Ulead PHOTO EXPLORER VERSION 8.0, User Manual

Page 1: ...User Guide Ulead Systems Inc October 2002 ...

Page 2: ...re for identification purposes only and remain the exclusive property of their respective owners 2001 Ulead Systems This software is based in part on the work of the independent JPEG Group Portions of this program are licensed under U S Patent No 4 558 302 and foreign counterparts 2001 Seiko Epson Corporation All rights reserved PRINT Image Matching is a trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation The PR...

Page 3: ...files in thumbnail or list view 16 Speeding up thumbnail display 17 Thumbnail caching 17 Displaying embedded thumbnails in digital camera images 18 Generating thumbnails 18 Browsing for files 19 Previewing files 20 Working with folders and files 21 The Folder Pane 21 About virtual folders 22 Creating a list of favorite folders 23 Managing files 23 Archiving files 24 Working with digital cameras an...

Page 4: ...an create 41 Photo prints 41 Thumbnail prints 41 Cards 41 Special Layouts 41 Working with video 42 Capturing and trimming video 42 Capturing snapshots from video 43 Slideshow and other cool stuff 44 Creating a slideshow 44 Adding background music 46 Packaging files 47 Viewing a slideshow 47 Burning slideshow discs 48 For PC viewing 48 For TV viewing 48 Other fun projects you can create 49 Wallpape...

Page 5: ...oto Explorer Here s an overview of what you can do in Ulead Photo Explorer Refer to the chapters in this user guide for more details Welcome to Ulead Photo Explorer Adjust images Make adjustments to images such as straighten rotate crop balance color remove red eye etc Image adjustments can be applied to multiple images at one time Acquire images Acquire images from digital cameras scanners or mem...

Page 6: ...dio files in Photo Explorer without actually opening them Browse thumbnails Ulead Photo Explorer displays files as thumbnails allowing you to visually browse through images and media files View images Display images in larger views by switching to Viewer mode or by opening images in Ulead Instant Viewer ...

Page 7: ... for your image collection Create slideshows Assemble images video and audio files into a multimedia slideshow Apply cool transition effects to your slideshow Output Web thumbnails and Web slideshows Create Web photo albums and Web slideshows ready to be uploaded to the Internet Share on the Internet To share selected images on the Web upload them to iMira com Ulead s free image sharing Web site ...

Page 8: ...D catalogs by scanning and generating thumbnails for images and other digital media Photo Explorer scans a newly inserted CD and creates a catalog by generating thumbnails for the media files found on the disc CD catalogs are added as virtual folders in the Folder Tree You can browse and search media files from the CD catalog without inserting the disc into the CD ROM drive Insert the CD only when...

Page 9: ...iles Improved slideshow More transition effects Choose from new transition effects such as fade in out windmill etc and apply them to image slideshows Background music track Use the music track to add multiple background music to a slideshow Burn Photo Explorer slideshow CDs Compose Photo Explorer UES slideshows using images video and multiple audio files and output them to CDs A slideshow can be ...

Page 10: ...d card and speakers recommended DirectX 8 1 or higher for video functions only Installing and running the program Installing Photo Explorer is easy Simply follow the on screen instructions to complete the installation To start the program click the Photo Explorer icon from the Ulead Photo Explorer program group on the Windows Start menu Free photo sharing account at iMira The first time Photo Expl...

Page 11: ...isplays the files in a selected folder at the right What s special about Photo Explorer s Browser is that multimedia files can be shown as visual thumbnails for easier identification Simply click a desired file to immediately get an idea of the file s contents You can preview images and actually play sound video or even GIF animation files without actually opening them Basic image editing function...

Page 12: ...reate wallpapers and screen savers using your images Ulead Instant Viewer A standalone image viewer the Ulead Instant Viewer also comes with Photo Explorer It is a simpler independent application and its sole purpose is only for displaying images Use Ulead Instant Viewer when you want to compare two or more full size images Each image will be opened in a separate window You can also associate file...

Page 13: ...PC J2K JPEG 2000 JPG Exif properties are displayed JPEG JPE PCX PNG PPM PSD PXR RAS SCT TGA UPI WMV Digital camera images Exif information can be edited and saved back to digital camera images Viewable formats Images 001 BMP CLP CUR DCS DCX EPS FAX FPX GIF ICO IFF IMG JP2 JPC JPG Exif properties are displayed JPEG JPE MAC MSP PBM PCD PCX PGM PIC PNG PPM PSD PSP single layer PXR RAS RLE SCI SCT SHG...

