The field of digital imaging is changing at least as rapidly as the computer technology on which it is based. Only a few years ago, it was not a serious, cost-effective replacement, perhaps not even an adjunct, to the use of regular silver-based film for professional or business imaging. Now it is. So today I’m going to offer a brief, and completely non-controversial, survey of the field.

A company I’m involved with publishes fine-art images on greeting cards and similar products. We work from slides provided by the artists, proceeding digitally from there. I thought I’d share what we’ve learned about the process, heavily condensed to fit in one column. Using digital images involves three basic processes: image capture, storage, and reproduction. Each of these can be accomplished in various ways.

Image capture

Digital images can be captured directly in a camera. There are more than 100 models from which to choose, at many price points. The camera can be all digital, or the image capture can occur in a digital add-on to a traditional 35mm or larger film camera.

Images can be created first in some traditional medium such as paint, which can then be photographed and scanned to create a digital reproduction of the original. If small enough, prints and flat art work can be directly scanned in a flat bed scanner. Images can also be created directly in the computer using graphics programs. No matter how it has been created, subsequent image storage and processing is much the same.

Image capture quality is defined by the number of pixels per inch, the optical density range of the capture device and the number of bits per colour being captured. As usual in the computer world, more of any of these is better. Some capture devices interpolate to produce more pixels per inch than they read, but this may not be a good thing. The software controlling the scanning process can also have an effect on subsequent image quality.

Cost of image capture can range from essentially zero for an image taken in a point and shoot digital camera (ignoring its amortized cost) to $20 or more for a professionally scanned transparency.

Storage

Images are large. For comparison, a long, complex word processing document may require something like 100 Kb (Kilobytes) of space on a hard drive. A not very large or complex image can take 10 Mb (Megabytes) or 100 times as much room on the drive. Obviously, one could only store 1/100 of the number of image files on the same drive. Rough as it is, that is a useful ratio to keep in mind.

Images can be stored on hard drives, the cost of which has come down remarkably in recent years. But most hard drives are not readily transportable. Image storage commonly utilizes one of several competing removable drive formats: Syquest, Jaz, Zip or CD-ROM. Coming up fast, and likely to replace one or more of these, is the DVD format. Using these removable devices allows images to be sent out for use by printers or designers, and to be moved off site for secure, redundant, long term storage.

You will eventually want to use software for managing your image storage. To start with it is easiest to store the images “manually”. That is, you handle them a file at a time, naming them as you wish, and storing them where you wish. You would probably keep a database file, perhaps containing small thumbnails of your images, as a reference to the location and names of your larger image files. You often get a simple version of such software free with your scanner or digital camera.

More capable image database software is available which you may want to look into it as your needs grow. It can be expensive. I’ve seen a demo of one such product, called Cumulus, which costs US$2500. Others are available for from two to five times that price.

Storage costs are difficult to determine without knowing actual file sizes, but is in the range of 15� to $2 per image. It should be the least expensive element in the equation.

While we�re on the topic of image size, the effects of moving large images around on a network should not be ignored. This can use up scarce network resources. You may want to consider upgrading your network cards to 100Base-T to increase the speed of file transfers.

Reproduction

Images may be reproduced on-line, as in digital catalogs on the internet. Small, low-resolution images can be used this way, because they are seen on computer screens. The original image may have 1000 or more pixels per inch, but most screens can�t display more than 75�90 pixels per inch. These smaller versions of your images may reasonably be stored in a database such as FileMaker Pro.

You’ll want to print your images for a variety of purposes. Small, low quality prints may be created for temporary use on regular ink-jet printers or the new photo printers, many of which can connect directly to a digital camera without need of a computer. Larger, near-professional-quality images may be produced in house on ink jet or colour laser printers. And of course your images may be professionally printed.

Reproduction brings up a technical issue to consider. Designers and printers expect to work with CMYK images. That stands for the four printing ink colours: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK. Simple image creation tools, like digital cameras and all but the most expensive scanners, create images in RGB format. This Red, Green, Blue format is suitable for viewing on screen, and for simple, snapshot quality printing. It is not suitable for professional reproduction. Because any conversion process can reduce the quality of the image, it’s best to start with a CMYK image if at all possible, and convert it to other formats as needed.

Cost of reproduction can vary considerably, from a low of $2 per image for an ink-jet print (counting the cost of ink and appropriate paper) to a high of $200 or more for a professional print from a professionally scanned slide.

