|------------------------------------|
| -=- ACDSee v1.2 for Windows -=- |
| A radical new image browser/viewer |
|------------------------------------|
|Rapid decompression |
|View the image as it is decompressed|
|Easy, lightning-fast image panning |
|Supports JPEG, GIF, BMP, PCX, TGA |
|Quick image thumbnail preview |
|Slideshow, Drag & drop |
|Supports 4DOS file descriptions |
|------------------------------------|

ACDSee v1.2
~~~~~~~~~~~

Congratulations on obtaining the third release of ACDSee, the fastest,
easiest-to-use Windows image viewer currently available!


Current features
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* effective image browsing shell interface
* supports most JPEG, GIF, Windows BMP, PCX and TGA files
* rapid JPEG decompression
* view images as they are decompressed
* mega-fast image preview
* easy, quick image panning, even during decompression
* supports 256, 32768, 65536 and 16 million colour screen modes
* automatically launch other applications by clicking on document files
* supports viewing & editing 4DOS descriptions
* drag-and-drop support for single and multiple files
* automatic or manual slideshow with optional read-ahead decompression
* always-on-top and full-screen viewing window options


System Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* 386sx or better (Pentium 90 is nice)
* 256 colour or better graphics card (high/truecolour recommended)
* 4 Megs of RAM (8 Megs or more recommended if running in high/truecolour)
* Windows 3.1
* ~300k of disk space


Installing ACDSee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Copy the ACDSEE.EXE file anywhere you like

2) Create an icon for it in Program Manager

3) If you have a copy of CTL3D.DLL in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory that
is the same or newer than the copy in the ACDSee distribution, then you
should just delete the one in the ACDSee distribution file. Otherwise,
you should move the ACDSee CTL3D.DLL [over top of] your older CTL3D.DLL
file in WINDOWS\SYSTEM.

4) You will probably want to set up File Manager so that it associates
image files with ACDSEE.EXE This will allow you to view pictures from
File Manager by simply double-clicking on them. This step is also
REQUIRED in order to get the "Spawn Viewer" option to work correctly.
Also note that if you have an image viewer that you like better than
ACDSee for one or more formats, you can go ahead and make the
association with the other program. Then you can still use ACDSee as
your image viewing shell, and ACDSee will use the other program to
actually view the images.

To make an association, highlight any file in File Manager and then
choose File|Associate... from the menu. Click on Browse... and locate
the ACDSEE.EXE program and then hit OK. If you know how to use
Windows RegEdit, then you'll find it easiest to create an entry for
ACDSee (call it "Images") first.


Running ACDSee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can start ACDSee from the Program Manager by double-clicking on its icon.
You will immediately be presented with the Image Browser dialog where you can
browse your directories for images to look at.

If you have made an association between image files and ACDSee, you can also
start ACDSee from the File Manager by just double clicking on an image file.
Note: When ACDSee is run in this manner, pressing Escape will exit the
program, rather than take you to the Image Browser. The reason for this is
to avoid confusion when using the Spawn Viewer option (see below).


Image Browser
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is where you can pick an image to open. The top part of the window
displays the current directory. Below that is a list of files,
subdirectories within the current directory, and other drives. You can also
select multiple files, if you want to SlideShow them (see Open, below). The
Image Browser window is Drag-And-Drop aware, which means that you can drag
one or more image files from the File Manager and drop them on the Image
Browser window, whereupon they will be opened by ACDSee.

Open
If an image is selected in the file list, it will be opened.
If a directory or drive is selected, the Image Browser will go into
that directory or drive. Selecting "[..]" will move to the parent
directory, and selecting "[.]" will re-load the current directory.

If multiple files are selected, ACDSee will enter "SlideShow" mode.
Images are viewed one at a time, and you can flip forward/back using
the Prev/Next menu selections, or SpaceBar/Backspace keys. If items
are selected that are not readable images, they will be simply skipped.

You can also have ACDSee automatically flip the images for you. ACDSee
will stop flipping images when you switch back to the Image Browser,
or if you select either Prev/Next.

ShortCuts: Alt-O, Enter, Double-click on a file/directory/drive

Exit
Quits ACDSee
ShortCuts: Alt-X, Ctl-X, Alt-F4.

Preview
Brings up a thumbnail of the image.
ShortCut: Alt-P

Delete
Deletes the currently selected file(s). (Directories and drives cannot
be deleted)
ShortCut: Delete key.

Edit Desc.
Allows you to create or edit a 4DOS description for the file(s).
(This works even if you don't have 4DOS.) ACDSee supports Descriptions
up to 200 characters in length.

ShortCut: Alt-E, Click on a file/directory with right mouse button.


Image Browser Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Auto Preview
When checked, a preview of the currently selected image is brought up
automatically.

File Information
When checked, the file list displays one file per line, including 4DOS
descriptions and image information (type/size/#colours).
When cleared, only the file names are shown, in multiple columns.

Image Files Only
When checked, only files with extensions that correspond to images types
that ACDSee can view are displayed. Otherwise, all files are shown.

Sort By Ext.
When checked, files are sorted first by extension, then by name.
Otherwise, files are sorted by name only. This does not apply to
directories, which are always sorted by name only.

Spawn Viewer
When checked, ACDSee will execute an external program to view the image
rather that use its built-in viewer. Usually you will associate the image
files with ACDSee, in which case a new copy of ACDSee will be "spawned".
This option is useful if you need to view several images simultaneously.
(i.e., you can switch back to the first copy of ACDSee while the second
copy is still running and open another image)

When the option is unchecked, the current copy of ACDSee closes the
Image Browser and views the selected image(s).

In either case, you can press Escape while in the View Window to close
the image and return to the Image Browser.

Font Size
This option can only be changed by editing the acdsee.ini file. Look for
the "FontSize=" line in the "[Browser-Options]" section. This value
determines the size of the font used in the file list. Valid values are
in the range 1 through 40. The default is 12.


View Window
~~~~~~~~~~~
This is where the images are displayed. If the image is larger than the
size of the ACDSee window, you can pan (scroll) the image either with the
cursor keys, or by "grabbing" part of the image with the mouse cursor and
dragging it around. This can be quite fun, especially on an accelerated
video card. For those of you that don't like to wait, the scrolling feature
can be used even while the image is being decompressed!

