Test application: For "lightning fast thumbnail creation"

[Jack Sparrow]

@lkuech,

tested your little app and worked very very well.

I like the idea to integrate it in MP, but for me it seems better to keep it as external application that can work in background.
So I would make it a small exe with command line parameters to be passed (target folder, destination folder, etc etc etc)
This let you free to keep and develop your app that may be very usefull also outside MP.
And also keep users free to use it for small thums or not.

I still think that having a thumb db is a overkill, but I do not see any other solution.
Last thing ... today 90% of teh cameras produce decent thumbs.

If I can give help in any way ... testing, also coding, why not let me know

Regards
Jack

[lkuech]

Hi Jack.

Yes.
Most likely we will not need a database that is holding the images as a blob.
Like it looks right now, it will be enough for nearly all users to generate and store only thumbs for images that do not have decent embedded thumbs.
As you have already mentioned, nearly all of todays cameras are generating decent thumbnails. And not to forget: The propose of thumbnails is not to view them from 1 inch distance on a beamer , it's just to find the image you want to view in fullscreen.
If I'm able to build a proper alternative, then even large thumbs are most likely obsolete.
If all that is really true, then there is not much to store... and a database (more that the one we have right now) is absolutely oversized.

Bye
Lars

[mbuzina]

The "PictureShareWathcer" plugin / or exe (probably include both, one for "MP Allways on" and one for "occasionally MP" should be watching all pictures changes and add the exif details of the pictures to the pic database. This would be the only way to enable good database views (as the current View by Date is doing).

[lkuech]

Hi.

The bug I have mentioned at post #13 "images without EXIF thumb will not update not update the database right now. That means you will not see them if you switch to the date based view."
is fixed.
Maybe I will upload a updated version if you guys are interested. Otherwise I will wait with this till the freeze is over.

BTW: I have also fixed a "bug" that annoys me frequently.
If you select a image to see it in fullscreen, skip a few images further fore or back and then leave the fullscreen view, the selected item was still the one you have selected. Normally it should be the one you have seen last in fullscreen.

Bye
Lars

[patricon]

@lkuech

First all, many thanks for creating this app. It works really fast, so, why not integrate it into the mp code?? also, i have some problems with some pictures that the thumbnail isn't created (i don't know why) it only shows a smal red cross.

The created thumbnails with your app are added into the MP db?

regards,

[lkuech]

@patricon: The test application does only show embedded Thumbsnails it does not create them. Because of this you may see some images with a red cross. It means that there is no thumb embedded. If this happens with images that should have a embedded thumb, then please send me a sample picture and I will try to fix this.

I already have an experimental integration of this in MP. But as long as the next stable version of MP isn't out it is not "allowed" to integrate new features... just bug fixes...

If you are interested in test the experimental integration I can post the files here. You have to replace 3 files (core.dll,databases.dll and windowplufins.dll) because of this it does only make sense to replace them for testings...

Bye
Lars

[wortelsoft]

Tried you test app and it works brilliant, Things like this will definitly make the whole mp experience a lot smoother.
(and it's such a great app allready!)

[rtv]

Shame on me - I've missed this thread completely until today...

I've set the item thumb to use the high-res thumbs now because on TFT or other large display devices the former thumbs were looking very ugly - at least in BigIcon view.

Your exif solution sounds very interesting but imho it would be much more useful if the current "patchwork" sort-by-date would be removed and the existing methods would be able to use the exif date to build a view based on that.

For thumbs we're struggling the problem not only in MyPictures and other areas do not provide exif thumbs at all. In addition you already mentioned that it won't be able to replace the large thumbs. Maybe we should better search for a fast 3rd party library that could replace the slow System.Drawing functions in Picture.cs.

Nevertheless great work so far!

[ugonzo]

@lkuech,

How could I get the dll's in order to give it a try?

Regards

[krl69]

Yes, how are things going here? I'm one of those who uses the "My pictures" quite often and I can’t say I'm very pleased by the speed of thumbs creation. Ilts veeeeeery slow compared to XP/Vista's own engine...