"Digital Image Suite 9" Review

"Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9"
A Review by: John Inzer

======================================

"Digital Image Suite 9" is a versatile package that
combines two linking, but yet separate and distinct
programs, "Digital Image Pro 9" and "Digital Image
Library 9".

First, I think it's important to mention that the Picture
It! team has been *under the hood* doing some
caching work and the result is impressive. It has
been my experience that the new programs' ability
to handle multiple images is significantly improved
over all previous versions.

I found that the program installs quickly and doesn't
require previous versions be uninstalled. Your virus
scanner should be disabled during the install.

"Tour Screen"
The first time Digital Image Pro 9 is opened, you
will be greeted with the Tour Screen. Here you will
find links to animated displays that depict many of
the programs' features.

Including:
Touchup Pictures
Apply Special Effects
Edit Multiple Pictures
Print And Share
Use Digital Image Library

"Startup Window"
Upon closing the Tour Screen, you will see the
Startup Window which includes links for Opening,
Editing and Cataloging your image files. Also
included are links to Instructional Videos, Help, the
Recent Files List, Online Photo Tips and a link for
Registering your program online.

If you prefer that your program opens directly to the
Work Area...both the Tour Screen and the Startup
Window can be easily disabled by unchecking
Show on startup.

Now we arrive at the Work Area (Main Screen)
where there are many new and improved options
to discover.

"Zoom and Pan"
The Zoom Slider is now located on the Work Space
Toolbar just above the Work Area and will increase
the size of an image to 2000% (slightly more than
double the 7.0 limit of 999%). To easily focus on a
particular section of an enlarged image, a simple
click on the Pan Palette will center that portion of
your project on screen. Once open, the Pan Palette
can be easily moved to any position on your screen.

"Advanced Selection Tools"
Also found on the Work Space Toolbar are the new
Advanced Selection Tools. I've seen many requests
for a selection tool and DIP9 provides four tools for
this purpose.

Marquee Tool: Select by shape, (68 shapes to
choose from).
Freehand Tool: Manually draw or trace an outline.
Edge Finder: Provides an adjustable selection
frame for auto-outlining an object.
Magic Wand: Select by color.

"Docking Stack and Files Palette"
We now can enjoy the versatility of a docking Stack
and a docking Files Palette. Each one can be
undocked from their home position on the right of
the screen and moved to your favorite location. If
you choose to close the docking palettes and
disable your rulers, the full width of the screen will
be clear for your projects.

"Common Tasks Pane"
Accessed from a button on your Work Space
Toolbar, the Common Tasks Pane opens on the
left side of the Work Area and provides quick links
to most of the programs' features...including the
Digital Image Library.

In addition to the editing tools that we have become
accustomed to, there are some new ones that I have
found to be quite useful.

"Straighten Picture"
This is a very handy tool if you have an image that
requires to be rotated slightly. All you have to do is...
trace a line along an object that you feel is straight.
(horizontal or vertical.....left click / drag / left click)
...as soon as you make the last click...the image
rotates. If you're happy with the new position...click
Done and the image will be auto cropped and
returned to the work area.

"Smart Erase"
If, for example...there is an object in an image that
needs to be removed...all you have to do is trace a
line around it and click "Fill In". Additional touchup
is required in some cases but I have found the tool
to be just like magic.

"Blending Brush"
This tool is similar to the clone brush but is much
more subtle. If you drag your brush from one color
into another color a subtle fade is achieved. This
is a excellent tool for removing facial blemishes,
and I have found it to be very useful for blending
cutouts and backgrounds in collages.

"Crop Canvas"
The Crop tool has been significantly improved. Now,
your selection frame can be nudged with your arrow
keys...this is much easier and more accurate than
left click / dragging. Also, you have an option to
"Show gridlines for the rule of thirds" which can aid
you in framing your subject matter more creatively.

"Print Templates"
The print templates have undergone a major make
over and now we have package style templates that
allow assorted size images on a single page. Also,
the user can reposition and resize the images in the
Print Layout (template) view. The program will auto
rotate your images when required and you also have
the option to nudge the images into position with
your arrow keys.

