Version 3 is a major release of Film Free Projection. The biggest change is the introduction of a multi document interface (MDI) – several sequences can be opened simultaneously and the “active” sequence selected by clicking a tab at the top of the sequence:

Having multiple sequences loaded makes it easier to prepare competitions where there are different classes – all the classes can be loaded at the start of the competition and the appropriate tab selected for the start of a class.

The entire set of tabs can be saved or exported, so you can prepare all the sequences for a competition then export everything (including the images) to a folder which can then be copied to a different computer and loaded into FFP – everything will be as it was on the original machine.

Tabs can be moved, named or deleted. Each tab can represent a different competition – the scoring scheme, display mode (detailed or lightbox) and competition type are all stored for each tab, so you could have a Selection mode sequence on one tab, and a By Author competition on another. The only restriction is if running a Mix and Match or Knock Out competition, you can’t switch to another tab – this is because FFP is essentially “running” the competition and it seems too confusing for the user (and the program!) to switch to an entirely different competition in the middle.

If Image Selection mode is used, a new option when processing the selected images is to transfer them to a new tab.

As well as the introduction of MDI, the following additions have been made:

Image information from file name

As well as obtaining author, title and subject information from the image metadata, FFP can now decode the information from the file name. Those users who use the FFP File Name Convertor program will be familiar with the technique – a sample file name is entered (for example Snowdrops by Andrew.jpg) and the corresponding author and title (in our example, the title is “Snowdrops” and the author is “Andrew”). With this information, FFP can automatically deduce the author, title and (optionally) subject from the image file name.

FFP can obtain the information in one of three ways:

1. image metadata – essentially the same as previous versions. 

2. From the image metadata by preference, but if it is absent, from the image file name.

3. Exclusively from the image file name.

The recommended ways are the first two; setting the image metadata is easy using Windows – particularly with Windows Vista or 7 and with the online entering system, the process is pretty much invisible. However, setting the image metadata with MacOS is quite difficult, so people preparing images on the Mac will probably prefer to use the file name so if your club has a mix of Mac and Windows users, then option 2 is perhaps the one to use.

Mac “Extra” Files Silently Ignored

Speaking of MacOS; when transferring files from MacOS to Windows, extra “hidden” files are transferred which had the same name as the original file but with “._” added as a prefix. When earlier versions of FFP tried to read these files, an error message was generated for each file. The new version will silently ignore invalid files that start with “._”.

Program Registration Simplified

Earlier versions of FFP used the registry to store registration information – with Windows Vista and 7, this could cause problems as, depending on the security settings of the computer, writing to the registry might not be permitted. The registration process has now changed – version 3 will still detect the earlier registration details, but new installations use a simpler registration process.

Show Test Image when FFP Starts

A new option allows the test image to be projected automatically when FFP starts.

Multiple Keyboard Support Simplified

Support for multiple keyboards has been greatly simplified – it’s no longer necessary to specify that multiple keyboards will be used for a competition in the scoring scheme, and you can plug extra keyboards in after FFP has started.

Mix and Match Competitions Simplified

Setting up a Mix and Match competition has been simplified; FFP now automatically uses the folder name of a team’s images as the team’s name.

Drag/Drop Copy/Paste Improved

Dragging and dropping images has been improved; when dragging images, the image being dragged is shown. If attempting to drag an image to an area of the detailed display that isn’t visible, the rate of scrolling of the table is adjusted automatically to make it easier to find the correct position.

Support for shortcut keys for copy, cut and paste for the lighbox view has been added.

Home and End Keys Supported

Pressing the Home or End key will select the first or last image in the current sequence.

Dual Screen Support Improved

Version 3 improves the handling of multiple screens – if users turned off their projectors then Windows Vista or 7 would automatically disable the second monitor – FFP now spots the second monitor being disabled and switches to single screen operation, switching back to dual screen when the projector is turned back on.

Automatically Save Top Scoring Images

It is now possible to specify a folder where images that score top marks are automatically saved; camera clubs often use their top scoring images for external competitions; using this facility makes that easier to manage.

Show Author Name After Scoring

A new option is to briefly show the Author name after an image has been scored.

New Image Menu

A new Image menu is available; generally this menu provides the same functionality as the image context menu, but has an additional option to “unhold” all images.

Context Menus Improved

Context menus are those menus that appear when you right click something within FFP. There are two new context menus – one for renaming/deleting tabs and another for selecting the columns that appear in the detailed view. The image context menu itself has been improved – only valid options are now displayed.

Insert Blank Option

One of the context menu’s new options is to insert a blank image.

New Split Projection Mode

With previous versions of FFP, to project multiple images the projectionist had to select the split screen mode (dual or quad) then click the images to project. A new option is to simply select multiple images (by holding the Ctrl key down and click the images to project). FFP will automatically select the appropriate split screen mode for the number of images selected.