Rota Readme

About Rota

Rota.exe is loss-less rotate utility for JPEG image.

To get large compression ratio (about 1/5 to 1/50), JPEG uses lossy compression method. Therefore once image has been compressed to JPEG, it is not possible to retrieve original image from it. If you take a picture of some guy by vertical camera position, maybe you'd like to rotate image to stand it upright. In usual, it takes 3 steps to rotate JPEG image: de-compress JPEG to bitmap, rotate bitmap, re-compress bitmap to JPEG. This re-compress process cause additional loss of image quality. The samples shown below do this routine 4 times;

Open JPEG image by Micrografx PicturePublisher 8
Rotate 90degrees
Save with JPEG format

JPEG compression parameter is YUV=4:2:2, compression ratio is 10 (equivalent to '90' or 'High Quality' at other JPEG application). It's clear that image quality has lost at each step.

Loss-less JPEG Rotation doesn't de-compress JPEG image completely and moves intermediate data from-to rotate 90/180/270 degrees position. It doesn't cause loss of image quality. The samples shown above do loss-less JPEG rotation 4 times by Rota. No loss of image quality occurred.

Rota copies all the JPEG Marker information during rotate process, it means that all the picture information in original image (e.g. date&time, shutter speed, F-stop etc.) is preserved. Also Rota can use as Application launcher.

Requirements

Windows 32bit (Windows95/98/NT/2000 etc), Rota won't work with Win32S

Computer used for testing

WindowsNT4.0SP6 PentiumPro 200MHz AT Clone
Windows2000 MMX-Pentium 166MHz Sub-note PC
WindowsMe/Windows2000 Athlon 800MHz AT Clone

Getting Started

Copy Rota.exe to the folder of your choice then place a shortcut to Rota on your Desktop. Rota works as standalone utility, no DLLs or other drivers are needed. After startup you are presented with the window as seen below. It's very simple and easy to use.

At a point of time, only 3 buttons ( [Open], [Exit], [?] ) are active.

1: Open Button

If you click [Open] Button, dialog box shown as left will open. Select the drive and the folder that contains images you want to rotate. If there are '.JPG' , '.JPE' or '.JPEG' file in the folder, right box will displays file list.

If your selection of drive and folder are completed, press [OK] button.

Notice

If you want to select the drive's ROOT folder (C:\, F:\ etc), just Double-Click the icon of root folder. In the case of left picture, double-click the icon

, above the 'Multimedia Files'.

If you can't determine drive and folder are correct, you can view the thumbnail of image by clicking the filename in right box.

At this time, you can launch application that is associated with '.JPG','.JPE' or 'JPEG' by three ways,

double-click
middle-click(or click scroll wheel)
left-click with control-key

mouse on the thumbnail image.

If your selection of drive and folder are completed, press [OK] button.

Then window will change as seen below. If you find that you selected wrong folder, press [Open] button again will abort processing.

If PageSize is 'S', Rota can display 20 images at a time. 'M' is 30 images and 'L' is 48 images per page. If there is more than one page, you can change the display position by click the ScrollBar, press Cursor, [PageUp] / [PageDown] Key or rotate [Mouse Wheel].

Notice

Rota can handle up to 2,000 images but actual maximum number of images Rota can handle depends on Windows' system dll, ComCtl32.dll. It seems that maximum number of Windows98/Me system is 648, WindowsNT/2000 is 1633. If Rota reports [Error: Can't add thumbnail: image XXX], please decrease number of file and try again.

2: How to operate image?

2-1: Rotate image
It's very simple. Click image by left mouse button rotates image to left, right mouse button rotates image to right.
Be attention that rotate of image will affect after press [Apply] button.

2-2: Copy / Delete image
Place mouse cursor on your designated image then press [Insert] Key to copy image to another folder. Press [Delete] Key to delete image from folder.

2-3: Launch application
If your mouse has middle-button(or scroll wheel), middle-click on image launches the application associated to '.JPG' , '.JPE' or '.JPEG'. At the default setting of Windows98/2000, Internet Explorer will be launched. I recommend associating '.JPG' to your favorite photo retouch software.

If your mouse doesn't have middle-button, left-click with press control-key of your keyboard will also launches associated application.

