Post by hydrophilic on Aug 3, 2014 13:36:55 GMT
Thanks to Robert Bernardo and Jan Derogee, I have become aware of cross-platform software called CSAM (I have no idea what that means). CSAM is a cross-platform tool to create "compressed" images (or videos) for the C64 and is available via CSDB. More specifically, it uses Vector Quantization (VQ) to generate images. In CBM terms, it generates a custom font to display an image in text mode.
This software is very similar to ImageWork which was released in 2013 on the old C128 forum... well I guess I should (re)post the latest version.
Anyway, I was very interested to see how it compares to my software... well below are some screen shots so you can decide for yourself.
So the first image is CSAM generating an "impossible" image using 25000 iterations (default settings) which takes about 20~30 seconds on my 3GHz 32-bit PC.
The second image is ImageWork generating an "impossible" image (default settings) which takes less than 5 seconds on the same PC.
"Impossible" image means that every pixel can have any of the available chip colors (16 on most CBMs)... of course for a real image, there are color restrictions.
The third image is CSAM with a text-mode conversion of the same "impossible" image (so it is really what you should see on a C64). Generating this image takes about 13 seconds on the same PC.
The fourth image is ImageWork generating a text-mode conversion of its "impossible" image... generation of this takes less than 1 second on the same PC.
I think you will agree that both generate acceptabile quality images, although CSAM is quite slow. One thing I find interesting is they both make quite different choices about what is "important" in an image.
The main differences are that CSAM allows even better images if you let it run "forever"... I really don't know if it will ever stop! I let it run for about 30 minutes(!) on the same image; it did improve, but not much (see last screen shot). The thing that bugs me is that it seems there is no automatic way to stop it? You have to manually click "STOP" and then advance to the next frame of your video (assuming you want to make a video).
On the other hand, my ImageWork only allows better quality images if you use manual mode (it has a definite stopping point in auto mode), and ImageWork is not limited to the VIC-II (C64); it also works with VIC-20 and VDC (C128 80-column) and of course VIC-IIe (C64/128 40-column). The TED (C16 + Plus/4) is only partially working at the moment, but should be fully functional someday
Anyway, please comment about the quality of the images if you have the time.
Although my images may be slightly lower quality, the ability to compile a typical music video (about 1000 frames / 3.5 minues) in an hour or two with my software, I think (you decide), is much better than 2 weeks with CSAM; this is an estimate based on 20 minutes/frame, I have not actually attempted this because I have much better things to do with my time!
This software is very similar to ImageWork which was released in 2013 on the old C128 forum... well I guess I should (re)post the latest version.
Anyway, I was very interested to see how it compares to my software... well below are some screen shots so you can decide for yourself.
So the first image is CSAM generating an "impossible" image using 25000 iterations (default settings) which takes about 20~30 seconds on my 3GHz 32-bit PC.
The second image is ImageWork generating an "impossible" image (default settings) which takes less than 5 seconds on the same PC.
"Impossible" image means that every pixel can have any of the available chip colors (16 on most CBMs)... of course for a real image, there are color restrictions.
The third image is CSAM with a text-mode conversion of the same "impossible" image (so it is really what you should see on a C64). Generating this image takes about 13 seconds on the same PC.
The fourth image is ImageWork generating a text-mode conversion of its "impossible" image... generation of this takes less than 1 second on the same PC.
I think you will agree that both generate acceptabile quality images, although CSAM is quite slow. One thing I find interesting is they both make quite different choices about what is "important" in an image.
The main differences are that CSAM allows even better images if you let it run "forever"... I really don't know if it will ever stop! I let it run for about 30 minutes(!) on the same image; it did improve, but not much (see last screen shot). The thing that bugs me is that it seems there is no automatic way to stop it? You have to manually click "STOP" and then advance to the next frame of your video (assuming you want to make a video).
On the other hand, my ImageWork only allows better quality images if you use manual mode (it has a definite stopping point in auto mode), and ImageWork is not limited to the VIC-II (C64); it also works with VIC-20 and VDC (C128 80-column) and of course VIC-IIe (C64/128 40-column). The TED (C16 + Plus/4) is only partially working at the moment, but should be fully functional someday
Anyway, please comment about the quality of the images if you have the time.
Although my images may be slightly lower quality, the ability to compile a typical music video (about 1000 frames / 3.5 minues) in an hour or two with my software, I think (you decide), is much better than 2 weeks with CSAM; this is an estimate based on 20 minutes/frame, I have not actually attempted this because I have much better things to do with my time!