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Re: Picking up color when area should be white?

20919 views 30 replies Latest reply: February 6, 2018 at 2:53:16 AM

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Posts: 1085

Stitchboard Support message #16
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 17, 2018 at 12:05:39 AM

Kathy,

Finally I'm done with another project (for now).

I want to really get back to moving the program along but want to first turn on the 20 or so fixes and additions.

I'll look at your information, do the testing I mentioned before and will get back to you soon.

Terry

“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Walt Disney

Member since:
Sep 17, 2017
Posts: 62

michaelalarue1999 message #17
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 17, 2018 at 8:22:30 PM (in response to Stitchboard Support message #1)

Sounds like a plan. Thanks for the update!

kathy

Member since:
Sep 17, 2017
Posts: 62

michaelalarue1999 message #18
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 25, 2018 at 7:55:58 PM (in response to Stitchboard Support message #1)

Hi Terry,

Just checking in to see if there has been any progress. I've been checking for updates on the site but haven't seen any so my guess is you are still working on things. I just received a note from my client asking about her chart & I just wanted to update her.

Thanks so much!

Kathy

Member since:
Jul 1, 2009
Posts: 1085

Stitchboard Support message #19
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 26, 2018 at 12:49:28 AM (in response to michaelalarue1999 message #3)

Kathy,

So sorry! I thought I was caught up but should be back to your files tomorrow. I'll let you know.

I had a critical site issue to fix today but that's done.

Thanks for your patience!

Terry

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Tom Fitzgerald

Member since:
Sep 17, 2017
Posts: 62

michaelalarue1999 message #20
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 26, 2018 at 4:17:34 PM (in response to Stitchboard Support message #4)

Oh, no problem. I just wanted to be able to update my client...she been understanding...

Thanks!

Member since:
Jul 1, 2009
Posts: 1085

Stitchboard Support message #21
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 27, 2018 at 1:25:28 AM (in response to michaelalarue1999 message #5)

Kathy,

I finally got a chance to digest what you wrote and look at the images you sent.

Both images are more than 4 colors. Here's what one eye looks like when enlarged in Photoshop:

This is the larger mage.

The smaller one enlarged looks like this:

The additional colors would have been introduced somewhere on your end. It might have been done when saving the image. It almost always would also happen when changing the size of an image. If you can, try enlarging the smaller image you sent and see if you get the same thing. I also looked at the larger image and see the same thing.

The PatternWizard is sensitive to all these different shades/colors and along some lines thinks there are green pixels where you want blue. You can see in the image above that the bottom edge of the eye looks like it has green in there.

SO, you may want to see if you have a sharper image that doesn't have the shades when enlarged. Regular line art has sharp lines and you won't need to adjust the sharpness.

Let me also look at it again tomorrow and adjust the image to true 4 colors. I can send that to you to try again.

As for the pdf issue you saw, let me look into it. The pdf I created looked fine. I can tell you that the next version that will be enabled soon has a couple changes to the pdf creation code to make it more compatible with different versions of pdf viewing software.

If the image I create and send solves your color problem (which I think it will) and you still have pdf issues, you can let me know and I'll let you try the upcoming version to see if it's a pdf viewing compatibility issue that gets fixed with the update.

Not sure what time I'll send the image but I will at some point tomorrow (well, actually later today

).

Terry

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Tom Fitzgerald

Member since:
Sep 17, 2017
Posts: 62

michaelalarue1999 message #22
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 27, 2018 at 7:57:30 PM (in response to Stitchboard Support message #6)

Learned something new...thanks for all the info. But I find it a bit strange since I did all the coloring myself & truly used only 4 colors. I did mainly flood fill for the areas but did have to do a bit of touch-up mainly around the stripes because there were a few areas that didn't turn out as nicely as I wanted.

I'l await the revised version and let you know. I really thank you for all the help!

Kathy

Member since:
Jul 1, 2009
Posts: 1085

Stitchboard Support message #23
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 28, 2018 at 2:49:11 AM (in response to michaelalarue1999 message #7)

Kathy,

Hang in there. I've been looking at the best way to strip out all the unwanted colors.

I'm also documenting it so I can tell you what I did.

I should get an image to you later today.

Terry

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Confucius

Member since:
Jul 1, 2009
Posts: 1085

Stitchboard Support message #24
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 29, 2018 at 1:42:23 AM (in response to michaelalarue1999 message #7)

Kathy,

By the way, I should point out that you've done nothing wrong in creating your image. I think the problem is simply having an image mode that allows unlimited colors and then reducing the size.

Most graphics programs will introduce a bunch of new shades when reducing/enlarging size to "feather" edges.

I am emailing two images for you to try. These are not perfect but I'm curious to know if they work better for you. If so, I can re-run them through Photoshop and clean them a bit more.

Let me know.

Terry

“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Walt Disney

Member since:
Sep 17, 2017
Posts: 62

michaelalarue1999 message #25
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 30, 2018 at 4:34:22 PM (in response to Stitchboard Support message #9)

Hi Terry!

I got the images the other day & am just getting to them. Haven't been feeling well so I'm a bit behind.

I tested both the images and they appear to work fine without any errant colors picked up, however neither of them are letting the program prick up the pupil of the eye. Im my original images I have a black pupil almost in the center of the eye.

I've tried to correct it myself but for whatever reason it doesn't work.

Thank you for the infomation about image reduce/increase sizing. I'm going to have to figure out how to create these betyter then.

