Faster Thumbnail Availability
Upon program startup, the first task PicViewPlus takes on is the automatic generation of picture thumbnail views.
This thumbnail generation also occurs when a new picture folder is selected. The associated background
processing necessarily slows down other tasks, such as moving from picture to picture.
Version 1.2 reduces this processing time by writing each generated thumbnail view to a picture subfolder
called PicViewPlus Thumbnails-WWWxHHH, where WWW and HHH represent the width and height
respectively of the thumbnail pictures contained in the subfolder.
The next time parent picture folder is opened, the thumbnail views are read from this subfolder instead
of being computed. The result is that thumbnail views are available much faster than was the case earlier
– often 20 times faster. This speedup is especially noticeable for folders containing lots of large picture files.
Thumbnail Sizes
The former method of specifying both the height and width of the thumbnail pictures has been changed
to a selection of three sizes: Small, Medium, and Big. The standard size is Medium
which is what it was before. Use Small thumbnails when you must rearrange a large set of pictures. Use Big
thumbnails when you want to quickly review a large set of pictures. The first time you specify one of these
sizes, PicViewPlus will need to generate the set of them, so program operation will be slower.
New License Key Scheme
A new license scheme is now in effect. When purchasing PicViewPlus on-line, you must
now enter your computer's Id along with the other standard purchase information.
To get your computer's Id, click button Preferences, then tab Support.
Your computer's Id will be listed in the lower-right corner of the form.
The license key you receive upon purchase will have this Id embedded within it.
Enter this key (it may be multiple lines) within the same form, where indicated,
and click button Update. Program purchase reminders will then cease.
Why the change? Well, the former license key scheme was easily pirated, and
consequently valid license keys ended up being posted on many pirate web sites.
This scheme is more secure, but does require that your computer have a
network interface card (which contains your unique computer Id,
often known as a MAC address). Most computers these days have such a card,
and their cost has now fallen to about $10. To compensate for this minor
inconvenience, the license agreement has been relaxed so that you may now
install PicViewPlus on up to three computers. When purchasing PicViewPlus,
simply enter the Id of each computer. The license key you obtain can be used
on each of those computers.
Should you want to change your list of licensed computers, simply send your license key,
along with the Ids of the computers you want to add or remove, to support@linkwise.net.
An updated license key will be returned. You may make up to two of these updates.
Those users who have purchased the prior version of the license key should simply
send a request for an updated license to support@linkwise.net (include the computer Id).
There is no charge for this license update.
Enhanced Operation Tips
More operation tips have been added.
To give you a better idea of the tip context, the tip subject is now placed in the tip window's title bar.
In order to help you gradually learn more about the features in PicViewPlus, there is
now an option (enabled by default) to have a tip displayed every 10 pictures.
Prior to this release, you could bring up the tip window at any time in PicViewPlus
by toggling the Show Tip on Startup checkbox.
Now, instead, you simply click button Show a Tip.
Resizable Picture Frames
You can easily enhance the appearance of your pictures by using a picture border
that has the appearance of a picture frame. To do this, click button Preferences,
then tab Picture Appearance. Click button Select Default Picture Frame.
There are several dozen of these picture frames to choose from, from plain to fancy.
When you select a picture frame, it is immediately sized to fit the picture being displayed.
Furthermore, you can also easily vary the thickness of the frame, making the frame image occupy
from 1% to 99% of the total picture height/width.
By default, the picture frame you select will be used for all subsequent displayed pictures.
However, you also have the option of attaching the selected picture frame to the
currently displayed picture, so that this picture will always display with that designated frame,
no matter what the current default frame is.
While there are many frames to choose from, you may also construct your own
simulated picture frames using the instructions provided.
If you choose to make a printout of your picture(s), the picture frame in effect
will also appear on the printed picture.
Printing your Pictures in Various Layouts
When you see one or more pictures you would like printed,
you can now easily print them from within PicViewPlus.
To do this, click button Preferences,
then tab Print. Select a picture layout, and then click on each
box within the layout to place the current picture there. Your composed
layout can contain from one to 20 pictures.
Doing your printing in PicViewPlus rather than elsewhere has these advantages:
- You can select various picture layouts, such as two 4x6 prints per page
- You can choose whether or not to include picture captions
- You can choose where to place picture captions
- You can scale picture captions to be larger or smaller
- You can include picture frames on the prints – each layout box within the layout can contain a different frame
- You can rotate a picture to make it better fit a layout box
- You can expand a picture to fit an entire layout box, selectively clipping the overhanging ends
- You can enable or disable the display of layout box crop marks
The full caption specification may be attached to a picture
The caption specification may now be attached to a picture.
To do this, right-click the picture and select Attach current caption spec to this picture.
Whenever this picture is again displayed, the attached caption spec will be used instead
of the default caption spec used with the other pictures.
This capability is particularly useful when you want to overlay the picture with
its caption, but you want the caption to appear within an area having little
picture content. You can use a custom caption location to further refine the
caption location.
Of course, you may also just as easily remove this attached caption spec
by right–clicking the picture and selecting the removal option.
Furthermore, you can make the attached caption spec become the default caption spec.
A picture frame may be attached to the picture
Similar to the way you can attach a caption to a picture, you can attach the current
picture frame to the picture. To do this, first select a picture frame if one has not
already been selected. Then right–click the picture and select option
Attach current frame 'xxx' to this picture, where xxx is the name
of the current/default picture frame.
Of course, you may also just as easily remove this attached picture frame
by right–clicking the picture and selecting the removal option.
The picture caption may be placed anywhere on the picture
When you choose to have a picture caption overlay the picture, you can specify that
the caption appear in one of four standard locations: upper-center, upper-left,
lower-center, and lower-left. In the centered locations, the caption is center-justified.
In the left positions, the caption is left-justified.
If these standard captions aren't suitable, you can place the caption within
a text box of the size and position of your choosing. To do this, press down the
keyboard Ctrl key and then drag the left-mouse button to create this caption box.
When you release the mouse button, the caption will be placed within this box,
center-justified. Excess caption text will overflow the bottom of the box so that
none of the caption is lost. This action will also cause your default caption location
to be set to On it: Custom. If you wish, this custom caption location may be
attached to the picture.