LazView

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smaragdus
Posts: 2120
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 3:24 am
Location: Aeaea

LazView

#1 Post by smaragdus »

Preamble
About 2 months ago I came across an image viewer (LazView) which was in early phase of development (alpha), it had bugs, it lacked features but I saw that the program had potential so I started testing it and sending feedback to the developer- Reinier Romero Mir. After testing 7 early versions now I can say that the program has improved a lot- the developer has fixed many bugs and has implemented many of my suggestions. While still being beta LazView has already become relatively stable and it can be used on a regular basis. It is a simple image viewer yet it has most of the features I need. More- it is cross platform, open source and portable, it supports Exif and handles animated images (both GIF and PNG) right.

Synopsis
LazView is a simple image viewer written in FreePascal and Lazarus IDE.
Features
  • Support for common graphic formats;
  • Support for animated images (GIF and PNG);
  • Basic image manipulation (rotate, resize, effects);
  • Thumbnail panel (with customizable thumbnail size);
  • Exif support (automatic rotation, Exif information);
  • Full screen;
  • Always on top;
  • Slide show;
  • Zoom;
  • Compact mode;
  • Context menu;
  • File browser;
  • Shortcut keys;
  • Special buttons for animated images;
  • Print support;
  • Multilingual (currently available in English and Spanish);
  • Cross platform (available for Windows and Linux);
Links Downloads
Direct download links for LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - 0.1.0.2895 (released on 2018-10-22): Images

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - program window (static image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - menu bar (animated image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - file browser (static image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - context menu (animated image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - context menu - effects (static image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - compact mode (static image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - playing animated PNG file (animated image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - playing animated PNG file (animated image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - playing animated PNG file (animated image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - playing animated PNG file (animated image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - effects (static image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - exif (static image):

Image

LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - about (static image):

Image

Portability
LazView supports portable mode- before runnung the program an empty INI file (lazview.ini) should be created in program folder, otherwise it will be saved in AppData (C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\LazView\lazview.ini).

Instructions
  • Download either x32 version (LazView_win32.zip) or x64 version (LazView_win64.zip) of the program;
  • Extract the archive to a folder of your choice;
  • Create an empty lazview.ini file in program folder;
  • Run the executable (lazview.exe);
Requirements
I presume that the program should run under Windows XP or higher.

License
LazView is licensed under GNU General Public License v2.0.

Note
  • LazView is written in Free Pascal.
  • LazView is small- the x32 version is 1.68 MB comprssed and 3.69 MB uncompressed, the x64 version is 1.94 MB compressed and 5.01 MB uncompressed.
  • The memory usage may vary vastly depending on the number of images inside the browsed folder.
  • The developer- Reinier Romero Mir, is open to suggestions.
  • The developer- Reinier Romero Mir, is the author of AWGG download manager, which has already been reviewed in the forum.
Alternatives
A couple of programs with similar functionality:
Details
File details for LazView version 0.1.0.2894 - 0.1.0.2895 (released on 2018-10-22):

==

x32 version (0.1.0.2895):
Name: LazView_win32.zip
File Size: 1767899 Byte(s) (1.69 MB)
Modified Date: 2018-10-22 19:28
MD5: d46e4557692fc9c8cf8382994ae8a0b1
SHA1: 4b18c7272fe8dc39b4ee0745fb524046f74d672c
SHA256: 965252a5349e14527fc962690177557a7b035b5712fa92c1ece950fec640343c
SHA384: b1bcedbaebb531b37ef1b87098627b24775ada6817d0fc337cc5c7cb7f9563576937d26807b82fe82bc9dfc4906da57a
SHA512: 571cd0c095341c07afd416e371b451ff7b45ab4dc00df35985aa38bdc7fe9837fa1bd9bd1eb1fae4af7e7cbe9a8a53d8f7abb1c40da9e9d9f6125f9ab0f5188d
RIPEMD160: 84462d9a48e0fc4583d7a2b11ec589a6226b070a

==

x64 version (0.1.0.2894):
Name: LazView_win64.zip
File Size: 2044361 Byte(s) (1.95 MB)
Modified Date: 2018-10-22 19:21
MD5: 2804646d1f59985a27a500e6c1932df7
SHA1: fbdd684692661690e2f63736c2118d3d1bbc2759
SHA256: 0e0bd36fd6fefb2f43351a5828c78e374f53ac75a1aebf55f2df1a9fb73e19eb
SHA384: 45fdc0606d2b2bade4859227c64c22466d5b1f8fd96bf9a185968414351347b0a580212017b757d07cc18fd588d810bd
SHA512: c919a49f33670f1e153757136474c3a79b1bd01ba1f16b44317904f39eff558de2a5e8c3be0399881d07141586fe567ca2a3dbb9abdd6edc9835daa0934649ff
RIPEMD160: 350796275e3f9f7d30e75992d575f349787e8184

==

User avatar
smaragdus
Posts: 2120
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 3:24 am
Location: Aeaea

Re: LazView 0.1.0.2987

#2 Post by smaragdus »

LazView version 0.1.0.2987 was released today (2018-10-26)- it comes with stability improvements, less memory usage, smoother switch from compact mode no normal mode and unified version for x32 and x64 builds. New versions come almost daily so I find it hard to test all these betas but I can say that the program has significantly improved in relatively short time.

The developer sent me the list of the currently supported image formats (as of version 0.1.0.2987):
'.JPG','.JPEG','.JPE','.JFIF','.BMP','.GIF','.PNG','.APNG','.ICO','.XPM','.PBM','.PPM','.ICNS','.CUR','.TIF','.TIFF','.PCX','.TGA','.PSD','.XWD'

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webfork
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Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:06 pm
Location: US, Texas
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Re: LazView

#3 Post by webfork »

Good suggestion. Given the cross-platform nature of the program, I'm really impressed. The navigation panes are solid and the animation tools seem to work great.