The View Window (and the ACDSee icon, when ACDSee is minimized) is
Drag-and-Drop aware, so that you can drag an image file (or several image
files) from the File Manager and drop it onto ACDSee's View Window or
Image Browser window, and ACDSee will open and display them.


View Window Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chunk Decompression
By default, the image is decompressed and displayed 16 lines at a time.
You can change this to a single line at a time by unchecking
Options|Chunk Decompression. This may cause the decompression to appear
"smoother", but will slightly slow down the rate of decompression. On
the other hand, it causes ACDSee to relinquish control to other
applications more often, which makes it "nicer" from a multitasking
standpoint. You should try this option if you experience CRC errors
when transferring files with the modem in the background while viewing
images. Note that scrolling the image is VERY cpu-intensive, so you
may loose some modem bytes if you get too into the scrolling feature.

Auto-size Window
By default, ACDSee remembers the size and position of the View Window
and Image Browser between invocations. By checking this option,
the window will automatically change its size to match the currently
loaded image. By unchecking this option, you can go back to your
preferred window size and position again.

Full-Screen Window
Selecting this item will cause the viewer to enter Full-Screen mode,
where the window is maximized, and the titlebar and menu are hidden.
To get back to normal mode, hit CTRL+F or double click with the left
mouse button.
Shortcuts: CTRL+F, double-click with left mouse button.

SlideShow...
This brings up a dialog box that lets you configure ACDSee's slideshow
feature.
Shortcut: CTRL+S

Enable automatic flipping
Causes ACDSee to automatically change the image every few seconds.
Wrap around at last image
When checked, ACDSee will start over from the first image after the
last image in the sequence has been displayed. Otherwise, ACDSee
will halt the automatic flipping process. This option has no effect
when manually flipping images.
Page flip delay
This slider lets you set the time delay between images. After the
current image has been completely decompressed, ACDSee will pause
for the requested number of seconds before displaying the next image.
Enable read-ahead
When checked, ACDSee will immediately start decompressing the next
image in the sequence after the currently viewed image has been
completely decompressed. This means that when you flip to the next
image, it will already be partially or completely decompressed.
The disadvantage of this feature is that scrolling tends to be more
chunky when ACDSee is decompressing.

256 Color Mode Dither
When running Windows with a 256-colour graphics driver, HiColor and
TrueColor images are quantized down to 216 colours. To improve the
appearance of the quantized image, a dithering algorithm may be applied.
None: Quickest but poor quality. For interest's sake only.
Ordered: Slightly slower but good quality. Good trade off.
Floyd-Steinberg: Slowest but best quality.
The default is Ordered dithering.

Always On Top
This option is available from the System Menu of the View Window. When
checked, the View Window will appear as the topmost window, even when
other windows are activated. Otherwise, the window behaves normally.


Sample Images
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We leave the Big Island in release 1.1 and move on to an island in British
Columbia, Canada. BUTCHRT1.JPG (taken by me) and BUTCHRT2.JPG (taken by
my friend Peter) are two pictures of the beautiful and world-famous Butchart
Gardens, located here in Victoria. ACDSEE.JPG is just a quick
ray-trace-photoshop job I put together. Please excuse the small size of
the images. (I didn't want to waste too much of your downloading time on
pictures...)


Registration
~~~~~~~~~~~~
ACDSee is "ShareWare". This entitles you, the customer, to try out
the software for up to 30 days without obligation to pay for it.

If you use ACDSee beyond the 30 days, you should register it. Registration
entitles you to free upgrades to the software, which is nice. You can
easily register by calling a toll free number, or, if you are a member of
CompuServe, through the registration database (Reg. ID 4057). The cost of
registration is US$15.00

As a reminder, ACDSee will occasionally bring up its About box when you
open a file or quit the application. This is supposed to be very annoying,
and will of course cease and desist the moment that you register.

To register, go into the View Window and select Help|Register... or
hit Ctrl+R when either in the View Window or the Image Browser. Then just
follow the instructions.


Distribution
~~~~~~~~~~~~
This software may be freely distributed, provided that:

Such distribution includes only the original archive supplied
by ACD Systems, Ltd. YOU MAY NOT ALTER, DELETE OR ADD any files
in the distribution archive.

No money is charged to the distrubtee, beyond reasonable cost of
packaging and other overhead.


Comments, Bug Reports
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please send any comments, suggestions for enhancements or bug reports via
E-Mail to [email protected] or [email protected]


Possible Future Enhancements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
o 2-pass quantization support for 256 colour users
o support for Amiga IFF and other file formats
o faster decoding of all image formats
o faster dithering
o nicer thumbnails (maybe colour?)
o resize-to-fit-window/screen option
o Windows Help


Credits
~~~~~~~
The JPEG decoding routines of ACDSee were built from code written by and
licensed from Oliver Fromme, author of the world-famous Q-Peg viewer for DOS.

The colour quantization/dithering features were made possible through the
use of code produced by the Independent JPEG Group.

Thanks to Peter Chambers for beta-testing and his innovative suggestions
for features.