If you are not already in the ImageView Window, click the [Add Photos...] button or choose the [Layout -> Add Photos...] menu point, to display the ImageView Window.
Browse through the contents of your hardisk in the explorer style tree view, selecting a folder will display the photos contained in it in thumbnail view. After closing the program, it will remember the last place you looked in.
Click on a thumbnail to select it and view it in the right part of the window.
When you hold the CTRL key while clicking on a thumb, a lossless rotation (clockwise) is performed on the original file, when you hold the ALT key, a counterclockwise rotation is performed.
You can zoom in/out with left/right mous buttons or mousewheel.
To add a photo to your current album page, click the [Add] button (top right). A beep will tell you when its done.
The photo will be added using preset dimensions and can be resized later.
[Important Key Feature Note here, please read]
Your ORIGINAL photo file is COPIED into the albums directory (it is NOT ALTERED in any way).
It is given a serial number, the original filename is PRESERVED and available for later use.
The ORIGINAL photo will be used for printout, zooming, html generation, etc.
[End Note]
Keep selecting photos and adding them through this simple procedure to the current album page.
They can later easily be layouted or moved to other pages.
If you want to print the current photo, click the [Print...] button and a print dialog while open.
Enter the size of your printout (in mm), if it is larger than the paper printable area, it will be spread over several pages (poster printing).
The Image panel
Rotate the current photo using the rotation buttons in the [Image] box.
Apply effects (contrast,brightness,filters etc.) using the [Fx...] button, (the one with the eye icon).
Rapidly convert a photo to grayscale by clicking [B/W] button.
Choose [Select] or [Pan] mode with the corresponding buttons. See Selection Panel below for more details.
The [Undo] button reverts any changes you made to the photo by reloading the original file.
The [Fit] button resizes the display of the current photo so that it fits on the current screen.
The [Res] button opens a dialog which allows you to do a resample of your photo (using different resample filters.)
The [Save As...] button allows you to export a photo in different file types (TIFF, JPEG PNG, BMP etc...)
The [Ovl] button gives you the possibility to add a grid overlay to your photo (for printing and cutting into puzzle pieces for example)
When the [Autofit] checkbox is checked, photos are automatically displayed so they fill the available space.
The Selection Panel
If you set selection mode, through clicking on the [Select] mode button in the Image Panel, you can select a part of the photo by drawing a selection area with the left mouse button down on the photo.
The selected area can be used to apply effects or to cut out the selected part and add it to your album.
If the [Use ratio] checkbox is checked, the selection you draw will use the ratio selected in the [Selection Ratio] dropdown list.
Below the [Selection Ratio] list the pixel size of the current selection is displayed.
Clear the selection with the [CS] button.
Crop the selection through clicking on the [Crop] button (the one with the scissors)
If an area of the photo is selected, only this area will be added to the albums page when you click the [Add] button.
Advanced Functions are displayed/hidden by clicking the [Advanced...] checkbox. These are:
The Histogramm Panel
It shows you a histogramm of distribution of light and dark pixels on the current photo.
This is a very helpfull function to determine if a photo is correctly exposed and/or needs adjustment through the [FX...] functions.
The [Autoupdate] checkbox refreshes the histogramm automatically after selecting another photo.
The EXIF Panel
It shows you the EXIF information contained in the original file. (Exposure, Aperture, ISO, Focal, Date and Time)
The [Autoupdate] checkbox refreshes this list automatically after selecting another photo.
The File Operations Panel
The 2 rotation buttons perform lossless JPEG rotation on the selected file.
When a lossless rotation is performed on a readonly file (CD for example), the file is copied to the current album's trash/temp directory and rotated there. It will stay there until removed.
The [X] button moves a file to the system recycle bin. Be carefull here, if you later empty your recycle bin, its gone.
The [PCS] Print Contact Sheet button will print a contact sheet of all the thumbs displayed.
The [Trash] button, when down, DISPLAYS the contents of the current album's trash/temp directory.
Every album has a trash/temp directory. It contains the photos deleted from the album and temporary rotated photos, so if you inadvertedly delete a photo, nothing is lost.