"Mini Lab"
This is a great tool for working with multiple images.
Not only can you Rotate, adjust Brightness and
Contrast, adjust Tint, and even Print...but also the
option to do a Batch Format Conversion has been
returned to the Mini Lab. (BTW, Digital Image Library
has the ability to do several batch processes also).

"Projects"
Included in the program are many pre-formatted
projects such as: Album pages, Business cards,
Greeting Cards, Flyers, and Postcards just to
mention a few.

======================================

"Digital Image Library 9" is an easy to learn, easy to
use program that will help you catalog your collection
of image files.

You can edit the file names, captions and dates.
You also can add keywords and even ratings from
one to five stars to one image or multiple images.

There is an Archive feature to aid you in saving your
images to removable media or to a folder on your
hard drive.

There is an Import feature that allows you to catalog
image files that are stored on removable media.
You can browse the cataloged files and open them
from within Digital Image Pro 9.

If you have Windows XP and Windows Media Player
9 installed, you can create a Photo Story that includes
music and / or narration with your choice of images.
These .wmv files can be viewed in Windows 98SE
or newer with Windows Media Player 7.1 or newer.
Video CDs (VCDs) can also be created and will play
on many DVD players.

Several Batch options are available:
Batch Resize
Batch Rename
Batch Format Conversion

For editing there is a link that conveniently opens
your choice of image editors. DIP9 of course is the
default.

There is even a Picture Viewer where you can view
a full screen slide show of the selected images.

"My conclusion"
If you wish to edit, print, organize and archive your
image files...Digital Image Suite 9 is certainly worth
your consideration. And don't forget...you can also
use it to create an assortment of interesting and
useful paper projects.

I have only touched on what I believe to be some of
the main features in the new program...there is much
more to be discovered and enjoyed.

John Inzer
Copyright 2003

Thanks John. Has stitching been added to DIP 9? Although I haven't had a lot of uses for
stitching (I did use stitching to put multiple pictures of a giant sequoia tree together so I
can get it all in one picture), it would be nice to see it added to DIP.
Tom

============================================
Hi Tom,

No, I'm afraid not. Of course you could create a blank and
add your images by hand but there is no stitch feature in
any version of Picture It! or Digital Image Pro.

--

John Inzer
Picture It! MVP
return e-mail disabled

Are all the illusions still there? With full access to
the selection tools? Are there any new illusions? For me,
they are the whole reason to use Picture It.

=========================================
If there have been any filters removed, I am not aware
of it. My count shows 208 in the new program, which is
about 50 more than last year. Also, I don't know if you
are aware that since DIP7...you can add Adobe Photo
Shop Plug-in Filters. (it has been reported that some
don't work but many do)

The selections tools are accessed from the Main work
area, so you would have to apply your filter and then
return to the work area.

You may be interested in reading about the new
programs at the following links:

Microsoft Digital Image 9 Suite
http://tinyurl.com/hd4t

Microsoft Digital Image 9 Pro
http://tinyurl.com/hreb

John,

Excellent review and spot on. Thank you for your time!

I would like to add that I have had minimal experience
with Digital Image Suite 9 (about a week, or about 10
launches/uses) and I have found the performance engine to
be above average and an improvement over the Digital
Image Pro product.

My biggest applaud goes to the improved interface and
it's tight connection with the new Library.

Anyone considering this product should SURELY consider
this!

Brian Kvalheim

>....as soon as you make the last click...the image

>.
>

Hi Brian,

Thanks for your generous compliment and I agree
that the program is vastly improved. I think it's the
best of the series.

--

"Brian Kvalheim - [MS MVP]" <publ...@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:049901c35610$a7976c10$a101...@phx.gbl...

"John Inzer" <oo...@doobie.xyz> wrote in message>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John, Thanks for your dedication and insight. You are amazing!

A few observations:

- "PNG Plus format": According to the manual: Proprietary format "PNG Plus"
files, by default, include a full size flattened image. (previous versions
only had a low resolution flat image). This is a good (and necessary)
enhancement because "PNG plus" shares the same extension a normal PNG files.
What happened with earlier versions: Other programs could open "PNG plus"
files, but all they got was a small, low resolution image. Now you can use
your "PNG plus" images (flattened, but full resolution) directly in other
programs without having to convert them first.

