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An overview of A
Viewer for Windows
A Viewer for
Windows is a free lightweight tool which helps you view,
change, and save images.
The program has
three primary windows. The first allows you to open an
image, the second allows you to view, change, and save
it, and the third allows you to manage your 'effects'
(like sharpening or embossing).
With A Viewer
for Windows you can:
quickly open an
image,
level, rotate, pan, zoom and crop it,
change its brightness, contrast, gamma and saturation levels,
convert it to grayscale, invert and apply
effects to it.
The changed and original images can be viewed side by side, or
one over the other, with the program automatically syncing them
as they are panned, zoomed and rotated.
Additionally, A Viewer for Windows can keep itself on top of other applications, ensuring your work is viewable at all times.
When you're done working, your image can be saved to a file or your clipboard.
A Viewer for Windows integrates with A Ruler for Windows (also free), as well as Microsoft's Snipping and Magnify tools (both of which come with Windows).
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Quick Help vs Online
Help
Quick Help:
On A
Viewer for Windows' Main (open), Viewer, and Effects
Design windows there is Quick Help feature.
Just
click 'About/Help' on the main window, or 'Quick Help'
on either of the other windows to see a quick help
specific to the window you are using. The 'Quick
Help' covers the basics for the window.
Advantages of the Quick Help over the Online Help,
include:
It may be faster for you to
get the information you need from it, and
your computer does not need to be connected to the
internet to use it.
However, if you hold down the
'Alt' key when you click for help as described above,
the program will open up the online help in your default
browser instead.
Online Help:
The
online help is, in short, this webpage.
It
is specific to the version of A Viewer for Windows that
you are using.
Unlike the Quick help, access to
this page requires internet access.
Advantages of the Online Help over the Quick Help,
include:
in general, the font is
bigger so it may be easier for you to read,
it contains more information than the quick help,
it may be updated post release with
more complete information, and
it
can be printed via your browser's print feature (usually
'Ctrl '+ 'P').
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Opening an image
There are five ways to open an image from within the
program.
The
first three are quite common: drag and drop, open from
an existing file using a file selector, and open from
your clipboard.
The forth way is to use
Microsoft's snipping tool. Just click the image of the
scissors, and then A Viewer for Windows’ first window
will automatically minimize and Microsoft’s snipping
tool will appear. Once you have snipped the image it
will automatically load into the second window.
The fifth is a somewhat experimental. Basically it
assumes you already have an image open in another
program, like a browser, on your primary screen. If you
do then just dick where it says 'Click here to select an
image already shown on the screen'. Once done, the first
window will be automatically minimized. Next, just dick
on the image that is already being shown on your primary
screen and it will automatically load. If however A
Viewer for Windows cannot load the image the original
window will reappear.
Additionally, you may
open an image by left clicking on it on your Windows
desktop, or from within a folder, selecting the Windows
'Open with' option, and then finding and selecting A
Viewer for Windows.
