Epson Software Film Factory User manual

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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.
Trademarks
EPSON and EPSON Stylus are registered trademarks and PRINT Image Matching and the PRINT Image
Matching logo are trademarks of SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION.
EPSON Software and the EPSON Software logo are trademarks, and EPSON Store and EPSON
PhotoCenter are service marks 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 rights in those marks.
Copyright © 1999–2001 by Epson America, Inc., and 1998–2001 A.I.Soft, Inc., for its
contributions.
PRINT Image Matching Version 1.0 Copyright © 2001 by Seiko Epson Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
10/01
CPD-12663R1
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Contents
Introducing Film Factory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
About PRINT Image Matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Learning More About Film Factory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Windows System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Macintosh System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Compatible Devices and File Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Starting Film Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Film Factory’s Main Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
How Film Factory Organizes Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Creating a Roll of Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Adding Photos to a Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Retouching Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Automatically Retouching a Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Manually Retouching a Photo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Rotating an Image. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Cropping an Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Changing Color to Black and White or Sepia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Applying a Soft Focus Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Correcting Red Eye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Canceling Retouch Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Adding Comments or Sound to a Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Adding Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Adding Sound (Windows Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Managing Your Photos, Film Rolls, and Film Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Using the Viewer to Display Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Moving or Copying a Photo to Another Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Deleting a Photo From a Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Finding a Photo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Sorting Photos and Film Rolls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Renaming a Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Moving a Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Deleting a Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Working With Film Cases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Managing Photos on Removable Media and Networks . . . . . . . . 32
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Printing Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Standard Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Index Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Duplicate Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Album Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Greeting Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Sticker Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Combo Prints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Other Film Factory Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Creating a Collage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Creating a Photo Slide Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Playing a Movie File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Creating Web Pages of Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Uploading Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Converting a Photo to Desktop Wallpaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Using a Photo Roll as a Screen Saver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Exporting Photos to Files or E-mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Where to Get Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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Introducing Film Factory
EPSON Software™Film Factory™lets you process your digital “film”and print
snapshots using your own computer and printer. With this powerful photo
management utility, you can import images from any digital-imaging source and
create virtual rolls of film and film cases to organize 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 lets you:
■Quickly and easily import and organize images from a digital camera, scanner,
PC card, CD-ROM, or disk.
■Retouch your pictures to make them 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.
■Organize and retrieve all your photos with virtual “rolls of film”and “film
cases.”You can catalog your photos by subject, or family members can have
their own film cases with their own rolls.
■Print vivid color images in a variety of formats, including standard 3.5 ×5 or
4×6 prints, an index (contact) sheet, photo album pages, and greeting cards.
■Add comments or sound (Windows®only) to each photo to be stored with it.
■Create photo collages.
■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).
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About PRINT Image Matching
If your digital camera and printer support PRINT Image Matching (P. I. M.),
Film Factory lets you produce the best prints possible. PRINT Image Matching is
a term for the print command that is embedded in the header of the image file
created by digital cameras. It contains color setting and image parameter
information. With PRINT Image Matching, the digital camera can set specific
printing options such as:
The camera saves this information in each image file. For example, macro mode
pictures might include commands for sharpness and clarity, while portrait mode
pictures might emphasize soft focusing and subtle flesh tones. Your printer then
uses the information to ensure the most accurate reproduction of the image.
In Film Factory, a small P. I. M. symbol appears on the thumbnails for PRINT
Image Matching photos: . If a PRINT Image Matching photo has been
retouched, it may not display the P. I. M. symbol. If you trim or rotate a PRINT
Image Matching photo, the P. I. M. settings still appear. Because P. I. M. optimizes
settings such as brightness and color automatically, using retouching options like
these removes P. I. M. settings.
Learning More About Film Factory
■This Getting Started guide explains how to use Film Factory’s exciting features.
■The Film Factory online Help provides convenient access to detailed
information about using Film Factory. Just click the Help button for step-by-
step instructions on the most frequently used features.
■If you need additional EPSON®Support, see “Where to Get Help”on
page 55.
■contrast ■sharpness ■brightness
■gamma level ■color space ■color saturation
■shadow ■highlight ■color balance
If you select multiple images and some of them are not PRINT Image
Matching photos, the PRINT Image Matching settings will be ignored for
all the photos.