- Should you desire to convert them, the batch reformat has come
back so you can do it with out individual saves for each image

- Once again, batch reformat it back. It was a catastrophe to have removed
it in DIP 7.

- Digital Image Library: Most importantly, will this have a useful life
span? It's a lot of work to catagorize, label and apply keywords to many
hundreds or thousands of images. If this cataloging scheme goes in the
trash (like so many previous PIP cataloging schemes) then all the work is
wasted. To the best of my knowledge, MS has never offered any way to
migrate from one scheme to another - you're just out of luck. There doesn't
appear to be any way to migrate from previous schemes to the "Digital Image
Library" either. This lack of commitment to the current customer base over
many years and different formats might give one an indication as to the
future of "Digital Image Library".

- aside from that, a single level of keywords with no way to group or
organize the keywords will very quickly become a problem
- nifty video features (via a "Lite" version of Photostory from MS
"Plus! Digital Media Edition") work on *XP only*

Thanks for the generous compliment.

You make some good points....I too was unhappy
about the .png.plus incompatibility with other programs
and that has been rectified in version 9.

And I agree that removing certain batch options from
the 7.0 version was a big disappointment. There are
however...several batch options in Digital Image
Library 9. And, at least...the Batch Format Conversion
has been returned to Digital Image Pro 9.

I have no idea if the Library will be carried into future
versions of the program, but like any other tool we
purchase...we can continue to use DIS9 for many
years to come.

The fact that technology marches on and the fact that
many of us think we must keep up with it sometimes
causes disappointments.

I guess I'll have to spend more time with the Library
before I can comment on it. Actually, I'm not real big
on cataloging my image files...I just save them in
dated folders and burn them on dated/labeled CD-Rs.
Seems to me that Digital Image Library 9 has lots
of options though. Have you actually tried the
program?

As for the Photo Story...you must be running WinXP
and WMP9 to create a Story, but you can play them
with Win98SE and newer and WMP7.0 and newer.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Cheers

--

"Name" <---...@none.abc> wrote in message
news:us5N$WlVDH...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

"John Inzer" <oo...@doobie.xyz> wrote

You are truely deseving of compliments! Very few people are so dedicated to
helping others.

No, I just took a look at the manual to learn a little more about it. I'm
using a competitive image editor and cataloging system (the initials are
PS..). When you have thousands of images, it's nice to be able to organize
them efficiently and be able to find whatever you might want in a click or
two. These systems go way beyond dated folders. Indexing (or tagging) is
very useful. I make albums (web and printed) for various occasions quite
frequently. For example, my father just turned 80 and I wanted to make a
printed photo history for his party and a web album for people to view at
their leisure. I was able to select "Dad" and the system just found every
picture that had that tag applied. They were displayed by date (oldest
first, but could have done it otherwise), I selected the ones I wanted then
rearranged the order a little bit. Then I created a web album (a couple
clicks) and exported them all to another format (JPG) in order to use
another program that does a great job with scrap-book style photo albums.
That's a lot harder to do without indexed pictures.

You can also select multiple keys, for example to find all pictures that
have two specific people in them ("and" the keys). Keys can also be
"or'd)...

Multiple levels of hierarchy in the indexing scheme is important. A flat
structure that mixes people, places, things, events... all together is a
pain to use.

You are absolutely right. The only reason that I can see that Microsoft is
not doing this now is because they don't want to waste their time or lock
people into something which is obsolete. The next OS. "Longhorn" will have a
database as an important part of the filesystem and maybe then Microsoft
will introduce categories not just for images, but for every file on your
system.

Longhorn is more than a year away. In the meantime, I'll be using iMatch to
categorize my files. It already excels at image files, and the next release
(3.5 in October) will support the rest of the files.

Warning, it is a highly customisable tool. Without reading the manual and
maybe seeking some help on the forums you may not see everything right away.
It is also not primarily an editor so you can and still should use Picture
It or some other program as your editor. It is programmable and comes with
many sample scripts.

iMatch at http://www.photools.com

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