We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of Batch It Ultra v5. This was an effort which began about 15 months ago as we wanted to bring our applications to the new age of 64 Bit computing. This required that we go back to our drawing board and designed an interface which works well on a Desktop, Laptop and on the new Windows 8 Tablet PC. We wanted it to also take advantage of the new touch screen features and thus the Icon buttons bar. Underneath it all is a brand new imaging engine and an entirely new codes which takes advantage of the 64 Bit environment and of course all that we have done in the 64 Bit programming, we brought as much as we could into the 32 Bit environment so as far as our users are concerned, both the 32 Bit and the 64 Bit are the same application feature for feature.

Here is a list of some of the major changes and new features that Batch It Ultra v5 brings to the table

• Redesigned Interface which is touch-friendly to support both the Touch-Screen based computers and Mouse based computers including Desktop, Notebooks and Windows 8 Tablets.

• 32 Bit and 64 Bit Native Support. With the availability of Windows 7 and especially Windows 8, more computers are now equipped with a 64 Bit Windows Operating System. The 64 Bit Operating System can address a lot more memory and Batch It Ultra v5 takes advantage of that to allow you to process larger images, run larger list of images and do it a lot faster. Those using a 32 Bit Windows are not being left out as the total rewrite of Batch It Ultra v5 allows us to address many memory issues of the prior versions of Batch It Ultra.

• Support for CSV and TXT File Import of Images. One of the requested features over the years have been the support for importing a list of images generated from Excel which includes support for the new filename and captions. We thought long and hard about this and are happy to include this feature in Batch It Ultra v5. Not only that, you can export the file listing in Control Center to a CSV file so that you can work on them externally.

• Import of Folders via Drag and Drop. In prior versions, drag and drop only allows you to import image files from Windows Explorer but now you can import both image files and folders with it.

• Retaining Alphanumerical order for Importing of Non-Zero Padded Filenames. Zero-padding filenames would allow filenames with numbers to be sorted in the right order but at times, some applications do not zero pad the generated filenames and it can be a pain to keep the right order. Windows itself does not do well with non-zero padded filenames. We took a considerable amount of time to develop the necessary algorithm to keep ensure that zero padded and non zero padded filenames are sorted correctly and now Batch It Ultra would utilize this code when Load Folders and Drag and Drop is being used. You can also sort the list while respecting the numeric sort order using the Control Center Contextual Menu to perform the sort.

• Restructuring the Settings Page. You would no longer need to go through a single long list of settings. We have move the respective settings to their own individual tabs so that you can go to them quicker. And at the same time, all Saving Options are moved to the main screen for easy access.

• Option to Add Text Caption, Watermark and Image Effects for the 2nd and 3rd Resizing settings. Now you have the option to determine if the above-mentioned would be included for the additional two sizings.

• Improved Image Resizing for Downsize and Upsize by Pixels methods. In the past, oddly sized images with either too long width or height and a much shorter counterpart, the resized images may not fit with the width and height constraints. We implemented a new algorithm in Batch It Ultra v5 to take care of those situations.

• Upsizing of images in Resize by Frame to fill the frame. Prior version of Batch It Ultra would downsize images to fit the frame and just add the images to the middle of the frame as they are, this may mean a very large border. In Batch It Ultra v5, you get an additional option to Upsize to Fit which would allow you to upsize the images so that they more or less fit the dimension of the frame.

• Support Output of Grayscale JPEG and JPEG 2000 Images. In the past, when you set Grayscale for JPEG/JPEG 2000 images, the grayscale filters would be applied but the output file is a true color JPEG/JPEG 2000 images. In Batch It Ultra v5, a true Grayscale JPEG/JPEG 2000 would be generated when you set the JPEG Color Space to Gray Level.

• Option to Change the Output Filename via the Filename Format option. No longer would the output filename be merely one which has a set Prefix, Running Number and Suffix, you can use the Filename Format option to determine how you want the filename to appear has using the various provided macros.

• Improved Text Caption Support. Text are now sharper than before and the drop shadow effect are naturally looking now. Included too is the option to change the Text Caption x and y axis offsets to allow for a finer alignment. Now supports Underline and Strikeout.

• Improved Watermark Support. Improved Watermark support especially for GIF and PNG images with Transparency mask. There is also the added support for Drop Shadow effect for Watermarks. The added option to resize the watermark and the ability to change the watermark x and y axis offsets. You can even resize the watermark from within the watermark settings.

• AutoDetect Orientation via EXIF. Most modern cameras now would tag the image orientation of the images taken in the EXIF header of each photo and Batch It Ultra v5 is able to utilize that setting. Once you set it, all imported images would be evaluated to determine if it needs to be rotated and the Orientation Settings for those images would be automatically set.

• Image Manipulation. Batch It Ultra v5 now has separate options for Sharpen, Sharpen More, Blur and Blur More options.

• Sepia Contrast. Now you have the ability to adjust the intensity of the sepia tone.

• Round Corners effect. The round corner effect now allow you to set round corners for your images.

• Tiling Effect. The Tiling Effect would replicate the same image into several images on the same file using the Tile Columns and Tile Rows option. This will allow you to create multiple coupon sheets or photo stickers.

• Contact Sheet. Batch It Ultra 4 has the option to print photos which we felt could be improved. In Batch It Ultra v5, you now have the ability to print or save a contact sheet which contains thumbnails of all the images on your list. You can determine the number of columns and rows per page.

• Improved Error Checking. We now include additional error checks to ensure that the image which are being processed are not damaged and would skip erroneous images without crashing.

• XML Style Settings Profile File. The prior version of Batch It Ultra uses an INI style Settings Profile which does not do a good job supporting Unicode text as such we decided to move to a XML style Settings Profile which can handle more complex settings information. The XML file is still text-readable.

• ICC Profile Support. To support more accurate color calibration, embedded ICC Profiles are now supported.