I was very fortunate to acquire my first DSLR camera the other day. I’ve been getting more into photography (specifically, anime figure photography) but didn’t expect to get a DSLR anytime soon thanks to their high price. I heard that Target was having a camera clearance. After looking around, a store not too far from me luckily had one Nikon D3100 left. The clerk didn’t even know it was there or that it was on clearance. Very cool camera! Looking forward to playing with it more.
I am currently working on a MangAI update. At first I thought it was going to be only AI improvements, but there are a few other things that need looking into as well. Pdf as input, for example, wasn’t working right with newer versions of ImageMagick. It seems the fix is to install Ghostscript. I’ll be hard at work on this update, so now is a good time to contact me if you have any problems or suggestions.
New to version 1.13:
-External device profiles with automatic updating
Device profiles used to be embedded in MangAI. This meant that for new profiles to be added, a full program was required. While a program update usually takes at least a month to code, adding a new device profile only takes about five minutes.
Now device profiles are kept in a file external to the program. The latest device profiles can be automatically downloaded through the check for update feature.
-AI improvements to MPM interpretation
Better handling of special chapter numbering.
-Various fixes and improvements
MangAI makes sure output folder is not a subfolder of source. This prevents weird behavior during processing.
Lots of little improvements.
I’m happy that we can now add new device profiles quickly. There are so many ereaders these days that it’s hard to keep up. Please contact me if you have any device requests.
This update also has a lot of little changes. For example, devices are now listed by real name (Apple iPad Air) rather than by key (ipadair) to make selecting your device from the list easier.
Speaking of iPad Air, my parents gave me one for my birthday! They are so awesome! This is my first iPad upgrade since the first gen. With v1.13 done, maybe I can finally catch up on my manga reading ^^
Download the latest version from the MangAI project page.
A common MangAI request I get is to add profiles for the latest devices. Adding a new device profile only takes me a few minutes, but coding a program update usually takes at least a month. Since there seems to be a new ereader or tablet released every other day, the next version of MangAI will have the ability to load default device profiles from a file external to the program. This will allow support for your newly purchased device without having to wait for a full update. I’ve already coded most of the external profile loading code and hope to make it so that MangAI downloads the latest set of profiles automatically.
Let me know what you think and if you have any other ideas for the next MangAI update.
New to version 1.12a:
-Reduced mobi output file size
KindleGen, the free Amazon program used to generate mobi from epub, includes a copy of the input epub in its output mobi. For normal books this isn’t a big deal, but for image-centric books like manga, doubling the file size is costly.
MangAI now automatically strips the input epub from the output mobi, reducing file size to be on par with epub.
This is a minor update to improve mobi file size. There may be a few other tweaks that I’ve forgotten about, so please keep MangAI updated even if you don’t use mobi in order to have the best experience.
Download the latest version from the MangAI project page.
“Man’s triumph over nature.” I completely agree with Misato after having ac problems at my house in Florida (x_x;)
I’ve been walking almost every morning for over a month now. At first I could only walk slow and for a short distance, but I’m currently able to do a little over a mile and at a decent speed. Walking outdoors with my current health is more challenging than just being out of shape. If I look straight ahead, the whole world is turning clockwise as I move forward. An impossible (as well as frightening and nauseating) sight to behold. I find it best to keep my gaze down and try to divert attention to my legs burning to a crampy crisp ^^
Not much to report on MangAI. Latest version (v1.12) has been running strong. I haven’t received a single bug report. In the mean time, the difficult research I have mentioned in previous posts is currently at a standstill. That feature is automatic panel detection. Besides from the obvious crazy difficulty this entails, there are a few things keeping me from pushing harder:
- The processing time for panel detection is ridiculous. It requires multiple passes of pixel-by-pixel analysis per image. Even on a fast computer, this will severely increase processing time.
- With MangAI, the idea would be to break each page into individual panel images ordered by reading direction. To me, it seems like this would only really be useful on tiny screens like phones to make text more legible. Current gen phones, however, have amazing screens. I find manga on my iPhone 5 to be perfectly legible and easy to read by zooming and panning. Not that I ever want to read manga on my phone when I have a tablet or laptop.
- Manga was designed for full pages. Breaking each page into pieces may negatively affect the experience.
- There are many instances where a single panel takes up so much space that you have to zoom to read anyway.
I’ll probably halt automatic panel detection research for now. If I were programming this for use with a comic reader rather than a processor, panel detection would be a lot more alluring since you could still have the full page shown to you but have each panel highlighted as you read. Try the Marvel Comics app to see what I’m talking about (of course, their panels are manually detected by Marvel staff).
Let me know what you think about MangAI having automatic panel detection. Is it something you would use if available? I don’t even know if it’s possible, but if enough people want it I can continue research. Also please let me know if you have any other requests for MangAI.