Purchase advice

The low end of the price scale is occupied by equipment that anyone can own. The high end is not. For example, a low end slide scanner can be an add-on to a flat bed scanner, the two together costing as little as $300. The mid-range slide scanner costs from $800 to $2000. A high end one can cost from $20,000 to $75,000 to buy, and requires a trained and well-paid operator to use.

Similarly, the low end printer is a readily available ink-jet costing from $150 to $1000. The mid-range would be a colour laser printer costing several thousand dollars. And the high end goes all the way from a high-res proofing ink jet for $10,000 to the printing industry�s sheet-fed and offset presses costing many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For high quality input and output it is best to depend on the professional image service bureaus and printers. The cost per image seems high, but remember the equipment costs are being amortized by them. Expect to purchase the low and mid range equipment.

Since you’ll likely need an inexpensive ink jet printer no matter how large or small the budget, you could start with that, professionally scan some slides of representative images, and experiment a little. Then work up into the more expensive items from there. As we�ve learned from recent years experience, waiting just means you’ll get more for less.

With that happy thought, I’ll leave you until next week.

What are we here for anyway? Why in the name of God�s green earth are there so many Macintosh-effected sites, good, bad, and horrid, all across the World Wide Web? Yes, the relationship between individuals and their Macintosh computers is an interesting thing. We�re forced to ask, though, why? Why is it so important to so many people?

After all, this is a machine that we are talking about. A collection of silicon chips bound together on circuit boards that performs graphic miracles on cathode ray tubes. True, this is a gross simplification, but this is what computers do. As a consuming public, we elevate this machine, the Macintosh, to the status of high art, and lionize the individual who brought the machine to prominence and brought about its rebirth as a consumer favorite. One could ask quite easily why there is so much ado about so little.

After all, the advent of the personal computer has not all been good. How much time have we spent indoors when we could be reveling in the joy of nature? How many times have we played computer games when we could have tossed a football with a child? How much time have we taken away from our lives browsing the Web in a pointless exercise? How much time have we spent reading Web sites looking for the comfort that tells us we are members of a group comprised of like-minded souls?

Yes, we are in the middle of a revolution, but the troubling aspect of this revolution is that we are not fighting for anything in particular, but rather fighting for the sake of the fight. The Macintosh-centric web site is no different. While we proclaim that we are working together, we are actually fighting as well. We all look for advertising dollars to support ourselves, tapping the well of Macintosh suppliers until they have nothing left to give. When they stop giving, a site dies, unless the creator possesses the means to keep it going. MacSimple is subject to the same market pressures. Type �www.macosdaily.com� into your browser, and it will bring you here. That�s not a benevolent name server at work, but rather the evidence that the road to MacSimple has the ruins of MacOS Daily in its potholes.

The final question must be whether or not the venture is worth pursuing, and if so, to what end? What are we fighting for? If it is simply the life of the Macintosh computer, then we are all fools, lining the pockets of a select few while we toil in relative anonymity.

Yes, we want advertising dollars. Yes, we want investors. One skeptic wrote us last week that we couldn�t possibly have published a notorious article without looking for the notoriety that resulted. Was he correct? We�ve searched our collective souls to find the answer. Nothing has popped up yet.

However, we do dream of a day when the title MacSimple means something more than �Here�s another Mac web site that wants you to visit so that we can make money.� So, we join the fight, the revolution, if you will, but with the firm knowledge that we are fighting for something other than advertising dollars. The actual goal is the creation of an on-line publication that has purpose and depth and financial security that will serve not only us but others as well. We will stumble on the path to that goal, and will not reach it or sustain our presence there without the constant vigilance of a reading audience that pushes us and makes us think.

You may doubt our sincerity, but that�s simply something that we have to accept. Chances are, you doubt the sincerity of many entities in your life. Who doesn�t these days? If you doubt your boss, your church, your spouse, or your loved ones, why should you not doubt us? We would. Our job is to earn your respect and your readership. We have our work cut out for us.

And to the reader who castigated us for being sleazy: I suspect you aren�t reading this, but if you are, “sleazy” is the Leopard Room at the now defunct Hotel Holly in Lewiston, Maine. Stephen King used it for sleazy, and it works for us too. When we buy long white gloves and pasties, we�ll let you know. For now, we�ll take offense at that sleazy label, thank you very much.

I personally prefer expansive and light-colored scenic vistas, and right now I have a beautiful view of the ocean from a mountaintop on Molokai, Hawaii, selected. However, I’m not all that enchanted with the selection of desktop pix Apple ships with the Mac OS. A few of them are nice enough, but I don’t like to stick with any desktop picture for too long.

Fortunately, there are plenty of sources for desktop pictures, so there’s no need to look at the same old thing (however nice it may be) until you get tired of it.

