Contents->Converting

  1. Overview Of Converting Images
  2. Selecting Source Images To Convert
  3. Setting Conversion Parameters
  4. Convert
  5. Viewing The Converted Target Images

Overview Of Converting Images

ImgWorks converts images from a list of images specified on the Source Images list with a list of operations to perform on each image specified by the Conversion Parameters list.

The resulting converted images are placed in the Target directory and listed on the Converted Images list.

Below, is a diagram of the ImgWorks window:

ImgWorks Diagram
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Selecting Source Images To Convert

There are 3 methods in which you can specify the source images (the images that you want to convert):

  1. Go to File->Add... (or press INSERT) and you will be prompted with a file selector to select the source image(s) that you want to convert.
  2. Drag and drop source image(s) from any of Endeavour Mark II's windows or any other drag and drop compatable source to ImgWork's Source Images list.
  3. When you run ImgWorks from the command line, you can specify a list of source images and they will be placed in the Source Images list at startup.
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Setting Conversion Parameters

The Conversion Parameters list (center window) specifies the operations that you want performed for each image.

Note that the Conversion Parameters list is a scrollable list, use the scroll bars to see all of the available conversion parameters in case some are obscured.

Each conversion parameter has a check box next to it (on its left). When you check the check box you are specifying that you want that operation performed (or enabled). For example, if you check the Format parameter and set the format to TGA then you are specifying that you want all images to be converted to the Targa Image Format. Otherwise, if you uncheck (disable) the Format parameter then all images will retain their original formats after conversion.

The following is a list of supported conversion parameters:

Format

Specifies the format to write all the resulting converted image in. If this is disabled then all images will retain their original formats after conversion.

Compression

Specifies the amount of compression for images who's formats are compressable.

For JPEG images, which are lossy, the lesser amount of compression improves quality but increases the file size.

For GIF, PNG, TIFF, or TGA, which are not lossy, the greater amount of compression does not decrease quality and still decreases the file size.

The default value for JPEG images is 20%. The default value for PNG images is 67%.

This parameter is not available for all image formats.

Background Color

Specifies the background color to set or add to the image. The background color is the color of the lowest layer of the image, this layer is usually only visible if the image has been shrunk, rotated, or has transparent pixels.

This parameter is not available for all image formats.

Gamma

Specifies the gamma coefficient to multiply each pixel on the image by.

Values from 0.0 to 1.0 (excluding 1.0 itself) will darken the image.

Values from 1.0 to 256.0 (excluding 1.0 itself) will brighten the image. When brightening an image, a small value (such as 1.1 to 10.0) will do. You may need a higher brightening value only if the image is really dark to begin with.

Mirror

Specifies to mirror (or sometimes called flip) the image pixels Horizontal (flip left-to-right to right-to-left) or Vertical (flip upside-down).

Crop

Specifies to crop the image, that is to "cut" a crop rectangle (a smaller rectangular area) of the image and discard its outer bounds and set the image's size to match that of the crop rectangle.

The X and Y values specify the upper-left corner of the crop rectangle relative to the image's upper-left corner. The W and H specifies the width and height of the crop rectangle and thus the resulting size of the image after the crop.

Rotate

Rotate Diagram

Specifies to rotate the image clockwise with the center of rotation set at the image's center. The value is in degrees clockwise and can be any value from 0 to 360 (excluding 0 and 360 themselves).

If the value is not a right-angle then the image's size will be adjusted so that all pixels of the rotated image are visible, in which case there may be pixels that are extraneous, these pixels will be set to the Background Color (or black if Background Color is not enabled) (see diagram on the right, the Background Color is set to white).

If the value is a right-angle (90, 180, or 270), then the image's size will be changed to fit the rotated image in cases where the angle is 90 or 270 and there will be no extraneous pixels.

Size

Specifies to resize the image to the size specified by W and H. If Maintain Aspect is checked then the original aspect ratio (the ratio of the image's width divided by its height) will be preserved.

If Smaller is checked along with Maintain Aspect then the new size of the image will be automatically adjusted so that it is no bigger than the specified size and the resulting size may be smaller than the specified size in order to preserve the aspect ratio, otherwise if only Maintain Aspect is checked then the image's size will be automatically adjusted so that it is no smaller than the specified size and the resulting size may be bigger than the specified size in order to preserve the aspect ratio.

Frame

Frame Diagram

Specifies to draw a frame around the image.

The W and H specify the total width and the total height of the frame border in pixels.

The Inner Bevel and Outer Bevel specify the length of the "slopping" region (or the lightened and darkened regions used to simulate a 3 dimensional affect) of the frame border in pixels. This value must be half or less than half of the W and H values.

The Color specifies the nominal color of the frame, the beveled regions will be automatically lightened and darkened.

Target Location

The last thing that you need to specify is the target location (look for the Target prompt at the bottom of the center window below the Conversion Parameters list. The target location must be a directory that exists. All the converted images will be placed in this directory. In the case of which a specified source image is a directory then the converted images will be placed in the target location's directory with the original parent directory recreated. For example, if the source image is /home/me/mypics/ and the target location is /home/me/tmp/ then the resulting converted images will be placed in /home/me/tmp/mypics/.

If you specify a directory as a source image then all (supported) images in that directory will be converted. However ImgWorks will only recurse into subdirectories if Convert->Recursive is checked. Otherwise any subdirectory in the directory specified as the source image will be ignored.

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Convert

Once you have properly specified your source images, conversion parameters, and target directory, you can start the conversion process by clicking on the Convert button (or press F8).

You can also select certain source images to convert in the Source Images list and then only convert those images by going to Convert->Convert Selected (or press RETURN).

During the conversion process, the converted images will appear in the Converted Images list after each one is successfully converted.

You may be prompted to overwrite existing target images if they already exist at the target location.

You can interrupt the conversion process by clicking on the Stop button. Note that there still may be some delay between clicking the Stop button and until the conversion process actually stops. This is due to ImageMagick requring that the current operation being performed on the image be completed before it can stop.

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Viewing The Converted Target Images

If View->Preview Converted is checked, then selecting an image in the Converted Images list will display that image in the small Preview Window below it.

You can run the associated image viewer to view the image by double-clicking on the image or by selecting the image and then go to View->Open. The latter only works if the image's MIME Type is properly set up in Endeavour Mark II's MIME Types.

To run Endeavour Mark II's Image Browser to view the converted images in the target location, click on the Browse button or go to Windows->New Image Browser.

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