Fotoxx
2022.20
Fotoxx is a free open source Linux program for photo/image
editing and collection management. The goal is to meet the needs
of serious photographers while remaining fast and easy to use.
Click the image above to see a full-size image.
Short Overview
Navigate a large image collection using a thumbnail browser, click
on an image to view or edit. A rich set of edit and retouch
functions is available. Import RAW files and edit with deep color.
Save revised images as JPEG, PNG (8/16 bits/color), or TIFF
(8/16). Select an object or area within an image (freehand draw,
follow edges, flood matching tones...), apply edit functions, copy
and paste, resize, blend, warp, etc. without using layers. Edit
functions have fast feedback using the full image or selected
zoom-in area. Edit image metadata (tags, geotags, dates, ratings,
captions...). Search images using any combination of metadata and
file and folder names or partial names. Click a marker on a
scalable world map to view all photos from that location. Batch
functions are available to rename, add/revise metadata, copy/move,
resize, convert format. Fotoxx uses your image files wherever they
are and maintains a separate index for fast searching. Fotoxx is
standards compliant and can be used with other photo programs (no
lock-in). Fotoxx is easy to use but unconventional, so read the
user guide (at least the first few pages) before jumping in.
Fotoxx has deep functionality. Do not expect to master it in a few
minutes.
A more detailed description and list of capabilities can be found
at the end of this document:
Fotoxx Long
Overview
Fotoxx Demo (YouTube video)
A basic overview of Fotoxx.
Fotoxx
Sample Images (YouTube video)
A collection of before/after images edited with Fotoxx.
Downloads
The latest release can be obtained here: downloads.
Packages for many Linux flavors can be found HERE
and HERE.
Hardware
Fotoxx works best on a strong computer (4+ CPU cores, 8+ GB
memory). 64-bit Linux is required. Lesser computers may be slow or
may fail to edit large images. The monitor should be at least HD
(1920x1080) and have accurate color.
Performance and Limitations
Most image edit functions respond within 1 second for images up to
20 megapixels on a strong computer. 200 megapixel images can be
edited on a computer with 16 GB RAM. Composite functions
(panorama, HDR ...) may need a minute or more when combining many
large images. Image search time is generally below 1 second for
collections up to 300K images.
Usage Examples
Click on the small images to see a full-size image.
Navigation
View
a large collection of image files using a thumbnail gallery. Click
on a thumbnail to view or edit a full-size image. Move around
within gallery pages and navigate to other pages. A gallery may be
a folder of image files, the output of an image search, or an
album (ordered set of images). The thumbnails can be large or
small and can be zoomed out to any scale with the mouse wheel.
Images can have geotags (via camera GPS or manually added). A
scalable world map shows image location markers. Click on a marker
to get a gallery of images.
RAW file import
The
first image is the JPEG produced by the camera. The 2nd image is
the RAW file from the camera, converted to TIFF-16. The 3rd image
is the edited TIFF file saved as a JPEG file. The dark areas were
lightened and color was slightly increased.
RAW files can be directly opened and edited, or you can use a
batch function to select and convert many RAW files at once. The
speed is 2-4 seconds per file on a strong PC. The converted files
can be JPEG, TIFF (8 or 16 bits per RGB color), or PNG (8 or 16
bits). All internal editing is done with 24 bits per color.
Search Images
Add
tags (keywords), geotags, titles, captions, dates, and ratings to
images. Search images using these criteria as well as image file
and folder names. Partial matching also works. Matching images are
shown in a thumbnail gallery. Click a thumbnail to view or edit,
or step through sequentially. Search speed is nearly
instantaneous.
Tags, etc. are stored inside the images using EXIF and IPTC
standards. They can be shared with other standards-compliant photo
programs.
Search Metadata
Find
images with any desired metadata, show thumbnail images with
metadata text. Click a thumbnail to view full-size. There are also
functions to view the key metadata for an image, view all
available metadata, or edit any metadata.
The search speed is almost instantaneous for 'main' (indexed)
metadata. The speed is slower (a few thousand files per minute)
for metadata that is not indexed and must be read from the image
files.
You can optionally add metadata items to the index for fast
searching.
Geotags
Cameras with GPS receivers can add geotags (location name and
earth coordinates) to images automatically. Fotoxx also has a
function to find the earth coordinates for a given location (city,
park, monument ...) and add geotags to a bunch of images at once.
If many photos made in one location are located together in your
collection, you can quickly process all of them. If this work has
been done, you can use the following geotag functions to find and
display images from a given location as a gallery of clickable
thumbnails.
Search Images Using Geotags
List image locations: group by country, country/location, or
country/location/date. Click on a list entry to see all the images
in that group as a gallery of thumbnails. The example here shows
28 photos made in Jan. 2012 at Achensee, Austria. If listing by
dates, you can consolidate dates that are separated by less than a
given number of days.
