Impos/2 (Image processing for OS/2)

This is the second beta release of the Bibertools, an add-on package for ImpOS/2 2.x. The name, bibertools, is an abbreviated form of "BIldBEaRbeitungs-Tools" (image processing tools). Maybe not very imaginative, but I tried to find a name that hasn't been used before. PLEASE read the file DANGER.TXT! PURPOSE I created this program because I want to scan a large number of slides. ImpOS' own image processing tools are not really up to the job, and I wanted an interface that would give me access to the most often needed processing options via a single mouse click. I also wanted to have a tool that would automatically generate the necessary file names, keep track of the names used, and save the images to a predefined location without asking unnecessary questions. I finally found out how to 'invert' negative film material. The problem was how to remove the orange mask and restore proper RGB-balance. For the solution, see below. REQUIREMENTS You need IMPOS/2 version 2 or higher. You also need the following programs: pnmarith.exe, ppmnorm.exe, pnmgamma.exe pnmcrop.exe, pnmflip.exe, and several support dlls; they van be obtained from the file NETPBMA.ZIP, which is available at the following URLs: ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/leo/graphics/netpbma.zip ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/dev/mm/netpbma.zip INSTALLATION Copy the included files to a common directory; you can put them into the IMPOS directory, if you want, otherwise you will need to add the IMPOS directory to your PATH and LIBPATH statements in CONFIG.SYS. Copy the files from NETPBMA to a directory on your HD, and add this directory to your PATH and LIBPATH statements in CONFIG.SYS. You might also want to set the BIBERTEMP variable in CONFIG.SYS, eg. SET BIBERTEMP=D:\TEMP. This variable sets the directory where the temporary files are stored. Set this to your fastest drive. Create a program object for BIBER.EXE. Create a program object for HISTOGRAM.EXE Reboot. RUNNING BIBERTOOLS Start BIBER.EXE from the program object that you created before. It should bring up IMPOS automatically. If it doesn't, something is probably wrong with your path and/or libpath statements. HISTOGRAM.EXE can also be started from the program object, but it will only run if an image is loaded in IMPOS. If it doesn't find an image to operate on, it will inform the user and then terminate. The histogram tool may need some explanation. It takes the RGB values of all image pixels and counts how often (-> y-axis) each of the 256 possible intensity levels (-> x-axis) occurs. With an average, well-exposed slide, the red, green, and blue curves would look roughly similar, and they would all fill the whole range from 0...255. Underexposed images would have their histograms shifted to the left, and overexposed images would appear shifted to the right. You have several options in this dialog: If you klick on any of the "auto" buttons, the brightnesss levels in the corresponding R, G, or B sub-picture will be redistributed to fill the whole range from 0 to 255. You can repeat that for the other colors, if you want. The "reset" button resets all three sub-images and reloads the corresponding histograms. The "auto" remapping is fast, but it lacks flexibility. Therefore, you can set the min and max values for each color manually, either by entering the numeric values, or by double-clicking in the black bar beneath each histogram. A double-click with the left mouse button sets the 'min' value, and a double- click with the right mouse button sets the 'max' value. OPTIONS The NETPBM programs operate on the disk: They read a file, and write their output to another file. The BIBERTOOLS store these temporary files in the path which is defined by the BIBERTMP environment variable. If that doesn't exist, they look for the TMP variable, and if that doesn't exist then for the TEMP environment variable. If you have the RAM, then it is strongly recommended to set the temporary directory to a RAM disk. I tried RAMFS64, but that was much slower than my HD. However, in March 2002, a performance- optimised RAMFS64P.IFS written by Andrew Belov <andrew_belov@newmail.ru> was announced in one of the OS/2 newsgroups, and this is really fast, and the BIBERTOOLS work nicely with the BIBERTMP directory pointing to the RAMFS64P RAM disk. NEGATIVES I finally found out how to remove the orange mask from scanned color negatives, and the "negative" function is fully functional in the present release. When the program is started, it looks for *.film files in its own directory. If any files are found, they will be listed in the drop-down list box to the right of the "negative" checkbox. The *.film files are used to define and store some (fifteen) characteristic parameters of a given film material, and you should select the correct *.film file for best results. Each film file contains a 3x3 matrix RR RG RB GR GG GB BR BG BB which describes the cross-sensitivity of the film material: In the simplest case, all diagonal elements of the matrix are equal to one, and all off-diagonal elements are equal to zero: 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 This matrix describes an ideal fim material, where the "red" layer is only sensitive to red light (RR=1), the "green" layer to green (GG=1), and the "blue" layer to blue (BB=1). The "red" layer is neither sensitive to green light (RG=0), nor to blue light (RB=0), and so on. In most cases, you will be able to get along with the simple unity matrix, but if you need more, the program can deal with it. However, in order to keep the code simple and efficient, there are some limitations. In particular, the program can only deal with parameter sets satisfying the following requirements: RG/(RR + RB + RG) < 0.5 RB/(RR + RB + RG) < 0.5 GB/(GR + GB + GG) < 0.5 GB/(GR + GB + GG) < 0.5 BB/(BR + BB + BG) < 0.5 BB/(BR + BB + BG) < 0.5 In other words, the off-diagonal elements must not be too big compared to the on-diagonal elements. This is only a limitation if you want to (mis-)use the function to generate false color images. It should not affect the normal use. Note that the inversion algorithm normalises the output to 256 grayscales, independent on the matrix. Therefore, the above unity matrix produces the same result as a matrix i 0 0 0 j 0 0 0 k with arbitrary values i, j, k (not equal to zero). There are two more lines (with three parameters per line) in each film file, and they are much more important. They each consist of three integer numbers between 0 and 255, separated by one or more spaces: R0 B0 G0 R1 B1 G1 R1, B1 and G1 are the red, green and blue values of the orange mask of the negative film, as seen by the scanner. In other words, they are RGB values of a completely unexposed part of the film, or the brightest parts of the negative. They will be mapped to black in the final (positive) image. R0, G0, and B0 are the red, green and blue values of a part of the film that has been exposed to saturation, ie. the darkest possible pixels. They will be mapped to white in the final (positive) image. As I said before, these latter parameters are much more important for the final result than the previously described nine "matrix" parameters. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to find their correct values for any given film material, provided that you have a few exposed negatives. Here's the recipe: (a) Find and scan an image that has both very bright and very dark areas. Typically, that could be a photograph of a landscape, with white houses or clouds and a few dark shadows. If there are no sufficiently dark shadows, you can shift the image by millimeter or two in the film holder and use the space between two exposures on the film stripe: That is always unexposed, and gives a perfect R0,B0,G0 level. (b) Load the image into IMPOS and start the "histogram" tool that comes with the BIBERTOOLS package. Please use the separate tool; you cannot use the histogram function of the scan module for this purpose. (c) For each of the three (R, G and B) histograms, do a double click with the left mouse button on the black bar below the left boundary of the curve, and a right MB double click below the right boundary of the curve. This defines the R, G, and B range that will be mapped to the full available range (0...255) in the inverted images. (d) In the histogram tool, select 'File' -> 'Create *.film file', enter a file name, and click on 'OK'. (e) Scan and invert a few negatives using the new film file, and check that you got everything right. (f) I don't know any straight-forward way to create an optimised transfer matrix. You will have to fiddle around with the off-diagonal elements and compare the results to find the best set of parameters. If someone knows a better solution, suggestions are welcome. FEEDBACK, QUESTIONS, ETC. If you have problems, feel free to contact me, either via e-mail, or write me a short note in the comp.os.os2.* newsgroups. You will usually find me there (not in co.o.o.advocacy though). Note that I have news and mail filters installed. News and mail messages from notoriously annoying people may not get through. They may still ask someone else to contact me. LICENCE You may do with this program whatever you want. I do not charge you anything, and I cannot be held liable for any damage. If you are interested in the source code, contact me. It's VisPro REXX code, therefore you will need VisPro REXX to do anything useful with it. I tested the basic image inversion code in a separate REXX file which requires only the NETPBMA modules (VisPro REXX not required). This is also available on request. CONTACT My current mail adress is Manfred.Agne@netsurf.de It might change in 2002 - you'll find me easily via Google groups. Manfred Agne

