Main Help Index

Dropview\IP 2.0

Drag and Drop Image Processing

and then some...

©copyright 1994, SJHDesign

Dropview Help Index

Quick Start

System Menu Commands

The Browse Window

Edit Window Commands

The Edit Window Toolbar

Program Options Dialog

Window Modes

Image File Formats

 	Dropview\IP, Palettes and Hardware


Quick Start
Quick Start-A Dropview\IP Overview

Dropview\IP is a powerful, sophisticated image handling program with many features, but when we designed the program, we tried to take advantage of the Windows Drag and Drop interface to make it  intuitive and simple to use. As digital imaging professionals ourselves,  we focused on taking the time-consuming tasks involved in working with digitized images and finding ways to make them faster and easier. This short overview of Dropview\IP's interface and features should be  enough to get anyone with a working knowledge of digital imaging up and running quickly.

Loading Images in Dropview\IP

Images can be loaded in individual editing windows by dragging  them from File Manager(or any substitute that supports the Windows 3.1  Drag & Drop protocol) to the Dropview\IP icon. Subdirectory folders may  also be dragged from File Manager to the icon-Dropview\IP will parse the  directory and load all supported image files as thumbnails in a browse window (more on that a little later). If you click the Dropview\IP icon, it's system menu contains three menu choices that allow you to perform operations directly on a file or group of files dragged down from File Manager without loading the individual  files. They are:

Fast Convert (hotkey Alt v) - While this option is enabled, any image file (or group of files) you drag to the Dropview\IP icon is converted to the format specified in the Convert To box of the Program Options Dialog. This feature allows you to convert files from one format to another in batches, avoiding the time consuming process of loading and saving each image individually. The images are simply written to a directory that you choose in the Program Options Dialog with the same name and a new extension. See system menu commands for an  example.

Fast Print(hotkey Alt p) -  While this option is enabled, any image(or group of images)  dragged to the Dropview\IP icon will be spooled to Print Manager. For each image,  the program will pop up a Print Options dialog allowing you to specify the size  and number of copies for each image. This feature allows true drag & drop batch printing.

Fast Copy(hotkey Alt p) - While this option is enabled, any images dropped on the Dropview\IP  icon will be instantly copied to the clipboard.

As an example of how these three menu choices can save time for you, let's say that Dropview\IP is loaded(the target icon is visible on your desktop) and you have a group of files that you wish to print. Click on the icon and choose Fast Print(or use the Alt p hotkey), drag the group of files to the icon and they are all immediately sent to  the printer-thats it! Click the fast Print menu choice again or use the hotkey to restore Dropview\IP to it's default mode of loading each image in an individual window.

If the Fast Copy, Fast Print or Fast Convert commands are not enabled, Dropview\IP will take each image dragged to the icon and load it in an individual edit window. In this window, the image can be dithered, drawn on, recolored, resized, padded, cropped, printed, copied to the clipboard, etc. For details on Dropview\IP's many Drawing and Image Processing functions, see Edit Window Commands and  The Edit Window Toolbar.

Fast Image Browsing in Dropview\IP

As mentioned above, subdirectory folders can be dragged (from the right hand pane of a File Manager drive window) to the Dropview\IP icon. The program will identify each supported image in the  directory and load all of them them in one shot as thumbnails in a browse window. By  clicking on a thumbnail and choosing one of the Browse Window buttons you can perform the  following operation on the image:

Press this..       and Dropview\IP will..

Edit Image              Load the file in an edit window

View Image	Quick Load the image in a view-only window

Print Image             Send the image to the printer

Copy Image 	Copy the image to the clipboard

Convert Image	Convert the image to the file format specified in the Program Options dialog

Users with a lot of image files can use the Browse window as a 'control center', enabling them to quickly browse whole directories at a time and choose images to perform further operations on. All of Dropview\IP's powerful editing, conversion and printing features are available from this window. The only difference is that you can work with up to 120 images at a time! 'Contact Sheets'  of thumbnails can also be printed or saved in any of the supported file formats. To take full advantage of these powerful features, please see the browse window.

Instant Screen Captures

If you click on the Dropview\IP icon and choose Capture from the menu, the mouse pointer will turn into a crosshair. By pressing and holding the left button and moving the mouse, you can capture any area of the screen. When you have the area you want, release the left button and your  screen capture pops up in an Edit Window, where all of Dropview\IP's editing features are available. The capture can be saved to any of the supported file formats.