Search Images by Clicking on a Map
Click on a map location to instantly see all
the photos made in or around that location. Location names pop up
as you move the mouse over the map. In this case, "Leipzig" was
clicked to retrieve 25 photos of Leipzig.
Search Images Using a Calendar
The calendar report shows image counts by year and month. Click on
any month to get an instant gallery of images for that month.
Edit Selected Object or Area
Little Mermaid was back-lighted. The fix was to select her
and flatten (spread out) her brightness distribution. Areas are
selected using the mouse: freehand draw, follow edges, or spread
into matching tones from the mouse position outwards. Edge effects
can be automatically blended out.
Copy and Paste Selected Areas
Drag into position, resize,
edit colors, etc.
Select Complex Edges
Hair and other irregular shapes can be
accurately selected. Drag over the area with the mouse, clicking
as needed on colors to be selected or suppressed. This can be
tedious if the background contrast is weak. This example is about
a 10 minute project for an experienced user. Novices will need
more time to get the feel of this tool.
Flatten Brightness Distribution
This tool
is an easy way to improve detail in areas that lack contrast. Uses
a single sliding control with live feedback. Sometimes works
miracles and sometimes not very effective. Good for fog/haze
removal.
Other tools to auto-improve images:
Local Contrast: bring out detail in low contrast areas
Gradients: increase low brightness gradients only
Use within selected areas for local optimizations.
Global and Zonal Retinex
This tool can be used to restore the full color range for a badly
faded photo or one with an extreme color caste. It can also be
used to add flair to any image. The original and modified images
can be blended in any ratio.
View 360°Panorama Image
This tool is used to view a
360°panorama image. Use the mouse to rotate the viewpoint through
the full 360°. The view window is 90°(right image) and can be
zoomed-in for a larger/narrower view.
Sharpen Image
Comparison of different sharpening methods on a blurred image.
The 'gradient' method increases sharpness about as well as the
classic 'unsharp mask' method, but with less "halo" effect around
high-contrast edges. 'Kuwahara' produces excellent sharpness but
small details are lost.
Noise Suppression
Reduce noise in photos made under low-light conditions.
Which method works best depends on
image and noise characteristics.
Measure image noise
Noise can be measured and noise suppression
can be quantitatively evaluated.
Watermark an Image
Add embedded text with various styles.
Revise Brightness by Editing a Curve
Edit a brightness curve while watching the live output image.
Defog London
Remove fog and haze with flatten and gradients.
Vignette
Compensate for radial brightness loss (vignetting), or highlight
some part of the image. Response curve can be customized, saved
and reused. Use the mouse to set the center for the response
curve. Image can be brightened or darkened, or a color-caste can
be added or removed.
Smart Erase
The power
lines and poles were erased. Select an object to erase using the
mouse like a paintbrush. Click to erase. Neighboring pixels
replace the erased area. This usually works well for small or
narrow areas, or even larger areas when surrounded with fairly
uniform background, like sky or grass. Selecting long thin objects
like power lines is done by clicking positions along the length.
Remove Dust
Remove the dust spots from images made from dusty scanned slides
or old photo prints.
Remove Chromatic Aberration (color fringes)
Click to enlarge and view carefully. The left
image is a photo taken from inside a church (a small cutout of a
large image). It has color fringes on the dark to bright
transitions, and these were mostly eliminated in the edited
version on the right. Slider controls change the scale of
individual RGB color planes, and you simply adjust them to
minimize the color bands. It works for the usual sort of chromatic
aberration which increases radially from the center.
Gradients
Increase
contrast where it is weak without changing overall contrast.
Watch the image change as you move a curve or slider.
This one was taken to extremes, giving the impression of an
illustration.
Tools for Brightness and Contrast
5 methods to change brightness and contrast
Remove Motion Blur
Compensate
camera or subject motion.
The camera was panned during the exposure to create motion blur.
This was mostly removed using the Richardson-Lucy method. Drag the
mouse to indicate the blur angle and input an estimated blur span.
Vary inputs to optimize result. For subject motion, use Select Area to isolate the
blurred subject from the sharp background.
HDR - High Dynamic Range Image
The lower image is a composite of
the upper ones. Brighter areas were taken mostly from the darker
image, and darker areas from the brighter image. Optionally use
editable curves to adjust the contribution of each image for each
brightness level.
Gradients tool was used after the images were combined.
The camera was hand-held. The automatic alignment works well
unless the camera is shifted significantly between shots. The
people moved between the photos, so ghosting can be seen.
HDR made from photos having significant camera movement and
rotation.
Minor changes in image scale are compensated.
HDF - High Depth of Field
Combine multiple photos of the same subject, each having a
different focus distance. The combined image has a depth of field
spanning all the input images. This function is very sensitive to
changes in camera position or aiming point - these cause parallax
errors and changes in image scale that cannot be fixed with simple
translation and rotation. The software compensates for small
errors in scale. If you are careful not to move the camera too
much, you can get good results. All photos here were hand-held.