A few notes:

* The zoom function is a little odd (always fades into the top left corner or expands from there)
* Some of the effects really need additional configuration settings
* No undo functionality for effects
* Uses a fair amount of RAM for an image viewer (161 megs on my system)
* No crop functionality (I frequently crop images so this is a key thing)

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smaragdus
Posts: 2120
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 3:24 am
Location: Aeaea

Re: LazView 0.1.0.3000

#4 Post by smaragdus »

LazView at version 0.1.0.3000 (released on 2018-10-27), I don't have access to the full change log but I am certain of one change- shortcut keys focus issues in image panel and directory panel ('Tree view') have been resolved.

@webfork
I don't expect an image viewer to be also an image editor but I agree that some basic image manipulation capabilities (including 'Crop') can be handy. I resent your notes to the developer but of course you can contact him directly.

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zorro
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Location: Hamburg, Germany

Re: LazView 0.1.0.3000

#5 Post by zorro »

smaragdus wrote: Thu Nov 01, 2018 9:13 am ...

@webfork
I don't expect an image viewer to be also an image editor but I agree that some basic image manipulation capabilities (including 'Crop') can be handy. I resent your notes to the developer but of course you can contact him directly.
There's one thing (for me!), that sets apart productive image viewers from pointless ones: yes, viewing images - and quickly shrinking/cropping them to web-size. But if you shrink a full-size image (e.g. 16MP), you need to sharpen the result a little bit. Traditional sharpening methods apply to the whole image uniformly - that's not optimal, although better than no sharpening at all. The really useful function is "unsharp mask".

Most image viewers I tested over the years don't offer sharpening. Then there are some with traditional sharpening methods (XnView) ... and the really mature ones, that offer unsharp masking (IrfanView, FSViewer).

So THIS is for me (and many other photographers I know) the small killer-feature. Would be nice to see LazView implementing it :mrgreen:

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smaragdus
Posts: 2120
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 3:24 am
Location: Aeaea

Re: LazView

#6 Post by smaragdus »

@zorro
It seems that we have different needs. I am not a photographer (just a hobbyist) and I am used to use image viewer only for viewing pictures, for editing I prefer dedicated tools. Since I work a lot with animated images for me good support for animated GIF and PNG files (previous/next frame, play/pause animation, etc) is essential. My requirements are rather basic, they include good metadata support, viewing of images inside archives, handy navigation, favourite folders, copying of image content, file browser may also be useful. I prefer FastStone Image Viewer (by the way the recent versions are too bloated for my taste) over XnView and XnView over XnViewMP (I found the latter extremely heavy), I never managed to like IrfanView. My favourite is more than 11 years old version of FastStone MaxView- 2.1, it is not even the last free version but I prefer it because of its auto-hiding menus, if this feature persisted in the commercial versions I would have purchased it long ago and I never dared ask how much a custom version might cost. LazView is a new project and it still needs some polishing and some more features to be added but I find it rather promising. If you need a certain feature please contact the developer directly (his mail can be found in 'About' window)- I cannot be a mediator between the users of this forum and the developer of LazView.

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zorro
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Location: Hamburg, Germany

Re: LazView

#7 Post by zorro »

smaragdus, as I wrote - for photographers (like me) the sharpening function is vital. You have other needs - and another group of users perhaps wants to quickly add geocoordinates or tag his pictures.
Coding an image viewer that fits nearly all needs results in something like PhotoFiltre or...
So you're right: an image viewer should be a viewer :mrgreen:
The thing is: support for animated image formats, metadata support, archive support etc. are widely given - the sharpening function seems so underrated that even the majority of free editors doesn't offer it.
Of course my suggestion was not meant for you to act as mediator :wink: I'll contact the developer.

And generally: there's a good reason why most power users deal with more than one image viewer - "the one" (fast, lightweight, all functions you happen to need after years of managing photos) still has to be developed :mrgreen:
By the way - I know a lot of people who never got comfortable with IrfanView (like you), although all needs are covered. Even with software, there's more than just functions...

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smaragdus
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Location: Aeaea

Re: LazView 0.1.0.3453

#8 Post by smaragdus »

LazView at version 0.1.0.3453 (released on 2018-11-21), most notable changes include:
  • Crop;
  • Undo/Redo;
  • Add option menu to autorotate with EXIF;
  • Start to implement resize selection tool;
  • The animation speed now keep for saveng in GIF/APNG;
  • Fix show thumb for TIF file type;
  • Fix GIF/APNG conversions;
Also memory usage has been reduced significantly. I still test the new releases of LazView and the improvements are significant yet there is what to be desired.

The developer would appreciate if someone can help with creating new icon for LazView. If there are graphic designers who would like to create an icon for the program please post here.

@zorro
About IrfanView- I appreciate that the developer has been maintaining the program for so long. I am biased against the program and one of the reasons is the icon which I find unsightly and sinister.

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__philippe
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Re: LazView 0.1.0.3453

#9 Post by __philippe »

smaragdus wrote: Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:15 pm ...I am biased against the program and one of the reasons is the icon which I find unsightly and sinister.
Beauty perception diversity, hydralike, does indeed lie in the eye of the beholder... :wink:

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Midas
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Re: LazView

#10 Post by Midas »

zorro wrote: I know a lot of people who never got comfortable with IrfanView (like you), although all needs are covered.
You can add me to the list... :roll:

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