PhotoQt Image Viewer (mirror repo) - https://photoqt.org
Another all new release is ready: PhotoQt v4.5. This release brings a few new additions, but mostly focuses on bug fixes, improvements, and generally a more polished user experience. Thank you to all who gave feedback and suggestions!
Here is an overview of some of the major updates in this new release:
Various improvements and fixes were added to PhotoQt to make it start up and load folders much faster. On startup, the main image is shown not only without animation, but is also fully loaded before any thumbnails are. In addition, loading a folder with a large number of images (tens of thousands and more) is now done much more efficiently with the time until the image is shown reduced by more than one order of magnitude. The more images there are in a folder, the larger the relative performance gains.
The slideshow feature has undergone a major overhaul for this release. It is now possible to select more than one music files for background music (including shuffling there order), all file types (including videos) are now handled properly, no 'busy loading photo' indicator will be shown during slideshows, and the left and right arrow keys can be used to switch to the next/previous image. Probably the biggest addition to the slideshow feature, however, has been the addition of the Ken Burns effect. The Ken Burns effect slowly pans across and zooms images to give the appearance of action in the still images. This effect, however, is not applied to video files, they will continue to be shown normally.
Photo spheres are now much better integrated into the main interface, they now behave much like regular images. By default, PhotoQt will load such an image immediately as sphere, although this behavior can be disabled in the settings. This change in handling of photo spheres allows the use of some of the other features (showing location on map, histogram, etc.) to also be used for photo spheres. Note, however, that custom color profiles are currently not supported for color profiles.
Various smaller improvements were done to the file dialog. Zooming the files is now happening much smoother than before, the subfolder menus in the breadcrumbs now cache all subfolders instead of reloading them every time they are requested, the backspace key is now used for going back in history instead of moving a file to trash, and the suggestions for subfolders when editing the location text have been improved.
Support for color profiles was further improved, including some important fixes. Images that claim to be of format ARGB32 no longer result in a fully transparent image once a color profile has been applied. Using LittleCMS to apply external or embedded color profiles is now happening in the proper "direction", meaning that the colors now finally will be displayed exactly as intended. Applying color profiles using Qt's support for this feature already worked as expected.
These are just some of the major changes and additions, there also have been a whole bunch of other improvements and various bug fixes – particularly many fixes and improvements for this release compared to most if not all older releases. This leads to an overall much more polished user experience that I'm sure everybody will appreciate. You can find a more complete list of everything that has changed in this release in the Changelog.
I love to hear from people using PhotoQt. In order to get in touch with me for feedback/support/etc., there are a few different ways you can do so:
If you want to help PhotoQt, there are a few ways you can get involved:
If you are considering supporting PhotoQt by donation, please consider donating to the humanitarian relief in Ukraine instead, for example to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas
PhotoQt v4.4 brings a whole range of exciting new features, from support for color profiles, to accent colors, lossless zoom for vector graphics, and so much more – there is something for everybody. Thank you to all who gave feedback and suggestions!
Here is an overview of some of the bigger changes and additions to PhotoQt with this release:
One big addition with this release is the support for ICC color profiles. PhotoQt makes use of LittleCMS for supporting a wide range of color profiles and formats. It can also look for and apply embedded color profiles to make your images look exactly the way they were supposed to. If you have a custom color profile you can import it in the settings manager. When an image is loaded you can manually apply a color profile of your choice through the context menu. That selection is preserved per session but not beyond.
You want to know what color profile is currently used for any given image? Add the color profile tile to the status info in the settings manager.
For as long as PhotoQt has existed, all the way back to the initial release v0.1, it used various shades of gray for all parts of its interface. This has now changed! In the settings manager you can now select from several accent colors to make your experience with PhotoQt a little more colorful. The colors have been well tested, however, the different color shades might be tweaked a little in future versions based on feedback.
When zooming into images, in particular very large ones, it can become hard to keep an overview of where in the image you currently are. Thus, PhotoQt will now show a small version of the image in the bottom right corner whenever the image extends beyond the window edges. In that small version it indicates where you are in the image, and you can click at a location or drag the marker around to navigate to different parts of the image. There are a few different choices for its size. All of this can be adjusted from the settings manager or by right-clicking on the minimap.
Vector graphics (SVGs) come with the promise of lossless scaling up and down. This is now possible in PhotoQt. When you zoom into an SVG image, PhotoQt will refresh the shown image with the currently requested resolution, allowing for a lossless zooming experience.
