[ANN] Preview Gallery for "Imagedate Toolkit 3"

[Wilhelm Sanke]

Thanks to all for their positive feedback!

Two questions were asked in this context:

> "Was the original of AutumnColors a photograph?" (Bernard Devlin)


Yes, and that holds for the other images, too, with the exception of the 
"LaqueredPattern"

Here is the original "AutumnColors" photo

<http://www.sanke.org/MetaMedia/AutumnColors.jpg>

and

> " How long does rendering the results take for a  
> reasonably sized image?" (Malte Brill)

Some more words to answer this:

The images of the present public Imagedata Toolkit have a fixed size of 
640x480. Images that differ from this size will be resized to that 
format on importing.
Primarily, this is a matter of convenience, because it makes the effort 
of development of the toolkit a lot easier. One of the technical reasons 
is that for a number of scripts - e.g. for determining gradient widths, 
sections of the image to mirror or duplicate, size of distortion 
graphics etc. - I use absolute numbers instead of relative proportions.
That of course can be changed, but as there are at present about 200 
"scripted" effects (i.e. as opposed to the matrix filters), these would 
need to be updated for variable image sizes. I also use a "private" 
version of the toolkit for variable image sizes, mostly for testing 
purposes and with a limited number of effects.

Another more important reason is that with photo tools like Photoshop, 
Gimp, PaintshopPro etc. you can work with decreased-size images, but the 
achieved effects are there without loss when the image is reverted to 
its original size. This is not possible with Revolution because of the 
nature of "imagedata".
Working on reduced-size images like in other photo tools provides the 
possibility to arrange both image and processing environment (buttons, 
palettes etc.) together on the screen.
A solution for Revolution, which I am considering to implement, would be 
to display only part of a larger image in a group with scrollbars, 
coupled with a preview function that then displays the full image on the 
screen without the environment components.

The images of the Preview Gallery are downsized versions of the original 
640x480 images. They were processed in that original size. I compared 
the processing times for four effects for images 640x480 and 1024x768 on 
my main 2 GHz computer (using Rev engine 2.6.1 and Metacard IDE 2.6.6. 
Using engine 2.8 is about 20% slower for a substantial number of 
effects. Using the Rev IDE causes a further slight slowdown.)

- Derek Bump's "convolve.dll" Windows external for the 3x3 matrix effects:

   180 milliseconds (640x480) vs. 434 milliseconds (1024x768)

- no-external scripted convolve filter for 3x3 matrix effects (including 
my hybrid filters simulating 5x5 up to 11x11 matrices):

  7 seconds (640x480) vs. 19 seconds (1024x768)

- "duplicate colors":

 1570 milliseconds (640x480) vs. 3700 milliseconds (1024x768)

 A great number of effects are in this range.

- "despeckle extreme quick":

  9 seconds (640x480) vs. 23 seconds (1024x768).

Producing image "Van Gogh's Grove - Night Scene" of the Preview Gallery 
- compare again the gallery

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

 took a total of 18 secs and 180 milliseconds: Twice applying "despeckle 
extreme quick" with 9 seconds each and then using the matrix filter 
"colorful lithography" with 180 milliseconds.

Regards,

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