Configuring Dropview\IP

Clicking on the Dropview\IP icon and choosing the Options menu choice brings up the  Program Options Dialog, used to set the program's global options. Most of the  options pertain to the Fast Convert feature described above, and they are grouped together  in the 13 Convert Mode Options section of the dialog. You can choose the default  format to convert images to, the directory the converted files will be written to, whether or not to delete the original image after conversions, and whether or not to ask the user for confirmation before all conversion operations.

The Window Mode section of the dialog allows you to choose the type of window in  which Dropview\IP loads the image files you drag to it's icon. Choosing Edit loads your  images in an the Edit Window, where all of Dropview\IP's drawing, retouching and image processing features are available. Choosing View allows you to use a  View window, which has a smaller set of available features but will load multiple images a  little faster(this window will be familiar to Dropview 2.x users).


The Browse Window

This is one of Dropview\IP's most powerful features. It allows you to drag a subdirectory from File Manager and have a thumbnail of each image in the directory loaded in a cf13Browse Window. Unlike the many thumbnail programs now available, the Dropview\IP Browse Window loads 24 images(if the directory has more than 24 images, the window can be scrolled to view the additional ones) all at once, quickly, with all their original colors, and without using up all of the memory on your system.

Once the thumbnails are visible, all of Dropview\IP's powerful features are available to use on them. Just by clicking on a thumbnail you can load it in an individual edit window, print it, copy it to the clipboard or instantly convert it to another format. The name, dimensions and other vital statistics are shown for each image.

The Browse Window has no menu. All of it's functions are accessible via pushbuttons on the top and bottom of the window. Simply click on a thumbnail image that you would like to work on and you can perform the following operations on it by choosing a pushbutton from the top row of buttons:

  Clicking on this button loads the currently highlighted thumbnail image in a Dropview\IP Edit Window at it's normal size for processing, retouching and pixel level editing.

  This button loads the selected thumbnail into a view window at it's normal size.

 Clicking this button instantly converts the current thumbnail to another file format. It is, of course, loaded and converted at it's normal size. The format can be selected in the Program Options Dialog beforehand.

 Clicking this button sends the current thumbnail to the printer. Before printing, a Print Options dialog allows the user to choose the print size and number of copies or to cancel the printing operation.

 When the user selects this button, the current thumbnail is instantly copied to the clipboard at it's normal size.

These pushbuttons along the bottom of the Browse Window perform operations on 'pages' of images:

 The Browse Window displays 'pages' of 24 thumbnail images at a time. If you load a directory with more than 24 images, this button appears. Clicking it will display the next 24 images in the current directory. When you have 'paged' to the last 24 files in the directory, this button will disappear, letting you know that there are no more images in the current directory.

Note: The Browse Window will load up to 5 pages(120 images) from a given directory.

 If you have used the Next Page button to 'page' past the first 24 images in a directory, this button will appear. Clicking it will display the 24 images on the previous page. If this button disappears, you know are back at the first 24 image page.

 Clicking this button will save the current page of 24 thumbnails as a 576 X 390 'contact sheet'. A 'Save As' dialog allows you to choose the name and file format of the contact sheet file.

 Choosing this button dumps the current page of 24 thumbnails directly to the printer as a full page hardcopy.

 This button pops up a dialog that allows you to choose another directory to look at. As is the case when a directory folder is dragged from File Manager to the Dropview\IP icon, the new directory is parsed and all supported image files in the directory are loaded in the current Browse Window.

 Closes the current Browse Window.


Window Modes

Dropview\IP has the ability to load individual images in two types of windows. The window mode can be chosen in the WINDOW MODE section of the  Program Options Dialog. You can access this dialog by clicking  on the Dropview\IP icon and choosing Options from the system menu or by the using the Alt-o hotkey while Dropview\IP is running.

View Mode allows you to drag and drop any image(s) in the supported formats and have it loaded in its own viewing window. This mode will be familiar to Dropview 2.1 users-a full menu of image processing functions that operate on the entire image are available. For details about the menu commands available in the view window, see Edit Window Commands. This mode is recommended for those who need to load and browse individual images quickly without performing any pixel level editing.

Edit Mode when in this mode, the program will load any image(s) you drag and drop on it in an Edit window. In addition to the image processing functions available in view mode, you also have accesss to the toolbar for drawing and pixel-level retouching. For more information about the drawing functions available through the toolbar, see The Edit Window Toolbar. While images will load a bit slower than in View Mode, you will have a full range of drawing and editing tools available.


