BigPicture 4.1

BigPicture Copyright © 1994 - 1999 by John Montbriand.  All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

An image viewing software program.

File formats made visible:

PICT, MacPaint, BMP, TIFF, PCX, JPG, StartupScreen, Picture clippings.

If QuickTime is installed,  BigPicture can be used to view QuickTime movies.

If QuickTime 2.5 (QuickTime 2.5  ships with Mac OS 7.6) or later is installed, BigPicture will utilize QuickTime's Graphic Import facilities allowing you to display other image formats such as Photoshop, BMP (QuickTime replaces BigPicture's built-in BMP reader when installed), GIF, PNG, and SGI images.

System Software Versions:

System 7, through 8.5.1

QuickTime is preferred (and recommended) but not required.

Contents:
    New 4.1 Features 
    How to View Files 
    Mouse Commands 
    Menus and Menu Commands
        The File Menu
        The Edit Menu
        The Mark Menu
        The Go Menu
        The Scene Menu
        The Options Menu
        The Organize Menu
    Keyboard Commands
    About Portfolio Files
    About Contact Sheet Files
    As a presentation engine
    A way cool set of wall paper
    Memory usage
    Special Note to Regarding Updates
    International Currency Guide
    Comments/Questions
    History (from 4.0 onward...)
    New 4.0 Features 

New 4.1 Features:
• Added support for reading PCX files.
• Added support for reading TIFF files. This facility is primarily intended for folks importing images produced by their scanning software (LZW compression is not supported).  Most TIFF variants are supported including tiled and JPEG encoded TIFF files.
• Added adjustable scaling quality (fast, good, better, and best) used when displaying images on the screen, copying images to the clipboard, and saving images to files.  This facility allows you to adjust the degree of anti-aliasing (jagged edge elimination) that is done when images are reduced (scaled down) in size.  Of course, the higher quality modes take longer--you may not want to use them all the time unless you have a faster machine.  You can adjust the scaling quality using the 'Scaling Quality' command in the 'Options' menu.
• The 'Copy As...' window now includes choices for 'Thousands of Colours' and 'Millions of Colours'.
• Fixed the web site link in the About box.

How to View Files:

• Use the open command in the File menu,
• System 7: drag and drop files, folders, or disks* into the BigPicture file icon,
• System 7.5: drag and drop files, folders, pictures, or disks* into the BigPicture window,
• Double clicking on portfolio files or files created by BigPicture.
• Clicking on a thumbnail in a contact sheet image.

* Be careful when dropping folders and disks into BigPicture.  The program will attempt to load every single file it finds in the disk or folder--which may take a very long time if the disk contains hundreds of files.  The program will only open up to 16000 files.

When you open a file in BigPicture it does not check to see if the file can be displayed until you actually try to display it.

Mouse Commands:

• Controls for working with images are accessible by mouse at the bottom of the window.  See the ‘Visual Help’ command in the help menu for more information about these controls.

• Clicking on the image number indicator opens the goto window,

• The scroll bar lets you switch between images,

• If the image is scaled beyond the window’s boundary, you can click and drag on the image to uncover unseen parts of the image.

• contact sheets include hot rectangles over each thumbnail connected to aliases that refer to the original file.  Clicking on a thumbnail in a contact sheet opens the image file.

Menus and Menu Commands:

The File Menu:

• Open…
Allows you to open files or folders.  When you open a folder, all files contained inside of the folder are loaded into the program.

• Close
Closes the front most window.  Closing the BigPicture window quits the program,

• Clear Window Contents
Removes all of the images from the window.

• Save As…
Saves the current image in a jpg format file.  The image is saved to the file as it is displayed on the screen.

• Save Contact Sheet(s)…
Systematically generates contact sheet files for every image loaded into the program.  Contact sheets are saved in jpg format files or as QuickTime compressed picture files.  Files that cannot be imaged are not included. Contact sheets contain four rows of images.  Each thumbnail in a contact sheet has an alias record associated with it so you can quickly access the file by clicking on the thumbnail.

