QuickServer full FAQ (coming soon)

Perfectly Clear QuickServer is our fully automated Hot Folder application designed to run on your backend server. Available for both Mac and Windows, QuickServer is easy to set up—especially with the help of the guide below. Once configured, it runs automatically, processing and correcting thousands of photos per hour with no further input required. QuickServer includes a comprehensive suite of photo editing tools, supports the most common file types, and integrates seamlessly with many major workflows. Continue reading to learn how to get started.

• Installing QuickServer
• New QuickServer Interface
• Getting Started
  • Hot Folder Channels
  • Target Channels
• Channel Settings
  • 1. General Settings
    • Channel Name
    • Auto start
  • 2. Folders Paths
    • Folders Paths for Hot Folder Channels
      • ‘Auto-setup all folders’ button
    • Folder Paths for Target Channels
      • Correct Originals in place
      • Create new corrected file
      • ‘Auto-setup all folders’ button (for ‘Create new corrected file’)
  • 3. Tools
    • Enhancement
      • Presets with a scene detection model
      • Presets without a scene detection model
    • Auto Crop
    • Cloud Tools and API Key
      • Step 1: Do You Have a Perfectly Clear Cloud Account?
      • Step 2: Access your API Key
      • Step 3: Add Your API Key to QuickServer
      • Step 4: Check API Key Status
      • Need Help with Cloud Tools?
  • 4. Input settings
    • Files to process
    • Monitoring (Hot Folder Channel)
    • Completion File (Target Channel)
  • 5. Output settings
    • Output format
    • Color space
    • Output Quality
    • Resize Output
  • 6. Logs
• QuickServer Settings
• Main Window

Installing QuickServer

QuickServer is installed automatically alongside QuickDesk, a separate desktop application that serves as a front-end interface to QuickServer.  Run the automated installer — if you’re reading this guide, you’ve likely received a link to download and install QuickServer. Click this link and follow the installation instructions, then open QuickServer.
Note: For Windows only, to support RAW images: you must install RAW extensions (found in the same link to install QuickServer). Click each extension link and install these components to have the broadest access to RAW file support.

Activate license key. A license key is required to use QuickServer. If you have not already received a license key, contact your Perfectly Clear account representative or get in touch with us here.

Using QuickDesk with QuickServer. You can use QuickDesk to create custom presets, see a preview of images, and make manual adjustments to color correction. If you run these two applications on the same computer, then all presets that you create in QuickDesk will automatically appear in QuickServer. If QuickDesk is run on a different computer, then you will need to manually copy your presets to QuickServer computer.  These presets are stored in:

• Mac: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Athentech/Perfectly\ Clear\ Shared/presets-v3
  
• Windows: %appdata%\Athentech\Perfectly Clear Shared\presets-v3

Copy and paste these into Finder or Windows Explorer to quickly find these files.

New QuickServer Interface

The latest version of QuickServer (version 4.8.0 and beyond) has a new and improved interface, though the functionality remains the same.

Updates include:

1. Streamlined Settings: Settings are now organized into five logical groups: General Settings, Folder Paths, Tools, Input Settings, and Output Settings.
   
2. Improved Channel Creation: A step-by-step wizard guides you through these five groups of settings, making channel creation easier than ever.
   
3. Helpful Explanations: All settings now include explanatory information to clarify their purpose and usage.
   
4. Tool Visibility: You can now see which tools are used for each channel directly in the channel list.
   
5. New QuickServer Menu: We added a QuickServer menu and moved general settings there for easier access.
   
6. Refined Logging: Logs are now split – each channel displays only its own relevant information along with general QuickServer details. For a complete view of all channels plus system logs, visit the QuickServer menu.

Getting Started

QuickServer works through channels – channels associate editing tools with particular folders (or images) and settings.

To get started, you’ll first select which type of channel you’d like to setup. There are two types of channels: Hot Folder Channels and Target Channels.

Hot Folder Channels

Hot Folder Channels are most common and work by monitoring input folders that you define and processing all images that are added to that folder.

Target Channels

Target Channels allow you to automatically correct images without using the ‘Hot Folder’ approach. They can be helpful if you don’t want files moving around. Instead of watching a specific folder and correcting the images there, target channels can find any image or set of images that are accessible to your QuickServer computer – either local files or files on a network drive – and correct them in place. You can define Target Channel settings in QuickServer, then use the Perfectly Clear CommandLine interface to begin processing.

