 and 5 seconds.

Please follow this topic outline to learn more about IMatch:

 Purpose of the program

 Image Matching, not an exact science...

 Creating and maintaining databases

 Matching images with a databases

 The IMatch result window

 Supported file formats

 Tips and Tricks


License and Copyright

IMatch and the IMatch Engine
Copyright © 1998,99 Mario M. Westphal.
All Rights Reserved.

SHAREWARE

Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are required to register it (or purchase the licensed version as in the case of IMatch).

Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and retail software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like retail authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!)

Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's retail or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is lower, prices are lower also.

Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it.

LIMITED WARRANTY AND DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

THIS SOFTWARE AND ACCOMPANYING WRITTEN MATERIALS (INCLUDING INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE) ARE PROVIDES "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. FURTHER, Mario M. Westphal DOES NOT WARRANT, GUARANTEE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE, OR THE RESULTS OF USE, OF THE SOFTWARE OR WRITTEN MATERIALS IN TERMS OF CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, CURRENTNESS, OR OTHERWISE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE IS ASSUMED BY YOU. IF THE SOFTWARE OR WRITTEN MATERIALS ARE DEFECTIVE YOU, AND NOT Mario M. Westphal OR ITS DEALERS, DISTRIBUTORS, AGENTS, OR EMPLOYEES, ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION.

THE ABOVE IS THE ONLY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, THAT IS MADE BY Mario M. Westphal, ON THIS PRODUCT. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY Mario M. Westphal, ITS DEALERS, DISTRIBUTORS, AGENTS OR EMPLOYEES SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR IN ANY WAY INCREASE THE SCOPE OF THIS WARRANTY AND YOU MAY NOT RELY ON ANY SUCH INFORMATION OR ADVICE.

NEITHER Mario M. Westphal NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION OR DELIVERY OF THIS PRODUCT SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH PRODUCT EVEN IF Mario M. Westphal HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

In other words: THERE IS NO GUARANTEE! YOU USE THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT ON YOUR OWN RISK!

IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS, SIMPLY DON'T USE IMatch!

IN STATES/COUNTRIES WHERE THESE RESTRICTIONS ARE ILLEGAL, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE IMatch!

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

BY USING THE SHAREWARE VERSION OF IMatch YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS LIMITED WARRANTY, UNDERSTAND IT, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS' TERMS AND CONDITIONS. YOU ALSO AGREE THAT THE LIMITED WARRANTY IS THE COMPLETE AND EXCLUSIVE STATEMENT OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE PARTIES AND SUPERSEDE ALL PROPOSALS OR PRIOR AGREEMENTS, ORAL OR WRITTEN, AND ANY OTHER COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN THE PARTIES RELATING TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE LIMITED WARRANTY.

Copyrights

IMatch, the IMatch Engine and this documentation
Copyright © 1998,99 Mario M. Westphal
All rights reserved.

The JPEG decoder used within this software is based on the Independent JPEG Group's JPEG software.
This software is the work of Tom Lane, Philip Gladstone, Jim Boucher, Lee Crocker, Julian Minguillon, Luis Ortiz, George Phillips, Davide Rossi, Guido Vollbeding, Ge' Weijers, and other members of the Independent JPEG Group.

The PNG decoder is based on the PNG Reference Library.
Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Guy Eric Schalnat, Group 42, Inc., (c) 1996, 1997 Andreas Dilger, (c) 1998,99 Glenn Randers-Pehrson

PNG uses the ZLIB compression library created and maintained by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
(C) 1995-1998,99 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.

TIFF decoder Copyright (c) 1988-1999 Sam Leffler, Copyright (c) 1991-1999 Silicon Graphics, Inc.

This software contains paintlib code. paintlib is copyright (c) 1996-1999 Ulrich von Zadow.

License

You may use the shareware version of IMatch for a 30 day trial period. If you would like to continue to use the product after the 30 day trial period, you are required to purchase the licensed version of IMatch. See The Shareware Principle and Registration of IMatch for further details an how to license your personal copy of IMatch.

Trademarks

Microsoft, Windows, Win32, Win32s, Windows NT, Windows 95, Visual C++, Visual Basic and Visual Studio are either trademarks or registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation.

WinZip is a registered trademark of Nico Mak Computing, Inc.

PaintShop Pro is a (registered) trademark of Jasc Software Inc.

ThumsPlus is a registered trademark of Cerious Software, Inc.

Various other product names mentioned in passing are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.


The Shareware Principle and Registration of IMatch

See also License and Copyright

You may use the shareware version of IMatch for a 30 day trial period. If you would like to continue to use IMatch after the 30 day trial period, you are required to purchase the licensed version of IMatch.

You should carefully read the terms and conditions stated under License and Copyright before using this software.

The Author

Mario M. Westphal
Pestalozzistraße 6-12
61250 Usingen
Germany

Email: mariow@mwlabs.de
Homepage: http://www.mwlabs.de

Restrictions in the trial version

The free evaluation version of IMatch comes with all functions enabled and the complete online documentation. The unregistered version displays reminder screens (nag screens) from time to time to remind you to register the product if you continue to use it after the trial period.

There is also a limit on the number of images that can be added to the database at once. You may only add 2.000 images in one batch. You may add as many images as you want, but only 2.000 at a time. When you add images to the database, IMatch will skip images already in the database and add additional 2.000 images with every batch.

Licensing IMatch

One licensed copy of IMatch may be used by a single person who uses the software personally on one or more computers.
You may access the licensed version of IMatch through a network, provided that you have obtained individual licenses for the software covering all workstations that will access the software through the network. For instance, if 5 different workstations will access IMatch on the network, each workstation must have its own IMatch license, regardless of whether they use IMatch at different times or concurrently.

Shared IMatch databases on the network may be accessed by an unlimited number of users, provided that each of there users has a valid IMatch license.

How to obtain a license

The install directory of IMatch contains a file named REGISTER.WRI. This file contains the latest info on how to register your copy IMatch.

Performing the registration

To register your personal copy of IMatch, follow these simple steps:

1. 	Register with the registration provider as described in the file REGISTER.WRI

2. 	Start IMatch and switch to the [About] Tab

3. 	Click on the button Register

4. 	Enter your username and license code exactly as received after the registration

5. 	Press Register to perform the registration

When the username and license code entered are correct, IMatch will convert itself into a full version without any restrictions or reminder screens.


Purpose of the program

IMatch allows you to create databases containing descriptions of the images on your hard disk and other storage media. Once a database has been created, it can be queried by image content. This is the new and exiting feature that differentiates IMatch from other imaging applications.

Imagine the following scenarios:

•	You got a picture of a very bright and colorful sunset and you wonder if you have other images in your library with the same kind of color or texture.

•	You have downloaded a bunch of images from the World Wide Web or the Usenet and want to remove duplicate images already in your image library, even if these images have been cropped, renamed, resized, or converted into another file format.

•	You want to compose a new image and are looking for images that fit in color to a given sample image.

Without IMatch you would have to scan all your images by hand with a image application or browse through the thumbnails created by a thumbnail application. Anyway, this would be a very time consuming, boring and probably unsuccessful task. Especially when you have more than several hundred images, it is nearly impossible do find duplicate or similar pictures manually in a reasonable amount of time.

This is when IMatch comes in. IMatch is a new kind of image processing tool, with a strong focus on image retrieval by image content.

IMatch is not intended to replace image processing applications like PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro or thumbnail applications like ThumbsPlus. IMatch enhances the capabilities of these applications by allowing you to query large collections of images by content, color, or texture. The results of such a query can then be processed with your favorite image application.

IMatch completely integrates with the Windows shell and enables you to communicate with other applications via drag and drop and the Windows clipboard. This allows IMatch to work together with all existing and upcoming Windows compatible applications.

»Image Matching: Not an exact science...«

Humans are able to »match« images quite easily. When you show a person an image of a green tree, a blue sky and some birds in the background, he (or she) will be able to find similar images in a image library without to much effort.

For a computer is it far more difficult to do the same job. Computers are dumb, you know...

First of all, for a computer a picture of a dog and a picture of a person look pretty much alike. The shape might be slightly different, or not. The colors may be different, or not. For a computer, all images only contain more or less pixels in different colors.

To be able to match images, a software has to find similarities and differences between the sample image and the images in the image database. These differences or similarities are then used to calculate a difference (distance) measure between the image searched for and each individual image in the image database.

This is never an exact process, except there are duplicate (identical) images in the database. The best one can get is a list of images that have a smaller distance to the original image than the rest of the images in the database.

IMatch always shows the best matches found for a given sample. It is up to the user to finally decide which images are identical or close enough to the actual sample image.

Although being not as good as a human in matching images, IMatch is much faster. On a current machine with 333 MHz IMatch is able to match a single image against a database holding about 20.000 images in only 1 second.

Using the results of such a query, a person should be able to find the »best« images much faster and with much less effort than doing this manually.


