News

From Stereomerger

Latest build is: Version 1.114 Date Fri Jul 30 00:56:38 CEST 2010

July 30. 2010 - 1.114 Improved wobbly view

New and improved wobbly view! The first attempt was very crude and took a lot of cpu to go smooth. This new version is much smoother.

July 26. 2010 - 1.113 Minor changes.

I've done some more minor changes,small improvements and some general code clean up.
No new functionality.

July 21. 2010 - 1.112 Fullscreen on OSX.

Full screen mode on Mac in Java applications is a nightmare, but I think this latest version will work on all Leopard- and Snow Leopard machines too. Hopefully.

July 21. 2010 - 1.111 Minor changes.

I've just rewritten parts of the thread handling. Fewer threads and better reuse of threads should be easier on the CPU.

July 19. 2010 - 1.110 Fixed partly broken build.

I had to upgrade a few developer tools for the previous build, and that broke the build for some people.
The build was done with a newer java version than what the runtime was set to, and that didn't work out well for everybody
I also did clear up a few other bits and bobs that suddenly appeared during this escapade.
Sorry for the inconvenience!

Oh, and lastly, the Mac-download is now a .dmg-file.

July 15. 2010 - 1.109 More flexible preview size in batch panel.

This version has a more flexible preview in the batch panel.
The preview size now grows and shrinks when you resizes the panel!

July 8. 2010 - 1.108 Wobbly view

New wobbly view added! Have fun!

May 25. 2010 - 1.107 Trapese filters

I've added a couple of new filters: Horizontal and vertial trapese.
The filters should be fairly selfexplanatory.

May 25. 2010 - 1.106 Blank browser in Super3DStation

Yet again, the Java language shows it's whims. Sometimes, the filebrowser in the Super3DStation panel, would suddenly go blank. The same code is used in several other places around the application, but here it didn't want to work as expected.
After many many many hours of debugging, I simply stumbled across a very unlikely solution, all by chance.
Silly or not, it now works :-)

May 19. 2010 - 1.105 Save as JPG-filter

A new filter called Save as JPG have been added. The filter let you save the image as a JPG to a specified path. You can chose to save the whole image, left side or right side.
This is very useful for creating and saving images for viewers with separate storage for left and right side, like the Cycloptical 3D.


Bug reports: There are some reports about the fullscreen mode not working on some computers! Also, the Super3DStation-part is a bit flaky.
I'm trying to find out what's wrong.

Apr 19. 2010 - 1.104 Batch bugfix

The stereotype (side-by-side, anaglyph, above-below etc) for an images could sometimes be "sticky" so Stereomerger treated the next image like it was of this type too. The results could be strange behaviours on the following images in a batch. The effect was most visible when handling anaglyphs.
This is now fixed together with a few bugfixes in the filebrowser.

Mar 28. 2010 - 1.103 Bugfix in hot folders

There was i bug in the hot folder functionality that skipped the changes done by the last filter. This is now fixed.

Mar 27. 2010 - 1.102 New filter, bugfix and new script example

I've created a new filter called Septum which inserts some space between the two images. This is mainly for images that will be printed and used in viewers.

This release also have a bugfix that fixes the issue where some images, when resized, get the left images on both sides.
The bug was introduced in version 1.067

There is also a new script ready for download: Septum. It shows hwo to use the septum filter. The script creates an image 10cmx4,5cm with 2mm borders and a 1,4cm septum.

Mar 27. 2010 - 1.101 Multiply

I've added a new filter that can multiply the image both horizontally and vertically a given number of times.

Mar 26. 2010 - 1.100 Hot folders

Hot folders are folders that Stereomerger monitors. All new images that are copied to hot folders will be processed and saved to a new folder.
This means Stereomerger can be used as a part of a larger workflow.
Read more here

Jan 11. 2010 - 1.067 New graphic engine

Once again, I have had to write my own replacement for standard Java stuff that should have worked. The problem were that large image files, could suddenly make the application "hang" for no appareant reason.
After trying a bucket-load of tips I found on the internet, where none seemed to work, I ended up writing some quite advanced graphic routines.
For you, it should mean faster screen redraws in the viewer. I write "should" because my routines will not make use of hardware accelerated graphics, and could in some cases on some machines be slower.
This is a large change, so please try this and report back any bugs you might find!

