Release Pandora Image Viewer


ekianjo, on 08 Nov 2013 - 6:13 PM, said: Another thing, i havent tried crop yet, but does that feature actually crop the original file ? Or makes a cropped copy ? I'd like to avoid modifying original files as much as possible - just wondering if that was the case. Crop crops the originals, like rotate rotates the originals and delete deletes the originals. If you want to work on copies to avoid modifying original, it's recommended to first make a copy first, and then work on that :) .
Problem is, this behavior is not really a good idea. PIV is perfect to put your SD card coming right from your camera and viewing them quickly. But if any operation is made on them (except Delete, obviously), I would expect a duplication of the file to ensure the original is untouched. That's what Picasa did and it helped avoid some serious mistakes when cropping pictures for example.

I would really recommend to think twice about this.
 
OK, so for cropping I'll let it make a backup copy. Any suggestions on a naming scheme? I was thinking about putting the backup copies of cropped images in a subdirectory ".piv-backup" (so it is hidden), not sure if that would work on FAT though. Any other suggestions?

For rotation, I think it is fine to overwrite the original, because that can be undone with another rotation. The other operations (scaling, conversion etc) are not destructive by default.

I'll add a way to configure nub speeds, because this seems to be something where everyone has different taste - de gustibus non disputandum. It'll probably be just another config file in appdata.
 
You can simply rename the file by adding "-cropped" at the end of it. :)

One more thing. I have associated PIV with the pictures on my Pandora, and it works now great just cicking on a file to open it with PIV, but what's missing is this:

If i click on a single picture in a folder full of pictures, PIV only opens 1 and does not consider it's part of a folder with other pictures. Can you make it so that when it opens a single picture, it is at least aware of the pictures present in the folder so that you can cycle them one by one, without having to start PIV separately ?
 
I don't like putting the backups in the same folder, because then the image appears twice the next time you view the folder. But maybe I should give the user some options: I could replace the "yes or no" crop dialog with a list of options, including "crop files in-place", "crop files to *-cropped", "crop with backup in piv-originals/", etc.

One more thing. I have associated PIV with the pictures on my Pandora, and it works now great just cicking on a file to open it with PIV, but what's missing is this:

If i click on a single picture in a folder full of pictures, PIV only opens 1 and does not consider it's part of a folder with other pictures. Can you make it so that when it opens a single picture, it is at least aware of the pictures present in the folder so that you can cycle them one by one, without having to start PIV separately ?
I'll need to add some intelligence to the run script, but this can be done. What should be the behavior when you've got multiple files selected in the file manager and then open them with PIV?
 
I'll need to add some intelligence to the run script, but this can be done. What should be the behavior when you've got multiple files selected in the file manager and then open them with PIV?
It should display them as if you had opened a directory containing only those files, methinks.
 
I'll need to add some intelligence to the run script, but this can be done. What should be the behavior when you've got multiple files selected in the file manager and then open them with PIV?
It should display them as if you had opened a directory containing only those files, methinks.
Yes, that seems like the only sensible thing to do. I think that's what it does now. I just have to make single files be treated differently from multifile selections. Will do that.
 
I'll need to add some intelligence to the run script, but this can be done. What should be the behavior when you've got multiple files selected in the file manager and then open them with PIV?
It should display them as if you had opened a directory containing only those files, methinks.
Yes, that seems like the only sensible thing to do. I think that's what it does now. I just have to make single files be treated differently from multifile selections. Will do that.
No, it doesn't do that currently, multiple selections in the file manager (again, not in PIV) do not work - PIV only opens the first one. 
 
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I could replace the "yes or no" crop dialog with a list of options, including "crop files in-place", "crop files to *-cropped", "crop with backup in piv-originals/", etc.
I'm OK with that, or you could also let the user specify this in the config file if you don't want to have menus for this.  
 
I'll need to add some intelligence to the run script, but this can be done. What should be the behavior when you've got multiple files selected in the file manager and then open them with PIV?
It should display them as if you had opened a directory containing only those files, methinks.
Yes, that seems like the only sensible thing to do. I think that's what it does now. I just have to make single files be treated differently from multifile selections. Will do that.
No, it doesn't do that currently, multiple selections in the file manager (again, not in PIV) do not work - PIV only opens the first one. 
Are you sure? When I select multiple files, right click and do "Open in PIV", it does what it should do. However, if I select multiple files and then press enter, Thunar only opens the currently highlighted file. It clears the selection before opening it.

In the next update, opening single files from thunar (or from anything else) will now act as if you opened the entire directory and navigated to that file.

