This page contains answers to some common questions about our software: 

Fix Any Color:

1. What is Fix Any Color's "selective color adjustment" ?  How is it different than other color adjustment?
2. Why does Fix Any Color operate use L*C*h* color space?
3. What types of digital images does Fix Any Color work with?   Digital camera images?  Scanned images?  Others?
4. What do the "edge" values in the color ranges do?  What should I set them at?

Digital Camera Poster Creator:

1. Will Digital Camera Poster Creator work with images from my digital camera?
2. What is Edge Calibration and how does it work?
3. What types of printers will Digital Camera Poster Creator work with ?

Email Forwarder:

1. How does the Email Forwarder work ?
2. Do I need Microsoft Outlook for Email Forwarder to work ?
3. Will Email Forwarder work through a firewall ?
4. Do I need to have Outlook running for Email Forwarder to work ?
5. How do I know if I need to provide a username and password in the preference dialog box ?

Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in:

1. How do I install Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in?
2. How do I remove Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in?
3. How do I set my Excel security settings to allow Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in to run?
4. Where can I see a list of all the Data Curve Fit Creator functions in Excel?
5. If I use Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in functions on my workbook, then save the workbook and send it to someone else, then will the functions still work when they open the workbook?

SRS1 Cubic_Spline for Excel:

1. How is the cubic spline function made available in my Excel workbook?

Jumble Key:

1. Why do I need Microsoft Word or Excel in order for Jumble Key to work?

What is Fix Any Color's "selective color adjustment"?  How is it different than other color adjustment?

Most image editing software adjusts color by making global adjustments.  For example, if you are lightening an image then the entire image is lightened.  Fix Any Color takes a different approach.  We only adjust the colors that need to be adjusted, and we adjust them in precisely the way that you want.  Our selective color adjustment has several advantages:

• Much more control over what gets adjusted and how it is adjusted
• You don't change parts of the image that don't need to be changed
• Color shifts can stand out much more

The way that the human eye and brain interprets color, an object's surroundings have a big effect on how its color is perceived.  Consider the example of trying to adjust a picture of a flower to make the flower's color look deeper and more saturated.  If you make all the colors in the image more saturated (i.e. make a global adjustment), then increased saturation of the flower color won't be noticed much.  If you just make the flower more saturated while keeping the rest of the image the same then your brain will really pick up on the increased color of the flower.  Professionals routinely use this technique to emphasize the parts of images that they want you to focus on.

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Why does Fix Any Color use L*C*h* color space?

A "color space" can be roughly defined as a system for describing color.  Most digital images use "RGB" color space to store images.  In RGB color space, each image pixel is defined by the amount of red, green, and blue in it.  Most image editing software adjust images using this color system.

L*C*h* color space is a system derived directly from the CIEL*a*b* color space.  CIEL*a*b* was developed by the  International Commission on Illumination (CIE) in 1976 as a perceptually linear color space.  CIEL*a*b* was developed based on the CIE 1931 XYZ color space.  The entire idea behind the development of these color spaces characterize how the humans see and perceive color as accurately as possible.  In contrast, the RGB color system is was shaped by how computers store color information.  

CIEL*C*h* color space is a more accurate way to adjust color.  "Lighter" in CIEL*C*h* really means "make the color look lighter to the human eye", and not "adjust some of the numbers and hope it looks lighter".   Ultimately CIEL*C*h* produces better results.  The only downside is that it takes some more calculations in the software, but Fix Any Color uses innovative methods minimize any increases in image processing times.

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What types of digital images does Fix Any Color work with?   Digital camera images?  Scanned images?  Others?

Fix Any color Creator works with any 24 bit/pixel color digital images.  This includes images from any brand digital camera, scanner or any other source.  Fix Any Color only works with proprietary "Raw" format images if they are first converted to standard Jpeg or Tiff format.

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What do the "edge" values in Fix Any Color do?  What values should I set them at?