Creating a database for your images

See also: Adding images to your database , Updating images in a database

The first thing you have to do is to create an image database. This database holds the information required by IMatch to perform image queries.

IMatch databases store the image file location (path) and the color and texture information required by IMatch, but not the images themselves. This keeps the database size small and allows IMatch to handle large amounts of images per database. The actual image is only required when the result set is displayed after a match operation. At this time, IMatch uses the image file location stored in the database to access and display the image.

When you use external storage media to store your images (like CD-ROM or DVD) you can create IMatch databases for each of these mediums. When you want to query a database for such an external medium, make sure that the right medium is inserted before you perform the match. Otherwise IMatch will not be able to display the images in the result set.

The standard file extension for IMatch databases is .imd, which stands for IMatch Database. Each IMatch database consists of two files. The main database file is <Filename>.imd, the actual data storage for the matching data is in a file named <Filename>.imi.

If you create thumbnail databases for your IMatch databases to speed up the processing, an additional file is created with the extension .imt (IMatch Thumbnail).

•	Note: If you copy IMatch databases manually, make sure that you keep these three files together!

To create a new database, follow these steps:

•	Switch to the [Database] Tab

•	Click on the Create new Database button

In the dialog box displayed, choose a folder and file name for the new database.

This dialog also allows you to create a thumbnail database for the new database. A thumbnail database contains small representations (thumbnails) for all images in your database. Creating a thumbnail database will require additional hard disk space, but will also allow you to use the database browser with full thumbnail preview and to speed up the thumbnail preview of the result window.

Creating a thumbnail database is highly recommended.

There is practically no limit for the maximum database size. The maximum size of the database is only limited by the available hard disk space on your machine. Anyway, if you create databases with more than 100.000 to 150.000 images, the performance begins to drop and also the match precision since there are too much similar images in databases of such a size.

If you have several hundred thousands of images, it is a good idea to split the images into some categories and to create one IMatch database for each of these categories.

After the database has been created successfully IMatch automatically loads the new database as the current database. The Stats area of the [Database] Tab shows that the database contains no images at the moment.

To add images to your database, switch to the [Scan] Tab and follow the directions in Adding images to your database.

Opening an existing database

With the Open button you can browse for an existing database. The »Last Recently Used« pull-down at the right side of the Open button contains the names of the last four opened databases. You can quickly reopen a database from there by just selecting the corresponding entry from the menu.

If you select the „Read-Only“ checkbox in the file open dialog box or the database itself is marked as read-only on your disk or the database is located on a read-only medium, IMatch will open the database in read-only mode. You cannot make any changes to the database in this case. This also includes adding new images or deleting image records from the database.

Choosing a location for your database

Choosing the best location for your database is normally not an issue - you can place your database wherever you want and add images from all your hard drives to that single database. IMatch has no built-in limit for the number of drives or folders that can be indexed.

Please keep in mind that IMatch needs to store the full path name of each image indexed in the database. For example, if you add images from c:\photos to your database, IMatch will index all images in that folder and store each file’s full pathname and filename in the database.

This is normally not a problem, but if the drive on which the files resist is a removable media like a CD-ROM, WORM, DVD or JAZ drive, the path to the files may change if you change the drive name or insert the indexed media into another drive.

To solve this kind of problem, IMatch allows you to index folders and files relative to a known base location, called  @@DBROOT. Please read the section about relocating folders for more information on this subject.

Basically, if you index files on a removable media, place the database in the root folder of that drive. This allows you to add all images on the whole media relative to the root folder. This makes it very easy to relocate the entire database onto another drive/media afterwards.

The IMatch Global Toolbar

At the bottom of the IMatch window resides the global toolbar. This toolbar gives you access to a number of globally available features:

•	Let the IMatch stay on top of all other windows.
When you work with other applications and want to drag and drop files to the IMatch window, this feature may be handy.

•	The bookmark window. Click on this button to open the bookmark window at any time

•	The match history. Click on this button to open the match history menu.

•	Click on the blue question mark button to open the IMatch online help for the current screen or situation.

Next Step: Adding images to the database


Updating images in a database

See also: Creating a database for your images , Adding images to your database

When you delete images on your disks that are indexed by an IMatch database, these images become orphaned. Orphaned means in this context that the images are in the IMatch database but don't exist on the original storage media or location anymore.

IMatch will not display these deleted images in the result set window or the database browser, but the information about these deleted images will stay in the database. This also applies for the thumbnails of the deleted images.

The internal structure of the IMatch database is tuned for maximum performance and not for minimum disk usage. When you delete large amounts of images from the database, the information about all these images and thumbnails is kept in the database.

From time to time you should remove all the „dead“ image information and thumbnails from the database by running a Update Database operation. This will take only several minutes but will clean-up your database from all the unnecessary waste.


Adding images to your database

See also: Creating a database for your images , Matching Images

After you have created a new database, or opened an existing database, you can immediately start to add images.

You can add selected images or add all images in a folder at once. Usually, you will add all images in a folder, recursively scanning all sub-folders of that folder.

To add images to the current database:

•	Switch to the [Scan] Tab

•	Click on Add Images when you want to select specific images to add to the database

•	Click on Add all images in a folder when you want to add all images in a folder

When you check the Act recursive on folders, IMatch will also include all images in the sub-folders of the selected folder.

IMatch will only read images with one of the supported file formats . All other files in the scanned folders are ignored during the scan.

Before the actual scan process starts, a dialog box is displayed, allowing you to choose the file formats you want to add to the database. If you want to add only images in .TIFF format, deselect all other displayed formats.

You can select more than one format by pressing <Ctrl> when clicking with the mouse.

When you press the Enable Display button, IMatch displays the images while they are added to the database. Enable this option only if you really want to see which image is currently processed since it slows down the add process considerably.

The online displays give you some information about the process state:

•	The name of the file that is currently processed

•	The number of files already completed

•	The number of files left to go

•	An estimate in how long it will take to complete the remaining files. This estimate is as accurate as possible, but may adjust during the process when the files processed become larger or smaller.

Stopping the process

You can press Stop at any time to abort the current process. IMatch will finish with the current image and then abort the operation.

All images already added to the database will remain in the database. You may start the Scan operation at any time to add more images to the database. IMatch will skip all images already in the database, as long as they have not been updated in the mean time.

A note on performance

Don’t compare the performance of IMatch with the performance of thumbnail applications.

Other thumbnail applications read in the image files, create a thumbnail for each image and store these thumbnails in a internal database - that’s basically it.

IMatch has to do a lot more when it reads in images. It has to analyze each single pixel of each image, compute a representation suitable for image matching and then store these information in the database in a way that allows fastest matching afterwards. Thumbnail generation is only a secondary task when you add images to an IMatch database.

On a 400 MHz Pentium machine, IMatch adds about 10.000 to 30.000 images per hour, depending on the size of the images and the file format. This is quite impressing when you compare that number to other (non-shareware (aka professional) image matching applications which take several seconds for each single image.

Drag and Drop

You can also drop images directly on to the [Scan] Tab to add them to the database. Select the images you want to add in the Windows Explorer and drag the selection over the IMatch application window when the [Scan] Tab is in front. When you release the mouse button, IMatch adds all images of the selection to the database.

Updating existing images or folders

When adding images, IMatch checks whether an image is already in the database and if it needs to be updated. When you add the same images or folders twice, IMatch will skip all images already in the database, as long as they have not been changed in the mean time.

When you add new images to a folder on your disk, you can simply re-scan that folder with IMatch. Only those images will be added to the image database that are not already in the database or that have changed since they were added the last time.

Rescanning an entire database

When you move, copy or delete images from within IMatch, these modifications are automatically reflected in the database. If you use other applications to move or copy image files on your disks, you need to perform a rescan operation to update the IMatch database.

To do this, simply use the Rescan database button in the [Match] tab. It will rescan all folders currently indexed by the database and update/add all images that have been modified or added in the mean-time.

After this process has completed, IMatch is in sync with the contents of your hard disk.

Again, this is not necessary when you move/copy/delete/add files from within IMatch. In this case, the database will be updated automatically.

See also Updating images in a database for more information.

Handling Corrupt Images

Not all of the images out there are perfectly shaped and valid. From time to time, IMatch may encounter a corrupt image that it cannot handle.

If this happens, IMatch skips the file during the scan and reports the file on the [Scan] tab as ‘skipped’. After the scan has completed, IMatch displays a dialog containing the names of all skipped images.

From this dialog, you may copy, delete, view (open) or move the skipped images. The dialog is drag-and-drop enabled, you can drag the files from the dialog directly to your favorite imaging application, the windows recycle bin or any folder on your hard disk.

After you have added images to you database using the Scan operation, you can begin to match images. See Matching Images for more information on this subject.

Next Step: Matching images


Matching Images

See also: The IMatch Result Window , Color Matching , Creating a database for your images , Adding images to your database

The process of taking a sample image and match this image against all images contained in an image database it called an image query or matching operation. Image Matching is performed on the [File Match] Tab.

