Homepage | Download (1.8 MB)
Version: 0.41
License: GPL2
Rating:

Linux users, by and large, generally use the GIMP for image editing. After all, it’s included with almost every distribution! But when you just want to sharpen a picture a little bit, or rotate it slightly, something simpler could be more handy. Especially for those who run slow or memory-malnourished computers, firing up the GIMP can be a bit of overkill. Why use an 800-pound gorilla when a spider monkey is what you really need? Enter . . . Fotox.

Most digital cameras come with a simple image editing program, for touching up photos you take, adding a few effects, etc. And almost invariably, that program only works with Microsoft Windows. Think of Fotox as the Linux equivalent of that — a simple application for basic image enhancement.

Installation is very easy. After extracting the tar.gz, running the script entitled build is all that is required. It will ask you to give it the names of the directories you wish to use to store the binary, the datafiles, and the documentation; and then compiles the source (an extremely speedy process) and adds an icon to your desktop. Then, Fotox is ready to run!

Fotox consists of a large image area (where the file you’re editing will show), a toolbar with a row of useful buttons, and a menu at the top. To begin editing a picture, click the open button, and select it in the dialog that comes up. If, later, you want to open another file in the same folder, you can click the index button to view thumbnails of all the images in the current directory — click a thumbnail to edit its image.

All the actual editing functions are found in (surprise!) the Edit Image drop-down menu. There you can tune the colors and brightness of your image, crop it, exorcise the evil red eye from persons photographed with a flash, rotate the picture, resize it, stretch it, sharpen it, reduce noise (which, if done to excess, makes an image look like a watercolor painting), or change the color depth. All fairly straightforward, normal features: just what you’d want in a digital-camera-companion-program. But, smack-dab in the middle of the list, are two very cool functions that you’d never expect — HDR image compositing and panorama stitching!

HDR (or HDRI) is an abbreviation for High Dynamic Range Imaging. An HDR image is one created by combining multiple images shot at different exposures, into a single photograph. In this way, a picture is formed with the greatest amount of detail; with no parts of it washed out or obscured by shadow — sort of a simulation of what the human eye sees, as it adjusts to view different parts of a real scene. Fotox’s HDR capabilities aren’t as advanced as those of, say, Photomatix; but you can still do some pretty nifty stuff with it. All you have to do is open one of the two images you wish to combine, select HDR from the menu, and then choose the second picture from the dialog. Fotox will align the two images, and then present you with a subwindow, with a bank of sliders in it. Each of these controls a different color range in the composited image — drag the slider up to increase the opacity of the second image in that range, and drag it down to make the first image show through more. Then, when you’re done, click done!

To create a panorama, click the panorama option in the menu, and select the image in the file dialog that belongs just to the right of the picture already opened. The two images will appear side-by-side, bulged out in the middle; like a couple fat guys sitting on a park bench. This is because, for two partly-overlapping images to align properly, they must be bent and shrunken around the edges. Just how much they need to be warped depends on the lens. The parameters can be adjusted manually in the pop-up window; or you can make the program guess the correct amount, by clicking the search button. Be warned, however, that the automatic search can take a long time — so if you’re in a hurry, manual is the better way to go. When the correct amount of warp is determined, simply drag the photos into approximate alignment, and click proceed. Fotox will then calculate the exact alignment down to sub-pixel precision (you can see just what parts of the image it’s thinking about, because they’re highlighted in red), and give you another subwindow, so that you can fine-tune the color between the two pictures, to make sure it matches.

A little cropping to get rid of the bent edges, and your panorama will likely be ready. But, if your subject is rather close-up (an indoor panorama, perhaps), things may appear bent and distorted. In that case, you’ll have to undo the squashing caused by the alignment of the images at the beginning of the process, with the unbend tool. Just set the amount to unbend it (usually only vertical unbending is necessary), and click apply and then done.

The panorama tool does have its limitations. Only horizontal panoramas are possible, and you have to begin with the leftmost image. More than two-image panoramas can be made, but the picture must be unbent before each successive image is added, or the next picture will not line up right. However, Fotox is still in the fairly early stages of development (not even version 1 yet), and for most purposes, it works great. The perfect tool for simple photo editing, with a few high-tech features thrown in!

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 3:33 pm and is filed under Graphics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.