To quickly associate application to '.JPG', select '.JPG' file from MyComputer or FileExplorer, then right click with Ctrl-Shift key, click 'Open Application', select application and check 'always use'.

3: Larger image window

Left window displays selected image a little bit larger. File name will be displayed above the image, file timestamp and picture information (if exists) will be displayed below.
image information

At first, back color of filename is Aqua(as image below-left). After you modified image direction, it changes to Lime(as below-mid). If selected image has Read-Only attribute, Red Mark RO will appears at the rigit of filename(as below-right).

not rotated

rotated

read only file

When you rotated Read-Only image and click Apply button, dialog like below will appear. If you want to ignore Read-Only attribute and apply rotate, press Yes button. If you want to ignore the entire Read-Only attribute, press Yes to All button.

4: Exchange mouse button

If you are exchanging mouse button by mouse control panel, [Exc. Mouse Button] check box will help you to keep your mind peacefully.

5: Save configuration

When you close Rota.exe, some of configuration parameter is saved automatically. Configuration file name is Rota.ini, placed the same folder of Rota.exe.

[Control] section
Folder= last opened folder name
PageSize= display size, 0 means 'S', 1 means 'M', 2 means 'L'.
MouseEx= Mouse button exchange status. 0 means not changed, 1 means changed.

F.A.Q.

I want to write JPEG application.: Borland C++Builder5/Delphi supports JPEG image by standard library. It's very convenient. Rota contains complete source code. Please refer it. I used many library components imported from Delphi, maybe it's not so hard to port to Delphi.
Or, if you need more detailed handling of JPEG image, there is free JPEG library by Independent JPEG Group (IJG). Rota uses it for loss-less rotate. It seems that Borland C++Builder/Delphi and Microsoft Internet Explorer uses IJG library. For more details of IJG license, refer 'README' file in this package.
I tried to open huge number of images, Rota reports [Error: Can't add thumbnail: image XXX] and terminated.: Rota can handle upto 2,000 images, but actual maximum number of images Rota can handle is depends on Windows' system dll, ComCtl32.dll. It seems that maximum number of Windows98/Me system is 648, WindowsNT/2000 is 1633. If Rota reports [Error: Can't add thumbnail: image XXX], please decrease number of file and try again.
During operation, image rotates correctly. After program terminated, Image has not rotated.: To affect rotating image, you must press [Apply] button.
Why main-image has rotated but thumbnail-image has not?: Even it's loss-less, byte-count of JPEG image will vary a little bit after loss-less rotate. Sorry but it's difficult to replace thumbnail.
I can't select the ROOT folder of drive.: If you want to select the drive's ROOT folder (D:\, F:\ etc), just Double-Click the icon of root folder (e.g.).
Rota displays drive's ROOT folder only / Rota doesn't display some of folder tree.: To extract the folder tree, Double-Click the folder icon (e.g.).
I have NNNN's digicam but Rota doesn't show its MakerNote information. Please add it!: I have no information about NNNN's MakerNote. Please send me a NNNN's MakerNote format information then I can add it. And, some of digicam(e.g.SONY,older CASIO and Fujifilm) doesn't have MakerNote.

Appendix1: About Independent JPEG Group JPEG library

JPEG library of Independent JPEG Group is well known and widely used as free JPEG library. You can download it from http://www.ijg.org/. Newest version is v6b.

This is a tip for Borland C++Bulder5 / C++5.5

IJG library contains makefile and jconfig.h for Borland C++ v3.0(very-old, 8 years ago?), but it's still possible to compile it with Borland C++Builder5/C++ v5.5

install BCC++v5.5 or C++Builder5 (of course!)
Extract jpeg-6b archive
rename jconfig.bcc to jconfig.h
rename makefile.bcc to makefile
modify the section of '# Are we under DOS or OS/2?' in makefile. leave 'OS2=1' line only, comment out (put '# ' to head) the rest of lines
change 'CC=bcc' to 'CC=bcc32'

O.K., just type 'make' from command console.

Currently Borland C++5.5 is freeware, you can download it from http://www.inprise.com.

