AutoMatting™
Technology Overview
As technology continues to evolve, many more display
devices are available for the photographer to use to
present their work. AutoMatting was developed to
permit photographers to properly format their images
for presentation with a unique matting technology.
Final images delivered to the
clients by photographers tend to be large and
difficult to display quickly.
Often thousands of images are captured. The
client needs to rapidly view image to be used in a
photo book or for distribution to others. In
addition to the long time to render and display large
images on a typical computer display, the aspect ratio
of the monitor is not the same as the typical 3x2
aspect ratio of many digital cameras. When a set
of vertical (Portrait) images is mixed in with the
horizontal (Landscape) images, the computer display
program does not display both images the same size.
The result is a vertical image that is smaller than
the horizontal ones and has two large black bars on
either side; while the horizontal images have smaller
black bars on the top and bottom in a letterbox style
display. When images are viewed quickly, as they
need to be to see the total set from a large photo
shoot, the effect is one of flashing irregular images
with different sizes in front of the viewer with the
aesthetic look and feel.
A survey of several noted
photographers requested a display application that
properly formats the images to a specific display device
using colorful mats that accentuate the colors within
the image to be displayed.
Given these requirements,
AutoMatting was developed. It presents both
horizontal and vertical images at approximately the same
size. It produces a colorful mat pattern based on
color content of the image and a complex algorithm that
is very appealing to the human vision system. It
also produces a bevel for the mat based on a prominent
color in the image. This bezel includes a unique
lighting effect to add the perception of depth to the
mat.
The unique mat also gives the
viewer the perception of a much sharper image than is
actually displayed.
AutoMatting -
User Interface:
The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is very simple.
Select the source for your images and where you would
like the matted images to be written. You
should never write over your original images. Here
is the AutoMatting user interface:
Source Window
Simply choose a set of images or folders of images to
begin. You may select one or more images for
processing. The file names you have selected will
appear in the central window. You can 'Include subfolders' in the 'Source'
window. This will allow you to include all subfolders of images.
Note that you can add
image files by using the 'Drag and Drop' method to place
them in the white window in the 'Images to Process'
group. You can
add additional images or remove images by using the
controls: 'Add', 'Add Folder', 'Remove', and 'Clear
Inputs'.
Now that all of the images are selected, select where you want to store the
matted images in the 'Destination' window.
Destination Window
This window allows you to specify where the matted
images will be stored. The default is to make a
new subfolder named 'AutoMatting_(monitor resolution)' under the original
folder of source images. If you select multiple
folders of source images, then multiple 'AutoMatting_(monitor
resolution)'
folders will be created. One under each of your
source folders. Note that you can change the
subfolder name to anything that you choose.
You can optionally designate a specific folder for
all of your images to be written into by checking the
'Designate Folder' option. This
destination folder is chosen by selecting a specific
folder name. You simply
select 'Choose Folder' and browse to the folder where you would like all of your
matted images to reside. Please be careful and
do not write over your original source images!
Once the processing has completed, the 'View Outputs'
button is enabled and you can now view your newly matted
images.
You must select the output format and size using the 'Screen Resolution'
drop down box. The default uses your current
display resolution as the output format. It is highly
recommended that you create an output format that
matches the monitor or display
device format that your customer will use to view the images.
The more common aspect ratios include: 16:9, 4:3, 3:2,
16:10, and 5:4. If you know the customer will
display the slideshow on a home television, then either
3:2 (for common NTSC TV) or a 16:9 (High Definition TV)
resolution should be selected. The most common
computer monitor is the 4:3 aspect ratio. New
wide screen computer monitors are 16:10. For
additional information on display aspect ratios and
resolutions, please refer to:
Display Resolutions.
Central
Window
The central window displays the file names of the
images to be matted. Once you begin processing,
the central window will display the first image you
selected without a mat to validate processing the
correct group of images. After the first image is
matted it will be displayed in the central window,
followed by the other images in sequence.
After all images are processed a message will appear
letting you know that processing has completed.
The 'View Outputs' button will open the folder you
designated to show the results.
