Multipage files - number of pages, current page

[KillyMXI]

XnViewMP is a wonderful software, but I'm having difficulty to use it for multipage TIFF files.

There doesn't seem to be any indication for multipage content besides activated Prev page/Next page buttons.

Things I would love to see:

• Number of pages field to use in custom format strings;
• Current page field to use in custom format strings;
• Information text for image preview in the browser tab would be handy, so I can have chosen information on screen without sacrificing much screen space for panels;
• Some kind of slider / navigation panel for multipage files, displayed at the bottom of the preview, similar to "Show ratings";
• Possibility to generate contact sheet from pages;
• Quick access to contact sheet generation / preview for multipage files. Alternatively, a way to overview a multipage file as if it is a folder of images.

XnView Classic has "Page #" or "Show page" dialog available only from the single image view panel. Modal dialog does what I need but is not very convenient. Still, even reintroducing it in XnViewMP as is would be better than the current state.

Single image view has the current page and total pages number in the status bar, but it's not very convenient.

[xnview]

so you would like to have an indication in browser?

[KillyMXI]

Yes, I guess that's the most important part of it.

Although, after I posted this suggestion I discovered more issues that make XnView/MP not suitable for scientific images.

- Pages array can be multidimensional (multiple sliders required - channels, slices, frames. Although I'm still not sure how application-specific this is, how well the stacking can be recovered from the file itself);
- Images can have weird pixel value ranges (or some other issue, not quite sure), XnViewMP shows some images as noise with characteristic "phase wrap"/"fresnel" pattern.

Another issue I just found:
If I assign Prev/Next Page shortcuts - they only work in the browser and don't work in the single image view, making impossible to have both kb navigation and current page number at the same time.

So far ImageJ and IrfanView provide better support for scientific images, but UX is not great for browsing, so that's why I was looking at XnViewMP.

[xnview]

- Images can have weird pixel value ranges (or some other issue, not quite sure), XnViewMP shows some images as noise with characteristic "phase wrap"/"fresnel" pattern.

you can send me image files not correctly readed

If I assign Prev/Next Page shortcuts - they only work in the browser and don't work in the single image view, making impossible to have both kb navigation and current page number at the same time.

do you have changed the shortcut in 'edit mode' too?

So far ImageJ and IrfanView provide better support for scientific images, but UX is not great for browsing, so that's why I was looking at XnViewMP.

Why?

[KillyMXI]

you can send me image files not correctly readed

I'll see. An individual image out of context is probably ok to send. But it is also a 1GB file.

do you have changed the shortcut in 'edit mode' too?

*Viewer mode
I wonder how many people are bitten by this. Dropdown is just a poor UX choice when there is a short fixed number of alternatives. And it is so easy to miss here.
Tabs inside tabs would be not great either. Perhaps the Settings structure can see an overhaul. It might be tricky to find some things currently.

Why?

Why what?
- ImageJ was made to work with scientific images (and probably responsible for producing some of weird TIFF files). It is aware of how pages are grouped into multiple dimensions. And provides sliders for each dimension (It also tries to combine images in the colors dimension but in not very elegant way). But it has nothing like an image browser.
- IrfanView just shows individual pages correctly. Even on images when there is no noise, XnViewMP can show me almost black image while IrfanView shows the details that are consistent with ImageJ.

Also, I'm not sure why XnViewMP shows a warning about converting a 16BPP monochrome image to an image with 8 bit per channel. I suspect other viewers are just silent about it. What makes me think whether I should disable the warning: would there be a situation in the future when I may benefit from this knowlege? And the answer is "I don't know, I'll think about it another time". I would prefer to have this information in the status bar instead - not in the way but available and can be taken into consideration.

[xnview]

do you have changed the shortcut in 'edit mode' too?

*Viewer mode
I wonder how many people are bitten by this. Dropdown is just a poor UX choice when there is a short fixed number of alternatives. And it is so easy to miss here.

what will be better?

Why?

- IrfanView just shows individual pages correctly. Even on images when there is no noise, XnViewMP can show me almost black image while IrfanView shows the details that are consistent with ImageJ.

Please send me a sample file

Also, I'm not sure why XnViewMP shows a warning about converting a 16BPP monochrome image to an image with 8 bit per channel. I suspect other viewers are just silent about it. What makes me think whether I should disable the warning: would there be a situation in the future when I may benefit from this knowlege? And the answer is "I don't know, I'll think about it another time". I would prefer to have this information in the status bar instead - not in the way but available and can be taken into consideration.

yes other viewers convert channel too

[KillyMXI]

what will be better?

I think there is an issue with too many layers of hierarchy in the Settings window, and each uses different navigation type - a tree, then tabs, then dropdown.
I'd love to see all command shortcuts (both for browser and viewer) in a single list. This might be challenging to figure out how it should work in XnView though.
In general I think the whole structure can be reworked. If it were up to me - I'd try to keep all screens selectable from the tree and remove any existing tabs from the right. This will give an opportunity to use actual tabs for Toolbars/Shortcuts.

Please send me a sample file

Sent via PM.

[xnview]

Please send me a sample file

Sent via PM.

Thanks to your detailed description I can reproduce the problem.

[xnview]

This problem is supposed to be fixed in XnView MP 1.01. Please check and confirm the bug fix here.

[KillyMXI]

Thank you.
It works nicely - I can't find any images that would still be broken.

It would still be great to get some page navigation improvements though.
- Some way to see the page information along with the browser preview;
- Maybe a way to play multipage document as a movie/slideshow in the preview;
- Something else from the opening post;
- Something about multidimensional organization of pages in scientific images (looks like the format allows pages to be organized in a tree structure, but I'm yet to dig into the format and see how it is actually used.)