GeoSetter is a freeware tool for Windows for showing and changing geo data of image files (e.g. images taken by digital cameras). It is a very powerful and easy to use tool for adding all sorts of metadata to your digital images. It is the next step to the earlier Exifer program, also developed by Friedemann Schmidt.

Features Include:

• Reads and writes the formats JPEG and TIFF as well as camera RAW formats DNG (Adobe), CRW and CR2 (Canon), NEF (Nikon), MRW (Konica Minolta), PEF (Pentax), ORF (Olympus), ARW, SR2, SRF (Sony) and RAF (Fujifilm)
• Uses ExifTool from Phil Harvey for writing data
• Shows existing geo coordinates and tracks on embedded Google Maps map (requires internet connection)
• Setting geo data by using embedded Google Maps map (requires internet connection) or by entering known values for coordinates and altitude directly
• Automatic filling of location IPTC fields and altitude values (requires internet connection)
• Editable IPTC data (IPTC-NAA/XMP)
• Possibility to change taken date of images
• Synchronization with track files (NMEA, GPX, PLT, Sony LOG and others)
• Synchronization with already geo tagged images with buddy images (e.g. between RAW images and their corresponding JPEG images)
• Localizable user interface – English, German, French, Italian, Swedish, Czech, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Russian and Norwegian language is available at the moment

I have found GeoSetter to be one of the easiest and most reliable freeware programs out there for this sort of thing. Here is my quick and lazy bulleted review:

Strengths

• Images are easy to navigate.
• Editing geo data is simple and fast using the familiar Google Maps interface.
• Free.
• Still alive and being updated.
• Can add Flickr geo data tags.
• Allows saving of common GeoData locations.

Weaknesses

• Sometimes assigning the map position to an image fails.
• No batch processes for renaming or rotating.
• Saving the edited images is slow.
• Requires internet connection for some features.

Download GeoSetter via http://www.geosetter.de/

GeoSetter is copyrighted by Friedemann Schmidt and I make no claim that I have anything to do with it or want any money because of it. I just think it is a great program and you should use it.

Pen

The cats have revolted. Which side are you on?

Today I am giving away a simple Flash VR file. You will need to create images at the various angles of your subject. Then simply import all of your images into this Flash file, adjust the speed to your tastes, and you will have a simple VR effect for the web or wherever.

Move your mouse to the right and the model will rotate counter-clockwise. Move the mouse to the left and the model will rotate clockwise.

Plan for further development include:

• adding vertical rotation
• smoother rotation
• on the fly updating (no need to have Flash to edit the content)
• a simple GUI

Model taken from 3dtotal.

All the ActionScript is on the first frame. It is as follows:

stop();

// Edit topSpeed to modify how fast the VR can rotate
var topSpeed:Number = 2;
var frameSpeed:Number;
var frame:Number = _root._currentframe;

// Functions, no need to edit these
onEnterFrame = function () {
	frameSpeed = Math.round(topSpeed*(_xmouse-Stage.width/2)/(Stage.width/2));
	newFrame = _root._currentframe+frameSpeed;
	if (newFrame>_root._totalframes) {
		newFrame = newFrame-_root._totalframes;
	} else if (newFrame<=0) {
		newFrame = _root._totalframes+newFrame;
	}
	gotoAndStop(newFrame);
	frame = _root._currentframe;
};

Download the source code! [ 1.5M ]

This is a side-by-side comparison to the available filters for basic rendering in Cinema 4D V8.2.

Each image is rendered with the default values. Model found at 3dtotal.

This is a side-by-side comparison to the available filters for scanline rendering in VIZ 2008.

Each image is rendered with the default values.

So I was working on a fairly simple site today, and it is looking mighty fine in Firefox and IE7 and Netscape and such, but then I saw it in IE6 and it was rubbish! Instead of having a fixed width and being centered horizontally in the browser, it filled the browser from edge to edge.

My first couple of attempts fixed the width problem, but it would always align itself right on the left edge.

Turns out IE6 is pretty quirky. A simple change to the DocType info fixed the problem and it all looks as it should now.

What I had (which was causing alignment problems in IE6):

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”iso-8859-1″?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN”
“http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd”>

<html xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml” xml:lang=”en” lang=”en”>
<head>
…

What I have now (and works everywhere):

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN”
“http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224″>

<html>
<head>
…

Pen

A sketch of a cat I saw at MegaTokyo one day.

Pen

Our cat Dolf is a 30 pound orange tabby. He likes going outside and pretending to stalk things. Unfortunatley for him, he is not too good at it.

Pen

The cat will ride in the plunger, so as to rest up his legs for the future.