Céroce's Blog

A new version of PortraiMatic was published yesterday evening. As usual, let's see what's new.

Layout

The Source Code of PortraiMatic is continually being refactored , that is, parts of it are rewritten to make it more readable or easier to evolve, without adding any new feature. I actually factorised the part which computes the layout of portraits on a sheet, this code being only slightly different for sheets "to save" and sheets "to print".

I thought it was a good occasion to add a few fatures while my mind was still on it:

Sheets to save

• The Orientation can now be set to Horizontal or Vertical. In the Auto mode, PortraiMatic adopts the orientation to fit the more portraits. Previous versions used to be in the Auto mode all the time.
• The margin of the edges can be set. If I had not included this feature sooner, that it is because, it is in fact a bad idea to have this margin smaller than 3 mm, because of the cutting machines of photo labs. PortraiMatic now offers this possibility (try it), but you are warned.
• The margin between portraits can be set. To be true, I find a margin smaller than 3 mm ugly, but some users wanted eight 35x45 mm portraits to fit on a single sheet.

None of these settings are saved. It is left to do in a next version.

Sheets to print

Only the margin between portraits can be set. Here is a tip: this margin can be as wide as 50 mm. This is a good way to save ink, until PortraiMatic offers a more appropriate way to choose the number of portraits on a sheet.

Colour Adjustments

Being able to adjust exposure, contrast and brightness of a photo has being requested since version 1.0. Here it is at last!

Adjusting is done thanks to a histogram. This tool is not as complex as it looks at first. I won't go into details of its function here, as it is well described in the Help.

If we had an average consumer approach here, we would have placed a Brightness slider and a Contrast slider; these two concepts are well understood by users, but has a major drawback: adjusting exposure with these sliders is really hard. Yet, exposure — which is a concept that casual photographers do not necessarily understand — matters the most, and a histogram is a great way to adjust it precisely.

The real difficulty in this feature was to make it run fast: computing a histogram is a heavy calculation. I'm rather satisfied with the result. It was also necessary to change how a portrait is displayed. Indeed, the portrait template should not show while the photo is being adjusted, which would be disturbing. Hence, the template only shows when the mouse cursor hovers above the portrait, or when adjusting the scale. At rest, a white frame provides a good idea of the final portrait.

That is all for this version. As usual, don't hesitate to drop us a line if you have any suggestion.

One month after the release of version 1.1, here comes version 1.2. Let's see what's new.

New main window

I changed the main window again. It now looks like:

Compare with the previous version:

Some might see a regression compared to the previous version, as the action of reframing cannot be seen instantly on the sheet. However, I do think that what matters is not how beautiful the sheet is, but to reframe as dictated by guidelines. This change in the user interface was needed — to my taste — for two reasons. The first one is I planned evolutions of PortraiMatic, and I needed to gain space. The second one, is that, that way, PortraiMatic gets closer to Delicious Generation applications.

Reframing indications

Now, when you slide a portrait to place the face into the oval, some indications appear. The need for this feature has been imposed to me by my reflections about the fact that people don't read user manuals (see previous posts).

Fixed a bug on the Gallery

I discovered by accident a bug in the previous version. If you were to create a portrait, were to drop an image, and then were to change the name of the portrait, then, at the next start-up, PortraiMatic would not find the image. The cause of the problem was that the old access path to the image was stored. I have rewritten the code that copies images into the Gallery, so they are immediately after the image is chosen, and not when the application was quitted, like it used to be. This should fix a lot of problems.

On Thursday, at last, I received my DVD of Snow Leopard, and so I could install it (with no problem) on my second computer. Here is the good news: as it is today, PortraiMatic works perfectly under Snow Leopard. You don't have to update PortraiMatic.

Now about Snow Leopard: the evolution is not so obvious from a user point of view, though it seems more reactive to me. As there are still some bugs around (notably on Bluetooth sync), I'd advise you to wait a month or two before upgrading.

A new version of PortraiMatic is available. As you shall see, I worked hard since the launch of the version 1.0, to be ready for the "Back to school" days.

Here are the new features:

• You can now print sheets directly on your printer. This opens new artistic horizons. You may now cover your walls with passport photos of your mother-in-law. Don't thank me.
• The resolution has been raised to 300 dpi. Because users asked me to, because it does matter with the best photo labs, and because the size of generated files remains reasonable.
• A link to the National Guidelines is presented in the main window. National Guidelines used to be in the Help files but were useless, as no-one (me included) reads docs.
• Preferences. First appearance, with the possibility to move the Gallery of portraits, and even merge two galleries. You may now share a gallery between several user accounts. How ?… See Help.
• Portrait formats are now in the language of the application. You can no longer know how to write Resume or Passport in japanese. It's a lot less funny, but way handier.
• Price. No it didn't fall. But still a bargain.

Enjoy !