Page 14: ...ormats that you want to automatically open in Photo Explorer The Preferences command in the File menu allows you to define settings specific to Photo Explorer The Preferences dialog box lists different categories which determine the behavior of Photo Explorer its overall appearance and the way thumbnails and images are presented Settings specific to your digital camera can also be configured to en...

Page 15: ... to your favorite Photo Explorer commands you can add them as buttons on the Browser and Viewer toolbars and even arrange their order Take note that the toolbar in Photo Explorer s built in Viewer is customizable As for the Ulead Instant Viewer toolbar buttons are fixed and cannot be changed To add toolbar buttons 1 Select File Customize Toolbars 2 From the Select toolbar drop down list choose a t...

Page 16: ... thumbnail If you want to view detailed information of your files change to list viewing mode Select View Thumbnail List Mode to switch between thumbnail and list viewing modes Browsing and previewing files Tips Choose which information you want to display with thumbnails by selecting File Preferences Browser Display options are listed under the Browse Pane display options group in the Preferences...

Page 17: ...umbnails for each visited folder To specify where to store cache files select one of these options Save thumbnails in a central cache folder Saves all cache files in a common folder When selected specify the Cache folder to use You can limit this folder to a fixed Cache size or select the No cache size limit option for unlimited caching Grouping all cache files in a single folder enables easy dele...

Page 18: ... as good Generating thumbnails If you have modified images or other media files outside of Photo Explorer your changes may not immediately be reflected in the cache files There may also be unused thumbnails still remaining in the cache files even after their corresponding files have already been deleted To update thumbnails in the cache files or to clean up cache files by removing thumbnails for n...

Page 19: ...th If the file folder selected is not the one that you want press the same key to go to the next file folder Move back and forward through folders Add the Back and Forward buttons to the Browser toolbar These buttons are just like the ones in Web browsers except that in Photo Explorer you use them to browse through visited folders Select File Customize Toolbars to add these buttons Create a collec...

Page 20: ...size drag the borders of the Preview Pane The types of files you can preview include Image files Zoom in to get a larger preview or zoom out to see a more complete view of the image JPEG files with Exif format Many new digital cameras can store extra information such as the date when a photo was taken and camera settings and even include audio You can view such JPEG images in the Preview Pane acce...

Page 21: ...r views search for files and view digital camera Exif information Folders tab Everytime you run Photo Explorer the Folders tab is selected and displays the Folder Tree The FolderTree shows a hierarchical view of all the drives and folders in your computer The FolderTree also displays virtual folders See page 22 for more details Favorites tab The Favorites tab displays the Favorites List For quicke...

Page 22: ...nd Results folder CD Catalog This virtual folder keeps a thumbnail index of CD contents When you insert a CD into your CD ROM drive Photo Explorer automatically detects it and prompts you to scan the CD contents Thumbnails will be generated for images and other digital media found on the CD and will be added to the CD Catalog folder You can browse and search images or media files from the catalog ...

Page 23: ...older Tree view select and drag a folder to the Favorites tab Then drop the folder to the Favorites list To access a favorite folder Click the Favorites tab in the FolderTree Select Favorites Show Favorites or right click an area on the FolderTree and select Show Favorites Or choose a favorite folder directly from the Favorites menu Note When you use Photo Explorer in Windows 98 or Windows 2000 yo...

Page 24: ...ck your mouse Right click and drag selected files to another folder A pop up menu lets you select whether to copy or move the files Edit Select Same Prefixed Files gives you a quick way of selecting files that bear a common prefix name Before applying this command first select a file in a folder The characters that appear before the first numeral in the selected file name are treated as the prefix...

Page 25: ...ray of the Taskbar everytime you enter Windows Camera Memory Card Detector is a program that auto detects digital camera connection or the presence of an inserted memory card Camera Memory Card Detector can be manually enabled or disabled from the Windows Taskbar or in Preferences Browser To always enable this program in the Taskbar make sure the Automatically detect digital camera or memory card ...

Page 26: ...en click the link next to the selected option to choose the imaging device from which to get images There are three options for choosing the imaging device Digital camera Allows you to select your digital camera model If your camera is not listed select Generic Camera drive or card reader Select this option if your digital camera or card reader is detected by Windows as a removable drive The digit...