You can match one or more images by pressing the Match images button or match all files in a folder with the Match folder button. If you check the Act recursive on folders option, IMatch will automatically match the selected folder and all images in the subfolders of that folder.

You can also drop images directly on to the [File Match] Tab to match them against the database. Select the images you want to match in the Windows Explorer and drag the selection over the IMatch application window when the [File Match] Tab is in front. When you release the mouse button, IMatch matches all images of the selection with the database.

If you match images that are already in the database, IMatch retrieves the required information directly from the image database instead of loading and processing the original image again. This saves a considerable amount of time during matching.

Controlling the query operation

The right side of the tab contains all controls that effect the match operation. Here you can adjust the parameters that the IMatch Engine uses when it queries the image database.

Match method

This is the method that IMatch uses to identify »similar« images. IMatch implements several methods for matching, for a variety of different requirements. Each method has it's strength and weaknesses and you'll need to try out which methods best fit for your kind of images.

Color Similarity	This method matches images based on their color distribution in a quantized histogram. This method works good for all kind of images, but does not consider specific shapes. Use this method if you want to find images with similar colors or gray scale levels
Duplicate Scanner	This method is tuned for finding duplicate images, even if they have been resized, cropped or saved in a different file format. Use this method to scan you database quickly for duplicate images or to match whole folders with new images against your database. Please be aware that the duplicate scanner was tuned for speed, not accuracy. It is not the method of choice to find similar images or imaged that have been color adjusted or enhanced with respect to color or brightness. Use a low Max. Distance value (about 2 points) to speed up the search and to limit the number of images in the result set. Generally speaking, if there is no match within the first 10 or 20 images, there are no duplicates in your database. You should also enable the option „Hide originals without matches“ in the [Options] tab . This way you will see only the images that actually have matches in the result window .
Color and Shape (Quick) Color and Shape (Fuzzy)	The Color and Shape Match feature of IMatch tries to identify specific shapes, shape distributions and color distributions in an image and orders the result set based on the overall distance. The Color and Shape (Quick) method is a good amount faster than the (Fuzzy) method, but may provide less accurate results. The fuzzy variant of the algorithm performs some extra steps to identify objects in the source image. It hence can find matching images that the Quick variant may not find. On the other side, the fuzziness of the second method may lead to some matches that are far from the original image. Use lower Max. Distance values to speed up the search. Start with 2 or three points until you get a enough matches. The higher the setting for Max. Distance is, the longer IMatch needs to scan the database. Use the Hue contribution and Color contribution sliders to adjust the „importance“ of hue (lightness) or color to the image. See the Hue and Color section below for more details. If you match clipart files (from .wmf and *.emf files), use higher values for Hue contribution and Color contribution.
CRC checksum	When you want to identify duplicate images in your database that are binary identical to a given sample (but possibly renamed or stored in another folder) you can use the CRC checksum match method. This method is very fast and will find only truly identical images in your image database.
Fuzzy Filename	This method looks up all images with file names similar to the name of the original image. The fuzzy algorithm used in this method is able to find file names that are similar or sound similar to the original file name. For example, if the original image is named beach001, IMatch it will also find „beach002“, „bech003“ , „beachblue“ and the like. This method is very handy when you have images of the same series (and hence probably the same names) spread all over your hard disk and you want to find all images of this series.
Tip	Use the Duplicate Scanner when you want to match a folder with new images against the database. This method provides the fastest possible performance, but sometimes not the best possible results.

Max. Distance

The Max. Distance slider control allows you to limit the maximum »match distance« between the original image and the images considered as hits during the database query. IMatch measures the similarity between images as a percentage, ranging from 0% (identical) to 100% (quite different). The higher you set the value of the slider, the more images will be considered as matches.

Note:	The setting for Max. Distance has also a large impact on the query performance. During a query operation, IMatch will ignore all images with a distance larger than the current setting of Max. Distance during the initial database scan.
All images with a match distance less or equal to Max. Distance will be considered as potential matches. IMatch needs to store these matches in the main memory of your computer and also needs to perform some sort operations on all remaining matches.

The lower the value of Max. Distance initially is, the smaller the result set will be and the more images will be skipped during the initial database scan. All this results in a much faster search speed and hence in a much faster response to your queries.

The Result Window displays indicator bitmaps to show you the relative distance of each mach in the result compared to the original.

Hue and Color

IMatch allows you to adjust the relative importance of Hue (lightness) and Color to the overall match result. The algorithm used in IMatch considers several key components of an image when it is matched against other images in the database:

•	Overall hue distribution: The overall amount of light (lightness, shininess) and the distribution of the lighter and darker areas in the image.

•	Color distribution: The colors in the image and the distribution of the different colors in the image

•	Shape: Which shapes can be identified in the image

You can adjust the sensitiveness of IMatch with respect to Hue and Color with the two sliders available for the Quick and Fuzzy match methods. If you use higher values for Color contribution, IMatch is more sensitive for colors in the image. If you use higher values for Hue contribution, IMatch is more sensitive for hue distributions in the image.

By combining the settings of these two sliders, you are able to control the operation of the matching algorithm in a wide variety of ways.

Example:

Consider two images of a person in front of a green wall. On the first image, the person wears a red jacket. On the second image, the same person wears a blue jacket. Clearly these two images show the same person, but the colors in the image change from the first to the second image. The shape of the person doesn’t change, so we just use a lower value for Color contribution to adjust to the change of color in the person’s jacket.

Imagine two scanned photos of an outdoor scene of a forest. A photographer shoot the same location twice, one shoot was taken in the morning and the other in the evening. Both images show the same scene, with the same colors (trees don’t change their color within a day). But since the light changes over the day, both photos will have a different overall hue. To find both images, use a lower value for Hue contribution to adjust for the change of light over the day.

There is clearly room for your own experiments here. Try to find optimal settings for the kind of images you want to match. You can always safe good settings as a preset and use them later to perform matches.

Clipart Files

If you perform matches against vector graphics (like images saved in .wmf and .emf format), use higher values for Color Contribution and Hue Contribution to achieve better results. Since the number of unique colors is usually limit in these kind of images, you will get more close results if you increase the values for the two color and hue components.

If you only want to match shape and don’t care much about color, use a value of 100% for hue contribution and 0% for color. This will instruct IMatch to ignore the actual color of the images and to consider only the hue, shape and lightness of the images.

Image Dimensions

Per default, IMatch matches images regardless of their size compared to the size of the original image. If you only want to treat images as similar when the relative size difference is below a certain threshold, you should enable this option. If you set this option for example to 200%, IMatch will only consider images as possible matches that are at maximum twice as large as the original image.

Tip	This feature is very useful when you search for images that come from the same series. There is a good change that all of the images are about the same size, although they have different shapes or some variations in color.
When you use the image dimensions as an additional criteria, you will get far better results.

Consider Orientation

Check this option if you want to limit the search only to images with the same orientation (landscape or portrait) as the original image. This option usually results in a better matching result and also in a performance increase since the number of images to be matched is usually only about 50% of the total number of images in the database.

Limit the number of hits per file to

Depending of the setting of the Max. Distance option, IMatch may produce result sets with a large number of hits. With this option you can limit the maximum number of hits per file (when you match multiple files or all images in a folder) displayed in the result set. Usually, a value between 50 and 100 works best.

You can also limit the number of hits per file by setting the Max. Distance option to a smaller value.

IMatch automatically limits the number of images displayed in the result set to the number of thumbnails in the cache as defined on the [Options] tab.

The maximum number of hits is limited to about 1.000 per original image.

Note	Don’t try to set the maximum number of hits to large numbers when you match many original images or a complete folder at once. For each original image, IMatch will display the number of hits you set when the images are below the Max. Distance threshold.
When you match 100 original images, and you set the hits per file to 100, you will get 10.000 images. It could take a quite a long time to load all the thumbnails from the database and to verify the existence of the images.

Sort the Result Set by

This option allows you to specify the sort order for the images in the result set. You can sort the result set by distance (closest matches first), by folder, file name or a combination of these options. For all sort methods, the original image is always displayed as the first image in the result window .

Saving and restoring presets

You can save the current settings as a preset by pressing the [+] button near the Presets combo box. When you enter a new name, the settings are stored under that name. When you only press [+], the settings are stored under the name currently displayed.

To retrieve a stored preset later, just select it in the Preset combo box.

You can also delete presets with the [-} button. The Default preset cannot be deleted. When you try to delete it, IMatch will instead restore the factory settings for the Default preset.

When you quit IMatch, it stores all modifications to the preset and also the current selected preset. The next time you start IMatch, this preset will be automatically loaded.

The Match History

The Rematch last button allows to you rematch the last selected images (or folders) with the current settings in the dialog. This is very useful when you try out different settings to find the optimal result for a specific kind of image.

