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DVANCED IMAGE PROCESSING

The white and black-point values are set to 255 and 0 for each RGB level. Changing these values
allow the calibration of an image with no true white or black. This is an advanced image-processing
tool.

Setting the white and black-point values

Double-click on either the white-point or black-point button
to activate the point-value-setting dialog box.

Input the new white-point or black-point values. Click
[OK].
• With the point-value-setting dialog box open, the

mouse pointer can be used to measure the color of
any point on the displayed image. Press the shift key
(Windows) or command key (Macintosh) to display
the CMY levels in the RGB display. The RGB display
shows the original values for the image on the left
and the current values for the image on the right.

Calibrate the image following the steps in white, black,
and gray point corrections section.

Summary of Contents for DIMAGE VIEWER 2.1

Page 1: ...INSTRUCTION MANUAL E 9222 7300 11 MM A302 ...

Page 2: ...2 ...

Page 3: ... personal computers or the basic operation of Windows or Macintosh operating systems refer to the manuals supplied with the computer The examples in this manual use Windows software The appearance of the screens may differ from the examples when using Macintosh or other Windows operating systems Every precaution has been taken to ensure the accuracy of this material Contact Minolta if you have any...

Page 4: ...other folder 21 Copying images to another folder 22 Cut copy paste and delete Windows 23 Cut copy paste and delete Macintosh 23 Displaying and saving image information 24 Image information setup 25 Basic image processing 26 Image correction window 26 Tool bars 27 Displaying images in the image correction window 28 Flip and rotate images 29 Controlling the image display 30 Fit to window button 30 R...

Page 5: ...saturation and lightness palette 56 Auto setting button 56 Hue corrections 57 Sharpness 58 Saving a portion of an image area marquee 60 Tracking image corrections snapshot button 61 Saving image corrections 62 Loading image correction Jobs 63 Processing RAW images 64 Saving RAW images 66 Saving RAW Jobs 67 Loading RAW Jobs 67 Batch processing 68 Movie Enhancer 70 Flicker correction 71 Editing movi...

Page 6: ...olution of 800 X 600 1024 X 768 or higher is recommended A True Color 24 bit or greater monitor with a minimum resolution of 800 X 600 1024 X 768 XGA or higher is recommended Refer to the DiMAGE Viewer CD ROM for Windows and Macintosh operating system requirements The requirements are printed on the CD ROM disk Any future changes to the compatibility or operating system requirements will be listed...

Page 7: ...entium based computer Windows 95 98 98SE NT Me 2000 Professional or XP 32MB or more of RAM Sound Blaster or compatible sound card DirectX 3 0 or later recommended To install QuickTime follow the instructions in the installer When the screen offering a choice of the type of installation appears select the recom mended option the minimum or custom options may prevent the DiMAGE Viewer from operating...

Page 8: ...e installed with the Administrator privilege Insert the DiMAGE Software CD ROM into the CD ROM drive The DiMAGE Viewer Installer window will open automatically Turn on the computer to start Windows The welcome window will open Click Next to con tinue The license agreement appears If you accept the agree ment click Yes to continue the installation routine Read the entire license agreement carefully...

Page 9: ...he name of the default program folder is displayed To install the software icons in this folder click Next Installation will begin To install the software icons in another folder select one of the folders listed in the existing folders box below Click Next to begin installation When the software installation has been completed a message will be displayed Click Finish The DiMAGE Viewer installer wi...

Page 10: ...t the operating system When the desktop appears insert the DiMAGE Software CD ROM into the CD ROM drive The contents of the CD ROM appear automatically If the contents do not appear double click the CD ROM icon to open it Installing the DiMAGE Viewer Macintosh Open the utility folder and then open the appropriate operating system and language folder Double click on the installer icon to start the ...

Page 11: ...rm the installation location on the installer screen Click Next to install the DiMAGE Viewer A window will appear when the software has been installed Click Finish to exit the installer Using the folder selection dialog box select the loca tion where the software should be installed Click Choose ...

Page 12: ...G UP THE VIEWER Starting up the Viewer Windows Select the DiMAGE Viewer from the DiMAGE Viewer folder in the program option of the start menu The utility will start up and the thumbnail window will be dis played ...