You can also open an image
via the command line, a batch or script file. Here
is an example command line command to do that:
"c:\Program Files\A Viewer For
Windows\aviewerforwindows.exe" "c:\temp\test.jpg"
Here is the list of file type which A Viewer for
Windows can open:
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threefr, threeg2, threegp, a, aai, ai, apng,
art, arw, avi, avif, avs, b, bgr, bgra, bgro,
bmp, bmp2, bmp3, c, cal, cals, canvas, caption,
cin, clip, clipboard, cmyk, cmyka, cr2, cr3,
crw, cube, cur, cut, data, dcm, dcr, dcraw, dcx,
dds, dfont, dib, dng, dpx, dxt1, dxt5, emf,
epdf, ept2, ept3, erf, exr, farbfeld, fax, ff,
file, fits, fl32, flv, fractal, ftp, fts, ftxt,
g, g3, g4, gif, gif87, gradient, gray, graya,
group4, hald, hdr, heic, heif, hrz, http, https,
icb, ico, icon, iiq, inline, ipl, j2c, j2k, jng,
jnx, jp2, jpc, jpe, jpeg, jpg, jpm, jps, jpt,
jxl, k, k25, kdc, label, m, m2v, m4v, mac, map,
mask, mat, mef, miff, mkv, mng, mono, mov, mp4,
mpc, mpeg, mpg, mrw, msl, msvg, mtv, mvg, nef,
nrw, null, o, ora, orf, otb, otf, pal, palm,
pam, pango, pattern, pbm, pcd, pcds, pcl, pct,
pcx, pdb, pdfa, pef, pes, pfa, pfb, pfm, pgm,
pgx, phm, picon, pict, pix, pjpeg, plasma, png,
png00, png24, png32, png48, png64, png8, pnm,
pocketmod, ppm, psb, psd, ptif, pwp, qoi, r,
radialgradient, raf, ras, raw, rgb, rgb565,
rgba, rgbo, rgf, rla, rle, rmf, rsvg, rw2, scr,
screenshot, sct, sfw, sgi, six, sixel, sr2, srf,
stegano, strimg, sun, svg, svgz, text, tga, tif,
tiff, tiff64, tile, tim, tm2, ttc, ttf, txt,
uyvy, vda, vicar, vid, viff, vips, vst, wbmp,
webm, webp, wmf, wmv, wpg, x3f, xbm, xc, xcf,
xpm, xps, xv, y, ycbcr, ycbcra, yuv |
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Viewing, changing, and
saving an image
When you open an
image, an image will appear in the Viewer window.
The image you see is a copy of the original. The
original will not be changed unless you choose to save
over it.
The buttons on the left are used to
update the image you see.
Left click the 'Mirror'
button to horizontally mirror the image, or right click
the 'Mirror’ button to vertically mirror it.
Clicking the middle mouse button to removes any
mirroring.
To quickly de-skew an
image, click the 'Level' button, then
press the mouse button down on one point and lift it up
on a second point where those two points would be on the
same horizon should the image be level. For best
results, use two points which are as far apart
horizontally as possible. If you want to stop the
leveling process, just click on the Level' button again.
By default when you first open an image it will be
automatically zoomed within the Viewer window so that
you can see all of it. However, if you resize the Viewer
window you can left click the 'Fit'
button to re-fit the image in the viewer. Middle
clicking the 'Fit' button will fit the image
horizontally, and left clicking the 'Fit' button will
fit the image vertically. To see the image at its actual
size, middle click the 'Zoom' button."
For the 'Rotate', 'Zoom',
'Brightness', Contrast',
'Gamma', and 'Saturation'
buttons:
Holding the right mouse button down over
the button progressively increases its value, while
holding the left mouse button down over it progressively
decreases its value. Holding the Shift key down speeds
the rate of change by two, holding the Ctrl key down
speeds the rate of change by five, holding both down
speeds the rate of change by 10. Clicking the middle
mouse button over a button resets the value of that
button to its original value.
The status
bar at the bottom of the windows shows the
current values associated with each button.
To
crop an image, click on the 'Crop'
button and then use the mouse to draw a box around what
you would like to crop. If you want to stop the cropping
process, just click on the 'Crop' button again.
Clicking the 'Invert' button toggles
the image between being inverted or not.
Clicking
the 'Grayscale' button toggles the
image between grayscale and colour.
Left clicking
the 'Effects' button opens the
Effects Design window where you can manage your
effects (more help is available on that window).
Right clicking the 'Effects' button opens an 'Effect
Selection' box that lets you choose which effects
you would like applied to your image. Of note:
only enabled effects
are shown - effects are enabled/disabled in the Effects
Design window - more on this below. In the
Effect Selection box: clicking the name of the effect
specifies it for use, double clicking the name of the
effect opens it in the Effect Design window, clicking
the red box in the upper left hand corner removes the
specified effect from use, clicking the green box in the
upper right hand corner lets you add another specified
effect (to the right), and clicking the long blue box
accepts all specified effects for use.
To
move the Effect Selection boxes, click and hold
your mouse button down on the 'Effect 1' Selection box's
title bar and dragging it to a new location.
