JP2000332985A - Preparation of index print for image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select part or all of a plurality of image files stored in a folder, to automatically set an appropriate layout on the basis of the number of selected image files, the image size when printed and the size of print paper and to improve the efficiency of preparation of index prints. SOLUTION: Images registered in the same folder are printed by selecting respective image icons 160, opening the printing item of an image list, and automatically setting a layout being suitable to a print paper size by performing the setting of the size of each image frame, the setting of attached printing specifications, and font setting and printer setting as necessitated. Then, troublesome operation procedures for layout setting are not needed at all, and the operation efficiency for index print preparation can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which captures an image, executes various image processing while displaying the image, and reflects the image processing result on the displayed image. The present invention relates to an index print creating method for creating an index print capable of listing stored images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art
In the image processing apparatus, the image subjected to the image processing is stored in a predetermined folder.

Here, when the number of image files stored in a folder is large, it is difficult to determine what kind of image is based on the file name alone. Here, Image Explorer is prepared, and on this Image Explorer,
By setting the image file as an icon displaying the actual image, the contents of the image can be grasped. This image icon, regardless of the number of registered files,
Since they are relatively small and of the same size, they have the disadvantage of being difficult to see. Further, even when only a part of the image file is desired to be viewed, all the images are displayed.

In order to solve this problem, there is a printer having a function of creating an index print. In this case, the printout can be performed at an arbitrary image size. Has improved.

However, in the preparation of the conventional index print, the layout conditions must be determined so that the image is appropriately arranged on the print paper. Since the layout conditions vary depending on the size of the print image and the number of print images, complicated layout conditions have to be set every time an index print is created.

In view of the above facts, the present invention makes it possible to select some or all of a plurality of image files stored in a folder, the number of selected image files, the image size at the time of printing, and the size of print paper. It is an object of the present invention to provide an index print creating method for an image processing apparatus, which can automatically set an appropriate layout based on the above, and can improve the operability of creating an index print.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems The invention according to claim 1 is:
An index print that is used in an image processing apparatus that captures an image, executes various image processing in a state where the image is displayed, and reflects the image processing result on the displayed image, and can list stored images. An index print creating method for creating an index print, wherein selecting the stored image file and instructing index print creation, the number of selected image files,
The layout of the selected image on the print paper is automatically set based on the print size and the print paper size of each image, and the selected image is printed based on the automatically set layout.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the layout of the selected image on the print paper can be automatically set, so that the operator can select the image and set the size at the time of printing if necessary. As a result, the operability at the time of creating an index print can be improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, each side of each image printed on the printing paper has a print size of one side regardless of an aspect ratio of the image. Is characterized in that a square frame having a length set by (1) is set as a unit area of one image.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, generally, an image has different vertical and horizontal lengths. For this reason, there are two types of printing methods, vertical and horizontal, and when these are mixed, layout setting becomes complicated, and the processing time for automatic setting becomes long. Therefore, when setting the image size, regardless of the aspect ratio, specify the length of one side of the square,
If the square frame is used as a unit of one image, layout processing is simplified.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, a print window of an image list is activated by the index print creation instruction, and the print window of the image list is opened in the print window of the image list. The print size and print paper size of each image are set, and a creation instruction is issued.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the invention, a preview display of an image to be printed on print paper, presence or absence of an image frame, image file It is characterized in that the presence / absence of a name, the presence / absence of an image title, and the update date / time of an image file can be independently specified.

According to the third and fourth aspects of the present invention, a window for instructing the creation of an index print is provided, the minimum required designation (claim 3), and various decoration settings (claim 4). Is performed in this window, the index print creation operation becomes clear, and erroneous operation can be prevented.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (Basic Configuration) FIG. 1 shows image processing software for a digital camera (product name "Digital camera color first").
(Hereinafter, simply referred to as image processing software) manufactured by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.). At the left end of the initial screen 100, a vertical band-shaped function selection bar 101 is provided, and an icon 11 displaying "image input" in a column is provided.
4. Icon 120 labeled "Color First", Icon 118 labeled "Image Correction", Icon 150 labeled "Print", and Icon 15 labeled "Save"
2 are arranged. Further, a horizontal band-shaped menu bar 122 is provided at the upper end of the initial screen 100, and an icon 111 indicating "open" and an icon 112 indicating "TWAIN" are arranged in a row.

In this image processing software, as shown in FIG. 2, the image is opened (Step A), the finished size is determined (Step B), the image is corrected (Step C), and the image is printed (Step D). Image processing is performed based on a basic operation flow of saving (step E).