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Windows System Requirements
If you’re using Windows, make sure your system configuration meets these
minimum requirements:
■Windows 95, 98, Me, XP, 2000, or NT®4.0
■Pentium®200 (or equivalent) processor or higher
■64MB of RAM (more will improve performance)
■100MB of available hard disk space, not including photo storage
■SVGA monitor with 16-bit (High Color) display adapter or better
■QuickTime®4 or higher to support some file types
■Mouse or other pointing device
■Compatible with most color printers; a high-quality photo printer and special
media are recommended to print the best images
■A PRINT Image Matching-enabled digital camera and printer are required to
print with P. I. M. technology
Macintosh System Requirements
If you’re using a Macintosh,®make sure your system configuration meets these
minimum requirements:
■Macintosh OS version 8.5.1 —9.2.1
■233 MHz G3 processor or higher
■64MB of RAM (more will improve performance)
■100MB of available hard disk space, not including photo storage
■800 ×600 display resolution with Color Depth set to “thousands of colors”
■QuickTime 4 or higher
■HTML browser (such as Microsoft®Internet Explorer or Netscape®
Navigator®version 4.0 or higher) to view online help
If you’re using Windows XP, 2000, or NT 4.0, you may need to have
Administrator privileges to install and use Film Factory.
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■Mouse or other pointing device
■Compatible with most color printers; a high-quality photo printer and special
media are recommended to print the best images
■A PRINT Image Matching-enabled digital camera and printer are required to
print with P. I. M. technology
Compatible Devices and File Formats
Film Factory supports files from all TWAIN-compatible digital cameras and
scanners. For non-TWAIN devices, you can download photos using your camera
or scanner software.
Film Factory supports the following digital photo file types:
■Windows: Supports BMP and JPEG file types. If QuickTime 4 or higher is
installed, Film Factory also supports TIF, PCX, FPX, Photo CD (read only),
MacPaint,®PNG, GIF, PICT, Adobe®Photoshop,®QuickTime, SGI, and
Tar ga fil es.
■Macintosh: Supports JPEG, PICT, BMP, TIF, FPX (read only), PNG, GIF
(read only), MacPaint, PhotoShop, QuickTime, SGI, and Targa files.
If QuickTime 4 or higher is installed, Film Factory supports the following digital
movie formats: QuickTime, DV, MPEG1, and AVI files.
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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.
Film Factory’s Main Screen
The main screen displays thumbnail views of the photos in the open roll. (The
Sample roll is shown below.)
Film
cases
Menu commands Toolbar tools
Print
options
Roll of film
Photo
Status bar
PRINT Image
Matching icon
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Toolbar
Click on any tool to perform its function. Hold the mouse cursor briefly over any
tool to see what function it performs.
Menu commands
The menu commands provide another way to access many of the toolbar
functions, as well as some additional features. Open any menu to select a
command. The Status Bar describes the command.
Print options
Click on one of the Print options to select how you want to print your photo(s).
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.
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Status bar
The status bar describes the selected menu command and displays information
about your photos.
Photos
Click on any photo to select it. Selected photos are
highlighted by a yellow background. PRINT Image
Matching photos have an icon in the upper-right corner.
Select them individually, or select a group of photos using
Shift + click or Ctrl + click (Windows) or J + click
(Macintosh).
Click All or Cancel to select or deselect all the photos in a
roll.
Double-click on a photo to display an enlarged view of it. (You can also use the
Viewer option to enlarge a photo. See “Using the Viewer to Display Photos”on
page 25.)
Display information about a photo by right-clicking your mouse on it (Windows)
or pressing Ctrl + click (Macintosh).
Film rolls
Add photos to your
rolls and view them by
simply clicking on a
roll. The current roll is
highlighted by a
yellow background.
Scroll bars
Use the scroll bars
or click on the
arrows to see
more rolls and
more photos.
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How Film Factory Organizes Your Photos
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 PC card, Zip®disk, or CD-ROM.
