Free Thumbnail Software:Thumbnail Refinery Version 5

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This page contains descriptions and download links for TNRV5.

Using a classic tab style interface, TNR's control settings define how selected images are processed. Image processing grouped functions include: resizing, cropping, enhancing, renaming, and watermarking. Processing huge groups of images is simply a matter of collecting the image files, interactively choosing the settings, and pressing the MAKE button. Output can be directed to one of 43 unique format families including the most commonly used image formats: jpg, exif (jpg and tif), tif, tif-multi page, gif, gif-multi page, ico, bmp, pcx, png, and psd. Also intergrated are print utility and an HTML presentation generator.

File browsing, collection, and selection is extremely flexible. TNR's file collection system consists of the File Selection List (FSL) and the File Collection List (FCL). The FSL is basically a drag enabled system file browser that can be linked to the FCL. Two list arrangement allows you to browse a system's files quickly, automatically or manually collecting candate files. Since the FCL is a stand-alone list, it can also accept file drops from Windows File Navigator, an integrated standard file dialog, or PSS/PSL file lists from SlideShow-Refinery. Individual or groups of FCL elements can be selected for processing. Importantly, the FCL contents can be edited and reordered using a set of tools that includes a thumbnail browser. When you are putting more than one image on a page or generating HTML, image ordering can be crucial because it defines the composition of your presentation.

New to version 5.0.1.19 is scripting support. Basically any batch oriented job done interactively can be automated using TNR's scripting engine. The engine is accessable interactively or by using command line options.

ThumbNail Refinery's watermarking capability is unique. Starting with text, either normal or 3d, it is easy to copyright brand groups of images. More interesting is the three part (mask, background, and main) image watermarking functions used to make translucent watermarks. These same functions can be used to apply "optical" filtering to tint, dodge, burn, and make complex frames.

TNR can be used to combine several images on a single page. I call it composite page processing and I think you call it useful! The pictures shown below are composites created using options on TNR's output tab. Each of the pages resulted from combining three images, two selected from the FCL and page background set on the output tab..The text example shows one of the standard text styles and demonstrates how, using the <IFN> label to dynamically incorporate filename on the page. The <EXIF> tag, similiarly will merge the EXIF comment field data.

ThumbNail Refinery Composite Image Example	Composite Page with 3D Text

EXIF information and ITPC comments can be processed. EXIF is supported for TIFF and JPEG images. IPTC is limited to JPEG (EXIF) images. EXIF editor accesses copyright field user comment and so forth. IPTC allows access to the normally supported fields: Object Name (title), Urgency, Category, Supplemental Categories, Keywords, Special Instructions, Date Created, By-Line (author), By-line Title (author’s title), City, Province/state, Country/Primary Location Name, Original Transmission Reference, Headline, Credit, Source, Copyright Notice, Caption/Abstract, Writer/Editor.

HTML support is pretty basic, supporting 3 frame and single frame presentations. Three frame presentations, consist of a film strip of thumbnails down the left margin, an index of film strips across the bottom and a detail area consuming the remaining area. The detail frame can optionally show EXIF information extracted from the original image. ITPC caption field can be used to title main images. The single frame model uses a simple matrix presentation, linking out to individual pages containing links to the full size images. All HTML is based on a series of templates that can be modified by you to make your pages unique.

Fixed aspect ratio interactive and batch cropping makes it quick work to normalize image size focused on your subject. Cropping is a key to optimized photo presentations.

Commercial sites will find TNR's watermark functions are suitable for branding their images with style. From translucent to 3d text to simple block text, to EXIF comment merge with output, TNR does it all.

Version 5, freeware Change History

Version 5.0.1.1. Corrected issue associated with font properties save for Caption, Margin and WaterMark Text. Added Sum and Average Image BitMaps for advanced image processing of multiple images captured under low light and image noise reduction, respectively. Added wizard interface for quick starting. Implemented "Gallery" to aid selection of process format group. The gallery provides the user with a preview image depicting the output for a selected script. Gallery edit functions (add/delete) are provided. Image border freature has been integrated to allow images to be highlighted in different ways. This release marks an important milestone in TNRV5 develpoment - with technical issues associated with the rewrite behind us, we are now working on implementing an application program interface, stack oriented script language, and new effects.

