Epson Software Film Factory User manual

Copyright Notice
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of
Epson America, Inc.
EPSON is a registered trademark of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION.
EPSON Software and the EPSON Software logo are trademarks of Epson
America, Inc.
Film Factory and the Film Factory logo are trademarks of A.I.Soft, Inc.
General notice: Other product names used herein are for identification purposes
only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. EPSON disclaims any and
all right in those marks.
Copyright © 1999–2000 by Epson America, Inc., and 1998–2000 A.I.Soft, Inc.,
for its contributions. 4/00
FFGSPDF

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Contents
Introducing Film Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Film Factory features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Learning more about Film Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Windows system requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Macintosh system requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Installing Film Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Macintosh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Starting Film Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Film Factory’s main screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Organizing Your Photos with Film Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Working with film rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Working with film cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Managing photos on removable media and networks . . . . . . . . 11
Finding and sorting photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

ii
Creating a Roll of Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Adding photos from a disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Adding photos from a camera or scanner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Retouching Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Photo retouching methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Automatically retouching a photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Manually retouching a photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Printing Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Printing Standard Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Printing Index Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Printing Duplicate Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Printing Album Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Printing Greeting Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Printing Sticker Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Other Film Factory Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Creating a photo slide show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Creating web pages of your photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Converting any photo to desktop wallpaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Using Film Factory’s screen saver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Where to Get Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

1
Introducing Film Factory
EPSON®Software™Film Factory™is a powerful photo management utility
designed to duplicate the features and functions of a 1-hour photo lab.
However, unlike a traditional photo finisher, Film Factory lets you process
your digital “film” and print snapshots using your own computer and
printer. You can import images from any digital-imaging source—such as a
scanner, digital camera, or electronic media—and create virtual rolls of film
and film cases that let you catalog thousands of photos in a visual format.
Film Factory is the perfect photo management program for the home or
office. If you’re a home computer user, you’ll have fun organizing,
enhancing, printing, and sharing your favorite photos with family and
friends. If you’re a small business user, Film Factory provides an efficient
and convenient way to catalog your business-related digital photos.
Film Factory features
Film Factory lets you:
■Quickly and easily import and organize images from most any source.
■Take advantage of image enhancement tools to make your pictures look
their best. Automatically adjust color balance, brightness and contrast.
Rotate or trim the image, or correct red eyes. Convert photos to black
and white or sepia for a classic look. Most enhancements can be made
without modifying the original image file.

2
■Effortlessly organize and retrieve all your photos with virtual “rolls of
film.” And with “film cases” a mouse-click away, you can catalog your
photos by subject, or family members can have their own film case with
their own rolls.
■Print vivid color images in standard photo, index print, and photo album
formats using your color printer—just like a traditional photo finisher!
Share photos by printing greeting cards and stickers.
■Add comments about each photo. You can even add sound.
■E-mail your photos to family, friends, and business associates using your
own e-mail program, or create web pages of your photos in one easy
step.
■Use your photos as desktop wallpaper or a screen saver (Windows only).
Learning more about Film Factory
Consult these online resources to learn about Film Factory:
■This Getting Started guide gets you started using Film Factory’s exciting
features.
■The Film Factory online Help provides detailed information about how
to use Film Factory, including step-by-step instructions for the most
frequently used features.
■Find out about additional EPSON Support in “Where to Get Help” on
page 34.

3
Windows®system requirements
■Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT®4.0 (SP4)
■Pentium®90 (or equivalent) processor or higher
■32MB of RAM (64MB or more recommended)
■25MB of available hard disk space, not including photo storage
■SVGA monitor with 16-bit (High Color) display adapter or better
■CD-ROM drive
■Mouse or other pointing device
■Compatible with most printers; a high-quality photo printer and special
media are recommended to print the best images
Compatible devices and file formats
■TWAIN-compatible digital cameras and scanners
■Imports BMP, JPEG, PCX, uncompressed TIFF, and FPX file formats.
Exports BMP and JPG.

