The Beta 1 Build of PNGOUTWin is now available at http://www.pngoutwin.com
PNGOUTWin is a batch mode UI for PNGOUT.
I would like to invite the forum members here to participate in the beta.
If you have the time and interest, then please send feedback to customer-service at ardfry dot com. This contact address is also available on the ardfry.com contact page.
Ken and I hope to release a Beta 2 build in a few weeks that will add the ability to perform multiple trials (that is, to specify different parameter sets and perform the cross product of these parameters to find the best result).
In addition, we'd like to include features that come up in the beta that can realistically fit into the schedule and will benefit the greatest number of user scenarios. It may help your case for your feature if you provide extra detail, such as the business problem you are trying to solve: PNGOUT is popular in areas from mobile development to web site images to correcting problems with other graphics applications that don't support PNG as well as they might. Sometimes a feature request can come in with very little detail and it is hard to judge what impact, big or small, it might have.
After we release Beta 2, we probably won't be able to consider any new features until a later release, so take the time in the next week or two to evaluate PNGOUTWin if you can.
David Blake
Ardfry Imaging, LLC
http://www.ardfry.com
Awesoken at
Yes, it's true! I have been working with David for the last few months on putting together a more user-friendly version of PNGOUT. I wanted to try something commercial for a change. : ) PNGOUTWin will include some new compression strategies that may result in even smaller PNG files than the command line version. This is good news for any of you die-hard fans.
Martin at
I'd like to give it a try, but I don't like installers. Would you mind releasing a version in an archive (Zip or 7-Zip or something ...)?
Will PNGOUTWin cost something even for personal use? If so, I hope the command line version won't fall behind much in compression.
David at
RE: Installers, Pricing
Martin said
I'd like to give it a try, but I don't like installers. Would you mind releasing a version in an archive (Zip or 7-Zip or something ...)?
Will PNGOUTWin cost something even for personal use? If so, I hope the command line version won't fall behind much in compression.
Thank you for your interest in PNGOUTWin.
I will put up a .ZIP this evening.
There are no current plans to drop support for the DOS version of PNGOUT. It will continue to be free. There may be differences between PNGOUTWin and PNGOUT, but we're not sunsetting PNGOUT.EXE.
Final pricing for PNGOUTWin has not been set. The model we are planning to go with will have two tiers, one for personal use and one for commercial/corporate use.
Martin at
PNGOUTWin Beta 1 Invitation
Thanks :) What does "smart" priority do?
An entry like "all supported image types" in the dropdown list in the files/folder selection window would be useful :)
And when I double-click the slider in the column title bar (how is that called?), after "Path", the "Path" column bar does not expand to the longest path as I'd expect it, but rather it shrinks a few pixels.
Edited at
David at
RE: Smart Priority
Martin said
Thanks :) What does "smart" priority do?
Smart priority sets the priority of the worker threads to BACKGROUND when the app is minimized, and sets the priority back to NORMAL when the app is restored.
I'll post a link to the help file as a separate download as well.
Martin at
PNGOUTWin Beta 1 Invitation
A context menu with "Open file" and "Open containing folder" would be nice :) And I'd prefer to select the whole line instead of only the job number. But it's a nice and clean interface, though :) Maybe you could add a button or a context menu entry to clear the already processed jobs.
The achieved compression is mixed. While I was able to increase the compression on some files, some files got bigger.
This image: http://imagehosting.hostrave.com/uploads/8f3cd2345b.png was increased in size by 40 %, using "Xtreme" compression (it was compressed using PNGOUT before, with disabled filters).
Additionally, it would be nice if the previously chosen image type keeps selected when I open the open files/folder dialogue again.
Awesoken at
Martin, I studied your image. With /f0 /b0, "Xtreme" does in fact beat the original file size by a few hundred bytes. Unfortunately, PNGOUTWin has the settings dialog disabled and it is defaulting to /f5 /b256. This will have to be fixed for the next release.
David at
Multiple Trials Planned for Beta 2
Awesoken said
Martin, I studied your image. With /f0 /b0, "Xtreme" does in fact beat the original file size by a few hundred bytes. Unfortunately, PNGOUTWin has the settings dialog disabled and it is defaulting to /f5 /b256. This will have to be fixed for the next release.
Martin, Ken's right, the comparison right now is apples and oranges. Beta 2's Multiple Trials dialog box should give you the control you need to do a fair comparison of the algorithms. Beta two is planned for two to three weeks from Beta 1.