SAR Image Processor (Version 5.4)

SOFTWARE TITLE AND COPYRIGHT:

		SAR Image Processor
		Version 5.4 (freeware)
		Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2019
		Steven A. Ruzinsky, Ph.D.
		All rights reserved.
		
		e-mail: [email protected]
		home page: http://www.general-cathexis.com


LEGAL DISCLAIMER:

This software is provided "as is" and the user assumes all risk associated with the use of this software.  Under no circumstance shall the author be liable for damages caused by this software.  This software may only be distributed by the author.  This software may not be modified, reverse-engineered or disassembled.  The author grants you permission to use this software but full ownership and copyright remain with the author.  Unauthorized distribution of registration key codes is prohibited.



DESCRIPTION:

This software edits images.  Only  TIFF, BMP, PNG, JPG, FITS, TARGA and FDIB file formats are supported.  EXIF is not supported.  Only 24 bit and greater bit depth sub-formats are supported.  This software is capable of reading and writing 48 bit TIFF, PNG and FITS files and 32 bit FITS files.  (GIMP will read but not write all FITS formats.)  The native format of this program is FDIB which is 32 bit floating point.  The current FDIB is incompatible with the previous FDIB used by the freeware, SAR Interpolate. 

Starting with version 5.0, SAR Image Processor is freeware. Donations are welcome.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

PC with a 24 or 32 bit graphic display. SAR Image Processor has only been tested by me under Windows 10 64 bit, Windows 7 64 bit, Windows XP 32 bit and Windows ME 32 bit.  


INSTALLATION/UNINSTALLATION:

There is no automatic installation.  Place SARimageProcessor.exe and accompanying files in a separate directory (of your choice) with ample disk space for temporary files.  The first time that SARimageProcessor.exe is closed, a file, sar.ini, will be created.  To use an optional sound notification of process completion, place a WAV file of your choice into the directory and rename it "sar.wav."  Windows 98 and Me users will have to install GDIPLUS.DLL, available as a separate download, in the same directory.   (XP users already have GDIPLUS.DLL and can skip installation of GDIPLUS.DLL.) To uninstall SAR, just delete the aforementioned directory. I assume that you know how to manually set file associations so that, when you double click on an image file in Windows Explorer, SARimageProcessor.exe will open it.

For running more than one instance of SAR simultaneously, each should have its own directory.

