Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u

v2012.200    09/23/11

Priority: Low

v2012.200 is the most significant update to Qimage Ultimate since its initial release in July 2010:

• All new build: Complete code review/rewrite includes bug fixes, new memory manager, new device drivers, etc.
• Color management: Color management engine updated to latest LCMS 2.2.
• TIFF support: Expanded file compatibility supports TIFFs in all flavors: with alpha channels, "per channel" pixel order, Mac byte order, etc.
• IPTC support: All new IPTC support includes bug fixes and allows for multi-language metadata.
• Printers: Brand new (saved) printer setup format for maximum printer and OS compatibility.  Note: newly saved printer setups/jobs (from v2012.200+) cannot be opened by old/prior versions.
• Speed: New device drivers enable faster and smoother screen operations and smoother operation of dialogs and controls.
• Future: New Unicode code base allows for future multi-platform/multi-language development: 64 bit version already being explored for possible release later in 2012.

Mike

That's the first thing I noticed, a significant reduction for Full Screen, Image Editor, Comparator and Page Editor HQ  views to appear.
Thanks,
Terry

i have a problem with this version and acdsee. i use to be able to send images from acdsee to qimage but since this release it does not work.

Seeing this I just checked Send To and Open With from Windows Explorer.
If QU is NOT open they work fine but if QU is already running then the image(s) selected in Explorer do not open in QU.
I'm this worked ok with v2012-104 because I checked it to help a friend with another problem just last week.
Perhaps someone else can check this out too.
Terry

v2012-201 has fixed this so I would think acdsee should be ok too.
Terry

Mike,

The "200" update works fine in Win7 64bit working in VirtualBox on my Mac. Although rebuilding very large TIFF thumbnails initially took ages.

I also have QIU installed on my Win XP Pro 32 bits as a backup. Again "200" works fine but it is unable to rebuild thumbnails of TIFFs larger than about 9,000 (maybe 10K) pixels wide, nor display the images. The thumbnails display "Image Read Error" in red.

I'm referring to the same set of TIFFs as successfully "rebuilt" using QIU on Win 7 64bit.

Is there some size limit operating within the new QIU routines, on Win XP?

The same issue occurs on "201".

Thanks

Peter

The size is limited only by your computer and OS: if Windows doesn't have the memory to give, it can't load the file.  Hold the shift key while you choose "Analyze Current Settings" from the Help menu.  QU will show you how much memory Windows has available.  You might be one of the people with an XP setup that is very low on memory.  Keep in mind that when building thumbs, four thumbs are built at once which means if you are low on memory and only have 500MB available, don't expect to be able to build a folder of 500MB TIFF's without a problem if you have hyper thumbing turned on.  If you are running on a "marginal" system, you might want to turn off hyper thumbing as it won't use nearly as much memory with it turned off.

Mike

Mike-

Since most new PC's now seem to have quad processors, and using that hardware has really speeded up thumb building, any chance you could use quad processing in other areas of QU? I'm thinking especially of converting files for the web, and any converting files in general. Those still take a long time.

Thanks,
Jeff Jessee

Hi similar problem I now get read errors on lots of tiffs (large ones) that was ok in previous versions. I did shift analize settings and get 2000/1830/1465 Is this low? I have 16gb of ram installed is QU only able to use 2gb?
Thanks Phill

OK an update! Just installed 201 and its fine now.  ;)

Hi Phill,
It is really what Windows is allowing Qimage to use. The final figure of shift analize settings is the one that matters and depends on your operating system. W7 is much better than XP.
Terry

Hi Jeff,
I've always assumed that if Quad core processing is enabled in QU, then it applies to all QU processing.
Certainly, since I acquired a quad PC nearly a year ago, all processing is much faster and with v2012-2xx, conversions to tiff are almost instantaneous. Jpegs are a little longer due to the compression process, I suppose.
Terry

Dual/quad core only applies to thumbnail/raw-cache building and printing.  That's why there are two specific listings under "Hyper Processing": one for thumbs and one for printing.  Image conversions are single core.  Multi-core image conversions may come at a later date but I have no immediate plans for that due to the potential complexity (and memory requirements) when converting from the queue.  You can have potentially very large images in the queue, images with very complex filters, and even the same image repeated in the queue multiple times.  Doing that multi-threaded can easily overwhelm the most well equipped machine without a lot of clever (complex) programming and lots of bug testing.