Page 27: ...o Ulead s iMira Web site after transferring them to the computer Just select the appropriate option in the Send to the Web section of the Acquire File Setup dialog box to send your images to iMira com To get images using the TWAIN software 1 Create a new folder for saving the images 2 Select File TWAIN Acquire Select Source and choose your scanner or digital camera 3 Select File TWAIN Acquire File...

Page 28: ...have JPEG Exif images which you transferred from a digital camera the camera settings used at the time when taking photos are stored in the JPEG files Select File Photo Properties to see a summary listing of camera settings or select File Image Properties Camera Information Exif to view the complete information Whether you are a professional or novice photographer having access to these informatio...

Page 29: ...ersion factor in the Preferences dialog box Camera and Exif category You must also clear the Recognize camera whenever possible option to disable auto detection and use the value you have entered Tips In Preferences Camera and Exif click the Look Up Settings button in Preferences Camera and Exif to find the correct conversion factor to use with your camera from Ulead s Web site for instance for So...

Page 30: ...al camera or scanner you may want to change their file names or renumber their sequence The Tools Auto Rename command automatically changes the file names for you To automatically rename your files 1 Select the files to rename then select Tools Auto Rename 2 By default files can be renamed and numbered starting from one Click the Quick Rename button to use this default 3 Click New to define more c...

Page 31: ...e003 5 To set more conditions for renaming files repeat steps 3 and 4 6 Click OK in the Auto Rename dialog box to start the renaming process Changing file sequence by drag and drop If you want to change the sequence of certain files you can manually rename and renumber them An even simpler way is to drag the files to your desired locations in the same folder When you drag a file to a different loc...

Page 32: ...f Sample result previous and next file names have equal File10 File15 File20 number of counter digits Or File10 File10a File11 previous file name has lesser number of counter File2 File21 File22 digits than the next file name previous file name has greater number of counter File35 File36 File4 digits than the next file name Or File39 File39a File4 ...

Page 33: ...rowse Pane and select View Open Viewer or when you drag and drop multiple files from Windows Explorer directly into the Viewer Pane the Viewer s file list will contain the selected files You will be able to step through those files only When you select File Add to Viewer the built in Viewer allows you to open an image file With this command you can choose several files from various folders to add ...

Page 34: ...se Pane Previous Frame Moves back to the previous frame of a multi frame image Next Frame Moves forward to the next frame of a multi frame image Viewer Pane Shortcuts Description Click Moves to the next image Right click Displays the context menu Double click Returns to Browser Scrollwheel Go to next previous image Zooming in and out While viewing an image you may want to see part of it in greater...

Page 35: ... out Z Scrollwheel Zooms in or out Ctrl Shift 0 Fit to window Shift Right click Fit to screen To move around an image 1 Click the box that appears at the lower right corner of the Photo Explorer Viewer window This only appears when an image is magnified to a size that is larger than its window Alternatively press G on the keyboard A thumbnail of the entire image appears 2 While holding down the mo...

Page 36: ...d choose any file from the desired folder Select File Add to Viewer to open several image files from various folders and step through those images Notes By default Photo Explorer s built in Viewer automatically opens when you double click image files in the Browser If you want the images to open in Ulead Instant Viewer as separate windows when you double click them select File Preferences Viewer a...

Page 37: ...n also click on the available toolbar buttons to change the viewing size of an image View Menu Commands Shortcuts Description Fit to Screen Ctrl F Switches to the Fit to Screen mode Zoom In Out Zooms in out 1 1 Ctrl 1 Displays an image in its original size Viewer Pane Shortcuts Description Shift Click Zooms in Shift Click Drag Zooms in a specific area Z Click Zooms in Z Shift Click Zooms out Z Cli...

Page 38: ...itor Select Tools Convert Image Files to transform images into other file formats Rotate commands let you turn images left or right in a fixed 90 or 180 degree rotation Flip commands create mirror images by turning them upside down Flip Vertically or inside out Flip Horizontally Adjust Image helps you correct and enhance images by fixing the color removing unwanted areas and more Remove Red Eye re...

Page 39: ... Click the following tabs in the Adjust Image dialog box to make your adjustments Rotate Adjusts an image that is slanted and makes it straight Crop Cuts out unnecessary parts from an image Contrast Makes an image look lighter or darker Balance Adjusts the existing colors in an image to make it look more accurate or to change the overall tone of the image Hue Shifts colors to come up with a differ...

