EyeQ Photos – Correction Platform

We’re excited to share some big news with our users! In the next couple of days, we’ll officially roll out our first containerized solution for Perfectly Clear. This is breaking new ground for us, so we’d like to take a moment to explain what this is and why it’s such a big deal.

First, Let’s Set the Stage

We’ve had our Perfectly Clear image correction SDK for C for over 15 years. It’s used by our customers to embed our amazing image correction technology into end-user applications, photo printing kiosks, websites, order management platforms, and server-side applications that run in conjunction with the largest photo printers all over the world.

Earlier this year, we launched our Web API. This packages the exact same image correction technology into a simple, pay-as-you-go, software-as-a-service platform. Upload an image, we correct it with your settings, then download the corrected image. This is being adopted by startups with limited budgets as well as major corporations that simply don’t want to have to manage server up-time, SDK revisions, and the other details that our SDK requires.

Now Comes the Container!

Our container is a blend of the two existing options, and by filling this gap in our product line, we can now address virtually every photo workflow and business deployment situation. This isn’t only for companies that make photos their business (like photo printers), but also for businesses that use photos to empower other parts of their business.

Now, let us explain a bit about what this container solution is:

The Perfectly Clear Container solution allows you to deploy a Perfectly Clear “Web API” within your private network (either on-prem or in the cloud) in a matter of seconds. It’s literally one line of code to get this up and running:

docker run -it -v /presets:/presets -p 80:80 pfc_container

In about 3 seconds, you’ll have your own, private Perfectly Clear image correction machine up and running. It uses the exact same interface as our public Web API, so migrating from one to the other is as simple as changing an IP address.

It’s easy, but why would I want this? Three main reasons are:

1. Privacy. This container runs on your hardware (physical or virtual) and you have 100% control over it. You can audit it, open or restrict access, and secure it in any manner you need. Your customer’s photos never leave your network. You’re in charge.
2. Speed. Our public Web API is fast (hosted on AWS), but it does require uploading the original photo and then downloading the corrected photo. With this container solution, you can co-locate this Perfectly Clear correction process with your photos, essentially eliminating the public-network throughput constraint. You control the performance and latency.
3. Cost. In our public Web API, we pay for the bandwidth and compute to process your images. In turn, we charge a per-image fee for this service. When you use the container solution, it runs on your network and your hardware. So, if you can get a better deal than we can for these services, you save money. You control the compute cost.

Need even more control? Check out the SDK (which both the container and web API solutions are built with). The SDK allows you even more control in not only of the items above but also the actual business logic and usage of Perfectly Clear. If you need a platform with image correction sliders and real-time preview updates, that’s likely an SDK solution.