Image Control - unregistered version - User Manual -------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) Brightstar Consultants Ltd 1992 2 Paddock Road, Reading, RG4 0BX, UK Tel (0344) 775434 Int +44-344-775434 What is Image Control --------------------- Image Control is a full colour image editor. Image Control uses a Graphics User Interface with drop down menus. Image Control provides darkroom imaging facilities on a PC - single image processing and editing, combining several images, sizing and painting. Multiple images of any size are positioned on the workboard, and you can move the workboard under the screen window. Please register your copy of Image Control. Running Image Control --------------------- The display model ----------------- Multiple images of any size are positioned on the workboard, and you can move the workboard under the screen window. Images can only reside on the workboard itself. They can overlap, and you can move them out of the screen window. The current image is the last image you selected using the mouse, and it is always displayed on top of all other images. If activated, the mask box is always displayed on top of the images. The workboard ------------- The full workboard on which images can reside is very large. You see the bottom right corner when you go to full zoom, and then move the screen window to the bottom right. You can move the screen window about on the workboard using the sliders along the right and the bottom of the window. When you move the screen window, or change the zoom setting, all images and the image mask stay where they were on the full workboard, but the mask, if active, stays fixed in the screen. Using the mouse in Image Control -------------------------------- The way you use the mouse varies according to the context. We support the two button mouse, and you do need the right mouse button from time to time. Most tasks in Image Control requires the left button, with the right button reserved for "special" cases - altering parameters for example. Mousing in main menus --------------------- Move the mouse across the top of the screen to see the menus. With the mouse, pull down the menu and left click to activate the item you require. Only menu items shown bright are available at any time - menu items shown dull cannot be used under current conditions. For example, if no image is loaded, the Load menu item is bright, but the Save menu item is dull, and will change to bright as soon as you load an image. If the item has a right arrow ( '>' ) then a right click takes you to the parameter window for that menu item. If it does not, then a right click takes you to help. Working with menu items ----------------------- When you left click in a menu item, the menu item process is actioned on the current image. The current image does not need to be visible in the screen window for the process to take effect. Some menu items only provide access to a parameter window (eg Set-up). Some menu items provide access to a different mode (eg Paint). Some menu items provide access to a parameter window, and the action is initiated with a click in the Go button in the parameter window (eg Zoom). Most menu items are simple processes with no parameter window (eg Negative), or simple processes with a parameter window (eg Sharpen). Menu items which have the '>' arrow displayed accept a right click for access to the parameter window. Menu items without the '>' take you directly into Help on a right click. Mousing with images ------------------- Left click on a non-current image to make it current - you may need to wait for it to be redrawn; left click and hold, and drag on the mask or the current image, to move it. If you move an image, you must wait for other images that were underneath its old position to be redrawn; right click has no action on the workboard. When you are moving an image box, you can nudge the mouse one screen pixel at a time by holding the mouse still and using the arrow keys. Mousing with the mask --------------------- A mask has mouse-priority over any image. Left hold and drag in the mask or image to move it; left hold and drag in the tag box to size a mask. Right click has no effect. Mousing in the load/save screens -------------------------------- Left click in a button to activate it, or to change drives. Left click in the name box to enable keyboard editing of the filename, and in the file type and other boxes to flip through the options. Left click in the directory display to move the cursor bar to that line. Left click on the cursor bar to activate that line - on a "parent" or sub-directory to change into the parent directory or sub-directory, or on a filename to load the image file. In the load screen, right click on or off the cursor bar to select a file - for loading or deleting. The cursor bar will follow, and the file will be tagged as selected. You can select several files to be loaded when you left click on the Load button. The Save and Print screens do not tag files for selection. Mousing in parameter windows ---------------------------- A parameter window lets you change the values used by a menu item. For example, if the Contrast value is 45, then when you left click in Contrast the current image will be contrasted to the value 45. To change the value, right click in the Contrast menu item. You can move the parameter window by dragging the background box. All subsequent