Crop will save backups to a subdirectory called piv-crop-originals.
 
_wb_, in the latest version I find the speed of the left nub too fast and the one of the right nub too slow :(

Would there be a way to give the user a chance to adjust these settings?
In the next update, there will be a file called "piv.conf" in the appdata directory, which lets you modify the nub speeds. So if you want the left nub to be slower and the right one faster, it's just a matter of changing those two numbers.

You can even put in negative speeds to make the nub work in "reverse mode" (push left to move right, etc). Not sure if that's useful at all, but it's a "feature" you get for free :)
 
I don't like putting the backups in the same folder, because then the image appears twice the next time you view the folder. But maybe I should give the user some options: I could replace the "yes or no" crop dialog with a list of options, including "crop files in-place", "crop files to *-cropped", "crop with backup in piv-originals/", etc.
I'd like to have the option of cropping to a new file with a -cropped and a numerical appended.  That way I could for example load up a group shot, then use the crop feature to make head shots of each of the subjects, without worrying about losing the original or overwriting the ones I've already created.

- Neelix
 
I tried it Yesterday and must say its realy realy fast.

When Pictures have errors like ,File is cropped or damaged

will the Viewer end here.

After viewing one Directory and i want to go to another Directory pressed i fn+escape

And every Directory Change must i restart the Viewer.

Is there a more easy Way to Change Directories?

When not recomment i to bind your genious Viewer with the Pickle Launcher,

that makes it more easy to Change Directories.

Binding with PickleLauncher should be very easy ;)
 
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I don't like putting the backups in the same folder, because then the image appears twice the next time you view the folder. But maybe I should give the user some options: I could replace the "yes or no" crop dialog with a list of options, including "crop files in-place", "crop files to *-cropped", "crop with backup in piv-originals/", etc.
 
I'd like to have the option of cropping to a new file with a -cropped and a numerical appended.  That way I could for example load up a group shot, then use the crop feature to make head shots of each of the subjects, without worrying about losing the original or overwriting the ones I've already created.

OK, I'll let you choose between overwriting the originals (with a backup in <dir>/piv-crop-originals) and cropping to new files (saved in <dir>/piv-crops/<file>-cropN).


To be able to make multiple crops from one image, I need to do some additional coding because at the moment there can be only one crop region per image.

I tried it Yesterday and must say its realy realy fast.


When Pictures have errors like ,File is cropped or damaged


will the Viewer end here.
Is this a question or a bug report?

After viewing one Directory and i want to go to another Directory pressed i fn+escape


And every Directory Change must i restart the Viewer.


Is there a more easy Way to Change Directories?


When not recomment i to bind your genious Viewer with the Pickle Launcher,


that makes it more easy to Change Directories.


Binding with PickleLauncher should be very easy ;)
Maybe I should make it so that by default, when you exit the viewer you go back to the directory selection dialog.

PIV is also intended to be a replacement for the default image viewer, so you can use any file management tool (e.g. Thunar) to navigate your filesystem, and click on an image to view it. That way I don't have to worry about thumbnails and directory navigation and all that stuff :)
 
That should be the behavior when it tries to load a file that is not a valid image: ignore it and show the next file.

If you have a file that makes it crash, please send it to me (in a private msg) - PIV is never supposed to crash.
 
I will research that File this Evening ;)

Edit: Problem seem solved,had no more crashes here.

Miraclewise :D
 
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OK, if the problem solved itself that's nice :)

I'm working on an update. The main improvement will be in the cropping:

- It will have support for multiple crops per image (e.g. if you want to crop multiple head shots out of a group picture): press "N" to make a new/next crop (you can use "P" and "N" to navigate between the crops)

- Crop using the touch screen (drag to select a crop rectangle, or if you're in "crop resize mode", to modify the boundaries of the crop)

- No more silent overwriting of files: either you crop to new files (this is the only option if you do multiple crops per image), or the crop replaces the original but the original gets moved to a backup directory

Also, thanks to ekianjo I found out that RAW camera formats were not actually supported - ImageMagick would try to call some external raw importer which was not included and very slow anyway. I found a way to view RAW files efficiently, by cheating and using the embedded preview images (typically JPEG files with the same resolution as the RAW image) instead of the actual RAW.
 
One question:  Can PIV be programmed to have an option so that when I leave my Pandora unused for a set period of time, PIV will automatically fires up and go into screensaver mode with my favorite picture album?  When I touch any key, PIV will close down and I can resume working (I mean playing) on my Pandora?  It will consume power but that's my choice :)
 
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