Beta 4.4 released 29


Download it here

Just a couple of bug fixes.

Change log:
Fixed problem saving batches to a root directory in some versions of Windows
Fixed ratio and full screen buttons on main form bouncing up and down
Set default batch image scale to 75%
Fixed incorrectly name combobox in the main form


29 thoughts on “Beta 4.4 released

  • Dwayne

    It’s been quiet for some time. I hope you haven’t given up on it?

    Anyway, just to let you know… I use BK Replace ’em to replace text in the results and replace them to make a collage of images. That’s what I use the ratio feature for. I think it’s a quite nice feature.

    I’ve also just seen some images of proportional font ASCII art (kept inline by .’s). It’d be nice to have that feature implemented at some time also, if you’re keen.

  • Dwayne

    I think, you may be able to chuck contrast. I’m never actually using it. Brightness does everything and it becomes too complex to adjust both and find a balance. A sharpness slider might be just as good (I think you used to have a sharpness slider at some stage?)

  • Jonathan

    Yeah, contrast doesn’t really do anything unless you have stretch turned off. The old program had a sharpness slider, but it was broken and I never released the fixed version. The new program handles sharpening differently, but I’ll look into adding something like that.

    I’ve been sick for a few weeks so I haven’t done much. I’m considering whether to move to .NET 2.0 since Microsoft released the basic version for free.

    One day I’ll get around to trying the variable width ascii art idea I’ve been thinking about for years.

  • Dwayne

    Will .NET 2.0 function on Windows ’98? I’d be very skeptical of that. Sigh… Maybe it’s time for me to upgrade.

    It’s good to hear you’re still at.

    I’ve just added a couple examples online of the purpose I briefly explained above:

    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a307/Dwayne2005/ninorotasel.gif
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a307/Dwayne2005/redpanda.gif

    It’s a stretch, and I wouldn’t ask for it to built in, of course. It took me forever to realize that you have to turn 8-bit images to RGB to get an accurate average brightness gauge using ImageJ so I could work out a scale of descending brightness. Anyway, it’s good for the message board I write on.

  • Anonymous

    I’ve found reducing auto down to these characters “BHMRcens;:. ” produces the best results for size 9 generations on both Courier New and Lucida. Maybe it would be better to default to a minimal setup, with a full ASCII option, for automatic generation?

  • Dwayne

    Here’s an idea for the other slider and a rewrite of the first. Rather than have one gauge for brightness/darkness, have two seperate gauges: one for brightness, one for darkness. It means you can actually control both sides of the black and white spectrum. You can accentuate brightness and darkness in the same image, rather than one or the other.

    For example, I give the shades one line each and then combine each of the lines to form my ramp.

    @@@@@@@@@@@@
    @@@@@@@@@@@@
    %%%%%%%%%%%%
    %%%%%%######
    ############
    &&&&&&&&&&&&
    &&&&&&&&&&&&
    WWWWWWWWWWWW
    wwwwwwwwwwww
    wwwwwwnnnnnn
    nnnuuuuuuuuu
    vvvvooooxxxx
    eeeeeessssss
    cccccccccccc
    cccccc;;;;;;
    ;;;;;;;;;;;;
    ,,,,,,,,,,,,
    ::::::::::::
    …………
    (12 spaces)

    If I want to accentuate brightness and darkness, I might create a inwards curve like this:

    @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
    @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
    %%%%%%%%%%%%###########
    #################
    &&&&&&&&&&&&
    &&&&&&&&
    WWWWW
    www
    wn
    nu
    vox
    eesss
    cccccccc
    cccccc;;;;;;
    ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
    ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
    ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
    ………………………………..
    (47 spaces)

    And the results in the output:

    Accentuated brightness & darkness combined:
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a307/Dwayne2005/ASCII-zombie4acc.gif

    Regular generation:
    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a307/Dwayne2005/ASCII-zombie4.gif

    I can see it would be beneficial in that it’d allow for more control of problematic images; plus, it would also create more defined outlines. Maybe even more ASCII art’ish results than photorealistic.

  • Dwayne

    To do that, you’d have to be able to locate a middle range of the shades but you’re the expert. 😉

  • Dwayne

    Oh, and if possible, keep the regular brightness and contrast gauge for the main image. They seem to impact the results in text mode without any adjusting.

    And, of course, copy the above demonstrations into Notepad so you can see it in monospacing; I wonder why the row of .’s screwed up, but it should go 8 places further than the : line and the space line beneath it should go 9 spaces further.

  • Jonathan

    The problem with doing it that way is that the ascii ramp is the very last thing done to the output image, and it’s better to work with the values.

