AcidImage

AcidImage™

Red Mercury™ Presents AcidImage

Read license.txt before using this software.

Quick Start

With AcidImage, you can view JPEG, GIF, or BMP image files directly from your Memory Card or Memory Stick. You don't need any special software on your desktop computer in order to use AcidImage. You can even pop your Memory Card or Memory Stick right out of a digital camera and view the full image right on your Palm.

You can also use AcidImage to view any PictureGear Pocket or MGI™ PhotoSuite® images that you may have on your Palm or Memory Card.

Installation

To install AcidImage, just double-click on the file "AcidImage.prc". The Palm Install Tool will start, with AcidImage.prc listed in the window.

Click "Done". The next time you HotSync, AcidImage will be installed.

If double-clicking does not work, you can start Palm Desktop and click the "Install" icon to start the Palm Install Tool. You can then click "Add..." and select the AcidImage.prc file.

If you have trouble installing AcidImage, you can find help in the documentation that came with your Palm OS device. You can also send email to support@red-mercury.com with questions.

Registration

AcidImage will remind you from time to time that it is free to try for a short time. It will tell you how many days you have left to try for free. If you would like to purchase the fully registered version, simply visit Red Mercury to find instructions on how to purchase on-line. Once you have purchased the full version, you will receive an UnlockCode that will allow you unlimited AcidImage use on one Palm OS device.

Copy Images To Memory Card / Memory Stick

AcidImage allows you to view images directly off a Memory Card or Memory Stick, without any special software on your desktop computer. Any Windows BMP, GIF, or JPEG image can be viewed with AcidImage once it has been copied to your memory card. No Conduits or Image Converters are needed.

You can use the Palm Install Tool to copy images directly to your Memory Card. Start the Palm Install Tool on your desktop computer, and drag your BMP, GIF or JPEG image files to the Install Tool. They will be copied to your Memory Card the next time you HotSync. (Note: If the Palm Install Tool won't let you install image files, try HotSyncing your Palm with a Memory Card inserted to let the Install Tool know that you have a Memory Card. Also, if the Install Tool won't let you install BMP files, try installing AcidImage first. This will let the Install Tool know where to put BMP files).

If you have a Sony CLIE, and if you have MS Import installed on your CLIE and computer, you can mount your memory stick as a hard drive on your computer. This allows you to drag and drop images directly to your Memory Stick.

Where To Copy Images

Your images can be copied anywhere you like on your Memory Card. If you use the Palm Install Tool, your images will most likely end up in a directory called "/DCIM". If you use MS Import with a Sony Memory Stick, you can make your own directories and copy your images where you like. You can use subdirectories to organize your images. Future versions of AcidImage will let you sort and filter by directory to help you manage large numbers of images.

You can also view PictureGear Pocket and MGI PhotoSuite images with AcidImage. PictureGear Pocket images must be in a directory called "/Palm/Programs/PictureGear". MGI PhotoSuite images must be in a directory called "/Palm/Launcher". These are the directories that PictureGear and PhotoSuite put their images by default, so if you already have images in these formats, they will probably already be in the right place.

PictureGear and PhotoSuite images can also be stored in RAM on your Palm. Images stored in RAM will have a Palm icon in the file list, instead of a Memory Card or Memory Stick icon.

The File View

Once you have some images on your Memory Card, you are ready to view them with AcidImage. Start AcidImage by tapping its icon in the Palm Application Launcher.

Acid Image will find all of the image files on your Memory Stick and display them in the AcidImage File View. In the File View, you can select which images you would like to view by tapping the checkbox next to the image name. Then, tap the "View" button to view the images you have selected. You can use the Page Up / Page Down buttons on your Palm to go to the next or previous image, if you have multiple images selected.

You can also tap the "Slideshow" button in the File View - see "Viewing With the Slideshow Button" below.

Image Info

Next to each image in the File View, there is a question mark icon. Tap that icon to get some detailed information about the image, such as its dimensions, and its compressed size.

Sorting

The File View has four Sort buttons, marked "L", "T", "Name" and "Date". The "L" stands for "Location" - some images might be on your Memory Card, while others (PictureGear or PhotoSuite format) might be in RAM. The "T" stands for "Type" - JPEG, BMP, GIF, PictureGear, PhotoSuite, etc.

Tap on any Sort button to sort by that column. Tap the same Sort button again to sort in the reverse order.

Sorting by Date is useful if you have a digital camera that saves the date and time when you take a picture. If you sort by Date, the most recent picture taken will appear at the top of the list.

Viewing With the "View" Button

When viewing images individually (by tapping the "View" button), you will see Corner Tools. These are the tools in the four corners of the screen.

The tools can be hidden and shown by tapping the Hide/Show tool in the upper-left hand corner. The tools remain active when they are hidden - just tap in the corners.

The "X" in the upper-right corner allows you to exit back to the File View screen.