Page 40: ...rer can quickly correct this problem Select Photo Remove Red Eye to remove the red eye effect from an image You can either decrease the level of red or replace it with a more natural color Click the Help button in the Remove Red Eye dialog box for more information Enhancing images that contain text If you have some digital camera photographs of meeting room whiteboards and paper documents the imag...

Page 41: ...g card Tip Select Photo Add Text to Image to add your own text greetings on an image Photo prints Print images on paper or create actual photo prints with a photo printer Choose to print images in actual or custom sizes or print them in standard sizes 3 5 4 5 6 8 or 2 wallet size Thumbnail prints Print a complete catalog of all the images in a folder by printing them as thumbnails Specify how many...

Page 42: ...ch Capture Plug in and choose the appropriate capture driver for the video camera you are using 3 Select Video CaptureVideo You will see live video from the camera on your screen 4 Click the Setup button and select Option Then specify how you want video to be captured Frame rate Enter the number of scenes or frames to capture per second A high frame rate 30 fps provides more natural motion while a...

Page 43: ... live video display To trim video you can either do it before saving the captured clip or after saving it to a video file If you already saved the video file select Video Trim Video File Then drag the slider below the video window to select the points where you want the video to start and end Click the Set mark in and Set mark out buttons to mark the start and end points Capturing snapshots from v...

Page 44: ... about the camera when the images were taken Some JPEGs of this type may also contain sound annotations Video files Popular video file formats such as AVI MOV and MPEG Sound files WAV AU and MP3 files Slideshow and other cool stuff Here s how to create a slideshow 1 Select Tools Slideshow to open the Slideshow Storyboard and create a new project 2 Select and drag the thumbnails of image and video ...

Page 45: ...lected photo contains embedded sound Select this option to use its embedded sound Select sound file Allows you to select an audio file MP3 MPA and WAV to add to the image Recorded sound Allows you to record ambient sound or your voice narration and add it to the image 9 Determine the length of time to display the selected image in the slideshow by selecting one of these options Default duration Di...

Page 46: ...lso use the Ctrl key when you want to merge a music clip to another clip in the music track To rearrange the sequence of files in a music clip right click the music clip and select Arrange Music Order If an image was added with sound annotation you may want to pause the background music especially if the sound annotation does not blend well with the music Right click the music clip and select Disa...

Page 47: ...ly run the slideshow use the mouse or keyboard shortcuts You can also right click on the screen to access commands from a pop up menu To copy the slideshow files to the same location 1 Click the Package button on the storyboard toolbar 2 Enter the slideshow project file name UES You can enter the same file name or specify another name 3 Select the drive and folder where to copy the slideshow proje...

Page 48: ...e an auto executable CD make sure the Make CD start automatically when inserted into drive option is selected 3 Specify the Disc volume to record on disc 4 Select a Temporary working folder where to save files on the hard disk before burning them to CD 5 ClickNext 6 Select the CD burner and recording speed to use for burning the CD 7 Finally click Record CD to start burning the CD For TV viewing T...

Page 49: ... a monthly calendar to remind you of important and special dates To create one 1 Select an image file then click Tools Calendar 2 In the Template section choose the orientation portrait or landscape for the calendar and select a template to use 3 Select the Month and Year for the calendar To add text double click the text box in the preview window and type in your text Click the Font and Color but...

Page 50: ...ct the Ask which album the images should be uploaded to option To sign up as a member at iMira com If the Sign up for Ulead s iMira dialog box opens when you run Photo Explorer click the Sign up for new account button Select Internet Sign up for Web Service Or select Internet ConfigureWeb Connection In the Account tab enter the user name and password you want to use and select an iMira com site th...

Page 51: ...Web browser 5 Click OK to generate the HTML files and thumbnail images Creating thumbnails for the Web If you want to create your own image gallery and post it on the Internet an easy way to do it is to use the Internet Output Web Thumbnails command This command generates simple Web pages in just a few minutes complete with an index of thumbnails and pages for displaying images The basic steps for...

Page 52: ...orer to follow the links and go deeper into the Web site when searching for files to download Select Internet Scan Internet for Images for downloading files Photo Explorer guides you through the process in seven 7 easy steps 1 Enter the HTTP address of the Web page from which to start the download Specify how many Levels deep to search for files 2 Specify the file types you want images videos and ...