FAQ for Mapivi (last update: 24.09.2006)

1. What should I do, if a dialog pops up saying: "Error in mapivi"
   "image "imageXX" doesn't exist at ..."?

   Press OK, and update the thumbnails by pressing <F5>.
   If there are still problems, restart Mapivi with the menu
   File->Restart.
   This problem may occur, when you are working with Mapivi while it's
   still busy e.g. loading the thumbnails. 

2. What's about the memory consumption, when adding comments 
   and IPTC information to pictures?

   It's like you would expect it: about one byte per char.
   Example: adding a comment of 30 chars to a 1MB picture will
   increase the file size about 0.03%.

3. How many comments are allowed in a JPEG picture?

   From the wrjpgcom man page:
     The JPEG standard allows "comment"  (COM)  blocks  to  occur
     within  a JPEG file.  Although the standard doesn't actually
     define what COM blocks are for, they are widely used to hold
     user-supplied  text strings.  This lets you add annotations,
     titles, index terms, etc  to  your  JPEG  files,  and  later
     retrieve them as text.  COM blocks do not interfere with the
     image stored in the JPEG file.  The maximum size  of  a  COM
     block  is  64K, but you can have as many of them as you like
     in one JPEG file.

   However I recommend using IPTC instead of JPEG comments, see
   question 25.

4. How do I work with comments?

   Simply select a picture to comment and press <a>, enter the 
   comment and press Ctrl-x to close the dialog.
   Example: you have three pictures to comment, one with Tom and Tim,
            one with Tom and Peter and one with Tom and Linda.
            They were taken at Lucy's party.
            Here is what I would do: select all three pictures, press
            <a>, enter "Lucy's Party Tom", press Ctrl-x. Now all
            pictures have the comment "Lucy's Party Tom", now select
            the first one and add "Tim", the second and add "Peter",
            and so on ...
   However I recommend using IPTC instead of JPEG comments, see
   question 25.

5. I've added several comments to my picture; I can see them with
   Mapivi, but not with my other tool. Why?

   Some viewer tools only support the first comment of a JPEG picture.
   You can use the join comments function of Mapivi to join all
   comments to one.

6. I can manipulate pictures with Mapivi, but why is there no "Save"
   or "Save as"?

   When manipulating pictures, Mapivi serves as a frontend to the
   ImageMagick tools.
   The manipulation is done directly on the file, so there is no
   need to save.
   But there is also no undo, so better keep the option "Create
   backup" enabled.
   You can also force a backup with the menu File->Make backup.
   If there is already a backup, Mapivi will ask you to overwrite
   it. The backup of file.jpg will always be named: file-bak.jpg.
   If you delete file.jpg and there is a backup named file-bak.jpg,
   Mapivi will ask to rename the backup file to the old file name.
   This is also done when renaming the original file.
   If a file has a backup file the string "[bak]" is shown in the
   size column of the thumbnail table.
 
7. What's the IPTC urgency tag for?

   The urgency is an IPTC field to specify the importance of a
   picture. The urgency may be used as a search or sort criteria.
   I use it to separate the really good and important pictures from
   the rest.
   That's my reflection: My grandma has about 5 photo albums of her
   whole life, that number of pictures can be viewed in some hours.
   Since I own a digital camera the number of photos I take is
   exploding (even if I really try hard to sort out about 50%).
   So when I keep on taking so much photos I never
   will have the time to look at them, when I am older.
   That's where the urgency tag comes into play, I simply mark the
   best or most important pictures with a high priority.
   Later I can choose a view to see only the best pictures of
   e.g. my children.
   This can be done in the search dialog by selecting the proper
   urgency and e.g. the Name of the person to search for in the
   pattern field.

8. How can I get the Mapivi Icon under MS Windows?

   Use the MapiviIcon32.ico (this is located in the directory pictures
   of your Mapivi packet) in the properties dialog of the windows
   explorer.

9. How do I open a directory not accessible with the directory tree on
   the left? (This may happen when running Mapivi under MS Windows)

   Press <o>, or use the menu File->open directory.
   Or left click on the label, where the actual directory is displayed
   (above the thumbnail list). A dialog will pop up,
   where you can enter the directory name to open.

10. Is it recommended to do image manipulation with pictures in
    JPEG format?

   Usually image manipulations should be done with an image manipulation
   program, like The GIMP or Photoshop.
   They support lossless image formats, like XCF or PNG.

   The disadvantage of JPEG is the fact, that every time you change and
   save a JPEG picture it has to be compressed again. This compression
   is NOT lossless, so with every step your picture quality gets worse
   and worse. However there are some lossless JPEG operations, which
   don't affect the quality of the picture.

