Mobile Photo Awards, final days to submit!

As you might have read on Twitter or Facebook or from the blog’s sidebar, MonoPhix is one of the apps participating in the Mobile Photo Awards. This basically means that you can edit (or shoot) a picture with MonoPhix or a combination of MonoPhix and other apps and submit it to enter the competition. By submitting you get the chance to win amazing prizes and eventually see your pictures featured in an exposition. Of course we would be very honored and proud if a great iPhoneographer could win with a picture edited with MonoPhix. The entry fee is only 20$ for 3 images or 30$ for 5.

The deadline to enter is 30 November, so only 3 days left.

Enter now or go to the MonoPhix page!

Good luck to everyone participating!

MonoCore 3, a new Hicon Mono filter for MonoPhix. (iPad/iPhone-App)

A lot of people have used our MonoPhix 2.0 for iPhone and it’s the favorite black & white app for people who like a bit of noise in a monochrome picture to get a certain vintage feel. But people who want smooth black and white always jumped to other apps with less control over the results and less functionality. Now MonoPhix will also get more smooth results without losing speed or control and without losing the old grainy filter, with MonoCore 3.0.

MonoCore 3.0 is the name of the Monochrome filter which will be used in the next generation of MonoPhix apps (MonoPhix HD for iPad, MonoPhix 3.0 for iPhone and MonoPhix Lite 3.0 for iPhone), it will be faster, provide higher quality results and will be even more adjustable. And for the grain lovers there will be the ability to choose for the old MonoPhix 2 filter.

Here are some comparisons between the black & white filter in MonoPhix 2 and the one in MonoPhix 3 and MonoPhix HD for iPad :

Time needed for certain actions on a 2.040x1.536 image - MonoCore 2 vs. MonoCore 3 (Measured on an iPad)

Quality in Bytes/Pixel on a 2.040x1.536 image (Measured on an iPad)

But of course it’s better to give a picture result of the quality changes, this image was processed with the development build of MonoPhix HD for iPad, the first image was generated with the MonoCore 2 filter also present in MonoPhix 2 for iPhone, the second image is filtered with MonoCore 3. As you will see the transitions are much smoother in MonoCore 3 and the details are preserved much better, while maintaining the depth of MonoCore 2.

MonoCore2 Result

MonoCore3 Result

MonoCore2 Detail Result

MonoCore3 Detail Result

MonoPhix v2.0 for iPhone promises interesting changes!

Our latest addition to the iTunes App Store, MonoPhix Monochrome App for iPhone is getting an update within the next weeks. It’s the first of the -Phix apps that will be updated to version v2.0. But MonoPhix carries this tag with pride bringing a total of 15 changes and new features.

In MonoPhix 2.0, iphoneographers will be able to control the output of their Monochrome pictures completely. Where other apps only enable you to change the contrast settings, MonoPhix v2.0 will enable you to set highlights and shadow intensity. In this way you can make simple grayscale images with incredibly bright clear parts or adjust the sliders to make beautiful Monochrome images of pictures taken in all conditions. All changes can be previewed using a thumbnail.

Another major change is the absence of the Hard Mono and normal Grayscale features, these can now be accomplished by setting the slider in the right position with or without a little help from 4 preset settings. The missing buttons have been replaced by buttons to enable Sepia and Antique filters using the same depth and sliders which you use to make monochrome images.

Other changes include a significantly smaller filesize, a more logical save dialog and faster Monochrome filters provided by a major upgrade to the MonoCore engine.

But pictures say more than 1000 words (here are some pictures edited with MonoPhix v2.0 Release Candidate 1) :

 

MonoPhix v2.0 Monochrome example

Another MonoPhix Monochrome example - "Light at the end of the tunnel"

MonoPhix v2.0 Sepia example - Antique Fields

Another Sepia example which shows the right grain balance - Scratched Snow

Final example : Sepia - Monaco Train Station

Screenshots will be posted at release, MonoPhix v2.0 will be submitted to the App Store when all Beta testers approve of its quality.

 

 

36-image converter video tutorial for people who fail to convert

I’ve been getting a lot of complaints lately <sarcasm>always from nice people who don’t insult me or anything</sarcasm> that 36-image converter is hard to work with and that they can’t find any info on how to convert an image or even open one. So I created a tutorial on how to open images in 36-image converter and convert them. In the tutorial we’re going to convert a DNG raw camera image to PNG in 2 minutes.

A few remarks :
-The version used in the video is a development version of 36-image converter 4.7 Beta which hasn’t been released yet. So you won’t be able to filter filetypes in the open-dialog.
-In versions older than the newest alpha version of 36-image converter 4.7 you won’t be able to open and convert DNG or other raw filetypes. You can download 36-image converter 4.7 here>
-My voice is no opera baritone so I still suggest reading the help file instead of listen to me for 2 whole minutes

I hope everything is clear now and that I don’t have to hear another. “It can’t convert images, this is stupid!” in my whole life.

iPhix 1.2 for iPhone released, new icon, sliders, better filters,…

The newest version of our iPhix image editor for iPhone is released to the iTunes Store. This newest version is one of the last versions of a resizing and cropping iPhix, the next version (2.0) will support full resolution images.

