|
About PQV 4.0 How to
Q: Why does loading an image from SD / Compact Flash take so long? A: Flash memory is much slower than RAM and the speed of memory cards can vary greatly. Loading images from Flash cards can take many times longer to load than from RAM. If you need quick access to your images, copy them to RAM. Q: Why do I get an error about bit depth when I try to save an image to a certain file format? A: Certain file formats are restricted to handle only specific pixel bit depths. Use the color modification function to convert the image to a compatible bit depth. Q: Why when I send an image to email, it's rotated differently than in the main viewer? A: The current view angle affects how the image is displayed in PQV, but the image data is only rotated if you use the Edit->Rotate options. Q: How do I jump to a specific page in a multi-page file? A: Click on the Options menu, View submenu; page navigation options are there. Q: How can I undo changes I make to an image? A: PQV is not a paint program and does not allow undoing changes. Reload the original image to undo any changes you have made. Q: When I take screen shots, I hear the shutter noise, but can't find any files being created; where are they? A: Check that the root filename and destination directory will create valid path names for the captured image files. Q: How can I delete unwanted images? A: PQV allows deletion and renaming of images from the file browser and main window. Q: The image I'm viewing is displayed in the wrong orientation; how do I fix it? A: PQV can rotate the image and view in 90 degree increments as well as flip it horizontally and vertically; go to the Option menu and choose Edit or View. Q: I tried to open a PDF file, but PQV displayed it wrong or gave an error message of "page not found"; what's the story? A: PQV currently contains limited support for viewing PDF files. It searches the PDF file for images and each image becomes a 'page'. This will only work well for PDF files which are basically scanned images with no text or graphics. If Adobe does not release a free PDF viewer for CE, I may enhance this feature, but for now this is it. Q: I have encountered an image that PQV should be able to view, but is not able to view correctly, what should I do? A: Please email the image to bitbank@pobox.com. If it is a supported file type, a correction to PQV will be made in the next release. Q: I opened a 4 megapixel photo, but when I check the image info it shows it's 1/4 the size I expected; what went wrong? A: There are two reasons this may have occurred: either you have the JPEG options set to load images at 1/4 size or your machine ran out of memory opening the full sized image, so PQV loaded it at 1/4 size to fit the available memory. Q: I rotated an image and then saved it, but the saved image was not rotated; what am I doing wrong? A: There are 2 rotate functions - one only affects the view, the other affects the actual image data. How to Work with Large JPEG Images Many of
the latest digital cameras can produce huge images (5-10 megapixels).
To decompress and display these images PQV has several options to accelerate the
process and use less memory. For example, a 4 megapixel image is typically
2272 x 1704. When decompressed to a 24-bit color image, this will occupy
11.6MB of memory. This amount of memory is not always available and
expanding the image to its full size will take several seconds. The
recommended way to work with these images (if you do not intend to edit and
resave them) is to load them at 1/4 size and at 16 bits per pixel. These
options are available in the preferences window. At 1/4 size
and 16-bits per pixel, that same image will look just as good on the Pocket PC
display and only use 1.9MB of memory; it will also load much quicker.
There is no perceptible loss of quality because PQV uses a pixel averaging
technique when photos are loaded at reduced size. How to Losslessly Rotate JPEG Images The
majority of JPEG images use what is called a "lossy" compression technique.
What this means is that compressing and decompressing an image will not result
in an exact replica of the original. The "quality level" controls how much
loss occurs; the lower the quality level, the higher the amount of compression.
It is often the case that images captured by digital cameras are not displayed
in the same orientation in which they are captured (holding the camera rotated).
Some new cameras such as the Canon S45 account for this by storing the image in
the new orientation, but most will store the image "wrong". Opening, rotating and
saving the image, causes a degradation in quality due to the lossy nature of the
compression. However, it is possible to rotate a JPEG image without
incurring a loss of quality. The technique involves decompressing the
image "half-way" and then recompressing it in the new orientation. This
process requires more memory than the decompressed image normally would.
It is possible to do this while using little memory, but that would require
multiple passes through the image and take an enormous amount of time.
Therefore, when using this feature, ensure that there is sufficient free memory. Typical memory requirements: 4 MegaPixel image ~= 15.3MB,
3 MegaPixel image ~= 12.4MB. This feature will be employed during the batch
process when the only operation on an image is rotation. Note that EXIF
header information will be preserved after rotation, but any embedded thumbnail
image will not be rotated. This may make you think that the image has not
been rotated when you see the thumbnail appear in PQV, but open it and you will
see its true orientation. Digital camera
manufacturers have agreed on a standard way to include detailed information in
digital photos. The standard used is called EXIF and stands for
Exchangeable Image File Format. The data is added to the image file in
such a way that it can be ignored or removed without affecting the image data.