Step A is an operation step for opening an image. The image formats that can be handled are bmp (bitmap), JPEG, TIFF, and Photo CD that can be imported by clicking the icon 111 displayed as “open”. , FUJ
In addition to IFILM Flash Pix CD, input from TWAIN devices is also possible.

By clicking on the icon 112 indicating "TWAIN" on the initial screen 100 shown in FIG. 1, the software for image capture provided in each TWAIN device is automatically started. Can be raised. Here, when importing an image from various recording media (CD, FD, MO, etc.) or a file on the hard disk TWAIN device, the icon 114 indicating “image input” on the initial screen 100 is in a light color. It is supposed to do it.

Various recording media (CD, FD, MO, etc.), files on the hard disk, and images taken from the TWAIN device are displayed on the processing target image display screen 116 located at the center of the initial screen 100. I have. In this state, the next step B (step of determining the finished size)
Operation is possible. This operation can be performed by clicking the “image correction” icon 118 on the initial screen 100. In addition, this icon 118
This is common to the correction of the image in the next step C, and is divided according to the items therein.

Step B is a step of performing an operation for determining a finished size before correcting the image. By specifying an item on a work bar (not shown) to be displayed, the image can be rotated and horizontally flipped. , Can be flipped upside down, and if necessary, specify two points to fine-tune horizontally or vertically, or display another work bar (not shown) to adjust the image size, trimming, and F-DI Is also possible.

After the processing in step B (image layout and the like) is completed, the operation in the next step C (image correction step) is performed. It is to be noted that the step B for determining the finished size can also perform the processing of the image correcting step without performing the operation if unnecessary.

The image correction step C is roughly divided into 2
One processing operation is possible. One is a process that emphasizes the color tone (brightness, saturation, hue) of the original image (the image to be processed) (hereinafter referred to as color best processing), and the other is the original image (the target image). (Hereinafter referred to as image processing).
Although the processing items may be duplicated between the two, the color first processing is basically automatic and the image processing is manual operation. That is, the color first processing is automatically performed by arithmetic processing created based on preset experience and knowledge of photographic technology, and the image processing processing is set to a desired state according to an operator's hobby or the like. There is a difference.

In order to execute the color best processing, the user clicks on the icon 120 displayed as "color best" on the initial screen 100, and the detailed function item is displayed in FIG.
Is displayed on the menu bar 122 as shown in FIG.

At this time, the menu bar 122 includes a black icon 124, a sky blue icon 126, a flesh color icon 1
28, white icon 130, green icon 132, select icon 134, delete icon 136, delete all icon 138, camera icon 140, paper type icon 142, focus icon 144, brightness icon 1
46, a color correction icon 148 is provided.

Here, the black icon 124, the sky icon 126, the flesh icon 128, the white icon 130,
The green icon 132 represents an image displayed in the icon as a single image like a panoramic image. In other words, dark clouds are trapped on the left side of the horizon, they become white clouds as they move to the right, blue sky spreads on the left side of the mountain covered with green trees on the right side, and the model is located in the center of this landscape. The standing portion is applied as a panoramic image, and all the colors shown in the five icons are included, and each color is located in each icon area. This makes the appearance better than simply adding the color indicated by the character to the icon, and makes it easy to understand as an example of a color image when using these five color icons.

The contents of operation by clicking each icon are as shown in Table 1 below.

[0026]

[Table 1]

On the other hand, in the image processing, the "image correction"
By clicking on the icon 118 displayed, the resolution, focus, brightness, vividness, color, special, RG
B, each item of cutout is pulled down, and by selecting and instructing any one, the corresponding item is displayed at the position of the menu bar 122 on the initial screen 100. This image processing is the same as that of commercially available image processing software (for example, manufactured by Photoshop / adobe), and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

When step C of the image correction is completed,
This time, the printing process is executed in step D for printing. To execute the print processing steps, first, the initial screen 1
By clicking on the icon 150 indicating “Print” of 00, a print operation bar (not shown) is displayed on the menu bar 122. The items on the print work bar are four types: setting, preview, print, and F-DI order. This print processing step D is almost the same as a widely known operation system, and thus a detailed description is omitted.

The last save processing step E is a step for saving the finished image in a file or the like. By clicking on the icon 152 displayed as “save” on the initial screen 100, the menu bar 122 is displayed. A save work bar (not shown) is displayed. The items on this save work bar are for overwrite save and new save.
Since these are two types and are widely known as in the case of the print processing step D, detailed description will be omitted.

