Rahman Imager

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim Weaver
  • Start date Start date
Tim Weaver said:
Anybody have a review of this thing?

http://www.oriens-solution.com/rahmanimager/default.htm
Click to expand...

Found this review of several graphics programs (including Rahman Imager) on
the NONAGS site.
http://www.nonagsplus.com/boards/software/data/17667.asp

Posted by mmm on August 20, 2004 at 05:14:45:


Reviews:

My goal was to find a freeware program which would
allow me to open two files of identical size, copy one,
paste it as a new layer over the other file and change
the transparency so that the second file shows through
the first.

To get this done, I looked at the top rated nonags graphic
editor software:

RahmanImages, Oriens Enhancer Gold, Pixia, QV 2.5, The Gimp and Project
Dogwaffle


Pixia:
------

Couldn't quite figure out how to create layers. It seems to want to
handle them. I would've been happy with something as simple as "Paste New
Layer".

Couldn't find such an animal. Nevermind how to create a transparent layer.
Oh well.


Oriens Enhancer Gold and RahmanImages look to both come out of Oriens
software.
-------------------------------------

Rahman Images
-------------

RahmanImages has an option for setting Options which, no matter what I did
was
ALWAYS grayed out. In looking at the help for RahmanImages it was also
grayed
out in their help file example which stated that this option was for setting
program
options. Strike 1.

There were options for setting layer transparency, but they were also grayed
out. No matter what I tried.

Strike 2.


Oriens Enhancer Gold
--------------------

Oriens Enhancer Gold, allowed me to create layers and to set transparency as
well
as quite a bit else.

To do so, I created a third image in which I could specify the transparency
of either
of the other images to be included in the third image. In this way, if I
then chose
the upper most image to adjust the transparency of, through trial and error
(in setting
the transparency - percentages), I could achieve a satisfactory result.

Somewhat awkward, but, it worked.


QV 2.5
------

As advertised, a considerably simpler program, did not appear to have an
option
for creating layers.


The GIMP
--------

Had a considerably more involved install process, and came with a few
caveats
in the way of performance being affected by hardware configuration, the more
memory
the better, some video cards causing some problems.

When I first ran it, on a 256 MB XP system, right at the minimum
requirements, and
opened the two files, I then copied one file, attempted to paste it over the
other
file, at which point the program crashed.

These two files total in size about 172k. Hardly a strain upon the program.

Next.

Project Dogwaffle
-----------------

As advertised, it is primarily a computerized "painting" program, which I
must add,
does that exceptionally well. I even toyed with the animation creation
component of
the program - nice.

But, I could only save to either its proprietary format, TGA, or BMP.

Annoying to say the least, considering the primary formats for the web are
either
JPG or GIF.

And saving in either TGA or BMP GREATLY increases file size.

In TGA format close to 400k. In JPG format, 80k. There may very well be a
difference
in quality which accounts for this difference. For what I was doing, quality
didn't
matter. At a 320k difference in filesize, it would be nice to have the
option of
saving as a JPG.

To not be able to save an animation as a GIF is another drawback.

By comparison, I tried to accomplish these same tasks in Ulead's PhotoImpact
and
Jasc's PaintShop Pro, which I also own.

In both programs, it was as simple as opening both files, copying the one
file,
pasting it on its own layer over the other file, then going to each
program's respective
layer manager and adjusting the transparency.

About two minutes per program - TOPS.

Both programs also come with their own respective GIF animation creation
tools.

Both JASC PaintShop Pro and Ulead's PhotoImpact weigh in close to $ 100
each, Less
given retail discounts and rebates (or upgrades).

Given the problems I had trying to complete this fairly simple task. It's
still
very much true, at least by my experience.

All the programs had their pluses and minuses, pros and cons, but, I still
got
what I paid for.

And I'm certain that where each program offers an option to upgrade to a
more recent
version, one may very well get a more user friendly, better behaved program
in the
bargain.

If your needs are simple, and you have the time and patience, any of these
programs
may very well be a satisfactory alternative.

My experience suggests there's still room for improvement in the area of
user-friendliness.

In both PaintShop Pro and PhotoImpact, the layout was comparable, somewhat
intuitive,
and straightforward.