Fix Any Color works by allowing the user to define the range of colors that they want to fix, and then by only adjusting colors within that range.  Colors that fall outside of the selected color range are not changed.  In order to avoid an obvious transition line from where no color change is made to where the full color shift is applied, a transitional boundary area is defined where only a partial color shift is applied.  The size of this transitional boundary area is defined the "edge" values in the color range definition.  

As a start, it is probably best to leave the "edge" values at there default values.  If you are making a very large color shift, or if you see an obvious transition between the selected and non-selected parts of images, then the size of the "edge" area should be increased.  The size of the "edge" areas can really be any size.  

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Will Digital Camera Poster Creator work with images from my digital Camera ?

The Digital Camera Poster Creator works with images from all digital cameras.  It even works with scanned images or digital images from any other source.

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What is Edge Calibration and how does it work ?

Most printers that produce borderless prints trim off parts of the edges of printed images.  If you are printing just one print then you usually do not notice this.  If you piecing together multiple prints in order to create a larger panoramic image or poster then it becomes much more noticeable.  It can actually ruin the way that a poster looks.  The Edge Calibration procedure in Digital Camera Poster Creator lets you easily measure the amount of edge clipping that your printer is doing.  The software can then compensate for the exact amount of clipping that your printer is doing, allowing your images to piece together seamlessly.  If you use multiple printers then you can save and custom name Edge Calibration profiles for each one.  

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What types of printers will Digital Camera Poster Creator work with ?

Digital Camera poster creator will work with any printer that can print digital images.  This includes ink jet, laser, thermal printers, etc.  It also includes any photo lab printers.  One nice way to use Digital Camera Poster Creator is to save your poster images back onto your camera memory card and then take that to your local photo lab to have them print the tile images that will make up your poster.  

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How does the Email Forwarder work ?

The Email Forwarder program works by automating Microsoft outlook.  Using the VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) hooks that Microsoft makes available to users and developers we have automated Outlook to forward email, etc.

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Do I need Microsoft Outlook for Email Forwarder to work ?

Yes, you need Microsoft Outlook '97 or later to be installed and configured on your PC for Email Forwarder to work.

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Will Email Forwarder work through a firewall ?

When Email Forwarder forwards one of your emails, your system acts as if you had manually pressed the forward button in Outlook's interface.  If you can manually forward emails in Outlook, then the Email Forwarder should be able to automatically forward email.

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Do I need to have Outlook running for start Email Forwarder ?

No.

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How do I know if I need to provide a username and password in the preference dialog ?

When you normally startup Outlook on your PC if you are normally prompted to enter your username and password then you probably will have to provide them in the Log On tab of the Email Forwarder dialog box for it to work properly.  If you normally don't have to provide any username and password when you startup Outlook then that means that your windows username and password are being used as your Outlook username and password.  In that case you wouldn't have to specify any username and password in the Email Forwarder preferences and you would chose the "Use Windows Log On" preference.

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How do I install Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in?

Download and run (double click) the 'setup_dcfca.exe' file to install Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in.  This will copy the add-in file ('data_curve_fit_creator.xla') and related support files (help file, demo workbook, etc.) to a new 'Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in' folder in your program files folder on your hard drive.  Once the files are copied to your hard drive, the last step is for the add-in to be registered with Excel so that it is loaded when Excel starts.  This can be done manually by starting up Excel and using the Excel menu system to add the add-in, or it can be done automatically by opening 'Enable_dcfc_add-in.xls' once.  This file is an Excel workbook that contains macros that will automatically add Data Curve Fit Creator to Excel's list of add-ins to load at startup.  The 'Enable_dcfc_add-in.xls' file is installed in the Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in folder in Program Files.  By default, this file runs as the last step of the install process.  

To allow 'Enable_dcfc_add-in.xls' and the rest of the files that come with Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in to run, you must have your security settings set to trust documents from SRS1 Software.  All Excel files in Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in are digitally signed by SRS1 Software.  When opening any of the workbooks, if you receive a security warning from Excel, then you need to select the option to always trust documents from this publisher (SRS1 Software).

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How do I uninstall Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in?

