Require Expert Help Please, Creating Best Possible Image fro

[ShopPaint]

Hello Kathy,
I did as you suggested and downloaded the free trial version of Topaz Denoise AI. I ran the same picture through the software using the “Auto” command (see screenshot), but the results were nowhere near as dramatic as yours. I also played about with different values but couldn’t get anywhere near your results.

What am I doing wrong? Is the trial version different to yours?

Any help or advice would be appreciated,

Regards,

Peter.

The trial version and my version are the same version number.

I ran it through on Auto and there were still dots on the right side of the image so I pushed the Remove Noise slider all the way to the right and that removed the dots. That made the image very soft so I increased the Recover Details slider.

Note: you can apply the results and run it through a second time if you are not happy with the results. It's a lot of trial and error.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, Kathy, I will try it again. Jean-Luc has suggested using FFT. Do you think applying the latter prior to running the image through Topaz Denoise would be a good idea?

regards,

Pete.

[ShopPaint]

This plugin says it is compatible with PaintShop Pro but I cannot make it appear in PSP:
http://www.descreen.net/eng/soft/descre ... bility.htm

This trial version doesn't show up in mine either Jean-Luc.

[ShopPaint]

I applied another method.
I'm using the Fast Fourier Transform plugin.

FFT_July2008.zip

Extract it in the Plugins folder. Works on PSP 32bit.
Enlarge the Image's Canvas with grey. I added 44 pixels for this demonstration.
The plugin doesn't work well on image's border. Adding an empty space around the image prevents the defect.

Young man Image2 enlarge canvas.jpg

Apply FFT plugin. The result:

Young man Image2 apply FFT.jpg

Paint on the white areas. Don't touch the central area.

Young man Image2 remove white specks.jpg

This damned forum doesn't accept more than 4 attachments. See next message.

Jean-Luc would i be able to use this 32 Bit Fast Fourier Transform Plugin or would i need a 64 Bit version, and if so do you know if there is a free version?

regards,

Pete.

[Jean-Luc]

Jean-Luc would i be able to use this 32 Bit Fast Fourier Transform Plugin or would i need a 64 Bit version, and if so do you know if there is a free version?

You need to use your PSP 32bit version with the FFT plugin. The FFT plugin is not visible nor active in PSP 64bit.
It is a free version:
http://www.tipsquirrel.com/use-fft-to-reduce-texture/

[Jean-Luc]

I have well over 100 pictures to correct

Are the other images similar to the one you posted?

Removing the halftone dots with the FFT plugin must be done manually because the FFT will be different for each image. Yes, it will take time to correct all your images. Your workflow is not the best from the beginning and you will pay that during postprocessing.

The second part of the correction (after FFT processing) could be done with a script if all images are of the same quality.

[ShopPaint]

I have well over 100 pictures to correct

Are the other images similar to the one you posted?

Removing the halftone dots with the FFT plugin must be done manually because the FFT will be different for each image. Yes, it will take time to correct all your images. Your workflow is not the best from the beginning and you will pay that during postprocessing.

The second part of the correction (after FFT processing) could be done with a script if all images are of the same quality.

Thanks for the advice Jean-Luc, it's appreciated. However, I am going to have to give this some more thought, as I need an easier solution if possible given that I have approximately 150 pictures to correct

regards,

Pete.

[Andy2011]

I have arrived a bit late at the party but I do have another couple of methods for cleaning up the dots from halftone images. In the sample picture I have used (a) Adjust\Add/Remove Noise\Moire Pattern Removal and (b) Effects\User Defined Filter. The samples use just those changes and have not been cleaned up otherwise. Both methods use averaging - as does Gaussian blur - so there is a natural loss of sharpness. For the Moire Pattern Removal, I started off with a Fine Details setting of 1 and incremented until the dots just disappeared. A setting of 3 seemed to be the best. The banding adjustment has little effect.
The User Defined Filter (UDF) is more complicated to explain. I started off using one I had put together a couple of years ago for smoothing a very differnt picture. The result was OK but I went back to basics and made up one that worked on a 5 by 5 pixel matrix, based on the halftone dots being separated by that sort of amount. Each resultant pixel is a weighted average of 25 but with stong centre weighting, the outermost pixels having just 10% to 30% of the effect of the centre pixel. (I could post the preset if it is of interest.)
A personal preference when working with old newspaper pictures is to go to black and white, ignoring the brownish colour of the paper. The original paper would probably have been white with carbon-black ink dots with the brown colour arising from oxidation of the cellulose fibres. If the output warrants an antique feel, it is easy to apply sepia toning. Of course, if a facsimile of the original newspaper picture is the objective, leave the halftone dots in as they give character!

[Jean-Luc]

(I could post the preset if it is of interest.)

I'm interested...
Post it.

[Andy2011]

I'm interested...

I've attached a zip file as the presets are pspscripts which are not permitted as attachments. Anyone using it needs to satisfy themselves that it is benign. It needs to be saved to the presets file location - in my case ..\Documents\Corel PaintShop Pro\2020\Presets.
I have it set to work on grey values but it is easy to swap to all colour channels.
If you don't want to unzip and save the preset, the values can be typed in.

image of preset entries

User defined filters are good for all sort of effects that are a bit different from PSP built-in ones. For example, embossing can be made harder and softer.

UDF settings for embossing

[ShopPaint]

Thanks for the advice/information Andy it's appreciated. I think i might have to look at Fast Fourier Transform which would be more time consuming, but I may have no choice,

regards,

Pete.

[Jean-Luc]

I've attached a zip file as the presets are pspscripts

Thank you!
It is interesting...

[Andy2011]

Thank you!
It is interesting...

Yes, I find the UD filter concept interesting - sometimes a solution in search of a problem but I love the maths.
With them you can:

• Emboss at various apparent depths with illumination coming from a chosen direction
  Find edges
  Blur - with weighted average, just vertical, just horizontal, just one colour channel etc.
  Shift selection or image by 1 to 5 pixels
  and so on

There is a very helpful tutorial at pspug.org (suggest searching).
Perhaps this topic warrants a 'sticky' with some examples - though only for nerds like me!

[Jean-Luc]

There is a very helpful tutorial at pspug.org (suggest searching).

Could you point me to the exact page?

[Andy2011]

Could you point me to the exact page?

Sorry - some user boards hate full URLs as they can be malicious
http://www.pspug.org/tutorial/html/tutb ... rdefnd.htm

[Jean-Luc]

Hi Andy2011,
Thank you for the link. Well explained.