This HDF required several minutes
of manual work to choose which input image to use for each area in
the output image. This is done by choosing an image and "painting"
with the mouse. This can take time if there are lots of adjacent
near and far areas which must be painted separately using
different underlying images.
This one was easy because there are no adjacent near and far
areas.
Stack - Noise Suppression
9 photos were made at
ISO 1600 in a darkened room with a hand-held camera. My strong
computer needed nearly a minute to align and combine them into one
low-noise image. This is part of the 20-megapixel image, shown at
full size.
Stack - Paint
The two images were taken a few seconds apart, during which time
the cyclist (left image) moved out and the red car (right image,
left side) moved in. The images were combined, and the car and
cyclist were removed by choosing one image or the other and
"painting" with the mouse.
Four photos made in quick succession.
Stack - Paint can be used to make transient objects disappear or
make them appear multiple times.
Panorama
Combine up to six images to make wide-angle images. Rough
alignment is done with the mouse and fine alignment is automatic.
All photos here were hand-held.
Indoor scene (house pet was pasted in).
Brightness and color matching was automatic.
3 images with poor camera handling. The final image was
straightened and retouched for brightness and color.
6 photo panorama spanning almost 180 degrees.
A vertical panorama. Brightness and color matching was automatic.
Mashup
Photo montage. Add images and text to a background layout of
arbitrary size. Images and text can be moved around using the
mouse, resized, rotated, and made party or wholly transparent.
Transparency can be painted gradually or fully. Text can have any
font, size, and angle. Background, outline and shadow can be added
to text, with adjustable color and transparency for all of these.
Magnify Image
Move around over an image with a simulated magnifying glass.
Diameter and magnification are adjustable.
Unbend
Sometimes panorama images must be straightened.
Adjust while watching a live output image.
Fix Perspective
Fix images photographed from an angle, e.g. paintings, buildings,
etc.
Select the 4 corners and transform into a rectangle.
Fix Barrel Distortion
RAW files can have lens distortion if the raw converter has no
correction data for the camera and lens combination. This can be
easily fixed using only eyeball judgement.
Flatten photo of a curved surface
Flatten
the page edges and stretch the squeezed text where the page curves
down at the center binding. Mark the page top and bottom edges at
several points using the mouse. The rest is automatic. Use for any
curved image, e.g. a poster on a round column.
Pixel Edit
Use for retouching. Pick a color from the image or from a palette.
Variable brush size and transparency allow gradual change without
edge effects.
Warp Image, 4 variations
Pull the image with the mouse.
The image behaves like sheet rubber.
Unwarp Close-up Photo (selfie)
Close-up portraits exhibit a "balloon face" distortion.
There is a special function just for this problem.
Improve Botticelli
Straighten her eyes and smooth her skin.
Make Mosaic Image
Make any image into a mosaic with tiles created from your images.
Click on a tile to get a larger popup image which you can resize
and drag. This requires that you have thousands of images in your
collection, with an adequate range of available colors.
Click on image to view full size.
Make a Table of Images
Images can be mixed sizes. They are
rearranged and resized as needed to make all the columns as even
as possible.
You can click on any image to get a larger popup image which can
be zoomed to any size, and disappears with another click.
Add Texture to an Image
Combine texture with gradients and embossing to get interesting
effects.
Add Background Pattern
A background pattern
can be added to an image or selected areas. The pattern is a small
image that is repeated to cover a larger area. If the pattern
repeats, dimensions are found automatically to make the pattern
seamless (left example). The pattern can be a photo of a texture,
as in the right sample. Pattern scale and opacity are adjustable.
Write Text
Write text on images. Select font, colors, transparencies, shadow,
angle. Watermarks are made by writing faint text and embossing.
Lines, arrows, boxes, and circles/ovals can also be added.
Fix a Lousy Photo
The upper photo had multiple retouches to produce the one below.
The functions used were trim/rotate, flatten brightness
distribution, increase contrast, increase color saturation, and
gradients. These were applied in different areas of the image.
The photo
was back-lighted and the Fall colors came out faded. The following
steps were made in sequence: select the sky, invert the selection
(everything but the sky), increase overall brightness with an
upward slope for more contrast, select the foreground vegetation
areas, add more contrast, add color saturation, add slight
gradients.
Art Effects
Convert a photo into a simulated drawing, painting, embossing,
cartoon. These take a few seconds to a few minutes, depending on
how long you want to play with the controls to optimize the
result.
Your Veteran Coder
FOTOXX LONG OVERVIEW
Fotoxx is a free Linux
program for editing photos or other images and managing a large
collection. Fotoxx has powerful editing tools to correct and
enhance photos. Fotoxx can instantly find desired images within
a huge collection, based on folder and file names or embedded
metadata such as dates, tags/keywords, titles, comments,
ratings, location, camera data - any metadata.
Image folders can be viewed as a scrolling gallery of thumbnail
images. Navigation of folders and subfolders is simple and fast.
