Terian ID Creator v1.94 has just been released; you can download it from the official website here.
Alongside the incorporation of InDesign CC 18.1.0 support, we have also implemented a significant update to the image capture framework.
The update to the image capture framework enhances the stability of the software and includes multiple bug fixes that were causing issues for users, resulting in a more reliable and streamlined image capture process.
After a few months in testing, Terian ID Creator v1.90 has been released. You can download it from the official website here
In addition to bug fixes, this release includes Indesign 2021 (v16.0.1) support, QR Code generation support, Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) support, and improvements to capture functionality.
We have also removed support for older versions of Indesign as the Card Printing Application (CPA).
QR Code generation support:
Terian IDC now supports generating either a ‘Plain Text’ or ‘Web Hyperlink’ QR Code within Indesign. QR Code settings are configured as part of the GeneralText fields which allows data to be linked from other fields, global fields, global lookup lists or manually inserted.
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) support:
A new UUID is generated every every time a card is printed and can be linked in a GeneralText field for use in QR Codes.
The UUID’s generated are version 4, variant 1 UUIDs, more information can be found here
Capture functionality improvements:
Focus and zoom sliders are now available from the main capture form (previously these were accessible via the camera control form).
The image adjustment and camera control forms have also been updated to be more compatible with touch screen devices by increasing the space and size of UI elements.
Indesign versions supported:
This release removes support for older versions of Indesign (CS3, CS4, CS5, CS5.5, CC). Currently only the following versions of Indesign are supported:
Additional bug fixes and quality of life improvements:
As highlighted in the changelog, there has also been additional bug fixes and a couple quality of life improvements.
An example of a fix/quality of life improvement is the improvement to the responsiveness of the form frame list when changing CPA form configuration settings.
Using Fast Reports as a Card Printing Application (CPA) Delayed:
In the previous blog here it was mentioned that we are working on supporting using Fast Reports as a CPA. This feature has been delayed and we hope to bring it in a future release.
Ooops, apologies, but it looks like we forgot to publish a blog post for this release.
Anyways, Terian ID Creator v1.80 was released in late July. You can download it from the official website here
This release brings support for the latest (at time of release) versions of both Indesign (15.1.0), and Bartender (11.1) along with improvements to image support and additional bug fixes.
Bartender 11.1 and Indesign 15.1.0 support:
The headline of this release is the added support for the most recent releases of Bartender and Indesign. This is especially important with support for Bartender v11.1 (also referred to as the 2019 Edition) as compared to the previous edition of Bartender, v11.1 is a significant enhancement in feature set.
You can find out more about the different editions of Bartender here
Improved data folder support:
To help provide more flexibility for data folder configuration, we now allow for the top level client data folder to be specified within the configuration. This is useful when creating card types as Terian will now browse from this top level folder and offer a suggestion for the naming of data folders for card types.
Improved image support:
Terian now supports PNG files in addition to JPG files for any of the images used for printing cards, this can be set individually on each photo field associated with a card type. The addition of PNG support helps provide card design flexibility, especially when it would be helpful to have a transparent image.
We also now provide support for an alternative image folder for each image, a copy of the photo will be saved to this alternative folder in addition to the primary photo folder. This alternative folder may be helpful for other processes that you may need to run on the photos used by the system while maintaining the integrity of the primary storage location.
Also included in this version is support for capturing the secondary and tertiary images (Photo 2, and Photo 3). Previously only Photo 1 supported obtaining an image via the capture process, image capture support is now available for all three photo fields.
Quality of life improvement:
A very small quality of life improvement has been provided with the addition of a card type configuration button on both the Create Card, and Card Maintenance forms. Previously this functionality existed in the popup menu, however now with a visible button it may be more apparent to users.
Additional bug fixes:
As highlighted in the changelog, there has also been additional bug fixes applied to this release.
Coming soon:
One advantage of forgetting to publish this post, is that we can now comment on what is currently in development for future versions of Terian ID Creator.
