Alternatives to QImage?

[Jon O'Brien]

Yes, I know it's still around, it just seems to be something that was
around in prehistory ;-)

My, my! History certainly is accelerating! I blame that new-fangled
Internet thing. ;-)

Jon Cro-Magnon.

Cheap fashion substitute: T-Shirt reading "I am shallow".

 

[Jon O'Brien]

<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/qimage/>

[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the link. I'll take a look.

Just be aware that anything posted to the group that might vaguely be
construed as negative criticism of Qimage or its author (hi Mike!) will
unleash a pack of baying hounds intent on ripping you to shreds. Apart
from that, it's very useful.

Jon.

 

[John Beardmore]

Yes, there's nothing like seeing the hardcopy results. You can download a
trial version and give it a test drive, though.

Yes, though I'm really not sure how useful it would be do me. We don't
print many stand alone images.

Nearly every picture we print is incorporated into documents, so unless
there is a way of making these algorithms accessible to DTP software,
they will probably remain inaccessible to us.

'Old' pyramid didn't last long. It was his first attempt at the algorithm
and was fairly quickly replaced by the current version.


I wouldn't dream of saying 'I told you so'.

And I wouldn't dream of not looking into better alternatives. Question
is, how to get them into the layout software that we want to use.


Cheers, J/.

 

[Jon O'Brien]

We don't print many stand alone images.
...unless there is a way of making these algorithms accessible to DTP
software, they will probably remain inaccessible to us.

In that case, the only way I can see the upscaling being useful to you is
if you have lowish res images that will need upscaling for final printing.
You can then print to file from Qimage before importing into
Pagemaker/InDesign. Otherwise, Qimage is a chocolate teapot as far as your
requirements are concerned.

Jon.

 

[John Beardmore]

In that case, the only way I can see the upscaling being useful to you is
if you have lowish res images that will need upscaling for final printing.

Are these scaling algorithms better in general though ? Might it also
do a better job of down scaling ?

You can then print to file from Qimage before importing into
Pagemaker/InDesign. Otherwise, Qimage is a chocolate teapot as far as your
requirements are concerned.

That's what I fear, though it may be handy for making 1 to 5 mega pixel
images into posters.


Cheers, J/.

 

[John Beardmore]

You speak of it as if in the past tense. News of its death is exaggerated
(if only just).

Yes - I somewhat regret leaving it behind, but for the best part of a
decade I kept paying my bills and never had time to participate, so in
the end I quit.


Cheers, J/.

 

[Jon O'Brien]

Are these scaling algorithms better in general though ? Might it also
do a better job of down scaling ?

Can't comment on that, I'm afraid, as I've never needed to shrink images.

...it may be handy for making 1 to 5 mega pixel images into posters.

I regularly use it to print 3MP images to 11"x17" and occasionally to
13"x19" and it does the job admirably. How large you could go I don't know
but it will depend on the intended viewing distance, of course.

Jon.

 

[Hecate]

One tip to start with. If you put files in the queue by selecting or
dragging them to a page with one layout and then want to change the layout,
be sure to select the files in the queue first.

Thanks

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[Hecate]

Just be aware that anything posted to the group that might vaguely be
construed as negative criticism of Qimage or its author (hi Mike!) will
unleash a pack of baying hounds intent on ripping you to shreds. Apart
from that, it's very useful.

Oh, you see exactly the same thing in the scanner newsgroup if you
decide to criticise the rolling beta that is Vuescan ;-0

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[Ed Ruf]

Thanks

You're welcome, also there is the Learning By Example section of the help
file.

 

[Jon O'Brien]

...the rolling beta that is Vuescan ;-0

Funny you should say that! That's a pretty good way of describing Qimage.
I usually wait for the flurry of fixes for newly introduced bugs to grind
to a halt before updating. Most of the bugs seem to be fairly minor,
though and aren't usually in any of the features I use.

Vuescan is another must-have, in my opinion, but I rarely use it since
going digital.

Jon.

 

[Hecate]

Funny you should say that! That's a pretty good way of describing Qimage.
I usually wait for the flurry of fixes for newly introduced bugs to grind
to a halt before updating. Most of the bugs seem to be fairly minor,
though and aren't usually in any of the features I use.

Vuescan is another must-have, in my opinion, but I rarely use it since
going digital.

No wonder so many Vuescan users like QImage ;-)

Personally, I prefer my software to do the job it's supposed to
do/that I want it to do, without having to wait till the programmer
gets it right. However, you say the bugs are minor, so I'll still
give it a try. The same isn't true of VS.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like....

 

[Jon O'Brien]

...you say the bugs are minor...

Yes. They often relate to odd things that happen when a particular
series of actions is carried out. The last couple of release notices:

v2005.326 corrects the "Apply to all copies of this print" checkbox on the
page editor cropping tool so that it works properly after using the high
precision cropping tool. In addition, a minor anomaly was eliminated that
was causing the thumbnails to jump up/down by one row if a key was
pressed while at the bottom of the thumbnail grid.

v2005.327 eliminates "extra" file names visible at the bottom of the
thumbnail grid when moving to a folder with fewer images.

They're rarely life-threatening and a single, repeatable bug report gets
them fixed pretty sharpish, often the same day. It would be nice to see a
beta test group being recruited, though. I don't think there'd be a
shortage of volunteers.

The same isn't true of VS.

Apart from one release that used to crash occasionally for no apparent
reason, I've been pretty lucky with Vuescan [touches wood]. But then, I
only update it once every six months or so.