• Save Portfolio…
Saves aliases to all of the images loaded into BigPicture into a Portfolio file.  Portfolio files remember key equivalents, scaling, orientation, thumbnail icons, et cetera.

• Page Setup…
For configuring the printer paper settings.

• Print…
Prints the currently displayed image as it is seen on the screen.  If the image is scaled larger than one page, it is printed on multiple pages.

• Print All…
Prints all of the images loaded into the program as thumbnails, placing as many on each printed page as possible.

• Print Order Form…
Prints the order form for BigPicture.

• Purchasing Information…
Displays information about how you can purchase a copy of this program.

• Quit
Exits BigPicture.

The Edit Menu:

Only the Copy, Paste, and Copy As commands are available.

• Copy
Copies the current image to the clipboard using the standard 256 colours.  If the image contains less than 256 colours, then the image’s original colours are used.  If the image is a black and white image and it is scaled down, then it is copied using 16 shades of gray.

• Paste
Pasting an image into the BigPicture allows you to save images from the clipboard into picture files.  When you paste an image in to the BigPicture window, you are prompted for a file name.  If the image is successfully saved into a file, then it is loaded into the display.  Images saved in this way are saved in PICT format files that can be read by many other programs.

• Show Clipboard Opens the clipboard window.  The clipboard window will displays the contents of the clipboard if the clipboard contains a picture.  Scrolling and scroll-dragging the image by hand is supported.

• Copy As...
Allows you to copy the image to the clipboard in a number of different formats.  If 16 colors is selected, then the image is copied using the 16 most frequently used colours in the original image mapped to the 16 closest colours in the standard 256 colour space.

The Mark Menu:

The mark menu allows you to add images to the mark menu.  Once an image has been marked, you can quickly go to it by choosing its name from the mark menu.

• Mark/Unmark
Allows you to either mark or unmark the current image.

The Go Menu:

• Next
Go to the next image.

• Previous
Go to the previous image.

• First
Go to the first image.

• Last
Go to the last image.

• Go Back
BigPicture remembers the names of the last 20 images that have been displayed.  Go Back returns the display to the most recently viewed image.  This option is particularly useful when working with contact sheets: (a) click on the thumbnail in the contact sheet to view the image, (b) choose ‘Go Back’ to return to the contact sheet.

• Go To…
Opens the Go To window.  The Go To window displays a list of all the files loaded into BigPicture (along with thumbnail icons) of all of the images loaded into BigPicture.  Thumbnail icons are only displayed for images that have been viewed.

Note: thumbnail icons displayed in the goto window are saved in Portfolio files.

The Scene Menu:

The scene menu provides menu equivalents for some of the controls in the control bar.

• Rotate Right
Rotates the current image 90 degrees to the right.

• Rotate Left
Rotates the current image 90 degrees to the left.

• Flip Vertical
Flips the image vertically.

• Flip Horizontal
Flips the image horizontally.

• Zoom In
Scales the image so it appears bigger on the screen.

• Zoom Out
Scales the image so it appears smaller on the screen.

• Original View
Returns the image to its original scaling and orientation.

The Options Menu:

• Use Full Screen
Use the entire screen.

Note:  you can cancel full screen mode by either choosing this command again or by typing a space.

• Show/Hide Controls
Allows you to show or hide the control bar at the bottom of the window.

• Show Current Time
Displays the time.

• Auto Shuffle
Turns on automatic image switching.  QuickTime movies are played once before they are switched out.

• Shuffle Options…
Allows you to configure the settings used for automatic image switching.

• Update Image File Icon
Updates the image file icon for the image currently displayed in the window.  The icon will be a thumbnail of the image.

• Place Custom Icon…
Allows you to place a thumbnail of the image you are currently viewing on any file.  The icon will be a thumbnail of the image.

• Fix Up Colours
Calculates the best colours for displaying an image containing thousands of colours on a 256 colour screen and then redraws the image using those colours.  The calculation can take a few seconds on some machines, and after it’s done about 4 kilobytes of memory are used to remember the colours.