System Menu Commands

Clicking on the Dropview\IP icon brings up the System Menu. Along with the usual MOVE, CLOSE and SWITCH TO commands, the program has these commands added to its System Menu:

Fast Convert(Hotkey-Alt v) - if you click this or use the Alt v hotkey, a check appears next to this menu item. You can now use Dropview\IP for Drag&Drop batch conversions. While this option is checked, any image file (or group of files) you drag to the Dropview\IP icon is converted to the format specified in the Convert To box of the Program Options Dialog. The file is converted to the specified format but is NOT loaded in a window for viewing or editing. The Program Options Dialog contains additional options for this program mode, such as automatically deleting the source file, specifying a default output directory, etc. There are some restrictions in image conversions- certain image formats only support certain palette types(these restrictions are  detailed in Image File Formats). If the chosen format is inappropriate  for the image you want to convert, a dialog box will notify you and abort the operation.

When you are finished converting files, click the menu item again or use the Alt v hotkey to restore the program to it's normal behavior of loading image files in individual windows.

Here's an example of how to perform high speed batch conversions:

Let's say that you have 12 .gif files in c:\gif that you would like to convert to .tif format and place in directory d:. All you have to do is load Dropview\IP, type Alt v(to enable Convert Mode),type Alt o to bring up the Program Options dialog, check .TIF (in the Convert To box), type d:\tif(in the Output Directory box), hit Enter(to close the dialog) and drag the 12 files to the Dropview\IP icon and you're done. Compare this to loading and saving 12 files one at a time in a conventional Windows program to get an idea of how much time you can save with batch conversions.

Fast Copy(Hotkey-Alt c) - like Fast Convert above, this feature is enabled by clicking then menu choice or by the Alt c hotkey. While this option is checked, any images dragged from File Manager and dropped on the Dropview\IP icon will be instantly copied to  the clipboard without being loaded in a window. This is a tremendous timesaver- a lot faster  than opening an image program, loading an image and then copying it to the clipboard. Click  this menu item again or use the Alt v hotkey to restore the program to it's normal behavior  of loading image files in individual windows.

(Note: while this option is enabled, you can only drag one file at a time to the Dropview\IP icon, since the Windows Clipboard can only handle one image at a time. If multiple files are dragged to the Dropview\IP icon while this option is enabled, only the first file will be copied to the clipboard.)

Fast Print(Hotkey-Alt p) - like Fast Convert and Fast Copy above, this feature is enabled by clicking then menu choice or by the Alt p hotkey. While this option is checked, any images dragged from File Manager and dropped on the Dropview\IP icon will be spooled to Print Manager for printing without being loaded in a window. For each image, the program will pop up a Print  Options dialog allowing you to specify the size and number of copies for each image. Choosing Cancel in this dialog aborts printing of that particular image while leaving the others in the queue. Since windows is a multitasking system, you can use this feature to drag a group of images to the  Dropview\IP icon for printing and after they are spooled to print manager, click on the Fast Print  menu choice again or use the Alt p hotkey to restore the program to it's normal behavior so that you  can view or edit other images while printing is taking place.

Capture - allows the user to perform a fast and easy Screen Capture. After choosing this command, the mouse cursor will become a crosshair. Move the mouse cursor to the upper left corner of the screen area you would like to capture. Press and hold the left button to begin blocking out the capture area. By moving the mouse while you continue to hold the left button down, a capture rectangle is defined by a white borderline. As long as you continue to hold the left button down, you can shrink or enlarge the rectangle by  moving the mouse. When you have the desired area of the screen within the rectangle, release the left button. That's it! Your capture will be automatically loaded in a Dropview\IP window for editing and can be saved in any of the available file formats.

New Window - this command loads an empty Edit window for drawing or pasting clipboard images into.

Show Clipboard - If a bitmap or DIB is present in the clipboard, choosing this command loads the clipboard bitmap in a Dropview\IP window. It can be now edited and saved in any of the available file formats.

Close All Images - closes all view\and or edit windows while leaving the Dropview\IP icon on the desktop.

Options(Hotkey-Alt o) - this command pops up the Program Options Dialog, which is used to set Dropview\IP global options.

Help(Hotkey-Alt h) - If you're reading this, then you already found it...

Register DROPVIEW If you decide to register Dropview\IP, SJHDesign will give you a  Registration Number. Clicking on this menu choice brings up a dialog box to type this number into. Type it in, hit Enter, and no more 'Nag' screens when you start Dropview\IP. Use Notepad to read the file Orderfrm.Txt for details about the many benefits registered users of our programs receive.

About - And now, a word from our sponsor...