Page 13: ...13 Starting up the Viewer Macintosh Open the DiMAGE Viewer folder Double click the DiMAGE Viewer icon to start up the application The main window of the utility will be displayed ...

Page 14: ...nstruction manual Click on the positive nodes to display the contents of a folder Click on a negative node to hide the folder contents Click on the image folder to load the images All still image audio and movie files in the folder will be loaded Loading image files Updating the thumbnail window If any changes are made to the folder tree of thumbnail dis play for example the camera is disconnected...

Page 15: ...he recordings Voice memo Audio caption Audio recording To set up the Viewer to play back audio files select the prefer ences option from the file menu to open the dialog box Click on the view button next to the WAV file playback applica tion text box to display the open dialog box Locate the application to play back audio files QuickTime or the Windows Media Player can be used for playback Click t...

Page 16: ...ormat The contents of a folder can be displayed as thumbnail images icons or in a list with file data To change the display format simply press the appropriate button located on the tool bar Thumbnail display button Icon display button List display button ...

Page 17: ...ilable large medium small and medium with data To change the format highlight the Thumbnail Preferences option on the view menu to display the format options Highlight and click the desired thumbnail format the thumb nail display will change accordingly Large Medium Small Medium with data ...

Page 18: ...the mouse The sort menu can also be used to change the display between ascending and descending order The reverse order button on the tool bar will also change the display order Reverse order button Renaming single files Single files can be renamed in the thumbnail icon or list displays p 16 When rewriting file names always include the original file extension Click on the thumbnail icon or file na...

Page 19: ... the thumbnail or icon a second time while holding the control key Windows or command key Macintosh To select consecutive images press and hold the shift key and then click on the first and last image of the series Press the control key Windows or command key Macintosh and A key at the same time to select all images From the tool menu select the rename all option The rename all win dow will open I...

Page 20: ...ocation for the new folder In this example the new folder will be placed in Camera Images Click on the new folder button on the tool bar or select new folder from the file menu The new folder will be created in the specified location The folder name can be changed with the keyboard Creating folders ...

Page 21: ...he series Press the control key Windows or command key Macintosh and A key at the same time to select all images Click on the move to folder button on the tool bar or select the move to folder option from the edit menu The move to folder window will open In the move to folder window click on the destination folder Click the select button to move the specified images to the des ignated folder If an...

Page 22: ...last image of the series Press the control key Windows or command key Macintosh and A key at the same time to select all images Click on the copy to folder button on the tool bar or select the copy to folder option from the edit menu The copy to folder window will open In the copy to folder window click on the destination folder Click the select button to copy the specified images to the designate...

Page 23: ...are located in the edit menu They can be used for editing file and folder names but they cannot be used to cut copy or paste files and folders The delete button on the tool bar or pressing the command and delete button on the keyboard will erase files and folders When a delete command is given a confirmation screen will appear Clicking the yes button will execute the command and delete the data cl...

Page 24: ...he thumbnail window click the image information button If more than one thumbnail image is selected one window for each image will open To close the window click the close button in the top right cor ner The information displayed in the window may vary between camera models Recording data is contained in an exif tag attached to the image file If an image is opened in a image processing applica tio...

Page 25: ...on from the file menu to open the setup window Click on the item to be added to or removed from the image information display and click the appropriate move button to move to the show list to move to the hide list The show all and hide all buttons adds or removes all Exif information in the image information display Click OK to save the setup ...

Page 26: ...ing tools For descriptions of the advanced tools see pages 44 though 69 Image display area Image correction window Tool bars Status bar Color histogram display Image information display p 24 The view menu can turn the tool bars snapshot display area status bar image information display and color histograms on and off Simple choose the menu option to show or hide the display Image display area only...

Page 27: ... ton p 30 Reset all button p 39 Redo button p 39 Undo button p 39 Variation button p 32 Tool bars Magnifying button p 31 Grab button p 31 Index display button p 28 Flip vertical button p 29 Flip horizontal button p 29 Rotate left button p 29 Rotate right button p 29 Comparison display button p 37 ...