Click on a thumbnail for a full window view of the image. The
image can be zoomed, panned and scrolled using the mouse.
Gallery thumbnails can vary from small to huge. Popup windows
can be used to view or compare multiple images at any scale.
Thumbnail galleries are also used to display image search
results and albums. Albums are selected images arranged in a
desired order. Fotoxx has many editing tools that go beyond the
basics. Images with severe problems (underexposed, false colors,
blurred, uneven lighting, fog/haze) can be brought back to life.
Details lost in shadows or haze can be brought out. Images with
distorted perspective (esp. wide-angle views) can be corrected.
Fotoxx is standards compliant. Nothing done by Fotoxx makes your
images less usable with other applications. Fotoxx uses your
image files wherever they are: they are not moved or duplicated.
Fotoxx does create an index for fast image searching, and
thumbnail images for fast gallery displays. These add typically
2% to overall storage requirements. There is no database to
manage - the index manages itself.
Fotoxx can import RAW images and perform all processing in deep
color (24 bits per color used internally). Edited images can be
saved as JPEG, TIFF (8/16 bits/color), or PNG (8/16 bits).
Convert single RAW files (click thumbnail) or selected batches
(click thumbnails from gallery pages).
Image edit functions are interactive with rapid visual feedback,
using the full image or a chosen zoom-in area. Undo and Redo can
be applied serially to all the edits of an image. Intermediate
and final results can be saved as new files or as versions of
the input file (e.g. filename.v02.jpg).
Objects or areas within an image can be selected and edited
separately from the background. Areas can be selected using
several methods: drag the mouse to select and flood into
matching tones, follow feature edges, or outline an area
freehand. Complex feature edges, such as hair or foliage, can be
accurately selected. Selected areas can be copied and pasted
into the same or other images, resized, rotated, brightened,
etc. Layers are not used. Each edit stage can be saved
separately as a file 'version'. These can be re-used to make new
versions. Prior versions or other image sources can be "mouse
painted" onto areas within new versions or images - paint from
any source to any destination, with simultaneous rescale if
wanted.
Batch functions are available to copy, move, rename, resize,
upright, convert format, convert RAW files, and add or revise
metadata.
Several tools are available to change size and shape: crop,
resize (rescale), rotate, fix perspective, curve/warp the whole
image or selected areas within the image. There is a special
tool to 'flatten' photos of curved surfaces, e.g. a page from a
thick book or a poster on a round column.
Text can be added to an image. Any font and size can be used,
any color, any angle. The text can have variable transparency,
an outline, a shadow, or an embossed effect - good for a
signature or copyright. Other basic markups are available:
lines, arrows, box, oval/circle.
Dust spots from old slides or photos can be removed, roadside
trash or power lines can be erased. Panoramas can be made by
stitching photos together seamlessly, automatically matching
brightness and color. Photos with a range of exposure values can
be combined into an HDR image with adjustable contributions.
Photos with varying focus depths can be combined into an image
that is sharp over the combined range. Photos of one scene taken
at different moments can be combined to remove passing autos or
tourists. Multiple photos made under low light conditions can be
combined to reduce noise. Images and text can be combined into a
mashup, using the mouse to position and resize the components
and adjust overlaps and transparencies.
Fotoxx has a batch scripting tool to speed the processing of
multiple images requiring the same edits: record the edits made
to a base image and then apply these edits automatically to any
number of selected images.
Many special effects ('filters') are available to convert a
photo into a line drawing, sketch, painting, embossing, cartoon,
dithered image, mosaic, or abstract patterns. Background
patterns and textures can be added.
Images can be rapidly searched using file and folder names or
partial names, dates, assigned tags, ratings, locations, and any
other metadata stored in the image. Some data is automatic from
the camera (date, location, exposure data), and other data can
be manually entered (tags, captions ...). Batch tools are
available to load metadata into many images at once. Search
criteria can be used in combination; e.g. find Chicago photos
for years 2002-2005 containing tags 'Barbara' or 'Barbie'.
Locations (from a camera GPS sensor or entered manually) can
also be searched. You can view a map of any region in the world,
at any scale, using an internet map service. Images having
location data show as markers on these maps. Click a marker to
get a gallery of the corresponding images. Local map files of
the world, each continent, and some countries are also
available, and you can add your own maps at any scale. Local
maps have no dependency on the internet. You can jump from a
given photo to its position on a world map, where you can find
other photos from the same or nearby positions.
Albums can be made using selected images from your collection.
The files are not duplicated. Select images by clicking gallery
thumbnails. Arrange the images with drag and drop. Albums can be
made into slide shows. Choose animated transitions between
images, pan and zoom effects, and places to auto-pause for
narration.
Fotoxx includes a comprehensive user manual that also serves as
interactive help: press F1 while using any function in Fotoxx.
You should take the time to read the overview pages. The
function details can be viewed as needed.
ARCHITECTURE
Displays, reports, and edit functions are accessed
via menu buttons and popup menus.
