UPDATED - 'TOOL' for making use of PEGGIE easier.

[coolstream]

To make the creation of fanart easier, I have created a batchfile to make the process easier.
In order to use it, you must have Irfanview already installed. (Irfanview is free and when installing it, you do not have to make any changes to your existing file associations. It is a 32 bit program but will run on 64 bit systems.)
Once you have it installed or if you already use it, you can download the MakeFanart.RAR

Installation
1 There is no installation required but you must tell Windows about it the first time you use it.
2 Extract MakeFanart.RAR to its own folder
3 Place the folder anywhere you want. (You will need to remember where you decided to put it when you use it for the first time!)

How to use it
1 Go to your favourite fanart site e.g. http://www.themoviedb.org/movie
2 Enter the name of the movie in the box at the TOP RIGHT hand side of the screen
3 Select your favourite fanart screen
4 Click on it and the image will open in a new screen
5 Make sure that you have the folder containg your movie open
6 Drag the open image to your movie folder

fanart1.jpg (68.06 KiB) Viewed 17565 times

7 Say YES when asked Do you want to move or copy files from this zone?
8 A copy of the image will be moved to your movie folder. It will not be called fanart,jpg BUT DON'T WORRY.
9 This is the clever part, but the first time you do it will involve the final part of the installation!

a RIGHT CLICK on your new image
b | Open With | Choose Default Program |

fanart2.jpg (52.44 KiB) Viewed 17565 times

c Click Browse

fanart3.jpg (42.67 KiB) Viewed 17565 times

d Navigate to where you put MakeFanart folder and highlight Make fanart then click Open

fanart4.jpg (42.56 KiB) Viewed 17437 times

e Highlight MakeFanart and make sure that Always use the selected program to open this kind of file is NOT ticked.

fanart5.jpg (55.37 KiB) Viewed 17437 times

f Click OK

Congratulations! Your downloaded image will be resampled and resized to 1280x720 and renamed to fanart.jpg!

The next time you want to do it,
1 drag your chosen image to the movie folder
2 right click and select | Open With | Make fanart |

How simple is that!

MakeFanart.rar

Version for tvixie pre-1.3.1: no need to specify where Irfanview is installed

(226 Bytes) Downloaded 1710 times

Thanks to AxelFoley for suggesting use of environment variables! The batch file will now work no matter where you have installed Irfanview.

UPDATE
Old news really but after TViXiE 1.3.1 was released, fanart.jpg was replaced with fanart.tvixie. I was away through illness at the time and forgot to pop in and add my updated version. Thanks to MarkusW for reminding of this, and once again subsequentally taking so long to remember to come back and update this page with a new version.

I am sure that most people will have made the edit manually themselves, but for 'good customer care', here is the new version for TViXiE 1.3.1 and upwards!

MakeFanart.rar

LATEST VERSION for TViXiE 1.3.1 and beyond!

(247 Bytes) Downloaded 828 times

To 'uninstall' MakeFanart, simply delete the file/folder and Windows will remove any reference to it in the 'Open With...' menu

Good Luck and Enjoy!

Previously downloaded 17 times
Edits made to text for consistency of naming
New graphics added for consistency of naming

[Axel Foley]

Coolstream,

check the attached batch file, it will work for both x86 and x64 versions of IrfanView so you won't need two different batch files.

Let me know if it works...

[Mike]

very handy, good job coolstream!

[coolstream]

Thanks, Mike



Axel, your batchfile didn't work.
I have, however created a new one for you

[Axel Foley]

Thanks, Mike

Axel, your batchfile didn't work.
I have, however created a new one for you

Strange, I tested it, but not with irfanview, I used another tool, but I just wanted to test the IF THEN ELSE...

Just out of curiosity, what did it do?

Anyway...I'm glad you solved it now, I thought it was better for users to have only one batch file...

[Axel Foley]

Ok, I got it, it was the closing parenthesis of the resize parameter that I didn't use with my tool, that's why it worked for me and not for you...

Since I hate GOTOs I prepared an optimized version, very compact (4 lines of code, apart the @echo off) and also cleaner because I'm using environment variables to point to "Program Files" directories since they could be relocated by some users.

I also changed the name of the batch by removing spaces in the name...it's better not to have them generally.

Btw: this time I tested it by installing IrfanView, so I'm SURE it works...

Cheers my friend...

[coolstream]

First of, sorry for not having replied to your earlier message. I saw it but was busy with preparing PEGGIE v3 and must have hit SAVE instead of SEND

Your latest batch works fine! I approve of your use of environment variables. Much cleaner than my effort, so thanks for that!

I can't see the point on the echo off line. I doubt if many people would even notice the DOS window opening and closing unless their system were really slow

I wouldn't usually have a space in a batch file name, but this time I wanted it to be easily noticeable in the 'Open With...' menu. I guess it's a matter of taste, but yours is just as acceptable.

I am glad that found the bug in your first version. I'm just sorry that I didn't reply earlier.

Thanks for a job well done!

[Axel Foley]

All my batches have echo off...I like to have control of what is displayed...don't like to see commands scrolling through...anyway, it's a matter of taste and style...everyone has its own...

May I suggest you edit the first post with the final batch?

Thanks to you for everything...

[coolstream]

Thanks for your suggestions, Axel. I have tweaked the file and replaced the originals

[T5000]

does not work for me when i klick on *open with - make fanart* the original picture disappear and no folder or picture are created/resized.

using Win7 x64, IrfanView installed. any idea what's wrong ?