Workflow enhancements...

[rmccarty]

I use NeatImage for processing large numbers of high-resolution images (10MP+), and have been working to refine my workflow for optimum efficiency. Some issues remaining for me to more fully automate my workflow include:

1) Ability to (at least read) LZW compressed TIFs.

2) Ability to define the rough noise profile for an image first, queue it, and then have the profile auto fine tuning done automatically when the image is processed. That way I can queue up a number of images very quickly and go have lunch while the rest happens automagically. Because of the high resolution/size of my images, sitting in front of the screen while the auto fine tuning is done tends to be very painful.

3) I would also like to see the ability to have an image profile saved automatically to a directory of my choice. I generally do profiles for all
images I process, and I save each one in a "profiles" folder for the set of images I'm processing. Automating this would save me a step.

4) I would like to see an option to define a "save" directory for a set of images. I save all processed images using the same filename as the original, but in a different folder. Adding a feature like this would save keystrokes/mouse clicks when queuing images.

NeatImage is a superb tool, and despite the processing overhead/time it requires, the results are well worth it. A few key enhancements to reduce the amount of time in front of the keyboard while the user goes off to do other things would tremendously aid in usability for folks like myself who process hundreds of images.

[NITeam]

Thank you very much for the detailed suggestions! I will comment below on all points:

1) Ability to (at least read) LZW compressed TIFs.

This one is the most difficult one I am afraid. LZW patent has expired in the US, but not in the EU, which makes it still difficult to use in our software as Neat Image users are everywhere.

2) Ability to define the rough noise profile for an image first, queue it, and then have the profile auto fine tuning done automatically when the image is processed. That way I can queue up a number of images very quickly and go have lunch while the rest happens automagically. Because of the high resolution/size of my images, sitting in front of the screen while the auto fine tuning is done tends to be very painful.

This is a very good suggestion. In fact, we have already put "auto auto fine-tuning" function in our plans some time ago and currently we work on implementing this.

3) I would also like to see the ability to have an image profile saved automatically to a directory of my choice. I generally do profiles for all images I process, and I save each one in a "profiles" folder for the set of images I'm processing. Automating this would save me a step.

This is a nice idea but automatic saving should not completely replace manual one. We need to figure out how to combine too. Currently, you can have all profiles and presets saved (manually) to the same folder where the image is. There is an option to make folders for profiles/presets/images not indepentent.

4) I would like to see an option to define a "save" directory for a set of images. I save all processed images using the same filename as the original, but in a different folder. Adding a feature like this would save keystrokes/mouse clicks when queuing images.

Currently you can do this from within the Batch window, where you can create many jobs at once (at this moment you select the output directory and output file format for all jobs), then customize every job in the filtration job editor and send it back to queue for processing. In this case, you don't need to specify save directory or file name anymore, these are already set in advance.

Probably we will also add a post-batch-saving function to manually save output images of selected jobs into specifed directory.

NeatImage is a superb tool, and despite the processing overhead/time it requires, the results are well worth it. A few key enhancements to reduce the amount of time in front of the keyboard while the user goes off to do other things would tremendously aid in usability for folks like myself who process hundreds of images.

I completely agree with you and we will continue our work taking your input as a source of valuable ideas.

Thank you once again,
Vlad