ToyViewer (Ver.5.00)
Image Formats
Image Formats that ToyViewer can Display
After setting with the inspector of the Finder,
image formats following can be opened by double-clicking their icons.
- Standards of Mac OS X: tiff, jpg, pdf, png, gif, bmp, pict, JPEG2000(jp2, jpc, j2k), eps
- ToyViewer deals: svg, jbig(bie), pcx, pcd, pnm(ppm, pbm, pgm), xbm, mag, SUN Rasterfile
ToyViewer could display images in other formats according to your environment.
For example, if Adobe Photoshop is installed, ToyViewer can display *.psd files.
Besides, you can set ToyViewer to display any image format if there is a filter program to ppm format (See "Customize").
Note: MAG was an image format used in Japan, especially on old NEC-PCs.
Make ToyViewer defalut application at once
If you want to make ToyViewer the default application of certain image format
(to activate ToyViewer by double-clicking the file icon),
you can use the interface described below.
Select the tab "Formats" of Preferences panel, and click the button
"Make ToyViewer the default application...", then the panel as below is displayed.
Check the buttons that you want to set, and click "OK".
Disabled check buttons represents that ToyViewer is already its default application, or that
the default application is unknown.
They are also set again if "OK" is clicked.
Note that you can't set ToyViewer not to be the default application of certain image formats.
Instead, use "Get info" of Finder.
Bitmap Images, Vector Images, and PICT Format
In image formats such as JPEG, GIF, or TIFF, an image consists of pixels (colored dots).
Such images are called 'Bitmap images' or 'Raster images'.
Most operations of ToyViewer are for bitmap images.
On the contrary, PDF, EPS, or SVG images consist of drawing information such as lines or circles.
Such images are called 'Vector images'. The quality of vector images are independent of the resolution of printer or display.
ToyViewer provides a function of rasterize, that is, conversion from vector image into bitmap image.
You can apply operations such as adjustment of brightness to rasterized images.
However, the quality of the images depends on the resolution of printer or display.
When an image in one format is saved in other format, usually, the dimension of the image is preserved. When an pdf, eps, or svg image is saved in other format, however, the dimension of the saved image depends on the dimension of the image scaled on the window, because rasterize is applied to the image displayed on the window.
PICT Format
PICT format images can have the information of both bitmap and vector.
Though ToyViewer basically deals with PICT images as vector images, ToyViewer can also deal with them as bitmap images.
In this case, because ToyViewer rasterizes automatically the PICT image, for example, you can clip a part of the image, or you can adjust its brightness.
In order to turn on/off the function, use the check button of "PICT: Deal with as a bitmap image" in "Formats" of Preferences panel.
Specify pages of PDF
Save in JPG Format
JPG can achieve high compression, however, quality of the image is decayed. In general, high quality prevents good compression, and good compression spoils quality. The parameter of JPG can be set by the save panel.
JPG is recommended to apply to continuous color or monochrome 8bit images. Applying to other images, especially B/W images, will bring not only worse quality of images but also larger file size.
B/W images saved in jbig(bie) format can achieve higher compression ratio. Quality of images does not spoilt by jbig compression.
You can save images in interlaced(progressive) format.
In case that an image in this format is displayed on a Web page, its outline is displayed faster even if the speed of the net is slow. But, compression ratio is slightly worse.
If the button "Open new file soon" is checked, newly created JPG file is opened soon.
With this function, you can examine easily the quality of the images.
If the button "Simple File" is checked, Exif and GPS information aren't embedded into the new file (See "Not to Save Exif Information").
TIFF
When you save an image in tiff, you can select either no compression or LZW compression. As LZW is a lossless compression, the quality of the image is not spoiled. On the other hand, the size of a file is relatively larger.
On OPENSTEP, we could read/write tiff images that was compressed with JPEG compression. Mac OS X does not support this format any more. In this format, we can't save images but also read them.