Interactive dialogs are used to control each
function. These may have buttons, text
or numeric inputs, sliders, and pick-lists. Some
dialogs use editable curves that
can be manipulated with the mouse or equivalent
touchpad actions.
DISPLAY
File View: The main window shows a single image file,
which can be zoomed and
panned with the mouse. Edit
functions modify this image as directed by dialog
inputs or mouse actions on the
image.
Gallery View: A thumbnail browser/navigator showing
an array of thumbnails for a
folder of image files, or for an
album or report of image files. Each thumbnail
has text for the file name, and
more text depending on context. The gallery can
be scrolled using the scroll bars
or mouse wheel. Thumbnail size can vary from
small to huge. Clicking a thumbnail
will select the image file for viewing or
editing, or for inclusion in a
function working on multiple image files.
Map View: An interactive internet map is scalable
from street to global level.
Zoom and pan using the mouse. Image
files having geocoordinates in metadata
show as markers on this map.
Clicking a marker produces a thumbnail gallery of
the underlying image files. Custom
map files may also be used the same way.
FILE MENU
NEW SESSION - start new parallel Fotoxx session in a
separate window
OPEN IMAGE FILE - navigate folders, select an image
file for view or edit
SOURCE FOLDER - open corresponding Gallery View for
current File View image
CYCLE 2 - cycle through the two most recently seen
image files (A/B compare)
CYCLE 3 - cycle through the three most recently seen
image files (A/B/C compare)
VIEW 360° PANO - view a 360° panorama image with
rotating viewpoint (mouse pan)
RENAME - rename an image file
DELETE/TRASH - delete or trash an image file
COPY/MOVE - copy or move an image file to another
folder, desktop, or clipboard
PERMISSIONS - view and set access permissions for an
image file
REMOVE ALPHA - apply alpha level to RGB levels and
remove alpha channel
SHOW ON MAP - change to Map View, with marker for
current image file at center
SET WALLPAPER - set the desktop wallpaper from the
current image file
PRINT - print an image file (set scale, orientation,
paper type, quality)
PRINT CALIBRATED - print an image file using printer
color calibration data
QUIT - exit from Fotoxx
GALLERY MENU
THUMB VIEW - Gallery View with thumbnails and file
names and dates
META VIEW - Gallery View with thumbnail and basic
metadata used by Fotoxx
RECENT - open Gallery View of most recently seen
images
NEWEST - open Gallery View of newest images in the
collection
GOTO FIRST or LAST - jump to gallery start or end
SORT GALLERY - sort by file name, file/photo date,
file/pixel size
ALL FOLDERS - folder hierarchy, expand/contract each
level, click for gallery
SELECT FILES - select files for an album, or input
for batch/script function
RENAME FOLDER - rename the current folder (file
gallery)
ADD SUBFOLDER - add a new subfolder to the current
image folder
BOOKMARKS - view list of bookmarks, add/remove
bookmark, go to bookmark
MANAGE ALBUMS - create and arrange an arbitrary
collection of image files
UPDATE ALBUMS - update album files for updated image
files (new versions)
ALBUM MASS UPDATE - utilities for mass addition or
update of album files
GALLERY TO ALBUM - make an album from the current
gallery (search result)
SLIDE SHOW - create a slide show with animated
transitions and image pan/zoom
MAPS MENU
NET MAP - view an interactive scalable internet map,
pan/zoom with mouse.
Maps have markers for images with
location metadata. Click for gallery.
NET MAP LOCS - define or go to a named map location
(position and scale)
FILE MAP - view local file map with similar
functionality.
CHOOSE MAP - choose from available maps (World, USA,
France, NYC, etc.)
Custom maps can be added and work
the same way.
MARKERS - show map markers for all images or only the
current gallery
CUSTOM MENU - open a custom user menu for frequently used
functions
ZOOM BUTTON - left/right click to increase/decrease image or
thumbnail size
PREV/NEXT BUTTON - left/right click to view previous/next image in
current gallery
FILE SAVE - save an image file (replace, new version, new file
name/location)
METADATA MENU
VIEW META - list main image metadata in a popup
window
VIEW ALL META - list all image metadata in a
scrolling popup window
EDIT META - edit commonly used metadata in a popup
dialog
EDIT ANY META - edit any metadata item (add, delete,
revise)
DELETE META - delete specified metadata or all
metadata
COPY META - copy metadata from one image file to
another
MANAGE TAGS - manage user-defined tags (keywords for
searching)
CAPTIONS - show/toggle file name, title, description
in top left image corner
PLACES/DATES - list all image locations and date
groups, click for gallery
TIMELINE - calendar layout of image counts by year
and month, click for gallery
SEARCH IMAGES - search images using folder/file names
or any metadata
(dates, tags, locations, ratings,
words in text metadata, exposure data ...)