Jan 03. 2010 - 1.066 Happy new year!

The MPO-loading should be a bit faster in this version. Happy new year to you all!

Dec 31. 2009 - 1.065 Faster browser and a printer "workaround"

This version has a much faster browser experience! Earlier thumbnails where created by reading the whole image, but now EXIF-thumbnails are used if they exists. Due to limitations in the java-libraries, this was not supported earlier.

Due to a bug/feature in the Java-version used, the printer selection is not always working, so I had to write a new printer settings dialog.

Dec 22. 2009 - 1.064 IMPORTANT Bugfix in Batch-processing

This release fixes a bug in the batch-processing that saved the stereojpeg over the original MPO-file.
That is now fixed and I urge all to update Stereomerger!

Dec 15. 2009 - 1.063 "Keep left half only"-filter

This new filter cuts away the right side so you only have the left image, eh, well left.
Also I've created a new script that saves the two halfes as two images. Just play around with it.

Dec 10. 2009 - 1.062 Split by extension

I got the Fujifilm Finepix Real 3D W1 yesterday, and I instantly found the need for splitting files by extension.
So what do this mean? Well, when Stereomerger copy the files, all filetypes are usually copied to the same folder. But I found it very annoying when I had to skip every other file, the mono jpegs, when all I wants to see is the stereo images.
Therefore I wanted to split the files into different folders. This is now possible by selecting the checkbox with the short little name: "Put different filetypes in separate folders"

Remember that if you need or just would like some new functionality, just ask and I'll see what I can do!

Dec 07. 2009 - 1.061 Jpeg-compression quality

Earlier, all jpegs was saved with maximum quality, but some have asked for the possibility to choose the jpeg compression quality themselves. So here is it :-) Enjoy!

Dec 06. 2009 - 1.060 Minor GUI-stuff

This release contains just a few GUI-changes. Nothing exciting.

Dec 05. 2009 - 1.059 Channel selector on convulsion filters

I've added channel selector on the convulsion filters:

• Sharpen
• Soften
• Mean removal sharpen
• Matrix filter
• Gaussion blur
• Emboss

This Means that you now also can apply these filters to just the red, green or blue channel.
The red channel is the brigthest channel, and is called the contrast channel.
The green channel is known as the detail channel.
The blue channel is the darkest channel and is often called the noise channel.
This means applying filters on the different channels will have very different effects.

Nov 22. 2009 - 1.058 Vertical interlaced

This release contains support for vertical interlaced-compatible monitors like some from Sharp, Hyundai, JVC and more.
The above-below view is also improved.

Nov 22. 2009 - 1.057 Forgot to include the new icons

I forgot to include the new icons in the previous build.
Also fixed the fullscreen redraw issues on PC.

Nov 22. 2009 - 1.056 GUI-improvements

I've taken some time to improve the gui a bit:

1. The view mode combo box in the viewer, is now looking a bit fresher with icons, and the popup list shows the whole text + icon.
2. The directory hover-popups are not as intrusive as they where initially.
3. The dualmode filebrowser in the viewer is now more available with its own button.
4. Some keyboard shortcuts have been changed.

Nov 19. 2009 - 1.055 Fix bug in import on Windows-version

In windows, some of the special characters in the script-files get altered somewhere on the way down from the internet. This made the script download useless on Windows.
But now this is fixed!
The script-download have been very popular according to the logs, so I hope I can put more scripts up there. If you want to share your script, just mail it to me and I'll put it online.

Nov 18. 2009 - 1.054 Netbrowser

The viewer can now handle URLs and will parse the page for JPG, JPS and MPO-images.
Just enter or paste in an url into the directory combobox, and the brower will show the images it finds.
Of course, pages with frames will not work very well, and images hidden in CSS-files and javascripts will not be found.

Nov 16. 2009 - 1.053 Optimized Amber & blue anaglyph

Amber and blue anaglyphs can give excellent results with almost full colour and very little ghosting.
I would say this is the best anaglyph type, and I've tried to create as good as result as I can.
Good amber and blue glasses can be ordered from ColorCode 3D or from America Paper Optics.

Nov 11. 2009 - 1.052 Lot of changes

This release contains a lot of minor bugfixes and speed improvements, but mainly this release contains a couple of new filters:

• Bump map creator (Create bump map from stereoimages. See scripts )
  
• Program filter (Basic-like scripting language for full pixel control).
  

