Image quality in ADE (on PC)

[GrannyGrump]

never mind, already discussed earlier in thread

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Psymon

Ah, indeed it's only 8 bit (obviously it's colour -- unless you're using a B&W monitor).

Interesting... I haven't re-done my pics now to make them 16 bit, but I see I can also go with 32 bit, too. Is there a "standard" that's acceptable (if not recommended) for EPUBs?

8 bit (per channel) is standard and enough. The problems in ADE may come if you use lower bit depths (for example, 16 level grayscale image can be encoded with 4 bit, that looks crap in at least some ADE/RMSDK versions).

Have you tried reducing the image size (in pixels) in Photoshop, so that it displays in ADE without resizing? To king of simulate of ADE does, try using a "nearest-neighbor" or similar algorithm for the resampling in Photoshop...

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Have you tried reducing the image size (in pixels) in Photoshop, so that it displays in ADE without resizing? To king of simulate of ADE does, try using a "nearest-neighbor" or similar algorithm for the resampling in Photoshop...

Well, it's a nice suggestion, but it would be a shame for those with higher-res screens, or for people who might want to zoom in on an image (if their device has that capability). I think I'll just live with it -- after all, my original target audience was basically via the iBooks Store, and so for those people it should be just fine.

I know everyone thinks I shouldn't be limiting myself like that (just to iBooks), but I'm not doing this for money, although I'm putting a ton of work into this book (as with my previous books) I'm not charging anything for it, I'm just giving it away for free and doing it for "fun," for the love of it, for myself and my family/friends (all of whom have IOS devices, I don't know anyone who uses anything else!).

So I guess that's where I'm at about this whole issue now, at this point.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Psymon

Well, it's a nice suggestion, but it would be a shame for those with higher-res screens, or for people who might want to zoom in on an image (if their device has that capability).

It was just to check that/if the resizing is the culprit.

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by Jellby

It was just to check that/if the resizing is the culprit.

Well, I'll be damned -- that does seem to have fixed the problem. The attached screenshot is from my book, with two versions of the same image side-by-side (in a two-page spread). The one on the left is 900x600, while the one on the right is the first version that was problematic (1800x1200).

So that fixes it -- but I'm still hesitant to do my images at half the size (and, in effect, resolution), though.

Any genius fixes, perchance? I don't know if it makes any difference, but here's the code I used for those two pages (within one file)...

  <div class="svg_outer">
    <div class="svg_inner">
      <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="94%" preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid meet" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 600 900" width="94%" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><image height="900" width="600" xlink:href="../Images/macbeth1-600x900.jpg"></image></svg>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class="pagebreak">
    <div style="display:none">
      &nbsp;
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class="svg_outer">
    <div class="svg_inner">
      <svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="94%" preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid meet" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 1200 1800" width="94%" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><image height="1800" width="1200" xlink:href="../Images/macbeth1.jpg"></image></svg>
    </div>
  </div>

[radius]

This looks like ADE is doing some kind of resampling without, or with minimal, interpolation (for speed I guess). If you want to keep the sharp edges and dots, there is nothing you can really do to improve display in ADE other than include a smaller image that won't have to be resized.

In general, you would want to filter out the high frequency components (like pdurrant did) but this will strip away the "noisy" detail that you want.

Given that you are selling from iTunes, presumably most readers will read in iBooks, so why do you care about ADE?

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by radius

Given that you are selling from iTunes, presumably most readers will read in iBooks, so why do you care about ADE?

Well, that's pretty much the conclusion that I came to, in the end -- i.e. who cares? Even still, though, it would have been nice if it looked nice in ADE, if only for the one or two friends that I share my books with who don't have an IOS device (or Mac) and who can only look at it on their PC. I guess I can always tell them to download Calibre instead of ADE, but the latter is so much "simpler" a program for them to use (some of these people are old farts who aren't too computer-savvy).

But oh well -- to heck with it, I guess.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Psymon

Well, that's pretty much the conclusion that I came to, in the end -- i.e. who cares? Even still, though, it would have been nice if it looked nice in ADE, if only for the one or two friends that I share my books with who don't have an IOS device (or Mac) and who can only look at it on their PC. I guess I can always tell them to download Calibre instead of ADE, but the latter is so much "simpler" a program for them to use (some of these people are old farts who aren't too computer-savvy).

But oh well -- to heck with it, I guess.

Then tell them to download Readium. Given that you seem more concerned about how the book looks, than how many people see/read it...just have them downloadl Readium. Problem solved. Plus, it's easy to use. Bonus.



Hitch

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Then tell them to download Readium. Given that you seem more concerned about how the book looks, than how many people see/read it...just have them downloadl Readium. Problem solved. Plus, it's easy to use. Bonus.

Oh, cool -- never heard of Redium, just did a quick search on it, but if I understand correctly it's a browser extension for Google Chrome? And so I would also have to convince them to change their browser, too? Not sure how well that would go over with the old farts -- it took me years to convince my mom, for example, to go with Firefox instead of IE, I'm not sure how enthused she would be to now switch to Chrome, simply to read ebooks (when I did manage to get her to install ADE... which she never uses anyway other than to look at the books I make).

I've been thinking about this, actually, and was considering doing up two versions of my book -- one for the iBooks store, with the higher-res images, and then do up another version with lo-res ones to give out to others that might be looking at it on their computers. Plus the latter might be emailable as well (re filesize), which the hi-res version definitely isn't (it's already up to 42 megs in size, and still growing -- indeed, I'm currently in the process of adding in a "book within a book" to my book!).

[DaleDe]

You needn't change your browser. You can have multiple browsers on the same machine and use Chrome only with Readium if you wish.

Dale

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

You needn't change your browser. You can have multiple browsers on the same machine and use Chrome only with Readium if you wish.

I guess you haven't had to talk to people in their 80s about "computers" (never mind "software").

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Psymon

I guess you haven't had to talk to people in their 80s about "computers" (never mind "software").

Actually I have. I am nearly there myself. Just install it for them and set a icon on the desktop. Tell them to tap this to read books.

Dale

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Actually I have. I am nearly there myself.

Really! You look great for your age, I must say -- never woulda thunk.

Just install it for them and set a icon on the desktop. Tell them to tap this to read books

Well, I certainly will keep it in mind, if the person seems up for it -- I guess it just depends on the person, how "with it" and computer-savvy they are and stuff. I mentioned my own mom earlier, and although I think she'd certainly be up to the task of installing new stuff, at the same time the only reason that she even has ADE at all is to briefly "glance at" any new book I come out with -- she doesn't actually read any of them, though, she just flips through them and says "That's nice, you did a really great job, wish I could do that," and then probably never looks at them again, kinda thing.

As I said, though, it's definitely something to keep in mind, and do appreciate the recommendation of it!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Psymon

So I guess ADE has a problem with old engravings like that, where the lines are really close together, and that creates that moire pattern? Or more of an "interference pattern," if you ask me. Strange, though, as things look just fine in Photoshop, Sigil, and over on my iPad, it's only ADE that it looks like crap in. :/

Exactly. A moire pattern is an interference pattern and is, as you say, caused by the fact that these engraving achieve "grey scale" effects by drawing parallel lines very close together. You get exactly the same effect if you scan or photograph such an engraving at too low a resolution.

[Psymon]

It's still beyond me, though, why ADE wouldn't be made in such a way to display images correctly -- especially with it being an Adobe product, of all things/companies. :/