    I think I’m going to try to write some kind of levels adjustment widget, maybe with a histogram like in Photoshop. If it works I can lose the text brightness/contrast widget.

  • Dwayne

    It sounds nice, but it might be a little too complex. From my observation, the only necessity would be to adjust the brightest and the darkest and have automated curvature. I could imagine, in fact, having two sliders with +/- values on each. The plus increases the brightest shade and the plus on the darker one increases the darker shade, and the rest of the shades curve inwards or outwards (depending on the + or – value). Or actually, just the one slider encompassing the already existent slider with equal emphasis on brightness and darkness and a menu option to curve might suffice. I imagine the present brightness slider has like a linear line drawn on an angle across the shades, that slants to accentuate the brightest or darkest shades and decentuate the darker? (I guess whether it slants or not depends on how you balance the double negatives…)

    If you had a curve option maybe you could tell the program to increase or decrease both ends at the same time using the brightness slider, and to automatically process some formula to `curve’ the rest of the shades? That would be the most simplistic option; the second would be to have two sliders and be able to define the extent of the darkest and brightest singularly and independently. Anything above that might be a little too complex without much gain.

    But, I have zero knowledge of programming. Just getting my head around this is a little complex.

  • Jonathan

    That’s basically how level controls work. You have one value representing the lowest point, one value representing the highest point, and one value representing the median. When I’ve got a picture in photoshop I never touch brightness and contrast because you get better results by fixing the levels, so I don’t know why I didn’t think about doing something like this before.

    So far so good:
    levels test

  • bartek

    Hi guys
    tell me how to run the program, i am downloading the small zip from sourceforge (about 70K) installing framework and when i start the program i have some initialization error may this be due to the fact that i am using the polish OS (XP pro sp2)?

  • Jonathan

    It shouldn’t make any difference. What does the error say?

    And did you install the .NET framework 1.1 or 2.0? It’s supposed to work, but I’ve never tested it with just 2.0 installed.

    Dwayne: Updates when I’ve written something that works.

  • Bartek

    Hello again,
    I’m having the alert in polish which more or less sounds like this:
    “Application hasn’t been properly initialized (0xc0000135) .Click OK to close.”
    I don’t know what’t the cause. I have Framework 1.1 installed. I would be glad to have this small program working, I used b13 to make paintings – it’s a great tool for me. I thought that maybe the file I am downloading is corrupted or so – you’re welcome to mail me the file to the email address I have entered in the form. All the best. B

  • Dwayne

    Bartek, I just spent a little while looking it–not comprehensively, but I found this for another piece of software. It suggests as Jonathan has to remove the .NET Framework and try reinstalling. I don’t know why it wouldn’t install correctly, but apparently it happens if the link is anything to go by.

    http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/2005/s1606/37s06/37s06.asp&articleid=26621

    Also, this kind of indicates that if it’s a different version, then that might be the cause.

    http://www.scrammit.com/troubleShoot/EMIPTShoot.htm

  • Sony

    Your app is great, but Verdana is necessary for me at now… If you know any app who support it, please say me. Thanks, and good luck with your work.

  • Dwayne

    Verdana is variable width, I believe. I’ve personally trialed out a dozen programs and I don’t think any had any form of variable width generation.

    A question for Jonathan, would it be possible to have a form of variable width font monospacing? The idea I had would be to have an item to tick in the options menu enabling you to select the variable width fonts. After you select a variable width font, it outputs all of it’s characters into images files stored in RAM and counts the width of each character. It also automatically brings the Valid Characters dialogue up as well as a smaller dialogue that consists of a selector for width. When you adjust that width (up and down arrows would be nice) the characters that correspond with that width are inserted into the valid characters box.

    The generation would, I imagine, be limited, but there’d also be the fact that it’d allow access to a lot more fonts and I’m sure some would generate ok. Plus, for more basic images like drawings or cartoons the generation might be decent. And it could be essentially just a stepping stone in variable width generation, since it’s not clear whether complete variable width gen will ever be possible.

  • Dwayne

    Just tested it on Times New Roman size 10 and found these lower case characters share the same width:

    ijl
    frt
    xz
    aceks
    bdghnopquvy
    mw

    I’d post a picture up here in variable width, but I’m not sure what font your page uses. I was able to simply determine the width by typing up the alphabet in Wordpad, with each character given it’s own line, and starting from a blank line, drag a highlighting up and rearrange the characters until the highlight all matched. Try putting any of those combinations into ASCGen character gen and copying the resulting image to Wordpad in Times New Roman size 10. I’ll try to do some more research into a proper ramp since the shades won’t be the same for Times New Roman.

