ChromaPIX Tips List
Last changed 4-APR-98
1/ Fast Text Entry.
When you open the painter text input dialog box you will
notice that the text in the first line is already selected. If
you just start typing, the new text that you enter will replace
the currently selected text string. Pressing the 'tab' key will
move you to the next line and also select the text on that line.
When you start typing again you will once again replace the old
text with the new. Use the tab key at the end of each line to
proceed to the next. To remove a line of text just press the
'delete' key while the text line is still selected.
2/ Selective Noise Removal.
If a few lines of the received image are suffering from QRM
or other 'noise', you can filter only those line by drawing a
selection rectangle with the right mouse buton around the area
containing the noise and then applying a noise reduction filter.
3/ Fast Directory Change.
Change the directory that a thumbnail tray points to be
double clicking on the tab label below the thumbnails.
4/ Use WWV for 'Slant Calibration'.
You can set the slope (sampling clock) of the SSTV engine
very accuratly by selecting the 'WWV' mode from the SSTV mode
popup and then tuning to WWV as a SSB signal. Start receiving
manually, then adjust the 'tone' so that the 1 second 'clicks'
show up as marks on the received image. Adjust the image slope
control until the marks form perfectly vertical lines. Some
'tick' signals are easier to tune than others so try again at
different times during the hour. This method is much more
accurate than adjusting over the air to another SSTV station.
Once set, the slope adjust should not have to be changed unless
you change sound cards. ( This adjustment corrects for crystal
frequency errors on the sound card ).
5/ Where do the 'Autosaved' images go?
When you have the 'autosave' button activated (red), every
received image will automatically be saved in a folder called
'Autosave' which is located in the same directory that you
installed ChromaPIX into (typically C:\Program Files\Silicon
Pixels\CPIX ). It is often handy to leave one of the image
tray tabs set to the autosave directory so that you can easily
review any images received while you were 'out of the shack'.
6/ What exactly are thumbnails?
Thumbnails are stored as very small bitmap image files in the
same directory that the actual image is located. When you load a
new image into ChromaPix a thumbnail image will automatically be
generated and saved with the image file. The thumbnail will also
now appear in the image tray. When you save an image in ChromaPix
a thumbnail is also automatically generated. When you delete an
image in ChromaPix the thumbnail will also be deleted. If you
change an image tray to a directory that contails some images
that do not have thumbnail images you will see a 'default'
thumbnail in the image tray (no preview) which acts as a
placeholder so that you can still grab the image to load it. If
you have a lard number if images with no thumbnails in a
directory an easy way to generate the the thumbnails is to select
the slide show button. As the images are loaded by the slideshow,
thumbnails will be generated. Thumbnail files have the same name
as the image file but always end with an extention of .PRE
(preview).
7/ Smooth Those Painter Fonts.
If you have Microsoft Plus installed with Windows 95 and
select 'Smooth Screen Fonts' on the 'plus' tab of the Display
control panel, Windows will automatically anti-alias text drawn
when in ChromaPix. Anti-aliased texts looks much smoother and
produces more readable text especially at small font sizes.
8/ Do you use the 'Big 4' keyboard
shorkuts?
Rather than grabbing the mouse when you want to transmit or
receive try using the handy keyboard shortcuts for the 'big 4'
buttons. These are 'S' -Standby, 'A' -Auto Receive, 'R' -Receive,
and 'T' -Transmit.
9/ How to use full duplex to test SSTV
modes.
If your sound card driver supports full duplex operation you
can make use of this in ChromaPix to test the picture quality of
the different SSTV modes. Simply connect an audio jumper cable
from the line output to the line input on the back of your sound
card, place the 'active' SSTV front panel into 'Auto Rx' mode and
then press the Duplex Tx button on the other (non-active) front
panel. The second panel will then transmit through the sound
card, out the line out and back into the line input. The active
front panel will then receive the image using the input channel
of the sound card.
10/ Saving Part of an Image.
To save just a portion of an image, first make a selection
rectangle with the right mouse button. Then drag the selected
area with the left mouse button onto the current thumbnail tray.
To load a small image just make sure that the 'live positioning'
load effects button is down before dragging the thumbnail to the
main image window. With the 'live positioning' button active the
image will not be scaled and can easily be positioned anywher in
the current image area.
(c) 1997-99 Silicon Pixels