The Match History Menu

The match history menu is available at the bottom of the IMatch window. From this menu you can trace back the last 10 matches you performed, thus allowing you to follow your way back through the match history.

To go back or forth in the match history, open the menu and select the desired entry. IMatch will perform the match again, using the match settings defined at the time of the match.

The current match is highlighted with a bold font. This is the match that will be performed when you press the Rematch Last button.

Each entry in the match history has a leading type specifier, identifying the type of match:

[S]	A single file match

[M]	A match with multiple original files

[F]	A folder match

The toolbar in the Result Window also contains some controls which allow you to access the Match History.

With these controls you may browse through your match history, thus allowing you to drill-down and drill-up  within your current results.

See also: The IMatch Result Window , Tips & Tricks , Image Matching, not an exact science , A note about IMatch databases and networks


The IMatch Result Window

See also: Matching Images , Creating a database for your images , Adding images to your database

When IMatch has performed an image query, is displays the result set (all images that are considered similar to the original image) in the IMatch result window. The result window allows you to

•	Perform Drill-Down operations. The term drill-down means in this context to perform match operations on an existing result set to find exactly the images you wanted (or even some you don’t expected)

•	Perform file operations like Copy, Move, Delete or Open.
IMatch is fully drag and drop enabled. You can simply select some images in the hierarchical or the thumbnail view and drop them onto your favorite imaging application. You may also use Open from the context menu to launch the application associated with the selected image type.

The left side of the window contains a hierarchical view of the original images and the matches found. Each image is displayed with it's full name and location. A similarity indicator bar displayed directly in front of each image, indicating the match distance (similarity) between the image and the original image. The more green you see in this bar, the better the match is (the closer this image is to the original).

On the right side of the result window IMatch displays thumbnails for all matching images found. The original image is surrounded by a red border. It is usually displayed at top left, since it has always a match distance of 0%. However, depending on the sort order you have chosen on the [File Match] Tab, the position may vary.

A status indicator is displayed next to each image. This indicator allows you to see if a image is available (Green), orphaned (Red) or modified (White). Modified images have been modified and need to be updated in the database. You need to rescan the folder containing the image to update your database.

If an image has a red status indicator, the image is orphaned. An image becomes orphaned when you delete images files on your disk, but not in the IMatch database. To remove all orphaned images from your database, perform an Update Database task on the [Database] tab.

When you are finished with the current result set, you must close the result window to get back to the IMatch main window. The Result Window is closed automatically when you perform a Rematch by double-clicking on one of the thumbnails.

Thumbnail commands

When you right-click an thumbnail image, a context menu is displayed with the commands available for the selected image.

Quick View	Opens the selected images with the built-in viewer. Each selected image is displayed in a separate window, allowing you to compare images from the result set side by side.   By pressing Ctrl together with the right mouse button you can quick view the image under the mouse cursor, regardless how many images are currently selected
Open	This command opens the selected image(s) with the associated application for that file type (e.g. .JPG)
Open All	Opens all images of the current original with the associated application. This option is only available when you click on the original image.
Match selected...	This option allows you to perform a match for all selected images. When you select this menu item, a second menu will open, displaying all match presets defined in the [File Match] tab. You may choose one of your predefined settings or select the Current Settings entry to perform a match with the current settings from the [File Match] tab.
Quick Move	When you use IMatch to order and clean-up your image libraries, this command will prove extremely handy. It stores the last 10 folders to which you moved files. You can move all selected files to one of these folders by simply selecting the folder in the sub-menu.
Copy	Copies the selected image to the Windows clipboard
Copy Name	Copies the name and path of the current image to the Windows clipboard
Create Bookmark	Adds a bookmark for the selected images (or the image under the cursor when you press Ctrl) to the IMatch bookmarks. You can select this bookmark later at any time from the IMatch bookmark window to perform a match operation on these images. This function is very useful when you find interesting images during a match operation, but you don’t want to match them right now. Just create a bookmark for every image of interest and take care of it later.
Copy Files to	Copies the selected images to a different folder on your hard disk. If the target folder is not already in the current database, IMatch will ask you if you want to add the folder to the current database so it can keep track of the copied images See also: See also MTI_Moving and copying files
Move Files to...	Moves the selected images to a different location on your hard disk. The IMatch database and the current result will automatically be updated when the move operation is completed to indicate the changes made. If you move images into another folder, the current result set will be updated to reflect the new file locations. If the target folder is not already in the current database, IMatch will ask you if you want to add the folder to the current database so it can keep track of the moved images See also MTI_Moving and copying files
Rename File	Allows you to rename the currently selected image. You can also rename a file by double-clicking on the image label in the thumbnail view. If a file is read-only or the current database is read-only, this feature is not available. You may open the properties dialog to change the read-only state of the displayed image before renaming it
Delete Files...	Deletes all selected images into the Windows Recycle Bin. IMatch will automatically update the database (removing the orphaned image records). The result set is updated to reflect the deleted images, you will see red status indicators next to each image. Attention: When you delete the original image (the one with the big status indicator and the red frame), you will not be able to perform a rematch on the current result from the [File Match] tab (using the Rematch last button) or the match history.
Open Browser...	This option opens the database browser. If an image is selected when you select this command, the browser is opened and the folder containing the selected image is displayed automatically. The selected image is positioned into view.
Properties	Displays the Windows standard file properties dialog
These commands also appear in the context menu of the hierarchical view and are accessible via the toolbar.

Double-clicking

Double-clicking the mouse on one of the images executes the default action which is defined on the [Options ] tab. You can specify whether a double-click should Open the selected images or run a Rematch on the selected images.

Usage of the Ctrl-Key

By pressing Ctrl together with the mouse, some of the commands are changed from „selection mode“ to „image under the mouse mode“. For example, the Quick View command works on all selected images unless you press the Ctrl key together with the right mouse button. In this case, only the image under the cursor (the image where the mouse points at) is viewed.

The same applies to the Create Bookmark command. Normally, when you choose this command, a bookmark is added for every selected image. When you press the Ctrl key when you choose this command, a bookmark is added for the image under the cursor.

The Toolbar

The toolbar allows you to quickly access all file and match commands:

Drag and Drop

The IMatch Result Window is fully drag and drop enabled. This feature allows you to:

•	Drag the currently selected files to your favorite imaging application to open them

•	Drag files to a folder on your desktop or a Windows explorer window. This is very handy when you perform cleanup or reorganize your images using IMatch. If you press <Shift> during the drag, the files are moved, else they are copied.

•	Drag files to the Windows recycle bin to delete them.
Note: When you delete files and recover them later, they are not updated automatically in the IMatch database. Use the options available on the [Scan ] tab to add the images to your database.

The Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the Result Window displays information about the current image when you move the mouse over the image display.

If you want to compare duplicate images, also consider the information displayed here. If two images appear to be identical, you may consider the file size and keep the bigger file, which is usually the one with the better quality.


The Database Browser

See also: Adding images to your database , Updating images in a database

The database browser allows you to browse all images in your current IMatch database. You can open the database browser from the [Database ] tab, the [File Match ] tab or the result window.

The window on the left side of the database browser contains a hierarchical view of all the folders that have been added to the current database. On the right, the images from the selected folder are displayed in thumbnail view or detailed view.

The thumbnail view is only available when the current database has an attached thumbnail database.

Using the Thumbnail Tree View

When you have a large number of folders, for example, when you group image by characteristics into sub-folders, it may become hard to remember, which folder contains a specific kind of image.

IMatch allows you to assign a so-called Folder Thumbnail to each folder stored in the database. This thumbnail is displayed in addition to the name of the folder in the tree view on the left when you enable the corresponding option in the [Options] tab .

If the thumbnail tree view is enabled, IMatch displays the folder thumbnails together with the folder name in the tree view on the left of the database browser.

Initially, IMatch selects the thumbnail of the first image added to a folder as the default folder thumbnail. You can change this assignment at any time from the context menu of the thumbnail view on the left. Just select the thumbnail you want to use as the folder thumbnail and choose the Set as Folder Thumbnail command from the context menu.