parameter windows try to appear where you leave the last window. To change a slider value, left click in the slider and drag it right or left. Buttons are arranged in rows. Only one button in any row may be ON. Left click in the button you wish to be ON. Left click in the Go button to action the menu item with the current values. Left click in the Store button to store your changes, but without actioning the menu item. To leave a parameter window, discarding any changes you have made, left click in the menu line on top of the screen. If you double-click in a button, Image Control will take it as a click in the Go button, and will action the menu item immediately. Using the keyboard ------------------ Use the keyboard to : Abort a slow process by pressing the ESC key - sometimes the image will be half processed after you abort a process, so only do this if you are prepared to have to restart your work; Nudge an image for accurate positioning or sizing by holding the left mouse button down in the box or tag, and using the arrow keys; Enter or change the file name when saving or printing an image or print file. Working with Zoom ----------------- When zoom is off (zoom setting is 1) the images are displayed full size. This means that one image pixel is represented by one screen display pixel, so an image 300 pixels square will take 300 pixels square on the screen. The actual size of the image on the screen will depend on your selected screen resolution. So in 640x480 video mode the image will be larger on screen than in 1024x768 video mode. Zoom really means "zoom-out". You can imagine that as the zoom setting increases you are holding the screen window at arm's length, but you are moving back, away from the workboard. You see more images, but they look smaller. Each zoom setting represents a doubling of your distance from the workboard. So with a zoom setting of 3, images are displayed a linear quarter of normal size, but the amount of the workboard you see is linear four times as much as normal. In area terms, a zoom setting of 3 shows you an area of the workboard 16 times as large as normal. When you change the zoom setting, the top left corner of the screen window stays fixed on the full workboard. An image which is at the top left of the window will stay there if you change the zoom setting. An image you put at the bottom right of the full workboard while at one zoom setting will not be accessible at any lower zoom setting. Menu items with restricted operating conditions ----------------------------------------------- When a menu item is "greyed-out", or shown in dull type, it is not available for use. Any of the following situations may hold : The current image is greyscale and the item is for colour images only; The current image is colour and the item is for greyscale images only; The mask is active and the item cannot work with the mask; The board is in zoomed mode and the item does not work in zoomed mode; There is no current image, and the item is an image process item. Restricted menu items --------------------- The following menu items work under the conditions stated at the top of the relevant column : Greyscale Colour image Do not work Do not work Only work image only image only with a mask in 320 mode in 320 mode Colourify Greyify Resize Pick Pick-colour Filter Paint Hist-display Rotate Colourify Greyify Aborting a process ------------------ If a process is running that requires more XMS/EMS memory than you have available, Image Control will use temporary disk storage. Processing will take longer slower under these conditions. You can abandon most processes with no ill effects, by pressing the Esc key. You can also stop an image load and a save. Some processes leave a half processed image (Rotate). Low memory control ------------------ If there is no memory to display a window, then the logo button at the top of the screen will flash an error message. To cancel the message, and regain control, give a long click in the flashing button. The File Menu ------------- Copy : Create copy image(s) -------------------------- Copy creates another image from either the current image, or from the area defined by the mask. Use Copy to crop an image, by copying the part you want to keep, and dropping the original image. Use Copy to create a make-up or montage of several images, by positioning the component images next to each other, putting the mask around them all, and selecting Copy. Copied images are given the name "copy00n". Save : Save image to disk ------------------------- Save lets you choose the save directory, the file name and file type, and save the current image to disk. Use a right click from the menu to set the default save file type. The default save file type will be used for un-named files - files you create with processes like Copy. If you want to change the file type, click in the type button in the save window, and cycle through the file types to the type you require. Use the mouse to move between directories (a click on a file name does nothing). Click in the file name field to edit the image's file name (the file extension will be set according to the save file type). Note that the unregistered version will not save images that are larger than 640 columns by 480 rows. Load : Load image(s) from disk ------------------------------ Load lets you load one or more images from disk, into the workboard. Images are