First you create a film roll, to which you add your photos. You can store as many
photos as you want in each roll. When you have a number of rolls, you can file
them in virtual film cases; group rolls of film by subject to make it easier to
manage your photos.
Additionally, large photo files don’t have to take up space on your hard drive. You can
keep them on your Zip disk, CD-ROM, or other removable media while adding
virtual thumbnail images of them to a roll created on your hard disk. For example, if
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.
Likewise, if you have images stored on a network, you can view thumbnail
versions of the photos (along with any comments) even when the network is
offline.
For more information, see “Managing Your Photos, Film Rolls, and Film Cases”
on page 25.
Creating a Roll of Film
Follow the instructions in this section to create a new roll of film and add photos
to it—from a disk or from a device such as a digital camera. You can also create a
new roll by copying images from an existing folder on your hard disk or other
device.
1. From the Main Menu, click the Roll button. You see this menu:
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2. To create a new roll to which you can add photos later, click New Roll. You see
this dialog box:
Type a name for the roll. If you want to add a comment and/or date to
describe the roll, click the Details button and enter the comment and date.
To create a roll from an exiting folder of images, click New Roll, Use
Existing Image Folder. You see this dialog box:
Select the drive and/or folder where the photos are stored. (On the Macintosh,
click Browse, then select a folder and click Choose.) The photos are not
copied to your hard drive; only thumbnail images are created for the roll.
Click here to add
a comment and
date for the roll
Click here to add a
comment or change
the date
Click here to add a
comment or
change the date
Click Browse to
select a folder
Windows
Macintosh
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If you want to enter a name for the roll that is different from the folder name,
type it in the Roll Name box.
If you want to add a comment and/or date to describe the roll, click the
Details button and enter the comment and date.
3. Click Add. The roll appears on the main screen.
If the folder is on a removable
device such as a Zip disk or
PC card, you see this window:
If you can record on the
device, you can copy the Film
Factory databases to the
device. Check the Copy Film
Factory databases to the
removable media checkbox
(Windows) or the Write Film
Factory databases to the
removable media checkbox
(Macintosh) to record the film
case, film roll, and any other
photo information on the
removable device.
If you create a roll from a folder on a removable device, this icon
appears in the upper right corner of the roll.
Now you are ready to add photos to the roll.
Windows
Macintosh
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Adding Photos to a Roll
To add photos to a roll, you select images already stored on a disk or from other
sources such as a digital camera or scanner. First, make sure the import settings are
correct. Then see the appropriate section below:
■“Adding photos from a folder on the hard drive”on page 12.
■“Adding photos from a TWAIN device”on page 13.
■“Adding photos from removable media or a PC card”on page 13.
Selecting the Import Settings
Follow the steps below to define the import source for your image files, whether
they are on your hard disk, digital camera, scanner, PC card, or other removable
device. You need to do this only once.
1. Click the Import button, and choose Import Settings. You see this window:
2. On the File tab, click Browse and select the path name where your image files
are stored—on your hard disk, removable media, and/or PC card. This
becomes the default path where Film Factory will look for files when you
import them, but you can always specify a different location.
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On the TWAIN tab, select the digital camera or scanner you are using from
the Import Source List and the file format (BMP, PICT, or JPEG). Then click
OK.
For more information about Import Settings, click the Help button.
Adding photos from a folder on the hard drive
Follow these steps to import photos from another folder:
1. From the Main Menu, select the film roll to which you want to add photos.
If the film roll you want is in another
film case, click the down arrow on
the Film Cases icon to display the
other film cases.
2. Click the Import button, then select
From File from the drop-down menu. In Windows, you see the Import Files
window; on a Macintosh, you see the Choose a File window.
3. Navigate to the disk and directory where the photos are stored.
4. Click the filename you wish to add. A thumbnail of the photo appears in the
Preview window. You can select more than one with Shift + click or Ctrl +
click (Windows) or Shift + J+ click (Macintosh). Click Select All to select
them all.
5. Do one of the following to add photos to your roll:
■Click Move to remove the originals from their source and move them to
the folder where Film Factory stores images.
■Click Copy to leave the originals where they are and place a copy in the
folder where Film Factory stores images.