The Rotate tool in the lower-right corner allows you to rotate the image 90 degrees at a time.

The Zoom tool in the lower-left corner opens up a tool bar that allows you to zoom from less than 1% up to 1600%. This is helpful if, for example, you have a map and you would like to zoom in to some details, or zoom out to get an overall view.
The Zoom Toolbar also has a Fit To Screen button and a 100% button. The Fit To Screen button scales the image so that the entire image fits on the screen. The 100% button scales the image so that one pixel in the image equals one pixel on your screen.

You can see different parts of the image by dragging the image around on the screen. Just place the pen anywhere on the image (not on a tool), and move the pen. The image will move. You can use the Fit To Screen button on the Zoom Toolbar to re-center the image.

Viewing With the "Slideshow" Button

The Slideshow button allows you to conveniently view multiple images in sequence.

When you tap the Slideshow button, you will be asked to select an interval between images. There are also "Loop" and "Show Progress Meter" checkboxes. When "Loop" is checked, the slideshow will start over at the beginning once it has reached the last image selected. If "Loop" is not checked, the slide show will stay on the last image until you exit the slideshow by tapping on the screen. When "Show Progress Meter" is checked, a small meter on the top line of the screen will show the progress of image decompression. Some images take longer than others to open and decompress, so leaving this on is an easy, unobtrusive way to know what is going on during your slide show. The progress meter during the slideshow is very small - it is just one pixel high, at the very top of the screen. If you uncheck "Show Progress Meter", no meter will be shown during slideshows.

To exit a slideshow, tap on the screen. You may have to tap more than once if your Palm is busy decompressing an image.

Preferences

To open the Preferences screen, tap the Menu icon on your Palm. The Menu icon is located below the screen, to the left, below the Application Launcher ("House") icon. Tap the Menu icon and select "Preferences" from the menu that drops down.

Show Startup Title Screen - Uncheck this option to turn off the AcidImage title screen. Memory Card scanning that normally happens during the Title Screen will be delayed until you get to the File View.

Show Corner Tools - Uncheck this to have the Corner Tools hidden when you View individual images. You can also tap the Hide/Show Corner Tool to set this option.

Load JPEGs Full Size - When this is checked, JPEGs will be loaded at their full resolution all the time. This takes longer, but if you have a map, or an image that you want to zoom in on, you will want to load it full size. When this preference is unchecked, AcidImage will load the JPEG at the smallest size that will fill the entire screen. If you are viewing pictures and don't need to zoom in on them, leave this option unchecked.

File Types

From the drop-down menu, you can also select "File Types...". This dialog box will allow you to filter out certain types of images in the file view. For example, if you don't want to see any GIF images in the File View, uncheck GIF in the File Types dialog box.

Image Formats

The image types supported by AcidImage each have their benefits and drawbacks.

BMP images load quickly, but they aren't compressed very much, so they take up a lot of space. Use BMPs if you need the fastest view time available.

GIF images load a bit slower than BMPs. They are compressed much more than BMP images. However, GIFs only have 256 colors, so you can't view a GIF at full 16-bit color on your Palm. Note that due to patent restrictions, you can't view GIFs unless you have purchased AcidImage.

JPEG images load the slowest, but they are very compressed and take up very little space on your memory stick. If you save your JPEGs at the same resolution as your screen (for example, 160x160 pixels for a Palm m505, or 320x320 pixels for a Sony CLIE), they will open faster than JPEGs that are much larger than the screen. Some image processing software lets you choose the compression level of your JPEGs. The higher the compression level, the smaller the files will be, and the faster they will load in AcidImage.

Even though JPEGs take a bit longer to load, they still load pretty quickly. A screen-sized image on most Palms will load in a few seconds, and display in full 16-bit color.

Also note that most digital cameras save images in JPEG format. You can take your Memory Card or Memory Stick directly out of your digital camera, stick it in your Palm, and view pictures you just took with your camera.

Memory Requirements

AcidImage needs free memory to load and display pictures. For most image types, if you are low on memory, AcidImage will let you know that there is not enough memory available to view an image. For JPEG images, AcidImage will try to load the image at a smaller size if memory is low.

The only limit to the size of image you can view with AcidImage is your available memory.

Have Fun

While you play around with AcidImage, it will periodically display an AcidImage Tip on the screen. These tips will teach you how to use AcidImage in no time. Each Tip has a checkbox at the bottom that says "Don't Show Again". Check that checkbox if you don't want to see that particular tip again.

Contacting Red Mercury

If you have questions or comments about AcidImage or Red Mercury, LLC, please visit our web site (http://www.red-mercury.com) for more information. If you have technical questions, you can always email us (support@red-mercury.com).

Red Mercury and AcidImage are trademarks of Red Mercury, LLC. MGI is a trademark, and PhotoSuite is a registered trademark of MGI Software Corp.