We are currently working on providing support for the built in Fast Reports engine to be used as a Card Printing Application (CPA) in the same way you can currently use either Indesign or Bartender. This will allow for cards to be printed using the internal engine, and will not require a third party printing application like Indesign or Bartender. Currently this feature is in its early development stages, but we hope upon its release it will greatly improve the flexibility of Terian ID Creator.
Terian ID Creator v1.71 has just been released. You can download it from the official website here
This is a minor update to correct an issue with the CPA Class library when dealing with some versions of Adobe Indesign.
Windows 8.1, no longer supported:
One update that was not mentioned in the previous blog post, was the dropping of support for Windows 8.1 (Microsoft ended mainstream support for Windows 8.1 on January 9th, 2018).
While Terian ID Creator may continue to work on Windows 8.1, we will no longer test or support it on that platform and recommend where possible users upgrade to Windows 10.
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 or later recommended:
The documentation has also been updated to recommend Microsoft SQL Server 2016 or later. Similarly to the note regarding older operating systems, Terian ID Creator may continue to work with SQL Server 2014 however we no longer test or support it on that platform.
Terian ID Creator v1.70 has just been released. You can download it from the official website here.
You may notice there has been a couple of interim releases since our last blog post, however these primarily contained bug fixes and backend changes so did not warrant a dedicated blog post.
Cropping Support:
The biggest feature of this release is support for cropping images to a 4:3 aspect ratio. With HDMI and 1080p (1920×1080) resolution output from cameras now being the norm, this 16:9 aspect ratio provides a lot of extra detail that may not be required for capturing identification photos.
Short of rotating the camera and capturing in a portrait mode (currently not supported by Terian IDC) it is difficult to zoom in on a person to frame a good identification image using 16:9 aspect ratio resolutions. This is where 4:3 cropping comes to the rescue, so you can go from something like this 1920×1080 (16:9) image…
To something like this 1440×1080 (4:3) image
You can see in the first image above, the blue cropping square which helps illustrate what part of the original image will remain in the cropped image.
To maximize the cropped image size you should match the vertical size to the original size (in this case 1080 pixels), and the horizontal size will be reduced to retain the 4:3 aspect ratio, however it is also possible to select a smaller cropping size if desired.
Renamed previous Image Crop Functionality:
Due to the introduction of proper cropping functionality the previous ‘Image Crop’ functionality has been renamed to ‘Image Border’ as this better represents what that function does.
The ‘Image Border’ function simply replaces the pixels on the edges of an image with white pixels, with each side being able to be set independently.
This feature was useful for analog video capture devices that would often include a couple lines of additional noise along the edges of the input image.
Indesign CC 2020 (v15.0.2) Support
This update also provides support for Indesign CC v15.0.2 (or Indesign CC 2020 as the shortcuts may refer to).
Next Up:
We are still evaluating the need to upgrade to a 64Bit executable, at this stage this is still lower on the priority list compared to other feature requests, however it is still being considered.
During development we had started to implement support for rotating the captured image (i.e. if you wanted to rotate your camera device and capture in portrait mode), however the capture framework we utilise did not correctly support this feature. We had worked with the vendor and an update was provided last week, however this still had some issues stopping us from implementing this feature. We continue to work with the vendor and hopefully we can implement this feature in a future version.
Great News!
Microsoft has resolved the issue that was affecting Terian ID Creator and Terian Image Capture Pro.
We have tested both Windows 10 (running Windows Defender), and Windows 7 (running Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010) successfully.
A recent definition update from Microsoft has caused a compatibility issue with Terian ID Creator, and Terian Image Capture Pro.
Issue:
Under Windows 10 (also affects Windows 7), when using Windows Defender, from Windows Explorer if you attempt to right click on the application executable for Terian ID Creator, or Terian Image Capture Pro it may take a considerable amount of time before the popup menu appears, and if you select ‘properties’ there is also a considerable delay before the dialog appears.
Problem:
This appears to be related to a recent definition update from Microsoft and we have discovered the issue affects both Windows Defender running on Windows 10, and Forefront Endpoint Protection running on Windows 7. If you disable real-time protection with either of these products the issue does not arise, however we do not recommend disabling real-time protection.