IJG library contains some of command-line utilities. The most convenient tool is jpegtran.exe, JPEG transform utility. Rota is based on it. For example, loss-less rotate JPEG image is

jpegtran -rotate 90 -copy all infile.jpg outfile.jpg

if '-copy all' option added, all the Application Marker information in source JPEG file will be copied to destination. Picture information in digicam's Exif format uses Application Marker 1 (APP1), so jpegtran preserves all the Exif information. But jpegran.exe always adds Application Marker 0 (APP0) before APP1 Marker, most of utilities can't recognize it contains Exif information. To avoid it, just add

jpeg_copy_critical_parameters(&srcinfo, &dstinfo);
dstinfo.write_JFIF_header = FALSE; //<<< this line!

to line 453 of jpegtran.c, this patch suppresses APP0 Marker output.

Appendix2: Picture information

Rota displays some of picture information that Exif/JFIF(JFXX) stores. It depends on type of your digicam that what kind of information stored in the image file. For example, Kodak DC260/DC290/DC4800 store SubjectDistance but DC215/DC240/DC280 don't store it. Currently Rota can display following picture informations.

Exif format
Tag	Examples of display	Desc.
ExposureTime	1/10s, 0.9s	Exposure time. [s]
FNumber	F3.2, F5.6	F-stop of lens [no unit]
FocalLength	f5.0mm, f150.0mm	Focal length of lens [mm]
SubjectDistance	dist0.63m, dist136.0m	Distance to focus point [m]
MeteringMode	Center-w., Multi-seg.	Exposure meterig mode
ExposureBiasValue	Exp.bias-0.7	Exposure bias value of taking picture [EV]
ISOSpeedRating / ExposureIndex	ISO100, ISO160	CCD sensitivity
Flash	FlashOn	Flash was used or not
Model	C2100UZ, SX112	Model number of digicam
DateTimeOriginal	2000:07:13 22:25:00	Date/Time of original image taken

Exif MakerNote

Fujifilm	Examples of display	Desc.
0x1000:Quality	Quality Normal	JPEG compression quality
0x1001:Sharpness	Sharpness Soft	Image sharpness
0x1002:White Balance	WhiteBl. Daylight	White balance setting
0x1010:Flash Mode	FlashMode RedEye	Flash mode
0x1011:Flash Strength	FlashPow. 6/10	Flash strength, unit is [EV]
0x1020:Macro Mode	MacroMode Off	Macro mode or not
0x1021:Focus Mode	FocusMode Manual	AF or Manual
0x1030:SlowSync Mode	SlowSync Off	Slow shutter synchro mode
0x1031:Picture Mode	PictMode Aperture Pr	Picture taking mode
0x1100:Continuous Take	ContTake On	Continuous Picture taking mode
0x1300:Blur Warning	BlueWarn Yes	Blur warning (shutter speed is too slow) indicator
0x1301:Focus Warning	FocusWarn Yes	Auto Focus warning (focus error) indicator
0x1302:AE Warning	AE Warn Yes	AE warning (over exposure) indicator

Nikon type1 (E900/950/700/800)	Examples of display	Desc.
0x0003:Quality	Quality 6	Picture quality mode
0x0005:Image Adjustment	ImageAdj. Contrast+	Image setting
0x0006:ISO Speed	ISO Speed 80	ISO speed rating
0x0007:White Balance	WhiteBl. Daylight	White balance setting
0x0008:Focus mode	Focus Infinity	Focus mode, normal or infinity
0x000a:Digital Zoom	DigiZoom 160/100	Digital zoom ratio
0x000b:Converter	Converter FishEye	Lens converter mode

Nikon type2 (E990/E880/D1)	Examples of display	Desc.
0x0002:ISO Speed	ISO Speed 200	ISO speed rating
0x0004:Quality	Quality FINE	JPEG compression quality
0x0005:White Balance	WhiteBl. AUTO	White balance setting
0x0006:Sharpness	Sharpness NORMAL	Image sharpness setting
0x0007:Focus Mode	Focus AF-S	Focus mode
0x0008:Flash Mode	Flash ON	Flash mode
0x000f:ISO Select	ISO Sel. Manual	Manual ISO select or Auto gain-up
0x0080:Image Adjust	ImageAdj. CONTRAST(+)	Image setting
0x0082:Adapter	Adapter FishEye 2	Lens converter mode
0x0085:MF distance	MF Dist. 3m	Manual focus distance
0x0086:Digital Zoom	DigiZoom 160/100	Digital zoom ratio
0x0088:Focus Position	FocusPos. Upper	AF focus position