Page 28: ...rection window will display the image number and the total number of images loaded Clicking on the arrows on each side of the display will load the previous or next image Image number of the image currently displayed Total number of images loaded in the utility Displaying images in the image correction window To display the previous image To display the next image To return to the index display cl...

Page 29: ... thumbnail 90 clockwise and the rotate left button rotates the thumbnail 90 counterclock wise each time the buttons are clicked The orientation of the displayed image can be changed with the flip and rotate buttons on the tool bar or with the tool menu Any changes to image orientation will be applied to the thumbnail image in the index display ...

Page 30: ... display area Clicking the button again displays the image at its original size The grab and zoom tool cannot be used with the fit to window function Controlling the image display Fit to window button Resizing the viewer window The utility window can be resized by clicking and dragging the bottom right corner If the fit to window function is active the displayed image will automatically adjust to ...

Page 31: ...magnifying icon will disappear When an image is larger than the display area the grab tool can be used to scroll the image Click the grab button on the tool bar or select Grab Tool from the cursor option on the view menu Click and drag on the image to scroll 31 Grab tool Magnifying tool Enlarge Reduce Menu options The zoom option on the view menu con trols the size of the display image As well as ...

Page 32: ...image processing or photofinishing Click the variation button or select Variation from the image correction option on the correction menu to display the palette Click the arrow next to the variation list box to select the image quality to be corrected color balance brightness and contrast or saturation Each variation palette shows the current image in the center with corrected sample images displa...

Page 33: ...mit or 255 white limit with the complementary color For example if the blue area of the image exceeds those values the limit is displayed with the complementary color yellow Click the best image among the six frames The selected image becomes the new center surrounded by six new images corrected by the designated step This procedure can be repeated until the desired correction is obtained Click th...

Page 34: ...enter showing eight new images corrected by the designated step This procedure can be repeated until the desired correction is obtained Click the reset button to cancel any changes Brightness contrast variation Eight images with a slight correction to brightness and contrast are displayed around a thumbnail of the original image Brightness controls how light or dark the image is Contrast controls ...

Page 35: ...he two frames The selected image becomes the new center showing two new images corrected by the designated step This procedure can be repeated until the desired correction is obtained Click the reset button to cancel any changes Saturation variation Two images with a slight saturation correction are displayed on each side of a thumbnail of the origi nal image Saturation affects the vividness of th...

Page 36: ...r enter specific values in the corresponding text box to make corrections Dragging each slider to the right or inputting a positive number in the text box increases the brightness contrast and color Changes will be reflected in the displayed image and in the graph at the top of the palette Click the reset button to cancel changes Click the brightness contrast color bal ance button or select Bright...

Page 37: ...e left and the corrected image is on the right To display the corrected image only click the comparison display button again Original image Corrected image Changes made with the magnifying tool grab tool or scroll bars on one image will be applied to the other Using the fit to window button automatically resizes both images to fit the display area ...

Page 38: ...ll have no affect on the color balance However it can change the overall image brightness and contrast Usually no more than two color channels are needed to color balance an image Color balancing is a skill that develops with practice While the human eye is extremely sensitive in making comparative judgements it is a poor tool when making absolute measurements of color Initially it can be very dif...

Page 39: ...e plug in menu To reset the correction select the text image processing option again from the plug in menu 39 Click the undo button to cancel the last image correction applied to the image Image cor rections can continue to be undone as far as the computer memory capacity allows Click the redo button to reapply the last image correction canceled with the undo button Click the reset all button to c...

Page 40: ...n the text boxes Only one value needs to be entered the other value will adjust automatically to keep the image proportions unchanged The dimensions cannot exceed 5120 X 3840 pixels Resizing an image to be saved Click the OK button to set the new dimensions The image is resized when it is saved or printed Select bilinear or bicubic interpolation ...

Page 41: ...compression rate the smaller the file size and the lower the image quality Click the save button 5 to save the image 1 2 3 4 5 Changing the image name or format To save an image file under a new name or in a new file format select the save as option from the file menu The save as dialog box will open Click the save button on the tool bar or select the save option on the file menu The image will be...

Page 42: ...42 PRINTING Printing images With the image to be printed displayed in the correction window click the print button or select the print option from the file menu to open the print setup window ...

