Preference Settings

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Select the 'File->Preferences...' menu item to display the 'Preferences' dialog.

General Preferences

The General Preferences dialog allows you to specify what happens to images when they are deleted. They can either be moved to the "DELETED" subdirectory or moved to the standard Windows Recycle Bin. The move to "DELETED" subdirectory option is useful for moving "second-rate" shots to a subdirectory without actually deleting them. By default a confirmation dialog will be displayed before deleting images. Uncheck the 'Confirm before deleting images' checkbox if you do not wish to be prompted when deleting images.

When BreezeBrowser starts up it normally loads the most recently viewed directory. Uncheck "Load most recent directory when starting BreezeBrowser" if you prefer BreezeBrowser to start up without loading a directory.

Select "Use IPTC caption in preference to EXIF comments" to store comments as IPTC data. This allows comments of almost any length to be added to any TIFF, JPEG or Canon raw file and avoids the limitations of EXIF comments. EXIF comments can only be edited using BreezeBrowser if the file already contains an EXIF UserComment field and comments are limited to length of that field.
When IPTC captions are selected BreezeBrowser will display the IPTC caption unless it is empty in which case it will display the EXIF comment instead. When editing comments with IPTC captions enabled the comment is saved to both the EXIF UserComment and the IPTC caption.

Select the wraparound check box if you would like BreezeBrowser to wraparound to the first image when pressing "Next" with the last image displayed. BreezeBrowser will also wraparound to the last image if "Previous" is pressed when the first image is displayed.

BreezeBrowser writes a small text file called BreezeBrowser.dat in each folder containing images that views. This file contains information about the thumbnail sort order. Check the "Do not write BreezeBrowser.dat..." checkbox if you do not wish this file to be written.

Normally the modification time of an image file is updated when it is modified by being rotated or the comments are edited. This can be annoying when viewing images in software which displays them in chronological order using the modification time. To avoid this select "Preserve file modification time when rotating and annotating images".
This is not a problem when viewing images in timestamp order in BreezeBrowser because it uses the EXIF date and time and file creation time to sort images.
Note: BreezeBrowser will still set the file's archive bit so that backup software will know that the image has changed since the last backup.

By default BreezeBrowser does not display hidden folders but this can be enabled by selecting "Show hidden folders".

Use the "Double-click on image action" drop down list to select what happens when you double-click on an image in main view, thumbnail view or fimstrip view. The default action is to switch from main view to thumbnail view and back again. The various options are:

Option Description
main view <-> thumbnail view Switch between main view and thumbnail view
View actual image View the image fullsize in a separate window
Edit image Edit the image in the currently defined image editor
main view <-> filmstrip + EXIF Switch between main view and filmstrip view with EXIF data
main view <-> filmstrip + folders Switch between main view and filmstrip view with folder display
thumbnail view <-> filmstrip + EXIF Switch between thumbnail view and filmstrip view with EXIF data
thumbnail view <-> filmstrip + folders Switch between thumbnail view and filmstrip view with folder display

The EXIF summary displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the screen can be customised by editing the status line format string. This format string uses the same tokens to specify the settings to be displayed as the HTML generator (see HTML Generation). Pressing the "Reset" button will restore the string to the system default which is:
"@year@/@month@/@day@ @time@, @lens@mm @ @focalLength@mm, @shutter@sec f/@aperture@, Exp:@exposureMode@, ISO @iso@, AF:@focusMode@, WB:@whiteBalance@, Flash:@flash@"
Please note that Windows can only display the first 128 characters in the status line.

The main view EXIF summary (displayed on the right hand side of the main view window when "Show controls" is enabled) may be customised by editing the format string. The default value is "@exifSummary@".

New lines can be entered using "\n" e.g. use the following format string to add separate lines with the camera model name and IPTC copyright field to the EXIF summary:
"@model@\nCopyright: @IPTC_copyight@\n@exifSummary@"

The filmstrip view EXIF summary may be customised by editing the format string. The default value is "@exif@".

Image Display Preferences

The background color used for the thumbnail display can be set to white, black or gray.

BreezeBrowser can display three different sizes of thumbnails: small, large and extra large. Small thumbnails are a maximum of 80x80 pixels and large thumbnails are 160x160 pixels. The size of extra large thumbnails is user definable and can be set to any value between 200x200 pixels and 1000x1000 pixels. Larger thumbnail sizes are slower to generate and use more memory than smaller sizes and should be avoided unless your system has plenty of RAM (e.g. 512Mb or more).

BreezeBrowser caches the last few images displayed in the slideshow to speed up viewing. The cache size can be specified in the image display preferences depending on how much memory (RAM) your PC has.

BreezeBrowser has two methods of rotating JPEG images both of which are lossless and don't affect the image quality:
1) rearranging image data to rotate the image
2) editing the EXIF orientation variable stored in the shooting data
The first method is not as fast as the second method and can result in small strips of the image being wrapped around if the image size is not an exact multiple of the JPEG tile size (this isn't a problem with unedited images straight from a digital camera). The second method is very fast but not many applications read this value resulting in the image being displayed in its original unrotated orientation. At the time of writing Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro all ignore the EXIF orientation.