For quite a while now PhotoQt supported browsing the contents of documents and archives (including comic books) by entering a so-called viewer mode. Although that mode still exists it is now possible to also navigate through such files through small floating controls that pop up when they are loaded. Additionally, the left/right arrow keys can be set to iterate through such a document and archive regardless of what shortcut action they are connected to. In the floating controls you can find a small lock icon to easily toggle that behavior on/off.
The settings manager has been redesigned a bit to make it a bit more compact and to align all options (checkboxes, sliders, etc.) along the left instead of centering them individually. Additionally, various settings that previously were not included in the settings manager (namely the settings for the file dialog and slideshows) are now also accessible there.
In addition, several of the floating elements (thumbnails, metadata, histogram, etc.) have some settings relevant to them accessible through a context menu that can be open through a right click.
These are just some of the major changes additions, there also have been a whole bunch of smaller improvements and various bug fixes – shadows behind floating elements, contextual settings through context menus, improved spinbox/slider selections, faster histogram loading, fixed shortcut to text conversion, and much more. You can find a more complete list of everything that has changed in this release in the Changelog.
I love to hear from people using PhotoQt. In order to get in touch with me for feedback/support/etc., there are a few different ways you can do so:
If you want to help PhotoQt, there are a few ways you can get involved:
If you are considering supporting PhotoQt by donation, please consider donating to the humanitarian relief in Ukraine instead, for example to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas
The all new version 4.3 of PhotoQt is available now. The focus of this release is on quality improvement and bug fixes, but it also brings a few new features nonetheless. Thank you to everybody who provided feedback!
Ability to detect QR and bar codes in images. Accessible through the context menu and by shortcut, PhotoQt will look for any QR and bar code it can find in the image, highlights the region, and provides buttons to copy the encoded text to the clipboard. If the text is an URL, it also offers a button to open that URL in your default browser.
Animation for mirroring images/videos. Up to now, mirroring an image would apply the effect immediately. Now, PhotoQt animates this process by a flipping animation. The old behavior can always be restored in the settings.
Improved video navigation. A new shortcut has been added to jump 5 seconds forwards/backwards in a video, with a default shortcut of Alt+Left/Right. There is also an optional feature to perform this action with the normal arrow keys whenever a video is loaded, regardless of what shortcut action they are connected to.
Improved layout of settings manager. The selection of categories and their subcategories has been streamlined and made easier to navigate. At the same time they also take up less space on the screen leaving more space available for the settings themselves.
Fixed handling of network paths on Windows. PhotoQt is now (again) able to navigate to Windows networks paths as if they are normal folders. In addition, the path in the file dialog shows a special network icon including the name of the network device.
As much as I try to avoid this, no piece of code is perfect. There have been a few bugs and quirks that have been found in PhotoQt (shout out to everybody who reported one or more) that have now been fixed:
These are just some of the highlights. You can find a more complete list of everything that has changed in this release in the Changelog.
I love to hear from people using PhotoQt. In order to get in touch with me for feedback/support/etc., there are a few different ways you can do so:
If you want to help PhotoQt, there are a few ways you can get involved:
If you are considering supporting PhotoQt by donation, please consider donating to the humanitarian relief in Ukraine instead, for example to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas
Another month, another release - PhotoQt v4.2 is now available for download. It brings some exciting new features including support for some new types of images, and several improvements and bug fixes. In addition, the logo has been tweaked slightly.
The logo so far had one clear downside: It was not very legible on dark backgrounds. The tweaks to the logo (thanks to @hadoukez for their help) makes the logo legible with both light and dark backgrounds. This applies to both the full logo but also the smaller icon without text.
These are just some of the highlights. You can find a more complete list of everything that has changed in this release in the Changelog.
I love to hear from people using PhotoQt. In order to get in touch with me for feedback/support/etc., there are a few different ways you can do so:
If you want to help PhotoQt, there are a few ways you can get involved:
If you are considering supporting PhotoQt by donation, please consider donating to the humanitarian relief in Ukraine instead, for example to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas
It hasn't even been a week since v4.0, but PhotoQt v4.1 is out! The main focus of this release is bug fixes and adding some missing functionality.
Given the massive size of this last release, most things were/are working just fine, no major issues were discovered following the release. However, some things did manage to slip through and were subsequently caught and reported (thanks to everybody who helped!). This resulted in this quick new release with a range of fixes and improvements.
You can find a more complete list of everything that has changed in this release in the Changelog.
