News :: 15MR: Image Assistant

Welcome to my first 15MR! Today’s topic will be on Image Assistant and my feelings on it.

As Giveaway of the Day states,

“Image Assistant is a powerful and easy-to-use utility for batch resizing images. Image Assistant quickly and easily prepares your image collections to be included in HTML pages. Image Assistant is also a perfect utility for creating thumbnails. This program works with the major image formats, including JPEG, GIF, BMP, and PNG.”

Click below for the full review:

Quick Pros:

• Sizable list of input file types – JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, BMP, WMF & EMF
• Choice of outputs besides JPEG (Including GIF, PNG, TIFF & BMP)
• Selectable quality
• Ability to save and reload profiles
• Text & image watermarking
• Rotate/resize/flips
• LARGE assortment of filters
• File renaming
• Previewing
• Online tutorials
• Very fast

Quick Cons:

• Double-click and enter key in the folder select selects folder
• No TGA support
• No way to stop folder scan
• Too many tabs for quick use
• Watermark text is lacking; no filters/dropshadows/glows
• Positioning watermark can be daunting for newbies
• No way to make ‘defaults’ without hacking files manually
• No drag ‘n’ drop support into main window

Expanding on the Pros and Cons

While for most, the selection of file inputs are wonderful, I do feel it is missing one critical one, at least for myself. I wish there was TGA support. I take a lot of WoW(World of Warcraft) screenshots; however, there is no support for TGA, one of the primary reasons I wanted an app like this. Granted, this isn’t a huge downfall as since none of the other freeware or low-price software I’ve gotten support this format, it would be nice if it did.

One major downfall is the folder selection tool and the lack of canceling of the folder recursive. I found that double-clicking or hitting enter on the folders selects the folders and starts running away; Quite frequently I had to hard-close the app because it was searching the whole Program Files setup. Clicking the little + every time was a pain at best, and definitely not easily accessible to those who would be unable to use mice. The inability to turn off recursive folder search as well is a huge negative for me as due to I sort a lot based on folder trees. On top of this, the application doesn’t memorize the last folder you were in, even in the same session. Big downfall

The ability to store your different pre-sets is a GREAT feature that I give a thumbs up, the lack of ability to set a default one without butchering files is actually a detriment to this program. When I am batching images, I would far prefer it to be able to preload a default, or even the last used one. Instead, you have to click load every time you start the application.

While the set of features is massive, including watermarks and filters, it could have been organized a little more intuitively for FAST batching (Purpose of batching after all is speed, correct?) What could have been done is a slider for quality on the front page as well as the actual resize options; make the file box smaller (1/2 hieght maybe?) to fit the rest. I feel that if it were arranged better, you should have General, Transform and Other on the same tab, and Watermark and Filter by themselves.

The set of filters is expansive to say the least; 11 filters ranging from simple batch-touchups to some such as automated Red Eye Reduction is a plus; if you need to do any of these in bulk, this program is for you. The preview adds to this being king as well. Great job on this portion.

One final comment; Watermarking is great. The opacity level is NOT a common features in cheap/free batch programs, and antialiasing it as well is wonderful. However, my only quip is the positioning; like most others, is a nuisance. It’s great if you like top left corner. However, if your images are varying dimensions and you want it in any of the other corners, you’re gonna have issues. As well, there is no options for a drop-shadow, glow or anything to highlight your text. A big downfall.

Recommendations

I find while this application has a few downfalls, it does have its benefits. The filter selection is a huge plus in an application this level. Watermarking is also a big key for myself and others as well. While the bug with the folder recursion and selection is my biggest issue, I don’t mind using the application.

Final verdict: Worth the free download for easing batching. If you need a good set of filters which can be batched, I would recommend a purchase. As to recommend to someone else for purchase, unless the filters are a key point, I can not see where I would recommend paying for the application over some of the freeware software, such as Virtualizer Photo Resize . I would recommend looking around SnapFiles for more choices.

Posted by BladedThoth on Sunday, January 28, 2007