positioned on the top left of the screen window. Load remembers the current load directory. Left click on an image to load it, or click the load button to load the image under the bar. Right click, or hit the INS key, to select several images, and click the load button to load them all. Sub-directories are shown in uppercase. To change into a sub-directory, put the cursor bar on the sub-directory name, and click. To change up to the parent directory, click on the "PARENT" entry. You can use the Enter key instead of a click in the load button, but in this case the file under the bar is loaded even if other images have been selected already. If you load more than one image, subsequent images may load directly on top of the first. If you have problems loading any images, please contact us, sending us the offending image files, so we may investigate. Image formats (especially TIFF) can vary from source to source. Drop : Drop image from workboard -------------------------------- Drop removes or discards one or more images from the workboard, and from memory. If you drop an image you have created, and have not saved, you cannot retrieve it. If you drop an image you have loaded, you must reload it to retrieve it. Left click this option to drop the current image. The image is removed from Image Control's list of loaded images and unloaded from memory. Right click from the menu to gain the options to drop all images, or to drop all images except the current image. To drop other than the current image you must click the Go button after a right click. A left button click from the menu will always drop only the current image. Images are dropped without checking if they have been saved. Once you have dropped an image you have created, it is gone forever ! Mask : Use or discard mask -------------------------- If you want to process only a small area of the image, or to copy an area of the board that covers more than one image, activate the mask. When a copy image is created, it becomes the current image. Left click on this menu item to activate or deactivate the box mask. For example, you have an image of an apple on a table. You wish to brighten the apple, but not the table. Adjust the mask so it surrounds the apple, and action the brighten process. To crop the apple, adjust the mask as before, action copy, switch the mask off, click outside the apple to make the original image current again and drop it. Zoom : Change zoom value ------------------------ Zoom means to zoom away from the board. Larger values of zoom mean you are effectively further away from the board, so that you see more of the board, and images appear smaller. The current zoom setting is shown on the top of the screen after the 'ö' (divide) sign. A zoom setting of 1 means actual size - one image pixel corresponds to one screen pixel. Remember that a given image at a given zoom setting will appear smaller in higher screen resolutions. The image will be halved in size for each larger value of zoom. Images are always placed on the workboard at zoom spacing. This means that images may move slightly on the workboard when you zoom out and back again. The grid and box mask stay fixed, and of fixed size, within the screen window when the zoom setting is changed. When an image is being displayed in zoomed mode, only single pixels are displayed. For example, in zoom level 2, every alternate row and column is displayed, while in zoom level 3, every fourth row and column is displayed. Note that some images that have already been processed by software that is limited in its ability to handle full colour may be pre-dithered. Because Zoom displays alternate pixels (eg every 16th pixel for zoom 16) the display of such images can be interesting ! Set-up : Change Image Control configuration ----------------------------------------------- * Change board colour This is the background colour of the workboard that the images lie on. The board can be given any of the 16 greys that Image Control uses to display greyscale images. Black is value 0, and white is value 15. We do not support a colour board, as colour backgrounds have too drastic an effect on our perception of colour in the images we are working with. * Change Dither method Dithering is how we compensate for the limited number of colours the display card can support. The dither switch can be ON or OFF. When the dither switch is ON, a different dither method is used for each of screen colour resolution. You can switch dithering OFF to view the raw display of an image. Remember that this shows the limitations of the screen and card, not a lack of colours in the image. 24-bit (or 16.7 million colour) display, as it becomes available, needs no dithering, as the screen colour resolution will exactly match the internal storage used for true colour images. 32K colour mode is so good, 64K a little better still, that only a simple rolling dither is required. 