PIE - PICTURE INFORMATION EXTRACTOR 2.6 for Digital Cameras ======================================= Congratulations on your choice of the Picture Information Extractor. I am confident that you will find it an indispensable tool. If you have any trouble, comments, or suggestions, please send them to me in an email. Happy "Information Extracting" ! What is PIE? ------------ 1. PIE is a file renaming utility that extracts the camera information from the raw .jpg and renames the PIC000XX.JPG filename to a more computer friendly name keyed to the date and time as well as other photo information. This lets your favorite picture viewer display your photos in correct chronological order. 2. Because PIE shows you exposure information for each picture, you can better understand digital camera functions by analyzing shutter, flash use, aperture, zoom position, and quality settings. 3. The exposure information is saved in the .jpg file - as long as the file is not modified. Any modification to the JPG file will destroy this data. To prevent loss of picture information PIE records exposure data in standard text files, which also may be imported into a spreadsheet or database. 4. PIE is a file manager. Move, Copy, Delete and Rename JPG files. 5. The new PIE has an integrated picture viewer. 6. The new PIE is one of the first programs which allow you to rotate JPG pictures without any loss of quality! Rotation is done without decompression/compression. The so-called »lossless rotation« makes it easy to take pictures in portrait mode. Supported Digital Cameras so far: - All Olympus models - Agfa ePhoto1280, ePhoto307, ePhoto1680 - Epson PhotoPC 550,600,700 - Fujifilm MX-500/700 (FinePix 500/700), DS-models - Nikon Coolpix 900 - Kodak DC210, DC 220/260 - Ricoh DC-3Z (RDC 300Z), DC-4 (RDC 4300), DC-4T - Sanyo VPC-X300 - Hewlett Packard C20 - ... (Check if there is a newer version of PIE at http://www.snafu.de/~hoju/pie.htm) Features of PIE 2.6 ------------------- - Flexible renaming of digital photos - Lossless JPEG-Rotation Rotate single pictures or Rotate in batch mode - Automated file transfer from your SmartMedia-card-adapter including renaming/redating (registered version) - Free scalable thumbnail view - Instant view/auto select of new files - Full screen mode (registered version) View pictures and their exposure information in full screen Drag displayed text on your preferred screen position - Saving picture information in standard textfiles Automatic monitoring of the 'picinfo.txt'-files - Advanced picture information - File sorting by name, date, shutter, aperture, zoom, .. - Move and Copy picture files per Drag&Drop Drag from and into the PIE window (OLE Drag) - Manual renaming of files. This will automatically update 'picinfo.txt' - Delete files - Open pictures with your favorite editor (Double click or right button click) - Improved file handling - Increased performance - and many more, as you will see... Lossless JPEG-Transformation ---------------------------- It works by rearranging the compressed data (DCT coefficients), without ever fully decoding the image. Therefore, its transformations are lossless: there is no image degradation at all. The transformation has no restrictions regarding image dimensions. But it will operate rather oddly if the image dimensions are not a multiple of the iMCU size (usually 8 or 16 pixels), because they can only transform complete blocks of DCT coefficient data in the desired way. The default behavior when transforming an odd-size image is designed to preserve exact reversibility and mathematical consistency of the transformation set. For practical use, you may prefer to discard any untransformable edge pixels rather than having a strange-looking strip along the right and/or bottom edges of a transformed image. This is the meaning of the 'Trim Edges' Menu. Obviously, a transformation with checked 'TrimEdges' is not reversible, so strictly speaking Rotation with this switch is not lossless. Register PIE ------------ PIE is distributed as shareware. The basic features like renaming and file managing are free. If you want to use the extended features such as picture view and lossless rotation you have to register. Registered users are entitled to FREE upgrades for an unlimited period of time (FOR EVER!) by downloading the latest versions. If a new authorization code is required it will be issued upon request at no charge to users. Registration benefits also include free technical support by e-mail, notification of upgrades and other products via e-mail, etc. The price of a Single License of PIE 2.6 is only US $18,95. Please look at our website at http://www.snafu.de/~hoju/pie.htm for ordering information. The easiest way to receive your personal password is to submit a secure online order. German users: Sie können PIE auch registrieren, indem Sie DM 29,50 auf folgendes Konto überweisen: Holger Jungk, Kto 463 30 95, Blz 100 700 00 (Deutsche Bank, Berlin) Teilen Sie mir in diesem Fall bitte gesondert Ihre E-Mail oder sonstige Adresse mit, über welche Sie den Registrierungsschlüssel erhalten. Support ------- For questions, comments, bug reports or suggestions, write to: hoju@berlin.snafu.de When reporting problems, please include the following information: - What camera type are you using? - What version of our product are you running? Select About from the Help pull-down menu. Please include the entire "version" line in your problem report. - What is the problem, whether it is reproducible, how often it occurs, etc. - If you get an error message, the full text of the dialog box, including the text in the title bar. - If you think you know what might be causing the problem, please let us know. Legal Issues ------------ DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT Users of 'PIE' must accept this disclaimer of warranty: 'PIE' is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of 'PIE'. Distribution: You may distribute the demo version, but keep registration data secrect. October 25 1998 Holger Jungk, Berlin