User Guide

User Guide Neat Image

9 20-Nov-03

4. Filtration process details

Neat Image can be used to filter a single image or multiple images at the same time. This section

contains a detailed description of the filtration process involving a single image. Queued processing of

multiple images is explained in the section 7, page 29.

The filtration process is described as a set of steps that have to be taken to process an image. Please

follow the description step-by-step or read a specific part to find out particular details.

4.1. Step I. Open an input image

Use the Input Image tab in the Filtration Job Editor:

To open an input image

⇒ Click

(the Open input image… button) on the toolbar, or in the

Input Image box, or select the File | Open Input Image… menu item. Supported file formats are

BMP, TIFF and JPEG (please see Requirements, page 4, for details).

Use the Windows clipboard to bring an image into the program from another application: use the

Edit | Paste menu item. The clipboard image should be in 24/32-bit RGB format.

Drag an image file from the Windows Explorer and drop it to the input image viewer.

When the input image is ready, the Input Image box (on the

right panel) displays related image information such as image

bit depth, size, channel names, and EXIF data fields

(when

available). You may need to refer to these data later on.

To scroll and pan the image in the image viewer:

• drag the image using the middle mouse button;

• press the spacebar and drag the image with the left

mouse button.

To change the image zoom level:

• use the mouse wheel;

• use the zoom control on the toolbar;

• use the Ctrl-Plus, Ctrl-Minus keyboard shortcuts.

4.2. Step II. Prepare a device noise profile

Use the Device Noise Profile tab in the Filtration Job Editor:

To filter an image, Neat Image needs to know the characteristics of noise produced by the image

acquisition device (digital camera, scanner, etc.) that the input image comes from. The noise

characteristics of a device working in certain mode are stored by Neat Image in a device noise profile.

There are several ways to get a device noise profile that suits the input image:

• To automatically select the most suitable device noise profile from a ready-made set of profiles

using Neat Image automatic profile matcher;

• To manually select a suitable profile from a ready-made set of profiles using their descriptions;

Only those EXIF fields are shown that could be extracted from the input image and are important for noise reduction.