Netbook Network

ImageConverter Plus is a batch image converter and formatter. Developed by fCoder Group, ImageConverter Plus is a $50 piece of software. That’s right. This seemingly simple image converter and formatter doesn’t exactly seem to be worth $50, does it? Well, read on to find out.

ImageConverter Plus’ main function is right in its title – converting images. ICP supports JPG, BMP, PNG, TGA, and many more formats to convert to. Installation is very clean and simple. After installing, you’ll be prompted with the main screen that looks like this: (Click to Enlarge)

As an application, ICP boots extremely quickly – right as soon as I select it. The interface is quite clean for an image converter. The first thing you do when you want to convert or format an image is by selecting a profile. Profiles define the actions of the converter, and you can save as many as you want. The default profile includes converting to .JPG. However, converting isn’t all ImageConverter Plus can do. In a simple, easy to use “timeline” like setup, you can add extra actions for the software to run. This includes rotating and resizing images, changing brightness, adding a watermark, and much more. After you’ve selected the options, you can convert your files right away or save the profile in case you ever have to use the same settings again. Here is a list of all the extra actions possible:

As you can see, ImageConverter Plus supports quite a hefty amount of  options to choose from.

Once you’ve selected what actions you want ICP to run, you can move onto the “Add Photos” tab. This is, as stated, where you select photos to run through with the actions selected in the “Profile” tab. ICP claims to be able to drag and drop images, however, it does not work and you must select images manually through a provided Explorer window. Here is a photo of the “Add Photos” tab in action: (Click to Enlarge)

Something you don’t usually see in most image converters or formatters is the “Preview” feature. With this feature, you can preview what the image will look like after the converter performs the actions selected in the “Profile” window. The preview is quite accurate, and on their website, the preview is supposedly WYSIWYG, or What You See Is What You Get. To fully view a preview, simply double click on the thumbnail.

When you’re all set, simply hit the big orange “Start” button. ImageConverter Plus will start to convert immediately. I tried looking for a “Cancel” button in case I had to stop the conversion, but I couldn’t find one – because I didn’t need one. ImageConverter Plus converts and formats extremely quickly – performing the actions that would take a fraction of the time if you wanted to do it all manually in photoshop.

The test I ran had a pretty large .PNG file convert to .JPG and have it rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Here are the close-up results.

If you look closely on the big circle’s edges, you can see that quality slightly deteriorates. The only functions I told ICP to do were to convert to .JPG and rotate the image. However, the quality is good enough so that it requires a bit of time to notice the parts of an image where quality has gone down.

There are a lot of advanced features that I won’t go into for this review, but I’d like to mention them anyway. They include running the program under command line, skinning the program, and an extra program called My ViewPad. However, this review covers the core features of ImageConverter Plus and should be adequate.

Conclusion:

ImageConverter Plus is serious business – with images converting at light speed and dozens of options to choose from. However, it does not convert at perfect quality as advertised on their website – but it isn’t enough to notice unless you zoom in quite far. Some features do not work, such as the drag and drop function, but hopefully the folks developing can get that feature to see the light of day. Is ImageConverter Plus really worth $50? You can decide – the large amount of features may justify the large price.

Pros:
-Converts extremely quickly
-Little to no quality loss
-Large selection of image formats to choose from
-Large set of features to choose from
-Easy to use, clean interface
-Command Line support

Cons:
-Expensive at $50
-Some features do not work
-Image Quality is not perfect

For Netbooks:
-Works well under 1024×600 Resolution
-668×433 pixels used for main interface

You can get a free copy of ImageConverter Plus thanks to GiveAwayOfTheDay.
If you missed the deal, you can buy ImageConverter Plus at their website which can be found here.

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