John’s Image Converter
When I want to put a picture on my site I take it with my digital camera. I then have to scale the image down to a reasonable size and I use Photoshop to do that. But it’s a pain. If I’m on a computer that doesn’t have Photoshop I end up having to use something like MS Paint or upload the full-sized picture to Flickr and let it resize them. But neither of those options compress the picture much which is what Photoshop is good at.
So I decided to write a little utility to do the resizing for me and because I lack the ability to come up with a catchy name I decided to call it John’s Image Converter. It looks like this:
Quite simply, you launch the application, then either drag and drop the picture you want to resize onto it or click the ‘…’ button and select it. You pick the new size (in pixels or as a percentage), choose where you want the new image to go along with the new name (if you want to change it), click ‘Convert’ and you’re done. Nothing much to it really!
The software will work happily on Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP and 2003 (and anything newer). It uses the Microsoft.NET Framework 1.1 and if that’s not already installed on your computer the setup wizard will download and install it for you.
Download the Installer (Version 1.2 - 477KB)
The release notes follow:
Version 1.2:
- There’s now an option to preserve the aspect ratio or stretch the image to any ratio you like.
- I’ve fixed the problem where the settings won’t save on Windows 98 and 2000. Strange one that!
Version 1.1:
- If you hit the ‘Enter’ key on the main dialog that that will perform the same action as clicking the ‘Convert’ button. It’s surprisingly annoying not having the ‘Convert’ button as the default!
- I’ve written a new, more robust installer that will download the .NET framework if it’s not already installed.
- You can now rotate the image you’re converting either left or right by 90°.
- The crash handler is now the more robust version I implemented in my background switcher application. Thought I might as well be consistent.
- Sometimes the resized image would show a black line along an edge - this has now been corrected.
- The image quality for resized images has been improved so scaling down very large images will produce better results - as does scaling up images too.
Version 1.0:
- Initial release.
If you have any problems or suggestions that you’d like to see implemented then please leave a comment below and let me know.
23 Comments on “John’s Image Converter”
October 6th, 2005 at 08:51
Does your application run from the command line?
PS I’m a recent Unix convert
October 6th, 2005 at 08:54
No it doesn’t, but that’s a good idea - I’ll add it to the list! Cheers!
October 6th, 2005 at 19:23
Another cool utility that does exactly what it says on the tin! So what resizing algorithm does it use?
A tiny quibble: do you think there should really be an access key on that Convert button, what with it being the default?
October 6th, 2005 at 19:26
Thanks John. You know, I always just put access keys on buttons without even thinking about it!
Oh, and it’s nothing clever, mostly just using the standard .NET image manipulation functionality.
October 27th, 2005 at 13:35
Erm — what about doing a whole boat load of images sequentially? I suppose the command line option would help.
Dr Power — welcome to a proper OS.
October 27th, 2005 at 13:39
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about how to do a bunch of images at once, like pointing it at a folder instead of a file. I’ll see what I can come up with.
September 21st, 2006 at 17:20
Yeah, something for multiple images at once would be very handy. Otherwise, however, this is a VERY nice utility. As a fellow programmer, I applaud your work!
September 25th, 2006 at 13:33
John, nice work on your applications. If your taking requests for improvements, here is something I have been thinking about for a while … an application which constantly monitors a folder and when ever an image is placed in that folder, it resizes to a specified size and saves in an output folder. It could then either delete the image or move it to a processed folder. The purpose of this is to make is varied, but mostly automating the sharing of folders but at a limited size.
Well … just another idea for you.
September 25th, 2006 at 13:43
Thanks Mick, that’s a really good idea. I think I could quite quickly put something like that together, I’ll see what I can do. Cheers!
January 24th, 2008 at 15:33
Hi John, Thanks for both your image switcher & this program. I agree with a number of the recommendations especially been able to do a number of files at one time. Is there a plan for a upgrade in the near future?
Ta
January 24th, 2008 at 15:37
You’re welcome Joshy! Funny you should mention it but I was just thinking to myself yesterday that it’s about time I updated my image converter as I’ve neglected it recently for JBS. Time to turn that around!
April 2nd, 2008 at 22:41
Hey John,
Back in November of last year I wrote a very similar application. I could have written in in C# in .net, but lately I’ve been on a PHP kick for a while, so I wrote it in PHP! Yes, that’s write. It’s a windows app in PHP. Don’t get to excited yet, as it doesn’t have a beautiful gui like yours, but with a quick registry entry, it’s not really needed. Have a look here: http://www.deciacco.com/blog/archives/153
It could be easily modifiable as the code is all there! Love to know what you think!
Regards.
April 2nd, 2008 at 22:46
Ha ha, a Windows application in PHP?! Whatever next?! I like it!
One of the things I’m going to do (if I ever get the time) is get my image converter to run on a folder of photos instead of just one - which is much more useful, as is running from the command line. Since your app does that already maybe I won’t rush! Good work!
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:57
I really love the simplicity of the new version converter, however i feel that i and many other users would benefit greatly from a batch convert feature, so that a whole load of images can be converted into the same size.
thanks a lot for the software you give away, its rele great. if i had a job i would donate to you john.
Thanks
Lewis
June 11th, 2008 at 19:05
Hey John!
Great software! I’m using and loving the desktop switcher at home and would really love to use your image converter, too! Unfortunately, I usually work in folders worth of images. Would you consider adding a batch file function to the aspect ratio/size? I would be willing to reorient my pictures to make it easier than coding for some pictures vertical and some horizontal.
Thanks again John!
June 11th, 2008 at 19:06
Haha, nuts! I scrolled up to see you already addressed the issue! Glad to hear you’re already interested in doing it!
June 11th, 2008 at 21:24
Don’t worry Phil, as soon as I’ve released the next version of JBS I’ll do some work on my image converter including batch conversions!
July 5th, 2008 at 09:27
Thanks for this great little utility, and it works every time!
July 5th, 2008 at 11:50
You’re most welcome!
July 6th, 2008 at 14:30
John, thanks for the utility, it’s great for that quick picture switch when I don’t want to open a larger program. I like the idea of the automatic converter but could I add one addition that I have never seen in any other program but that would be a great bonus. Watching a folder AND SUBFOLDERS. I’m sure I’m not alone in having my folders grouped into subfolders (my camera automatically does it by dates). The output could be with “filename_small.jpg” or something like that.
Keep up the good work and thanks again for the utilities.
July 6th, 2008 at 14:37
That’s an interesting idea Robert - thanks! I’m going to put out a new version of my image converter soon that supports whole folders of images so will put your suggestion in.
July 9th, 2008 at 17:58
WOW! such a simple and easy to use progamme. Thanks mate. i will pass it on to my french friend, (a blond) who insists its far too difficult to to reduce the size of the photos she sends me… Even she will be able to use this.
Roger