URL/Contact

Comments

www.irfanview.com

General purpose graphics file viewer with added features such as slideshow. Freeware download.  Recommended by PSSA for salons’ use (qv). IrfanViewer is not colour-aware

www.acdsystems.com

[Aug-05]:  ACDSee viewer and editor.  Current V7 is free to try and $50 to buy.  Simpler and just for viewing is Classic - free to try and $35 to buy.  This s/w is used by RPS for distinctions (qv).

Full version available eg, at PCWorld.  As purchased s/w is not ICC aware, and authors would have to submit in a standard colour space: in practice sRGB.  However, there is a $40 ImagePro add-on which makes the s/w ICC aware, and this would be needed to allow authors to submit with any embedded profile.

[Aug-06]:  Viewer program now in two versions, omitting ‘Classic’.  V8 same price as V7 and still not colour-aware.  Pro version is $130 to buy, and is colour-aware.  These programs are extensive cataloguing and viewing programs besides being usable to view slideshows (and hence competitions).

www.photodex.com

Compupic Pro is a file browser, file viewer (window or full screen), and can write a slideshow to CD.  Free to try and $80 to buy.  This s/w is used by Rushden Open Exhibition.

Also Compupic ($40) and Compupic Express ($30).  Express has the least functionality, but can still read PSD, JPG and TIF formats.  Website has a note that Compupic Express will work with dual monitors.  Could this be a way of projecting a full-screen image separately from a screen for competition organisation.

http://www.iview-multimedia.com

The software used to present the images during competitions at Cambridge CC is called

iView MediaPro - It is available for both MAC and PC, costing £120.

Tony Sweet, Cambridge CC (EAF)

Comment:

The s/w emphasises use of metadata to help with cataloguing and managing media files.  As noted by Cambridge CC, it is the metadata rather than merely the filename, which can be used to manage a competition workflow.  An important question is whether wide-area authors could be trained to use the metadata fields correctly.

Images may be viewed (and scaled), as well as output to pages, pdf files, or written to CD.  The s/w is ICC aware, so that files are viewed correctly where they have an embedded profile.

A cheaper non-Pro version is approx £30. While the non-Pro version omits many features probably not required, it also omits colour profile management in the PC version (still included for Mac), which thus loses a specific advantage for competition/exhibition organisers.

[Oct-06]  “Breezebrowser” (not to be confused with Adobe Breeze) comes recommended for its ability to tag images during a presentation using a single invisible keystroke. This can be used to hold back some images during scoring as a presentation can be run again with the images restricted to those tagged. The program uses colour management.

Otherwise, Breezebrowser has all the usual album, cataloguing, etc features of such programs, plus it has an extensive raw processing facility for developing pictures after initial capture.

Cerius software

[Oct-06]  ThumbsPlus (standard, pro and network versions) is another album management program which includes colour management. It builds a database to refer to the images which remain in their original locations. The default database format is MS-Access: unclear whether Thumbsplus already incorporates runtime Access, or whether users may require their own separate copy of Access.

Picture to EXE

[Oct 06]:  This program is a favourite for audio visual, but can be set to run with manual advance, and without music or a timeline. A slideshow is prepared by dragging pictures into display order without regard to filename alphabetic order. However, it is not able to tag pictures for a selective rerun.

[John Bowsher, Deal CC]. Pictures2exe is suitable for showing an exhibition or a prejudged competition (where tagging is not required).

Other remarks

S/w used to run competitions may include image display.  This may be via Internet Explorer.  These types of display software may not be ICC-profile aware (IE is not).  See separate remarks about projectors where the only available standard is likely to be sRGB.

Therefore, it may be that all authors should convert images (if required) to sRGB.  If this gamut can be assumed, then workflow downstream from the author does not require embedded profiles, allowing smaller file sizes.

When the data file colour space is converted, particularly if from a wider gamut (eg Adobe RGB) to a narrower gamut (eg sRGB), then rendering must be specified.  Opinion is required on the merits of ‘perceptual’ versus ‘relative colorimetric’.

[Aug-06]:  Several correspondents recommend authors to retain AdobeRGB as their assigned and embedded profile in image files. It is then up to an event organiser to manage rendering using colour-aware display software. Many sources note that showing image files with AdobeRGB profile using non-colour-aware software gives washed out low contrast images.