The above is the outline of the image processing software applied to the present embodiment. The main feature is that in addition to the general image processing described as the image processing processing, a photographic technique called color best processing is used. It has a fully-automatic color tone correction mode. This makes it possible to correct images taken with digital cameras etc. to the level of professionals,
It greatly contributes to improving image quality.

The image processing software according to this embodiment includes:
An image explorer is provided as an optional tool.

The image explorer is started on the initial screen 1
By selecting “Tool” from the pull-down menu bar of “00” and selecting “Image Explorer” from the pull-down menu, the screen 158 in FIG. 4 is activated.

On this image explorer screen 158,
A reduced version of the actually processed image is iconified and displayed along with the file name. When selecting an image, the operator selects the desired image by looking at the image itself of the image icon 160. Is available.

The menu bar of the image explorer screen 158 includes a file menu, an edit menu, a display menu, a database menu, a tool menu,
There are seven options: an option menu and a help menu.

The image processing software according to the present embodiment has a pixel editor as a second optional tool.

The activation of the pixel editor is performed on the initial screen 1
By selecting "Tool" from the 00 pull-down menu bar and selecting "Pixel Editor" from the pull-down menu, the screen 162 in FIG. 5 is started up.

The pixel editor screen 162 includes:
It has four functions: paint, copy, eraser, and blur, each of which is displayed as an icon. When applying each function (excluding the eraser), specify the color by selecting the color specification menu and specifying from the color frame arranged and displayed in a matrix, and selecting the eyedropper menu and selecting the processing target screen. Pixel Editor screen 16
2. There are two types: designation by designating an arbitrary position of the image displayed on 2. By clicking on the brush shape menu, the user can select from among three types of rectangle, circle, and airbrush. The operator selects a desired color, selects a desired brush shape, and designates a position to be processed using a pouss pointer (in the case of continuous operations, drags and moves the object at the initial pointer position), thereby performing processing on the object to be processed. Image processing becomes possible. In the case of erasing, only the processed image is erased, and the original processing target screen does not have any effect.

An icon for canceling and redoing and designating is provided in addition to the four types of function icons, so that the processing of the image to be processed can be canceled or redone.

Further, a window 164 for designating a brush size is always open so that the (processing target display screen) is extremely small with respect to the surface 162 so as to overlap with the processing target image display screen 162. The window 164 is provided with a slider bar 166. The slider size can be increased by sliding to the right and reduced by sliding to the left. The brush size is also displayed as a numerical value. (Detailed Configuration of Characteristic Features of the Present Invention) As shown in FIG.
A file name 210 is added to each of the image icons 160 displayed at 58. File name 21
0 is a character string 212 that can be freely written by the operator.
And the format name 214 of the image file.

Here, in this embodiment, after selecting a plurality of image icons 160 and selecting an item of image list printing, the image list printing window 25 shown in FIG.
0 rises. This image list is an index print.

The print window 250 of the image list has a slider bar 252 for setting the size of one image.
Is provided. In the present embodiment, as the size of one frame of the image, the length of one side of the square is set regardless of the aspect ratio of the image. As a result, the size is set so that whether the image is a vertically placed image or a horizontally placed image falls within the set square. The setting value of the slider bar 252 is displayed on the display 254 on the right side of the slider bar 252. Further, the image size in one index print is uniform.

At the lower part of the slider bar 252, there is provided an additional printing item column 256, and three check boxes 258 for determining the presence or absence of each additional printing item,
260 and 262 are provided, each of which has a “file name”.
(Upper row), "Image title (database information)" (middle row), "File update date and time" (lower row) are displayed, and the contents are added to print by marking check boxes 258, 262, and 264. It is supposed to. If at least one of the above settings has been set, the “Set Font” button 264 is displayed.
Open (usually closed).

Further, at the lower right of the supplementary print item column 256,
A “printer setting” button 266 is provided. By clicking this button, a printer setting screen (not shown) is started up, and various settings can be made.

Further, an image list print window 25
Buttons 268, 270, and 272 for "print", "preview", and "close" are arranged at the bottom of "0", and each display content can be specified by a click operation.

The index print of the present embodiment is
The layout is automatically set based on the number of selected image icons 160, the image size (size of one image), and the print paper size set by the printer.

For example, when the number of selected image icons 160 is 5, the size of one image is 20 mm, and the print paper size is A4, four images are arranged in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. The index print 274 in which the layout to be set is set is created. On the other hand, if only the size of one image is changed to 40 mm, as shown in FIG. 8, an index print 276 having a layout in which two images are arranged in the horizontal direction is created.