4
Macintosh®system requirements
■Macintosh OS version 7.6.1 or higher
■90 MHz Power PC 601 processor or higher
■64MB of RAM
■40MB of available hard disk space, not including photo storage
■800 x600 display resolution with Color Depth set to “thousands of
colors”
■QuickTime™3 or higher
■HTML browser (such as Microsoft®Internet Explorer or Netscape®
Navigator®version 4.0 or higher) to view online help
■CD-ROM drive
■Mouse or other pointing device
■Compatible with most printers; a high-quality photo printer and special
media are recommended to print the best images
Compatible devices and file formats
■TWAIN-compatible digital cameras and scanners
■Can import and overwrite JPEG, PICT, TIFF (if QuickTime 4.0 or
higher is installed), QuickTime, MacPaint,®Photoshop®(versions 2.5
and 3.0) SGI, PNG, 16-bit BMP, and TGA. Can import but not
overwrite FPX (if QuickTime 4.0 or higher is installed), and GIF files.
Exports PICT and JPEG files.

5
Installing Film Factory
Install Film Factory on your Windows or Macintosh computer as described
below.
Windows
1. Insert the Film Factory CD into your CD-ROM (or DVD) drive. Setup
starts automatically.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
If Setup does not start automatically, follow these steps:
1. Double-click the My Computer icon.
2. Double-click the icon for your CD-ROM (or DVD) drive. If the Setup
program does not start automatically at this point, double-click
SETUP.EXE to launch it.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
If you need to uninstall Film Factory, Click the Start button, and
select Programs > Film Factory > Uninstall. Then follow the
on-screen instructions.
Note

6
Macintosh
1. Insert the Film Factory CD into your CD-ROM (or DVD) drive.
2. Double-click the Film Factory Mac CD icon.
3. Double-click the Film Factory Installer icon.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
Starting Film Factory
To start Film Factory in Windows, click the Start button, then select
Programs > Film Factory > Film Factory.
To start Film Factory on a Macintosh, open the Film Factory folder and
double-click the Film Factory icon to open the program.
You see the main screen.

7
Film Factory’s main screen
The main screen displays thumbnails of your photos, which you can select
and use with any of Film Factory’s features through menu commands,
toolbar tools, and print wizards.
Film
cases
Menu commands Toolbar tools
Print
wizards
Roll of film PhotoStatus bar Scroll bar

8
Menu commands: Open any
menu to select a command. The
Status Bar describes the command.
Toolbars: Click on any tool to perform its function. Hold the mouse
cursor briefly over any tool to see what function it performs.
Print wizards:
Select from
several
printing
features, such
as Standard
Prints, Album
Pages or
Sticker Prints,
and follow the
steps to print
vivid color
images.
Film cases:
Create separate
film cases to
catalog your rolls
by subject.
Select a film case
by choosing it
from this list. Only
the rolls in that
case are
displayed.

9
Film rolls: Add
photos to your
rolls and view
them by simply
clicking on a
roll. The current
roll displays a
yellow
background.
Scroll bars:
Use the scroll
bars or click on
the arrows to
see more rolls
and more
photos.
Status bar: Describes the selected menu command and other
information (Windows).
Photos: Click on any photo to select it.
Selected photos display a yellow background.
Select them individually or use Shift-click to
select blocks of photos.
Click All or Cancel to select or deselect all the
photos in a roll.

10
Organizing Your Photos with Film Factory
Film Factory helps you organize photos already stored on your computer as
well as those you add from other sources—your digital camera, scanner, or
removable media such as a Zip®disk or CD-ROM. Photos are organized in
virtual film rolls, which you can also store in virtual film cases. Pages 7
through 9show you how film rolls and film cases appear in Film Factory.
Working with film rolls
If you already have photos saved on your computer, you can create virtual
film rolls to manage these photos. Photos can be managed by name, date, and
comment. You can drag and drop copies of your photos from one roll to
another or move them using Ctrl+drag and drop (Windows) or Option+drag
and drop (Macintosh). Or you can use any of Film Factory’s other photo
management tools, which are available on the menus.

11
Working with film cases
Film cases allow you to group rolls of film by subject to make it easier to
manage your photos. With film cases, you see only the rolls you want to see.
As the number of your film rolls increases, you may want to file and manage
rolls by categorizing them within film cases.
You can display a film roll in more than one film case. To display all
existing rolls, select All Rolls from the Film Cases drop-down list.
Managing photos on removable media and networks
Large photo files don’t have to take up space on your hard drive; just store them
on your Zip disk, CD-ROM, or other removable media. If, for example, you
have your photos developed and returned to you on a diskette or CD-ROM,
you can create a roll without storing the actual photos on your hard drive.

