IOSPIRIT GmbH today released an update to its integrated digital picture management software Picture Arena for MacOS® X offering sophisticated picture browsing, image-processing and presentation capabilities to version 1.3.5.
What's new in version 1.3.5
The main focus on the update to version 1.3.5 are enhancements that allow an even broader use of Picture Arena. Thanks to enhancements in the file operation capabilities, it is now possible to create directories directly within Picture Arena and to copy and move files via drag & drop like in the Finder™. The management of albums has been vastly improved by the introduction of folders that allow users to group albums in more logical and natural ways. Furthermore, slideshows do now support multiple screens and support for Entourage, Eudora and Mailsmith has been added for sending mails. A French localization of the userinterface is now also integrated into the default release. As a round-up, the introduction of automatic background backups and a semi-automatic repair function for broken paths increase data security and general reliability.
A compact overview over what has changed since version 1.3.2 build 2 of Picture Arena:
- New: Translation of the interface and other parts into French by Patrick Thoennessen, Frédéric Verges and André Siegel.
- New: Albums can now be grouped in folders and subfolders.
- New: Picture Arena can now create directories and supports file operations like moving and copying of files via drag & drop.
- New: Multi-screen support for slideshows, improved efficiency and behaviour of the controls.
- New: If the location of files managed by Picture Arena was changed manually, any broken paths inside Picture Arena can now be "repaired" by choosing the new location.
- New: Vastly improved data security through regular background backups and a safe "backup exploration" mode in case of crashes.
- New: Support for Entourage, Eudora and Mailsmith in addition to Mail for sending photos.
- Enhancement: Support for CMYK JPEGs, including those saved with Adobe® Photoshop.
- Enhancement: The greeting card script now supports international characters via UTF-8, can store cards on the server (which is auto-detected) and allows to send plain text emails.
- Enhancement: The greeting card and database scripts are now also localized in Spanish thanks to the work of www.tuvidaloca.net.
- Enhancement: Screensavers and system sleep are now automatically disabled during a playing slideshow.
- Enhancement: Zoom + / - now works the default way on OS X via "Apple +" and "Apple -".
- Enhancement: When browsing through images in view mode, the image viewed last will also be scrolled to in the browse mode on return.
- Enhancement: When an image is displayed in "size-to-fit" magnification, you can now scroll through your images with the mouse-wheel.
- Fix: The slideshow transition rendered too fast to be visible on Tiger. Fixed.
- Fix: Added a workaround for a problem where thumbnails would be displayed upside-down when Quartz 2D Extreme was enabled.
- Fix: Crash on pressing an Apple-key and the right mousebutton in empty albums.
- Fix: Conditions that could lead to a crash with Core Image filters are now handled correctly.
- Fix: The interpretation of EXIF dates was corrected so it now reflects the local time of the shoot, not GMT.
- Fix: Clicking on "Page setup" inside the printing dialog could render the current Picture Arena project window unusable.
A look behind the scenes
Since the previous release of Picture Arena in May a lot has happened. That is, significantly more than is visible in version 1.3.5. More than 35.000 lines of new sourcecode to date have been written for a new framework that will lay the foundation for upcoming versions of Picture Arena. With the release of version 1.3.5, work has now begun on switching over Picture Arena to the new framework step by step. Stay tuned!
Wanted: RAW files
In order to further improve the RAW capabilities of Picture Arena, we are still looking for test material of as many different cameras as possible. If you want to help us further, you are invited to send us an email with the name of your camera(s) to raw-cameras@iospirit.com. We will then check, if we already have sample files for that camera and, in case we don't have any, come back to you with a link for uploading test files via your browser. Many thanks in advance for your support!
Availability
Picture Arena 1.3.5 is immediately available for MacOS® X 10.3 ("Panther") and higher at an introductory price of 24,90 € (approximately 30 US dollar). The price will presumably be raised to 29,90 € later. All updates until the release of version 2.0 are free for purchasers of version 1.x. A trial version can be downloaded at http://www.picturearena.com/. The only functional limitations are a demo-watermark in every saved file and the limitation of the trial period to 14 days. Picture Arena is fully localized in English and German. The user interface is also available in French.
About Picture Arena
Picture Arena is the new center of your imaging world. Browse your directories, rework your photos on the fly, manage them in albums, reuse your existing iPhoto™ albums, make a speech-driven presentation, work independent of any network and put your digital treasures to use in many new ways. Full of innovations and super fast, Picture Arena lets you create stunning web galleries with eCards and interactive databases without any expert knowledge and just a few clicks, burns up to 9200 pictures on a single CD for convenient viewing on a DVD player, prints contact sheets, letter paper, greeting cards and much more. Taking full advantage of the advanced processor power of the Mac®, you can combine more than 20 amazing effects and operations to dive your photos into vibrant colors, correct skew horizons, add fun effects or create a picture mosaic with your photos being rebuilt by thousands of others. Effects are generally non-destructive and are performed without modifying your original files. Powerful batch operations for renaming (with undo!), reworking, exporting, file format conversion, a compact, thoughtfully designed interface and a great number of smart tools round up this unique and incredibly useful software package that no graphician should live without.
About the IOSPIRIT GmbH
The IOSPIRIT GmbH has been founded in 2004 by Felix Schwarz with the aim of developing high-quality software for the Mac® - low-priced, so everybody can enjoy it.
A special focus during development lies on the latest technologies in MacOS® X, their innovative use, own innovations and industry novelties - far away from outworn paths.
At the same time the IOSPIRIT GmbH is its own distributor. The platform used therefore is an internal development - tailored to the needs of the market - and therefore allows efficient and fast processing of incoming orders and queries.
The IOSPIRIT GmbH is based in Nuremberg, Germany.
For more information, please contact:
IOSPIRIT GmbH, Felix Schwarz, CEO
Phone: +49 911 3677423
Email: Contact
A presskit with screenshots and logos is available here: