General

Update

This entry was posted in General and tagged dimensions fonts on by
  • Calculating accurate width and height for a font – done*
  • Save as an image – basic saving done (will eventually be able output a resized image in the program)
  • Register sourceforge project – done

* - In C++Builder I just needed to call a function, literally one line of code. In dotNET after several days of experimenting, I eventually managed it by wrapping several API functions. Sometimes I wonder why I switched.

Updating

This entry was posted in General and tagged sharpen stretch unsharp on by

Moved the Stretch/Sharpen/Unsharp mask options onto the tab with the output text and – get this – it now works in real time. I.e. uncheck the Sharpen option, and you’ll instantly see the output image without sharpening applied. It’s pretty sexy.

Also, playing around with the unsharp mask and blurring multiple times seems to improve the output a lot. I’m still trying to work out just how many times is best (maybe have that as an option…?)

Update

This entry was posted in General and tagged convolution matrix on by

The problem with the new conversion code has been fixed and the output is looking very nice. If I could have found it before spending several days porting the original code it would have been even better.

Finished the code to apply 3×3 convolution matrices to the output image, and replaced the old sharpening code with a matrix. Eventually the user will be able to enter a custom matrix to be used (i.e. for blurring/alternate sharpening/edge detection/mean removal etc). I’ve also got an unsharpening mask working, but it’s a little disappointing (2xoriginal – blurred, right?).

Aside from that, there’s lots of little things done that are hardly worth mentioning (drag drop image onto the form/executable, resizeable form so you can go full screen or use it in 800×600 mode, validation…)

Update

This entry was posted in General and tagged mono visual studio on by

Finally got .NET working properly again, but I’ve been a little distracted setting myself up a Linux server on a spare computer. I had a quick go at running ASCGEN using Mono, and I think that I’ll be able to get it working after a couple of more days banging my head against the monitor. Fingers crossed, and we’ll cross platform support right from the start.

Anyway, program-wise I’ve changed the GUI layout (again), and I’m getting to the stage where I’m more or less happy with the design.

Worst update so far

This entry was posted in General and tagged .net wizard on by

Today’s Ascii Generator programming time was partly spent trying to work out why the .NET Wizard would let me create any type of new project except for the new C# Windows Application project I wanted, and the rest was spent reinstalling .NET.

In summary – AscgendotNet status: unchanged. Current book I’m reading status: ahead of schedule.

Update

This entry was posted in General and tagged fxcop picturebox on by

The new picturebox is nearly finished. Just need to add in one more thing which will greatly increase the drawing speed for large images.
FXCop compliance is just about done so the code is nice and tight.
As a bonus it’s forced me to add the framework for localization. Once the program is far enough along it’ll be easy to add other languages.
Enabled XP styles, so the program looks all nice and fancy.

To do next:
Port the conversion code.
Selection of an area of the image – Will probably add it into the new PictureBox control.
Come up with a better way for the user to change brightness/contrast values. Probably writing a custom version of the vertical scroll bars to add the current value and display it with some nice graphics.
Removal of FormText and redesign of the main form to add the converted text onto a new tab.

I suck at blogging

This entry was posted in General and tagged blogging on by

I really do. Work on the new Ascgen took a break, but I’ve started up again and I’ll try and keep this updated.

Current goals:

    Inherited version of the PictureBox class, adding brightness, contrast, interpolation mode, load, and some other things that Microsoft should have put in before they ever released it. (Nearly complete)
    FXCop compliance. (Almost)
    Porting over the original conversion code
    Working out an accurate way to get the dimensions of a character when displayed in a font. 😐

Answers to common questions:

    Versions for other operating systems will hopefully be available through the Mono project
    Colour pictures would require a totally different approach, and probably won’t be added. With the pictures the Ascgen produces each character represents a different gray colour without needing any extra processing. For colour images, each character is set to a colour with html/rtf/etc and the character itself is irrelevant.
    This will probably go open source when it’s at a stable working build. Until then, please don’t ask for the code.

😕 I’ll think of more later…