Wellington, NZ - 24 November 2003 - Xequte announced today the release of Smart Pix Manager v7.0, a major update of their popular image management and viewing solution.

Xequte's flagship product, Smart Pix Manager, enables organizations and end-users to manage their image, multimedia and document collections with an efficient database solution incorporating keyword, description and content searching and viewing support for an extensive range of file types.

Version 7 is a significant upgrade incorporating over 350 enhancements. In particular, development has focused on revamping the features of importance to users with large digital image collections: rapid keyword addition and cataloging, image editing, printing, Web page generation and digital camera support.

The process of cataloging multimedia has been made easier and faster with a new Add Files to DB,wizard that progressively searches an entire computer for folders containing multimedia. As each folder is processed it can now be reviewed and relevant keywords added.

Smart Pix now makes it much easier to output images for use in albums and picture frames with support for printing at standard photo sizes, e.g. 4x6 or 5x7. Images can also be printed as posters on multiple pages - up to ten feet high!

A new plug-in is offered that allows files to be archived directly to a CD or DVD. Smart Pix will store thumbnails of archived files within its database. This allows them to be browsed even when they are off-line and advising which CD to insert for full viewing.

Digital camera integration has been improved with Smart Pix Manager offered as a retrieval option on Windows XP when a camera or memory card is connected. A plug-in is also available to provide similar functionality on other operating systems. The new acquisition wizard simultaneously displays all connected Twain and USB camera, scanner and memory card devices, as well as Image CD's. Images can now have keywords assigned as they are retrieved and renamed automatically using dates found in the embedded digital camera fields. Also, if a user's camera embeds orientation information in the camera fields then Smart Pix can automatically rotate images to the correct display angle.

The rich set of image editing features in Smart Pix Manager has been further enhanced with a soft shadow function and gamma correction. A new option allows Smart Pix to maintain the original date of a file even after editing and saving. For those who use a third party image editor, an Edit Copy function creates a copy of a selected file and opens it in their preferred editor.

Significant enhancements have been introduced to the Web Page Creation Wizard with much improved styling of created pages using a selection of pre-built themes, such as Photo Album, Pastel or Professional. Other new options include zoom controls and file descriptions on image display pages.

Users will appreciate the improved styling of the application with updated graphics, gradient backgrounds and selection of UI skins such as Windows XP and Office XP.

The wide format support offered Smart Pix Manager has been expanded with portable bitmap formats (*.pbm, *.pgm, *.ppm, *.pxm), new variants of Targa, TIFF and JPEG2000 formats as well as support for OLE formats, including Adobe Illustrator, AutoCAD and CorelDraw.

A new option makes file browsing much faster by simultaneously displaying files in the current folder and all its sub-folders.

Other improvements include exporting of file lists to XML, viewing and editing of IPTC fields (commonly used by PhotoShop), real-time image and video zooming with a new Zoom toolbar, a start-up wizard to expedite the initial set-up, drag and drop reordering of files in favorites mode and a new database filter that displays the images you have not viewed in a certain number of weeks, months or years.

Smart Pix Manager costs $33.50(US), or $15.50 for users upgrading from earlier versions. Further information, including free evaluations, can be obtained from the Xequte Web site at www.xequte.com or [email protected].

About Xequte Software

Founded in 1998, Xequte Software focuses on the creation of image and multimedia management and viewing solutions for Windows platforms.

Their leading products, Smart Pix Manager, MegaView and Diji Album Editor have received numerous top reviews and are some of the more popular products within their market space. Xequte has also developed custom solutions for such companies as Shutterfly, Ofoto and Amazon.

For more information visit the Xequte Software Web site at www.xequte.com or contact [email protected].