Screen Shots of the Previewing Module introduced in TPO 6...

Below are some screenshots of the new previewing module in TPO 6.

1. Preparation area

The preparation area is where you import your images from the portrait session and prepare the viewing. The original images are copied and the copies automatically renamed with the clients job number, name and the date.

You can:

• Import a batch of images from the default drop folder.
• Import a batch of images from another location.
• Import other individual images.
• Select one or more images to perform an action on (see actions below). Selected images are highlighted in yellow and the action is performed on all selected images. You can select individual non-contiguous images and / or contiguous images.
• Rotate images.
• Reorder the images. This is useful, if for example, you photographed families and individuals in formal clothing, then they all changed and you did more families and individuals. However, for the slide show, you want to show all the family images together. You can select all the family images (wherever they may be) and in one click, move them all together to the desired location.
• Convert to B&W (this creates a copy and converts the copy, so you still have the original in colour
• Select images to exclude from the slideshow.
• Enter notes and an alternative name for the image.
• Compare up to 8 images.
• Modify an image (crop, zoom, flip vertical or horizontal, invert).
• Open the image in Photoshop (or other application) for more detailed editing.
• Select slide show title background and enter / modify the title texts.

2. Slide Show Titles

The final part of the preparation is to select a background for the slide show titles (start and end titles) and adjust the text if necessary. You can set a preference in TPO to automatically enter your preferred title texts, which can even merge with your clients name.

3. Slide Show

During the slideshow you can pause, go back or forward an image or select to revert to any image from the list. The slide show will then resume from the selected image.

4. Selection

Now it’s time for the client to select which images they like the best and what they want to do with them.

The images are displayed as thumbnails on the left. Click on an image to see the high resolution version in the centre of the screen.

• Click the tick (top left) if the client likes the image.
• Click the cross if the client doesn’t like the image.
• The blue ? option can be selected if the client is unsure.
• When the tick / cross / ? is selected, TPO automatically selects and displays the next image.
• If appropriate, select a mount colour from the list on the right.
• If appropriate select a frame from the list on the right.
• Select whether the mount aperture is white, black or a solid mount colour.
• Enter notes for retouching or production. Where notes are entered, the thumbnail displays a blue corner.
• Enter the product code for the items the client wants to buy. This integrates with the product codes and invoices modules of TPO to automatically generate an invoice with thumbnails.
• A production order is also generated for the lab / production department.

Additional Options:

• The images (on the left) can be filtered to show just the ticked, crossed or unsure images.
• Create a B&W version (if it was not created earlier in the preparation area). If a B&W version of an image exists, clicking the B&W button simply toggles between the colour and the B&W version. You can select different mounts and frames for both, enabling the client to get a good idea of what either option will look like.
• Compare up to 8 images. This will help the client choose which is the best.
• Perform basic modifications (e.g. cropping).
• Produce a Multi Image Arrangement (see below).
• View the image in different sizes. Once TPO is calibrated to your screen, you can display any image in the following sizes:
• 30 x 24 / 30 x 30
• 24 x 20 / 24 x 24
• 20 x 16 / 20 x 20
• 16 x 12 / 16 x 16
• 12 x 10 / 12 x 12
• 10 x 8 / 10 x 10
• 8 x 6
• 7 x 5
• Print a copy of the high resolution image.

Mounts & Frames:

In the “preferences” module of TPO, you can add your own mounts and frames and determine which are displayed in the viewing module.

Some studios offer an extremely limited selection of mounts & frames (you can have any colour as long as the mount is white and the frame is black - type of thing). For these studios, there is an alternative selection screen which does not display the mount colours and frame options on the right hand side.

5. Multiple Image Arranger

TPO has a multi image arranger offering a wide selection of mounts. Simply click the MIA button at the top of the selection screen, select your MIA mount (shown in red below) and then place the images in the appropriate positions. You can then add a mount colour and frame to the MIA if required.

Once complete, the new MIA image is added to the other images in the list on the left side of the selection screen.

6. Comparing Images

You can compare from 2 to 8 images at any time. TPO will choose the best screen to display the high resolution images depending on the number of images and how many are portrait or landscape.

7. Contact Sheets

You can print contact sheets from a session of images in any of the following arrangements (images across x images down):

• 2 x 2 (hi res)
• 2 x 3 (hi res)
• 3 x 3 (hi res)
• 3 x 5 (low res)
• 3 x 6 (low res)

For all contact sheets, you have the option to display a copyright label across each image.

When the order has been entered, click the invoice button to produce a professional invoice with thumbnails. The viewing module is completely integrated with the full accounting back-end of TPO. You can also print a production order for the laboratory and / or production department.

9. History

The thumbnails are permanently stored in TPO and ‘belong’ to the job record which ‘belongs’ to that client - and can be easily accessed. For example, should a client phone at a later date and wish to order a copy of that portrait of the family group that they were “unsure” about (the blue ‘?’ option) and didn’t order originally, “do you know which one I mean?” - and you’re thinking, “I hardly remember the client, let alone the image they didn’t order...”

All you need to do is find the client in the database by their name (takes just a few seconds), that gives you direct access to their job records, click on the appropriate job record link and click the viewing button. This will take you directly back to their viewing session with all their thumbnails. The “unsure” images will still be listed as blue and you can filter the list to display it. Then simply generate the sale.

No more searching for a CD just to determine which image they’re referring to, although you’ll still need the CD with the hi resolution images in order to make the print.

10. Questions

If you need further information about the previewing module, or any other aspect of TPO 6, please call on +44 (0)8458 62 52 52
or send an email.

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