I love to hear from people using PhotoQt. In order to get in touch with me for feedback/support/etc., there are a few different ways you can do so:
If you want to help PhotoQt, there are a few ways you can get involved:
If you are considering supporting PhotoQt by donation, please consider donating to the humanitarian relief in Ukraine instead, for example to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas
Mistakes happens, though thankfully this is a rather small one. Upgrading to PhotoQt v4.0 had a small bug where the first time (it works on subsequent times) the new PhotoQt was started the settings were not read properly.
Ideally things like this are caught during testing, but unfortunately this one slipped through. I promise I will try to do better next time.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas
PhotoQt v4.0 is here! It's the biggest update to PhotoQt in its history with almost all code being updated, restructured, and/or rewritten. The code is now easier to maintain and PhotoQt is now faster than ever before. With this release PhotoQt is now also based on Qt 6.
The biggest change in this update is the switch from Qt5 to Qt6. PhotoQt now requires at least Qt 6.2 for compilation (although 6.4+ is recommended). Instead of simply ensuring the previous code compiles and runs with Qt 6, this allowed for the unique opportunity to do two things:
If you are unable to update to Qt6, the last version of PhotoQt still based on Qt5 will continue to be available in a separate branch on GitLab.
Listing all the changes in this release is not feasible, there are simply too many (there are close to 400 commits). By and large, PhotoQt should look and feel familiar. Here are some notes though:
Settings Manager:
The biggest visible change is most likely the settings manager. The old settings manager was rather cluttered and overwhelming. The new manager addresses this by grouping settings into some main categories, and for each main category further into subcategories. Each subcategory now has helpful explanations what can be done and how. Great care was taken to make sure the categorization of settings makes sense, but any feedback is appreciated, in particular if you didn't find a setting where you expected it but somewhere else.
Image Behavior:
It used to be possible to not only move the main image around as desired, but it was also possible to, e.g., move the image fully outside of the window - and it would stay there. Starting with this release, the main image always snaps back into the main view when dragged outside. It is now also possible to flick the image around, which makes for easier navigation around a zoomed in image.
Map Services:
Up to PhotoQt v.3.4, PhotoQt supported different map providers for its integrated maps. Qt was a little delayed in re-adding map support into Qt 6. Map support in PhotoQt is only available when compiling with Qt 6.4+, and so far only OpenStreetMap is a supported map provider. The latter is expected to change with more possible providers being (re-)added soon.
Throughout this whole process, PhotoQt has been extensively tested and found to be working very well. However, there is only that much one person can do, there are likely things that slipped through the cracks. If you find anything that is not as it should be or doesn't do what it should do, or if there is anything you don't like (or like very much), please let me know:
Another way to help PhotoQt is by joining the translation team over on Crowdin. If your language is missing you can simply request it directly on Crowdin or send me an email and I can add it to the project.
If you are considering supporting PhotoQt by donation, please consider donating to the humanitarian relief in Ukraine instead, for example to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas
PhotoQt 3.4 will be the last version of PhotoQt built on Qt5. Nevertheless, it still brings a bunch of improvements and also some new features. The next release of PhotoQt will be v4.0 based on Qt 6.2+.
This new release will be the last planned release based on Qt5. However, it nonetheless is packed with new features and improvements, including:
Better SVG support: Qt's built-in support for SVG images is somewhat lacking. Thus, PhotoQt now supports resvg to render and show SVG images, providing proper support for the full complement of SVG features.
Updated imgur.com integration: It has been possible to upload images to imgur.com from within PhotoQt for quite some time. As part of the port to Qt6 several improvements have been done for a more reliable and efficient experience. These changes have been ported back to this Qt5 version. In addition, it is now again possible to connect PhotoQt with imgur.com user account from within the settings manager.
Updated image export: Saving images in new files has been working quite well for a long time, but the user experience was lacking a bit. The user interface was completely reworked for Qt6 with a better selection of formats and proper feedback regarding the progress of converting an image. These changes have been ported back to this Qt5 version.
Opening PhotoQt on Windows resulted in the window "flashing" all-white before being rendered fully. This is unfortunately a characteristic of OpenGL, discussions around which can be found online going back more than a decade. To work around this visual bug, PhotoQt on Windows will fade in the window with a very short delay.
These are just some of the highlights, there have been a lot more things that made it into this new release, including quite a few bug fixes. You can find a more complete list in the Changelog.
Note: If you have installed PhotoQt on Windows using the provided Windows installer, please consider updating as soon as possible as the updated installer includes fixed image libraries mitigating the recent critical WebP vulnerability.
