Osiva is a smart and reliable image display and compositing tool.

Osiva was written to replace the default Windows image viewer. The result is a slightly cryptic user interface hack. Osiva looks simple, but as you use it you can find more and more to do with it.

Use it to compare and organize digital photos, create a slide show, animate a JPEG list, or composite collage and dissolve effects without windows and controls getting in the way. Images are treated as independent, tangible objects. Osiva can also display image transparency directly on the desktop.

How do you use it?

Drag and drop images into Osiva. You can drop images onto any image window or the icon bar.You can also make Osiva the default viewer for JPG and GIF images.

An image is initially shown at it's actual pixel size. Click on the image and it turns into a thumbnail. Click again and it toggles back to actual size. Move the image by grabbing it with the left mouse button. Resize the image by grabbing the lower left corner. Rotate the image by grabbing the top and pulling. Drag & Drop the image out of Osiva by grabbing it with the right mouse button.

The initial Osiva logo or "splash" image is an image like any other. Close it or drop an image on top of it to replace it.

How do you save your work?

There are three ways to save your work. You can save a file containing the current layout of images. When you reopen the layout file the images are opened and returned to their saved positions. You can "consolidate" the current set of images into a new folder. Consolidation will copy the images and create a matching layout file. Or you can just press the Windows "Print Screen" key and copy the entire screen image into the clip board. This is useful for making quick composites and panoramas that fit on the screen.

Here are some key features of "Osiva":

· open and scale images fast -- get images into view and out of the way
· grab the image to zoom, pan, and rotate -- there are no window borders
· osiva sets the window shape for transparent images (even on '98)
· it's good for comparing and proofing images
· sort images using drag-and-drop
· create slideshows, animations, and dissolve effects
· there is no installation overhead -- it's just osiva.exe