Version 5.0.1.2. Several minor user interface items changed to improve clarity. Linked windows character map program allowing easier access to special characters during watermark text editing. Version 5.0.1.1 build was missing some gallery files causing issues with gallery preview and function.

Version 5.0.1.3. Corrected issue affecting WIN98 related to the thumb wizard and the FSL browsing control.

Version 5.0.1.4 Corrected issue associated with preview image when displaying very small images. Added enhanced image rotation processing to include complex and transparent backgrounds. Added <EXIF> tag field for merging embedded EXIF comments with thumb/composite page output.

Version 5.0.1.5 adds Random Rotation and Random Background images for composite pages. Random functions are based on selection from a user defined set of possible rotation values and composite page background image files respectively.

Version 5.0.1.6 corrects PLS list processing issue, an format error in html index template and adds error trapping around color depth processing code.

Version 5.0.1.7 corrects pathing issue associated with gallery preview images. Added some additional log entries to better show processing flow. There were some unfinished features (place holders) inadvertently left enabled on the main menu... they have been disabled.

Version 5.0.1.8. Rewrote gallery editor code Hopefully second time will be the charm!

Version 5.0.1.9. Implements IPTC comments editor for the following fields: Object Name (title), Urgency, Category, Supplemental Categories, Keywords, Special Instructions, Date Created, By-Line (author), By-line Title (author's title), City, Province/state, Country/Primary Location Name, Original Transmission Reference, Headline, Credit, Source, Copyright Notice, Caption/Abstract, Writer/Editor

Version 5.0.1.10 corrected issue with IPTC add from IPTC Editor tab to an image that previously did not contain IPTC comments and had not had EXIF comments added by TNR.

Version 5.0.1.11 corrected issue associated with TIF/EXIF comments editor function accessed from the output tab.

Version 5.0.1.12 corrected inadvert omission of drag and drop support to FCL that occured between 5.0.1.10 and 5.0.1.11.

Version 5.0.1.4 Corrects issues associated with accessing gallery files located in other that the default folder. Incorporates IPTC captioning into HTML processing. Integrates a gallery element selector dialog into the HTML parameters page allowing custom style sets to be used for HTML thumb and main image processing.

Version 5.0.1.16 Corrects some additional pathing issues associated with gallery files. Processing of custom configuations for HTML, thumb and main images, works now. Enlarged foot print on page background available for rotated images.

Version 5.0.1.17 Corrects several inconsistancies associated with EXIF description field to HTML merge. Inhibited FSL control during FCL update eliminating occasional I/O errors.

Version 5.0.1.19 Adds interactive and command line scripting support .

Version 5.0.1.21 Corrects issues with IPTC processing. Adds EXIF to IPTC image creation date copy.

Version 5.0.1.22 Requires uninstall before installation. Corrects version 5.0.1.21 issue associated with image list reordering. The issue arose after imaging engine was version upgraded and cause by a faulty support component supplied by Lead Technologies. Version 5.0.1.22 rolls back the image engine "list" component to LT release December 2004.

Version 5.0.1.23. Corrects issue associated with List Manager (post reorder processing) communication with FCL

Version 5.0.1.24/25 not formally released

Version 5.0.1.26. Enables PSD write... had to include additional image engine dll's in distribution. Comprehensive multi-layer support is on the to-do list. Corrected issue with multi-image write support for TIF, PCX, GIF, and ICO. The multi-image formats now can be written and appended more reliably. There are still issues with different multi image copy processes however. For example, Multi to multi doesn't work and a mix of single and multi don't output to the same format (multi-single) read. Work will continue.

Version 5.0.1.27 Corrects issue associated with |Name Tab|Sufix name processing name as prefix.

Version 5.0.1.28 Adds "CLOSETNR()" to TNR's scripting language to allow TNRV5 to be shut down after script completion. Implements an OLE Type Library interface. Most of TNR's controls can set using LOADCFG() command that now supports comma text arguments or configuration filename. Thumb processing can be initiated use an explicit command PROCESSFCL() or generically using the executeCMD() command. Example source code for a simple client program is included.

Version 5.0.1.29 corrects issue with thumb-preview printing. Amplifies documentation for API. API demo source program shows does more commands.

