FAQ

Q1. How can I register the product?
A1. Product registration occurs after you have paid for the license and received a product key. The registrant's name and the key need to be entered into the Enter Key dialog box accessible from the File > Enter Key submenu for the application to become fully functional.
Q2. I tried zooming to 400% and 800%, but could not replicate the results shown on your web page. Why?
A2. For that, you need to resize, not zoom—choose Resize from the Image menu and make sure Vidira is selected under Enlargement Method. Note also that the Vidira method is always used for wallpaper generation and enlargement of small images upon loading.
Q3. Why does the wallpaper I set disappear after log off?
A3. You use the wrong command. The default wallpaper is changed by the Tools > Set As Default Wallpaper command. The other two wallpaper related commands of the Tools menu, Set As Wallpaper and Default Wallpaper, are meant for setting "temporary" wallpaper, and switching back to the default, respectively. This way, different wallpaper images can be tried without affecting the default. For more information, please see the Desktop Wallpaper section under Using ClearerZoom in the help documentation.
Q4. Is desktop wallpaper still guided by Windows Control Panel?
A4. Yes. The Wallpaper part of the Options dialog box (Tools > Options) does indeed override the effect of Windows wallpaper positioning; however, changes to appropriate settings of Display in Control Panel do affect the default wallpaper. For more information, please see the Desktop Wallpaper section under Using ClearerZoom in the help documentation.
Q5. Can I use bicubic interpolation to generate wallpaper?
A5. Yes. Set wallpaper methods from the Tools menu feature Vidira enlargement, and while we don't recommend using bicubic interpolation for this purpose, you can do it. In the Resize dialog box (Image > Resize), check Keep Aspect Ratio, select Bicubic for enlargement method, enlarge the image so that it will cover the entire desktop, and save it (File > Save As). Next, load the saved image (File > Open), and use wallpaper commands of the Tools menu together with wallpaper options (Tools > Options) according to your preferences.
Q6. What is the Always Use True Color option all about?
A6. The Always Use True Color check box of the Options dialog (Tools > Options) specifies conversion to 24 bpp for images with a smaller bit depth before resizing, bicubic interpolation zooming, or wallpaper generation takes place. To see the difference, take, for example, the Ghost image from the Samples folder in the program directory. This image is a binary image with its pixels being either black or white. Magnifying it with this option checked generates gray transitions between the two colors, while leaving it unchecked keeps the image binary. Note that leaving the box unchecked does not necessarily mean that the conversion to true color will not be performed. This happens because the program may determine that colors contained in the image are insufficient for quality enlargement, and to be able to generate additional colors, it switches to 24 bpp. Color GIF images, for example, practically always trigger the conversion to true color despite having the box unchecked.
Q7. Why is Vidira enlargement slower than bicubic interpolation?
A7. Bicubic interpolation, together with other filtering techniques, such as B-Spline and Lanczos, "blindly" interpolates between pixels regardless of the nature of the underlying image data. The Vidira method, on the other hand, examines local image structure and adjusts processing to preserve its characteristics in the enlarged image. Such an approach, while resulting in better quality enlargements, does require more computational resources than ordinary techniques. Since during image viewing, quite frequently only a portion of a large image is of interest, the Crop To Window command from the Tools menu is provided to get rid of irrelevant image parts and speed up the enlargement process. Note that Crop To Window can be used in conjunction with zooming to better focus on the area of interest.
Q8. How can I eliminate ringing and blockiness from enlarged images?
A8. These and similar artifacts are caused by JPEG compression. Artifacts get enlarged just like image features do, and thus become more obvious in enlarged images. If your camera can output in TIFF format, you should steer clear of JPEG as much as possible. If not, at least change camera settings to the highest available JPEG quality.
Q9. Is zooming always so slow?
A9. No. Selecting Replication/Bilinear in the Options dialog box (Tools > Options) results in instantaneous zooming. The Bicubic selection improves the quality a bit but takes longer, so that its use is recommended for smaller images (Tools > Crop To Window can also be used to decrease the image size) and lower zooming factors.
Q10. When I run several instances of CZ concurrently, aliasing shows in Best Fit mode. Why?
A10. By using multiple instances of the program, more and more resources get consumed, and one of the first consequences is that the Replication/Bilinear zooming turns into pixel replication—the worst possible zooming method (although the sole available in the majority of image viewers). To rectify the problem, change the Zoom Method in the Options dialog (Tools > Options) to Bicubic.
Q11. How come my pictures look better on screen than printed out?
A11. Printing quality depends upon several factors, good photo printer being one of them. ClearerZoom addresses the relation between printout size and print resolution—choosing too large a printout for a given image size degrades the print quality, while enlarging the image before printing eliminates this problem. Excessive enlargement, however, brings no improvement, and we recommend using the print resolution around 300 ppi. For more information, please see the Saving and Printing section under Using ClearerZoom in the help documentation.
Q12. Is slide show available?
A12. No. An alternative is full-screen mode, in which keyboard and mouse shortcuts enable stepping through images in the current folder. Furthermore, by checking Enlarge To 200% Upon Loading in the Options dialog box (Tools > Options), images smaller than the specified size (say, 640 × 480) will be automatically enlarged before being displayed as you move through the folder. Please see the Full Screen command documentation for the list of commands available in full-screen mode and the Options dialog help for a description of relevant options.