The operation of the present embodiment will be described below.

In the image input mode, various recording media (CD, FD, MO, etc.), hard disk files, and images captured from the TWAIN device are displayed on the processing target image display screen 116 located at the center of the initial screen 100. You.

The icon 1 displayed as "color first" for the image displayed on the processing target image display screen 116
By performing a click operation on the icon 118 displayed as 20 or “image correction”, image processing corresponding to each function can be performed.

The image subjected to the image processing is stored in a predetermined folder with a predetermined name added thereto. The saved images can be edited and managed by launching Image Explorer.

Here, an index print can be created for images contained in the same folder.

When creating an index print, first, an image icon 160 to be printed is selected. This selection may be one or plural.

After the image is selected, when an item for printing the image list is selected, an image list print window 250 shown in FIG. 6 is opened. Print window 2 of this image list
Since all the operations related to the index print are performed in 50, no erroneous operation such as deletion of the image icon is performed.

In the image list print window 250,
First, the size of one image frame is set by the slider bar 252. This set value is displayed on the display unit 254.

The setting by the slider bar 252 is the length of one side of the square, and the image is all contained in the set square frame regardless of whether the image is placed vertically or horizontally. (In the case of a horizontally long image, the horizontal direction coincides with one side of the square, and in the case of a vertically long image, the vertical direction coincides with one side of the square.) By setting the image area with a square frame in this way, the setting processing time for layout can be simplified.

Next, the presence / absence of each item of the supplementary print item column 256 is set. That is, check boxes 258, 2
When marking is performed on the check boxes 60 and 262, the item corresponding to the check box is printed (FIG. 8 illustrates a case where the check boxes 258 and 262 corresponding to the file name and the file update date and time are marked). There).

Furthermore, the conditions for creating an index print are determined by setting the font of the characters to be printed and the printer as required. here,
If the user wants to check the layout state before printing, the user clicks the “preview” button 270 to display the index print image in the same state as when printing. The operator sees this and resets the image size and font,
An appropriate index print can be created at one time without wasting print paper.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when the image explorer is started, the images registered in the same folder are displayed in the respective image icons 160.
, Select the print item in the image list, and set the size of one image, set the attached print items, and if necessary, set the font and printer. Since a simple layout can be automatically set and printed, no complicated operation procedure for layout setting is required at all, and operability for creating an index print can be improved.

[0059]

As described above, according to the index print creating method of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention, a part or all of a plurality of image files stored in a folder can be selected, and the number of selected image files can be reduced. Therefore, an appropriate layout can be automatically set based on the image size at the time of printing and the size of the printing paper, and the excellent effect that the operability of creating an index print can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an initial screen of image processing software according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a basic operation flowchart of image processing software according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a work screen of the image processing software according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a window screen showing an image explorer which is one of optional tools of the image processing software according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a work screen of a pixel editor which is one of optional tools of the image processing software according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a state in which an image list print window is opened when the image explorer according to the present embodiment is started.

FIG. 7 is a front view of an index print when the size of one image is 20 mm.

FIG. 8 is a front view of an index print when the size of one image is 40 mm.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Step A Step of opening an image Step B Step of determining the finished size Step C Step of modifying the image Step D Printing step Step E Saving step 100 Initial screen 114 Image input icon 116 Image display screen for processing 118 Image correction icon 120 Color correction No. icon 122 Menu bar 150 Print icon 152 Save icon 158 Screen 160 Image icon 250 Image list print window 252 Slider bar 256 Ancillary print items column 268 “Print” button 270 “Preview” button

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image processing apparatus which captures an image, performs various image processing in a state where the image is displayed, and uses the image processing result to reflect the image processing result on the displayed image. An index print creation method for creating an index print that can be viewed as a list. An index print creating method for an image processing apparatus, comprising: automatically setting a layout of a selected image on print paper based on a print paper size, and printing the selected image based on the automatically set layout. 2. Each image printed on the print paper has a square frame whose one side is set by the print size of each image as a unit area of one image, regardless of the aspect ratio of the image. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the index print is created. 3. A print window of an image list is activated by the index print creation instruction, a print size and a print paper size of each image are set in the print window of the image list, and a creation instruction is issued. 3. The method for creating an index print for an image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. In the image list print window, a preview display of an image to be printed on print paper, presence or absence of an image frame, presence or absence of an image file name, presence or absence of an image title, and update date and time of the image file 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the instruction can be made independently.
The index print creation method for an image processing apparatus according to the above.