  The Edit Window Toolbar

If Dropview\IP is in Edit Mode, a toolbar containing icons for all of the Dropview\IP drawing tools is available. To use one of them, just left click on it's icon. The available tools are:

 Pen Tool - this tool is for freehand drawing.

 Line Tool - this tool is for drawing lines.

 Fill Tool - this tool is for executing flood fills. At this point, Dropview\IP will only flood fill empty(white) areas of an image.

 Rectangle Tool - this tool is for drawing rectangles using the foreground color.

 Filled Rectangle Tool - this tool is for drawing filled rectangles. The rectangle will be outlined in the foreground color and filled with the background color.

 Ellipse Tool - this tool is for drawing circles, ovals and ellipses in the foreground color.

 Filled Ellipse Tool - this tool is for drawing filled circles, ovals and ellipses. The shape will be outlined in the foreground color and filled with the background color.

 Eraser Tool - this tool is like a freehand pen but erases (draws a white line in the current line width) instead of drawing.

 Selection Tool - this tool is used to define selection areas. For example, to copy an area to the clipboard, click on this icon, go to the upper left corner of the area you  would like to copy, hold the left button down and define the area by moving the mouse. A white dotted-line rectangle will define the area. When you have the area you want within the rectangle, release the left mouse button.

 Text Tool - this tool is used to add text to images. Click on this icon and move the cursor to where you would like to begin adding text. Left click and the cursor will turn into the editing cursor you've seen in Windows text editors. Now you can begin typing in the desired text, which will appear in the foreground color. Choose Fonts on the Options Menu to change the current font and\or type size.

 Color Select Tool - this tool is used to select the foreground color directly from the current image. Click on this icon and move the cursor to the location of the desired color. Left click and the color of the pixel under the cursor becomes the current foreground color.

 Zoom Tool - this tool provides a fast way to zoom in on a bitmap area. Click on  this icon and move the cursor to the approximate center of the area you would like to magnify. Each left  click magnifies the area by a factor of 100% of the original image size(the Zoom In command on the  Image Menu can also be used to do this). If you perform this operation five times(that is, magnify the image 500%), the next click will restore the image to it's original size. The Actual Size command on the Image Menu can also be used to restore a zoomed image to it's original size.

Note : If an image is zoomed out(see Image Menu for more information on the Zoom commands), all of the above drawing tools are disabled. If an image is zoomed in, the Select Tool is  disabled but all other drawing tools are still available. Copy and paste operations cannot be performed on zoomed images.

   Selecting Foreground and Background Colors

Foreground and background colors are selected from the palette, the rectangle to the left of the toolbar. This contains all of the colors in the current image(from 16 to 256 colored rectangles, depending on the image). Clicking over a color with the left mouse button makes it the Foreground Color. This is the color that will be used when you draw lines, circles, text, etc. To choose a  Background Color, right click over any  color in the palette. This color will be used for fills and as the inner color in filled rectangles and ellipses. Directly underneath the palette, a larger box shows the current foreground and background colors:

   Selecting Line Widths

 Line width is selected by moving the arrow in this box with the left mouse button. All lines, circles and rectangles (as well as the eraser) will draw in this line width.


Edit Window Commands

File Menu

Edit Menu

Colors Menu

Image Menu

Options Menu


File Menu

New-This clears the current window. If an image is already loaded in the window, you will be propmted to save it.

Open-This allows you  to open another image in an  existing window.  If the current image has been changed you will be propmted to save it.

Save -Saves the current image with it's existing name and file format.

Save As -Pops up a Save As dialog to save the current image in a file format you choose. The name and directory can also be changed. Available file formats are:

.BMP - Windows 3.x bitmap(standard or compressed)

.PCX - Zsoft PC Paintbrush, Windows Paintbrush

.GIF - Compuserve(non-interlaced only)

.TGA - Targa Truevision

.TIF - Aldus-Microsoft(standard,compressed, group III and IV fax)

.EPS - Adobe Encapsulated Postscript

.JPG - JPEG compressed format

.WMF - Windows metafile

.WPG - Wordperfect Graphics format(bitmapped data only-some .wpg files contain no bitmapped data)

.PCT - Mac Paint, all palette types

.DCX - Multi-page fax format, used in MS Mail and other workgroup applications.

For details about the various file formats, see Image file Formats in the Main Help Index.

IMPORTANT: if you are working with 24 bit images on a display that supports 256 colors, see Dropview\IP, Palettes and Hardware in the Main Help Index.

Next Page - allows the user to load the next page of a multi-page DCX image. If the file doesn't have a next page, the current page is reloaded. This command is only enabled when a DCX image is loaded.

