Working with superimposer

Working with PNG_superimPoser, a few angles.

Rendering time: While the program renders possibly thousands of images, it is still possible and comfortable to use the computer to keep up working on other tasks. It is even possible to launch your favorite graphic application in order to make some modification on an image that is not yet involved in the rendering process! While performing the superimposition tasks, the current frame being rendered is available on screen. Any other application will perform in a decent manner as PNG_superimPoser is rendering.

Multiple instance: It is possible to launch several instances of the program, each of them processing independently. While one instance is rendering, it is possible to use another one to create and fine tune a new project.

Patching (1): PNG_superimPoser can help you patch graphics the easy way. Let say some error appears somewhere in a 3D image sequence, eventually a long scene, that was just processed . Or maybe the matter is to, finally, change the color of a shirt's actor. All that is required to do so is to render with the 3D engine the part to be changed, and eventually its dependencies (if some arm or hand passes in front of the shirt), and to save the result as PNG transparent files. This should be very fast as the rest of the scene will be set to 'invisible" or 'hidden'. Then superimpose the newly rendered images on the previous images to be corrected. This approach may save long hours of rendering. Though we want to do our best to get the best quality at once, PNG_superimPoser offers smooth solutions for any issue that may arise once ..its too late!. There are some tricks to be applied that makes life easier. When you process the patch in 3D, you may want to load an uncorrected image in the background: this may help doing tiny posing modification to insure a perfect result.

Patching (2): The same solution may apply within an image sequence. A few images may be reprocessed for some changes - a facial expression to be refined for instance - . Then the modified files just have to be replaced by the new ones in the project folder, or anywhere at their location, depending on the settings: that is if it was chosen or not to copy the files in the project folder.

Command line: PNG_superImposer PRO allows interoperability through the command line. This means that another program or script can pilot the program to have it render videos or superimposition.

Project folder: It is not mandatory that the files involved in a sequence need to be copy in the "background" or "foreground" folder of the project. Yet it is a convenient strategically. If the files are numerous (thousands) you may want to copy them manually or leave them at their initial location (the program will ask). Unless you just operate a simple operation - such as superimposing 2 files or creating a video from a pile of image - the resulting images will be always located in the "image_out" directory of your project. This makes it very easy to use the resulting images of this project within another project, and in this case there is no need to copy the files in the next project's folder. In other worlds, PNG_superimPoser allows the chaining of the projects, each of them feeding in the "image_out" directory of the previous one.

A project folder is a simple structure of directory located within the main project folder (ex D:\project\ ) right under the program. This structure is made of:

1	A project folder whose name describes the project. Do not hesitate to be descriptive when choosing the name ex: "01_Actor1_on_the_background1". If you wish to chain projects, starting the project name with a digit is good practice: it will allow you to locate easily where each sequence is should you will to make some changes ex: D:\project\01_Actor1_on_the_background1 This project folder may contain as many project files ("project.prj") as you wish, each of them corresponding to different handling, settings, positioning, of the graphic files.

2	A "background" folder where the program may copy, or not, the files that will populate the background of the final sequence. ex: D:\project\01_Actor1_on_the_background1\background

3	A "foreground" folder, where, samely, the program may copy, or not, the files that will populate the front of the sequence ex: D:\project\01_Actor1_on_the_background1\foreground

4	An "image_out" folder, where all superimposed images will be automatically stored
	ex: D:\project\01_Actor1_on_the_background1\image_out

5	An "video" folder, where all video files will be automatically stored
	ex: D:\project\01_Actor1_on_the_background1\video