• Scaling Quality
The sub-menu for this item allows you to select the scaling quality (Fast, Good, Better, or Best) used when displaying images on the screen, copying images to the clipboard, or saving images to files.  The scaling quality selection controls the degree of anti-aliasing (jagged edge elimination) that is done when images are reduced (scaled down) in size.  Of course, the higher quality modes take longer--you may not want to use them unless you have a faster machine.

If the 'Draw While Scaling' option is turned on, then the image will be drawn to the screen in 32 pixel high bands as the scaling operation progresses; otherwise, if this option is turned off and there is sufficient memory, then the image will be drawn to the screen all at once after the entire scaling operation is complete.  This option is only available for the Good, Better, and Best settings--it is always on for the Fast setting.

• Drag And Drop Location...
It is possible to drag and drop  pictures from other programs into the main window.  Pictures dropped into the main window are automatically saved into picture files.  Initially, new picture files created in this way are saved on the desktop, but it is possible to configure the program to place new files in any folder.  This command allows you to configure the folder used by the program for creating new files.

The Organize Menu:

• Sort Images By Name
Sorts all of the images loaded into the program by name so they can be scrolled through alphabetically and they appear in the goto window in alphabetical order.

• Duplicate All Image Files…
Allows you to copy all of the images currently loaded into the program to another directory.  When you choose this command, a dialog box appears asking you where to save the files.

• Duplicate Marked Image Files…
Allows you to copy all of the marked images to another directory.  When you choose this command, a dialog box appears asking you where to save the files.

• Move All Image Files…
Allows you to move all of the images currently loaded into the program to another directory.  Files in the original location are removed after each file is copied.  When you choose this command, a dialog box appears asking you where to save the files.

• Move Marked Image Files…
Allows you to move all of the marked images to another directory.  Files in the original location are removed after each file is copied.  When you choose this command, a dialog box appears asking you where to save the files.

• Rename Image File…
Allows you to change the name of the image file that is currently being displayed.

• Delete Current Image
Permanently deletes the image file that is currently being displayed.  Holding the shift key down while selecting this command will do a ‘go back’ after the file has been deleted.

The Help Menu:

• Commands Help…
Displays a picture of the control bar with names for the corresponding controls.

• Online Manual…
Displays this text in a window.

• Purchasing Information…
Displays information about how you can purchase a copy of this program.

Keyboard Commands:

The key control allows you to assign a key equivalent to an image.  When an image has a keyboard equivalent, typing that key automatically scrolls the display to that image.  If more than one image is assigned the same key equivalent, typing the key will switch between those images.

Several keys on the keyboard duplicate commands you would normally click the mouse to use:

• Go To Next Image: down arrow key, right arrow key, page down key, return key.

• Space bar moves to the next image, returning to the first one after the last image has been viewed.

• Go To Previous Image:  up arrow key, left arrow key, page up key.

• Go To First Image: home key.

• Go To Last Image: end key.

• Go Back: tab key.

• Forget Image:  delete key, del key.  Holding down the shift key while choosing this command will do a ‘go back’ command after the image has been removed from memory.

• Original View:  the star key ‘*’

• Zoom Out: the minus key ‘-’

• Zoom In: the plus key ‘+’

• Cancel Full Screen: any key other than those listed above that is not a letter or a number.

• Letters and numbers can be assigned as keyboard equivalents for different images.  Once a key has been assigned, typing it will automatically scroll to that image.

About Portfolio Files:

• Saving a portfolio file saves references to all of the images you currently have loaded so you can quickly load the same set of images at a later date--it does not save the actual images in portfolio files.

BigPicture saves some other information inside of portfolio files too:
• How each image is scaled, centered, rotated, and flipped.
• Keyboard equivalents assigned to images.
• Images appearing in the mark menu.
• Thumbnail icons displayed in the goto window.

About Contact Sheet Files:

Contact sheet files store aliases referring to actual files used to generate the contact sheets.  Alias records are created relative to the contact sheet file, so, for best results, store your contact sheets in the same directory as your image files.  Aliases and hot rectangles are stored in the resource fork and are independent of the jpg data stored in the data fork.

option-command clicking on images in contact sheets is a convenient way to delete the image file without going to it.