The data usually includes information about the camera and about the conditions
of the captured image. There is also an optional thumbnail image that PQV
uses if present. To view the EXIF info in PQV, open a photo in the main
window and select Info from the FILE menu. The display will
show the important details of the photo such as shutter speed and F stop. Begin by selecting Open from the file menu, a file selector will be displayed. The file selector can display files with two different views: combo (default view) and thumbnail view. To switch views, select Toggle View from the Options menu. Combo View Thumbnail View Once open in the main PQV window. The current image is displayed so that it fits entirely in the window. In the upper left hand corner of the display is a small icon which indicates if PQV is in zoom or pan mode. To toggle between the modes, press the Enter/Action button. In pan mode, the 4 directional arrows move the image in 4 directions (or you may use the stylus). In zoom mode, the up and down arrows change the zoom level and left and right navigate to the previous and next image in the current directory. The current view can be rotated in 90 degree increments with the View-Rotate functions; this rotation does not affect the image data, only the display. The source image data can also be rotated in 90 degree increments with the "Edit->Rotate" functions; this does affect the image data. For 1bpp (bilevel) images, rotating the view rotates the source image data.
How to Configure File Associations PQV allows you to configure file associations. File associations are the way that Windows matches file types to applications. Windows uses the file extension (e.g. .JPG) to associate files with applications. PQV allows you to configure up to twelve different file extensions be associated with it. An example of when this would be used is in the File Explorer; if you click on a filename within File Explorer, Windows will try to open the application associated with that file. When you click on the file associations icon (it looks like three cascaded pages), a dialog will open allowing you to choose which files to associate with PQV. The first time PQV is run, it saves the current file associations for possible restoration. The dialog will display current associations with a check next to the extension name. To restore the previous file association simply uncheck the box. PQV allows you to view thumbnail images from the file selector. From the main window, select File->Open. If not viewing thumbnail, select Options->Toggle View. The thumbnail view supports three different sizes selectable from the Options menu. Other options such as delete, rename, and copy are also available from the Options menu. Use the arrow keys or stylus to navigate through the thumbnail images. To preserve as much memory as possible for loading large images, the thumbnail images are not cached and are reloaded each time they're viewed. PQV includes a slide show feature to show off your favorite images. Begin by navigating to the directory containing the images with the file open window. From the main window, select Start Slideshow from the Options menu. PQV will immediately begin displaying your images in the current sort sequence from the current directory (starting with the current image). The order can also be set to random to make it more interesting. The transition effect and speed can be controlled from the Settings dialog. Press Action/Enter to display a transparent option menu within the slideshow. Use the left/right arrows to navigate the menu and enter to select a menu item. PQV includes the ability to send an image as an email attachment. This feature includes options for reducing the image size and converting the image to another format. In the case of sending images from a digital camera, it can prove useful to reduce the size since sending a full resolution image may not be very practical depending on the image size and your internet connection speed. e.g. a 7 Megapixel image captured from a camera is probably larger than 1 megabyte. How to Use the Settings / Preferences PQV allows control over many aspects of its operation. The Settings are accessed from the Options->Preferences menu and are divided into the following four sections: General
Slide Show Gamma Editing
Since PQV is not a paint program, each of these operations does not have an undo feature. Modify Color Depth
Saving NOTE: Certain file formats do not support all pixel bit depths. For example, it is not possible to save a 24-bpp image as a TIFF G4 file. The G4 compression method only supports bilevel (1-bpp) images. For this reason you may see an error message when trying to save images. Use the color modification function to convert the image to a different pixel depth. PQV includes a powerful screen capture feature. There are two ways to capture screens: after a time delay and by pressing an 'App' button. From within PQV, after you have selected the name, delay and file format of screen captures on the settings page, click on the screen capture icon or select "Screen Capture" from the OPTIONS menu. During the preset delay, switch to the program you wish to capture and then wait for the delay to pass. If the program being captured is not using audio, you will hear a camera shutter sound. The file will be saved according to the settings and the numeric name will be automatically incremented. The second method of capturing screens is to assign one of the App buttons of your device to launch the PQV screen capture tool. Go to the first of the Pocket PC's settings pages and click on "Buttons". Choose an app button to assign and in the list of available programs to assign, it will be called "PQVSCL". Press the App button to activate the screen capture. Since many programs take control of the App buttons, the delay option was provided. PQV includes a powerful image navigation tool called the Zoom Window. Suppose you are viewing a large image, and are examining details at a close-in zoom level, but would like to pan around the image. The Zoom Window allows you to see the entire image in a small window while not blocking your view of the image details. To activate the Zoom Window, click the middle icon on the fourth toolbar. This will toggle the Zoom Window on and off. The size of the Zoom Window can be adjusted in the Settings dialog. This same functionality is present in the thumbnail images at the bottom of the display when in the "Combo View". How to Work with Multi-Page Files PQV supports several different multipage file formats. Located in the middle of the first toolbar are three icons for working with multi-page files: previous page, go to page and next page. The 'go to page' icon also displays the current page number. Clicking on the 'go to page' icon will open a dialog box which displays the current page, the total number of pages and the desired destination page. NOTE: Animation files are a special case of multi-page files and will only allow you to navigate to the next page and the first page. These currently include GIF and FLI/FLC files.
Webdesign by Deep Magic Studios - HanaHo Games, Inc. Copyright © 2003 |