Introducing Picasa 3
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- Duration: 5:03
- Published: 2008-08-21
- Uploaded: 2011-02-25
- Author: Google
A quick introduction to Picasa 3, free photo management software from Google.
| Coordinates | 24°28′″N108°35′″N |
|---|---|
| Name | Picasa |
| Logo | |
| Caption | Picasa 3 running on Windows Vista |
| Author | Idealab |
| Developer | |
| Frequently updated | yes |
| Operating system | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux (through Wine) |
| Genre | Digital photo organizer |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | http://picasa.google.com |
Picasa is an image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharing website, originally created by Idealab and owned by Google since 2004.
Native applications for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac OS X (Intel only) are available through Google Labs. For Linux, Google has bundled Wine with the Windows version to create an installation package rather than write a native Linux version, but this version is severely out of date (the latest Windows version, however, can be run with Wine, see Linux section). For Windows 98, Windows Me and Windows 2000, only an older version is available. There is also an iPhoto plugin or a stand-alone program for uploading photos available for Mac OS X 10.4 and later.
Google announced that there will be no Linux version for 3.5, due to low adoption. Since at least July 2009, and as of Nov 2010, Google has only officially offered Picasa 3.0 Beta for Linux http://picasa.google.com/linux/.
However, Picasa 3.8 for Windows can be successfully installed and used under Linux through the use of Picasa 3.0 and Wine. This involves merely installing the official Linux v3.0beta version, then downloading the Windows version and running the .exe installer through Wine, then using cp command to overwrite the v3.0beta install with the Windows install.
According to Picasa Readme, Picasa can parse XMP data. However, it cannot search local files for existing XMP keywords.
Picasa also supports boolean operators for searching in much the same way as Google's web search. All search terms are required by default (as with the operator "AND"), and images tagged with specified keywords can be excluded by using the hyphen (as in the boolean operator "NOT"). For example, searching for family children -friends will cause Picasa to display all images with the keywords "family" and "children", but which do not include the keyword "friends".
Picasa also has an experimental feature in the search bar where images can be searched for that contain certain colors with the "color:" operator.
In Picasa 3, changes to pictures made in Picasa are saved to a hidden file picasa.ini in the same folder as the original picture. This allows multiple edits to be performed without altering the original image. Viewing the picture in Picasa or using the Picasa Photo Viewer will apply modifications on the fly, whereas viewing through other programs (such as Windows XP's Photo and Fax Viewer) will display the original image. Changes can also be made permanent using the "Save" function, where the original file is backed up and the modified version is written in its place, similar to version 2.
Neven Vision incorporates several patents specifically centered around face recognition from digital photo and video images. Neven Vision's technology was among the top finishers in both the FERET 1997 and FRVT 2002 independent tests comparing the world's best face recognition technologies.
Since version 3.5 of Picasa, Google Earth is not needed. Geotagging may be done directly inside Picasa, using a more practical Google Maps component, which enables this functionality in the Mac OS X version.
It allows users with accounts at Google to store and share 1 GB of photos for free.
Users may upload pictures through a variety of ways; via the PWA web interface on supported browsers, Picasa 2.5.0 or later on Microsoft Windows, using the Exporter for iPhoto, the Aperture to Picasa Web Albums plug-in, Uploader on Mac OS X, F-Spot on Linux or through WAManager in the Amiga-like OS MorphOS. In both paid and free accounts, the actual resolution of the photo is maintained (even though a smaller resolution photo may be displayed by the web interface).
In Picasa 3 versions of the software, using the 'original size' upload option, pixel size remains the same, but JPEG compression is increased significantly during upload to PWA. As JPEG is a 'lossy' format, some picture information (and quality) is lost. Picasa 3.6 added an option to preserve original JPEG quality.
PWA uses an "unlisted number" approach for URLs for private photo albums. This enables a user to email a private album's URL to anyone s/he wants; the recipient can view the album without having to create a user account - this is done via an "authentication key" that's needed to be appended to the URL for the album to be shown. The Picasa help files say that private albums are not searchable by anyone except the user. Recently, a new option, named "sign-in required to view" was added to album visibility. This makes the album viewable only to those with whom the album is explicitly shared.
Ads are shown on the free Picasa Web Albums accounts. The Terms of Service permit Google to use the uploaded photos to display on the website or via RSS feeds, and also for promoting Google services royalty-free. Additionally, the terms permit Google to allow other companies with which they are affiliated to use the uploaded pictures. This allowance is perpetual and cannot be revoked by the owner of the photos.
Picasa Web Albums was first leaked on 6 June 2006. When introduced, it came with 250 MB free space. On 7 March 2007 it was upgraded to 1 GB. Users can also rent additional storage space (shared between Google services such as Gmail and Picasa Web Albums) from 20 GB to 16 TB.
Hello's service was canceled at the end of 2006, and users were instructed to try the Picasa 'Blog This' functionality for uploading pictures to their blogs. According to the official website, the Hello project was shut down on 15 May 2008.
Category:Image viewers Picasa Web Albums Category:Freeware Category:Photo software Category:Google services Category:Image organizers Category:Windows software Category:Photo sharing Category:2004 software Category:Google acquisitions Category:Software derived from or incorporating Wine
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