256 colour mode is more limited that a more heavy-weight dither is needed, and we use a non-snaked Real Floyd-Steinberg dither. Dithering works best with images with lots of fine detail, like photos of trees or crowds. Dithering shows its worst with smooth areas of slightly graduated colour, like clear skies or close-up portraits. Dithering at its worst looks like a patterned spray of off-colour dots. With dither switched off, graduated areas will show as large, windy edged areas of constant colour - a quantized or posterized effect. If the image still looks quantized with dither switched ON, then the image itself may be limited in its colours. In this case the histogram will consist of a limited number of spikes. For example, a 256 colour image (an 8-bit image) will have a histogram with 256 colours. You will see fewer than 256 spikes as several different colours may have spikes at the same place in one histogram plane. Set-up (continued) ------ The converse is also true, that if you see a histogram that looks as if every colour level in all three planes has some pixels, you are looking at a true colour image. If the image is already dithered, which means it originated as a paletted TIFF or GIF file that was pre-dithered, then some undesirable artifacts (possibly dim vertical lines) may appear if it is displayed with dither ON. To avoid the interaction between the original dither in the image, and the dither used for display, turn the dither switch OFF to view the image. This interaction will also reduce after any Smooth, Sharpen or similar precesses based on pixel neighbourhoods. * Change inversion colour This is the colour used by the "inverted" display of moving boxes, lines and image surrounds. You may need to change this colour if you cannot see boxes and masks against the image you are working on. Because Image Control uses the palette in a manner suited to both greyscale and colour images, the inverted colour (the colour of the boxes and lines) may not be suitable for working on some colours of your images. Use this menu item to change the way Image Control creates the lines and boxes colour. Picstar's palette (of 256 colours even in 32K display mode) is : 0 = black; 1 - 14 = greys from dark to light; 15 = white; 16 - 31 = special display colours (screen, menus etc.); 32 - 247 = colours from black thru white; 248 - 255 = white. In 256 colour display mode, you are recommended to keep to the 1 - 15 range; a "coloured" white (247 - 255) will not invert to dark. An invert colour of black will be invisible, as any colour inverted with zero (the value of a black colour) is unchanged. A white invert colour will be invisible against a grey background, so if you are working on mid grey, you should consider using a coloured invert colour. Register : Image Control registration information ------------------------------------------------- When you register your copy of Image Control, we will send you a new program on disk, together with a hardcopy manual. Use this menu item to find out more about the registered version of Image Control. Left click to see basic registration information. Right click to walk through a list of extra features that you get when you register your copy of Image Control. Quit : Leave Image Control -------------------------- Quit will drop all images, save all current configuration settings to disk, and return you to DOS. You are prompted for confirmation before anything happens. Quit does not care if you have left any images altered but unsaved - it is your responsibility to save the images you need before you quit. The Enhancing Menu ------------------ Negative : Create negative of image ----------------------------------- This creates a photographic negative of the current image. Mid-grey pixels stay mid-grey, while lighter pixels become darker and vice versa : Black < - > White Red < - > Cyan Green < - > Magenta Blue < - > Yellow Grey < - > Grey Contrast : Increase or decrease image contrast ---------------------------------------------- Contrast is a general term that describes the degree of lightness and darkness in an image. A dull image may lack contrast, and an image with a lot of dark and light may be too contrasty. Use Contrast to make quick contrast adjustments, increasing or decreasing the contrast. Use a right click to set the slider to the change you need. Note that this makes the specified change to the image - it does not set the image to any particular contrast value. To increase the contrast an image, set the slider to the right, and to decrease the contrast of, or flatten, an image, set the slider to the left. The larger the slider value the stronger is the effect. To see how pixel values are affected, use the Contrast item with the histogram active. If you increase the contrast of an image that already has some black and white (or full colour) area, more pixels will become black or white. You will lose permanently any detail that may exist in the dark and light area. Similarly, reducing contrast will permanently lose some information in the mid-ranges. This is because pixel values must be changed and compressed to the middle or towards the ends of the pixel value range. An image may have too high or low contrast as a result of the capture method, or because of the characteristics of the original chemical film, or because the lighting of the original scene did not match the film or capture method used. Smooth : Smooth or blur image ----------------------------- This smooths, defocuses or blurs an image using a 3 x 3 smooth convolution. Any sharp points or edges are merged into one another. This is the opposite of Sharpen. Sharpen : Sharpen or unblur image --------------------------------- This emphasises the edges between areas of different colour or greylevel. Sharpen moves the pixel values away from the average of surrounding pixels. The slider indicates the strength of the operation. All strengths