Compupic Pro - A good Windows 7 alternative?

[jhluxton]

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For years I have used Photodex Compupic Pro as a viewer, for batch file renaming, resizing and text stamping of digital images prior to upload.

 

This week I have just taken delivery of a Windows 7 PC which is not compatible with Compupic in its graphics function. The batch file rename appears to still work.

 

I am not surprised by this incompatibility as Compupic is a very old piece of software - last updated 7 yeas ago. Unfortunately Photodex do not appear to have a modern equivelent. I did download their current slide show software some time ago and noticed that it does not have these batch processing functions.

 

I have used Photoshop Elements 5 on the previous PC and just downloaded PaintShop Pro x3 but neither of these offer all of what I require.

 

Basically what I need is some software where I can batch process a large number of graphics files resizing, text stamping, file renaming with a few mouse clicks.

 

Does anyone know if there is something out there that is W7 compatible and which does what Compupic used to do so well?

 

Thanks - John

Edited April 3, 2010 by jhluxton
corrections

[pop]

I'd suggest a look at IrfanView

 

IrfanView - Official Homepage - one of the most popular viewers worldwide

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[integrale]

I'm currently trying out Lightroom 3, available as a free second beta version for download on adobe.com.

 

I'm VERY pleased with the workflow and the light adjustment tools available in LR3; especially noise reduction, which is - simply put - outstanding.

[fotoism]

+1.

Supports DNG among other things, and the price is right - it's free.

[S. Wong]

Give faststone a look. I use it for batch conversion from raw to jpg, resizing resolution, and renaming based on what the camera's metadata is.

 

Very convenient for many tasks, and free.

 

-Steven

[pop]

price is right - it's free.

 

OTOH, if you feel it can't be worth anything if it does not cost anything, you can donate an arbitrary sum.

[jhluxton]

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Thanks for the suggestion - I will take a look

John

[jhluxton]

Looks a pretty good peice of software but unless I am missing something the add text function does not appear to operate when running batches of files for processin.

 

John

[S. Wong]

What batch text are you trying to add?

I could try to duplicate it as well, to see if I can figure it out.

I don't watermark my photos/images, nor add test to the EXIF metadata, so I'm not sure on that part.

 

If you're trying to add something else, please let me know.

 

Thanks,

-Steven

[jhluxton]

What batch text are you trying to add?

I could try to duplicate it as well, to see if I can figure it out.

If you're trying to add something else, please let me know.

Thanks,

-Steven

 

 

Hi Steve

 

Just trying to add copyright info. Used to stamp my name copyright symbol and sometime email address.

 

John

[S. Wong]

John,

I found it under the batch convert -> advanced options -> watermark options

 

This website will walk you through the steps.

http://www.techmalaya.com/2008/03/03/batch-watermark-photos-digital/

[jhluxton]

Thanks Steve for suggestion , been away for a few days and come back with lots of photos taken across three differnt Leicas!

 

Now unfortuntely I have discovered another problem with Irfanview when I first tried it out for renaming.

 

Apparently when the files are renamed they appear to be outputted again and re-written and dated / timed.

 

Compupic used to just rename without changing the time / date stamp - I don't think Irfanview can do this.

 

What I am still looking for is a piece of software which will display thumbnails of images which can be sorted against the time and date stamp by a mouse click to put them into chronological order then just perform a rename thus files carry sequential names in chronological order and which does not actually rewrite the file.

 

This used to be ever so easy and quick for Compupic.

 

At present it looks as though I am going to put all my pictures onto an external HD load them into the old Windows XP computer which runs Compupic perform the file name changes and then copy them mback onto the new Windows 7 machine!

 

Not really what I have in mind!

 

So I am really still looking for something which works like Compupic with just a few mouse clicks - there must be something like that out there?

 

Any suggestions anyone?

 

John

Edited April 25, 2010 by jhluxton

[remnett]

In an attempt to keep using Compupic Pro with Windows 7 I installed XP Virtual into Windows 7 and Compupic seems to run fine. The only problem I have is that CompuPic does not pick up my mapped network drives. I can see the drives from XP Virtual but they do not appear in Compupic. I store all my pictures on my home pc and connect via LogMeIn Hamachi. Not sure why this is happening but still working on a solution. Any ideas?