There are two types of uninstalls that you can do for Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in.  For a temporary uninstall, you can simply remove 'Data Curve Fit Creator' from the list of add-ins that Excel loads on startup.  This type of uninstall doesn't remove any files and allows you to re- enable the add-in any time.  You can do this manually through Excel's menu, or you can do it automatically by opening the 'disable_dcfc_add-in.xls" file via the Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in program files group.  

For a full uninstall, go to your PC's Add/Remove Programs from Control Panels.  From there you can select to uninstall Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in.  This will remove the Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in files from your hard drive.

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How do I set my Excel security settings to allow Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in to run?

Security is an important issue.  Later versions of Microsoft Excel contain more thorough security checks.  The Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in and supporting workbooks are digitally signed by SRS1 Software.  This identifies SRS1 Software as the source of the documents and checks that the documents haven't been altered.  

Normally, when Excel encounters a workbook or add-in that contains macros (automation) then it doesn't allow the macros to run unless the user specifically allows it.  For an add-in, it would be very inconvenient for Excel to prompt you every time it opens.  In order for Excel to allow the Data Curve Fit Creator add-in and demo files to work without prompting you, you must have your security setting setup so that SRS1 Software documents are allowed to run.  The first time that you open any of the Data Curve Fit Creator workbooks, you probably will be prompted with a security options dialog which gives you the following options:

1. Allow all documents from this publisher to run
2. Allow only this document to run
3. Not allow this document to run

You should select the first option, to allow all SRS1 Software documents to run.  Excel identifies SRS1 Software documents by the digital signature that is attached to the documents.  Once you have selected this option, then all Data Curve Fit Creator documents should run fine.   

Do NOT turn off or lower your overall Excel security settings in order for Data Curve Fit Creator to run.  All our documents are digitally signed so that Excel can identify them and let them run WITHOUT you having to turn down your Excel security settings.

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Where can I see a list of all the Data Curve Fit Creator functions in Excel?

All the new functions that Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in adds to Excel are listed under the 'User Defined' category in the Excel 'Insert Function' dialog.  If you have any other add-ins that are defining custom functions then there could be other unrelated functions in that category as well.  

The Data Curve Fit Creator functions are also listed under the 'All' category, where all available Excel function are shown. 

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If I use Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in functions on my workbook, then save the workbook and send it to someone else, will the functions still work when they open the workbook?

The Data Curve Fit Creator Add-in functions are stored in the file named 'Data_Curve_Fit_Creator.xla', which is in on your computer.  Unlike the Cubic Spline freeware program, the functions are not attached to the workbook where they are used.  This was primarily due to the difficulty caused by tighter security settings in Excel.  Moving code from one workbook to another is often blocked by anti-virus software, and so it can be very unreliable.  A digitally signed add-ins is much more reliable.

Purchase a license for Data Curve Fit Creator gives you the right to only use it on one machine.  If you are sending a workbook to someone that contains Data Curve Fit Creator functions then they need to buy a license to run it on their machine.  

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How is the cubic spline function added to my Excel workbook?

The cubic spline function is added to the Excel workbook as a VBA (visual basic for applications) code module.  You can access the VBA modules by selecting the tools-->macro-->edit menu option.   On the cubic_spline Excel spreadsheet that we have added an extra utility to automate the transfer of the cubic spline VBA code into any other open workbook.  To transfer the cubic_spline code into another excel workbook (and hence make the cubic_spline() function available on that workbook) you need to perform the following steps:

1. Have both the Cubic_Spline_v100.xls workbook and the Excel workbook that you want to transfer the cubic spline code into both open
2. Click on the large button embedded in the middle of the cubic_spline workbook to activate the utility to transfer the cubic spline code.
3. On the form that appears, select the workbook that you want to transfer the code into and then click on the button on the form to transfer the code.

Once these steps have been performed then the code is transferred to new workbook.  This means that you would then be able to use the cubic spline function in the new workbook.  

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Why do I need Microsoft Word or Excel in order for Jumble Key to Work?

Jumble key works by taking all the jumbled letters that the user inputs to it and then checking all possible combinations of those letters to see which combinations produce valid words.  In order to do this it checks each candidate word against the spell checker that is included with Microsoft Word or Excel.  

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