Version 5.0.1.30 Multi-page image processing has been simplified. Three modes have been implemented: None, Duplicate, and Group where "None" extracts and saves images to single page image files. "Duplicate" extracts and saves images in single or, depending on selected output format, multi-page. "Group" extracts and save all input images to a single multi-page file. Delete file options have been added to FCL dropdown menu. "Comments" processing has been adjusted to work with multi-page image formats.

Version 5.0.1.31 Corrected save to cmp format. Corrected PCX/DCX issue that caused multi-page images to be saved with the pcx extension.

Version 5.0.1.33 Corrected inconsistancy with the way output image format file extension was recovered for suffix to output filename. The output format always matched the selected format but sometimes the the wrong extension was used.

Version 5.0.1.34-35 Corrects minor memory leak in exif/iptc processing, minor format enhancement for Comments tab

Version 5.0.1.37 adds batch IPTC/EXIF only processing.

Version 5.0.1.45. Cleans up most issues associated with thumb preview area. In the past, if you got impatient during a lengthy thumb processing job associated with a effects preview, the image in the thumb preview area would disappear. The image was there, processing most likely succeeded, but the new thumb was not not visible. It wouldn't become visible until a new image was loaded into the preview area. Apparently, for reasons not fully understood, the scrollbox, image, or both,were left invisible during an interrupted image processing function. I've done my best to inhibit user input during thumb processing, which seem to be the cause of the issue. I've added a Refresh Thumb function on the thumbnail preview popup menu. I did some work on the auto scaling and image placement code, correcting issues associated with scrollbars, aspect ratio, and thumb preview image size. Stock resizing choices were added for 8.5x11, 11x8.5, 11x17, and 17x11, at 72, 144, 300, and 600 dpi.

Version 5.0.1.48. Corrected issue associated with file browser. If user's Windows Explorer Tools|Options|View |Hide Known Extensions checked, TNRV5's/TNRV5EZ's FCL would not auto fill because filenames derived from the FSL were missing extensions. TNR tests file extension to insure only supported image files are allowed on the FCL for processing. As a result, the FCL would not fill automatically. We could deteremine file type by actually testing each file's content, but this can be slower. In general, make sure Windows Explorer Tools|Options|View |Hide Known Extensions is UNCHECKED. File extensions should not be hidden. Hiding file extensions is not something to advocate nor should be used as a default operating system setting.

Version 5.0.1.49. Corrects (finally) thumb preview display issue. Additionally, thumb preview area menu |refresh thumb preview option, now correctly works.

Version 5.0.1.51 Corrects OS error that occured when print wizard was opened.

Version 5.0.1.52 corrects issue associated with interactive save from thumb preview drop down menu. The issue is associated with various incompatibilities between different output formats. Output format specified by file extension can be different from the output format specified on the output tab. The specified format may have several flavors in its family. These factors can set up contradictions. Our solution works (mostly) as follows: when a format is specified by extension a default set of parameters is applied and the output image is modified to fit the limits of the specified format. Color depth has been particularly troublesome. Interactively specifing output formats that limited color depth ranges may still pose some problems. If you are unable to get an interactive save to work from the Thumb drop down menu, specify output format on the output tab and use the make button.

Version 5.0.1.53 corrects a problem that caused input que to stick on the image in the preview area.... The input image list wasn't process correctly... eg during MAKE only the currently displayed image was processed. Problem was inadvertly introduced by me during some routine cleanup work. OOPS...

Version 5.0.1.54 corrects issues associated with the Mask/Gradient editor... e.g. start/stop colors were stuck in gray scale, and at some point, scaling became a problem, making the tool pretty much useless. I corrected those issues, and a couple more less obvious ones. Additionally a region select by color option (colorwand) and region paint fill have both been added. You can access the Mask/Gradient editor by right clicking the Preview area, or any one of the mask/background/font-face images and choosing the appropriate menu selection.

Version 5.0.1.55 Adds optional modified close method for use if the Window's platform you are running doesn't properly terminate TNRV5 (release it from the process list) . At this point I don't fully understand why its happening or why the fix works .... but it does. I didn't know about the issue until recently when I started working with a new Toshiba Notepad.

Version 5.0.1.58 Corrects windows process list hang. Corrects query for comments issue that I just noticed.

Version 5.0.1.60 Corrects issue with print wizard,

Version 5.0.1.62 adds additional support to HTLM processing allowing additional EXIF and IPTC information to be included in HTML presentations.