Workaround:
If you add a file exclusion to the real-time protection of Windows Defender, or Forefront Endpoint Protection there is no delay for displaying the popup dialog on the application executable.
More Info:
The issue is caused by the 3rd party registration protection mechanism we utilize, and we are waiting to hear back from the vendor whom is working with Microsoft to resolve this issue. We have been informed that this issue is not an isolated case, and multiple 3rd party registration protection systems are affected.
At this stage we are not aware of other Anti-Virus applications having this issue.
Final Note:
While there is a delay with displaying the popup menu in explorer, the application should still not be flagged as malware or a virus. This is the case under our testing with the builtin Windows 10 Defender, and Forefront Endpoint Protection. If either of these or other Anti-Virus applications flag the program as malware or a virus, then please be vigilant and ensure you have a legitimate copy of the applications, which should be dual code signed with our Digital Signature.
The timestamps in your Signature List may be different from the screenshot above depending on the application (Terian ID Creator, or Terian Image Cpature Pro) and the version you are running.
Just a quick note as I’ve compiled Terian Image Capture Pro v3.00, and will be putting it through testing for the next couple of days hopefully with a public release early next week.
New Capture Library -> Improved Resolution Support:
Our clients expressed the desire to capture at higher resolutions, unfortunately the old framework failed to adequately support higher resolutions with graphical overlays. Whilst a more extensive version of the old framework was available that provided the appropriate level of support the cost to upgrade was similar to the cost of purchasing a license for DataStead VideoGrabber SDK.
I had previously evaluated DataStead VideoGrabber SDK however the cost was beyond our budget at the time, so Mitov BasicVideo Library was chosen. Utilising VideoGrabber also has the advantage of fixing an issue where the preferred capture device and settings are not set correctly on application startup under the old framework.
Testing so far has been positive with the VideoGrabber SDK, and I am confident the performance improvements will allow our clients to capture high resolution images.
Testing:
If testing progresses well and no major hurdles are encountered, as stated above I hope to release to the website early next week.
Slightly later than I had hoped, but I have completed testing of v2.60 of Terian Image Capture Pro and publicly released it. You can download it from the official website here
No additional bugs were uncovered during testing, however a late feature request was implemented. The CSV Import functionality now allows the operator the option of ignoring the first line of the files to be imported, as often data files are provided by customers with field titles as the first line.
One other minor change is the installation files will no longer contain the term ‘Trial’, as the registered version only requires a license file. This should help avoid any potential confusion where previously registered users continued to see ‘Trial’ in the application short cuts and Add/Remove Programs Control Panel applet.
Similar to the ID Creator post previously, this is just a quick note to say I’ve just compiled Terian Image Capture Pro v2.60, and will be putting it through testing for the next couple of days and hopefully with a public release early next week.
The changes in this release are:
Cross-hair support:
Cross-hair support has been something that I have wanted to implement for quite some time, as I have found with our clients capturing large numbers of images the framing of images can vary quite a bit.
Two basic cross-hairs are included, as well as an Ellipse cross-hair that will help assist lining up a subjects face to provide a better quality ID photo.
A screen shot displaying the Ellipse cross-hair is included below…
Ellipse Cross-hair
The top and bottom horizontal lines are based on a 5%, and 80% ratio as recommended in the guidelines provided by New Zealand passports. The ellipse is based on 70% face width for 4:3 (Height/Width, i.e. portrait) aspect ratio.
Best use when using the cross-hairs is to ensure the centre line runs down the middle of the subjects nose and mouth.
Default Folder Changes:
I will not go into detail regarding the default folder changes, as they are basically the same as the Default Folder Changes made in Terian ID Creator. The “Public Documents” folder will be used for data, and “My Documents” folder will be used for log files.
Testing:
Similarly to the ID Creator testing, if everything progresses well and no major hurdles are encountered, as stated above I hope to release to the website early next week.
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