[ANN] "Imagedata Toolkit 2" released.

[Wilhelm Sanke]

Although much more still needs to be improved, I have uploaded the 
present version of the "Imagedata Toolkit" as an interim release. Any 
feedback could be addressed to me after the holidays, which I will spend 
with relatives.

For adequate performance you need a 2 GHz computer. The majority of the 
filters and algorithms need less than two seconds, and a number of them 
only about 400 milliseconds.

Derek Bump's included Windows DLL takes about 180 milliseconds to 
execute, processing time for non-Windows computers and using the 
Rev-scripted 3X3-matrix-filters versions is down to 7.5 seconds.

The external must be placed as usual in the engine folder from where the 
stack is opened.

The toolkit can be downloaded (8 MB) from

<http://www.sanke.org/MetaMedia/Samples.htm>.



What has changed in version 2?

- The paintcompression is set to RLE in an openstack handler to 
guarantee the same speed for imagedata processing in the Rev IDE as in 
the faster Metacard IDE.

- The inks for the graphics used to select an image area for duplicating 
or mirroring (used with buttons "mirrored segments" and "multiply 
segments") is set to "admin" on MacOS to make the borders of the graphic 
visible.

Other changes:

1. Matrix filters

The "external.dll" has been replaced by Derek Bump's "convolve.dll" 
resulting in a much faster execution - about 180 milliseconds on the 
average - because no workaround is necessary to resolve the Endian issue 
of the "external.dll".
A "remove borders" command has been added to the script calling the 
"convolve.dll" to remove the black borders caused by the DLL.

A number of matrix filters has been added and the possibilities to 
create random matrices have been enhanced, e.g. there is even the option 
to choose decimal numbers for the matrix.

2. "Balance" filters
  a) "White balance": You can set the white level by clicking on the 
image or choosing a dialog. There is also an "auto white balance" that 
searches for the brightest pixel of the image and then sets this value 
as the new white.
  b) "Mid balance": This is a gamma-correction feature. The chosen 
middle value (clicking on the image first or setting a slider) will move 
the existing 128 level up or down without changing the extreme white and 
black values. Choosing a value less than 128 will result in a brighter 
image, choosing a higher value will darken the image.
  c) "Black balance": Brighten the picture by shifting all color values 
higher from the new black level.

3. Brighten/Darken
A very efficient algorithm has been added here with "proportionally" 
changing the brightness.

4. Temperature
A "temperature" (colder - warmer) option has been added to button 
"Saturation et.al.".

5. Hues
   a) "fine tuning": This group at the bottomright corner of the stack 
is unchanged. Adding and subtracting RGB values "separately" can produce 
an unlimited number of hues.
   b) The number of "sepia" options has been increased.
   c) "Quick hues" (red, yellow, green, blue, cyan) produces quick hues 
- 400 milliseconds on the average - with fixed added values and can be 
applied repeatedly.
   d) "Shift mid hues": This works along the lines of "mid balance". 
First, click on the image to choose a darker or brighter area. Then 
choose one of the 5 color-pairs options "red - bluegreen, blue - yellow, 
lightblue - red, yellow - dark blue, cyan - green". Selecting a pixel 
with a value below 128 will produce a hue with the quality of the first 
member of each pair, a value above 128 will result in a hue with the 
color of the second member.
   e) "Hues (click first)": The chosen average value by clicking into 
the image is used to calculate a factor by which the hue (red, green, or 
blue) will be increased proportionally.
   f)  "Hues dialog": This brings up group "Set Hues" with RGB and HSV 
sliders (h = hue, s = saturation, v = value/brightness). Changing a RGB 
value automatically resets the HSV values and the other way round. The 
color shown in the field at the top of the group is then transferred as 
a hue to the image using 7 different algorithms producing monochrome, 
multichrome, or negative hues.

This is certainly an over-abundance of hues, but having experimented 
with a number of interesting approaches to produce hues I have left them 
all in the stack for the time being.

6. "Fun-tastic colors": This works best with images that contain larger 
areas of "equal colors", e.g. take the sample image "Red Square Moscow". 
First click into the image to choose a color value, then apply one of 
the three fun-tastic options. These options can be applied repeatedly. 
"Fun-tastic colors" are a variation of the "duplicate colors" options 
available from the menu of the same button, but more rewarding. Experiment!-

Again my best wishes for the holidays and a Happy New Year!

--Wilhelm Sanke
<http://www.sanke.org/MetaMedia>