Suggestion

Bug reports, feature suggestions etc...

Moderators: Programmer, WebWeaver, WillowsHeart

Post Reply
Nothingness
Evaluation User
Evaluation User
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon 19 Oct, 2009 7:18 pm
Location: Canada

Suggestion

Post by Nothingness »

It'd be really nice to raise the size of the packs we can upload.

Before when I had my old monitor at 1280x1024, the sizes of the cards were not bothering me, but now that have a 24 inches monitor at 1920×1080 resolution, the sizes of the decks now are very small, hence in the 2 Ultimate Packs I uploaded, the Tarot of Vampyres and the Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery, everything is bigger, and I added a 1920×1080 background.

I just finished working on my third Ultimate Pack, the Enchanted Tarot, and this time the cards are even bigger, but it's to compensate for the big white borders, so the images in the middle are about the same size then the other Ultimate Packs. You can see the big white borders here:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/enchanted/

In total my pack is 32 MB and I cannot upload it, it says the file is too big.
ImperatrixMundi
Evaluation User
Evaluation User
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat 23 Jul, 2016 11:05 pm

Re: Suggestion

Post by ImperatrixMundi »

You can use the + and - keys on your keyboard to increase or decrease card size. Once you're satisfied with the result, you can go to Preferences and set a fixed size for the deck, that will keep cards as you want every time you load the deck on OT.

Size of cards is not a trivial subjet. The greater they are, the less space you'll have for complex spreads or comparisons. When I design a Tarot, I always have this in mind, and also the resulting size for downloading or sharing. Some decks are scanned at a very Little resolution, and enlarge them does not enhance their beauty... Best regards.
Nothingness
Evaluation User
Evaluation User
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon 19 Oct, 2009 7:18 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Suggestion

Post by Nothingness »

I already know about + and -.

The screenshots on Aeclectic are a very bad quality. The cards of the Enchanted Tarot are very complex and filled with details that are very hard to see. I'll show a few screenshots of my scans from my Ultimate Pack to show what I mean:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/ ... zpqkei.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/ ... ahf6a9.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/ ... myx2ya.jpg

And when I read, I often don't look at the meanings, but just look at the cards.
ImperatrixMundi
Evaluation User
Evaluation User
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat 23 Jul, 2016 11:05 pm

Re: Suggestion

Post by ImperatrixMundi »

The scans looks good on my 1920x1090 screen used "as is":

http://prnt.sc/bzv5e0

Problem is, as you noted before, that using this size for the whole deck will result on a file too big to handle. If I can help you with this, please let me know and we'll look for a workaround.
Nothingness
Evaluation User
Evaluation User
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon 19 Oct, 2009 7:18 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Suggestion

Post by Nothingness »

Well, I've put my deck here:

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=21240
Greg the Yeti
Major Contributor
Major Contributor
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue 01 May, 2007 3:11 pm

Re: Suggestion

Post by Greg the Yeti »

Hi, and thanks for the link.

Just a little reflection on "Quality" and "Brute File Size" and "Image Format".

I've downloaded the Deck and had a look. Yes the images are good, but they're not "That Good" that such a huge size to the Deck really warrants it.
It IS possible to get equal quality of image to this without that size of the files!

ALL printed cards have "Moire" built in so that's a limit to the quality that can POSSIBLY be achieved.

In your Deck there is some "un-even-ness" of the Pixels which shows me just that. These images are from printed cards! Is your dis-satisfaction with the results on your "Kick Ass" Monitor down to the printed source and not the size of the image files?

Also try experimenting with different Image Formats. JPG is good as a compressed, smaller file size format, but is NOT the format which is targeted at the very best quality. If you want that, try png instead.
JPG compression produces it's own distortion of an image!!!
GIF can produce good results (especially here on Orphalese with the Transparent function), but it is neither the highest "quality" nor the "smallest file size".

Although you're not using that transparent function in this Deck, you might also learn a little from an extensive learning process we've had here on the Forum to do with the process of producing good images. in particular with a little (mostly "On By Default") feature known as Anti-Aliasing.
I describe this un-affectionately as "Auntie-Aliasing", because it's always on "By Default" and because it isn't so intelligent or perfect as all that!
Auntie-aliasing, works to produce good display of images on the computer screen, but can wreck Decks which use the transparent function!
We've learn't here that if your Deck is intended for use with "Transparency" then you MUSN'T use JPG!

My considered opinion is that "Auntie-Aliasing" should be used only once in the chain of processes to create your Deck. It's best used on the Raw Scan Images, when you are reducing the size to suite Orphalese (and your huge monitor!) At this point it does help by effectively removing most of the "Moire" from the Printed Cards! But if used beyond that point the effect is to progressively degrade your image.

Like I've said, most Image editing software has it on by default. Some software you can't even turn it off...