   It may be appropriate to use JPEG for some image manipulation
   (like the functions provided by Mapivi) if the source and target
   format should be JPEG anyway.
   Mapivi tries to support the manipulation of JPEG files as much as
   possible by lossless operations (rotation, cropping, adding of
   comments and IPTC information) and lossy one-step-manipulations. 
   It's e.g. possible to apply several filters and color adjustments
   to a picture while adding a border. So there is just one
   recompression to the picture. This should produce the same results
   like manipulating the picture with the GIMP and then saving it as
   a JPEG file.
   To get the maximum possible quality, I recommend setting the quality
   to 95%. A higher value just increases the file size, not the quality!
   This setting is also recommended, if it's necessary to do a
   manipulation including several steps.
   
   Note: Adding, editing or removing JPEG meta information, like
   IPTC, EXIF or comments is lossless with Mapivi!

11. How to compare details on two pictures?

    Switch the autozoom option of (menu: Options->Window->auto zoom) or
    open the pictures and press <z> to zoom to 100% for each. Click on
    the thumbnail of the first and then on the thumbnail of the second
    picture. Now you are able to move the picture in the canvas, when
    you switch back to the other picture you will see the same part
    (e.g. the lower right corner) of this picture.
    Another possibility is to build a difference picture of two pictures.
    This can be done using the menu "Extra->build difference picture".

12. What the meaning of all the special info in the thumbnail table?

    Let's start with the EXIF column:

     [s]    the EXIF info has been saved to an extra file
            use the menu to restore it back
     [t]    there is an EXIF thumbnail embedded in the picture
            this is optional (press key <t> to view the thumbnail)
     date   the date and time the picture was taken
     18mm   the focal length of the lens
     (27mm) the focal length of the lens in 35mm film equivalent
     F2.8   the aperture
     1/60s  the exposure time
     +0.3   the exposure bias value
     ISO100 the ISO speed rating

    the size column:

     [bak]     the file has a backup (e.g. file-bak.jpg)
     1143kB    the file size in kB (1kB = 1KiB = 1024 Byte)
     2048x1536 the picture size in pixels
     3.15MP    the amount of pixels in mega pixels (1MP = 1000000 pixel)
     2.69 b/p  the bits per pixel value (kind of quality value)
     [3:4]     the aspect ratio
     date      the file manipulation date
     Viewed x times how often the picture has been displayed in Mapivi 

    the rest should be obvious, I hope.

13. Panic! Where is my backup file?

    A backup file (named e.g. pic-bak.jpg) is only created, when the
    "Create backup" button was selected.
    If the backup is not shown directly after a conversation, please
    press <F5> to update the thumbnail table.
    Hint: If a picture has a backup this string: [bak] is shown in the 
    size column. 

14. I've rotated my pictures manually, but the rotate flag is wrong now.
    What should I do?

    Clear the rotate flag (see menu Edit->Rotate->Clear rotate flag).

15. I've rotated my pictures, but the EXIF thumbnail is still in the
    old wrong position. What should I do?

    There are two possibilities:
    a) lossless (rotate thumbnail)
    Press <Ctrl-o> to open the options dialog, go to the Thumbnails pad
    and deselect "Rotate EXIF thumbnail when rotating picture".
    Now rotate the picture to match the EXIF thumbnail (press <T> to see
    the EXIF thumbnail). Now select "Rotate EXIF thumbnail when rotating
    picture" in the dialog noted above and rotate the picture again.

    b) fast (create new thumbnail)
    Just build a new EXIF thumbnail (see menu Edit->EXIF info->(re)build
    thumbnail).
    
    Both possibilities are lossless for the picture.

16. I want to save a copy of a picture in the same directory, with a
    different name (Save As ...). How to do this with Mapivi?

    Select the picture (e.g. pic1.jpg), use the menu: File->make backup.
    A new file named pic1-bak.jpg will be created, select this picture and
    press <r> (or use the menu: File->rename) and rename the picture to the
    new name.
    
17. If I resize the Mapivi window the pictures do not resize. What's wrong?

    Nothing is wrong, zooming is slow, and so Mapivi just rezooms on user
    request. Press key <U> (Shift-u) above the picture and it will be
    reloaded and zoomed to the new canvas size.
    You may also try <f> (fit picture in canvas) or <z> (display in
    original/100% size).

18. Mapivi is great! Why is it free?

    Because I like and use a lot of free open source software myself and
    Mapivi is my contribution back to the community.
    But anyway, you are free to make a donation, see
    http://herrmanns-stern.de/software/donations.shtml
    Your donation of any amount will encourage me to continue the
    development.

19. How can I reuse the saved EXIF information or IPTC templates from
    the pre-0.7.0 Mapivi versions?

    The only way is to use an old Mapivi version, restore the EXIF
    information to the pictures and apply the IPTC templates to certain
    pictures:
	Quit the old Mapivi version.
    Then start the new Mapivi version (>= 0.7.0) and save the EXIF
    information (if needed) and the IPTC templates again.
    Before using an old Mapivi version I recommend to make a backup of
    the Mapivi configuration file: (for UNIX: ~/.maprogs/mapivi/mapivirc)
    and restore it before switching back to the actual Mapivi version.

