Working with Digital Images

Gallery Express allows a gallery to store digital images of inventory, artists and appraised art works. These images are used to enhance a variety of reports such information sheets and insurance appraisals, and for the publishing of inventory items to a web site. The images are saved in a compressed jpeg format according to the settings chosen by the gallery when setting the company defaults.

Unlike most other software that handles digital images, Gallery Express actually saves your digital images within the database. This means your images will always be accessible to you, whether or not you are accessing your data over a network or if it becomes necessary to move your data to another computer.

Capturing your images

Gallery Express can import images of most common file types such as .bmp files, .jpg files and .ico files. Alternatively, you can drag an image from a location such as Windows Explorer and drop it directly on the picture frame on the form.

Gallery Express offers the following options for capturing digital images:

• Import from a file - If your images are already located on your computer hard drive, select Image->Insert File Image on the toolbar to browse to the location of the file.  
• Capture from the current default device - To capture the image directly from a scanner or digital camera, select Image->Insert Scanner Image. Gallery Express will interface directly with the software installed with your scanner or digital camera.  
• To change the default device select Image->Select Scanner Source and choose your scanner, digital camera or other TWAIN compatible device.  
• Removing an image - select Image->Remove Image to remove the current image, then save your changes. .

NOTE:  Before adding your images to the program, it is recommended that you use your favorite image editing software to make sure the images are cropped and edited correctly.

Viewing saved images

To view any images that have been saved in Gallery Express, double click on the small image on the form. A new window will open that displays your image at the correct size and proportion.

Saving your images back to the drive

To save any images back to your hard drive, select Image->Save Image As JPEG/BMP from the menu. Browse to the location where you want to save the file and edit the file name if required.

Image files can be saved as either bitmap (.bmp) or compressed jpeg (.jpg) files. depending on the file type selected when saving the image.