Since I often deal with people who don't have a whole lot of money and can
always
benefit from a good low cost shareware or freeware program, not to mention
my own
curiosity in those shareware and freeware programs which get high ratings
such as
nonags did for most of the programs I looked at, with the exception of QV
2.5 which
got 5/6 compared to the 6/6 which all the other programs received.

I had high hopes.

One could say, it's not the programs, it's me.

But, as I said, it took two minutes to accomplish the tasks in Paint Shop
Pro and
PhotoImpact respectively.

I state this objectively. Makes me no difference if you do or don't use any
of
these programs.

For what I wanted to do, I was disappointed.

For computerized painting, I recommend Project Dogwaffle. Its tool seems
particularly
well suited for that task, and with good image management software (such as
IrfanView or
XNView, its file limitations can be overcome). For photo editing, it's
very much a mixed bag. All the programs have their own respective
idiosyncracies.
I'd recommend, if you have the disk space, the minimum recommended
requirements, and
a fast enough Internet connection, to, as I did, download them, play with
them,
try to accomplish common graphics editing tasks with each and see how they
work for
you.

I would recommend avoiding RahmanImage as there was just too much that was
unavailable
from the start, compared to the other programs.

I'd say it's a tossup between Pixia and Oriens Enhancer Gold in terms of
ease of use
and functionality.

Gimp had too much overhead, and too many caveats. It crashed too early and
too easily
for my taste. Your experience may be different from mine. I certainly hope
so.


Somewhat wordy, but, I hope this helps.
 
Anybody have a review of this thing?

http://www.oriens-solution.com/rahmanimager/default.htm
Click to expand...

I can't remember exactly why, but I installed it a couple of months ago, and
uninstalled it from my Win '98 machine within an hour. I know it didn't do
much - just kept putting up an out of memory message & then crashing. I had
to close almost every program on my 128MB PC before I could get it to even
open. I found programs such as Irfanview & Serif Photoplus did a better job.
 
I installed it and found it to be a very rude guest on my computer. It
no longer has a home here.
Click to expand...

Sounds consistent with omega's description of what his Orien's Enhancer
did to her system:

"It is a ....Visual Basic 5 program. :(

OCX terror-storm. Eleven OCX's it shoved into the system directory! Plus
a few more of those in its directory, that accounted for the majority of
the =>1600+ registry entries<= the install added.

Even just a few OCX's for an app and you get a ton of stuff snaked
through the classes root key, with their clsid, interface, typelib
entries... very messy and ugly IMO. And this prog has more damned ocx's
than I've had to witness in a long time.

The install also did this thing similar to what I unfortunately do see
routinely, but dislike each time. Changed a whole bunch of registry
entries to mark everything down from vb6 to vb5. In this case, though,
particularly high number: more than 80 keys it changed down.

That large set of changes must have been why TUN crashed every time I
tried to use it to uninstall this thing. (Finally I just reverted to the
copy of the registry I'd saved before running the install.)

And this is without even going into all the extra files and regentries
that MSI always tries to add. The OCX hell especially, and changing all
the vb file reg values, then adding MSI to the offense, I give this app
a D- at best as far as character, lack of respect for people's
computers.

Graphics features? Who knows. I did run it twice. Crashed my machine.
Very quick - my resources monitor wasn't able to warn me in time. So I
tried running it after a fresh reboot, where my startup values are in
the high 90s. Just launching it then, without even a file loaded, that
shot me down to 34/34/46. Woah! Ok, I only have 192mb RAM & use w98, but
what's this thing take? I mean, what if one has a few big image edits
going on?

I'll leave this prog for the rest of you. I'm going to go interact with
a few dignified, gentle Borland programs to console me after the
ordeal."

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2coff=1
&safe=off&frame=right&th=bc70dd3355beb288&seekm=bmr3qi%24pmnb4%241%40ID-
207237.news.uni-berlin.de#link15
 
Semolina Pilchard said:
It wouldn't run at all for me (XP). I can't remember what the error
was and unfortunately I've chucked it in the bit bucket.
Click to expand...

Typo alert. Corrected spelling: "fortunately."
 
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