If you need these test images back, I'll have to get you to resend me your email as for some reason I can't find your email. Good thing I copied the images out of it before I filed it...

Thanks again,

kathy

Member since:
Jul 1, 2009
Posts: 1085

Stitchboard Support message #26
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
January 31, 2018 at 12:59:33 AM (in response to michaelalarue1999 message #10)

Kathy,

Let me do some testing with the images I sent you. I hadn't tested them through the program so I'll do that. I'll let you know what I find.

Terry

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Confucius

Member since:
Sep 17, 2017
Posts: 62

michaelalarue1999 message #27
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
February 3, 2018 at 2:10:00 PM (in response to Stitchboard Support message #11)

Hi Terry,

When I told you that the test images you sent worked except for picking up the pupil, I was wrong in that assumption. Today I decided to take a closer look of the word chart and there are still errant colors being picked up, though now in different places. It starts later in the design than previously but they are still there...

I'm going to redesign this image & not change sizes at all. Its going to be a bit difficult working on such a small canvas so I'm going to test both the small canvas area & then a large canvas area then work them thru the program & see what happens.

So sorry that I wasn't thorough enough...but the charts I created looked quite different in the beginning than before & I just assumed...& we all know assuming usually bites us back...

Kathy

Update: I just finished the redesign & conversion...sent you an email with the results. I simply cannot get this image any smaller for the original design. It is far too hard for me to work with that small a canvas & I did try another option I have but that turned out totally unsuitable though easier to work with. So it looks like what I've been using for designing is what I'm stuck with...

Member since:
Jul 1, 2009
Posts: 1085

Stitchboard Support message #28
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
February 5, 2018 at 12:28:57 AM (in response to michaelalarue1999 message #12)

Hi, Kathy.

I looked at the images that you sent yesterday.

I looked at your smaller image called "1 - before conversion redesign @ original size preview". It's 444x612. It looks very clean with no stray colors and has sharp edges. This is a perfect image to use with the program.

In fact, I ran this image through the program that's currently available to everyone. (v3.7.4). I chose crochet, Stitchboard Full Palette, Automatic closest color match, Entire palette, and in section 6, Use the actual number of pixels.

As expected, the resulting pdf looked perfect. It was 444 stitches across. There were no stray pixels. It chose 4 colors. I did not create a word chart but that should have been fine too since it uses the same output to create counts.

I'm not sure what your second image is for. If you enlarge your first image in a graphics program, it will introduce a bunch of new colors in the process. I show that your image #2 has 256 colors. Again I would expect this. It just happens when you enlarge or reduce images.

Since you want 155 stitches across in your final pattern, you ideally want to use a clean image that's 155 pixels across. Whatever you did to create image #1 (clean image) could be used to create a smaller image of 155 pixels. In other words, if you create a 155-pixel image that's as clean as #1, everything should work the way you want.

Let me know if this sounds doable.

Terry

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Tom Fitzgerald

Member since:
Sep 17, 2017
Posts: 62

michaelalarue1999 message #29
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
February 5, 2018 at 10:27:10 PM (in response to Stitchboard Support message #13)

Hi Terry,

I did the exact same thing too..ran the re-designed image as it using actual pixels & it was fine...sorry i really should have mentioned that. The errant colors came up when I changed from using size as the actual pixel in image to the 155 through the program. That's when they should up...

I guess what I'm having trouble process in my non-computer oriented brain is if the image is clean going into the program, then why doesn't it stay that way during the actual conversion? Shouldn't that size reduction be compensated for somehow within the software? Like I said, I really don't understand much about computer stuff but is this something like what you explained in anb earlier message about photo editing programs manipulating colors?

I only did image #2 for my own use..i really don't don't why I tried to muddle the process with it...

As I explained before, working on such a small canvas is almost impossible for me. With the program I use, when I enter the pixel sizes, that's the exact size of the image I get. Something so small makes it quite difficult to get detail right. I would think it might prove challenging for a few others?

If there anything you can do in the future to get the software to compensate for a size change? In the interim, I may have to borrow my brother's desktop to design instead. He's got these absolutely huge monitors that may show that small image I see on my laptop just a bit bigger? At least I hope... I'll figure something out...

But I do appreciate all your help!

Kathy

Member since:
Jul 1, 2009
Posts: 1085

Stitchboard Support message #30
Re: Picking up color when area should be white?
February 6, 2018 at 1:23:09 AM (in response to michaelalarue1999 message #14)

Kathy,

I wasn't thinking of all the options.

First, in answer to your question, most graphics programs try to do what's called antialiasing. This is smoothing out jagged lines. To do this, they add shades of gray or sometimes other colors when re-sizing your image.

In Photoshop, a solution for this is to work in an "indexed image" mode. In this mode, it will not introduce additional colors.

This made me think of something. Gif images are not compressed and use a limited and fixed palette of colors. You can change their size without having it add new colors. It's as close as you can get to what's called vector images without the complexity.

So, I just took your #1 image that you emailed me a couple days ago and used Photoshop to save it out as a .gif image. I checked it and it still had 4 colors. Then I loaded the .gif image back into Photoshop and re-sized it down to 155 and re-saved it. I did have to touch up the eyes since shrinking it dropped out some of the blue pixels in the eyes. So after making them symetrical again, I saved it and ran it through the program and it does appear to work.

I'll email you the .gif image and you can try it out. You should also be able to work with the .gif image in a graphics program and it should not add any stray colors.

Let me know if this helps.

Terry

“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Walt Disney

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