AUTOSEARCH - shell scripts can use the Search
function to select image files
SELECT MENU
SELECT AREA - select an image feature or area for
separate editing.
methods: outline by hand, follow
feature edges, select by color tone,
'flood' selection into color tones
matching mouse position.
COPY/COMPLEX - select and copy area with complex
edges (e.g. hair)
FIND AREA GAP - find the gap in a hand-drawn area
outline
EDGE BLEND - mouse-blend edges of edits made within a
selected area.
Also called 'feathering' the edges
over a desired pixel span.
SHOW/HIDE AREA - show or hide area outlines
ENABLE/DISABLE AREA - enable or disable an area for
editing
INVERT AREA - invert an area (reverse the
outside/inside pixels)
CLEAR AREA - remove an area
COPY/PASTE AREA - copy an area and insert somewhere
else later
LOAD/SAVE AREA - load an area from a file or save an
area to a file
UNDO/REDO BUTTON
Sequential undo or redo edits to current image.
Go back to any prior edit of the current image.
EDIT MENU
ROTATE - rotate or level an image, or upright 90 deg.
rotated image
CROP - crop (trim) image margins, optionally use
fixed aspect ratio
RETOUCH - edit brightness, contrast, color
temperature, saturation, and
white balance. Optional edit curves for brightness/RGB levels.
RESIZE - change the image pixel dimensions, optional
fixed aspect ratio.
UPRIGHT - upright a rotated image (usually automatic,
or choose ±90°)
MIRROR - mirror (or flip) an image horizontally or
vertically
MARKUP - draw on image: text, line/arrow, box,
circle, oval.
set font, shadows, size, angle, position (via mouse).
COLOR MODE - convert to black & white,
negative/positive, sepia
PAINT IMAGE - mouse-paint with a color, brush size,
and opacity
PAINT EDITS - mouse-paint an edit function locally
and gradually
(most edit functions can be painted this way)
PAINT TRANSP - paint areas with (gradual)
transparency using the mouse
COPY IN IMAGE - copy pixels within an image using the
mouse
COPY FROM IMAGE - copy pixels from another image
using the mouse
(conversion scale can also be varied)
COPY PRIOR EDIT - copy areas from prior edits of the
same image, using mouse
PLUGINS - use another image editor (e.g. Gimp) as a
Fotoxx edit function
REPAIR MENU
SHARPEN - sharpen a blurred image, multiple methods
including Richardson-Lucy
BLUR - blur an image or image area, multiple methods
including paint blur
DENOISE - reduce image noise, multiple methods
DEFOG - add or remove fog/haze from an image or
selected area
RED EYES - remove red eyes from flash photos (usually
one click)
SMART ERASE - remove power lines, trash, signs, other
small image spoilers
REMOVE HALO - remove halos left by sharpen and other
edit functions
ADJUST RGB - adjust image colors using RGB/CMY scales
ADJUST HSL - select and change colors using HSL
scales
COLOR PROFILE - convert color profile (e.g. sRGB
<--> Adobe RGB)
VIGNETTE - change brightness or color radially around
a chosen center
REMOVE DUST - remove dust spots on images scanned
from old photos
CHROMATIC 1 - fix chromatic aberration - color
fringes increasing from center
CHROMATIC 2 - fix chromatic aberration - color bands
along bright/dark edges
REFINE MENU
VOODOO-1 and VOODOO-2 - fast 1-click enhancement that
may work well enough
EDIT DIST - shift brightness distribution to
rebalance dark and bright areas
FLATTEN DIST - flatten distribution to improve detail
in low-contrast areas
LOCAL CONTRAST - add contrast adapted to brightness
of local area
GRADIENTS - increase brightness gradients where
weakest
GLOBAL RETINEX - rescale RGB values to remove color
cast and fog/haze
LOCAL RETINEX - rescale RGB values to remove color
cast and fog/haze
SATURATION - adjust color saturation, optionally
based on brightness
SOFT FOCUS - apply classic "soft focus" effect to an
image (portraits)
MATCH COLORS - match the colors in one image to those
in another image
BRITE RAMP - add a brightness/color ramp across an
image or area
EFFECTS MENU
SKETCH - convert an image into a simulated pencil
sketch
CARTOON - convert an image into a cartoon-like
drawing
DRAWING - convert an image into a color line drawing
EMBOSS - convert an image into a simulated embossing
(3D relief effect)
TILES - convert an image into simulated square tiles
with relief
PAINTING - convert an image into a simulated painting
TEXTURE - add texture to an image or selected area
PATTERN - add a pattern to an image or selected area
(e.g. canvas)
DITHER - different ways to pixelize or posterize an
image
MOSAIC - convert an image into a mosaic using tiles
made from all images
ADD NOISE - add random noise to an image (mask
banding, jpeg artifacts)
COLOR DEPTH - reduce RGB bit depth or number of
colors (posterize)
SHIFT COLORS - gradually shift RGB colors to GBR or
BRG
ALIEN COLORS - add random strange colors to an image
COPY/PASTE COLORS - copy/paste an RGB color plane
across images
CUSTOM KERNEL - edit and apply a custom convolution
kernel to an image
WARP MENU
UNBEND - straighten warped image, esp. panorama or
fisheye July
PERSPECTIVE - straighten an object photographed from
the side or below
WARP AREA - warp a selected image area by pulling
with the mouse
WARP CURVED - warp entire image or area using the
mouse - curvy warp
WARP LINEAR - warp image by pulling with the mouse -
straight lines preserved
WARP AFFINE - warp image by pulling with the mouse -
parallel lines preserved
AREA RESCALE - rescale an image down, leaving
selected area at full scale
UNWARP CLOSEUP - remove distortions of a close-up
face photo (e.g. big nose)
MAKE WAVES - warp an image with a wave pattern, vary
length and amplitude
TWIST - twist an image around a chosen center point
SPHERE - curve an image into a spheroid shape
(picture on a ball)
STRETCH - add/remove barrel/pincushion distortion
(RAW with uncorrected lens)
INSIDE-OUT - invert the center-edge distance of each
pixel
TINY PLANET - wrap a panorama image around a circle
ESCHER SPIRAL - transform an image into an endless
inward spiral
FLATTEN PHOTO - flatten photo of a curved image (e.g.