The changes include :
-New icon
-Added Brighten/Darken Filter (comparable to flash-simulator apps)
-Added ability to adjust the color gamma
-Added slider to control “Egalize”-filter
-Added Ability to select more than one filter
-Added ability to remove filters
-Added Solarize filter
-Improved reliability
-New Help file

Screenshot iPhix

iPhix to support full resolution images in iPhix 2.0

We are currently developing the newest version of our image editor for the iPhone iPhix. The biggest issue was that it didn’t support full resolution pictures, everything was resized. And since many people think they are professional photographers operating the iPhone’s cam, this was absolutely necessary. An iPhone image editor must support 1.600×1.200 pixels images or it is useless apparently. So now iPhix will trade the advanced filter system, where you can select and test images before applying, for the ability to edit images at full resolution.

We weren’t able to maintain the advanced filter manager together with full resolution images since the filter system stored cache copies of the image in the memory and since there is only 16Mb of video memory available this was an issue. So we are going to do what all other image editors do in the App Store, make a crappy app with full resolution instead of an advanced photo editor which is suitable for a smartphone.

From this evolution in version 2.0 we will continue development to bring back a few of the lost features. Avoiding memory issues.

iPhix 1.1 released to the iTunes App Store

v1.1 of the iPhone/iPod Touch image editor iPhix has been approved to the iTunes App Store today. This update essentially fixes a whole bunch of issues people were experiencing. The added functionality is minimal, but the update is essential to clear out all child diseases.

iPhix 1.1 has the following changes to version 1.0 :
-Improved engine to prevent crashes and fix random resets
-Masks are now improved to fit the image’s dimensions better
-Recolored background to match the rest of the interface
-New mysterious solarwind filter (solarW)
-Add confirmation messages for save
-Added save warning to “Web” and “Help”
-Fixed bugs with which crashed the application on use of multiple masks

So iPhix 1.1 is a lot more stable to work with. Of course v1.2 is already on its way and submitted to the App Store.

Now we are just waiting for Apple to place iPhix in the top of the new releases listing, where it belongs as it has a release date set to September the 4th but is hanging out between apps who were updated the 24th of August.

You can still download iPhix here>

36-image converter downloaded 100.000 times on CNET

We know that all together from various sources 36-image converter is downloaded about 600.000 times, but we only take one result as official and untampered with measuring tool, CNET. And this night, the 100.000th download of 36-image converter was confirmed.

36-image converter is around since februari 2006 and has been listed on CNET since July 2006, it took off quite fast quickly bringing it to 20.000 downloads and to one of our most downloaded applications. Later in 2007 we started seeing the potential of 36-image converter and we started building other more advanced tools and version, thus even increasing the amount of downloads even more. In 2008 came 36-image converter 4.4 “Ninja” and this has put us on the map as the most popular real image converter and one of the top 20 most popular image editing tools in the world. And today, we have 100.000 official downloads.

I can only say one more thing : Bring in the 1.000.000!

iPhix now available in iTunes App Store!

It’s been a while since we finished and submitted the first version of iPhix to the App Store, but it’s finally here!

iPhix screenshot

iPhix is an iPhone/iPod Touch Application based on 36-image converter which enables users to open a picture or image file and resize it, apply one out of 16 filters on it or apply a Mask to get a cutout of your picture in 4 different shapes, a heart, a dog’s paw, a convex and a concave rectangle. You can also use the last one to round the edges of your pictures. iPhix has a more than decent interface and is accompanied by an online help file explaining all functions. It’s a must have for every iPhone photographer.

Here is an overview of all iPhix filters :
-Sepia
-Grayscale
-Inverse
-Red
-Green
-Blue
-Monochrome
-GRB
-Egalise (16-colors)
-Egalise (125-colors)
-Egalise (2072-colors)
-Pixel Stretch
-Blinds
-Stripes
-Diagonal Dark
-Diagonal White

iPhix receives updates regularly and is available for $0.99 or €0.79 in the iTunes App Store. So why wait until you find a computer to edit your iPhone images when you can edit them directly on your iPhone?

You can view the new iPhix site here >

Or download iPhix directly from the iTunes App Store here >

36-image express 2.0, Project Dragonfly continues…

We are now working on 36-image converter 4.7 but we should begin looking towards the future, which is 36-image express (36Ix). As for now 36Ix can only open and save images, but this will change.

In 36Ix 2.0 we will alter the interface to house a bunch of new features, 1 of the most important features in 36Ix 2.0 will be the layer support. We will try to integrate layer support a well as possible with a focus on usability and ease of use.

Another feature of 36Ix 2.0 will be filters, because filters are now handled by the Core Image Processing Unit instead of the 36-image converter executable, we can easily add support for the same filters to 36-image express. The same for the input and output filetypes.

As a final point we will add some transformations (resize, crop, rotate) and save to web functionality and the first step towards the future is finished. But first we have to finish 36IC 4.7 of course and this may still take months, but the good news is that most of the work we do for 36IC can be reused in 36-image express, thus creating a more functional, lighter and more beautiful version of 36-image converter.

The next step v2.5 will add brushes, layer effects, vector drawing, fill tools, photo altering tools and when this step is completed we will probably be at a point where we overpower GIMP, thus having a +-10Mb application which supports layers, is easy to use and looks good, is light and supports +-60 input filetypes and +-30 output filetypes. We might even reach our goal to develop the first freeware application which can compete with Photoshop. But this is something we will see in the future.