Mike

Thanks for the clarification.
Terry

Thanks Mike.

I omitted to point out that the same set of TIFFs did not cause any thumbnail nor display problems on QIU v2011, running on Windows XP 32bit.

On the Win XP Pro PC changing the Thumbnail build to single core made no difference.

I have since found out that most, if not all, of the large TIFF panoramas even if they have correctly generated thumbnails can not be displayed using SPACE nor double-click. Get a red "Image Read Error" on the screen.

Peter


  

Phill.

Could you please comment on the display quality of large TIFFs via SPACE bar in QIU. Specifically comparing the latest version with v2011.

Thanks

Peter
   

What are the pixel dimensions of these files?  I also need an answer to what I asked you earlier: when you hold the shift key while selecting Help, Analyze Current Settings, what numbers do you get for memory?  You might have been right on the edge of what could be loaded before and now, your machine has slightly less available memory just due to what is currently loaded in Windows.  Which brings me to my final question: when was the last time you rebooted the machine?  Could be some other issues causing low memory that may go away with a reboot.  XP wasn't very good at managing memory which is why complaints about loading large images are pretty much confined to the obsolete OS's: XP, 2000, NT.

Mike

1255 252 1255

8,000 pixels to 14,000 wide by 3,000 to 5,000 high

Reboot didn't resolve it.

Please also note the revision to the post of mine you quoted. Even if thumbnails are generated correctly the panoramas can not be displayed using the SPACE bar.

Yes, seems like an Win XP centric problem but why is it occurring now?

That said, my XP Pro version is only a backup.

Peter   

Try v2012.202.  I was able to reduce TIFF memory requirements just a bit, so that might help the older more geriatric systems out there.  ;)

http://www.ddisoftware.com/qimage-u/downloads.htm

Mike

Thanks Mike.

With 202, on Win XP Pro, can now view all large panoramic TIFFs that have thumbnails correctly generated.

The number of thumbnails with "Image Read Error"s seems to have reduced. Those that display the error seem to be greater than 300MB in size. (Largest in the specific folder is about 75MB)

FYI: all the TIFFs are 48bit.

Peter

I've done all I can on this side.  To load very large 48 bit TIFFs, you really need to get your memory up as high as you can.  1255 isn't bad but well equipped XP systems usually run 1650 up to 2000 which is what you should be shooting for if you regularly work with super large 48 bit TIFFs.  How much RAM is installed in the machine?  With enough RAM, you can get 2000 pretty easily on XP using the 3GB switch.

Mike

Thanks Mike.

I will implement the 3GB switch and check its effect.

Peter

Implemented /3GB switch on Win XP Pro.

Now all TIFFs except a 770MB image (probably the biggest in folder) generated thumbnails and displayed properly.

Out of curiosity I reloaded 2011.136 and everything displayed correctly.

Peter

 

What are your memory readings now under shift-analyze current settings, and what is the resolution of the 770MB image and is it a 48 bit TIFF?  The 2011 versions only loaded 24 bits of a 48 bit image.  The 2012 version, being future driven, loads all 48 bits thereby doubling memory requirements if you use 48 bit TIFFs.  If these are final print-ready images, you're just wasting space and doubling memory requirements by saving 48 bit TIFFs.  I would suggest using 24 bit images, especially if you are going to be working primarily on an older system with a now decade-old operating system.

Mike

BTW, forgot to mention, I have a folder that I created a few years ago called "big".  It is a folder with about 20 gargantuan TIFFs that I created just for the purpose of optimizing how Qimage loads very large images.  The files range in size from 150MB up to 1.1GB, most being in the 700MB to 1GB range.  QU 2011 could load all but three of those images when building thumbs.  QU 2012 loads all of them.  So, provided you have the memory to work with, 2012 is more efficient with memory and can load larger images than the 2011 version.

Mike