More on Target Channels here.

Channel Settings

Once set up, channels are listed in the main application window area in QuickServer. Each channel has it’s own settings, which can be accessed by selecting a channel in the main channel list. Channel settings for the selected channel will then appear in the bottom panel.

1. General Settings

Channel Name

A unique name for your channel. This will help you identify it easily.

Auto start

Select “Auto start” to have this channel automatically start when the Hot Folder application starts up.  If the Hot Folder application is set to run automatically when the computer boots or when you login, Auto start allows you to recover from reboots or other downtime events and automatically resume processing.

2. Folders Paths

Folders Paths for Hot Folder Channels

• Input – This is the folder that is monitored. Images added to this folder will be processed
  
• Output – Images will be placed here once the correction has been applied.  This will include ‘skipped’ files that are not images (like .txt files)
  
• Rejected – Any image file that cannot be processed will be put in here.  These are usually corrupt images, empty files with .jpg extension or other types of files that cannot be processed.
  
• Originals – If you have chosen to preserve originals, then those will be copied here

NOTE: If you need to ensure that all files added to the Input folder are kept together as part of a customer order, then you should set the Rejected folder to be the same as the Output folder.  This will ensure that unsupported images (like CMYK-formatted TIF files, unsupported RAW files, corrupt JPEGs, etc) are also present in the Output folder.  Otherwise, the image files that cannot be processed will be separated from the rest of the output files; they will moved to the Rejected folder.

All image processing is recursive.  This means that you can add folders of images to the input folder, and this can be many folders deep.  This same folder structure will be re-created in the output, originals, and rejected folders as well.

Valid Folder Settings

The following requirements must be met in order to have a valid channel definition:

1. Input folders for all channels must be unique.  No two channels can watch the same input channel.
   
2. The input folder cannot be a under any of the output folders
   
3. The output folders cannot be under the input folder
   
4. One channel can set its input folder to the ‘Originals’ folder for another channel.  Doing this would allow you to process the same images with more than one preset.

‘Auto-setup all folders’ button

Click this, then choose one top-level folder for this channel, and it will create four sub-folders there automatically.

Folder Paths for Target Channels

Correct Originals in place

In this mode, the original image file is replaced with the corrected version.  This allows simple integration to most existing workflow solutions.  There is an option to backup the original file while processing, and you can enter a relative path or absolute path for the folder to place these images in.  In the example shown here, a new folder called “originals” will be created within the same folder that contains the original file, and the uncorrected image file will be backed up here.

Create new corrected file

This option will create a new file for the corrected image, leaving the original file untouched.  You can also specify a folder for rejected files – any image file that cannot be processed will be put in here.  These are usually corrupt images, empty files with .jpg extension or other types of files that cannot be processed.

NOTE: if you use an absolute path for the output or rejected paths, for example “C:\Photos\Corrected_images” then this can cause a case where two input files with the same filename, but in separate folders, will over-write one another as they are corrected.  This is a very rare use-case, so please use caution when using absolute paths.

NOTE on –path usage when creating new output files:

There is an important difference between including or excluding a trailing path separator (either \ or / depending on Windows or Mac).  Including the trailing path separator (for example –path “c:\images\input\“) will instruct QuickServer to process all images within the input folder.  Any folders inside that folder will be processed, and will be re-created in the output folder.  So, if the Output Folder was set to “..\output” and the –path was --path "C:\images\input\\" and this folder contained a jobs folder as shown below, then the the resulting output files would be:

NOTE: on Windows from the CMD application window and in other uses, you may need to escape the trailing folder separator.  Instead of just providing:

–path “C:\images\input\”

You might need to provide

–path “C:\images\input\\”

This is because Windows assumes the literal \” is an escape sequence for the double quote “

Please experiment with these various settings, and contact your EyeQ Account Executive if you have any questions.

‘Auto-setup all folders’ button (for ‘Create new corrected file’)

Click this, then choose one top-level folder for this channel, and it will create four sub-folders there automatically.

3. Tools

Enhancement

Presets with a scene detection model

AI models include automatic scene detection and targeted presets for every scene.

These presets ensure that the best correction is applied to every image. We are able to optimize corrections depending on the contents of a photo. This ensures that our corrections are accurate and the best they can possibly be!
The Universal AI Model was created for a wide array of photos. If your business has imagery of people, landscapes, and objects, this model is for you.

