Welcome to the Photo Selector User Guide! This guide provides complete instructions on how to set up projects, navigate the multi-view workspace, leverage AI quality diagnostics, manage color-coded albums, and export your final photo selections.

📥 Installation & Setup

1. Download the official installer (PhotoSelector_Setup.exe) from the RV Anveshana Download Portal.
2. Run PhotoSelector_Setup.exe to launch the Windows Setup Wizard.
3. Follow the wizard steps to complete installation.
4. Launch Photo Selector from your Start Menu or Desktop shortcut.

🚀 Workspace & Project Creation

Photo Selector saves your triage progress, album tags, and AI metrics in a lightweight project configuration file (project_<md5>.json).

Creating a New Project Workspace

1. On the Dashboard, click the New Workspace tab.
2. Enter a Project Name (e.g. Wedding Shoot – June 2026).
3. Enter or select the Source Photo Directory containing your RAW (.CR2, .NEF, .ARW, .DNG) or compressed (.JPG, .PNG, .TIFF) photos.
4. Use the inline Folder Selector to expand local drive trees on demand or click + Folder to create new directories on disk.
5. Click Launch Workspace. Photo Selector will scan all subfolders recursively and build thumbnail indexes.

Dashboard & Recent Projects

• Recent Workspaces: Access your last 10 projects directly from the Dashboard.
• Instant Project Stats: Click the View Stats icon (bi-bar-chart-fill) on any recent project card to preview total photos, selected/ignored/pending counts, and album breakdowns in a sub-millisecond modal without loading the workspace.
• Open Project File: Load existing .json project files anytime via File -> Open Project.

🖥️ The Multi-View Workspace

Photo Selector features three specialized workspace views accessible from the top toolbar:

1. Grid View (G key / Grid button)

• Displays all photo thumbnails in a scalable, high-performance responsive grid.
• Filters & Swatches: Filter by status (All, Selected, Ignored, Pending), quality alerts (Blurry, Closed Eyes), or specific custom album swatches.
• Sorting: Sort by filename, modification date, or Sharpness Score (sharpest photos first).

2. Single View (V key / Single button)

• Full-screen photo inspection canvas with interactive Zoom & Pan controls.
• Bottom Bar: Displays current photo index, filename, and triage action buttons (Selected, Ignored, Reset to Pending).
• Metadata Drawer: Right-side panel showing exact image resolution, file path, sharpness variance score, facial eye detection badge (Eyes Open / Eyes Closed), and album checkboxes.

3. Compare View (C key / Compare button)

• Designed for burst photography and sequence review.
• Automatically pairs similar shots side-by-side with quality badges.
• Keep Best: Click Keep Best (⭐ Best Shot) to automatically select the highest quality photo in the burst sequence and mark the rest as ignored.

✅ Core Triage & Navigation

Photo Selector is designed for lightning-fast, keyboard-driven triage:

Note: Triage keyboard shortcuts (S, R, A, D) are automatically bypassed when typing in search inputs, renaming albums, or editing text fields to prevent unintended status changes.

🤖 AI Quality Diagnostics

Run automated background diagnostics from the AI Diagnostics section in the left sidebar:

1. Audit All Photos: Runs Laplacian blur analysis and facial landmarker eye detection on all photos in the project.
2. Burst Clustering: Analyzes photo timestamps and visual features to group similar burst shots into comparison clusters.
3. Telemetry & Cancel: Live progress bars in the sidebar display completed photo counts and percentage. You can cancel active AI tasks anytime without losing already-computed metrics.

📁 Album Organization & Export

Managing Albums

• Create custom albums in the sidebar (e.g. Highlights, Family, Ceremony).
• Assign custom color swatches to distinguish albums visually.
• Set a Default Album on Select so newly selected photos are automatically tagged.

Exporting Selected Photos

1. Open the Export panel in the sidebar.
2. Choose an Export Output Directory.
3. Click Export Selected Photos.
4. Photo Selector copies all selected photos into structured nested directories: Export_Directory / Project_Name / Album_Name / photo.jpg
5. Monitor live copy progress or click Cancel Export if needed.

⚙️ Customization & Settings

• Theme Switching: Toggle between Dark Mode, Light Mode, and System Default from the header navbar or Settings modal. Theme styling applies consistently across all views, dropdowns, and custom scrollbars.
• Language Support: Seamlessly switch between English and Kannada (ಕನ್ನಡ) from the header toggle.
• Disk Cache Cleanup: Inspect thumbnail disk storage and click Clear Cache in Settings to free up space anytime.