TuFuse Pro Readme *****Introduction***** TuFuse Pro is a Windows "Image Fusion" program that can be used to create extended depth of field ("focus blended") images, extended exposure range ("exposure blended") images, and other types of composite images. TuFuse uses a technique known as Image Fusion to combine the "best" (e.g. best exposed and/or best focused and/or most saturated, etc.) regions of multiple images into a single "fused" composite image. TuFuse Pro acts as a "Graphical User Interface" (GUI) for the command line program TuFuse. TuFuse Pro also adds a number of features and capabilities that are not available in TuFuse. TuFuse is packaged with, distributed with, and installed with TuFuse Pro, so you do not need to download TuFuse separately in order to use TuFuse Pro. Both TuFuse Pro and TuFuse are created and distributed by Tawbaware software: http://www.tawbaware.com *****Version Changes***** Version 0.9.6 (July 26 2008) Feature: Added option to assign each group of images a unique batch ID as the images are added to the GUI. Bug Fix: Fixed incorrect preview display of RAW images with dimensions that are not evenly divisible. Version 0.9.5 (July 16 2008) Feature: Complete documentation is now distributed with TuFuse Pro. Feature: Added highlight/shadow preservation during focus blending. Feature: Added option to perform processing in RGB or YCbCr color space. Feature: TuFuse Pro expects DCRaw to be located in the same directory. Previous versions of TuFuse Pro would try to use any version of DCRaw located anywhere on the system path, but this caused confusion for many users. The "help -> configuration information" dialog has been updated to show the expected location of DCRaw.exe, and whether or not it is installed. Note also that some versions of DCRaw may not work correctly on Windows Vista: http://www.insflug.org/raw/article/39/dcraw-build-883-built-with-microsoft-compiler-update Bug Fix: Changed syntax used by TuFuse when invoking DCRaw to try and eliminate problems with paths that include spaces. Version 0.9.4 (April 25 2008) Feature: Added noise reduction capabilities (mainly, but not exclusively) useful for reducing noise introduced by focus blending. Feature: Added focus blending options, including ability to perform exposure blending on upper levels of fusion pyramid. These options are specific to focus blending, and can only be accessed in "Auto blend" or "Focus blend" modes. Feature: Added progress bar indicator on main screen. Feature: Several minor user interface features/fixes. Bug fix: Corrected exposure weight curve creation problem that caused overly dark results for images with black pixels. Bug fix: Corrected problem handling identically named images stored in different directories. Bug fix: Fixed settings that got "lost" when program was closed Version 0.9.3 (April 11 2008) Feature: Added ability to save and load settings. Feature: Added display of x/y offsets in GUI. Feature: Added new laplacian combination mode (Hybrid), optimized for focus blending. Feature: Added ability to accept 1 channel greyscale images (alpha channel unsupported, output is still 4 channel RGB image). Feature: Added DCRaw option to create half size image during preview Bug Fix: Corrected problem on systems that use "," as decimal separator. Version 0.9.2 (April 5 2008) Feature: Added history capabilty to preview window, and toggle between "previous"/"next" previews. Feature: Added Help|Configuration Information menu item. Feature: Added ability to remember last used input image directory when starting TuFuse Pro. Buf Fix: Corrected "unable to generate preview" errors in 4 channel images with non-identical alpha channels and zero weights. Version 0.9.1 (April 1 2008) Buf Fix: Corrected full-size preview when using 16 bit TIFF images. Version 0.9.0 (March 2008) Initial release. Beta version. *****Program Status***** TuFuse Pro is released as shareware, meaning you are expected to pay a small fee to "register" it. The program will operate without registration but, will print a series of small watermarks on images that it produces until it has been registered. You can register TuFuse Pro on-line using the Kagi payment processing service: http://order.kagi.com/?R8U *****Troubleshooting Tips***** If you get an error when trying to start TuFuse Pro, you may not have the latest Visual Basic files. You can get the Visual Basic runtime files here: http://www.tawbaware.com/vb6tawba.htm. If you think you've found a bug, please feel free to report it. However, please be as specific as possible about what steps you followed to encounter the problem, the exact text of any error messages you might have seen, and what steps I should take to recreate the problem. If I can recreate the problem on my machine I have an excellent chance of fixing it. If I can't recreate it, I have very little chance of figuring out what might have gone wrong on your machine. *****Disclaimer***** Your use of this software constitutes your agreement to the following terms: TawbaWare (http://www.tawbaware.com/) and the author take no responsibility for any damages caused by this program. TuFuse Pro is provided 'as is' without warranty of any kind. Use them at your own risk. I disclaim all warranties, either express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall I be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages. Whew! Use at your own risk and enjoy! Max Lyons tawbaware@kagi.com