14 DAY TRIAL // The size of the images you work with is at times essential. Mailing them or posting them online can require a little bit of re-dimensioning, which is not at all a complicated operation if you have the right software within reach. F2 ImageResizer complies with that requirement and in addition to that, is packed with the skills to watermark your images and enhance them with various built-in effects.
With support for some of the most popular image formats, namely JPEG, JPG, PNG, BMP and GIF, the software also works in batches, which means that you will be able to process hundreds of photos at a time, regardless of the type of camera they were taken with.
F2 ImageResizer is free of charge and there’s the first reason why you should give it a glance. The installation process takes only a couple of seconds and won’t bother you with unnecessary toolbars or any other type of ad related materials.
The first thing you’ll find appealing about it is the transparent, colorful on the edges interface, that can be further customized with the aid of the no less than 56 available skins. The fact that you can try on various looks is a major plus, keeping you from getting bored with the just one skin that most applications have. It’s a case of good looks mingled with decent functionality that can only attract the user even more.
The main window of the application is divided into three main areas. In the upper section, you will find the image viewing area, followed by the image list on the right, while in the lower part of the interface, you will come across a well-organized, tabbed menu that incorporates all the image processing functions.
The Main tab is home to four large buttons: Resize, Save options, Watermark and Effects, that will direct you to the corresponding function. Once you add the pictures, you can move on to the resizing section, where the options are various and quite rich. The resize methods provided by the application may not be very familiar to the average user, but that does not mean they shouldn’t be explored thoroughly, as they can and will reflect in the quality of the output images.
Whenever a digital photo undergoes a resizing process, it’s also subject to image interpolation which always results in quality loss. However, interpolation-induced losses can be minimized with the aid of specialized filters that can make the graphic distortions easier on the eyes.
F2 ImageResizer provides you with seven such filters, namely: Box, Triangle, Hermite, Bell, Spline, Lanczos and Mitchell. As a tip, the ‘Box’ filter is the most adequate if you prefer the resizing process to be very fast, while the ‘Mitchell’ filter promises better results in terms of quality.
For JPEG images, the application provides an extra feature, allowing you to customize the output quality, with the aid of a bar that you can drag between values of 10 to 100. The new size of the images that are about to be processed can be set in three different ways: manually (by typing in the values), in percentage or by selecting one of the available presets. The last of the resizing options are with regard to the Aspect Ratio, which can be set by width or by height.
The ‘Save options’ tab is the place you need to explore in order to configure the target image format, directory and name. With F2 ImageResizer, you also get to convert images, noting that the output image support is the same as the input one. If you’re batch processing images and you have different image formats that you don’t want to alter, you can opt to keep the extensions the same as the original ones.
The possibilities for the target directory include placing the results in the source folder or manually selecting it, packing the images into a ZIP archive or PDF file. As far as the name of the resulting files is concerned, you can configure it with the help of the four masks that you can customize in order to obtain the desired titles for your pictures. This feature comes in handy when you’re dealing with large batches of pictures, allowing you to differentiate them from the original ones.
Watermarking images with this utility is kept pretty simple, due to the very little options you are offered for the position of the text or image stamp. You get nine different preset watermark locations that are most welcomed when you have hundreds of pictures in stake. It's also bad news if you want to play the artist, due to the fact that it won't allow you to place the watermarks in a position of your choice.
Besides, the possibilities for personalizing the stamps are not that generous. If you opt for a string of letters, the application lets you customize the font style and color, but no customization options are available for image watermarks, not even a good old-fashioned re-dimensioning. Some sort of consolation comes from the fact that you get the chance to set the stamp transparency and this would be well-appreciated if a preview function were available. You’ll just have to put your intuition and hunch to work, for the modifications you perform on the images, for both watermarking and effects will be visible only after the images have been processed.
Although you can’t actually preview the editing operations, things might get cheerful when you hit the ‘Effects’ tab. This is, nonetheless, a rich section that you can use to enhance your photos even more. Here you’ll find some of the most popular image effects, such as grayscale, flip vertical or horizontal, invert, rotate and sepia. What really catches your eye are the image filters, that come in the form of a few presets, with the possibility of customizing them or adding new ones.
The principle that these filters is built upon is based on a mathematical process called convolution. When the effect is being applied to an image, the heights of pixels are recomputed in connection with the values of the surrounding pixels. The matrix that will be revealed whenever you click on a preset sets the rules for how each pixel’s height value should be calculated.
Even though it seems like a feature intended for the above-average users, there is no reason why the regular user shouldn’t play with random numbers, for the fun of the outcome, or use the existing presets for that matter. There is also an option for photo optimization, which also falls into the mystery category, due to the lack of a previewing function.
Once all the configurations are made, you can press the ‘Do it!’ button and wait for the outcome. Time estimation was over looked during development, the only hint of the duration being the progress bars, with no options for pausing or stopping the process whatsoever. Nonetheless, F2 ImageResizer processes images with decent speed. Resizing a batch of three hundred photos turned out to take a little over five minutes, which is pretty outstanding by all standards. The Good The fact that it can process images in batches is definitely a plus. The support for Drag&Drop and the fact that you can add entire folders at a time also add up to its value. It also places a shortcut in the context menu, so you can send an image directly to the application.
The Bad The most obvious shortcoming of F2 ImageResizer is the fact that it lacks a preview function. The watermarking feature could also receive some improvements, for both text and images.
It also puts a great deal of pressure on the system resources, taking up to 80% of the CPU and about 200 MB of the computer RAM during the conversion (tested on Intel Dual CPU T2410 with 2 GB of RAM).
The Truth All in all, F2 ImageResizer succeeds in completing the main task it was built for, resizing images in batches. The fact that it brings a touch of editing into the process, with the watermarking and the various effects can only be considered fortunate. Even though some features are complicated to work with, its efficiency and ease of use remain to be judged by those who give it a try.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