thick book page)
COMBINE MENU
HDR - combine photos with varying ISO for an extended
brightness range
HDF - combine photos with varying focus depth for
extended depth of field
STACK/PAINT - combine photos to remove transient
cars, tourists, etc
STACK/NOISE - combine high ISO photos to reduce noise
by averaging
STACK/LAYER - combine images, select/paint which
image to show in each area
STACK/SPLIT - show two images overlapped with a
movable boundary line
IMAGE DIFFS - subtract two images (with offset) for
artistic effect
PANORAMA - stitch together a series of photos
horizontally or vertically
MASHUP - arrange multiple images and formatted text
in an arbitrary layout
IMAGE TABLE - join many images into a tablular format
with margins.
Images can be clicked to pop-out larger
zoomable images.
BATCH MENU
BATCH CONVERT - copy, move, resize, rename, convert
format, add text ...
BATCH COPY/MOVE - copy/move selected files to a new
folder
BATCH UPRIGHT - scan for rotated images and upright
them
BATCH DELETE/TRASH - delete or trash selected images
BATCH RAW - convert RAW files to JPEG/PNG/TIFF, 8 or
16 bit color
BURN DVD/BRD - create a DVD or BlueRay disc with
selected image files
EXPORT FILES - export selected files to a folder
(e.g. for web upload)
CONVERT ADOBE - convert Adobe files (.pdf .ps .eps)
to jpeg, one per page
BATCH TAGS - add or remove tags for selected images
BATCH RENAME TAGS - rename tags for selected or all
images
BATCH PHOTO DATE - change photo dates or times, or
shift time zone
BATCH CHANGE META - add or revise metadata for
selected or all images
BATCH REPORT META - report metadata for selected or
all images
BATCH MOVE META - move metadata between keywords -
fix irregular usage
(e.g. 'caption' and 'title' -
compensate metadata standards chaos)
BATCH GEOTAGS - add or revise geotags for selected or
all images
(e.g. change 'München' to 'Munich'
wherever found)
EDIT SCRIPT - record a series of image edits in a
script file
RUN SCRIPT - execute script on current file (a custom
edit function)
BATCH SCRIPT - execute script on selected image files
TOOLS MENU
INDEX FILES - 1-time job to find and index all image
files
QUICK INDEX - quick incremental index with no user
interaction
PREFERENCES - dialog for user preferences and
settings
KB SHORTCUTS - show and revise keyboard shortcuts for
menu functions
RGB DISTRIBUTION - brightness distribution graph for
the current image file
MAGNIFY IMAGE - mouse is a magnifying glass over
image, variable size and power
FIND DUPLICATES - find duplicate images in a folder
or entire image collection
SHOW RGB - show RGB values at mouse position or for
selected points
(can be used to show edit function
changes at the pixel level in real time)
POPUP TEXT - show popup window with characters/texts
to insert into edit widgets
(default list: Ä Ë Ö Ü ä ë ö ü ß €
° ® ± µ ÷ ⁕ ‣ ▪ ➤ ᴧ ← ↑ → ↓ ↔ ↕ )
CALIBRATE PRINTER - calibrate printer color -
compensate printer color shifts.
(improvement somewhere between good
and poor, depending on printer and paper)
GRID SETTINGS - show or remove grid lines, set line
count or spacing
LINE COLOR - set color for select area outlines and a
few other cases
DARK/BRIGHT PIXELS - tool to highlight possible
clipping at 0 and 255
MONITOR COLOR - tool to adjust monitor brightness and
contrast
MONITOR GAMMA - tool to adjust monitor gamma
(requires xgamma app)
SHOW RESOURCES - show CPU time and current memory
usage in a popup window
APPIMAGE FILES - export the files included in the
Appimage container
APPIMAGE UNINSTALL - uninstall the Fotoxx appimage
package
HELP MENU - user guide, tutorial video, change log, privacy
policy, about Fotoxx
OTHER CAPABILITIES
USER
GUIDE
A comprehensive user guide is
available, explaining general concepts and the use
of each function. For each
function, a popup guide is available via the F1 key.
