Ottawa PC Users' Group, Inc.
Software Reviews
Get the Picture and ScionImage
by Dunc Petrie
At the April meeting Jean Vaumoron's
Graphics SIG enjoyed an enthusiastic launch. Anyone who
wants to join the fun will need some digital imaging
software. For those on a budget you do have freeware
options. These are full-featured applications; they are
not watered-down demonstrations, shareware with de-activated
modules (until purchased), or time-restricted (number of
days or uses) offerings.
Unlike my previous suggestion (March 1999
newsletter) for a low-cost image editor (Painter 3), you will not have to
search the magazine racks for a magazine and CD-ROM
combination that had already disappeared (embarrassingly
for me) into the ether. Instead, this is "realware"
that club members (a benefit of membership!) can download
from the files area of PUB II.
Image Management Software
Get the Picture from Telepix Imaging Inc.,
Saint John's, Newfoundland was a commercial product;
however, when it was replaced with a newer program (FotoPoint)
the company generously offered it as a free download.
Once you have installed the software application on your
hard drive you will have to go to Telepix' website (www.telepix.com)
to obtain an individual unlock code.
Get the Picture was designed as the first
"goof-proof" digital image management software
product. Use the on-line Photo Wizard to guide you step-by-step.
The archive does include extensive help files; the
company does not provide support (the program is
discontinued, after all) and there is little, if any,
support material remaining on its website.
Its integrated technology allows you to
capture images (from digital cameras, scanners and many
fixed or removable storage devices), save, find, view,
convert or print images readily and store them in
electronic photo albums. Other modules enable image
compression, slide shows and even e- mailing images. Over
40 different image formats, including PhotoCD and
Flashpix, are supported. Combine images with other data (personalize
each image by adding text information or attaching a
sound clip) and transmit the composite across the Web.
Individual images or entire albums can be password
protected.
Manipulate images between libraries using
OLE drag and drop; other features include the ability to
flip, rotate and zoom any image. A built-in batch
processor automates a variety of routine tasks. Get the
Picture uses a powerful database engine to provide fast
search capabilities. This program is devoid of image
editing functions; however, read the following section.
ScionImage
Originally created as NIH Image (NIH is
the National Institute of Health located in Bethesda,
Maryland.) the program was used for medical imaging on
Macs. System requirements are modest: a Pentium
processor, Windows (95, 98 or NT), 32 MB of RAM and an 8-bit
video card. Microsoft's DirectX (no version specified) is
required. Scion Corporation (www.scioncorp.com) offers
the PC version as a free download. The Mac site (http://rsb.info.nih.gov/nih-
image/) has some additional documentation that might
prove useful.
The program offers the usual image
editing toolset (for example, brushes, eyedropper, zoom)
and features (for example, sharpen, contrast, and
histograms, TWAIN scanner support); even many of the
Adobe Photoshop plugins are supported. A scripting
language offers batch processing of images. Video capture
from digital cameras and VCRs is supported; animations
can be created as QuickTime movies.
The scientific origins of this program
are thinly disguised in certain areas. On startup on my
computer, the program appeared as several, seemingly-unrelated,
boxes on screen. You must drag the main window to create
your background canvas - something every other image
editor/paint program does automatically. For my first
foray I thought that the program had failed to initialize
correctly. The manual - and other, more technical
documents - are written for the technically-oriented and
tend towards sparseness. ("As a scientist, you
already know this stuff - right?")
Some of the features will likely stump
the casual user. For example, Fourier Transforms offer an
original, technically sophisticated, and extremely
powerful method to manipulate images. It can readily
achieve results that would be painfully slow and labour
intensive in all other programs; however, this power does
demand, at least initially, "techie" knowledge
and skills. Another example: surface plot massages image
data to portray a 2-D image as a 3-D surface contour.
These are reminiscent of those exotic graphic
representations of mathematical equations to "warp
space."
Leaving the exotica aside, however,
neither detracts from the program's abilities as an image
editor nor does it diminish the value for money.
For the adventurous
In closing, there is another alternative.
Linux users have the GIMP! This program is readily
available for users of that operating system and promises
to be "Photoshop for Linux." Better, it is
claimed that it offers all the power of Photoshop with
none of its cost. I have not personally used this
program; I understand that it has devoted followers. An
extensive users' manual is available for download; like
all things Linux it is in a process of continual upgrade
and improvement. A quick look at Amazon Books (www.amazon.com)
lists at least two commercial titles.
Join the fun!
Bottom Line:
Freeware packages:
Get the Picture from Telepix
Imaging Inc.
Web site: http://www.telepix.com
ScionImage from Scion Corporation
Web site: http://www.scioncorp.com
Copyright and Usage
Ottawa Personal
Computer Users' Group (OPCUG), Inc.
3 Thatcher Street,
Ottawa, ON K2G 1S6
The opinions expressed
in these reviews may not necessarily
represent the views of the OPCUG or its members.
Page created: 27-May-99
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