Preferences

To open the Preferences dialogue, use the Settings → Preferences command from the main menu.

Image Viewing

Parameter name Description
Automatically rotate image when opening Tells the program to use EXIF information about the orientation of the image
Adjust brightness of the magnifying glass Determines whether or not the magnified area will be brightened. It lets you see details in the dark areas of the image more clearly.
Enable switching scale modes by clicking mouse wheel Allows you to switch between 100% and "Fit to window" modes with a single click of the mouse wheel over the image
Background color Determines the color under the transparent areas of the image
Resample method Sets the interpolation quality used for image resizing. Better quality means slower speed, as well as the reverse.
Accelerator for dragging the image Increases the efficiency of navigating through the main window by moving the image more quickly than a mouse pointer can travel
Set mouse pointer speed when retouching Adjusts the mouse sensitivity and precision for painting. When this is set at 50%, the mouse will move twice as slowly.

 

Panels

The following group of settings lets you customize the layout and behavior of the software panels.

Parameter name Description
Opacity of program panels Makes any unlocked panels partially transparent. The settings chosen here only affect the unlocked panels. Note: the lock/unlock icons are lock-icon/unlock-icon.
Time before unlocked panel closes Sets how many seconds the unlocked panel will stay visible after the cursor leaves it.
Sensitive area for hidden panels Defines the width of the area hidden near the edges of the screen. When you move the cursor over this area the hidden panels appear.
Layout of the browser Defines whether the thumbnails panel is positioned vertically or horizontally. If "Automatic" is chosen, the software will decide which layout is better depending on your screen dimensions, i.e., for wide screens it will be vertical, for ex.
Help hints appearance Defines where and whether the hints to current controls are shown.
Show captions for filter buttons Determine whether or not the captions to the filter buttons are shown. The filter buttons let you switch between filters (Resize, Brightness, Colors, etc.). If the captions are hidden, the buttons are minimized and the whole taskbar can be fitted into one row; with captions, the buttons are clearly visible and occupy a whole row on the taskbar.
Show navigation buttons of sliders

Determines whether or not small panels pop up below each slider; these panels make it easier to move a precise number of steps forward or backward or to restore the default or previous value of a slider.

navigation panel
Show all hidden dialogues Renews showing all prompts; this is especially useful for certain prompts, such as "Are you sure you want to delete this image?" where you may have selected the checkbox "Don't show this window again" in the past. With this button, you can begin showing all such prompts again.

 

Color management

In Helicon Filter, you can set different color profiles for saving, representing and printing images. This allows the software to save, represent and print the images accurately.

Parameter name Description
Use the following color profile when saving images Determines which color profile will be used when saving images. This list contains profiles that reside in the Windows system folder for color profiles.
Monitor profile Is used to represent images on the monitor. Your monitor has its own color profile, which is saved in the system folder during monitor installation. Helicon Filter will pull up the appropriate default monitor color profile, but you can set an alternate one if you wish.
Printer profile Allows you to make color corrections before printing images. If you've calibrated your printer and have your printer color profile, you can set it here.

 

RAW

The Method parameter determines the algorithm for developing RAW files. Helicon Filter contains three converters: embedded, DCRAW and AdobeDNG. It is also possible to convert a RAW file to DNG and then process the file with the embedded or DCRAW converters. Which convertor to use - depends on the RAW format. For different RAW formats (RAW files from different cameras) different convertors may work better.

You can select one of five options:

  1. Adobe RAW/DNG Converter can convert raw files to DNG (Adobe's raw format); this is a free Adobe utility that supports most popular raw formats; this is an external module which user can upgrade himself/herself.
  2. DCRAW can convert raw files to JPG; this is a thirdparty utility which supports a lot of raw formats; it is frequently updated; this is an external module which user can upgrade himself/herself.
  3. Embedded RAW Converter can convert raw files to JPG; this internal module was developed by Helicon Soft; it uses native SDK for most popular cameras (Canon, Nikon and others) and in some cases can give better results than universal converters.
  4. Adobe RAW/DNG Converter → DNG → DCRAW - this option should be used if your RAW format is not supported by DCRAW covertor. Your raw file is first converted to DNG with Adobe convertor and then to RAW with DCRAW.
  5. Adobe RAW/DNG Converter → DNG → Embedded RAW Converter - this option should be used if your RAW format is not supported bythe Embedded covertor. Your raw file is first converted to DNG with Adobe convertor and then to RAW with the Embedded converter.

 

Other

Parameter name Description
Action on filter changing Defines what happens when you go from one filter to other (e.g., from Brightness to Colors, for ex.). There are three options: apply changes, discard changes, or ask user what to do.
Format of quick saving Defines what the format of an image saved with quick save will be (SHIFT+CTRL+S or Save button on the taskbar or in the main menu File → Save).
Reset filter settings for new image Determines whether or not the filter parameters stay intact or are reset to default when the user loads the next image.
Automatically check for updates Determines whether or not the program should check the availability of newer versions.
Delete images into recycle bin Determines whether the images are deleted forever or first sent to the system recycle bin.
Allow only one copy of the running program Determines what happens if you want to run another copy of Helicon Filter.
Add shell extension Determine whether or not Helicon Filter is registered to process certain specific image file types or not.
Save settings of processed images Defines whether or not the software should restore the settings that were used earlier to process an image. This can be very useful if you are not satisfied with the result of a filter and want to change some parameters only while leaving the others as they were set during the first processing stage.
Temporary folder Sets up the temporary folder, where different user settings for the current session are saved.