The bump map creator is a step closer to create better wobbly gifs. Hopefully. This is not available yet, but will come.
The program filter lets you create your own filter with full pixel control. It is beta and will get a lot more power later. I will try to create good online help with example programs later on.

Nov 2. 2009 - 1.051 A bit better feedback if saving fails

Sometimes saving fails and it can of course be a bug, but it can also be due to some other issues like access rights and stuff. This change might help you find the correct reason.
If you think it is a bug, please feel free to contact me by mail!

Nov 2. 2009 - 1.050 More bugfix in Windows version

Hover popups in combo boxes works perfectly in Windows too now. Icon handling in the file browers have been rewritten and works much better in the Windows version.
I've cleaned up a few other bits and bobs too, but the annoying GUI problem with the background elements drawing themselves over the forground elements still persists.

Nov 1. 2009 - 1.049 Major bugfix in Windows

Stupid me hasn't tested the Windows-version good enough!
Some of the changes I made earlier involved some Apple specific code that rendered the Windows version useless.
Now it should work, but I see that on some Windows machines, the gui gets messed up as some background gui get drawn over the foreground. This happens only on some machines, but I must see if I can find out what's causing this.

Nov 1. 2009 - 1.048 Fullscreen support in viewer + "bugfix"

I've finally added fullscreen support in the viewer. At the same time, I've fixed some issues with the Super 3D station viewer on Mac. Popups in fullscreen on Mac gives a black screen when they tries to open up. I've now disabled all popup-functionality in Super 3D station.
Super 3D station is also a bit faster now.

Nov 1. 2009 - 1.047 Support for 3D DLP

I've added support for 3D DLP TV and projectors that use the checkboard-technique.
The new view type is available from the view-dropdown in the editor. In addition, a checkerboard-filter have been added so that one can create full size images that can be viewed on displays that support 3D using the checkerboard-technique.

In addition, I've renamed the "Fit to print"-filter to "Fit to media" and added some more media types like HD, VGA, and more.

Oct 31. 2009 - 1.046 Better file dialogues and hover popups in the directory combo boxes

I've replaced most of the file dialogues with the native ones, which gives you better control.

Also I created hover popups in the directory combo boxes to that it is easier and much faster to choose paths
See this page for more information

Oct 27. 2009 - 1.045 New bump map filter

This new version has a new bump map filter under special-filters.
The filter can be used to create special effects and also create 3D images of 2D images.
Read more about the bump map filter

Oct 24. 2009 - 1.044 Fixed critical bug + overlay example script

Running some scripts on some large images will throw an error due to an internal buffer that wasn't resized properly. This is now fixed!

I've also added great a new script for download. See Overlay filter for more information.

Oct 24. 2009 - 1.043 Minor update

The "swap side"-button in the editor did not execute the selected script. This is now fixed.

Oct 18. 2009 - 1.042 Reflection filter

Created a new reflection filter. See Reflection filter.
A script is added to the script downloads.

Oct 17. 2009 - 1.041 Batch

Cleaned up some code and GUI in the batch panel, which also fixed a small bug.
I also changed the urls to www.stereomerger.com, which I recently registered.

Oct 13. 2009 - 1.040 Bugfix

Fixed a bug in the code for merging images of different sizes.

Oct 12. 2009 - 1.039 Bugfix

Fixed a bug introduced in previous version related to the filebrowser.

Oct 11. 2009 - 1.038 It is now possible to merge images of different size

This makes it easier to merge scanned images.

Oct 10. 2009 - 1.037 Minor user interface improvements

I've simplified parts of the copy and merge dialoges.

Oct 6. 2009 - 1.036 Print and minor adjustment to StereoCard-filter

Added the possibility to print. Printing is available in the viewer. See new button!
The printing is preliminary, and is quite simple.

I also had to fixe some alignment problems with the StereoCard-filter.

Oct 5. 2009 - 1.035 Bugfix - Saving images

Fixed problem with saving images when merging images.
Thanks to Richard Hessel for finding this bug!

Oct 3. 2009 - 1.034 Script download

Now you can download scripts that I put on the web page.
Simply choose "- Import -" in the scriptselector, and you will get to select from the scripts that are available on my web-server.
You can also choose to import a local file.