Manipulating Images and Image Records

From the database browser you are able to:

•	Perform file operations like copy, move, or delete

•	Drag and drop files from the browser to your favorite imaging application

•	Perform database operations like removing folders or images from the database

•	Perform matches with the same functionality as available from the result window

•	Relocate a folder in the database when you have moved the physical folder on your hard disk to reestablish the link between the folder in the database and the physical folder

Commands available from the Hierarchical View (Folder Menu)

Update Modified	Rescans all images from the selected folder that have been modified on disk. These images are indicated with a white status indicator bitmap in detailed view.
Remove Orphans	Removes all orphaned images from the database. Orphaned images are images that have been deleted on disk but not in the database. A red status indicator bitmap is shown next to each orphaned image in detailed view.
Relocate	Allows you to relocate one or more folders in your database. See below for an explanation of this feature.
Remove	Removes the selected folder, the sub-folders of that folder and all image records from the database. This will not remove any physical folders or image files from your disk.
Commands available from the thumbnail view

Quick View	Opens the selected images with the built-in quick viewer. The viewer is not very powerful, but quick and handy. It tries to display the images in their original size. If that would exceed the available screen size, the images are scaled down until they fit on the screen. You can see whether an image is scaled if you look at the caption bar of the image viewer window: If the image is scaled, the percentage shown here is less than 100%. If you want to verify the true quality of the image, use your favorite imaging application instead (use the Open command from the toolbar or context menu). The Image Viewer has been designed to be rather quick than accurate.
Open	Opens the selected files with the associated application
Match selected	Performs a match on the selected images, using the preset you choose
Quick Move	Allows you to move the selected files to another location on your hard disk. This command gives you direct access to the last 10 folders uses for move operations
Copy	Copies the selected image on the Window clipboard
Copy Name	Copies the name of the selected image to the Windows clipboard
Create Bookmark	Adds a bookmark for the selected images (or the image under the cursor when you press Ctrl) to the IMatch bookmarks. You can select this bookmark later at any time from the IMatch bookmark window to perform a match operation on these images. This function is very useful when you find interesting images during a match operation, but you don’t want to match them right now. Just create a bookmark for every image of interest and take care of it later.
Remove Record	Deletes the records associated with the selected images. This will not delete the files on your disk, only the entries for this files in the IMatch database
Copy files to...	Copies the selected files to another location on your hard disk. If the target folder is not already in the current database, IMatch will ask you if you want to add the folder to the current database so it can keep track of the copied images See also MTI_Moving and copying files
Move files to...	Moves the selected files to another location on your hard disk. If the target folder is not already in the current database, IMatch will ask you if you want to add the folder to the current database so it can keep track of the moved images See also MTI_Moving and copying files
Rename File	Allows you to rename the current selected image. You can also rename a file by double-clicking on the image label in the thumbnail view. If a file is read-only or the current database is read-only, this feature is not available. You may open the properties dialog to change the read-only state of the displayed image before renaming it
Delete Files	Deletes the selected image files from your hard disk and the current database
Properties...	Displays the Windows standard file properties dialog
Set as Folder Thumbnail	Allows you to specify the thumbnail to be used as the folder thumbnail for the current folder
Relocating Folders

IMatch stores the complete path (folder name) and file name of each image you add to a database. When you move the folder on your hard disk, all links in the IMatch database to this folder are broken, since IMatch has no knowledge of the new folder location or name.

A typical example for this situation: Your hard disk gets full and you move one or more folders to a second disk from within Windows Explorer. Since IMatch is not involved in this move process, the database contains the old folder locations and hence flags every image from one of these folders as orphaned.

If this happens, simply open the database browser, select the folder that was moved and choose Relocate from the context menu or the menu bar.

A dialog box opens, allowing you to type in or select the new location of the folder:

Note:	The new location you type here is not checked or validated. At this level, IMatch treats the folder name only as a string. You may type here whatever you want, but if IMatch continues to display all images as orphaned, the folder you specified is probably not correct.
You may want to use the Browse button to select an existing folder on your hard disk to make sure that the folder name is correct.

Relative and Absolute Folders

To be able to find an image during execution, IMatch needs to store the complete path and file name (in compressed form) for each image in the database. This works normally fine and should not be a problem for most users.

Anyway, if you store your images on external storage media, a CD-ROM changer or a jukebox, the folder names may change when the CD-ROM is in a different drive than the drive you used to add the images to the database.

For example: You have a CD-ROM in drive R: and create an IMatch database containing all the images from that CD-ROM. IMatch will add the images with folders relative to drive R:

R:\IMAGES\Pic1.jpg
R:\IMAGES\Pic2.tif
...

If you have another CD-ROM drive or even a CD changer, this may lead to problems when you insert the CD-ROM into a drive different from R: the next time. IMatch will be unable to map the images in the database to drive R: and will report each image as orphaned (missing).

To fix this kind of problem, open your database, open the database browser and relocate each folder to the correct drive. If your original drive folder was R:\IMAGES and the drive is now N:\, just change R:\IMAGES to N:\IMAGES to relink all images in the database to the new location.

@DBLOC

But what if you want to store your IMatch database on the CD-ROM, together with the images indexed by the database? If you give the CD-ROM away to a friend or a customer, there is a good change that his/her CD-ROM has a different drive letter than yours. Since the database is stored on CD-ROM, there is no way to modify the database by relocating the folders to the correct CD-ROM.

Here enters @DBLOC the game. @DBLOC is basically an alias for the folder which contains the database. For example, if your database is stored in R:\, @DBLOC will contain R:\. If you move the database to C:\IMATCH, @DBLOC will change to C:\IMAGES also.

And here’s the trick: If you want to store an IMatch database on a CD-ROM or other external media, create/copy the database into the root folder of the disk/media. This will allow you to specify all images in the database relative to the actual storage location of the database.

Example:

Your external drive has the drive letter R:\. All images on that drives are stored in folders below the root folder of that drive:

r:\images
  r:\images\buildings
  r:\images\people
    r:\images\people\beach
    r:\images\people\female
    r:\images\people\male
    r:\images\people\children

The IMatch database file is stored in the root folder R:\.

•	After creating/copying the database, open the database browser and select the entry r:\images. This is the root of all the images in your database.

•	Select Relocate from the context menu or toolbar

•	Choose the option „Make this folder relative to...“

•	Enter „Images“ (without the quotes) in the edit field and press OK.

The hierarchical display on the left of the database browser will change to

@dbloc
  images
    buildings
    people
      beach
      female
      male
      children

All images in your database are now relative to the folder where the database file is located, in this case R:\.

If you move the disk to another drive, for example X:\, @DBLOC will also change to X:\ and IMatch will be able to find all your images even if the drive has changed.

When IMatch needs to access an image or folder which is relative to @DBLOC, it first replaces @DBLOC internally by the actual drive/folder where the database is stored. In the example above, first this will be R:\, and after you insert the media into drive X:, it will become X:\:

r:\images
  r:\images\buildings

is converted internally to

x:\images
  x:\images\buildings

With this feature you are able to pack IMatch databases onto CD-ROMs and to give these CD-ROMs to customers and friends. If they also have a licensed version of IMatch, they will be able to perform matches against the database.


Color Matching

See also: Adding images to your database , Updating images in a database , Matching images

The Color Match module of IMatch is a fascinating tool for browsing your image libraries for images with specific colors or a specific color distribution.

With color match you can perform queries like:

•	„Find all images that are mostly red“

•	„Show me all images with a red object in front of a blue background“

•	„Find all images with some shade of green at the bottom and blue at the top“

•	„Find all images that contain at least 50% black“

The Color Selector

This control allows you to select the working color which is then used in the other controls to define the colors for your match. To select a color, just move the mouse over the color selector and press the left mouse button. The working color display will be changed to display the color you selected. Moving the mouse while holding down the left mouse button while change the working color to the color under the mouse cursor.

The RGB value of the selected color is shown next to the working color display for your convenience.

When you left-click on a colored cell while holding down the <Ctrl> key, the color of that cell becomes the new working color.

The Color Tolerance Slider

IMatch implements a fuzzy algorithm for the color match feature. A tolerance or threshold will be applied to each color you use for the percentage or the distribution match. This allows IMatch to handle subtle differences in the actual color shades of the images in your database and hence to produce better results.

The result of a color match will contain the best n matches found, where n is the number of maximum hits you defined on the Color Match tab.

The tolerance slider allows you to specify how close a color in an image must match the color you defined in the percentage or distribution match. Use lower tolerance for closer matches. A higher value will usually produce more, but not always better, results. If you use a tolerance value to low, IMatch will display the n best matches. If the images displayed in the result window are not even close to what you expect, try to use a lower tolerance value. If you used a low tolerance setting, increase it in steps and rerun your match until you get the desired result.

Color Percentage Match

The color percentage match allows you to specify the overall percentage of a specific color that should be in an image. Each cell in the grid represents 5% of the image. If you fill five of the cells with black, IMatch will scan for all images that contain at least 25% black or dark gray, depending on the setting of the color tolerance slider.

You can use as many colors (up to 20, 5% each) as you like to specify the kind of images you want to find. Use the color selector to pick up a working color and then define the percentage by clicking on the percentage grid.

You can remove a color from a grid cell by right-clicking with the mouse.

Each cell not filled with a color is treated as „don’t care“ and will not influence the match result. To clear a cell, right-click with your mouse on that cell. You can also clear more than one cell by moving your mouse while holding down the right mouse button.

The order of the colors in the grid has an influence on the result. Cells on the left have a higher precedence.

Matching Color Distributions

The Color distribution match works like the percentage match, with one major difference: It not only looks at the actual colors in an image, but it also considers where in the image the colors are.