  • Anonymous

    I think this should work; couldn’t figure out how to weigh the characters, so here’s just a two character gen using Times New Roman 16. [fingers crossed]

    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNONNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNOOOOONNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOOONNOOOONNNONNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOOONNNNNOOOOOOOONNOOOOONNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOO
    OOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOO
    OOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOO
    OOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOO
    OOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOO
    OOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOO
    OOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOO
    OOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOO
    OOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOO
    OOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOO
    OOOONOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOONNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOO
    OOOONOOOOOONNNNNNOOOOOONNNONNNNNNNNOOOOOOOONOOOOOO
    OOOONOOONNNOOOOONNNOOONNOOOOOOOOOONNNOOOOOONOOOOOO
    OOONONNNNOOOOOOOOONNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOONONOONOOO
    OOONNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOONNONNNNOOO
    OOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNONONNNNONOO
    OOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNONOONNOOONO
    OOONNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOONOONNOOONO
    OOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOONNNNNNOO
    OOOONOOOOOOOOOONNNNNONNOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOONNOOOONNO
    OOOOONNOOOOONNNNOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOONNOONO
    OOOOOONNNOONNOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOONNNOONO
    OOOOOOOONNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOO
    OOOOOOOONONNNOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOONNNNNOOO
    OOOOOOOOONOONNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOONNNOOOOOOOONOOOOO
    OOOOOOOONOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNOOOOOONOOOOO
    OOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOONNOOOO
    OOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOONOOOO
    OOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOONOOOO
    OOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOONNOOO
    OOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOONOOO
    OOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOONNOO
    OOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOONOO
    OOOOOOONNNNNNNNNOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOONNO
    OOOOOOOOOOONNNOONOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOONN
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOON
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNOOOOOOOOONNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOONNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    OOOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  • Dwayne

    Looks more like Times New Roman size 14 on my monitor.

    One last try under Times New Roman/14…

    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNCCNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCNNNNCNNNNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCNNNNNCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCNNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCC
    CCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCCCCC
    CCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCC
    CCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCC
    CCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCCCC
    CCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCCCC
    CCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCC
    CCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCC
    CCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCC
    CCCCNCCCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCCC
    CCCCNCCCCCCNNNNNNCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCNCCCCCC
    CCCCNCCCNNNNCCCNNNNCCCNNCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCNCCCCCC
    CCCNCNNNNCCCCCCCCCNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCNCNCCNCCC
    CCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCNNCNNNNCCC
    CCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCNCNNNNCNCC
    CCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCNCCNNCCCNC
    CCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCNNCCNNCCCNC
    CCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCNNNNNNCC
    CCCCNNCCCCCCCCNNNNNCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCNNCCCCNNC
    CCCCCNNCCCCCNNNNCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCNNNCCNC
    CCCCCCCNNNCNNCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCNNCCNNC
    CCCCCCCCNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCC
    CCCCCCCCNNNNNNCCCCCNNNNNNNNCCCNNNNNCCCCCCCNNNNCCCC
    CCCCCCCCNNCCCNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNCCCCCCCNCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCNNCCCC
    CCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCNNCCCC
    CCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCNCCCC
    CCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCNNCCC
    CCCCCCCNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNCCCCNNCCC
    CCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCNCCC
    CCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCNNCC
    CCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCNNC
    CCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNCCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCNC
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNCCCCCCCCCN
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
    CCCCCCCCCCCCCNNNCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

  • Dwayne

    3 generations using different width gens (with a few characters removed in some instances) and the Times New Roman font:

    ||lllliiiiiiiiii””””’::: (3/19 width chars)

    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a307/Dwayne2005/ASCII-Homerw3s250.gif

    ffffttttttttttttttt;;;;;;;;;,,,,… (4/19 width chars)

    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a307/Dwayne2005/ASCII-Homerw4s250.gif

    HHHHHHHHHHXXXXXXXXXXXDDDUUGGGGGGGCCCCCCC (11/19 width chars)

    http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a307/Dwayne2005/ASCII-Homerw11s90.gif

    It’s gets messier when you deal with photos, but I feel it has some merrit.

  • Anonymous

    This ramp was the best that I got for producing monospace results in Times New Roman Size 12.

    8×19

    #########8888888888899996022553333311111

    Quite impressed with it, infact. It enables me to overcome the preserve text limitations on the site I frequent.

    It seems to hold hold at smaller font sizes, as well. Numbers seem to be monospace for Verdana as well; # is the only exception. Numbers alone are not sufficient for black and white images, but I was able to insert a colour shade and replace # with 8’s and I think it looks really nice. 4 & 7 are also monospace, but I subtracted them due to aesthetics.

Comments are closed.