If you have more than one Effect Selection box open, the
other Selection boxs will automatically follow in line
behind the first. The first will also be
automatically placed against the far left edge of the
image.
Middle clicking on the 'Effects'
button removes all effects.
Holding a mouse
button down on the 'Reset' button for
one second resets the image to what it looked like when
it was first shown.
Right clicking on the
'Viewer' button opens a second window
on the right containing the original image.
This
image will be kept in sync with the changed image as you
pan, rotate or zoom it.
Lett clicking on the
'Viewer' button will put the original image under the
changing one.
Middle clicking the 'Viewer'
button will hide the original image.
Clicking
the 'Pin to top' button will toggle if
the viewer window stays on top of other windows.
Left clicking the 'AR4W' button will
launch A Ruler
for Windows (if it is installed on the computer).
The left mouse button opens the program in reading guide
mode, the right mouse button opens it in ruler mode, the
middle mouse button closes A Ruler for Windows.
Clicking the 'Magnify' button opens
Microsoft's Magnify tool if it is closed or closes it if
it is open. When the magnifier is open it will be
restored to its last used settings.
Clicking the
'Copy' button copies the image to the
computer's clipboard.
Clicking the 'Save'
button allows you to save the image to your computer or
network.
Here is the list of file type which A Viewer
for Windows can save:
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bmp, emf, exif, gif, icon, jpg, png, tiff,
wmf |
More on zooming, rotating, and other
features
When the mouse pointer is over
the image, spinning the mouse wheel will zoom in
/ out on the image.
Holding the 'Alt'
key down when rotating the image, rotates it to the next
45 degree increment.
When the mouse
pointer is over the image, clicking and holding any
mouse button allows you to pan the image.
Also holding down the middle button over an
image shows the original image (only) until you
lift up on the middle mouse button again.
The
line between the button images and text
can be dragged left or right to hide/unhide the words
associated with the buttons.
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Creating, changing,
saving and sharing your own effects
The Effects Design window lets you set custom
Effects Profiles (profiles).
To get to this
window, right click on the 'Effects' button on the
Viewer window.
The left portion of the Effects
Design window contains buttons to manage your profiles
and update the images you see. The centre portion of the
screen lets you define your profiles. The right part of
the screen lets you see the results of your profiles.
The left portion of
the Effects Design window
Profiles have an 'Enable'
option on them. Disabled profiles will be skipped when
you click 'Next' or 'Previous' unless you are also
holding down the 'Ctrl' key. Also, Profiles which
are not enabled, will not be shown in the Effect
Selection
boxes on the Viewer window. This lets you keep
Profiles, but disable them so that they don't clutter up
your 'Effect Selection' boxes. To enable or disable a
Profile, just check the check box entitled 'Enable'.
The 'Add'
button adds a new blank profile.
The 'Copy'
button copies the current profile using the name of the
current profile adding ' - copy' to the end of it.
The 'Save' button will be enabled
if you are adding a new Profile, copying one, or have
made changes to an existing profile. Clicking the 'Save'
button saves the changes to the profile you have made.
The 'Rename' button allows you
to rename the current profile.
The 'Remove'
button allows you
to delete an existing profile.
The 'Locate'
button allows find where on your computer your profiles
are stored. It is a good idea
to periodically back these up.
You may also share profiles you create with
others. This can be done by you sending them your
profile files, and them double clicking on those files
to have them automatically added to their profile files
folder.
The 'Test' button lets
you see the results of the profile setting on your
screen without having to save them. If you are happy
with your testing results, click 'Save' to save them, or
click 'Cancel'.
The 'Cancel'
button cancels that you have been making and reverts to
the original profile.
The 'Viewer'
button behaves the same way as on the main window.
However, rather than seeing the original image and the
image you are changing, you will see the changed image
at the time the Effects Design window was open (without
any Effects applied) and the impacts of the profile you
see in the centre of the screen applied to it. This
allows you to first apply other modifications, such as
changing its zoom, rotation, brightness, contrast, etc.,
to your image and then use this window to select the
best profile for use with your image.