Impos/2 Version 2.0 e ====================== This is a limited Version of Impos/2. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following restrictions apply to the demo version: - Saving is not possible - Export through the clipboard is not possible - A 'Demo' stroke is printed over each printout -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installation: ============= o Install Impos/2 by calling A:\INSTALL. All needed files will be copied onto your harddisk and an Impos/2 WPS object will be created on the desktop, this object can then be moved to any folder. No matter where it is located, it will be replaced after each Impos/2 installation. o During the installation, an association is done between IMPOS.EXE and the file formats known by Impos/2, that means that a double-click on any of these files (e.g. in the drives folder) will start Impos/2, or activate it if it is already started. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scanner-Support: ================ Note: With the exception of the IBM 3119, all flat bed scanners must be attached to a SCSI adapter supported by OS/2. The adapter cards provided by the flat bed scanner manufacturers are not supported. o When using one of the supported SCSI-Scanner with the CPASPI.SYS shipped with Impos/2 make sure, that the ASPI driver that comes with OS/2 plus the adapter specific driver are installed in the CONFIG.SYS. The following example shows the entries in the CONFIG.SYS for an Mustek-SCSI-Scanner connected to an Adaptec 1542CF card: - BASEDEV=OS2ASPI.DMD - BASEDEV=AHA154X.ADD - DEVICE=C:\IMPOS20\CPASPI.SYS o When using a MicroChannel device, make sure that the port-address of the parallel-port and that of the scanner do not conflict (do not set the scanner-port to 27Bh), otherwise the parallel-port will be locked for all DOS-sessions by Impos/2. o Impos/2 might possibly work with scanners that we have not listed, and that are soft- or hardware compatible with them. Please tell us if you have such a scanner, this could help us in the scanner-support development and possibly other Impos/2 users.

Impos/2 V1.2 DEMO ================= We have decided to give you the possibility to test the product Impos/2, the 32-Bit image processing program for OS/2. The DEMO program is a full product - except the following items are not included: - no Scanner-drivers are included - no Video-drivers are included - no Install-program - Clipboard is not supported in this DEMO - "Save" and "Save As" of images is not supported in this DEMO - on the printout of images the word "DEMO" is printed in big letters also on the paper All other functions have no limitations and are working in the same way as in the full product. Please copy after unzipping IMPOSE.ZIP all files in a subdirectory - for example IMPOS - and start the program by typing IMPOS.EXE in an OS/2 box. We think that this DEMO will give you a closer look over the product Impos/2 and would be very happy when you join the Impos/2 community as many others. The price for this product is in Germany DM198,00 incl. 15%VAT - please call for international prices! If you need more informations, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can also leave a message in Section #10 (NovaStar) of the IBM PSM Deutschland forum. You can also send a mail directly to CServe ID 100042,3004. Ok - good luck with Impos/2! NovaStar Software & Consulting GmbH Ulmer Str. 160a, Eingang K 86156 Ausgburg-Germany Tel: +49-(0)-821-441820 Fax: +49-(0)-821-443859 CIS: 100042,3004