Usage
The following documentation explains the typical usage of Mirage.
Mirage allows images and folders to be opened from the File menu, by double-clicking on an image in a file manager, or by drag-n-drop from a file manager.
When opening images from the File menu, note that multiple images or directories can be selected by holding Ctrl or Shift. When multiple images are loaded, the title will display the number of images in the list, i.e. 1 of 47, and the images can be easily navigated. The File > Open Folder dialog contains an additional checkbox to specify whether images in all sub-directories of the selected directories should be loaded (recursive).
Mirage can also act like other image viewers that load all images in the current directory when a single image is selected. This option, as well as other loading image behaviors can be found in the Preferences.
The Go menu contains all of the navigational actions: previous image, next image, first image, last image, and random image. Note that, when going to random images, Mirage will never show the same random image twice until all images have been viewed once. Mirage can also wrap around the list, navigate based on the mousewheel, and preload images for faster navigation, as set in the Preferences.
Previous/Next Image items are also found in the toolbar and in the right-click pop-up when an image is loaded.
There is additionally an automated slideshow mode that proceeds to the next image after a specified number of seconds. The delay between images, and other options, can be specified in the Preferences.
Mirage provides the most popular zooming actions: zooming in and out, zooming 1:1 (100%), and zooming to fit. There are various key and mouse shortcuts for zooming images - see the listing of shortcuts in the user guide for more information on that. Note that all zooming functions will be disabled for animated images, as they currently cannot be zoomed.
The Preferences define the default zooming method used for loading new images.
Fullscreen can be toggled by using the Shift-Return shortcut or right-clicking on the image. When in fullscreen mode, the toolbar and statusbar will automatically hide to maximize the displaying of images (the mouse cursor also automatically hides after a few seconds of inactivity). Additionally, if you move the mouse cursor towards the bottom of the screen, some extra controls will appear: these controls provide the ability to navigate forward/back, start/stop a slideshow, and define some slideshow options. These slideshow options apply on a one-time basis for quickly overriding those specified in the application's Preferences.
Fullscreen mode can also be started automatically through the Preferences or via a commandline argument.
Currently Mirage supports the following image manipulations: rotating at 90-degree increments, flipping horizontally/vertically, resizing, cropping, and saturation. Additional image manipulations can be supported via custom actions.
Rotating and flipping images are simple menu actions. The resize image dialog allows the user to specify the size of the new image in pixels and may choose to preserve the aspect ratio. The crop image dialog allows the user to click and drag a rectangle around the portion of the image they wish to retain. Saturation allows the user to affect the color saturation of the image.
Note that after performing any of these image manipulation actions, the image will be in a modified state - the user must then choose to save the image if they wish to make the actions permanent. Actions can be auto-saved via the Preferences.