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New features for v. 2.06 include Data Dependent Lanczos and Modified B-Spline.
New features for v. 2.061 include enhancements made to texture inpainting and wavelet stuff.
New features for v. 2.1 include deconvolution and periodic smoothing. Also, there are subtle changes too numerous to list.
New features for v. 2.2 include Presharpening for Enlargement, "Pyramid" simulation, and multivariate median stacking for object removal. Also, fixed some problems with Progress Bar.  
New features for v. 2.3 Beta include Enlargement with Super Rez postprocessing, Pseudoinverse Enlargement, and Windowless Xin Li.
New features for v. 2.31 Beta include automatic detection and overwriting of old incompatible sar.ini file.  Also, corrected some major screwups in 2.3 Beta.
New features for v. 3.0 include Fast Noise Removal, Fast Extended DOF Stacking, Fast Translational Alignment, NL Means, and Gaussian Weighted Median
New features for v. 3.1 include automatic alignment by simultaneous rotation, resizing and translation, improved rotation, two point and four point registration with Lanczos3 interpolation, faster median algorithm, and removed bugs in Destroy Template.
New features for v. 3.2 include automatic "Block" alignment.
New features for v. 3.3 include HDR Stacking, HDR Contrast Equalization, HDR Quick Dirty Tone Mapping, Histogram Equalization, Matching Images by Levels, Ctrl+Break replaces Break.
New features for v. 3.31 include support for FLOATING POINT TIFF and improvements to TONE MAPPING.
New features for v. 3.4 include Seam Carving and Poisson Editing.
New features for v. 3.5 include Custom Curve and added "Restore Defaults" buttons to dialog box.
New features for v. 3.6 include ergonomic improvements, hysteresis filter, and revised manual.
New features for v. 3.7 include pyramidal stacking, faster EDOF stacking, improved HDR tone mapping 1 and improved hysteresis filter.
New features for v. 3.8 include Farbman-Tikhonov Regularization, Farbman and Hysteresis Pyramids and optional SIMD speedups.
New features for v. 3.9 include speed increases for Farbman-Tikhonov Regularization, Farbman Pyramids and Tone Map 1.  Also, incorporated slider controls for Integrate Pyramid and corrected some bugs.
New features for v. 4.0 include Pseudo LAD Enlargement and Noise Reduction by Contourlets.  Also, improved Hysteresis Smoothing and incorporated slider controls into Tone Map 1 and instituted scrolling with mouse wheel.
New features for v. 4.1 include Pseudo LAD Deconvolution, Smudge Painting, and Semi-Automatic Colorization. 
New features for v. 4.2 include multithreading, improved Pseudo-LAD Deconvolution, improved Pseudo-LAD Enlargement, Roussos-Maragos Enlargment, MSSIM and many old obsolete enlargement methods have been eliminated.
New features for v. 4.3 include FFT, PCA Based Denoising, Homogenize Insides of Line Enclosures and LAD Color Matching.
The only new feature for v. 5.0 is that SAR is now freeware.  No registration is needed or accepted. Donations are welcome.
The only new feature for v. 5.1 is that SAR now accepts one input and one output image file name from the command line.  After counting exactly three items on the command line, SAR hides its window, then reads the input file, then applies the F2 programmed operation, then writes the processed image to a file with the output name, and then automatically closes.  Except for maybe 0.1 seconds, SAR's window is hidden and, hopefully, out of focus.  Parameters must still be set from within SAR's GUI interface, but whenever SAR is closed, those setting remain (stored in sar.ini).  This feature will allow other programs to use SAR.  Some automatic control of parameters can be accomplished by selecting one of several previously stored and renamed versions of the sar.ini file.
The only new feature for v. 5.2 is that, for some operations, SAR, which is a 32 bit program, can call a 64 bit command line program, CommandLineSAR64.exe, to do its work. The advantage is that larger image files can be processed, and, if the "Parallel Processing" option is selected, processing will be faster on computers with multiple core CPUs.  With v. 5.2, the only operations that use CommandLineSAR64.exe are PseudoLAD, Hysteresis Pyramid and Farbman Pyramid. Put CommandLineSAR64.exe in the same directory as SARImageProcessor.exe. 
   
New features for v. 5.4 include:
1. TARGA (.tga) file support, uncompressed RGB and RGB Alpha, 8 and 16 bits/channel.
2. Alpha channel support, which includes reading/writing PNG and TARGA files with alpha. Most but not all operations work with alpha channel.
3. Optional Undo (Ctrl+Z).
4. Load images from clipboard (Ctrl+V).
5. CommandLineSAR64.exe v.5.4, which is included with SARimageProcessor.exe v. 5.4, doesn't need vcomp110.dll.

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KNOWN BUGS AND ISSUES:

1. Under Windows ME (and probably 98), the cursor does not change for Paint.  The cursor should change from an arrow to a circle with a dot at the center.  This cursor is dynamically created so that the diameter of the circle can be controlled with the numeric keypad + and - keys.

2. Under Windows ME (and probably 98), the image may not be displayed in the preview window of the Print Page Setup Dialog Box.  This does not affect printing.

3. Ctrl+Break works even if the program does not have focus.

4. Sometimes a menu item may unexpectedly (without holding the Control key down) appear on the list of the last item on the menu bar (initially "NoOp"). 

5. Sometimes the arrow keys and some other keys may not operate after stacking or batch file processing.

6. In Windows 7 and 10, the "Printer" button for setting printer preferences is missing from the Print Dialog Box.  There should be three buttons labeled "OK," "Cancel," and "Printer" at the bottom.

7. Not all operations work with an alpha channel and attempting to do so may crash the program. Expect alpha channel support to be buggy.  Loading an image from the clipboard may be slower than expected.

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