Great Freeware Image Viewer/Utility

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grymmjack
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Great Freeware Image Viewer/Utility

Post by grymmjack »

FastStone.org -- Incredible for free software.

If you want all the functionalities provided separately by the different apps, just download the big one at the top titled "FastStone Image Viewer 2.29" as it has all the other features in it. If you only want some features and not the all encompassing program simply grab what you need.

This is just as good as xnView but it doesn't support as many formats. However, the way in which it works I prefer over xnView, and the toolset and workflow is superb.

Just thought I would share. Since many SSers share things with each other :)

Ciao
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maxovt
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Post by maxovt »

If you want all the functionalities provided separately by the different apps
I am not! I follower of SS ideology - all the functionalities provided in one tool by plugins. 8)

I looking for FastStone Image Viewer, good image viewer, but I'm using IrfanView for about 6 years and can't find better alternative! I just keep it like alternativw viewer (Alt+F3).
XnView is image viewer #2 for me.
Last edited by maxovt on 31 Jan 2006, 06:37, edited 1 time in total.
My deepest apologies for my awful English.
JohnFredC
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Post by JohnFredC »

My favorites are XNView and Picassa (from Google).

If you haven't tried Picassa (which is free) you are in for a treat. It does non-destructive image editing of any image file it supports...

RawShooter Essentials is also good (and the version I have is free), has even better non-destructive editing including "automatic" versioning (!), but only works on raw files.

XNView just gets better and better. New version to be released soon.
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Jan Rysavy
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Post by Jan Rysavy »

JohnFredC wrote:It does non-destructive image editing of any image file it supports...
John, what does it mean?
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KNUT
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It's so funny

Post by KNUT »

It's so funny - I think we're all like-minded people :oops:
We're nearly all addicted to the same software (in this case Irfan View and XNView)... :P :roll: :lol:
Same here with the Editor Scite.
Kind regards, KNUT
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Satisfied Servant Salamander User from Version 1.5 till now
JohnFredC
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Post by JohnFredC »

Hi Jan

Non-destructive editing means that the software saves all changes you make to the image in a separate file and reapplies them automatically every time you open the image in the editor. This essentially allows the user unlimited undo (back to the beginning) at any time...

Changes are not permanently applied to the original image until the user "renders" them to a file. In Picassa, for instance, this is called "exporting" the file. The original itself can remain untouched unless the user renders (er, exports) directly to it.

The non-destructive approach works best with simple photo adjustments such as gamma, contrast, brightness, saturation, cropping, rotation, etc. (which are all that RawShooter and Picassa can do) because changes are generally applied to the entire image (as opposed to individual pixels) and hence are easy to store and reapply...

Naturally, if many adjustment steps need to be reapplied every time the image is opened/viewed, then it becomes efficient to create and save a "virtual render" so that the adjusted image can open without delay. This must be what Picassa and RawShooter do, because the adjusted image appears quickly, no matter what adjustments have been made.

RawShooter allows the user to create different versions of an adjusted image. Each version appears in a separate tab when the original is loaded. The stack of adjustments for each tab/version is also saved and can be modified at any time by the user. Notice the word "stack". I mean that in the context of "push" and "pop" only ...random access to adjustments stored in the stack is not available in the non-destructive editors mentioned here.

This is a wonderful way to work with photos.
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Jan Rysavy
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Post by Jan Rysavy »

John, thank you for your time. I will definetely look at Picassa!
JohnFredC
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Post by JohnFredC »

Hi Jan...

One warning about Picassa. For serious file mavens (aka Salamanderists such as myself) Picassa's presentation of your image folder hierarchies as a single linear list (ie, NO heirarchy) can be very confusing/aggravating.

That's right. No folder tree. Just a linear list of folders, albeit sortable in various ways.

There is quite a bit of disagreement about the efficacy of this approach on the Picassa forums. I've adjusted somewhat, due to the other benefits Picassa offers, but you may find it totally off-putting. Many do.

I expect we will see more of this sort of thing in the future with WinFS... a disconnect between physical storage location/organization and file metadata organization.
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