Page 43: ...e made to bleed to the edge of the printing area by setting the dimensions larger than the area Click the size to page radio button to automatically size the image to the printing area The print size can be adjusted between 1 and 100 of the printing area in integers Click the apply button each time the percentage of reproduction is change to see the result in the preview area Preview area To previ...

Page 44: ...Adjustments to color contrast brightness hue and saturation can be made Functions to view and save image cor rections are also available The basic image processing section on pages 16 through 25 should be read before continuing The RGB display will show the color values for any point on the image Simply place the mouse pointer on the image area to see the RGB values of that point Pressing the shif...

Page 45: ...ng button Output shadow and high light text boxes Output shadow and high light sliders Input shadow gamma and highlight sliders Input shadow gamma and highlight text boxes Histogram Apply button White gray and black point buttons Tone curve Smooth curve button Freehand curve button Channel list box Color histogram button ...

Page 46: ... display the RGB channel Place the mouse pointer over the tone curve Click and drag the curve Each time the tone curve is clicked a new node will be attached to the curve The nodes can be moved by clicking and dragging The input and output levels of the node are displayed as it is moved The input level horizontal axis refers to the original image and the output level vertical axis refers to the co...

Page 47: ...e smooth curve button 2 Nodes will be automatically placed on the curve and can be adjusted with the mouse With extreme freehand curves the smooth curve button may significantly change the shape of the curve Press the undo button to return to the original freehand curve Click and drag the pointer to draw a new curve Extreme image manipulations are possible with the freehand curve tool 1 2 ...

Page 48: ...e image darker The tone curve is a graphic representation of the brightness and color levels of the image The bottom axis is the 256 levels of the original image input data from black to white The vertical axis is the corrected image output data with the same scale from top to bottom The bottom left portion of the graph represents the dark colors and shadow areas of the image The middle section re...

Page 49: ...the tone curve and increase the contrast of the image with out making an overall change in image brightness By selecting individual color channels on the tone curve adjustments to the overall color of an image can be made This can be used to eliminate unnatural color casts or add warmth to a picture If the image is too red green or blue simply drag the corresponding color channel curve down until ...

Page 50: ...yed image Click the white point button The mouse pointer changes to the white dropper tool Click the black point button Click on the darkest neutral area of the image to define it as the black point The values of the image will be adjusted based on the selected point The default level for the black point is 0 for each RGB channel White black and gray point corrections Click on the brightest neutra...

Page 51: ...as the gray point The area used to calibrate the gray point must be neutral The brightness level of the area is not important but if the area has a definite color the image will not be color balanced correctly Click and hold the apply button to show the change on the his togram Click the reset button to cancel all corrections ...

Page 52: ...tivate the point value setting dialog box Input the new white point or black point values Click OK With the point value setting dialog box open the mouse pointer can be used to measure the color of any point on the displayed image Press the shift key Windows or command key Macintosh to display the CMY levels in the RGB display The RGB display shows the original values for the image on the left and...

Page 53: ... image are set to a black level of 0 the brightest pixels are set to a white level of 255 and the rest of the pixels are distributed between them equally To view the change in the histogram press the apply button Click the reset button to cancel the auto setting Displaying the color histograms Click the color histogram button to view the red green and blue histograms Click the histogram RGB displa...

Page 54: ...GB channel Histogram corrections The histogram indicates the distribution of pixels with specific brightness and color values of the dis played image Using the histogram can maximise the output of the image data Changes made with the histogram are also displayed on the tone curve Input shadow slider Input gamma slider Input highlight slider Input shadow text box Input gamma text box Input highligh...

Page 55: ...left an apparent increase in contrast can be seen in the displayed image All pixels to the right of the slider are set to 255 and any image detail they may contain will be lost This can be an important tool for improving copy images of text on a white background Uneven illumination or faded or stained paper can be distract ing when copying text or line art By adjusting the white level the imperfec...

Page 56: ... color example on the following page Unlike the brightness control in the brightness contrast color balance palette the lightness control does not change the apparent density of the colors equally For example with an extreme increase in lightness blue will not appear as light as yellow Click the hue saturation and lightness button to open the palette Drag the hue saturation or lightness slider or ...