The three samples above give you some impressions on how you define a color distribution with IMatch. As usual, select a color from the color selector and fill the part of the 20 x 20 distribution grid with the desired color. Remember: Don’t try to be too precise. The fuzzy algorithm used by IMatch will find „nearby positions“ or similar shades automatically. Use the color tolerance slider to limit or widen your search.

Each cell not filled with a color is treated as „don’t care“ and will not influence the match result. To clear a cell, right-click with your mouse on that cell. You can also clear more than one cell by moving your mouse while holding down the right mouse button.

You can change this size of your paint brush by clicking on the paint brush button just below the color distribution grid. This control will toggle between a small and a large paint brush.

Each cell in the distribution grid represents a 5% by 5% area of the images in the database. Hence, there is no difference if an image in the database is 320x200 or 2000x2000. Just keep in mind that each cells represents a five percent area of the image you to find.

Tips for Optimal Results

•	Spend a few minutes to get used to the Color Match tab and the options that you have in this dialog.

•	Don’t try to be too precise. Draw only a raw sketch of what you want to find and let IMatch do the rest.

•	Don’t fill up the whole distribution grid. Leave some space at the borders. Usually, the outer areas of an image a not as relevant as the inner parts.

•	Use the tolerance slider to limit or widen your search. The color tolerance used as a heavy influence on the results you get from the color match.

•	Again, get used to the color match by doing some experiments on your own. After a few minutes you should be able to find the images you’re looking for fast

•	When the result set is displayed, you can use the usual match features available from the result window. Take the color match as a starting point and refine the results with Color Similarity or Color and Shape matches.


IMatch Options

On this Tab you can set the options that influence the working and behavior of IMatch.

Automatically reload last database on startup

When you check this option, IMatch will load the last active database automatically the next time it is started.

Set priority to ‘idle’ when minimized

This option allows you to control how IMatch behaves when you minimize the IMatch window. If you check this option, IMatch will use only the available processing power when minimized. This feature is useful if you perform large queries or updates and want to work simultaneously with other application. Just minimize the IMatch window to get a much performance as possible for your foreground applications. IMatch will sit on the taskbar and wait until some processing power becomes available. It then will continue with it’s current task until finished. This way, IMatch needs more time to complete a task, but will not interfere with foreground applications.

Save bookmarks on program exit

Check this option if you want the bookmark list to persist between program runs. If you leave this option unchecked, all bookmarks are cleared when you quit IMatch.

Use thumbnails for the browser tree

Check this option if you want to use the thumbnail tree view in the database browser. If you leave this unchecked, IMatch will use a conventional tree view in the database browser.

Delete files to the Windows Recycle Bin

Check this if you want to delete files into the Windows recycle bin. Per default, IMatch deletes files without moving the to the Windows recycle bin.

Unfold all matches in result window

If you perform multi-file matches, this option decides whether all originals are unfolded automatically (showing their matches) or remain closed.

Thumbnail Preview

This option allows you to specify the size of the thumbnail images displayed in the IMatch Result Window.

If you use a thumbnail database, IMatch automatically uses the image size of the thumbnail database for the preview.

Thumb cache entries

IMatch uses system memory (RAM) to cache thumbnails for the images displayed in the Result Window. When you browse the result set or perform Rematch operations, IMatch often can fetch a thumbnail from it's internal cache instead of reading it from the disk. Since it is much faster to reuse an already existing thumbnail instead of loading the image file from disk, this allows for a much faster operation.

Depending on the amount of memory built into your computer and your preferences, you can adjust the number of thumbnails that are cached. The higher the number of cached thumbnails, the more memory will be used. A Thumb cache entries value between 100 and 400 has proven to provide the best overall effect.

Hide Originals without matches

If you check this option, IMatch will only display original images in the Result Window that actually have one or more matches. All originals without matches will be hidden.

This option comes handy if you use very strict match settings or match a large number of files at the same time. You will see only original images in the hierarchical view that actually have one or more hits.

Double-Click in Image View performs

Here you can specify the default action for a mouse double-click in the Thumbnail View.


Skipped Files

This dialog shows you the files that have been skipped during the Scan  process.

During the scan process, IMatch skips all files which cannot be read or which are corrupted. These files are then presented in this dialog after the scan has completed.

You may use this dialog to open, delete, move or copy the invalid images files. You can also use drag and drop to drag these files on to your favorite imaging application, the Windows recycle bin or a folder on your hard disk.

For more information, see Handling corrupt images


About IMatch

This tab displays some information about IMatch. Here you find the version of IMatch and the IMatch Engine used, together with the Copyright information.

Registering IMatch

When you use an unregistered copy of IMatch for evaluation purposed, this dialog also contains the Register button which allows you to enter the registration information.

Please enter the registration information exactly as received, the registration process is case-sensitive. After a click on the Register button in the dialog, IMatch is set into the registered mode and all »Nag Screens« will disappear automatically.

For more information about registering IMatch look at The Shareware Principle and Registration of IMatch


Technical Information

IMatch is based on a specialized spatial database with a multidimensional database structure (a n-dimensional cube). The database format has been developed and tuned to support maximum performance even on ‘small’ machines.

Each database consists of three files:

<Name>.IMD	This file holds information about the folders and files in the database
<Name>.IMI	This file holds the database index with the information required for matching
<Name>.IMT	The thumbnail database

When you copy IMatch databases, make sure that you keep these three files together.

There is no practical limit for the maximum database size. The maximum size of the database is only limited by the available hard disk space on your machine. Anyway, if you create databases with more than 100.000 to 150.000 images, the performance begins to drop and also the match precision since there are too much similar images in databases of such a size.

If you have several hundred thousands of images, it is a good idea to split the images into some categories and to create one IMatch database for each of these categories.

Hardware Requirements

•	PC with at least a 486 or better processor

•	64 MB RAM (the more the better)

•	Windows 95 with Service Pack 1 installed or

•	Windows 98

•	Windows NT 4.x with Service Pack 3 installed

•	Mouse or compatible pointing device

•	Graphic adapter with at least 32K colors (High-Color or True-Color preferred). Graphic cards with 256 or less are not supported.

Supported File Formats

IMatch currently supports the following file formats:

•	JPEG compliant (*.jpg, *.jpeg)

•	Truevision Targa (*.tga)

•	Tagged Image File Format (*.tif)

•	Macintosh PICT (*.pct)

•	Portable Network Graphics (*.png)

•	Windows or OS/2 Bitmap (*.bmp)

•	Windows Meta File (*.wmf)

•	Windows Meta File with Aldus Placeable Information (*.wmf)

•	Enhanced Windows Meta File (*.emf)


Tips & Tricks

This section contains a variety of tips & tricks which should help you getting the maximum out of IMatch. You may also want to look at my home page at http://www.mwlabs.de for the latest IMatch FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).

How to find duplicate images?

To find duplicate images, even if the have been renamed, resized or converted into another file format, perform a match with the Duplicate Scanner or Color and Shape (Quick) methods. Sort the result set by Similarity, Folder, Filename.

The Duplicate Scanner has the best possible performance and should be used for large image libraries or a large number of original images. To get better results (with respect to matching accuracy) use the Color and Shape (Quick) method.

You should also use a low Max. Distance value (around 2 points) to limit the number of images displayed in the result set.

How to speed up IMatch

Use low values for Max. Distance. When IMatch performs queries against your database, it calculates a distance value for each image. If the distance value of an image is less or equal to the Max. Distance value, the image is considered a possible match. During the scan, IMatch keeps the list of possible matches found. When the database scan is completed, IMatch sorts the list of possible matches after their distance and other sort criteria and returns the first n images from the list as the result.

All images with a distance value less than Max. Distance are immediately discarded during the scan. So, the lower the value for Max. Distance is, there more images can be removed from the list of possible matches in advance. This speeds up the overall performance.

IMatch also checks the distance value of an image during the image record in the database is processed. If it reaches a value larger than Max. Distance during the processing, IMatch stops processing the image and goes on to the next image. So, if the Max. Distance value is low, more images can be skipped early in the processing and hence IMatch performs better.

You may also want to check Consider Orientation to limit the match process to files with the same orientation (landscape or portrait) as the original image. In a usual database, this limits the number of images to be considered during a match to about 50% of the whole database. This results in a far better performance during the match.

Although IMatch may look nice, small and hand, it’s a full fledged and highly-optimized multidimensional database system. IMatch will perform better if you have more memory and faster hard disks in your system. If you have databases with 10.000 or 30.000 images, IMatch performs excellent even on „small“ machines with only 32 MB of RAM. If you want to handle several 100.000ths of records in your database, you should have 128 to 256 MB of RAM in your system and - the faster your processor is, the faster IMatch will be.

IMatch also takes advantage of some features only available in Microsoft Windows NT. If you want to handle large databases, you should consider upgrading your Machine to Windows NT for better performance.

Handling image series

If you collect series of images, there is often a good change that the file names are similar. Often, image series have file names with a prefix and an increasing number, like pic0001, pic0002, etc.
To scan your database for such series, use the fuzzy file name match method and sort the result set by Similarity, file name and folder.