Previous Page - goes back to the previous page of a multi-page DCX image. This command is  only enabled when a DCX image is loaded.

Print - The print dialog will appear, allowing you to choose the scale the current image will be printed at as well as the number of copies. If you would like to print only a portion of the image, use the SELECT TOOL to define the area you would like to print before choosing this command. If no rectangle is defined, the entire image is printed.

Printer Setup - gives you the standard Windows 3.1 printer configuration dialog.

File Info - Pops up a dialog box with the current image's vital statistics.


Edit Menu

Undo -  This command will reload the current image in it's state at the time when the last undo image was saved. Dropview\IP allows the user to  choose the frequency at which undo images are written to memory for each image window via the Undo Options command on the Options Menu.

Save Undo Image - The Undo Options command on the Options Menu gives the user a choice about how frequently undo images are saved. If you choose to control when undo images are written to memory, this command writes the undo image to memory.

Copy - By pressing and holding the left mouse button and moving the mouse, you can define a clip rectangle on the screen.  Use the Copy command to transfer this area to the clipboard. To cancel the operation, click the left  mouse button twice.If no rectangle is defined, the entire image is copied.

Copy To - saves the clip rectangle(or entire image) to a file. The Save As dialog appears, allowing you to choose a name and file format for the clipping.

Like the Copy command, if no clipping rectangle is defined when this command is chosen, the whole image is copied to the clipboard.  Paste - pastes the clipboard DIB or bitamp and it's palette over the current image in a movable clip rectangle. Holding down the left mouse button over this rectangle and moving the mouse allows you to move the clipping. Moving the cursor away from the clipping and double clicking the left mouse button pastes the clip down in it's current location. If the clipboard  does not contain a DIB or bitmap, the PASTE command is disabled.

Paste From - enables you to choose a bitmap from a standard FileOpen dialog and paste it in the manner described above. Please note that the palette compatibility rules described in Image File Formats do not apply to this operation. Whatever the source format of the clip image, it is converted to a Windows DIB before it is pasted.

Note: if you are working with 24 bit images on a display that supports only 256  colors, your video mode could affect the quality of your paste overlays. For more information, read Dropview\IP, Palettes and Hardware


Options Menu

These menu choices affect the image and tool display in the current window only.

Show Tools - This command allows you to change the Program Mode of the current window. If the program is currently in View Mode, choosing this command will load the Toolbar, Palette and Line Width Bar, effectively putting the current window's display into Edit Mode. If already in Edit mode, this Menu Item will have a check next to it- choose this command now and the Toolbar, Palette and Line Width Bar will be removed and the current window's display will be the same as a View Mode window. The Program Mode is chosen for all Dropview\IP image windows in the PROGRAM MODE box of the Program Options Dialog. For more information about the various modes, see Program Modes.

Use VGA Palette - One of the tools available in Edit Mode is the PALETTE, a group of color rectangles which show all of the available colors for editing an image. Normally, the Palette available for a particular image or an empty Edit Window is determined by the number of colors in the image or the current Video Mode Windows is running in (for more information on video modes and palettes, see Dropview\IP, Palettes and Hardware). This command is used when an image containing 256 colors or more is loaded. Normally, an SVGA palette containing all 256 colors in the image would be available. If, however, you know you will only be needing a small group of basic colors, choosing this command reduces the palette and available colors to a 48 color VGA palette, making it easier to find the basic colors you need. The image will still reatin it's 256 color palette. If you are editing a 16 color image, or editng a 256(or greater) color image while Windows is running in a 16 color VGA mode, this command will be disabled.

Select Font - When the program is in Edit Mode, this command pops up a Select Font dialog used to choose the Font, Size and Color of TrueType fonts to add to your images. For information on adding type to images, see The Edit Window Toolbar.

Reset Attributes - this command clears the current window and resets it to a size chosen in the New Image Attributes dialog. If the window contains an image which was changed the user will be prompted to save it before this operation.

Undo Options - This command pops up a dialog that allows the user to choose one of three methods for saving undo images:

ALWAYS - in this method, the program automatically saves an undo image before every change(default).

USER DETERMINED - this method disables automatic saving of undo images described above. Instead, undo images will be saved only when the user chooses the Save Undo Image command on the Edit Menu.

NEVER - this completely disables the saving of undo images.

In general, frequent saving of undo images uses a great deal of memory. When working with very large images, the program can be slowed down a great deal by this operation. If you work with very large images or under low memory conditions, program performance can be improved by changing this setting from ALWAYS(the default) to USER DETERMINED. Choose NEVER when you are performing simple editing operations which you are sure will not require UNDO.