Oct 3. 2009 - 1.033 Import/Export-script rewritten

Due to some issues with upcomming functionality, I had to rewrite the import/export-script functionality.
This means that old script files are unfortunately no longer supported.
Now I've put some scripts on the web page. See "Scripts" in the navigation-menu.

Oct 1. 2009 - 1.032 StereoCard + minor improvements

Added support for StereoCards for viewing with the StereoViewer from Amazing Cards.
Some minor improvements done around the code.

Sep 26. 2009 - 1.031 Minor improvements

Startup should be faster, at least the part I can tune.
JPEG-loading has been slightly rewritten and is more stable. Gray-scale jpegs are now supported.

Sep 16. 2009 - 1.030 GIF-settings

When saving GIFs in the editor, you will now be able to edit the delay and quality, just as in the "save as wobbly GIF"-action.

Sep 10. 2009 - 1.029 Bugfix

Added some new script-functionality, plus fixed a couple of small bugs.

Sep 5. 2009 - 1.028 Bugfix

I've fixed a bug that could cause "hang" in parts of the application after some use.

Sep 5. 2009 - 1.027 MPO-loading

I've just added the possibility to read MPO-files from the Fujifilm Finepix Real 3D W1.
I'm working on the possibility save too, but I need a little bit more time.

Sep 2. 2009 - 1.026 Wobbly GIF

I've added the possibility to save the image as a "wobbly gif".
The functionality is available in "Save As" in the viewer/editor. Just select Wobbly gif instead of JPS and you are good to go.
For better control, a new script action, "Save as wobbly gif", has been added under "Image". From here you can control delay and quality, which is not available from "save as".
Have fun!

Sep 1. 2009 - 1.025 Bugfix

I fixed a bug in the script-handler. Changing text/titles in old style holmes card script, among other, failed
Should work better now. Thanks to Neil Scott!

July 5. 2009 - 1.024 Slightly better lenticular support

The lenticular-filter has been rewritten and should produce cleaner result with lesser ghosting. But getting this to work with the quirks of the printers and getting the correct alignement on the lenticular sheet is a tough job. Therefore I don't know if this works as it should.
It's still in pre-beta, but please test it!

July 4. 2009 - 1.023 Minor bugfixes

Some users have had problems with some filters not working, this should now be fixed for all operating systems. Hopefully ;-)

June 16. 2009 - 1.022 Zalman 3D-monitor support added

The viewer editor now supports horizontal interlaced viewmode and works very well with the Zalman Trimon 3D screens!

June 10. 2009 - 1.021 Upcomming 3D-monitor support

Support for Zalman Trimon 3D-monitors are coming soon.

June 9. 2009 - 1.020 Bugfixes

I've done some changes that hopefully fixes the issues with Safari 4.0 and some other issues too.

June 22. 2008 - 1.019 New lower price

Since last time, I've been busy moving 350 km to the south. We have too much stuff, I tell you! The moving have taken the better part of almost six months, give or take, with packing and unpacking. And then with a little active girl and a fixing up a house, there has not been any time left to do some serious programming. But I hope this will change soon!
In the mean time, you can download and enjoy the current version for a new low price :-)

July 19. 2007 - 1.018 Added camera setup to quick match

I forgot to add the possibility to set the camera setup for the quick match-function. But now it is in place.
No longer need to rotate the images manually :-)

July 18. 2007 - Possibility to choose two files in manual merge

Now you can choose both files at once in manual mode in the merge panel. Just press any of the two "Choose x image"-buttons and select the two images you want.
If the sides happens to be swithced around, use the new "swap side"-button.

Happy stereomerging! :-)

July 15. 2007 - Improved speed and view-render quality

Due to some minor differences in the way the Mac Java VM works compared to the Windows Java VM, some basic GUI-drawing functionality is really really slow on the Mac (BufferedImage.getSubImage for the Java-people out there). In addition to beeing slow, it seem to use a lot of memory for buffering too, so the result of heavy use of this method is "memory leakage" and slow machine.
Since this is a rather vital part of Java GUI, parts of Stereomerger became unbelievably slow on the Mac.
By replacing the standard Java-method with my own, I've managed to drasticly improve the speed of the view render routine, auto adjustement, and several other bits and parts. More code will be replaced in the near future to further improve the numbers.
In addition to rewriting parts of the render routine, I've added the possibility to use antialiasing in the viewer for improved visual quality. This can be swithced on and of by pressing the "Hifi"/"Lofi"-button.
The speed goes dramatically down on slow machines when using the "Hifi"-mode on larger images, so "Lofi" can still be quite handy.