Page 57: ...is example the original image was rotated 180 through the color space Two color spaces are displayed at the bot tom of the palette The top bar indicates the color space of the original image The bot tom bar displays the relative shift to the color space In the example the reds have been shifted to cyan and the yellows to lavender Original color space New color space ...

Page 58: ...ness from the image correction option in the correction menu to open the palette Sharpness Reduce and enlarge buttons The preview image can be scrolled using the mouse Place the mouse pointer over the image area it will change to the grab tool Click and drag the image to scroll Click the display area preview check box to view the effects of the sharpness controls on the image displayed in the main...

Page 59: ...n be set between 0 and 2 in 0 1 increments The higher the value the greater the contrast compare the examples above which are at the maximum setting with the original image on the facing page The degree of sharpness can also be entered in the text box next to the slider Like frequency the optimal contrast setting will vary from image to image Reduce and enlarge button to adjust the size of the pre...

Page 60: ...of the image to be selected The area marquee tool will create a rectangle with a dashed boarder The marquee can be moved by placing the cursor within the area and clicking and dragging The marquee can be resized by clicking and dragging on the borders Area marquee Select the save selected area option from the file menu The save as dialog box will open Enter the file name for the selected area choo...

Page 61: ...ot option from the cor rection menu to create a thumbnail with the current image corrections To return to a previous image correction click on the corresponding thumb nail The thumbnail image will replace the displayed image The number of snapshots that can be made is only limited by the computer memory To delete a snapshot click on the thumbnail and press the keyboard delete key Snapshot display ...

Page 62: ... different images This is a time saving function when a large number of images need too be processed with the same correction settings Click the save image correction Job but ton or select the save image correction Job option from the correction menu to save the current image correction set tings Enter the Job name Click OK to save the set tings Saving image corrections ...

Page 63: ... loaded into the snapshot display area Multiple Jobs can be loaded Loading image correction Jobs Display the image to be corrected in the image correction window Click the load image correction Job but ton or select the load image correction Job option from the correction menu to load a saved image correction setting ...

Page 64: ...p down menu automatically applies the camera setting used when the image was cap tured or balances it to a specific light source daylight cloudy tungsten standard fluorescent 1 and daylight fluorescent 2 Click on the manual setting check box for fine control over white balance The grey point dropper tool can be used to balance the image in reference to a neutral point within the image area The col...

Page 65: ... entered as a neg ative integer and a magenta value as a positive integer When making the reading both the the color temperature and the CC value must be recorded See page 82 for information on color measure ment If the camera s filter saturation contrast or sharpness controls were used when the picture was taken the settings will be displayed in the dialog box Changes to these settings are reflec...

Page 66: ...hout an extension 2 Specify the file type of the image 3 If saved as a TIFF file the bit length must be selected 4 24 bit or 48 bit Once saved as 24 bit the image cannot be saved as a 48 bit file If saved as a JPEG file the compression rate should also be set 5 The higher the compression rate the smaller the file size and the lower the image quality Click the save button to complete the operation ...

Page 67: ...file dialog box click the save RAW Job button Enter the name of the Job in the save RAW Job window and click save Loading RAW Jobs To apply a RAW Job to another image click on the load RAW Job button in the open Minolta RAW file dialog box Select the Job in the load RAW Job window and click the load button to apply the settings to the image ...

Page 68: ...ction Job click the image correction check box The select button opens the load image correction Job window p 63 Select the Job to be applied to the images in the batch and click OK If a RAW Job and image correction Job are selected for batch processing RAW images will have both Jobs applied to them 68 ADVANCED IMAGE PROCESSING Batch processing Multiple images can be processed and saved at one tim...

Page 69: ...n 10 and 200 If the result of the resizing exceeds the maximum pixel size of 5120 X 3840 an alert message will be displayed Reenter a new magnification When resizing images select either bilinear or bicubic interpolation Click the OK button to begin processing The save in dialog box will open 69 Select the location to save the images on the folder tree 1 Click the change file name check box 5 to r...