The Pro AI Model was created for professional portrait photographers. This can be used by professional portrait photographers, school and sports photographers, event photographers, etc.

The School & Sports AI Model was created specifically for school & sports photographers. You can learn more about the difference between our Preset Models here.

Presets without a scene detection model

These are singular presets that are applied without using AI scene detection. with classical corrections without AI model. Presets from this group apply identical corrections for all photos regardless of context.

To apply a singular preset to all photos, select “None” in the first dropdown (‘Presets with a scene detection model’), then choose a preset to apply in the second dropdown.

Auto Crop

Auto Crop effortlessly handles the cropping process based on your specified parameters, ensuring consistent head sizes, eyelines, and gap between the top of the head and top of the photo.

Please note that Auto Crop was designed for portraits that were taken in the same aspect ratio in generally the same distance from the camera, for example a school portrait shoot.

All Auto Crop Presets are created in QuickDesk, the frontend of QuickServer. You can find them by opening QuickDesk and navigating to the crop section through the crop icon.

Auto Crop is optional and might not be visible

Auto Crop can be priced per-image or as a package price. To discuss pricing or start a free trial of Auto Crop, speak with your designated contact or fill out our Contact Us Form.

More about Auto Crop

Cloud Tools and API Key

A powerful new feature in QuickServer — integration with Perfectly Clear Cloud. Cloud AI tools available include:

• Background Removal – automatically removes the background from images, making it easy to create cutouts or transparent backgrounds without manual editing.
• Glasses Glare Removal – automatically eliminates unwanted glare from glasses in photos, enhancing clarity while preserving natural lighting and reflections.

NOTE: Cloud tools work with JPG and PNG file formats only.
 Other file formats will be processed with all other corrections, but ignored by Cloud tools.

To use Cloud tools directly within QuickServer you need to add an API key from your Perfectly Clear Cloud account. Below are instructions for how to do so.

Step 1: Do You Have a Perfectly Clear Cloud Account?

If you don’t have an account:

1. Go to Perfectly Clear Cloud.
   
2. Click Sign Up and complete the registration process.
   
3. Once registered, log in to your account.

If you already have an account:

1. Log in at Perfectly Clear Cloud.

Step 2: Access your API Key

1. Open the menu in Perfectly Clear Cloud.
   
2. Open Web API to access the API Keys management page. (If you don’t see the Web API tab please request access from your EyeQ account representative or contact us)
   
3. Click the copy icon next to the API Key 1.
   
4. If you need a new key or additional keys, click ”+ New Key” to generate one then copy.

Step 3: Add Your API Key to QuickServer

1. Open QuickServer and ensure the application is up-to-date.
   
2. Scroll down to the Cloud AI Tools section in the right menu.
   
3. Paste your copied API key into the API Key field.
   
4. Wait for the system to verify the key.

Step 4: Check API Key Status

Once added, your key will have one of these statuses:

• Key verification in progress… – The system is checking the key.
  
• Active – Your key is valid, and you can now use AI Tools.
  
• Not Active – Your key is invalid or disabled. Check your key status by clicking on “API Keys” button or contact support.

Need Help with Cloud Tools?

• If this process of key verification takes a long time – check your internet connection and past the key in the field one more time.
  
• If you don’t see the Web API tab in your Cloud account, please request access from your EyeQ account representative or contact us.
  
• If you cannot generate a key or generated key is not working, contact us for assistance.
  
• If after adding a key to QuickServer your key is no longer active, try generating a new one. If that didn’t work check your subscription status or contact us for assistance.
  
• if Cloud AI tools tools are not applied on processed images: 

  a. Check that tools are on in QuickServer, 

  b. Check the status of the key that it is active.
  
  
If tools are on and key is active but the tools are still not applied, contact us.

4. Input settings

Files to process

1. Cloud tools work with JPG and PNG file formats only.
Other file formats will be processed with all other corrections but ignored by Cloud tools.
   
2. Starting in Version 4.4, RAW file support is now provided separately on Mac and Windows machines.
   
   On Windows, the following extensions to provide RAW support.  Please click each link below and install these components to have the broadest access to RAW file support.