Colors Menu

Refresh Palette Updates the palette in the current window. When many images with varying palettes are loaded, an image's palette can "wash out" as the Windows palette manager begins to run out of color entries for the various images. This command forces the palette manager to clear out enough entries to correctly render the current image. It also has the effect of "washing out" the palettes in any surrounding images.

Adjust Palette Pops up a dialog box used to adjust palette colors in the image. The user can choose from RGB, HSV or HLS color systems. If RGB is chosen, the three horizontal scroll bars represent the Red, Green and Blue values in the palette and can be individually adjusted. In the case of HSV, the scroll bars represent the Hue, Saturation and Value of the palette. HLS represents Hue, Luminosity and Saturation levels respectively. RGB adjustment is useful for manipulating scanned photgraphic images to enhance existing colors or to fix images whose colors seem a little out of whack. HSV is used for posterization type effects, while HLS is best for fine adjustments in brightness, depth and contrast. While it is beyond the scope of this help file to explain these complex color systems, the user should experiment with the effects they  can produce.

Brightness - this command pops up a dialog box that allows you to brighten or darken the image.

Contrast - pops up a dialog that lets the user increase or decrease an image's contrast.

Halftone- pops up a submenu for choosing a 60 or 90 dpi(dots per inch) halftone. All halftoned images will have a 2 color palette, regardless of the original number of colors. Halftoning is useful for printing complex color images on black and white printers. The 90 dpi matrix yields better results on lower resolution printers.

Note: It is best to print halftoned and dithered images at full scale (choose FULL in the Print Options Dialog) as the dot patterns used in these images tend to distort when scaled down.

Greyscale - pops up a submenu for choosing a lighter or darker greyscale. All greyscaled images will have a 256 color palette, regardless of the original number of colors.

Dither - loads a submenu with five dithering options:

2 COLOR BAYER - monochrome dither with a fixed dot pattern

2 COLOR DIFFUSION(Stucki) - monochrome dither with variable dot pattern

16 COLOR BAYER - 16 color(VGA) dither with a fixed dot pattern

16 COLOR DIFFUSION(Stucki) - VGA dither with variable dot pattern

24 TO 8 - quantitizes a 24 bit(16,177,216 color) image to 256 colors

In Dropview\IP, images can only be dithered "down". In other words, you cannot dither a monochrome(2 color) image up to 16 colors or 256 colors to 24 bit.  Depending on the number of colors in the current image, only the appropriate dithering commands will be enabled.

Note: BRIGHTNESS, CONTRAST and GREYSCALE are not available for monochrome(2 color) images.


Image Menu

Zoom In - zooms(enlarges) the bitmap by a factor of 100% each time this command is chosen. If this command is chosen after an image is zoomed in by 500%, the image returns to it's original size. While an image is zoomed in, copy and paste operations are disabled. The Select Tool, used to mark areas for copy operations, is disabled. All other drawing tools are still available.

Zoom Out - zooms(reduces) the bitmap by a factor of 25% each time this command is chosen. If this command is chosen after an image is zoomed out by 50%, the image returns to it's original size. While an image is zoomed out, all drawing, copy and paste operations are disabled and their respective tools may not be used.

Actual Size - restores a zoomed image to it's original size.

Resize - pops up a dialog box that allows you to specify the dimensions the image will be stretched or shrunken to.

Pad - pops up a dialog box that allows you to specify the dimensions  the image will be padded out to by keying in the height and width or clicking one of three radio buttons with standard sizes like 640x480. In addition to specifying the size of the padded image  the dialog offers the option of automatically centering the image to be padded and filling the  resulting empty space with the current bacground color. Click OK and  the window is cleared, resized to the specified dimensions and the image is pasted back in a movable clip rectangle(or automatically centered if the CENTER box is checked in the dialog)  By clicking and holding down the left mouse button the image can be moved to any location in  the resized window and pasted down by releasing the left mouse button, moving the cursor off  the image and left clicking.

Example: You have an image which has to be padded out to 640x480. This process can be automated by  loading the image and using the right mouse button to choose a background color(see Selecting Foreground and Background Colors in The Edit Window Toolbar section of this help file). Choose this menu item, click the 640x480 button, the CENTER IMAGE and FLOOD FILL BACKGROUND checkboxes and click OK to close the dialog and that's it. Your image is padded out to 640x480, perfectly centered on the background color you chose.

Crop - if you want to crop the current image, use the SELECT TOOL to define a cropping rectangle and choose this menu command. Your current image becomes the area in the cropping rectangle.