Page 70: ...n simply double click on the thumbnail in the DiMAGE Viewer thumbnail display To play the movie clip back use the controls at the bottom of the screen Only MOV or AVI format images can be opened Volume Play Pause Jog slider Forward Reverse Resize When the resize button is clicked and dragged there is a maximum limit to how large the screen area can be The jog slider is used in editing p 72 ...

Page 71: ...flicker in the area illuminated by the fluorescent lights 71 Flicker correction The save dialog box will open enter a new file name and specify the location to save the file The file can only be saved in the MOV format Choose the type of flicker to be corrected on the drop down menu in the flicker correction window Click the OK button to process the movie file With the movie displayed in the main ...

Page 72: ...select it the slider bar should be dark 1 If not choose the select all option from the edit menu to darken the bar and indicate the selection Select the paste frame option from the edit menu to complete the operation Click on the second clip Position the jog slider all the way to the left to attach the first clip to the beginning of the second or all the way to the right to attach it to the end 2 ...

Page 73: ...he copy frame option from the edit menu While pressing the shift key drag the jog slider to mark the frames in the section 1 the slider bar darkens to indicate the selected section To deselect the section click on a gray area on the slider bar In the first movie file use the jog slider to locate the beginning of the section to be pasted Copying sections from one movie to another ...

Page 74: ...es Both palettes control the same image qualities but the advanced setup palette allows finer adjustments The correction preview display shows the original image and the corrected image To initially display the corrected image press the preview button Use the preview button to update the image display every time a setting is changed The frame selection slider can display any frame in the movie cli...

Page 75: ... and brightness Selected with the drop down menu for each of the five image qualities low standard and high are preset levels manual setup activates the slider for manual adjustments and no correction turns off the correction function 75 To save the current settings Only one set of setting can be saved Each time the function is used the previous setting are replaced with the new ones To apply the ...

Page 76: ...nail is double clicked in the DiMAGE Viewer it will be opened in the specified application 76 ADVANCED SETUP Customizing the Viewer Preferences The radio button indicates the application used to open still images and movie clips To link a new application click the other radio button and then the view button the open dialog box will be displayed Select the new application and click the open button ...

Page 77: ...The file path will be displayed in the preference window Click the link button Click OK to complete the operation The application icon will be displayed in an area below the folder tree To open a file in the application drag and drop the file onto the icon or highlight the file and select the application from the open with option on the file menu To remove the application from the display click on...

Page 78: ...terprets the color as sRGB for reproduction pur poses but does not convert the original camera color space Original Color Space Adobe RGB Adobe RGB color mode images captured with a Minolta digi tal camera such as the DiMAGE 7Hi must be opened with this color space unless the color profile has been embedded see the embedded camera profiles section on page 82 As with Original Color Space sRGB the c...

Page 79: ...the range is so great that it includes many colors that cannot be reproduced with a four color printing process Wide gamut RGB utilizing the color coordinates of the spectrum this standard offers an extreme range of colors Many of the colors that can be generated cannot be reproduced on standard com puter monitors or by printing technology NTSC the current television broadcasting standard used in ...

Page 80: ... Profiles Displays Select the color preferences option from the file menu to open the dialog box In the dialog box click the color matching on check box Specific monitor and printer ICC profiles can be used with the DiMAGE Viewer Click on either the printer or monitor ICC profile load button to display the open win dow Each profile must be loaded individually Locate the ICC profile for the specifi...

Page 81: ...es 7300 Profiles or for Mac OS X Library Preferences 7300 Profiles When loaded correctly the ICC pro files will be displayed in the color pref erence window The profiles can be temporarily disabled by clicking on the monitor or printer ICC profile check boxes Monitor profiles Std_Monitor icc sRGB_Monitor icc Printer profiles sRGB_Printer icc Std_ColorLBP icc Std_DyeSublimation icc Std_InkJet icc S...

Page 82: ...ment can be very effective in balancing the color of the image However because the spectral response of the camera s CCD and the color meter are not the same if images are captured under lighting with a discontinuous line spectrum like fluorescent or mercury vapor the values recorded with the color meter may not result in an accurate reproduction Embedded camera color profiles Certain Minolta digi...

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Page 84: ...Printed in Germany 9222 7300 11 MM A302 2003 Minolta Co Ltd under the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention ...

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