20. How to use hierarchical keywords and categories?

    If there is no tree visible in the "edit keywords" or "edit categories"
    dialog press the right mouse button and add some items.
    A double click on a keyword will insert it in the IPTC segment
    of all selected pictures.
    
    I recommend using the join mode. In this mode Mapivi will store
    your keyword hierarchie in the pictures. You can retrieve the
    hierarchie anytime later by simply browsing your pictures.
    
    Hint: According to the IPTC standard, supplemental categories are
          depricated. Based on that I recommend using only IPTC
          keywords.

21. Is it possible to search for pictures stored on an external media
    (e.g. CD, DVD, USB-Stick, external HD)?

    Yes, of course, if Mapivi knows about them.
    Follow this procedure:
    1. Insert the media
    2. Press F7 in main window (directory tree will show up)
    3. Select media root folder (e.g. /media/dvd for UNIX or D:\ for 
       Windows) in Mapivi directory tree
    4. Select Mapivi menu: Search->build database ...
       to add the pictures stored on the external media to the Mapivi
       search database

    Hints:
    - As Mapivi will just show the path to the picture (e.g.
      /media/dvd/pic1.jpg or D:\pic1.jpg) it is recommended to use a
      CD/DVD folder structure with unambiguous naming e.g. dates like
      20051026_Party/
      this will help you to find the right CD/DVD
    - If you didn't use Mapivi for deleting the pictures you should
      select Mapivi menu: Search->clean database ...
      to update the Mapivi search database
    - For thumbnails see next question

22. When I find pictures stored on external media (e.g. CD, DVD,
    USB-Stick, external hard disk no thumbnails are shown.
    Can this be changed?
    Or:
    Is it possible to show the thumbnails of pictures
    stored on an external media in the search dialog?

    Yes, it is possible. Follow these steps:
    1. Insert the media
    2. Press F7 in main window (directory tree will show up)
    3. Select media root folder (e.g. /media/dvd for UNIX or D:\ for 
       Windows) in Mapivi directory tree
    4. Select Mapivi menu: Extra->build thumbs in all sub directories ...
       Mapivi will store these thumbnails automatically in a central
       folder if the media is not writable.
 
23. Does Mapivi store the thumbnails? Where are they stored?

    Yes, Mapivi tries to store all produced thumbnails.
    They are stored depending on the configuration in
    a) a sub folder of the current folder named .thumbs or
    b) in a central folder (for UNIX: ~/.maprogs/mapivi/thumbDB/)

24. What is the dotted line in the menu for?

    When you select the dotted line you will get a so called tear-of
    menu. The menu will become a new window and you may place it
    anywhere on your desktop. This is very handy if you need some
    functions several times.

25. Should I store my picture comments in the IPTC or the JPEG
    comments?
    
    Use the IPTC information.
    The IPTC information is much more structured than the JPEG comments.
    A JPEG comment is just one long text string. So when your picture
    collection keeps growing, searching pictures will become more
    difficult.
    The problem is not finding pictures with a certain comment, but
    that the search results are simply to numerous.
    Example: You have a picture of the car from your best friend Tom.
             When using JPEG comments you would write something like
             "Tom's car" into the comment.
             When you later search for pictures of Tom, you will find
             this picture, even while Tom himself is not on the picture,
             just his car.
             Using IPTC information, the description would be the same
             "Tom's car", but you would not search the IPTC description
             field for "Tom", but the IPTC keywords (where you store
             the names of the persons shown on the picture). So this
             picture will not show up in the search results, just the
             pictures which really depict Tom.

26. I there a support for other encodings, character sets, German
    umlaute, accents etc. in IPTC meta information?

    No, currently there is no support for this in Mapivi.
    Anyhow, it is possible to add and see them in the IPTC dialog,
    but they are not correctly displayed in the thumbnail list and
    it is not possible to search for words with umlauts, accents etc.
    I still haven't figured out how to handle this properly in Mapivi
    any hints are welcome.
    Meanwhile I recommend to use translations like these for the
    German umlauts:  (u with two dots above) -> ue,  -> ae etc. 
  
27. When I start other gnome/GTK applications, Mapivi is killed with a
    segmentation fault. Is there a fix?

    Yes, there is one, see:  
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=130912&highlight=mapivi
    You just have to apply a 3 line patch to one of the PerlTk files,
    rebuild and install PerlTk.
    It's not a Mapivi, but a PerlTk bug, thus all PerlTk applications
    stop with a segmentation fault, when a gnome application is started.
    
28. Will image quality decrease when adding or editing meta data?
    Is there a recompression of my picture when I add or change IPTC
    information?
    
    No, a JPEG picture has several segments, when you add, change or
    remove meta information (IPTC, EXIF, comments) the segment containing
    the image data is not changed. You will see no quality decrease
    when commenting your pictures with Mapivi, even when you change e.g.
    the IPTC keywords a hundred times.