July 14. 2007 - Faster manual image alignment

CTRL + arrow keys can now be used to align the images in the viewer/editor. By holding shift down, bigger steps will be taken.
The zoom level decides how small the steps are. 100% gives single pixel movement, 33% means 3 pixel movement and so on.

July 14. 2007 - Auto color and aligment-buttons in viewer

I've added two new buttons for auto colour and auto alignment in the viewer/editor for easy access.

July 12. 2007 - New "quick match"-function in image browser

This makes it easier and faster to create stereo images manually.
The new "quick match"-function can be found when in the viewer/editor and the browser is in split mode. To open up the browser in split view, just press b followed by t on the keyboard.
There you will find two check boxes, one for each side. When checked, everytime you select an image, Stereomerger will select the image on the other side (the one the arrow points to) that "best" matches the one you selected. A stereo image is automatically created with these two images.
The two browsers can point to either the same or different directories.
If Stereomerger guessed the wrong match, you can simply select the correct image, as long as you have not checked both check boxes. Because then Stereomerger will try to find the "best" match on the first side...

July 8. 2007 - New date feature in auto-merger

Stereomerger can now skip files older than and/or younger than two given dates. So if you have a lot of images but just want to merge the ones taken last week, you can tell Stereomerger to skip the ones that are older and younger. This will speed up the matters for those of you with large image directories...

June 26. 2007 - Bug in the batch panel

There was a bug in the batch panel that made the file-history, well, non-existing. The result was that every time you open up the batch-panel, you had to find the same directories over again. This should now be fixed in version 1.010.
Thanks to Hans Martin

June 7. 2007 - My daughter was born!

I am tired, but extremely happy! :-D
My first born daugther was born early this day! One month earlier than anticipated, and without any warnings of any kind the water broke. What a thrill! I witnessed the birth, which went extremely fast and when everything was over, my lovely wife said that she could do one more tomorrow! She is a one of a kind!
The baby girl is, of course, the most beautiful thing in the world, and to celebrate this happening, I've halfed the license fee out september!

May 12. 2007 - Bug fix

The camera type selector didn't work after an internal rework. Should work properly now :-) Thanks to Will Toohey!

Mar 2007 - Finished

Stereomerger is finished. Well, will it ever be? I feel the functionality is good enough for the first release and the user interface is stable. However I do improvements almost every day, and the web pages need a little bit of work, and, well...

Jan 2007 - Speed

Finally, the image compare functionality has been finished. Approximately ten times faster than the original version. Now this thing can actually be used on my old Mac.

Oct 2006 - Mac-version

Finally I've got myself a Mac! It's a 7 year old G4-500MHz Mac that once was stolen and ripped off all of it's shiny plastic before it was retrieved by the police. It has now found its way to a nice new owner! Stereomerger is now almost 100% mac-compatible.
Many filters have been added, and the user interface is becoming "stable" and useable.
I somehow was still stuck with the name Stereomerger...

Aug 2006 - Batch processing

I processed 600+ stereophotos with Stereomerger and sent them to a photo-lab. Price? 200NOK (approx US$33). Dead cheap! And it took me 2 minutes to start Stereomerger, and about the same to start burning the images to a CD afterwards. Quick, easy, cheap and the result was really good!

Jun 2006 - Image adjustemnt prototyping

I've been working continiously with the program, and instead of actually finishing the user interface and such, I read alot of text about image processing. New ideas are added to the project all the time. After having some ideas working in the back of my head for a while, I started prototyping the automatic image adjustment functionality. The image compare functionality is also rewritten for the n'th time, and now it is almost three times as fast as the original version.

Easter 2006 - Slowly becoming an application.

The program is starting to look like "something", but there's still missing ALOT. I'm doing alot of speed improvements!

Jan 2006 - Image comparation prototype

I start protoyping the image comparation functionality. During a couple of days, I have a working prototype working. The speed is bad, but I found out it was possible!

Dec 2005 - The idea is born

After half a year with stereophotography, I found that I was missing some functionality in the available software. The idea of an automated stereo-application was born. Working title: Stereomerger