12
Likewise, rolls for network images can be viewed as thumbnails and
searched by photo comments even when the network is offline. Rolls of film
that are stored on removable media or network drives have a slightly
different icon.
When you want to print an image file, a message appears telling you the
name of the media disk where the file can be found. Just insert the disk to
continue printing. Rolls that have already been created on your hard drive
can also be transferred to a removable disk, such as a Zip disk.
Finding and sorting photos
The Find Photo command on the Edit menu and Sort Photos command
on the View menu help you manage large numbers of photos.
Network drive icon
Removable media icon

13
Creating a Roll of Film
Film Factory lets you create a new roll of film at any time and add photos to
it—from a disk or from a device such as a digital camera or scanner. You
can add photos to a new roll of film or make a copy of existing images. Each
roll can hold as many photos as you want, but 100 photos is a practical
maximum.
1. Click Print Options, if it’s not already selected.
2. Click the New button. The New Roll window appears.
3. In the Name field, enter a name for the new roll.
4. Do one of the following:
■Click Empty Roll to create a roll to which you can add photos later.
■Click Use Existing Image Folder and browse to a drive and/or
folder where photos already exist. For example, you may have your
photos developed and returned to you on a CD-ROM. In this case,
the photos are not copied to your hard drive; only thumbnail images
are created.
5. In the Comment field, you can enter a description to further define your
roll. Comments are useful for searching later on, especially when you have
a large number of rolls.
6. Click Add. The roll appears on the main screen.

14
If you created an empty film roll, you can add photos to it using photos
already stored on a disk or from other sources such as a digital camera or
scanner. See “Adding photos from a disk” below and “Adding photos from
a camera or scanner” on page 15 for details.
Adding photos from a disk
Follow these steps to import photos from various sources, such as a disk:
1. Click Print Options, if it’s not already selected.
2. Select the appropriate film case and film roll.
3. Click the Import button, then select From File from the drop-down
menu. The Import Files window appears.
4. Navigate to the disk and directory where the photos are stored.
5. Click the filename you wish to add. A thumbnail of the photo is
displayed. (In Windows, you can select more than one with Shift+click or
Ctrl+click.) Click Select All to select them all.
6. Do one of the following to add photos to your roll:
■Click Move to move the photos from their source to where Film
Factory stores images.
■Click Copy to place a copy of the photos where Film Factory stores
images, leaving the originals intact.

15
Adding photos from a camera or scanner
Follow the steps below to download photos using a TWAIN device, such as a
digital camera or scanner. Film Factory works with all digital camera image
formats.
Make sure your device is TWAIN compliant before you try
importing photos. The device should be connected to your
computer and ready to use. See the instructions that came
with your device for help.
If your camera or scanner is not already selected as the import source:
1. Click the Import button, and choose Import Settings. The Import
Settings window appears.
2. Click the TWAIN tab.
3. Select the digital camera or scanner you are using and then click OK.
To import photos from your camera or scanner:
1. Select the appropriate film case and film roll.
2. Click the Import button, and choose From TWAIN Device. The
software used to transfer photos from your camera or scanner to your
computer is started.
If you have more than one TWAIN device, click Import Settings
to select the device you want to use.
Note
Note

16
3. Import your photos to the selected roll of film using the software that was
started. See the instructions that came with the software for help.
Retouching Your Photos
Film Factory provides several photo retouching methods to bring out the
best in all your photos!
Photo retouching methods
Retouching can be automatic or manual. In most cases, retouching does not
modify the original photos.
■Photos are automatically retouched according to Auto Retouch settings
when you prepare them for printing Standard Prints. See “Printing Your
Photos” on page 20 for details.
■Photos already stored in a film roll can be selected and retouched
according to Auto Retouch settings using the Auto Retouch command.
See “Automatically retouching a photo” on page 17 for details.
■Auto Retouch can greatly improve the quality of your photos. If you
want to retouch them manually, you can use the Manual Retouch
command to change the brightness, contrast, and color.
■You can also manually retouch photos for these additional special
effects: black and white, sepia tone, soft focus, red eye correction, image
rotation, and trimming. See “Manually retouching a photo” on page 18
for an example.