I hope my reflections help you.
Regards Greg

Thaks once again for a lovely Deck!
Greg the Yeti
Major Contributor
Major Contributor
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue 01 May, 2007 3:11 pm

Re: Suggestion

Post by Greg the Yeti »

Hi again Nothingness
“There is no Light in the Void?” - Sauron...
"There is no detail beyond the Moire" - The Yeti

Just a few notes to clarify what I said above. A kind of “Glossary”

Moire - The pattern of tiny dots that printers use in the process of printing anything, including Tarot Cards.
They occur in little groups of dots, that from a distance look like "larger dots".
This can be removed, mostly, by a single application of "Anti-Aliasing".

Anti-Aliasing - An effect specially to display images on a computer monitor. It looks mainly at the edges and FUZZES them up to remove the JAGGED look. "Jagged but clear" is out of style and "Fuzzy" is IN!
I have found, however that the FUZZING UP that it does, extends some way away from the edge!
It is always “On” by default. Only use it once when preparing Decks for Orphalese.
Each time you save using the default "On" setting, the FUZZ adds to the FUZZ fron last time. It is accumulative! (Altogether too many damn coppers!)

BMP or TIF, both uncompressed image formats. Megalomaniacally Humungous in size!
Images direct from a scanner might be in one of these formats, or if you're unlucky they may already be converted to JPG, in which case...

JPG - The most common compressed format. A fairly good compromise, but not perfect. It does introduce image degradation each time it is saved.
It's compression is very much like "Anti-Aliasing" in effect - FUZZY, except I believe it extends to the whole image, not just the edges...
Don’t use it for Decks that will Use Orphalese’s “Transparency” Function.

PNG - Also a compressed format, but with a compression more targeted at quality of image. The files will be bigger than JPG, but smaller than BMP or TIF.
They ARE good quality, but there’s no point going beyond the quality that the “Moire” in the cards defines as the LIMIT.

GIF - a much neglected format, except on the Web, where is has been a reigning king/queen.
It does reduce the size of images, but not as much as JPG. Further it does that reduction in size in a completely different way. Instead of compression it reduces the total number of colours that are recorded and used in the file.
NOW - Printed Tarot Cards will not have “32 bit” Number of Colours (a good few million), nor even “16 bit” number of colours ( can’t remember how many, but quite a few thousand). They will have much more like the 256 colours that were first used on colour monitors, before we got fussy! - VGA setting.
Actually most Decks will be pushing it to even get to 256!!!
By selecting which tones are actually in the BMP or TIF file and only recording those tones into the GIF file it achieves smaller file size without compression. You can even tinker with how many colours and delete some. This can sometimes remove defects from the card...
A GIF image will probably look “Clear, Bright and Focused - but Jagged”, while the equivalent JPG image will look positively “Fuzzy”!
This can lead to GIF images sometimes out-performing JPG both in quality AND size. They don’t always. It also depends on the source - those cards, and on the way you’ve processed them.

If you're unlucky and you're Scanner saves directly into JPG:-
You may find that the software allows you to change that and save in BMP or TIF. Either will do.
If the main software of the Scanner DOESN'T let you change that, you MIGHT find that the brute DRIVER of the Scanner, without using the Glossy DO EVERYTHING free software of the scanner can offer other options?... My (low cost) scanner offers both routes.
HOWEVER - my scanner, when saving directly into JPG doesn't allow to switch off the "Anti-Aliasing", either using the software or just the brute Driver. That's why I strongly suggest saving first in BMP or TIF. Out hard drives are big enough these days - No?
Then you can keep those huge files as a back up if you make a boo boo in processing....

I hope all this helps
Regards
Greg

My apologies for knowing everything:-
"I am the wielder of the secret fire of Arnor" - Gandalf
Greg the Yeti
Major Contributor
Major Contributor
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue 01 May, 2007 3:11 pm

Re: Suggestion

Post by Greg the Yeti »

On re-reading the above a little later, I wanted to add a small edit but can't.

It's a small point about the GIF format (that can often surprise with how good it is).

I mentioned above that it reduces the number of colours to 256 (or 128 or 64 or 32 or 16 or 8 or 4 or even just two). I mentioned an equivalence with VGA format, which is also 256 colours.

HOWEVER:- GIF format is considerably BETTER than VGA!

How does it do that? Well while both use 256 colours, the colours that VGA uses are from a fixed palette of only 256 specified colours. "Like them or lump them!". You will probably find that nice "Lush" colours aren't among them....

GIF is much more clever! It uses 256 colours from the colours actually used in the source image file. The colours are from whatever palette you are using. As far as I'm aware that could mean ANY of the colours from the various 32 bit palettes available. Footnote: - You can just only have 256 of those!

This is IDEAL for printed sources, which typically use only a small selection of colours, but may have among those few, some really nice lush colours! GIF can handle those too. This is what makes it superior to the VGA 256 colour format (by quite some margin).

So while GIF has been (and largely still is) King/Queen on the Web, it really ought to be Emperor/Empress of Scans from Printed pictures - at least if you want to keep the image file size small, but still have nice clean, crisp images!

"Sauron took the "32bit palette of colours" and made from them one "256 colour image format" to rule them all!"

Regards Greg
Post Reply