• Raw Image Extension
• HEIF Image Extensions
• HEVC Video Extensions

Monitoring (Hot Folder Channel)

The channel can be set to begin processing automatically, or it can require a start file or stop file.

Start file – once this file is detected in the input folder, then processing will begin.  This allows you to copy all image files into the input folder, then trigger the processing to begin once a specific file is created.  This is typically an empty text file – but it can be any file or filetype.  Enter the complete filename and extension in this field, for example trigger.txt

Stop file – once this file is NOT found in the input folder, then processing will begin.  This allows you to create a file in the input folder, then add images.  To begin processing, delete the stop file.  If a stop file is defined, then this take priority over a start file.  This means that if BOTH a start and stop file are defined, and both exist in the input folder, then processing will NOT happen.

Typical workflows will use either a start file, or a stop file, but not both.

Completion File (Target Channel)

Both modes (‘Correct Originals in place’ and ‘Create new corrected file’) support an optional Completion File — this is an empty text file that is created when the last targeted image is processed. You can use this to trigger downstream processing of these images in other workflow tools. When using manifest files, the completion file path and name will be determined by the value in the manifest file. When the “-path” method is used, then the file specified in the Target Channel Settings will be used.

5. Output settings

Output format

Each channel can be set to convert images to JPEG, or to attempt to preserve the input format. For read-only formats like RAW files, these will always be converted to JPEG.

Color space

You can have the output images converted to sRGB, or you can have them remain in their original colorspace.

Output Quality

The JPEG compression level in QuickServer is configurable by the user. For reference, our JPEG compression level in QuickDesk is 93%.

Resize Output

The resizing feature allows you to decrease the dimensions of your images according to your specific requirements. It gives you flexibility in resizing your images while maintaining or altering the aspect ratio based on your preferences.

Original: The image will not be reduced. This is a default value.
Scale: You can enter a value from 1% to 100%. 
Make sure that QuickServer will not output the image less than 32px. For example: if the original image was 40px*40px and after resizing became 10px*10px, the image will not be output.
You can set a specified dimension to long or short side, to height or width. Available values from 32px to 10 000px. Other side will be adjusted proportionally to maintain the aspect ratio.

6. Logs

Logs tab shows logs for current channel only + general QuickServer logs.

If you need the whole logs from all channels and QuickServer in one file you can find them in QuickServer Settings > Show Logs in Folder.

Logging level controls how informative logs should be.

QuickServer Settings

Enable all channels logging.

This settings control logging from all channels plus QuickServer itself into one single file. This settings doesn’t control logs settings for individual channels (it’s controlled in the channel settings > Logs).

Limit CPU Usage.

By default, QuickServer will use all available CPU’s to process images as quickly as possible – one image per CPU. But sometimes, QuickServer is installed on a machine that need to also perform other work. In these cases, you can set the CPU limit to a lower value – to ensure some CPU’s are not used by QuickServer and thus are available for other applications.

Cloud worker boost percentage.

When running channels that use Perfectly Clear Cloud tools – it can speed up the overall processing to process MORE images concurrently than what is set by the Limit CPU usage value. This setting controls how much more to allow. 50% is a good default and should work in most cases. If you use a very high or very low Limit CPU usage setting, then experimenting with different Cloud Boost Percentages to optimize overall processing time.

Main Window

Channel Status

Each Channel has a status, shown in the left column of the Channel list.  The icon on the far left can be used to start or pause channels, and the checkbox for ‘Auto-start’ tells QuickServer to start this channel automatically, when QuickServer is first run.  You can also click ‘Start All or Pause All’ at the top.

Here’s what the various Channel Statuses mean:

• Running – this channel is setup and enabled.  Any images added to the associated input folders will be processed immediately
  
• Paused – this channel is setup, but disabled.  No processing will occur to images in these input folders
  
• Waiting – this channel is setup, and enabled, but requires a Trigger File before processing starts, and a trigger file is not yet detected. As soon as a trigger file is created, or a stop file is deleted, processing will begin.
  
• Invalid – something is wrong and this channel cannot run. Perhaps the Preset defined for this channel does not exist, or the folders for the channel do not exist and could not be automatically created.

Controlling Channel Status

You may start all valid channels at once with the ‘Start all’ button at the top, and likewise can pause all channels with ‘Pause All’.  Or you can click the play or pause icon at the left of any channel row to toggle the state of that one channel.