User interface

The workspace of VIPBase can be divided into 6 parts, as shown below.

The child windows (called image windows here), the menu, the toolbar and the status bar are standard in a Multiple Document Interface (MDI), as seen in many Windows applications such as Photoshop and Visual Studio. The shortcut bar and the list bar are two unique features that are introduced in VIPBase.

The usage of each part is explained as follows.

The image windows, the menu, the toolbar and the status bar

You can open multiple images in VIPBase and each opened image is displayed in a child window. See here for how to open images in VIPBase.

• Switch between images
  • To quickly switch between image windows, press the "Ctrl+Tab" key. Or you can use the tab of each image window at the bottom of the image window area.
  • If the file name of the current image ends with digits, you can press the "PageDown" and or the "PageUp" key to switch to the next or the previous image (if it exists) in the same image window. For example, suppose the current image is "c:\input\img005.jpg" and there are 10 consecutive images "img001.jpg",...,"img010.jpg" in the folder "c:\input". Pressing the "PageDown" will change the current image to "img006.jpg" and pressing the "PageUp" will change the current image to "img004.jpg". You can also press the "Home" or the "End" key to go to the first or the last image in the same sequence ("c:\input\img001.jpg" and "c:\input\img010.jpg", respectively in this example).

• View information of the current image
  • To quickly view information of the current image, press the "F3" key.
  • When you move the mouse cursor over the current image, the position of the cursor, the RGB and the intensity value of the pixel at the cursor position is displayed on the status bar, as shown below.

    

    The status bar also displays information such as the hint of the current selected menu or toolbar command, the current zoom ratio and the current image size.

• Precise cursor moving functions
  • To move cursor 1 pixel left, press the "Left arrow" or the "J" key.
  • To move cursor 1 pixel right, press the "Right arrow" or the "L" key.
  • To move cursor 1 pixel up, press the "Up arrow" or the "I" key.
  • To move cursor 1 pixel down, press the "Down arrow" or the "K" key.
  • To move cursor to the left border of the current image window, press the "S" key.
  • To move cursor to the right border of the current image window, press the "F" key.
  • To move cursor to the top border of the current image window, press the "E" key.
  • To move cursor to the bottom border of the current image window, press the "D" key.
  • To change pixel value at the cursor position, press the "Insert" key.
• Zooming functions
  • To zoom in by 150% on the current image, press the "+" key. The current zooming ratio is displayed in the status bar. When the ratio reaches 1600%, you can not zoom in any further.
  • To zoom out by 150% on the current image, press the "-" key. When the ratio reaches 6%, you can not zoom out any further.
  • To fit the current image to its image window size, press the "*" key.
  • To reset to the actual size of the current image (no zooming), press the "/" key.
  • If an image is too large and only part of it can be displayed in the current image window. The best way to navigate through the whole image is using the Pan window. See details here.
• Popup context menu
  • Right clicking on an image will bring up the image context menu. It provides some frequently used functions.
  • Right clicking on the tab of the current image will bring up the tab context menu. You can quickly close or reload the image, or copy its path to the clipboard.

    The image context menu

    The tab context menu

• To quickly close the current image, press the "ESC" key. Note that when a file is being closed, VIPBase will NOT prompt you to save it. Please save any changes you have made before the file is closed.

The shortcut bar

Tip: You can quickly hide or show the shortcut bar using the "Tab" key.

• Quick access to image files

  The first two tabs of the shortcut bar are the "Folder" tab and the "Files" tab. When used together they give you quick access to image files without opening any dialogs. See here for how to use them.

  The "Folder" tab	The "Files" tab

• Working with other softwares
  • VIPBase can call other image processing softwares to open the current image. Currently, the following softwares are supported: ACDSee, Photoshop, MS Paint (comes with your Windows installation) and XNView.

    VIPBase will look for the above softwares in their default installation folder. If any one is found, its icon will show up in the "Softwares" tab of the shortcut bar. Just click any icon and the current image will be opened in the software you choose. After you finish editing the image, save it in that software and reload it in VIPBase.

  • VIPBase also includes links to other softwares. Currently, the following softwares are supported: UltraEdit, MS Calculator, MS Dos Prompt and Windows explorer. The last three come with your Windows installation.

    When you click the UltraEdit icon (if it is installed), the current image will be opened in UltraEdit in the binary mode.

    When you click the Dos Prompt or the Windows Explorer icon, a Dos prompt or a Windows explorer window will show up and the current directory is set to the directory of the current image.

  The "Imaging softwares" tab	The "Other softwares" tab

The list bar

When you open multiple images or when you create a web album using VIPBase's AlbumCreator, the list bar allows you to quickly go through multiple images in a single image window. See here for how to use the list bar.

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VIPBase © 2006 Fengjun Lv

Last update: 08/01/2006 (check html)