Rotate 90 Deg. - rotates an image 90 degrees clockwise.

Flip Horizontal - reverses an image on it's horizontal axis.

Flip Vertical - reverses an image on it's vertical axis.

Enlarge Pixels - pops up a dialog allowing the user to choose a factor from 1 to 20. The individual pixels in the image are enlarged by this factor. Good for "grain" type effects.

Invert Pixels - this command takes each pixel in an image and changes it's color to an opposite, similar to the effect of a photo negative.

Sharpen - pops up a dialog allowing the user to choose a factor from 1 to 128. The image is sharpened by this factor with a lapacian-cut algorithm. While this works very well on photographic greyscale images, it has little effect on color ones.

Smooth - has the opposite effect of Sharpen using an identical dialog.  Useful mostly for greyscale images.

Blur - also uses a dialog to choose a blurring factor. While much slower than Smooth, it has a greater softening effect on color images.


Program Options Dialog

This dialog allows the user to choose the Window Mode and various options used for batch conversions.  It is divided into three boxes:

WINDOW MODE - this is where the user chooses to run the program either in Edit Mode, where images are loaded into drawingwindows, or a slightly faster  View Mode, where images are loaded into viewing windows that have no drawing tools. For a full explanation of the features of each mode, see Window Modes.

CONVERT TO -  when the Fast Convert option is checked, the user drags  groups of image files to the Dropview\IP icon and they are automatically converted to the format chosen in this box. For descriptions of the various formats, see Image File Formats. For details on the Fast Convert option, see System Menu Commands.

CONVERT MODE OPTIONS - there are three additional options that are available when  the Fast Convert option is enabled. They are:

Prompt Before Coversion - when this box is checked, the user will always be prompted before any image conversions. In other words, when the Fast Convert option is checked and the user drags a group of image files to the Dropview\IP icon for conversion, a dialog will appear before each image is converted, giving you the option to cancel the conversion operation. The default is to prompt the user before all conversions.

Delete Original Image - if this box is checked, when image files are dragged to the Dropview\IP icon for conversion, the program will delete the original file after the new file is written. For example, you are running Dropview\IP with the Fast Convert option checked. In the Convert To section of this dialog box, BMP is checked and this box(Delete  Original Image) is also checked. If you drag the file EXAMPLE.GIF from the Windows File Manager to the Dropview\IP Icon, a new file named EXAMPLE.BMP will be written and the source  file, EXAMPLE.GIF will be DELETED. Remember that if you enable this option, YOUR ORIGINAL FILE  WILL BE DELETED AFTER EVERY CONVERSION, SO BE CAREFUL!! The default is not to delete the original.

Output Directory - if you have a directory you would like your converted images to be written to, you may specify it here by typing in the full pathname of the directory. If you want to use Dropview\IP Convert Mode to convert a group of .BMP images to .TIF and save the .TIF files in the directory c:\images\tif, simply clear this box and type in the directory name. The default is to write the converted(output) files to the same directory as their original(source) files. When an asterisk  appears in this box, it means that this is the case. If you happen to delete or rename the output directory while Dropview\IP is running and then attempt a conversion operation to this non-existent directory, the program notifies you of this and writes your  converted files to the same directory as their source files. If this happens, change the output directory right away-the next time you load Dropview\IP, it will pop up a dialog box telling you that your output directory doesn't exist. This will happen every time you load the program or attempt to convert files until the output directory is changed.

Note: A directory on a network drive may be used as an Output Directory. If you log off the network while Dropview\IP is running and attempt a conversion operation to a directory that is no longer available, the  program notifies you of this and writes the output file to the same directory as it's source.


Image File Formats

Dropview\IP can read and write files in the following formats:

BMP - Windows 3X, compressed(RLE), OS/2, all palette types

PCX - all palette types

GIF - interlaced, non-interlaced, 16 and 256 colors

TIF - compressed, uncompressed, all palette types, Group III and Group IV fax

TGA - all palette and compression types

EPS - Screen preview only, all palette and compression types

JPG - all palette and compression types

WMF - all palette types

WPG - bitmapped data only, 2, 16 and 256 colors

PCT - Mac Paint, all palette types

DCX - all palette and compression types

There are a few restrictions to keep in mind when converting images between the various file types:

- GIF files can only contain 16 or 256 color palettes

- Compressed bitmaps can only have a palette of 2, 16 or 256 colors. The RLE(Run Length Encoding) algorithm used to compress these files works well on 2 and 16 color images. If however, you save  a 256 color image with a variety of colors in this format, the resulting file will often be larger (and will load more slowly) than the same image in the standard .BMP format.

