Hi again

[superska]

Hi all,

Just wanted to (re)introduce myself here. I've been using iMatch before, when my collection of digital pictures grew a little out of control. To be honest, I'm not even sure when that was. I can find some emails that prove I was was using iMatch in 2006. If I recall well, it was iMatch 3 back then.

I wrote some scipts back then to help me to easily organize my pictures that I copied from my camera into my database. And some things to generate an HTML website from a selection of my database. And probably some more things I did for people in the forums.

So I now I'm back. I'm impressed where iMatch is now and am looking forward to getting to use it again. As a developer, I'm also keen to develeop some things, but I'm not sure what I will be needing.

The reason I'm starting to use iMatch this time, is that I want to get started archiving the family pictures. Not just the digital ones from the last decade or so, but especially the old ones that only exist physically now.

Well, let's get started...

Greetz,
Stefan

[Mario]

Hi, Stefan

welcome back. IMatch has evolved quite a lot since the IMatch 3 days.

There was a big change in how the UI works in IMatch 5, but since then the UI has evolved, but not drastically changed.
For a couple of years the IMatch help had a chapter "For IMatch 3" users, with tips for stepping up from 3 to 5. This has been removed some years ago, though.

The best place to learn about IMatch, workflows, features, tips & tricks is the IMatch Help System.
You can reach it from anywhere in IMatch by pressing <F1> or the "Help" button, when there is one.

The Help System also has many overview topics, tricks & tips sections etc. Well worth to visit regularly.

I recommend the Keyboard Cheat Sheet as a good start for beginners. Print it out.
It does not only list all major features and commands, but also the corresponding keyboard shortcuts.

The Visual Index gives you an overview of all major features.

The Meet IMatch overview section provides links to all detail sections, from file management to face detection to geo-coding.

The IMatch Learning Center offers many free video tutorials for IMatch.

For developers, the IMatch Developer Center has all the docs, tutorials, Code Recipes and more.

[jch2103]

The reason I'm starting to use iMatch this time, is that I want to get started archiving the family pictures. Not just the digital ones from the last decade or so, but especially the old ones that only exist physically now.

Welcome back. IMatch is indeed an excellent tool to deal with archived family photos. Transforming physical photos into digital versions is a challenging project! There are a number of threads by people doing so here in the Forum that may be helpful. One deals with scanned image dates, https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=1129.0, and others deal with things like face recognition that may be useful.

One other piece of software that I've found essential in digitizing photos, negatives and slides is ViewScan https://www.hamrick.com/. It supports over 6,000 scanners on multiple operating systems.

You'll find the folks here on the Forum very useful if/when you have questions, plus of course Mario's support. Good luck!

[superska]

For a couple of years the IMatch help had a chapter "For IMatch 3" users, with tips for stepping up from 3 to 5. This has been removed some years ago, though.

Thanks, Mario. Don't worry about the removed iMatch3 section: I don't remember much anyway. Actually, I found the new iMatch look te be quite familiar. I've been looking at how the apps work last night. Greet stuff you did there.

Greetz,
Stefan Kamphuis

[superska]

Transforming physical photos into digital versions is a challenging project! There are a number of threads by people doing so here in the Forum that may be helpful. One deals with scanned image dates, https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?topic=1129.0, and others deal with things like face recognition that may be useful.

Thanks. Face recognition sounds very interesting, so I'll definitely have a look at that. As far as the scanning, I'm hoping to find an app with satisfying results. Currently I feel I don't need the very best quality available. And it needs to be easyu and fast if I want some family members to hop on the wagon too.

Most pictures are "low quality and high value"anyway. It's things like holiday pictures taken with a cheap point-and-click analog camera :-)

Greetz,
Stefan

[jch2103]

As far as the scanning, I'm hoping to find an app with satisfying results. Currently I feel I don't need the very best quality available. And it needs to be easyu and fast if I want some family members to hop on the wagon too.

Most pictures are "low quality and high value"anyway. It's things like holiday pictures taken with a cheap point-and-click analog camera :-)

If you're in the Android ecosystem, Google has an app called PhotoScan. It's easy to use and has some useful features to prevent glare, crop, etc. I expect there are similar apps in iOS.

[Mario]

There is/was an interesting blog post "Why Google is suddenly obsesses with your photos", which I found interesting.

[superska]

If you're in the Android ecosystem, Google has an app called PhotoScan. It's easy to use and has some useful features to prevent glare, crop, etc. I expect there are similar apps in iOS.

I tried that one. Quite satisfying results, but I might prefer an app with similar results and pay a few euro's for it. Didn't yet find the post Mario was talking about, but I expect it's about the same reason I have to prefer to pay for a good app :-)