Controls
To begin processing your images, simply press
 and the application
begins. You will also
see a progress bar above the controls.
Processing time will vary with your computer speed, memory,
and image size.
The help file is opened by selecting the
 button
in the lower left corner of the application.
The
button changes to 'Pause
Process' once
the processing has begun. This can be used if you
want to suspend image processing temporarily to allow
your computer to perform other tasks. To resume
processing, select the 'Resume Processing' button.
The progress bar provides a visual indicator to indicate the
AutoMatting progress.
Clicking on the Image Trends logo of a product that
has been purchased and authenticated will allow you to
check for updates. 
If you have a trial version of the product, any
image saved will have a permanent watermark. To
eliminate the watermark function, you must purchase
and register the product. It is highly
recommended that you do overwrite the original image
processed using the program in trial mode.
By selecting the icon, you will be guided through
a set of menus that allow for a simple process to
purchase and update this product. The process
is secure and your personal credit card information
is not retained by Image Trends or our partners. Please
see our Privacy Policy on the Image Trends Web site.
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Display
Resolutions:
We provide a selection of output display types identified
by:
Aspect Ratio - Width:Height, Pixel Dimensions (WidthxHeight),
and "Display Type"
Current
Monitor (this means the monitor resolution currently
in use)
3:2
(480x320) “HVGA”
3:2
(1280x854) “PB-G4”
4:3
(640x480) "VGA"
4:3
(768x576) "PAL"
4:3
(800x600) “SVGA”
4:3
(1024x768) "XGA"
4:3
(1600x1200) “UXGA”
5:4
(1280x1024) "SXGA"
5:4
(2560x2048) “QSXGA”
16:9
(1366x768) “WXGA”
16:9
(1280x720) “HDTV”
16:9
(1920x1080) "HDTV"
16:10
(1680x1050) “WSXGA+”
16:10
(2560x1600) “WQXGA”
25:16
(1600x1024) "WSXGA"
Display Formats:
As digital displays become more prevalent, there
are many new display resolutions and types. The
following table represents many of the current display
aspect ratios, resolutions, and types:
Over time, more higher resolution displays will be
added that follow the 5 basic aspect ratios show
above. For additional information on
display aspect ratios and resolutions, please refer
to:
Wikipedia-Display-Resolutions
A horizontal 3:2 aspect ratio (typical camera image)
displayed on a 16:10 aspect ratio monitor:
A vertical 3:2 aspect ratio (typical camera image)
displayed on a 16:10 aspect ratio monitor:
AutoMatting output displayed on a 16:10 aspect ratio
monitor:
AutoMatting output displayed on a 16:10 aspect ratio
monitor:
Note that portrait oriented images are displayed
much smaller than are landscape images.
A vertical 3:2 standard image displayed on a 4:3 aspect ratio
monitor:
A horizontal 3:2 standard image displayed on a 4:3 aspect ratio
monitor:
4:3 aspect ratio with matting -
4:3 aspect ratio with matting -
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Tips and
Techniques:
AutoMatting should be the last step
in your workflow. All images should be properly
oriented before processing by AutoMatting.
If your images use Adobe RGB as the
color format, it is suggested that they be converted to
sRGB format. We have observed that some slideshow
utilities will cause Adobe RGB images to be dull in color.
Hovering the mouse over a button
will show the definition of that button.
The first image displayed after the
'Process Images' button is pressed will not have a mat
until the processing for that image has completed.
The sharpest image will be seen
when the AutoMatting output format exactly matches the
size of the monitor. If you do not know the
display
resolution of your customer's monitor, then select the
highest likely resolution, such as UXGA (1600x1200), and
let the customer's slideshow software downsize the image.
Most slideshow viewers will correctly downsize the
images for the display.
If you do not know the aspect ratio
of the customer's monitor, then choose a 4:3 aspect
ratio for the display resolution.
You may want to provide the
customer both a wide screen version and a standard
screen version of the output formats.
Keyboard Shortcuts:
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System Requirements
Operating Systems:
Windows Vista, XP, NT, 2000
Memory Requirements:
Minimum recommended is: 1GB
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