| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| tenchy |
Posted - 01/30/2010 : 11:30:43
Im charting a black and white photo and yes 1 pixel = 1 stitch. Ive been playing with it for more than 2 hours only to discover that what i thought was black DMC 310 was some dark blue DMC 939, ive now changed it to DMC 310.
My point is should this software be able to import a black & white photo in to black whites and greys on the thread pallet. It seams ridiculas that once imported in even with a small number of colours that blacks become blues, ive even got a lavender blue dotted all over it.
I could understand colour photos on import might get the odd dodgy mismatched colour that needs adjusting but surely sepia & black and white photos on import should be matched with sepia or black, white and grey colours within the floss pallet.
Ive read most of the threads relating to photo imports and seen people complain that there is duskyrose pink spots in the middle of foreheads and things like that but i thought the whole point of PCS was to make charting easier not end up with some andy warhole kind of replica and need a degree in photoshop just to be able to achieve some kind of decent photo chart.
Are there any hard n fast rules when importing black n white photos or sepia photos so that you dont get these odd random colours just appearing. |
| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Dragonlair |
Posted - 01/30/2010 : 15:19:17
Tenchy,
I have see a few of the so-called "expert" designs and I have personally NOT been impressed. They are often filled with confetti stitches as well as some odd colors.
Despite the "pro" of the name, PCStitch's import is not intended to be a one-step process.
Several years ago, there was a contest to promote the use of importing photos to create patterns. The contestants were allowed to use any software they wanted. The only limit was we all had to work on the same initial photo. Yes, I did enter the contest. One of the entrants appeared to be a first-cut one-step process and was submitted as it was. I spent about a half a day adjusting the photo's dimensions (preserving aspect ratio), importing and tweaking. That was all it took to create what I liked. I even changed the background to a dark blue just to give my gray-scale image some "pop". I feel justified in my comments on the process because ----- I won that contest!
Diane
There is no such thing as a stupid question |
| tenchy |
Posted - 01/30/2010 : 13:52:02
Well i bet the good peeps of DMC, jann designs and other companies who do fantastic photo charting are not sitting for days picking changing random colour spots out of photos, they'd never make no money if that was the case. I reckon theres got to be some industry software out there that actually gets it right but is not known to lesser mortals.
Still i'll stitch it up, if it turns out a right pigs ear then i'll really moan about it lmao. |
| Dragonlair |
Posted - 01/30/2010 : 12:18:57
There are two problems here - one there are only a certain number of shades of white to black through gray available in any company's floss. The other is the computer sees colors differently than you do.
The computer reads a pixel and determines its "spectrum" and tries to find the closest it can among the colors available keeping within the number of colors you allow.
One way to limit the odd colors (I once got yellows when doing a black/white photo of a Wedding Cake Topper for a contest) is to limit the number of colors allowed. That does help.
The one thing to keep in mind when importing a photo to make a pattern is what the computer comes up with is not intended to be the FINAL result. It is always expected that some changes and "tweaking" is required. It's fairly easy to literally change ALL of one color to another color (as I did with the yellow). Just choose a color you think is best and do a replace operation.
Your eye is the best determiner of the appropriate pattern and you need to be willing to take the time to tweak your initial import to give you the best results.
This is an art - not a science. No computer will ever give you what you want the first try. I've seen some stop at that point and I have always thought the results less than desirable! Keep your photo handy to help you adjust as needed and have fun doing it!
Diane
There is no such thing as a stupid question |