Attention:	If you sort a result set by similarity, IMatch will display all files considered similar to your original. This is also true for the fuzzy file name match. This may lead to some confusion because some of the images appear to be „out of sequence“.
If IMatch finds images with the same distance to the original image (similarity), it will sort the images after file name. If the file name is also the same, it will sort the result after the folder. Please keep this in mind when you work with your result set!

The result set will show all files with equal or similar names. Use this as a starting point for matching more precisely with Color and Shape (Quick) or Color and Shape (Fuzzy).

How to find only truly identical images?

To find binary identical images (duplicates) use the CRC checksum method .Sort the result set by Similarity Folder, Filename.

How to find the best matches?

To find the best possible matches, you should start with the Color and Shape (Fuzzy) match method. This method has proven to be the most reliable for the majority of images.

When you only want to find images that match in color to a given sample, you can use the Color Distance or Scaled Color Distance methods. These methods consider images as similar when the have the same kind of color distribution.

Generally speaking, depending on the kind of images you store in your database, you should try out different settings to see what fits best. You can save the best settings for your requirements as presets and reload them at any time to perform more queries.

Image Series

When you try to find all images from a series and that series contains images with some variation in color and shape, you should use the ‘Consider image dimensions’ option with about 5%-20%. There is often a good chance that images from a series have approximately the same size and this setting will limit the difference in size to a amount of 5-20 percent from the original image.

How to find images with a specific shape?

You can create sample images for a variety of shapes with a paint program of your choice. For example, you may draw a black circle in front of a blue background, save this image as a file on your disk and use it as the original image for IMatch queries.

You get the best results for the Shape match methods when the original image has a high contrast or a clean setup, e.g. a red car in front of a blue sky. The shape match algorithm in IMatch performs very well on these kind of images.

If the original image is very »noisy«, with many colors and many details, the shape match algorithm may not find all similar matches or may find some totally unrelated (from a humans point of view) matches.

This behavior is by design. Upcoming versions of IMatch will probably include better algorithms to deal with much more detail in the original image.


Database Name

This edit field shows the name of the current open database.


Open Database

Press this button to open an existing database.


Last recently used databases

This menu contains the names of the 4 last recently used databases. Just click on one of the entries to reopen.


Update Database

Use this button to update the current database. The update operation will remove all orphaned (deleted) images from the database and will result in a smaller database file.


Create a new database

Press this button to create a new database file.


Add images

Press this button to add selected images to your database


Add all images in a folder

This button allows you to add all images in a folder. You can also add all images recursively when you enable the »Act recursive on folders« check box.


Act recursive on folders

Enable this check box if you want to scan also subfolders when you add images


Image Preview

This space displays the images while they are added to the database


Enable Display

Click this button to enable the image preview.


Stop

This button aborts the current operation


Match images

Match one or more selected images


Match folder

Match all files in a folder


Rematch

Rematch the current set of files with the actual settings


Presets

List of available presets. Select an entry from this list to load the associated settings


Add Preset

Saves the current settings as a preset


Delete Preset

Deletes the current preset


Match Method

List of available match methods


Match Threshold

Use this control to define the maximum match distance


Image dimensions

Controls whether IMatch considers the size of the images


Size

Controls the maximum size difference between the original image and the images considered as hits


Number of hits

Limits the number of hits per file


Maximum hits

Specifies the maximum number of hits per original image


Sorting

Specifies the sort order for the result set


Auto-Reload

Enable this option when you want IMatch to reload the last used database at startup


Thumbnail size

Size in pixels of the thumbnails displayed in the Result Window


Thumbnail size

Size in pixels of the thumbnails displayed in the Result Window


Thumbnail size

Size in pixels of the thumbnails displayed in the Result Window


Thumbnail Cache

Controls the number of entries in the thumbnail cache


Help

Displays the Online Help System


Register

This button brings up the register dialog. Here you can enter your personal licensing information


Type Caption for New Topic Right Here
Delete Image

This button deletes the selected image files


Type Caption for New Topic Right Here
Move images

This button moves the selected images files to a new location on your hard disks


Type Caption for New Topic Right Here
Open

Opens the selected images files with the associated application


Type Caption for New Topic Right Here
Skipped File List

This list contains all the skipped files


Recursive Matching

Check this option if you also want to match subfolders recursively


With Matches Only

Only show original images in Result Window that have at least one match. All other originals are hidden in the hierarchical view.


Double-Click

Defines the double-click action for the Result Window


Double-Click

Defines the double-click action for the Result Window


Type Caption for New Topic Right Here
Match History

This button opens the Match History menu, containing the last 10 matches you have performed. Select a entry from this menu to perform a rematch with the current match settings.


Color Distribution

Allows you to match images by color and color distribution


Clear All

Clears all cells to „don’t care“ in the color distribution grid. You may also reset cells by right-clicking with the mouse


Color Percentage

Allows you to match images by color percentage


Presets

This combo box contains all the presets you have defined. Select an entry from this list to load the settings defined in the preset. To save the current settings as a preset, enter a name in the edit field and press the Add [ + ] button on the right. To remove a preset, select the preset from the list and press the Remove [ - ] button on the right


Start/Stop the match operation

This button starts the match operation with the current settings. When a match is performed, you may press this button again to abort the current match


Priority

Allows you to define the application priority of IMatch. Enable this option to minimize the amount of processing power used by IMatch when the IMatch window is minimized


Browse Database

This button opens the database browser. From there you can browse the entire contents of your database.


Rescan database

Rescans all folders in the current database. This command allows you to re-sync the current database after you have moved, copied or deleted files from another application.


What's new in version 2?

IMatch 2 contains a bunch of new features, numerous detail enhancements, speed improvements and an enhanced matching technology which allows for even better matching.

I want to thank all the early users of IMatch for their warm comments, criticisms, ideas, suggestions and feedback!

I especially want to thank all IMatch Beta Testers which put IMatch 2.0 through it’s paces. Thank you very much.

New Features

New match methods	have been added, existing match methods have been enhanced. IMatch now supports special match methods to find duplicate images faster, to perform quick matches or to match most precise with fuzzy technology.
Color Match	IMatch now has a color or „sketch“ match feature. This feature allows you to draw a sketch of the image you are looking for and let IMatch find all images which match this sketch. This feature is also great if you want to find images that contain a specific range of colors, like in „Find all images which contain at least 50% black“ or „Find all images which contain this shade of red and yellow“
Fuzzy Filename match	This innovative match method allows you to match files by file name with some kind of fuzziness. For example, if you download files from the Web or the Usenet, you may have files from the same series spread all over your hard disk. The fuzzy filename match allows you to unite these image series by matching one file of the series against the database. IMatch can handle slight name changes, numbered images in series, wrong-spelled file names and the like.
Pre-Processing	Most match methods now support pre-processing of images before they are matched. This feature allows you to mask out all portions of the image which are not relevant for the match or to „blend“ out specific colors in the source image before you perform a Color Similarity match.
Database Browser	The database browser allows you to browse the contents of IMatch databases with thumbnail preview and file details. You can copy, move, delete or re-scan files directly from the browser. If you encounter orphaned images, you are able to remove them with a mouse-click. The database browser also allows you to perform matches directly from the thumbnail or the detailed view.
Color Match	With the new Color Match feature you are able to draw a raw sketch of the images you are looking for and to perform queries against the database based on these sketches.
Thumbnail Database	IMatch now supports thumbnail databases . Thumbnail databases contain small representations of the images stored in an IMatch database. For the Result Window and the Database Browser, IMatch retrieves the precalculated thumbnails from the database and does not need to read the original image to produce the thumbnail. This is much faster, especially when you deal with large images.
Relocation	IMatch now allows you to relocate folders or the complete database contents to other drives or folders. This feature is very useful if you move folders on your disks or even want to move an entire database onto another disk or CD-ROM. This now goes seamless, without the need to rescan your database
Rename	You now can rename images directly from within the IMatch result window or the database browser. Just click on the image label, like in the Windows Explorer
File Properties dialog	With the Properties command available in the database browser and the result set window you now have access to the Windows file properties dialog. This allows you to get additional information about the selected image
Move, Copy, Delete	You can now copy, move, and delete image files directly from the Result Window and the Database Browser. The database is updated automatically when you move or delete an image.
File Mover dialog	When you move or copy files from within IMatch and the target directory already contains a file with the same name as the file you are moving/copying, IMatch brings up the File Mover dialog box. This dialog box shows you both the existing file and the file you are moving/copying, together with some statistical information like the dimensions, sizes and last modified dates of both files. You can then decide to rename the source image, the target image or to cancel the move/copy operation.
Built-in Quick View	IMatch now has a built-in quick view in the database browser and the result window. This command allows you to view any number of images from the current result set or the current database folder. The quick-view is very fast, compared to the Open command which usually launches another application. The viewer is not very powerful, but quick and handy. It tries to display the images in their original size. If that would exceed the available screen size, the images are scaled down until they fit on the screen. You can see whether an image is scaled if you look at the caption bar of the image viewer window: If the image is scaled, the percentage shown here is less than 100%. If you want to verify the true quality of the image, use your favorite imaging application instead (use the Open command from the toolbar or context menu). The Image Viewer has been designed to be rather quick than accurate.
Match History	IMatch now supports a match history , allowing you to go back and forth in your matches. This feature is very handy when you „drill-down“ you image library to find specific images. You now can always go back you way to start over when a search is not successful.
Bookmarks	IMatch now allows you to add bookmarks for files in the result window and the database browser. You can later review these bookmarks and use them as a starting point for a new match operation.
Time to complete...	All long term operations, like adding images or matching a large number of files have now a „Expected time to complete“ display. The display will show the approximate time in minutes for the current operation to be completed.
Minimize	The IMatch window can now be minimized (send to the Windows Taskbar). You also are able to define how IMatch behaves when minimized, with respect to the processing power used.
Improvements, Enhancements, Bug Fixes

•	IMatch databases are smaller in size compared to the old database format. Unfortunately, there is no way to update existing databases to the new version. You need to create new databases to work with IMatch 2.

