With Digi-Annotator you can take a graphic image directly from source, resize it to a more manageable size, annotate it (and possibly 'watermark' it) , add interesting borders and graphics, convert it and save it, print it and email it.
To add annotations there are two forms of label, a text label and a graphic label. Both labels have a number of presentational options and can be moved with the mouse and placed anywhere on or around the image. Both label types can be merged or 'watermarked' with the image and you can add as many labels as you want.
The background/border can be coloured or a graphic tiled on it. There are thousands of free very suitable backgrounds available on the internet.
Digi-Annotator is not a program with a comprehensive armoury of graphic manipulation options. Digi-Annotator was designed primarily to add notes to digital photographs and is limited to only those functions needed to achieve that objective. It can however just as easily be used as a stand-alone tool as in conjunction with other more specialised programs that have a copy/paste ability.
Aside from resizing and converting to a different format, there is a basic cropping facility and a sharpen option. For more than that you will have to use a dedicated graphics program. However you can easily copy the image to/from a graphics program and get the benefit of both programs. Set the Watch Clipboard option and Digi-Annotator will pop up with the graphic loaded when you copy to clipboard in the graphics program.
You can drop an image on Digi-Annotator or its icon or you can copy an image to it. If you select to run it in the context menu (see the bottom of the Options window) you can open it by right-clicking on the file name/icon and selecting "Add a Note". You can drag images from your browser or from explorer or other programs that permit dragging. When you paste from clipboard it will firstly look to see if there is a graphic format it can paste. If there is no graphic format, it will look for Drag-Drop data and see if there is a file it can load. If there is neither, if will look for textual content and try to load it into the currently focused text window.
If you want to resize an image, it is done by resizing it to the Digi-Annotator window. Resize the window with a mouse or select a common size option in the Options window. There are a number of re-sampling filters in Options that can be used when resizing. Normally Lanczos3 or Mitchell are the best filters for digital images but you may find that some clip images are better resized with other filters.
Digi-Annotator is a WYSIWYG program, it saves only what you can see; hidden content off screen or covered by another window will not be saved or copied. You can copy either the Digi-Annotator window (the window is used when saving the image) or just the image. Reloading the image will load in an untouched image but not if the image was pasted from clipboard originally or if the original image is no longer available.
The position of the graphic can be adjusted in the Options window. Both the Horizontal and Vertical positions can be changed. The border space around the image is adjusted using the UP/DOWN keys or the mouse wheel (when the image is not centralized) and/or resizing the window. (Not when the graphic is positioned centrally)
You can set the background/border colour from either the menu or more directly with the mouse. If you hold down the ALT key, you turn the mouse cursor into a 'magic wand' and can select a colour from the image. If you hold down the left button of the mouse and the ALT key together, you can then move out of Digi-Annotator and select a colour from anywhere on the screen.
There is an option to frame the image. Adding a raised or lowered 3D frame will accentuate the image. You can also add a simple plain border the same colour as the frame selection in the Options window. All three can be applied together or in multiple applications.
You can also select to have a frame drawn around the saved image.
You can select an area for cropping using CTRL+ mouse. If you hold the CTRL key down when you lift the mouse, the selected area will replace the main image, without the CTRL key, the cropped selection will be copied to clipboard.
You can rotate or flip the image or select whether to view the image full size or proportionally within the window.
The Options window can be opened by either selecting from the popup menu or by double-clicking the main window.
NOTE: There are three popup menus, one for each of the label types and one for the window.
TEXT LABEL
You can add a new text label or load a previously saved label. You can add as many text labels as you want. You can save up to four. The text label content is created in a separate window opened from the label popup menu. By resizing the text window you reformat the text label content. The text window font can be changed by double clicking on the text box. There are several options for a label in the label popup menu. The text label can be moved into position with the mouse.
GRAPHIC LABEL
You can add a new graphic label or a previously saved graphic label. You can add as many graphic labels as you want. You can save up to four. There are several options for the label in the label popup menu.
WATERMARKING
Both types of label can be merged or 'watermarked' into the main image. The degree of blending is set in the Options window.
NOTE: You can only 'watermark' :
a. If the image is full size.
b. If the label height is less than the image (there may be a transparent area of the label)
c. You can only 'watermark' on the image not the border area around the image. You can however copy the window which creates a window sized image, paste it back in and then watermark it.
If you set the option to watch the clipboard, Digi-Annotator will attempt to paste or load automatically into Digi-Annotator ( see pasting above ) and, if minimized, will show.
SAVING IMAGES
You can save as a Bitmap, JPEG, PNG Image, EMF or a GIF. PNG, EMF and GIF files can be saved as transparent if the Transparent box in Options is selected.
JPEG's are saved with a compression quality of 90 and PNG images with a compression of 8. If you want to use different settings, open the file 'digi_annotator.ini' (in the same folder as the exe file) with notepad and add new lines:
JPEG=X {X being a value between 20 and 100 } and/or
PNG=X { X being a value between 2 and 10}
Don't leave any spaces in a line and don't change other entries. Save the file. Note that this file is only read on starting the program so any changes will not take place until you restart the program.
NOTE: Exif data is not saved when you save in Digi-Annotator.
You can send the image as an email attachment directly from Digi-Annotator.
Install/Uninstall.
To install, extract these files to a folder of your choice. You may want to copy the exe file and paste a shortcut on the desktop. To include the program in the context menu, select the option at the bottom of the Options window. To uninstall make sure you unregister it from the context menu in Options before you delete all files in the folder. There are no changes to the registry other than the context menu requirement.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED SOLELY AS-IS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE USER AGREES TO INDEMNIFY AND HOLD THE AUTHOR HARMLESS FROM AND AGAINST ANY AND ALL CLAIMS ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO USE OF THE PRODUCT.
This software is FREEWARE and permission is granted for anyone to use this software for their own personal use. Though FREEWARE, the author retains copyright of the code and authority should be sought to include it in any library offered to the public.
Copyright: Brian Shepherd (http://chesterway.co.uk) 2008