[ANN] "Imagedata Toolkit Preview 3" released

[Wilhelm Sanke]

I have just uploaded the interim version "Imagedata Toolkit Preview 3" to

<http://www.sanke.org/Software/ImagedataToolkitPreview3.zip> .

This is the version with which the images of  the "Preview Gallery"

<http://www.sanke.org/MetaMedia/PreviewToolkit3.htm>

were created.

The Windows external "convolve.dll" (by Derek Bump) for the 3x3-matrix f 
ilters is included in the zip-file. Windows user must place this 
external in the same folder with MC. exe or Revolution.exe. For the time 
being the fastest performance of the toolkit  is possible with Rev 
engine 2.6.1 (engine and Metacard version 2.6.6) and inside the Metacard 
IDE.
The present announcements of members of the Rev team lend hope to the 
perspective that the performance of coming Rev versions (engine and IDE) 
concerning image processing will soon and anew reach the level it had 
already reached two years ago.--

Changes in version "Preview 3":

The option to experiment with 5x5 matrix filters (you can still use 
"hybrid matrices") has been abandoned. I intend to re-introduce this 
possibility once an external for this is available.

While the focus of the "imagedata toolkit 2" was on "hues", toolkit 3 
concentrates both on median-despeckle filters and the distortion and 
deformation of images to achieve various kinds of "painting" effects. 
Both filter categories have to be used in conjunction to produce such 
effects.

A recommended sequence to achieve painting-like effects is to first use 
a despeckle-median filter once or twice and then apply a matrix filter, 
especially one of the lithography or smear filters.
Another sequence would be to first use one of the noise or distortion 
filters and then smooth the resulting image with despeckle-median 
filters before applying any matrix filter.
There are 13 such median-despeckle filters, the most powerful of them is 
"despeckle extreme", which does not only remove noise, but also minor 
details, thus achieving larger color areas in an image. The two "simple" 
despeckle filters work with only four pixels, but they safely remove 
one-pixel noise, as do all other median filters. You can easily test 
this: 1. Choose a sample image; 2. Apply "add noise" from button "jitter 
and noise"; 3. Remove the one-pixel noise using one of the "simple" 
despeckle filters.

The script button "cross-type median 5X5" contains a description of the 
structure and algorithms of this filter as a comment. This description, 
which I found in the net, was the basis and starting point for my 
experiments with median filters.

I have discarded the "Kuwahara" filter of "Imagedata Toolkit 2". While 
it was a fine exercise to port this known filter to Revolution, it was 
really the slowest of my adapted scripted filters and much less powerful 
than my "despeckle extreme" filter, which is also 3 times faster.

The distortion/deformation filters comprise:

- various kinds of multi-pixel noise
- solid and blended rects of different sizes
- the dissolution of images by shapes of various sizes (ovals, 
rectangles, regular polynoms - triangles, rectangles, pentagons -, and 
the application of this dissolution either at random or in a systematic 
fashion - dissolving the image with vertical columns of shapes.

Other improvements of interim version 3:

- the "remove border" filters which are connected with all 3X3-matrix 
and hybrid-matrix filters have been improved.

- the slight color shift when using the "jitter" filter has been fixed 
(there was a one-char typo)

- a "wet paint" filter has been added to "jitter and noise"

- the scripted "blur" filters (as opposed to matrix filters) now 
comprise "progressive blurs" with pixel distances vertically and 
horizontally from 2 to 8 and for "extreme blurs" with pixel distances 
from 10 to 60. These blur filters with their precise and powerful 
effects are genuinely new and nowhere else to be found.

- a "venetian mirror" option has been added under "mirrors": reflections 
of any size can be added inside the images horizontally and/or 
vertically, which also provides the possibility to produce 
kaleidoskop-like pictures.

- special "max" and "min" effects have been added as a variation of the 
despeckle-median filters (using the median algorithms, but substituting 
the median function by minimum and maximum), which then need another - 
despeckle or lithography - filter to achieve worth-while effects.

- there are additions to "thresholds" and "grid overlays".

- images can be exported both as JPEG and PNG.--

The final "Imagedata Toolkit 3", which probably will be released in a 
month, will also have the following additional features:

- adding horizontal, vertical, and diagonal "gradient noise"

- replacing colors: selecting a color-to-be-replaced by clicking on the 
image and choosing a replace-color by either also clicking on the image 
or a color wheel. This color replacement can be implemented for a 
specific color or a selected color range with the additional option to 
choose a computed gray-average as the basis for replacement

- simplifying colors: similar procedure as above: the selected color 
will replace a defined color range
´
- adding transparency to selected areas of an image, implemented also in 
a similar fashion as with replacing and simplifying colors (see above). 
As the one of the main features of the Imagedata Toolkit are two 
superimposed images, the underlying image will appear in the transparent 
areas, thus producing a new image that can then be saved or exported as 
a new non-transparent image.-

The old "Imagedata Toolkit 2" is still available at

<http://www.sanke.org/Software/ImagedataToolkit.zip>

Regards,

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