•	The performance for large databases with 50.000 to 200.000 images has been enhanced. You can improve the overall working speed of IMatch for databases of this size further by adding more memory to your computer

•	„Cleaning“ of databases is now easier. When you use IMatch to find duplicate images, you’ll love the Quick Move feature in the Result Window and the File Mover dialog.

•	More enhancements, speed improvements and bug fixes than I can remember...


IMatch Bookmarks

The IMatch Bookmark window displays a list of all currently defined bookmarks.

To perform a match operation on a bookmark, select one or more bookmarks (by using the ctrl key together with the mouse), choose the appropriate match preset from the list and press „Match“.

To delete one or more of the bookmarks, select the bookmarks to be deleted in the list and press the „Remove“ button.

To clear all bookmarks, press „Clear All“.

If you want to automatically remove bookmarks used in a match operation, check the Auto-remove matched items check box. If you leave this unchecked, IMatch will keep all bookmarks until you delete them manually.


Thumb Size

Specifies the size of thumbnails for the result window. If your database has a thumbnail database, this option has no effect. IMatch automatically uses the thumbnail size specified in the thumbnail database.


Database Read-Only

Your current database is read-only, was opened as read-only or resides on a read-only medium. You cannot make modifications to this database. All commands are disables that perform modifications on the current database.


No thumbnail database

You current database has no thumbnail database attached. The Database Browser is unable to show thumbnails for your database, but all other options and commands in the Database Browser are fully functional.

You can create a thumbnail database via the [Database] tab. Choose Update Database and check the box „Create thumbnail database“ to create a new thumbnail database.


Scan aborted

You have aborted the current database scan. All image added so far will remain in the database.

To add more images to your database, simply choose the Scan command again. IMatch will automatically recognize images already in the database and will only add new images or images that have been modified since the last scan was performed.


Moving and copying files

See also: The IMatch Result Window , The Database Browser

When you choose to move or copy a file from the result window or the database browser, IMatch displays the Move/Copy dialog:

The edit field of the combo box contains the last folder to which you copied or moved an image file. If you want to copy or move the selected images right there, just press OK.

If you unfold the drop-down list, you get access to the last 20 folders you used for moving or copying files. Just select the folder you want to move/copy the selected image files to.

If the folder you looking for is not in the list, you can use the Browse button to open a directory browser. Simply select the folder from the folder tree displayed and press OK.

Alternatively, you may also type a folder name directly into the edit control.

If you want to check out the contents of the folder currently selected in the upper combo box, press the View button. If the current database has an attached thumbnail database and the selected folder is indexed by the database, IMatch will show thumbnails for all images in that folder.

You can limit the number of images displayed to 10 if you check the box below the preview window.

Creating a new folder

If you want to create a new folder to move/copy the images to, you can just type in the name of the new folder and press OK. If IMatch is unable to find the folder you selected, it tries to create the folder for your.

You are only allowed to create one folder at a time. For example, if your hard disk contains a folder

c:\photos

you may create a folder

c:\photos\buildings

by typing that name in the edit field.

However, you cannot create a folder

c:\photos\buildings\small

at the same time. First create the buildings folder, and then the small folder.

Resolving duplicate files

If you move or copy files from one folder to the other, it usually happens that the target folder contains a file with the same name as the file currently moved/copied.

In this situation, IMatch brings up the File Move/Copy dialog.

As you can see, you are trying to move the file 015001B.JPG into the folder „f:\clipart and photos\testing\stuff“. Unfortunately, this folder already contains a file with that name.

From the thumbnail previews, you may guess that both files are equal. The source image is displayed with a smaller size, because the database contains a thumbnail for this image. The target file is displayed slightly bigger, since IMatch has generated a thumbnail on the fly and used the space available in the preview window.

From the three quick status displays you can see immediately that:

•	The dimensions (With and/or Height) of the source image are bigger.

•	The file size of the source image is bigger

•	The target image is newer

This dialog is the ultimate solution to resolve all name conflicts when you move or copy files.

It shows you the source (the file moved/copied) image and the target image (the file that already exists in the target folder) side by side. By clicking on the images or by pressing the little looking glass buttons you can view the images in their original size (or zoomed size if the don’t fit on the screen).

You can rename the source image by entering a new name in the edit field in the „Source“ section. The name you enter here is the name to which the image will be copied or moved. You must press „Apply“ to actually perform the rename. This will not alter the name of the original image when you perform a copy. Only the copy will be renamed. If you move a file, the file will have the name entered after move operation.

Instead of renaming the source image, you may also rename the existing image. Just enter a new name in the „Target“ section and press „Apply“. If a file with that name already exists, IMatch will warn you.

If the file moved/copied and the existing target file are identical, you may delete the file moved/copied by pressing „Delete“ in the „Source“ section.

With the Move/Copy button you move/copy the file, even if a file with the same name already exists in the target directory.

With Move All / Copy All you suppress all further notifications. IMatch will overwrite all files with the same name as the files moved/copied in the target folder.

With Skip you may skip the move/copy of the source file displayed.

Use Cancel to abort the whole move/copy process.


Preprocessing Images

See also: Matching Files , Color Matching

This new feature (and somewhat experimental) allows you to optionally preprocess and original image before you perform a match.

Consider this image of a rose. If you match this image against the database, IMatch will not only consider to rose itself, but also the green background. This may lead to too much noise or unwanted match results.

If you select the Pre-Processing button before you select the file to match, IMatch will bring up the new Pre-Processing dialog box which allows you to mask out irrelevant areas of the image.

Use the mouse to mask out the parts of the image which you want to exclude during the match. When you press the left mouse button and move the mouse around, all areas under the mouse are set to „don’t care“. These areas have later no effect on the match process, IMatch will ignore the color and shape information in these areas completely.

To unmask a part of the image, press the right mouse button. The original image will reappear in these sections.

By pressing the Ctrl key together with a mouse button or by toggling the tool button at the bottom of the dialog box you may choose a larger or smaller brush.

Note	All images are displayed as ‘square’ in the Pre-Processing dialog. This has no influence on the match result, but makes it easier to mask out irrelevant parts of the image.

The picture below shoes the rose image after the background has been masked. When you now perform a match, IMatch will only consider the rose itself which should lead to other and probably more precise results when you’re looking for images with this shade of red or with a red area in the middle of the image.

IMatch will find red areas in the middle of the image, regardless of the actual background. If you have an image with a red balloon in front of a blue sky, IMatch will consider this as similar to the rose picture after the masking.

Note	The Pre-Processing dialog is currently an experimental feature. Please send in feedback on how you use it, what you would enhance and if it’s useful at all.


Folder selection combo

Enter a folder name or select one from the list. You may also use the Browse button on the right to select a folder name.


Browse for folder

Click here to open a folder selection dialog


Preview button

Click this button to preview the contents of the selected folder. This feature is only available if your database has an attached thumbnail database


Limit the number of images displayed

Check this to limit the number of images displayed to 10


The source image

The thumbnail display for the source image. Click on the image to display it full-size


The target image

The thumbnail display for the target image. Click on the image to display it full-size


Zoom original

Click here to zoom the original image


Zoom target

Click here to zoom the target image


Pre-Processing

Check this button to enable pre-processing for single-image matches.


Reset

Removes all masked areas from the image


Mode Selector

Toggles the brush size between large and small


Name of the original image

Enter the name of the original image after the move/copy here


Name of the target image

Enter a new name for the target image here and click on Apply


Apply name change

Click here to apply the new name to the original image


Apply name change

Click here to apply the new name to the original image


Move All
Move/Copy All

Click here to move/copy all images. IMatch will overwrite all existing files without further questions


Skip

Click here to skip the move/copy for the current image