- WPG files can contain 2, 16 or 256 color palettes. Many WordPerfect Graphics files contain  formatted text along with bitmapped data. If no bitmap is present, the file cannot be loaded by Dropview

- EPS files are similar to WPG in that they may contain bitmapped data along with formatted text. Dropview only loads the bitmapped portion of the  file, and will not load the file if no bitmap is present.

- While JPG files achieve very high rates of compression, some image quality is inevitably lost. Highly compresed or large JPEG files also load very slowly.

- TIF Group III and Group IV Fax files are monochrome(2 color) images only.  While Group IV images can have any dimensions, Group III images are always padded to a width of 1728 pixels.

- The DCX format is a PCX variation which allows multiple images to be combined as 'Pages' of a single image. This format is used by MS Mail and other workgroup applications for fax and e-mail transfer of multiple images. Dropview\IP can load and edit multi-page DCX files but will not 'collate' images into multi-page DCX's.  In other words, the program will only  write a single page DCX. If you save a multi-page DCX image, the current page will be written out as a seperate file, so be sure to save multi-page DCX images with a different filename, directory or file format, or your original multi-page image could be overwritten. Unless you need to save single page images in this format for use with a DCX-aware application, using the DCX format is not recommended-the resultng file will be  larger than the same file in PCX format.  Note: While the DCX specification and Dropview\IP both support DCX images with palettes of 2, 16, 256 or 16.7 million colors, many fax and E-Mail viewers can only handle 2 color(monochrome) images. MS Mail, for example, will fax or E-mail color DCX images, but it's FaxViewer app loads color DCX images with a monochrome palette, effectively losing the image(If you load a DCX file in your fax viewer and see rectangular  black boxes in it, chances are that the file contains color images which your viewer is unable to render). Dropview\IP can be used to read and write single-page  DCX images of any palette type.

NOTE:If you try to save a file in an unsuitable format(for example, attempting to save a 2 color image to the .GIF format), the program will pop up a dialog box informing you of this and cancel the operation.


Dropview\IP, Palettes and Hardware

It can be very helpful for the user to understand some of the oddities of  editing and saving files in the various video modes available under Windows. Dropview\IP will run in any video mode supported by Windows, but realistically, if your monitor and video card support less than 256 colors(SVGA), you cannot do much with color images in Dropview\IP or any other Windows program.

How Dropview\IP uses Palettes  When you run Dropview\IP in Edit Mode, you have a PALETTE consisting of all of the colors in the image available to use for drawing and editing the image.  The palette you see for a paricular image depends on the colors in the image itself  as well as the video mode Windows is running in at the time. Images can have from 2 to over 16 million colors and Windows can run in a range of video modes from 4 to 24  bit, depending on your hardware. Often, you will load an image that has more or less colors than your current video mode will support, and Dropview\IP must "mediate" between the image and your display. If, for example, you are running Windows in a 16 color VGA mode and you load a 256 color image, the Dropview\IP palette will be a VGA palette of 16 foreground  and 32 background colors instead of the 256 colors in the image. If you edit and save this image, it will be saved as a 16 color VGA image. In other words, the palette of colors you  can use to edit an image with Dropview\IP is limited by your current video mode, regardless of the number of colors present in the image. If you edit and save an image that has more colors than your video mode will support, the resulting image will be 'dithered  down' to the number of colors supported by the current video mode.

24 Bit Images on 256 color Hardware

The most common hardware-related limitation Windows users run into with color  images is trying to work with 24 bit images on 256 color hardware. Loading and saving of images and screen repaints can be agonizingly slow, and many programs use a crude dither to speed up the process.  Dropview uses a Median-cut algorithm for fast display of 24 bit images with little loss of color. There are, however,  a few things to keep in mind when editing 24 bit images in a 256 color video mode:

-If you save a 24 bit image(in another file format for example) without  altering it, it will retain it's 24 bit palette. If any image processing  functions are performed on a 24 bit image, it will be quantitized down to  256 colors. If you want to retain your original 24 bit image, BE SURE TO SAVE THE ALTERED IMAGE UNDER A DIFFERENT NAME THAN THE ORIGINAL!

-If a 24 bit image is copied to the clipboard and pasted into Dropview, it will come back as a 256 color image.

-If a 256 color clipboard bitmap is overlaid onto a 24 bit image, the resulting merged image will contain a 256 color palette. Again, save it under a different name to preserve the original  24 bit image.

Of course, in true color(32K, 64K or 24 bit) video modes, none of the above applies.