Jon.

 

[Shannon]

(e-mail address removed) (Jon O'Brien) wrote in

Increasing the number of pixels in an image so it can be printed to a
larger size.

If you have an image that is, say, 2,500 pixels across and you have a
printer that prints at 720DPI, the image will be about 3.5" across
once printed. If you want it to be 10" across, you can a) print it at
250DPI and get a print in which the individual dots will be visible b)
upscale it.

Upscaling can't add missing detail but it can, if done well, increase
the number of pixels in the image so that the resultant print doesn't
show individual dots. Qimage does it better than any other piece of
software currently available.

Jon.

Apologies for not getting back sooner. I've been away. Thanks a lot for
explaining to me. So it sounds like just enlarging the print gives you
larger dots, and you can see them since there's no "data" between them,
but Qimage, from what I've read in this thread, uses a 'triangular' dot
pattern when upscaling, which fills in the area much better. (Filling in
any area with circles of equal diameter leaves the most unfilled area.)

Thank you.

 

[Jon O'Brien]

So it sounds like just enlarging the print gives you larger dots, and
you can see them since there's no "data" between them...

Almost. The most basic method of enlargement, pixel doubling, replaces
each pixel with four (or nine, or 16) identical ones. That will only work
when you double (treble, quadruple, etc.) the image width and height, of
course. That's not a problem if all your image consists of is vertical and
horizontal lines but leads to jagged edges in all other cases.

To see the effect, create a new image in your editor. Make it a bitmap
(two colour) image with a white background and set the foreground colour
to black. Draw some straight, single-pixel lines at, say, 45 degrees and
about 60 degrees. Zoom in on the lines and see how they become very blocky
and jagged.

To get round the 'jaggies', as this effect is sometimes known, you could
fill part of each 'step' in the jagged line with pixels that are the same
colour as the line. If it's a 45 degree black line on a white background,
you could fill a triangular area of the step with black pixels, reducing
the step size and making the line appear smoother. If the line's not at 45
degrees it gets more complicated and some of the pixels have to be a shade
of grey to fool the eye into thinking there's a smooth edge. That's called
'anti-aliasing' and it's one of the most basic processes used in image
enlargement.

To see this effect, convert your bitmap image to greyscale, double or
treble its size and zoom in. If you include a vertical or horizontal line
in your bitmap image and increase the image size by a non-whole number,
you'll see that anti-aliasing is used on these lines as well.

If you're not increasing the image size by a whole number, it gets a lot
more complicated. You have to calculate new values for most of the pixels
in the image. When there are more than two colours in the image, and
especially when not all transitions between colours are hard-edged, it
gets even more complicated, because you have to calculate what colours to
use to make the colour transitions in all directions reflect the original
transitions as faithfully as possible.

...but Qimage, from what I've read in this thread, uses a 'triangular'
dot pattern when upscaling, which fills in the area much better.

I'm don't know how pyramid interpolation works but I'm pretty sure that it
doesn't refer to triangular patterns of pixels. It's probably more likely
to refer to the steps used in working out what colour each pixel has to be
and represents the 'tree' of decisions to be made, which either spread out
from the original calculation, getting closer and closer to the final
colour, or close in on it from a series of initial approximations. However
it's done, it's pretty smart stuff (well worth $45!) and produces very
good results.

Jon.

 

[Hecate]

Apart from one release that used to crash occasionally for no apparent
reason, I've been pretty lucky with Vuescan [touches wood]. But then, I
only update it once every six months or so.

My guess is you don't have a Minolta 5400 scanner or any of the other
new Minoltas. Despite having it as a supported model on his web site,
it's been two years and the only fixes he's produced for the problems
that have occurred have led to more problems. <shrug> It seems the
guy who produces QImage doesn't make unsubstantiated claims for his
software (from what I've seen on the web site) and then be abusive to
people who don't like it when he's proved wrong.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[Jon O'Brien]

My guess is you don't have a Minolta 5400 scanner or any of the other
new Minoltas.

You're right.

It seems the guy who produces QImage doesn't make unsubstantiated claims
for his software (from what I've seen on the web site)...

Right again.

...and then be abusive to people who don't like it when he's proved
wrong.

I've known him to be a bit short with people on occasions but usually only
when they're being particularly idiotic. He can be very stubborn in the
face of suggestions he disagrees with but I've never known him to be
abusive.

Jon.

 

[Hecate]

I've known him to be a bit short with people on occasions but usually only
when they're being particularly idiotic. He can be very stubborn in the
face of suggestions he disagrees with but I've never known him to be
abusive.

Hi again

That's because you've never tried to get your money back when his
software won't work on your scanner despite him claiming it does (the
trial is no use because you can't use the IR cleaning - not that that
even works properly in the current version from reports in the scanner
group).

I'm sure his software works for some people, it just doesn't with
Minolta or to the standard I would expect for something I paid for.

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[John Beardmore]

That's because you've never tried to get your money back when his
software won't work on your scanner despite him claiming it does (the
trial is no use because you can't use the IR cleaning

So what is IR cleaning ?


Cheers, J/.

 

[TOYOTA]

I also use Qimage, but only for the page formatting abilities. In my
opinion, this often heard remark that printing is superior is a bunch of crap.
Those users, don't know how to use Photoshop, which is hands down better at
printing, as well as almost all other tasks, but not at page formatting.

I format my images in Qimage and print them to a file and print the file from
Photoshop.

toy....

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