Image Editing Software

Windows users are probably accustomed to seeing BMP (bit-mapped) files, “lossless” files such as TIF, and large PCX files from Windows Paintbrush. These file formats can't always be read by a digital photo imaging software.

Newer formats New to the industry is FlashPix, a format developed by several companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Kodak and Live Picture. It is included in such products as PictureIt! And Live Picture 2.6 and endorsed by Microsoft and Netscape. FlashPix was designed as an open, cross-platform standard for file interchange and distribution. FlashPix is a new architecture that creates a multiple-resolution, tiled data structure that works like an image pyramid.

The base of the pyramid is the image at its greatest resolution. Each level above it is the same image but in a lower resolution. Users can move around the image more quickly because the architecture, built on a technology called Real Space Image Server, sends only the part of the image that users need to view at any given time.

So, unlike working on a Photoshop file, which can grow to nearly 90MB on a good day, and which requires lots of available RAM and hard-disk space, a FlashPix file can be maneuvered more easily and more quickly. Hardware companies, including HP, will likely be the first to promote FlashPix technology. The technology is offered as a read/write option in many graphics packages, but for the full benefits to be realized, the hardware also must generate a FlashPix file when downloading to a computer.

File management Because digital images are space hogs, software publishers are always at odds as to where and how all of these images should be stored. There are some management products, designed express lyto inventory files with thumbnail views and brief descriptions. But most of the applications also come with some sort of file system. Live Picture's LivePix, for example, keeps a gallery that supports drag-and-drop file access.

If users need to store lots of pictures, there are a number of options available. They can offload their files to a second hard drive, a Zip drive, a magneto-optical drive or a CD-Recordable drive. Also, Kodak and other companies now host Web sites on their servers where users upload pictures for others to see. They aren't wildly popular yet, and they may always be a fringe item, but they usually include tips and tricks and seasonal projects, such as greeting cards for the upcoming Christmas and Hanukkah seasons.

Electronic Postcards Web postcards have become very popular, and now several companies have introduced animated cards. Kodak's Electronic Postcards only work with its digital system, and users can take an image, add text to it and send the file to a friend. The postcard opens on the other end with run-time software so the recipient can see the note. Intel Net Cards operate in the same way. Demos are available on the Intel site, and the software comes bundled with Intel's video-camera package, Create and Share.