Click on "Ignore embedded thumbnails in JPEGs" if you want BreezeBrowser to generate thumbnail images from the main JPEG image rather than the embedded thumbnail. This is slower than using the embedded thumbnail but avoids problems when the thumbnail becomes out of sync with the main image. One common example of this is when you edit a JPEG using Photoshop 6.0. Photoshop takes a copy of the EXIF data of the JPEG and writes it back to the JPEG when it is saved. Normally this is useful because the EXIF data is preserved, but because the EXIF data also includes the embedded thumbnail this will show the original file and not the edited image.
Note: The "Regenerate JPEG thumbnails" function (under the "Tools" menu) can be used to update the thumbnails if they have ecome out of sync with the main image data.

The "Highlight method" drop down list specifies how highlight values are calculated when displaying flashing highlights in main view (see flashing highlights). Set this to "luminosity" to use the luminosity value from the image to calculate the highlight values. Alternatively this can be set to "Max RGB" and the maximum value from the red, green and blue channels will be used to calculate the highlight value. The threshold value sets the threshold above which the highlight is shown blinking. A value of 250 is probably a good starting point.

The "HQ Strength" setting specifies how much sharpening to apply to images viewing in main view in HQ mode. The default setting is 75.

Click on the "RAW+JPEG settings..." button to specify how BreezeBrowser should display raw and JPEG files from Canon Nikon cameras. The following dialog will be displayed:

Certain Canon and Nikon cameras can store RAW and JPEG images and these can be handled as a pair in BreezeBrowser by selecting "Link RAW+JPEG files". When this option is selected operations such as image rename, copy, move, delete and IPTC editing will be applied to both the RAW file and the JPEG file.

Canon EOS 1D and 1Ds raw files contain a small 288x192 pixel TIFF image and the full resolution raw image data. If no display options are selected in the dialog BreezeBrowser will display the small TIFF image in main view. This image is very quick to display, but is rather small. Select one of the options described below to display a larger image in main view:

  1. Convert raw images when displaying in main view. When this option is selected BreezeBrowser will convert the raw files using the "As shot" settings and then resize the image to fit the display. The raw conversion takes approximately 4 secs for a 1D raw file and 18 secs for a 1Ds raw file on a moderately fast 1.3GHz PC and has to be performed every time the image is displayed.
  2. If you shoot in Raw + JPEG mode select "Link JPEG to EOS 1D/1Ds raw image when available" to display the JPEG when available. When this option is selected rename, move, copy and delete options are automatically performed on both the 1D raw file and the asociated JPEG image. Images are displayed much faster with this option than the first option provided the JPEG is available.
  3. Select the "Auto create JPEG" option if you do not shoot in Raw + JPEG mode and would like BreezeBrowser to create a preview JPEG automatically the first time the raw file is displayed. When this option is selected it takes approximately 4 secs to convert a 1D raw image (approx 18secs for a 1Ds raw file) and create the JPEG preview image the first time it is displayed. After that the JPEG image is displayed automatically and viewing is much faster. You can specify the size of the preview JPEG to be 50% the size of the raw image or the same size as the raw image.

BreezeBrowser can use color profiles to help display images with accurate colors. In order use color profiles for display a suitable display monitor profile should be selected and enabled. Color profiles are normally stored in one of the following directories: C:\Windows\System\Color on Windows 98 and Windows ME systems, C:\WinNT\System32\Color on Windows 2000 and C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color on Windows XP. When the monitor profile is enabled BreezeBrowser will read color profiles embedded in JPEG and TIFF image files and convert the colors for display on the monitor. You may also specify a default profile to be used for images that don't contain a color profile.
Some cameras allow you to specify the colorspace they should use (e.g. the Canon EOS 10D, 1D and 1DS output in sRGB or Adobe RGB 1998 colorspaces). Unfortunately these cameras don't embed a color profile in the image making it difficult to use color management to display images correctly. BreezeBrowser can read the colorspace information from the shooting data in Canon EOS 10D, 1D and 1DS images and then automatically use the sRGB or Adobe RGB 1998 color profile to display the image. Select "Read color space from shooting data if no profile is embedded" to enable this feature. Please note: this feature only works for images displayed in main view (applying it to thumbnail images would be too slow).

You may also specify a color profile to use for printing and print preview.

Raw Conversion Preferences

Click on 'Append "L" to linear and "C" to combined conversion filenames' if you would like different filenames to be used for different types of raw conversion. This can be useful when you want to try different raw conversion methods on a single image and compare the images to select the best results. e.g. When this option is selected and the file crw_0123.crw is converted using combined conversion and saved as a JPEG the files is saved as crw_0123c.jpg.

The default location to write files converted from raw files is a subdirectory named "CONVERTED". You can override this by unchecking the "Put converted files..." check box and specifying a different location. The directory can be an absolute pathname (e.g. "D:\Photos\Converted") or a pathname relative to the image directory (e.g. ".\Converted"). Enter '.' if you would like converted images to be stored in the same directory as the orginals (Note: you will need to refresh the directory by hitting F5 to see the converted files).