Actually, if you have a scanner, you can make your own desktop pictures from photographs or what-have-you. You can also create your own artful desktop designs using graphics programs like PhotoShop, Color It! or even AppleWorks.

However, the simplest and quickest source of new desktop pictures is to download some from literally dozens of sources around the Web. Here are a few places I’ve found desktop pix that I like:

The free Webzine, About This Particular Mac (APTM) has a recurring feature offering free, downloadable desktop pictures with a new location or topic added each month. Currently, these include: Yellowstone National Park; Drops; Toronto; Niagara Falls; Monaco; Montr�al; and the Bahamas.

Online and downloadable copies of ATPM are available free at the ATPM Web Page: http://www.atpm.com

You might also want to check out a free set of six desktop pix currently being offered by MacInEurope. One of these, a lightning bolt on a jet-black background, is particularly cool. To download the MacInEurope collection, go here: http://www.macineurope.com/mie-desktop/index.html

A very comprehensive selection of desktop pictures at Ryan Walker’s MacDesktops Website. All images on the site are free-to-download �eMail-ware� to their respective authors and to Ryan Walker.

Among the comprehensive range of Desktop picture categories currently available at MacDesktops are: Apple; Bunnies; Displays; Bondi iMacs; iBooks; Candy iMacs; Hal (from 2001); Abstract Art; Animation; iMacs in �Copenhagen; Flora; more than 50 Landscapes; Sky and Stars; and Wildlife. You can check them out and download any that take your fancy at: http://MacDesktops.com/

Roland Gustafsson also offers a selection of very nice scenic desktop pictures on his ThankYouWare Website. Roland asks only that you send him a “Thank You” eMail to thanks@acts.org if you find the pix useful. You will can view and download them here.

Once you have downloaded your choice of desktop pix, drag them into the Photos folder inside the Desktop Pictures folder, which you will find inside the Appearance folder in the System folder on your hard drive. Whew!

If you have Mac OS 8.5 or newer, open to the Appearance control panel and click on the “Desktop” tab at the top of the dialog box. A preview of your current desktop picture or pattern will appear. If you have a desktop picture already selected, click the Remove Picture button which will morph into a Place Picture button.. Click the Place Picture button and select the new photo you want from the dialog box list that appears. You can also use the dialog box to select images from anywhere on your hard drive.

When you have located the desired image file, click the Choose button, and the picture you have selected will appear in the Appearance dialog’s preview window. You can use the default Position Automatically selection or play with the optional settings in that menu, with changes showing up in the preview screen.

When you are satisfied with the preview selection, click the Set Desktop button in the lower right corner of the window, and your new desktop picture will fill your desktop screen.

If you’re still using Mac OS 8.0 or 8.1, Go to the “Desktop Patterns” control panel and click on Desktop Pictures in the list to the left of the window — then proceed as outlined above.

If you drag a folder of pictures onto the miniature desktop in the Appearance or Desktop Pictures control panel, your Mac will choose one from the folder at random at each startup.

Moving onto a slightly different tack, but still on the subject of desktops, the MacOS X Client user interface will implement a directory browser-style finder navigation mode pioneered by Steve Jobs’ NeXTSTEP 2.x and OPENSTEP 4.x operating systems (on which Mac OS X is partly based).

The OS X File Viewer is a multicolumned file viewer window very different from the familiar Mac OS Desktop metaphor (which I understand will be enhanced and continued as well, with the user selecting his/her preference).

If you would like to preview a similar concept with your current system, Greg’s
Software offers you the opportunity with Greg’s Browser 2.6 — the latest version of a shareware application that gives you a fair approximation of how OS X’s File Viewer will work.

Displaying multiple folders side-by-side in a single window, Greg’s Browser lets you simultaneously see the contents of a folder, its parent, and a subfolder, providing a quick-and-easy way of moving both up and down through your folder hierarchy (such as the excavation of the Photos subfolder outlined above). Greg’s Browser can also browse into StuffIt archives as if they were normal folders.

At the top of the Greg’s Browser window are bookmarks for jumping to frequently used folders. You can also install application bookmarks so that you can drag files to them.

Like the File Viewer in the upcoming OS X, Greg’s Browser, originally released in 1993, is loosely based on the NeXT Directory Browser, and it bears the distinction of being one of the first programs to support Apple’s then-innovative inter-application drag and drop technology. In 1994, Greg’s Browser won the MacUser Shareware Award for Best Utility.

Greg’s Browser is $20 shareware. For more information or to download a copy, go to: http://www.kaleidoscope.net/greg/browser.html