use a 3 x 3 convolution. The sharpen convolution filters are used as the basis for the examples later in this manual. Brighten : Brighten or darken image ----------------------------------- This brightens or darkens an image. The slider offers a total of 19 strengths. Move the slider towards "Lighter" to brighten an image, or towards "Darker" to darken the image. The operation "pulls" the pixel values towards the target, so that brighten will appear to affect light pixels more than dark pixels and vice versa. Note that this also means that a darkened image will contain no white, and vice versa. Paint : Paint and spray parts of image to a colour -------------------------------------------------- Paint lets you wipe with black, white or the current picked colour, using a variable sized brush of variable strength. The brush can be solid colour (or grey), or can spray or spatter. It can be a plain rectangle, or a focussed rectangle or ellipse. Use the right button to size the brush, and use the left button to paint. The brush is always centred on the brush mask as you move it around. Right click into Paint to change the brush type and adjust the painting strength. Use the brush to clean areas, to join edges ready for filling, to touch-up or to colour in large areas. The solid paint brush cannot be focussed or shaped. To paint with a focussed brush, create a solid image of the required colour, make it a pattern, and then use a focussed pattern instead of paint. In 256 colours mode, as you paint the altered dither shows as if the paint brush edges are being partially left behind. This effect goes as soon as the image is redisplayed, when you have completed your painting. Pick-colour : Pick painting colour (320 column mode only) -------------------------------------------------------- Select Pick-colour, and use the sliders to adjust the picked colour. If the current image is greyscale, you can adjust the picked-grey value. This is now the picked colour as used by Paint, and will be saved in the configuration file. Note that there is a picked colour and a picked grey. These are independent of each other, and are used for respective image types. For example, if you paint on a greyscale image, the picked grey is used, not the picked colour. The Shaping Menu ---------------- Resize : Change the size of the image ------------------------------------- Resize lets you change the size of the current image. Move the frame and/or size the frame by dragging the full frame or its tag with the left mouse button. Left click the Resize button to action the resize. Note that if the image is larger than the work area, you are given the largest frame of the correct aspect ratio that will fit inside the visible part of the image. Mirror : Mirror image left to right ----------------------------------- This does a left to right mirror operation on the image. Flip : Flip image upside down ----------------------------- This does a top to bottom mirror operation on the image. Rotate : Rotate image by quarters --------------------------------- Use a right click to set the current rotate direction, which can be for rotation by a quarter turn to the left, or rotation by a quarter turn to the right. The Histogram Menu ------------------ Hist-display : Toggle histogram display (not 320 column mode) ------------------------------------------------------------- A left click on this option will turn the histogram display ON if it is OFF, or OFF if the histogram is already showing. Every time you select a process, the image must be redisplayed, and if the histogram is showing, then it needs to be updated and redisplayed itself. Image Control is not ready for you to select your next menu item until the histogram has been fully updated. If you do not need the histogram, then use Hist-display to toggle the histogram display to OFF. Use a right click to choose between several different formats for displaying on the histogram the make-up of the current picked colour. Note that this does not change the display of the image. You may choose : RGB 0-255 R, G and B, grey level in the range 0 to 255 RGB % R, G and B, grey level in the range 1 - 100 CMYK Cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Pick : Pick colour for editing (not 320 column mode) ---------------------------------------------------- Select pick, and use the mouse to point to a pixel in the current image. The pixel value and colour of that pixel are displayed in the histogram display box. This is now the picked colour as used by Paint, and will be saved in the configuration file. Note that there is a picked colour and a picked grey. These are independent of each other, and are used for respective image types. For example, if you erase on a greyscale image, the picked grey is used, not the picked colour. The Colour Menu --------------- Filter : Apply photographic filter ---------------------------------- Filter will apply the current filter pack to the image. You can change the colour values of the filter in the parameter window. Set the current filter value by adjusting the sliders. Colourify : Convert image to colour ----------------------------------- Colourify will convert a greyscale image into a grey colour image. Greyify : Convert colour image to greyscale ------------------------------------------- Greyify will convert a colour image to greyscale. Note that all colour information in the image is lost.