Comic Reader


Joined
Oct 5, 2008
Messages
123
I would love to see a decent comic reader on this thing. There's no reason it can't be done. Truth be told, the Wiz's built-in reader would be decent if the zoom function wasn't so jacked up. It takes like 45 seconds to zoom in on a page to the point that the font is readable, and then while zoomed in, the sides of the image are cut off to a ridiculous extent. Often there is text on the sides of the frames in my comics, text that is too small to read, and when I zoom in to make it readable, it gets cut off by the crappy zoom function.

I wouldn't bother requesting it here, but I think we all know that GPH isn't going to make any major changes to the comic reader. They seem more intent on making firmware changes that do little to nothing. The "listen to music while viewing comics" thing was nice, but I would've much rather had a zoom function that zoomed at a decent rate. The PSP zooms at a great speed, and then refreshes the image after you have stopped zooming, allowing much faster zooming. The Wiz attempts to refresh the image (for clarity) while you zoom, resulting in slow-down.

Also it would be sweet if it supported CBR and CBZ files. It's a pain having to unzip them just to view them on my Wiz.

Anyone else interested in a decent comic program?
 
while you zoom, resulting in slow-down.

Also it would be sweet if it supported CBR and CBZ files. It's a pain having to unzip them just to view them on my Wiz.

Anyone else interested in a decent comic program?
I am, but at the same time how good could you get a program to work, displaying at 320x240? Text is going to be hard to read either way.....
 
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I am, but at the same time how good could you get a program to work, displaying at 320x240? Text is going to be hard to read either way.....
Yeah, I understand what you mean, but I'm not asking for it to zoom MORE or anything. I just want a comic reader very similar to the one on the PSP (or even the one the Wiz has now) as long as it can zoom FASTER and with more precision. It doesn't need to change the display or anything. It's just the speed and precision of the zooming on the current comic app that really kill it.

If it had better zooming, it'd be perfect. And CBR and CBZ support wouldn't hurt either. :)
 
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I am currently writing a PNG zoom app... I would use it for Comix etc. Basically, You create and size a ZOOM target, a 4:3 rectangle ( bigger target == less zoom, and smaller target == more zoom ) and then hover it over where you want to read, and see exactly what the zoom will expose... Kinda like a crosshair for the zoom function. Clearly it wont serve much purpose unless it loads JPEG, and even then will be of limited use, until it supports ZIP and RAR ( er CBZ and CBR... )... But so far it's working.... [Y] increases crosshair size, [X] decreases crosshair size, activates the zoom as momentary, [A] activates the zoom as toggle. Direction keys align and target the crosshair in pre-zoom... Direction keys move the page in toogle-zoom.

I am away from home on business, but I'll try to upload a Proof of Concept when I get back later this week... I am not a real programmer, I am more a script kiddie... If a real programmer wants to run with the idea, please feel free...
-DEJ
 
... But so far it's working.... [Y] increases crosshair size, [X] decreases crosshair size, activates the zoom as momentary, [A] activates the zoom as toggle. Direction keys align and target the crosshair in pre-zoom... Direction keys move the page in toogle-zoom.

I am away from home on business, but I'll try to upload a Proof of Concept when I get back later this week... I am not a real programmer, I am more a script kiddie... If a real programmer wants to run with the idea, please feel free...
-DEJ
Cool, I'm glad to hear that DEJ. I hope this will work better in terms of reading comics than the built-in app. I'd love to read my 100 Bullets and Spawn on my Wiz :D
 
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would be cool to get a touch screen feature on it too where you could drag your stylus and it'd skim across the picture as you moved the stylus
 
would be cool to get a touch screen feature on it too where you could drag your stylus and it'd skim across the picture as you moved the stylus
I'll see what I can do... but remember the code I have written so far, and the base for the code... doesn't do JPEG...
So for now it's all PNG. Which is guarenteed useless for the standardized Comix releases.

I think what I have now is working... I can read an entire comic without having to let go of the Wiz.
So implementing the stylus/touchscreen kinda defeats it, but as an added feature for those that want it, it should be a simple add.

Assuming I understand you correctly, and in zoom mode, you want to navigate the page using the stylus.
( click - pull - drag? )
Sounds do-able.

Right now what I have is a target recticle/crosshair, that sizes to a 4:3 rectangle.
You place that on the page where you want to begin, and trigger zoom.
Either you hold the ZOOM momentary, read, and release and re position.
Or ZOOM toggle and then scroll about the page using the direction keys.

Triggers left and right change the pages.

The toggle is useful if the page you are viewing has several rows of similar sized panels.
But as we all know a comic has no rules. The next page could be full page.
So you hafta back out of the toggled ZOOM.
ReSize the crosshair, and begin again.

If I am more than the coder I think I am, and half of the coder I want to be,
I'd like to develop a script language that would "PLAY" the comic.
Having preset zooms, and timings. Creating a (sorta) slide show of the comic.

We'll see. First things first, a simple proof of concept this week, conquer the world a bit later. :)
-DEJ
 
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would be cool to get a touch screen feature on it too where you could drag your stylus and it'd skim across the picture as you moved the stylus
I'll see what I can do... but remember the code I have written so far, and the base for the code... doesn't do JPEG...
So for now it's all PNG. Which is guarenteed useless for the standardized Comix releases.

I think what I have now is working... I can read an entire comic without having to let go of the Wiz.
So implementing the stylus/touchscreen kinda defeats it, but as an added feature for those that want it, it should be a simple add.

Assuming I understand you correctly, and in zoom mode, you want to navigate the page using the stylus.
( click - pull - drag? )
Sounds do-able.

Right now what I have is a target recticle/crosshair, that sizes to a 4:3 rectangle.
You place that on the page where you want to begin, and trigger zoom.
Either you hold the ZOOM momentary, read, and release and re position.
Or ZOOM toggle and then scroll about the page using the direction keys.

Triggers left and right change the pages.

The toggle is useful if the page you are viewing has several rows of similar sized panels.
But as we all know a comic has no rules. The next page could be full page.
So you hafta back out of the toggled ZOOM.
ReSize the crosshair, and begin again.

If I am more than the coder I think I am, and half of the coder I want to be,
I'd like to develop a script language that would "PLAY" the comic.
Having preset zooms, and timings. Creating a (sorta) slide show of the comic.

We'll see. First things first, a simple proof of concept this week, conquer the world a bit later. :"]
-DEJ[/quote]Sweet, I'm anxious to check it out. Keep up the good work man!

Just to clarify, are you looking to implement JPG functionality at some point? Or is this project intended to work only with PNGs?
 
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