You can also set the dpi of TIFF files created when converting raw images. This doesn't affect the actual pixels written to the file but is useful when printing images with Photoshop.

Use the thread priority drop-down list to specify the priority of BreezeBrowser when converting raw files. Set it to "High" to get the fastest possible conversion when you do not wish to use your computer for other things during the conversion process. Set the priority to "Low" if you wish BreezeBrowser to convert images in the background while using your computer for other things. "Normal" priority is a good compromise between conversion speed and processor usage.

BreezeBrowser can embed a color profile in JPEG, PNG or TIFF images when converting raw images. You can specify separate color profiles for normal and linear raw conversion for each camera model. Please select your camera model from the drop down list and then define which profiles should be used for normal and linear raw conversion.

The color space for Canon EOS 10D, 1D and 1DS raw files can be specified as sRGB or AdobeRGB during raw conversion. Select the "Auto embed sRGB profile" and/or "Auto embed AdoebRGB profile" options if you want BreezeBrowser to use the raw conversion color space setting to automatically select the sRGB or AdobeRGB color profiles when converting raw files from the Canon EOS 10D, 1D or 1DS.
NOTE: Windows 98 users may need to copy the sRGB and AdobeRGB profile files into the BreezeBrowser profiles directory for this feature to work (profile files "sRGB Color Space Profile.icm" and "AdobeRGB.icc").

When a monitor color profile is also selected BreezeBrowser will use this to display raw preview images (see raw conversion).
NOTE: Embedding a color profile in an image does not change the image data. It simply provides information about the color space represented by the image data.

AboutDigicam.com have very kindly supplied some sample color profiles for Canon cameras which can be found in the "Profiles" directory where BreezeBrowser is installed (usually C:\Program Files\BreezeSys\BreezeBrowser\Profiles). These include linear (for use with linear conversion of raw files) and non-linear profiles for the Canon Powershot G1, G2, G3, EOS D30, EOS D60, EOS 10D and EOS 1D cameras. Many more profiles (e.g, Infra red B&W and color profiles, sepia and "Velvia" high saturation profiles) may be purchased from their website: http://www.aboutdigicam.com

Image Editor Preferences

Use this to specify how BreezeBrowser should edit images.

Most image editors are unable to read raw files directly and so they need to be converted to another format first e.g. TIFF or JPEG. If your editor does support the reading of raw files you can select "Editor supports raw files". When this option is set and you select "Edit Image" for a raw file the file is passed directly to your image editor. If it is not set the dialog below will be displayed asking whether you wish to convert the raw file before editing or send a previously converted image to the editor.

HTML Preferences

The default location for storing HTML templates is in the templates folder of the BreezeBrowser installation directory. If you plan to edit the existing templates or create your own you may prefer to store the templates elsewhere so that they are easier to backup e.g. in "My Documents". To do this either type in the new location for the templates or click on the "..." to use the folder browser to select the location. Please note that no templates will be listed in the HTML dialog if the template base directory is set incorrectly.

Web browsers use sRGB color space for displaying images and this can give incorrect colors if you use a different color space for your images (e.g. AdobeRGB). To avoid this problem select "Convert images with embedded color profiles to sRGB" to instruct the HTML generator to convert images to sRGB color space. This will only affect TIFF and JPEG images containing embedded color profiles.

The Windows filing system is case insensitive (e.g. the filenames "BreezeBrowser.htm" and "breezebrowser.htm" represent the same file) and this can cause problems when publishing HTML pages on the web which is case sensitive. This can be very frustrating when pages are displayed correctly when tested locally but have broken links when uploaded to the web. To avoid this problem select "Convert filenames to lower case" to get the HTML generator to use lower case filenames for images and pages.

The default output directory for HTML pages is a directory called HTML created in the same directory as the images. Sometimes it is convenient to use a different output directory and for BreezeBrowser to remember the location of this directory. Select "Remember HTML output directory name" to get the HTML generator to use the same HTML directory each time. Please take care not to overwrite existing HTML pages when using this option.

By default IPTC data is not copied to images created by the HTML generator. Select "Copy IPTC data to main image" if you want IPTC data to be copied to the main image.

Use the home page edit box to specify the location of your home page. The HTML generator will replace the @homeURL@ token in the templates with the value entered here.

The @next@ and @prev@ tokens in HTML templates generate hypertext links with the default text "Next" and "Prev". Use the "@prev@ text" and "@next@ text" to replace this with text of your own chosing.

The default behavior of the HTML generator is to create the HTML pages and images in the same directory and use "_std" as a suffix for main images and "_thm" for thumbnails. A separate sub directory can be specified for both main images and thumbnails. It is also possible to change the suffix used for the main and thumbnail images. The suffix can be empty in which case the images will have the same name as the original images. If the main and thumbnail image suffixes are the same (or both empty) they must be stored in different directories.

Several of the HTML templates shipped with BreezeBrowser use the @owner@ token for the copyright text. @owner@ is used to extract the owner name from the EXIF data in Canon images and the artist EXIF field in non-Canon images. You may override this by selecting "Use name specified below" in the "@owner@ Token" section and entering the text to be used in the edit box.


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