Hello! Newbie questions

[faraway64d]

Hey,

I'm new to the forum and Xnview. Nice to meet you all This is a nifty piece of software you've got going.

I've got some straightforward and general questions about how it works, if you don't mind. I'll try to keep it brief. I've searched the forums before asking:

a) Noticed Xnview automatically rotates images when you open them (based on metadata from the camera). Is this automatic rotation lossless? For example, I just open the image, it gets automatically rotated and I save it. So, I'm trying to find out if I'm losing quality by doing this, or if I need to use the lossless rotation function in the tools menu.

b) I suck at taking straight pictures. Can Xnview automatically straighten an image and if not, know some freeware that can do this in batch?

c) Ise there an option to toggle on/off whether Xnview automatically makes a backup when editing images?

d) Is it possible to create custom categories to group photos by metadata (i.e., if I have "vacation" tags in some of my photo metadata, can I create a catergory called "vacation" that will automatically add images with that tag to the category)? And lastly...

e) Is it possible to add metadata to video files in Xnview? If not, it's not an issue...I've only got a handful of them.

Thanks in advance folks. This is a really nice piece of software, and I'm sure I'll be making lots of use of it. Thanks for developing it.

[XnTriq]

I'm new to the forum and Xnview. Nice to meet you all

Welcome aboard, faraway64d!

a) Noticed Xnview automatically rotates images when you open them (based on metadata from the camera). Is this automatic rotation lossless?

• Tools » Options » General » Operations
  • [ ] Rotate images according to EXIF orientation flag
  Tools » Options » Browser » Misc. » Rotation
  • [ ] Change EXIF orientation ONLY when possible (JPEG)
    [ ] Use Lossless rotation when possible (JPEG)

• General Support: Changing EXIF Orientation Only

b) I suck at taking straight pictures. Can Xnview automatically straighten an image and if not, know some freeware that can do this in batch?

• Image » Rotate » Auto de-skew

• Suggestions: Automatic deskew function in batch mode
• Miscellaneous: Scanning utilities

c) Ise there an option to toggle on/off whether Xnview automatically makes a backup when editing images?

• Tools » Options » File Operations
  • [ ] For lossless operation, make a backup

• Multi-level UnDo: Change number of UnDos » Non-Destructive Editing / Versioning

d) Is it possible to add metadata to video files in Xnview?

Not that I know of...

[faraway64d]

Hey,

Thanks a lot for responding! I'm just now getting around to trying these suggestions now. May I ask for some clarification, though? I don't know much about photographic terms, and I'm trying to understand them and Xnview on a deeper level.

a) The first and third option are already checked, but the second isn't. You're suggesting that I check "Change EXIF orientation ONLY when possible (JPEG)" as well? From the sound of it, this will only rotate the image if it can preserve the qualities outlined in the file metadata. Is that in essence, what lossless rotation is?

b) Thx. I'll play around with this more later.

d) I thought not. It seems few video formats support metadata anyhow. If I find something that suits that purpose I'll post back and share

Appreciate the help

[XnTriq]

• Wikipedia
  • Exchangeable image file format
  • JPEG » Lossless editing
• ImpulseAdventure
  • JPEG Lossless Rotation, Lossless Crop
  • JPEG Rotation and EXIF Orientation
• JPEGclub.org
  • Exif Orientation Tag
• Expono Photo Sharing
  • EXIF Orientation Samples by Magnus Jonsson

Forum references:

• FAQs
  • How to rotate images automatically
  • What do the info icons on the thumbnail mean?
• General Support
  • Automatic EXIF orientation
  • Less KB after turning a pic 90 degrees...
  • Questions about some options & menus
  • Info Icons on Thumbnails
  • some pictures auto show left rotation!!
  • Turning in the wrong direction
  • embedded thumbnail rewrite
  • Lossless JPEG transformations
  • Once more: EXIF Orientation
  • EXIF image roatation
  • Changing EXIF Orientation Only
  • Adding EXIF to JPGs without any previous EXIF metadata
  • Difference between rotation and lossless rotation?
• Bug Reports
  • EXIF rotations are wrong
  • Rotation information handling problem after adding comment
  • Sony EXIF and Thumbnails Rotated
  • F5 does not recognice Exif-Thumbnail change.
  • Rotate exif in thumbnail...
  • EXIF image rotation for Olympus images
  • Only tooltip shows correct EXIF Orientation value
  • 1.91.6: Lossless JPG rotation not lossless?
  • EXIF orientation tag of thumbnail image is not reset
  • 1.94.2: Option "Rotate images based on EXIF orientation
  • Lossless transformation
  • Rotate failed
• Suggestions
  • Edit Exif-Data
  • Improving 'EXIF orientation'
  • EXIF orientated thumbnails are smaller than they should
  • Lossless rotation and EXIF orientation
  • EXIF lossless rotation
  • Rotate images based on EXIF orientation and auto-rotate
• XnView [Français]
  • Rotation, sans perte
  • RC5 : orientation vignette
  • Significations des icones
  • Rotation sans perte?
  • exif et vignettes
  • vignettes couchées de photos verticales
  • icones en mode browser
  • Orientation vignette et image [RÉSOLU]
  • transformations JPG sans perte
  • transformation JPEG sans perte
  • Rotation sans perte et message d'avertissement sans raison
  • Rotation sans perte
  • Conversion multiple
  • Sélection des images marquées #2
  • XnView Classic : Conversion Multiple
• Resolved Bugs & Requests
  • Lossless rotate for Batch convert
  • Separate 'Orientate image based on EXIF' settings?

Rotate images based on EXIF orientation - If checked, and if file contains EXIF information on image orientation, it is used for automatic rotation of thumbnails and on image display. Images are rotated for display only, actual image files are not altered in any way.
Some digital cameras register orientation information.

[XnTriq]

d) I thought not. It seems few video formats support metadata anyhow. If I find something that suits that purpose I'll post back and share

Edit » Edit Description/Comment... Ctrl+D » Set comment » Description (stored in descript.ion file)

XnView supports a so-called "description". This text description can be assigned to any image and is stored in a separate, hidden file named "descript.ion". There's one description file per folder (directory).
Limitation: The description file is seperate from the image, so it might be lost when copying or moving the image file. XnView supports searching the description, but one cannot combine keywords using "and" or "or" (see post "Search in description is case sensitive")