The photos appear in the roll.
6. On a Macintosh, click Choose or Open.
Click here to see
other film cases
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Adding photos from a TWAIN device
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.
To import photos from your camera or scanner:
1. From the Main Menu, select the film roll to which you want to add photos.
If the film roll you want is in another
film case, click the down arrow on
the Film Cases icon to display the
other film cases.
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.
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.
Adding photos from removable media or a PC card
Follow the steps below if you want to import files from a removable device such as
CD-ROM, Zip disk, or PC card.
1. Insert the disk in the appropriate drive.
2. From the Main Menu, select the film roll to which you want to add photos.
If the film roll you want is in another
film case, click the down arrow on
the Film Cases icon to display the
other film cases.
3. Click the Import button, then select
From Removable Media or From PC Card from the drop-down menu. The
Import Files (or Choose a File) window appears.
4. Navigate to the disk and directory where the photos are stored.
Click here to see
other film cases
Click here to see
other film cases
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5. Click the filename you wish to add. A thumbnail of the photo is displayed.
You can select more than one with Shift + click or Ctrl + click (Windows) or
Shift + J+ click (Macintosh). Click Select All to select them all.
6. Do one of the following to add photos to your roll:
■Click Move to remove the originals from their source and move them to
the folder where Film Factory stores images.
■Click Copy to leave the originals where they are and place a copy in the
folder where Film Factory stores images.
The photos appear in the roll.
7. On the Macintosh, click Choose or Open.
Retouching Your Photos
You can retouch your photos to improve the quality or add special effects. Film
Factory can automatically retouch photos for you or you can do it yourself
manually. In most cases, retouching does not modify the original photos.
When you click the Retouch button, you see this menu:
■To retouch photos automatically, see page 15.
■To manually change the brightness, contrast, and color, see page 16.
■To rotate a photo, see page 17.
■To crop a photo, see page 18.
■To change the color to black and white or sepia tone, see page 19.
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■To enhance the image with soft focus, see page 20.
■To correct red eyes in a photo, see page 21.
■To cancel retouching, see page 22.
If you retouch a PRINT Image Matching photo, depending on how you
retouch it, it may lose its PRINT Image Matching data. You’ll notice that
the symbol no longer appears in the corner of the thumbnail. To restore
the PRINT Image Matching data, use the Cancel Retouch option in the
Retouch menu. If you overwrite the original image when you retouch the
photo, you can’t restore the PRINT Image Matching data.
Automatically Retouching a Photo
When you let Film Factory automatically retouch a photo, the program adjusts the
color balance, brightness, and contrast.
1. Select the roll and then the photo(s) you want to retouch.
2. Click the Retouch button and then select Auto Retouch.
3. The Auto Retouch window shows the photos you selected before and after
retouching. All the retouched photos are outlined with a blue border,
indicating that they are selected to be changed. You can do the following:
■Click on any of the original photos in the top row that you do not want to
be retouched. They will display the blue border when you click them.
■Use the horizontal scroll bar to see more photos, if necessary.
■Click Select All in either row to select all the images in that row.
■To replace the original photos, check the Overwrite Original Image box.
These changes cannot be reversed. Otherwise, you can undo retouches with
the Cancel Retouch command on the Retouch menu. (The retouching
information is stored in the Film Factory databases.)
Before After
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4. Click Make Changes. The photos are retouched.
Manually Retouching a Photo
If you want greater control when retouching an image, follow these steps:
1. Select the roll and then the photo you want to retouch.
2. Click the Retouch button and then select Manual Retouch. You see this
window:
3. Click the Brightness tab to adjust the brightness and contrast. Click the
Color tab to adjust the red, green, and blue values in the image.
You can either use the sliders to make the adjustment or select the image you
like best from the 9 choices displayed.
4. If you want the changes to be made to the original photo file, check the
Overwrite Original Image box.
Enlarge the
photo
Undo the last change Click here when you are ready to
save the changes
Cancel your changes and close the
Manual Retouch window
Check this box to change
the original photo
Use the
sliders to
change the
brightness
and contrast
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