Some major changes are coming up over the next few weeks for PhotoQt:
The port/partial rewrite of PhotoQt based on the next major version of Qt is coming along quite nicely, and v4.0 based on Qt 6.2+ is scheduled to be released later this month. I took this opportunity to restructure the source code of PhotoQt significantly for a cleaner and easier to maintain codebase. The engine loading and presenting the images has been reworked to be not only faster but also less demanding on the computer's resources. All elements were carefully analyzed and changes were implemented - some small, some large - to improve the user experience. Some of these changes have even been ported back to the Qt5 version, so you can enjoy some of the results already now with v3.4.
A new logo is coming! Thanks to Volo a.k.a @hadoukez for designing it. Stay tuned over the next week or two to find out what it is.
In addition to a new logo, a new website is also coming. The new website will sport a cleaner and more modern interface (don't worry, it will still be light). The colors of the new website are designed around the colors of the new logo resulting in a unified user experience.
These changes are all very exciting and will allow PhotoQt to continue to make great strides going forward with new features, fewer bugs, and better performance.
I love to hear from people using PhotoQt. In order to get in touch with me for feedback/support/etc., there are a few different ways you can do so:
If you want to help PhotoQt, there are a few ways you can get involved:
If you are considering supporting PhotoQt by donation, please consider donating to the humanitarian relief in Ukraine instead, for example to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas
It has only been about a month, but there have been some major improvements and additions to PhotoQt since, including an all-new shortcuts engine, interactive map views for images with location data, overall visual improvements, and many other changes. Shoutout to @hadoukez, @flashwalker, @s7stem7, and @a17r for their feedback and help.
Highlights of this release
Here are some of the biggest highlights of this release:
All new shortcuts engine
One of the strength of PhotoQt is the wide availability and integration of all kinds of shortcuts. With this release, a new (and better) way to manage shortcuts has been introduced.
Shortcuts are managed in groups. Within a group, multiple shortcuts (gestures/key combinations) and multiple actions (right column) can be defined. All gestures/key combinations can activate the same actions. If multiple actions are defined then there are two ways this can be handled:
Some other changed related to the shortcuts include:
Explore images in an interactive map Sometimes images come with location information attached to them. There are two things PhotoQt can do with that location information:
There are multiple map providers that are currently supported:
You can switch between these providers in the settings manager from the 'Image View' tab.
Interface improvements
There have been various improvements to the interface overall. The most noticable change is likely the cleaner and more unified look of all the different elements. With the use of templates, all elements have their title and action buttons in the same place. They also behave better when popped out and/or scaled to small sizes.
These are just some of the highlights, there have been a lot more things that made it into this new release, e.g., the support of QtPDF, preventing potential race conditions, and much more. You can find a more complete list in the Changelog.
Looking ahead: Qt 6
Currently PhotoQt is based on Qt 5. The next version of Qt has been out for a few years already by now, and is supported (to some extent) by an increasing amount of distributions. Switching PhotoQt from Qt 5 to Qt 6 is not something that will happen overnight, but I started thinking about how this might happen. It would, however, allow PhotoQt to take advantage of some more recent additions and improvements in Qt and prepare it for the future.
Switching to Qt6 does, however, come with some caveats. It excludes people on distributions that do not ship Qt 6 (e.g., Ubuntu 20.04) from receiving newer updates. In some cases this can be solved by making use of projects that have backported Qt 6 to older systems.
As of right now, I expect some movement in that area later this year. Whether that will mean that there will be a Qt 5 and Qt 6 version in parallel for some time or not, that remains to be seen. If you have some comments or suggestions regarding this, please let me know.
Get involved
I love to hear from people using PhotoQt. In order to get in touch with me for feedback/support/etc., there are a few different ways you can do so:
If you want to help PhotoQt, there are a few ways you can get involved:
If you are considering supporting PhotoQt by donation, please consider donating to the humanitarian relief in Ukraine instead, for example to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas
The latest version v3.2 of PhotoQt is ready with a whole range of exciting new features and improvements. A big thanks to @hadoukez, @Marnes, @stalkerGL, @Sytchenko, @flashwalker, @megahertz1, and @bugbug156 for their feedback, suggestions, and testing.
Here are some of the highlights of this new release:
You can find a more complete list of all the changes, improvements, and bug fixes in this release in the Changelog.
I love to hear from people using PhotoQt. In order to get in touch with me for feedback/support/etc., there are a few different ways you can do so:
If you want to help PhotoQt, there are a few ways you can get involved:
If you are considering supporting PhotoQt by donation, please consider donating to the humanitarian relief in Ukraine instead, for example to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Enjoy PhotoQt,
Lukas