The centre portion of the
Effects Design window
Displays the name
and values associated with a profile.
You can
quickly change the profile you are working with from the
tree-view box. Also, you can navigate it with the
'Home', 'Down Arrow',
'Up Arrow', and 'End' keys.
Folders in the tree
view box appear in black, while profiles appear in
blue. Disabled profiles appear in italics. As a
reminder, only enabled profiles will be show on the
Effect Selection boxes in the Viewer window.
Hovering your mouse
pointer over any of the text box fields on this window
will pop-up a tool tip describing the values which can
be entered in it.
Blurs
and Effects
First, for context:
With A
Viewer for Windows there are two types of matrices
(filters), these are: ’Blur'
and 'Effect'.
A Blur is a type
of effect that can be used to blur an image, or
alternatively as a steppingstone in creating a
Sharpening effect used to sharpen an image.
The relationship between the Blur and Sharpening
effects is defined by the following formula used for
creating a sharpening effect: Effect =
Original + ( Original - Blur) * Amount
In the
above formula an original filter is a matrix of all
zeros, except in the centre cell where it is 1.
For example:
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0
Also, in creating a Blur effect a Sigma
value is needed. This is explained, here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_blur
However, not all effects are sharpening effects, for
example you can have an Emboss effect. According,
the above formula should only be of concern to those
wishing to create a Sharpening effect based on a Blur
effect.
Now having all that said for context,
with A Viewer for Windows, you can:
1. Manually
enter or automatically generate a Blur effect, and use
it as a Blur effect,
2. Manually enter or
automatically generate a Blur effect, and use it as a
steppingstone to automatically create a Sharpening
effect, or
3. Manually enter any type of Effect.
To manually enter a Blur, check the 'Blur'
option, uncheck the 'Compute' option, enter it, click
'Test' to see its impact on the image and save it when
you are happy with it.
To automatically generate
a Blur, check the 'Blur' option, check the
'Compute' option, enter a Sigma value, click 'Test' to
see its impact on the image and save it when you are
happy with it.
To automatically create a
Sharpening effect from a Blur, create a Blur (as above),
enter an 'Amount', select 'Effect', click 'Test' to see
its impact on the image and save it when you are happy
with it.
To manually enter an Effect, check the
Effect option, enter it, click 'Test' to see its impact
on the image and save it when you are happy with it. .
Of note, when manually entering either a Blur or
an Effect, you can check the 'Symmetric' option if the
filter is indeed symmetric to reduce the number of cells
you need to enter.
Additionally, when working
with Effects:
The 'Bias'
adds its value to each cell in the matrix when updating
the image.
The 'Factor' multiplies
values in matrix when updating the image.
When both the bias and factor are used,
the bias is first added to a matrix cell, and then the
sum of that is multiplied by the factor. So, in
short, the actual filter used = ( what is shown in the
matrix + the bias) x the factor.
To download a free Excel based calculator reflecting
all of this, please click
here.
The 'Modify
Colours' section allows you to change the
opacity (the amount you can see through an image) and or
its hue (in other words, its red, green, blue (rgb)
values).
The 'Transparency Colour'
section allows to select a colour on the image to become
completely transparent. You can do this by
entering its rgb values or by clicking once on the
coloured box and once again on any colour in the image.
The tolerance value lets you includes
other hues, within +/- tolerance value, to also be made
transparent.
The 'Notes’ section is a
free form area where you can record your own
notes/comments related to the profile.
The right portion of the
Effects Design window
Displays images as
already described. The images you see can be panned, but
not further zoomed or rotated in this window.
Other features
When the
mouse pointer is over the image, clicking and holding
any mouse button allows you to pan the image.
Also holding down the middle button over an image shows
the original image (only) until you lift up on the
middle mouse button again.
The line between the
button images and text can be dragged left or right to
hide/unhide the words associated with the button.
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Some additional
features
You can learn
more about A Viewer for Windows by clicking the other
options under the About/Help menu.
You can also
check the option to ’Automatically check for updates’ so
the program can let you know if a new version becomes
available.
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