In some tiff images, color is represented with CMYK instead of RGB.
ToyViewer can convert CMYK into RGB using "Operation / CMYK->RGB" of the menu.
In some operations, the conversion into RGB is done automatically.
Because representation of CMYK color space depends on the real color of ink, converted color may much differ according to the displays or the printers.
ToyViewer can display and operate TIFF images with 16-bit depth.
Clipping, Flipping, and Rotation (90, 180, 270 degrees only) operations can keep 16-bit depth.
TIFF files keep Exif and GPS information (See "Not to Save Exif Information").
TIFF Stacks
ToyViewer can display TIFF Stacks, which have more than one frame in a file.
ToyViewer can display each frame, and can show animation using frames (See "Specify page or frame").
ToyViewer can't save the whole of frames as a file, however.
PNG
An image in PNG format doesn't have distortion caused by image compression.
But, the size of files are larger in comparison with JPEG.
An image file in PNG can have various kinds of information in it.
They are, for example, the date when the photo was taken, the comment string, and the default color of the background if the image has transparent area (See "Not to Save Exif Information").
JPEG2000 Format
In JPEG2000 format, same as JPG, high quality prevents good compression, and good compression spoils quality. The parameter of JPG can be set by the save panel.
Besides, in JPEG2000, you can save images without loss of the original data (lossless compression).
JPEG2000 is recommended to apply to continuous color or monochrome 8bit images.
In lossless compression, JPEG2000 provides better compression ratio than PNG. In lossy compression, even if compression ratio is relatively high, artificial noise is inconspicuous comparing with JPG.
If lossy compression is selected, the button "Open new file soon" becomes available.
If this button is checked, newly created JPG file is opened soon.
With this function, you can examine easily the quality of the images.
Not only jp2 format, which is available on QuickTime or Preview, but also j2k format (jpc format), which is used on the net is available.
ToyViewer uses the functions of Mac OS X and JasPer (http://www.ece.uvic.ca/˜mdadams/jasper/) to read/write JPEG2000 images.
Animated GIF
Some GIF images have frames for animation, which are called Animated GIF.
You can show the animation of an Animated GIF, and can display specified frame using the control panel.
See "Specify page or frame".
ToyViewer does not have the function to save animated GIF images.
EPS
When an EPS image is saved as an EPS or PDF file, the vector data included will be reserved. On the contrary, when a bitmap (raster) image is saved in EPS, the EPS file created has only a sequence of pixels. So, EPS files made from bitmap images would be distorted by enlargement or shrinkage.
EPS Files Made by Other Environments
Some EPS images have illegal "%%Page:" comments. Some EPS images used by old Macintosh have unnecessary information at the beginning of and at the tail of the file.
Reading in EPS images, ToyViewer tries to strip off unnecessary information. So, ToyViewer can display some files which cannot be displayed by Preview or other applications. Once they can be displayed, save them as EPS file again. The files newly saved would be used also by other applications.
Note that, however, ToyViewer cannot display every wrong EPS files.
Photo CD
| height x width |
|---|
| Base/16 | 128 x 192 |
|---|
| Base/4 | 256 x 384 |
|---|
| Base | 512 x 768 |
|---|
| 4 Base | 1024 x 1536 |
|---|
| 16 Base | 2048 x 3072 |
|---|
| 64 Base | 4096 x 6144 |
|---|
Because Photo CD is the data format originally written in CD-ROM, in many cases, one image file has several pictures with different resolution.
In ToyViewer, the resolution and the brightness of images should be specified beforehand with "Formats" section of the Preferences.
As described in the table, both the height and the width of "Base/4" are half of "Base", and the dimension of "4 Base" is doubled.
Interlaced Image
ToyViewer can read and write interlaced (progressive) images in gif, png, or jpg. Interlaced images are displayed progressively on Web browser. If you do not use your images for such purposes, interlaced format is without merit. The size of image data would be increased generally.