Aurigma Inc. announces an anniversary version of Graphics Mill for .NET, the popular SDK for the developers of image processing solutions.
Version 5.0 marks a new milestone in the product life cycle: Graphics Mill is now offered in two flavors, Standard and Pro. This allows the developers to choose the optimal tool for precisely addressing the goals in an economically efficient manner.
Standard vs. Pro
Now the developers of basic imaging solutions do not need to pay for expert Pro version functionality, having the Standard package contain all necessary imaging features. Normally, Standard version proves sufficient for such solutions as image editing web applications, image viewers, photo galleries and catalogs, etc.
More demanding customers, however, would rather choose to buy the Pro version that includes all the expert features needed to develop such serious products as preprint preparation solutions, document management systems, satellite photo processing applications, etc. Graphics Mill Pro has native support for x64 platforms that allows for addressing more than 2 gigabytes of RAM per process for imaging needs.
Also the Pro version has enhanced support for multi-processor and multi-core systems, detecting the amount of CPUs/cores and accordingly optimizing imaging computations.
Other prominent Graphics Mill Pro features include support for Adobe Color Management Module and 16 bits per channel for images, real-time color space conversion, etc.
Graphics Mill code is native .NET (ASP.NET) which delivers valuable advantages for the developer.
One of the greatest improvements in version 5.0 is the introduction of Red-Eye Removal Add-on into Graphics Mill SDK. Therefore, there is no need now to purchase this add-on separately from Graphics Mill. Now the Graphics Mill SDK includes everything necessary to develop photo imaging solutions, including red-eye removal tool. Red-Eye Removal Add-on makes the entire process as easy as possible: it features a unique semi-automatic mode that only requires selecting the necessary face – and the natural eye tint is automatically restored. The process is split up into steps and features undo operation.
Other add-ons are included into Graphics Mill, depending on the package type: AVI Processor and Media Processor are available both with Graphics Mill Standard and Graphics Mill Pro, while Advanced PSD Add-on is only limited to Graphics Mill Pro.
Advanced PSD Add-on.
There is no doubt PSD format is immensely popular with artists engaged in graphic and web design. Very often a customer gets the final result (and sometimes even the mockups) in a PSD file. This allows for making minor changes without resorting to the designer expertise. However, sometimes there is a pressing need to streamline PSD file processing, inserting some custom content on-the-fly. The most typical example of such usage can be an online business card editor.
Objective: generate a business card from the person's name and position input via a web form. Assets: business card PSD template that includes text and raster layers as well as the person name and position (and possibly a photo).
Solution: Advanced PSD Add-on reads the template and merges PSD graphics with custom personal data such as name and position (as rasterized text), personal photo, etc. The data can be input through a web form or be retrieved from a database – at developer discretion. The final image can be saved into a file for further printing.
More complex examples include discount cards, brochures and booklets with custom regional and cultural data, etc.
AVI Processor Add-on and Media Processor Add-on.
The advent of broadband connections brought video processing online. AVI Processor Add-on allows for AVI format manipulation: retrieving frames and soundtracks and saving them to files, adding frames and soundtracks from files and much more.
Providing metadata processing and multimedia format support, Media Processor Add-on makes a handy addition to AVI Processor.
Imaging Controls
To fully reveal Graphics Mill potential in web and desktop applications, a WinForms control set and an AJAX control set for ASP.NET 2.0 are included into the SDK.
WinForms controls include multilayer controls, containers for manipulating vector and raster objects, zoom and pan controls, thumbnail view control and many more.
AJAX controls for ASP.NET 2.0 are specifically intended for providing smooth online image editing experience even for slow Internet connections.
Graphics Mill is a comprehensive development tool for building imaging solutions of varying complexity. A more detailed Graphics Mill feature list is well beyond the limits of this brief article, while a complete understanding of Graphics Mill capabilities can be achieved by reading the extensive SDK documentation.