As a presentation engine:

Portfolio files are useful for preparing presentations.  Once you prepare a presentation and save it in a portfolio file, you can set up and do your presentation at the drop of a hat!

• Preparing your presentation:

1. Select the images you would like to use and load them into BigPicture.
2. Assign keyboard equivalents to each image.  
3. Rotate, flip, center, and scale the images (or movies) as desired.
4. Choose 'Make Portfolio…' from the File menu and save it.
5. Quit BigPicture

• Doing your presentation (practice a few times to make sure everything is set up right):

1. Open your portfolio by double clicking on it, opening it from the file menu, or dropping it into BigPicture.
2. Set the program on full screen mode and hide the controls (command-F and command-D respectively).
3. Type the keyboard equivalents you assigned to the images in your presentation as required by your discussion.

• After your presentation:

Turn on the Auto Shuffle option (command-A).  The program turns into a changing backdrop for discussion and questions, and may provide memory cues for questions people thought about during your presentation.

A way cool set of wall paper:

The Auto Shuffle command allows you to randomly shuffle through a set of images.  Individual images are not displayed again until all the other images have been seen.

Memory usage:

If BigPicture runs low on memory and cannot pre-load an entire file for display, then it will draw the file directly to the screen.  When this happens, the flip and rotate controls are disabled.

QuickTime movies generally require more memory for display.  If there is not enough memory to load the movie, it will be drawn directly on the screen and the flip and rotate controls will be unavailable.

You can run BigPicture with as little as 1 megabyte, however as the program caches images and does more interesting things with larger memory partitions, 2 megabytes or more is recommended.

Special Note to Regarding Updates:

Customers who have purchased a copy of a previous version will receive an updated copy in the mail for free.  As well, if you have already purchased a copy, you may replace it with a copy of the latest version at no charge.

International Currency Guide

If you are a resident of the US, the price is $20.00US.  If you are a Canadian resident, the price is $20.00CDN.  For European residents and residents of the UK, the price is £10.00 pounds sterling.  For all other countries including countries in the middle east the price is $20.00US.  Yen 2000¥ for Japanese customers.

Comments/Questions:

If you have any comments or questions regarding BigPicture you can contact me at the following Internet address tinyjohn@sk.sympatico.ca.  Suggestions for new features are always welcome.  I advertise a finder’s fee of $10 for bug reports in any of my products.

History (from 4.0 onward...)

New 4.0 Features:
• Now it is possible to drag and drop a picture from any other program into the main window.  Pictures dropped into the main window are saved into picture files.  Initially, new picture files created in this way are created on the desktop, but it is possible to configure the program to place all new files into any particular folder using the new 'Drag And Drop Location...' command in the options menu.
• Pasting pictures into the main window now creates a file in the drag and drop location--the window asking for a file name does not appear.
• BigPicture now runs off bootable cd’s.
• The old internal image buffering mechanisms have been replaced with faster more memory conscious ones.
• BigPicture now uses the Independent JPEG Group's code for reading and writing jpeg files.
• BigPicture does not decode or encode GIF format files.  To view GIF files, install QuickTime 2.5 or later on your system.  BigPicture calls on the graphic import facilities provided by QuickTime 2.5 and later to view such files. Mac OS 7.6 and later ship with QuickTime 2.5.
• The 'Shuffle Options..." now allows a continuous range of settings for timed image display.
• BigPicture now uses the appearance manager so its windows look right in Mac OS 8.0 and later.
• Movie poster frames are now saved with hot-links in image catalogs.
• Movies now remember their size and position in the main window when they are switched out.  This information is also saved in portfolio files.
• Image Rendering now does a 'best effort with best quality first' strategy for image display in the following order (starting with your screen's depth):  32 bit, 16 bit, 256 colour, and then (if all else fails) 16 shades of gray.  Generally, the lower quality modes will seldom be used if BigPicture has a memory partition of 6 megs or more--they are only used when memory is low.