OPEN RAW: file is default-converted
for view or edit via Fotoxx.
Use popup menu to edit with Raw
Therapee or Darktable and return to Fotoxx.
VERSIONS: edited files have a version number,
originals are retained by default
EDIT PROCESSING: all calculations are done with 24
bit color (float data type)
Output files can be JPEG (8 bit
color) or PNG or TIFF (8 or 16 bit color).
OPEN MPO FILE: Extract left/right files (3D pair) in
.MPO file.
VIDEO FILES: these are included in thumbnail
galleries: click to play.
Thumbnails use 1st frame by
default, but can be set to any playback time.
CYCLE WALLPAPER: change wallpaper at set intervals or
at each new login.
This uses a Fotoxx album or any
folder with image files.
The
first image is the JPEG produced by the camera. The 2nd image is
the RAW file from the camera, converted to TIFF-16. The 3rd image
is the edited TIFF file saved as a JPEG file. The dark areas were
lightened and color was slightly increased.
Add
tags (keywords), geotags, titles, captions, dates, and ratings to
images. Search images using these criteria as well as image file
and folder names. Partial matching also works. Matching images are
shown in a thumbnail gallery. Click a thumbnail to view or edit,
or step through sequentially. Search speed is nearly
instantaneous.
Find
images with any desired metadata, show thumbnail images with
metadata text. Click a thumbnail to view full-size. There are also
functions to view the key metadata for an image, view all
available metadata, or edit any metadata.
Click on a map location to instantly see all
the photos made in or around that location. Location names pop up
as you move the mouse over the map. In this case, "Leipzig" was
clicked to retrieve 25 photos of Leipzig.
Hair and other irregular shapes can be
accurately selected. Drag over the area with the mouse, clicking
as needed on colors to be selected or suppressed. This can be
tedious if the background contrast is weak. This example is about
a 10 minute project for an experienced user. Novices will need
more time to get the feel of this tool.
This tool
is an easy way to improve detail in areas that lack contrast. Uses
a single sliding control with live feedback. Sometimes works
miracles and sometimes not very effective. Good for fog/haze
removal.
This tool is used to view a
360°panorama image. Use the mouse to rotate the viewpoint through
the full 360°. The view window is 90°(right image) and can be
zoomed-in for a larger/narrower view.
The power
lines and poles were erased. Select an object to erase using the
mouse like a paintbrush. Click to erase. Neighboring pixels
replace the erased area. This usually works well for small or
narrow areas, or even larger areas when surrounded with fairly
uniform background, like sky or grass. Selecting long thin objects
like power lines is done by clicking positions along the length.
Click to enlarge and view carefully. The left
image is a photo taken from inside a church (a small cutout of a
large image). It has color fringes on the dark to bright
transitions, and these were mostly eliminated in the edited
version on the right. Slider controls change the scale of
individual RGB color planes, and you simply adjust them to
minimize the color bands. It works for the usual sort of chromatic
aberration which increases radially from the center.
Increase
contrast where it is weak without changing overall contrast.
Compensate
camera or subject motion.
The lower image is a composite of
the upper ones. Brighter areas were taken mostly from the darker
image, and darker areas from the brighter image. Optionally use
editable curves to adjust the contribution of each image for each
brightness level.
This HDF required several minutes
of manual work to choose which input image to use for each area in
the output image. This is done by choosing an image and "painting"
with the mouse. This can take time if there are lots of adjacent
near and far areas which must be painted separately using
different underlying images.
9 photos were made at
ISO 1600 in a darkened room with a hand-held camera. My strong
computer needed nearly a minute to align and combine them into one
low-noise image. This is part of the 20-megapixel image, shown at
full size.
Flatten
the page edges and stretch the squeezed text where the page curves
down at the center binding. Mark the page top and bottom edges at
several points using the mouse. The rest is automatic. Use for any
curved image, e.g. a poster on a round column.
Images can be mixed sizes. They are
rearranged and resized as needed to make all the columns as even
as possible.
A background pattern
can be added to an image or selected areas. The pattern is a small
image that is repeated to cover a larger area. If the pattern
repeats, dimensions are found automatically to make the pattern
seamless (left example). The pattern can be a photo of a texture,
as in the right sample. Pattern scale and opacity are adjustable.
The photo
was back-lighted and the Fall colors came out faded. The following
steps were made in sequence: select the sky, invert the selection
(everything but the sky), increase overall brightness with an
upward slope for more contrast, select the foreground vegetation
areas, add more contrast, add color saturation, add slight
gradients.
