This page describes version 1.1 of pcdMagic for OS X. For the latest version, see the main manual page.

File Browser

The File Browser allows you to easy navigate around your images, displaying thumbnails of PCD files as you go.


Moving around

You move around your hard drive as follows:
  1. To open a sub-directory, double click the sub-directory in the window.
  2. To move up a level, or up several levels, click the level that you want to move to in the Path Control.

Opening an image

To open an image, double-click it; the image will be opened in the Develop Module

Batch mode operations

You can convert a number of files by selecting them all, and then using the Tools menu. Batch mode operations are discussed more on the Batch Mode page.

Changing the thumbnail size

You can change the size of the displayed thumbnails by moving the Thumbnail size control on teh lower right-hand side of the window.

Displaying all files

By default, the File Browser displays only PCD images and directories. However, you can change it to show all files in the pcdMagic Preferences menu.


Develop Module

The Develop Window allows you to adjust the rendering of individual images.



Moving around the Develop Window 

You can find zoom controls under the View menu, or use the following keyboard shortcuts:
  • To zoom in, use <Command +> 
  • To zoom out, use <Command ->
  • To zoom to 1:1, use <Command 1>
  • To zoom to fit the entire image, use <Command F>
  • To pan the image, simply click anywhere inside the image, hold and drag

Setting the color profile 

Normally the color profile is set automatically based on the metadata included into the image to match the film and scanner type. However, you can override the automatic setting by using the Color Profile drop-down menu.

Note that by default, only pcdMagic's internal color profiles are displayed for selection. However, you can chose to display all profiles installed on your system as well by changing the Preferences settings. This allows you to, for example, use the original PCD Kodak profiles if you have them available.

Adjusting the image 

You can adjust exposure, contrast, sharpening, etc with the sliders on the right hand side of the screen.

X-Y mode 

The buttons on the top right hand side of the window can be used to select between X-Y and Y only view; in X-Y view the unadjusted image will be displayed on the left of the screen, and the adjusted view on the right. 

Note however that the color profile selection applies to both images as there is no default for the color space setting.

Getting an RGB readout 

The RGB readout area show the RGB value of the pixel that cursor is pointing to, in the "Melissa RGB" space.

Exporting to JPEG, TIFF or DNG 

You export your adjusted images by using the File->Export to... menu selection

Viewing image metadata 

You can view all image metadata by opening the the inspector window, either by <Command I> or from the View menu. the metadata contains information such as film type, data scanned, scanner type, etc.
Batch Mode

Batch mode conversions are performed either via the tools menu in the File Browser, or by right-clicking selected files.



Batch mode conversion with default settings

To convert multiple files, follow these steps:
  1. Open a File Browser window (this is the default window that opens when pcdMagic first starts).
  2. Move to the directory that contains the files you want to convert. To move up a directory, click directory selection bar at the top of the screen, and to open a sub-directory, double-click it in the browser window.
  3. Select the file that you want to convert by shift-clicking and/or command-clicking.
  4. Once the files you want to convert are highlighted, click the tools menu button, and select one of "Export to JPEG with....", "Export to TIFF with....", "Export to DNG with...." and select "Default settings".
The files will then be exported, with either a JPG, TIF or DNG extension.

As an alternative to using the Tools menu, you can also right-click the selected files to get a context menu.

Batch mode conversion with custom settings

In order to perform batch mode conversion with custom settings - exposure, color profile, sharpening, etc, follow these steps:
  1. Open any PCD file in the Develop window (by double-clicking the file in the File Browser Window).
  2. Adjust that individual image to your liking in the Develop Window.
  3. Then switch to the File Browser window, and follow the procedure above, but after selecting "Export to....", select the settings of the file you adjusted rather than "Default Settings"
64Base Images

64Base images consist of multiple files - a base image, and a set of image extension files.

For pcdMagic to convert 64Base files, three things have to occur:
  1. You must specify 64Base as the resolution to load in Preferences->Conversion Settings. Note that the default setting for pcdMagic is to load only 16Base images, so as to avoid time consuming searches for image extension files.
  2. The directory structure must be the same as for the original CD. 64Base images consist of a 16Base PCD file and a number of image extension files. pcdMagic will only be able to find the extension files if the file structure (the relative locations) of the PCD file and the image extension files are the same as for the original Photo CD.
  3. You must open the Base file in pcdMagic - it will then find the extension files.

Directory Structure

The directory structure must look as follows (by way of example):




The critical part is that the relationship between the base file (e.g., IMG0001.PCD, the file you will open) and the extension files (for IMG0001.PCD, the C1_0001.ICR, C2_0001.ICR, INFO.IC, Y0001.ICR and Y0001.ICR in the IPE\IMG0001\64BASE\ subdirectory) must be as shown above. The process that pcdMagic follows is reverse out from the location of the base file to the CD root directory (PHOTO_CD in this case), then find the extension files relative to that.  

pcdMagic is not sensitive to what the CD root directory (in this case the PHOTO_CD directory) is, but is sensitive to anything below that - the IMAGES and IPE subdirectory naming, and the names of any subdirectories and files in them.
Preferences


You can set a number of preferences:



In the "General" Tab

  1. Show Splash Screen on start up. If this is enabled, the pcdMagic splash screen shows on every start. Note that clicking the splash screen hides it
  2. Show only PCD files in Browser. If this is disabled, all files are shown in the File Browser window.

In the "Conversion" Settings Tab

  1. Image Resolution to load. PCD files have multiple images embedded in them. This sets the maximum resolution to load when a file is opened in the develop window. Note that if the maximum resolution isn't available, the highest that is available will be loaded. You can find out what resolution was loaded in the Inspector window.
  2. Color Profile selection. This selects whether pcdMagic automatically assigns a profile to a image based on film type and scanner model. If automatic selection is disabled, the generic PCD profile is used.

In the "Advanced" tab

  1. Image Interpolation. This allows advanced interpolation to be disabled. If advanced interpolation is disabled, conventional interpolation, as used by the original Kodak software products, is used.
  2. Show external profiles. By default, pcdMagic shows only its internal color profiles. However, if you have the original PCD profiles as supplied by Kodak installed on your system, you can use those. To be able to see external profiles, enable the "Show external profiles" setting. Note that the profiles must be installed on your system as ColorSync profiles to be visible. See the Apple ColorSync Utility manual for details on how to do this.
  3. Disable Frame Buffer (FBO). Normally pcdMagic uses openGL, and specifically the Frame Buffer capabilities of the installed graphics adapter, to speed up zoom and pan operations in the develop module. However, some graphics adapters have bugs in their drivers that can result in application crashes or corrupted displays. In these cases, you can disable FBO operations - pcdMagic will fall back to a slower but safer display modes.