MIF package v2.1

Prophet (2411)

23-12-2013, 23:17

Hi all,

The new version of the MIF package will be available here soon (sorry, I thought it was already online when posting this, but was still logged in... just wait a little...): MIF package v2.1

The main new additions to v2.0 are:

Screen 2 & 3 support.
Improved error diffusion in screen 10 & 12.
"Details enhancement" for palette generation.
Command line version (mif.exe).
Preview of the command line parameters from MIFui.
Horizontal shift parameter to reduce bleeding in screen 2, 10 and 12.

The settings dialog has changed a lot:

Screen 4 conversion does not look that bad...

...but do not expect too much from screen 2:

And you just don't want to use screen 3 ;-)

Details enhancement is a quite powerful feature: it allows generation of a "less optimal but better looking palette".

Let's take this original .PNG picture:

The default conversion with MIF or MIFui to interlaced screen 7 generates this:

It's not that bad, but the sun light looks a bit pale.

To fix this, increase the "Details enhancement" parameter from 1 to 3. You'll get this result:

The mathematical error is bigger here (you can check that in the Delta parameter of MIFui), but the details are less sacrified.

The difference is even more noticeable on screen 6:

Details enhancement = 1

Details enhancement = 3

The same idea can be applied when you convert 4 pixels to 2 colors in screen 2&4, or when RGB to YJK is performed in screen 10 and 12. That's the 2 other "SC2" & "YJK" Details enhancement parameters. I've not tested that too much, maybe it can be usefull in some cases, maybe I'll remove this...

Thanks to sd_snatcher for his support on this. There are still ideas floating around to improve things thanks to him (CIEDE2000 color difference & enhancement of YJK filtering). CIEDE2000 looks very promising, but causes some problems for now, and is definitively too heavy for real-time preview. That's something I'll try to add next year.

That's it for Christmas and for this year :D. Please report bugs, and let me know of your suggestions or ideas.

By GuilianSeed

Master (157)

24-12-2013, 01:33

Whaou !!
Beautiful ! Thank you so much !!!

By Maggoo

Paragon (1216)

24-12-2013, 01:49

Looks very good, but when I try to download the package, I get an access denied error message?

By Louthrax

Prophet (2411)

24-12-2013, 01:59

I know, you'll just have to wait until msx.org moderators validate the download link I've created (I guess this won't be very long).

By mtn

Champion (265)

24-12-2013, 02:02

Kewl msxmas surprise this! Im looking forward to play around with it!

By Manuel

Ascended (18695)

24-12-2013, 09:29

Is there also source code to build a Linux version?

By Louthrax

Prophet (2411)

24-12-2013, 11:33

I need to think about the license for the source code. I think I'll add everything to a public SVN / GIT server when ready.

The command line version should compile without too much changes on Linux or Mac (no external libs are used, just some #defines and #includes to change). MIFui will be more tricky to port, the settings dialog with real-time preview is a bit complex. Maybe a universal Qt version would be nice...

Anyway, I think MIFui works well on Linux with Wine and the Mac equivalent.

By Louthrax

Prophet (2411)

24-12-2013, 11:31

For those who can't wait, I think you should be able to download the package with this link: http://www.msx.org/download/download/2013/12/mifui2.1.zip

Let me know if that works.

By Josb

Master (206)

24-12-2013, 12:19

Thanks

It's simple and useful

By giuseve

Paladin (750)

26-12-2013, 10:22

Wow,

I'm thinking about all the booring loader screen used in the 80's, with monochromatic dot images ripped by spectrum ones.
Maybe MSX would have appeared more serious if people saw nice loader :-)

Now a question. I saved an Image in SC format with SCREEN2 output. Then I tried to load with a simple program like this:
10 bload"image.sc2",r
20 goto 20

but it reboot my MSX.

Is the SC2 a MIF format, so I must use MIF.EXE to load it?

Thank you again for you wonderful job.

By Louthrax

Prophet (2411)

26-12-2013, 10:33

.SC? files are standard MSX "bloadable" VRAM files.

Check the .BAS files in the "basic" folder, included in the .zip file. You have loaders for all types of .SC? files generated (including interlaced ones).

For a .SC2 file, it's:
10 SCREEN 2
20 COLOR ,,0
30 VDP(9)=VDP(9)OR&H20
40 BLOAD"image.pl2",S
50 COLOR=RESTORE
60 BLOAD"image.sc2",S
70 A$=INPUT$(1)

If you're on a MSX 1, there's not palette, the loader will be:
10 SCREEN 2
20 COLOR ,,0
30 BLOAD"image.sc2",S
40 A$=INPUT$(1)
(be sure to generate your image using "MSX 1" palette in this case)

Let me know if that works !