[sfeldner]

...Windows 7 PC which is not compatible with Compupic...

John, I too have been using Compupic Pro for years now and have been unable to find a suitable replacement but don't despair! CPic DOES work with Win7. Go into preferences and disable the use of "Direct Draw" (Preferences>Miscellaneous>Direct Draw Support) and increase the Maximum Memory settings (Preferences>Memory>Bitmap Memory & ...Thumbnail Memory). I just kinda increased them by double or more... I don't think the memory settings make CPic compatible with Win7 as much as they make it compatible with larger photo files (higher resolution).

[jennsdad]

John, I too have been using Compupic Pro for years now and have been unable to find a suitable replacement but don't despair! CPic DOES work with Win7. Go into preferences and disable the use of "Direct Draw" (Preferences>Miscellaneous>Direct Draw Support) and increase the Maximum Memory settings (Preferences>Memory>Bitmap Memory & ...Thumbnail Memory). I just kinda increased them by double or more... I don't think the memory settings make CPic compatible with Win7 as much as they make it compatible with larger photo files (higher resolution).

 

Thank you all for posting on this thread. I had to join to suggest an alternative solution that worked for me, using CompuPic Pro in Windows 7. I had used Windows XP until a month ago, I have been using Compupic Pro for at least 5 years and had the same problem getting it to even start in Windows 7. Seeing this spirited discussion encouraged me to keep looking for a way to make it work, and in the last couple of hours made it work.

Here is the secret.

Microsoft site Article ID: MSW700014

http://windows.microsoft.com/is-IS/windows7/Open-the-Program-Compatibility-troubleshooter

 

Fiddling with the results not only made CP Pro work, but I actually tried a batch conversion and it worked as expected. I also did the basic rotation, red eye, etc and everything worked.

I had some minor glitches which I suspect is a combination of my old (5-yr old) video card and only 2 Gb of Ram. Will upgrade to 4Gb soon. Only because the motherboard allows it.

I am just happy I can continue using my trusty old Compupic Pro.

My old desktop here is running a Pentium 4 3.00 GHz.

 

I apologize if the formatting you see is not what I intended. I am not familiar with this type of software and the posting details. I am off to do some more testing..

Good luck.

[remnett]

I was able to get Compupic to work on my Laptop running Win 7 Pro 64 Bit however when I tried to install it on my Mac Mini 2011 with Win7 under Parallels Desktop 7 I get a Visual C++ Runtime error. Any ideas?

[cbretteville]

Possibly you're missing some of the runtime files that needs to be there. There should be an error code in the barf that Windows coughs up. What is it?

Carl

[sheikhrafiq79]

go for mac only.

[Bipdehone]

John, I too have been using Compupic Pro for years now and have been unable to find a suitable replacement but don't despair! CPic DOES work with Win7. Go into preferences and disable the use of "Direct Draw" (Preferences>Miscellaneous>Direct Draw Support) and increase the Maximum Memory settings (Preferences>Memory>Bitmap Memory & ...Thumbnail Memory). I just kinda increased them by double or more... I don't think the memory settings make CPic compatible with Win7 as much as they make it compatible with larger photo files (higher resolution).

 

As a fellow CPicPro user, I am very grateful for your clear and useful advice. It now works completely under Windows 7. The memory settings that you have shared don't appear to have a maximum limit, so this should give CPP v6.23 many more years of use to come!

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[rfitzva]

I have had Compupic since it was new.   It appears that they no longer have the source code and or the programmer.

It appears that it may have a hard coded buffer for the screen image.  When I moved to a 1920x1080 display I started getting garbled displays,.

I just reinstalled it today. I have often used the feature that lets it find all pictures from all directories. I have either forgotten how, or a new bug has appeared. That plus its remarkable speed made it ideal for finding a missing picture.  xxcopy can be useful for copying all pictures from a drive and combining into a single directory names including directory path.