Casio	Examples of display	Desc.
0x0001:Recording Mode	Mode Night Scene	Picture recording mode
0x0002:Quality	Quality Fine	JPEG compression quality
0x0003:Focus Mode	FocusMode Manual Focus	Focusing mode
0x0004:Flash Mode	FlashMode Red Eye	Flash firing mode
0x0005:Flash Strength	FlashStr. Strong	Flash firing strength
0x0006:Object distance	Distance 4.5[m]	Object distance
0x0007:White balance	WhiteBl. Daylight	White balance setting
0x000a:Digital Zoom	DigiZoom 2X	Digital Zoom ratio
0x000b:Sharpness	Sharpness Hard	Image sharpness setting
0x000c:Contrast	Contrast High	Image contrast setting
0x000d:Chroma	Chroma High	Image chroma(saturation) setting
0x0014:ISO Speed	ISO Speed 64	ISO speed rating

Olympus/Sanyo/Epson	Examples of display	Desc.
0x0200:Mode	Mode Fast/Seq.2	Taking mode/Sequence no.
0x0201:JPEG quality	JpegQual. SQ	Image quality setting
0x0202:Macro Mode	MacroMode Off	Macro mode setting
0x0204:Digital Zoom	DigiZoom 2/1	Digital zoom ratio
0x0207/0x020d:Model Code	Model code SR951	Model code

JFIF(JFXX) format
Info name	Examples of display	Desc.
Shutter	1/10s, 0.9s	Exposure time. [s]
FNumber	F3.2, F5.6	F-stop of lens [no unit]
MTR1	f9.2mm, f28.0mm	Focal length of lens [mm]
ExpBias	Exp.bias-2	Exposure bias value of taking picture [no unit]
LightS	WbAuto, WbDaylight, Wb5500K	Light source: white balance setting
Flash	FlashOn	Flash was used or not
Type	SR83, DCPT	Model number of digicam
Quality	SHQ, HQ	Image quality mode
TimeDate	2000/07/13 22:25:00	Date/Time of original image taken

History

v0.7 2001/01/13

Add: MakerNote information of Fujifilm/Casio/Nikon/Olympus
Add: 'Abort process' feature by re-pressing [Open] button
Add: 'Copy/Delete image' function

v0.6 2000/10/15

Bug: File timestamp was changed sometime after the rotate

v0.5 2000/09/18

Updates the ExifImageWidth/ExifImageHeight to actual width/height after rotate images(patch for EPSON PT-100 printer)
Add ExposureIndex information (same as ISOSpeedRating information)
Add anti-chatter routine to prevent the chattering of mouse button

v0.4 2000/08/03

Add ScrollBar, delete PageUp/PageDn Button

v0.3 2000/07/13

Add Exif/JFIF picture information
Add file extension '.jpeg' to list
Change Directory list box

v0.2 2000/07/05

Add Medium/Large page size
Add overwrite to Read-Only file
Save configuration to rota.ini file
Add function to Open dialog
Add progress animation
Add realtime update of larger image
Support PageUp/PageDown Key and Mouse Wheel

v0.1 2000/06/30

First release

Copyright and Notice

You may not distribute modified packages of Rota.exe, and may not distribute Rota.exe for profit without the specific written permission of the author (TsuruZoh Tachibanaya).
There is no warranty expressed or implied for Rota.exe. The author supplies this software whereis/as is. The author will not be held responsible for any damages that may be caused by using this application. You use this software at your own risk.
All trade names mentioned in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
The portion of this software are based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

TsuruZoh Tachibanaya
t s u r u z o h @ b a . w a k w a k . c o m
http://park2.wakwak.com/~tsuruzoh/

About Rota

Requirements

Computer used for testing

Getting Started

1: Open Button

** Notice **

** Notice **

2: How to operate image?

2-1: Rotate image

2-2: Copy / Delete image

2-3: Launch application

3: Larger image window

4: Exchange mouse button

5: Save configuration

F.A.Q.

Appendix1: About Independent JPEG Group JPEG library

Appendix2: Picture information

History

v0.7 2001/01/13

v0.6 2000/10/15

v0.5 2000/09/18

v0.4 2000/08/03

v0.3 2000/07/13

v0.2 2000/07/05

v0.1 2000/06/30

Copyright and Notice

Notice

Notice