Image management

[ajohnw]

I use several packages for PP and these days more and more want to index and generate thumbnails of shots. I came across this the other day. Win,Mac and Linux. I had exiftools installed so it may include or make use of that.

http://www.xnview.com/en/xnviewmp/

Haven't really made much use of it other than browsing photo's but it should be capable of launching any editor directly. The Linux version if free for none commercial use, no add ware etc. I assume the others are the same. It includes some editing tools as well and seems to do it's job rather quickly.

The is the interface



John
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[Mito]

I've just downloaded the program. It looks useful. When I have more time I'll play around with it.

[ajohnw]

I've just set it up to open images in the apps I use without much trouble. I just navigated to the apps and assumed the parameter part wouldn't need filling in. It didn't. I then navigated to a raw directory that it hadn't been in before. It thumbnailed 357 images in under 10sec. Well under, I'd guess about 5sec. 16mp Olympus ORF's.

It also has an open to system default which for jpg's is handy for a quick large preview.

It's editor will also open raw files but straight to 8 bits with no controls I've found yet. There may be some options some where.

John
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[wobert]

My Prime programs are Lightroom v5.3 and PS CS5, however XnView is a great freeware program for those special times you just want a quick look at images (mainly JPGs in my case). It is great for renaming a complete folder of images- Select all and press F2- use the -### template for a number series. It's great for quickly creating slideshows in ".exe" file structure- ".exe" files will run on any Windows computer and can be made to change images automatically, or manually. I create lecture slideshows in ".exe" format- so easy to run the file and change slides (forward & backward) with cursor keys, or even a Logitec remote Presenter.
You should also look at the companion program "XnConvert" which can do many actions on a folder of images, like add borders, resize, etc.

[ajohnw]

I have found 2 problems with it. Some image have lost orientation some how and gone landscape rather than portrait. I don't think the original image has changed. The other one is strange and I suspect down to how it generates thumbnails. I used it to open an image in an editor, did some work and cropped it and then saved it with a version number tag on the file name - It showed the thumbnail of the original image and rebuilding them etc didn't help.

Maybe I shouldn't work like that and save to a different directory but I often save several versions of a file at different stages.

Apart from these 2 points it's very convenient especially for some one who uses several packages that all want to thumbnail and index everything. The authors always assume no one will be using anything other than their package.

John
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