Picture Window Pro Help

The Display

The Picture Window application display has several main components – the main menu, the tool bars, the image browser and the main image area.

Main Image Area

This is where a large version of the current image is displayed.

Image Caption

A caption is displayed above the image to indicate what image is currently active. Each image has a unique number so you can tell it apart from other images with same caption. If the image was opened from a file, the pathname is displayed; otherwise the name of the transformation or tool that generated the image. Finally, the current zoom factor and the image dimensions in pixels are displayed in parentheses.

Zoom Tool Bar

  A small tool bar is displayed in the upper left corner of the main image area to let you zoom the image in, zoom it out, zoom it to fit the available space, or zoom it to 1:1. Scroll bars are displayed to the right and under the image area if the image is zoomed larger than will fit on-screen.

Split Screen and Synchronized Scrolling

In some cases, the main image area may be split into two halves with different images displayed on either side. When this happens, each half of the split screen has its own zoom tool bar. If the images in both halves are the same size, synchronized scrolling can be turned on. This feature zooms and scrolls both images simultaneously so the same part of each image is visible in each half. When synchronized scrolling is enabled, the left tool bar is grayed out and both sides zoom and scroll when you use the right tool bar.

Modes

Picture Window treats the image displayed in the main image area differently depending on the current mode. This can be a little confusing if you are not aware of how it works, but actually the underlying mechanism is pretty simple. If no transformation is in progress, you can select one of five base modes via the main tool bar. One of these modes is always in effect.

A mode can be thought of as a rule for what happens when you interact with the main image area. The four basic modes selectable from the main tool bar are:

 Zoom and Scroll -- Clicking and dragging scrolls the image while the mouse scroll wheel zooms the image in or out. This is the default base mode that you will normally use most of the time.

 Magnifier -- Clicking and dragging displays a magnifier window to let you view part of the image at a higher zoom factor.

 Readout -- Clicking and Dragging displays a readout window that displays pixel values at the cursor location.

 Histogram -- Clicking on the image displays its histogram or waveform in a format you select.

 Palette -- Clicking on the image sets the current custom palette color.

Mode Selection

If a tool or transformation is active, it may activate a new mode if it displays an overlay over the input image. For example, the Crop transformation displays a crop box that indicates what part of the image will be cropped out. Clicking and dragging the corners or sides of the crop box adjusts its location, overriding whatever mode is set on the main tool bar.

Transformations may bring up additional windows such as a mask dialog or a color picker and these windows may have their own modes that override the transformation’s primary mode. If a mask dialog is active, clicking and dragging on the image manipulates the mask. For a color picker, clicking on an image selects the color at the location you click. For a curve control, clicking on an image displays a red line on the curve corresponding to the color of the image where you click.

Since only one mode can be active at a time, the mode is set by clicking anywhere on the caption or background of a window or control. This makes it the active window and turns on its mode, if any. So, for example, if your transformation overlay suddenly disappears, just click on the transformation dialog box to bring it back.

To temporarily switch back to zoom and scroll mode, hold down the Alt key on the keyboard while dragging the cursor, or you can use the Alt-arrow keys to scroll.

Image Browser

This is where small versions of all the currently open images are displayed. The caption bar of the current image is highlighted. Image Browser captions include the image number followed by either the filename or the name of the transformation or tool that produced the image. Clicking on any of these thumbnail images makes that image current and displays a larger version in the main image area. You can drag the separator bar between the main image area and the image browser left or right to alter the relative sizes of the two parts of the screen. To drag the separator, you drag the white diamond at the center of the separator bar. Or, you can put the Image Browser in a window of its own and drag it to another monitor.

Main Menu

The main menu is displayed just below the caption bar. This is where you go to select commands.

File

This sub-menu provides basic file operations, printing, preferences, and exiting the program.

Edit

The edit sub-menu provides selection, clipboard support, and commands to manipulate the image tree.

Transformation

The transformation sub-menu is where all the transformations are listed. Selecting one of these applies a transformation to the current image.

Script

The script sub-menu contains commands related to loading or saving scripts.

Help

The help sub-menu contains provides access to the About Picture Window Pro dialog box and various help files.

Main Tool Bar

Picture Window’s main tool bar contains groups of buttons that serve as shortcuts for common operations:

File Open -- opens an image file and reads it into a new top-level image.

File Save As -- saves the current image as an image file.

File Print -- prints the current image

File Close All Images -- asks for confirmation and then closes all open images, leaving you with an empty workspace

Edit Copy -- copies the current image to the Windows clipboard

Edit Paste -- pastes an image from the Windows clipboard

Help -- displays this help file

  Display

Both -- displays both the image browser and the main image area with a separator bar between them.

Image Area -- displays just the main image area with no image browser

Image Browser -- displays just the image browser with no main image area

Separate -- displays the image browser in a separate window that floats above the main window and which can be dragged to another monitor

  Modes

Scroll -- dragging scrolls the main image area; the mouse wheel zooms in or out

Magnifier -- dragging moves a magnifier image over the main image area

Readout -- dragging moves a readout window over the main image area

Histogram -- displays a histogram window for the current image

Palette -- dragging moves a palette window over the main image area

  Display Clipped Pixels

This tool bar lets you see what parts of your images have clipped highlights or shadows. Depending on the colors and thresholds you set in File/Preferences, image colors that exceed the thresholds are replaced with a highlight or shadow warning color.

Highlights -- displays clipped highlights as defined in File/Preferences

Shadows  -- displays clipped shadows as defined in File/Preferences

  Set Border Color

This tool bar lets you change the border color displayed surrounding images in the main image area. Sometimes changing the border color to black or white makes it easier to judge the tonal range of an image by providing a black or white reference.

You can also cycle through the three border color options using the Ctrl-B keyboard shortcut.

Preferences -- sets the border color as defined in File/Preferences

Black -- sets the border color to black

White -- sets the border color to white

  Grid -- draws a grid over all images.

None -- removes the grid

NxN -- displays a rectangular grid with N divisions horizontally and vertically - N is set in a control just to the right of the Grid button.

Diagonal -- displays a grid consisting of the two main diagonals

Westhoff Diagonal -- displays a grid base on the Westhoff diagonal method

Golden Triangle Left -- displays a golden triangle grid with a diagonal running from the upper left to the lower right

Golden Triangle Right-- displays a golden triangle grid with a diagonal running from the lower left to the upper right

The grid is for display purposes only and does not affect the underlying image.

  Monitor Curves -- applies monitor curves as set up in File/Color Management to the display

  Proofing -- enables printer proofing profile as defined in File/Color Management