Orion Manga by Masamune Shirow [new offer / alternate version]?

[carniska]

Edit: To ease reading (from different sources in bakabt) I'll 'pull' the conclution to here.

Offer found here:
http://bakabt.me/torrent/148408/Orion.html

I ended to use normal HQ 1600 .jpg version. Here are comparison pictures regarding content of the old torrent and the new one:

Old torrent on left, new on right:
 

 

Source I've used were ~2528 x ~3953px .bmp images (exported from e-book i found) and aprox ~30mb per picture (samples of the original source later in this thread).

Here's what I've done to achieve normal HQ 1600px version:

1) Extracted all 272 pages one by one from e-book to .bmp.
2) Converted the pics from original .bmp to .jpg.
3) Adjusted the white and black levels manually with @Dille's help.
4) Resized the images to height of 1600px.
5) Renamed all files to correct pageflow etc. adjustments.
6) Packed them seperatly to corresponding .rar archives -- regarding chapters.

And now back to the original post:

==============================================
As I made adoption from "Orion Manga by Masamune Shirow" four days ago, I got my hands on e-book version (all images in .bmp @extracted from source). I'll add some comparsion pictures to the end of this post inside a spoiler.

Adopted torrent page:
http://bakabt.me/torrent/10740/Orion_Manga_by_Masamune_Shirow.html

original torrent (differences compared to e-book version):

(click to show/hide)

It has 268 images(i excluded mangaproject credit pages)
It has cover images for each issues and randomly back cover & cover-inside pictures.
issues 01 - 04 are in .jpg format (as the original torrent before my adoption)
issues 05 - 06 are in .gif format (as the original torrent before my adoption)
Imagesizes are kind of random. Quote from _Detailed info: "Interior manga pages are BW and range in size from 650 x 1010 to a larger 865 x 1370.".

e-book version (differences compared to original):

(click to show/hide)

It has 272 images (wich doesen't even have mangaprojects credit pages).
all pages are in .bmp format (needs lots of work from me to convert them to .jpg and rename all files)
Extracted pages from ebook in ~2528 x ~3953 resolution wich variates under ~100px (I'll post variations when I study images more deeply -- if I start this project).
Doesent include pagenumbering in scans.
The story contenues without breaks in a contenues flow (doesen't have other cover images).
Has additional pages.

Comparsion pictures (with text sample comparsion):

(click to show/hide)

Whole page comparsion:

original:


e-book version:


text comparsion (cropped image - no resizing done):

original:


e-book version:


small print comparsion (cropped image - no resizing done):

original:


e-book version:


excluded pages example

original had eg. only this page:


e-book version had these pages:

Should I start this project and new offer or just forget it?

Edit: added pics.

[Duki3003]

To be honest I wouldn't mind, quality is a lot better, but imo it would be better to keep it lossless - convert it to png instead.
But that's my opinion, it would be best if you wait to hear it from another mod as well...

[carniska]

I think I'll gonna wait more comments.

The variety of the image resolution (orion issue 01) is following:
Cover image: 2636x4093
Cover back images from: 2522x3933 to 2528x3963
Story page images: 2534x3963 or 2534x3973

I have now extracted all the images from "Orion issue 01" for testing purpouses (archive size). Here's some additional samples:

(click to show/hide)

original (from adopted torrent)


PNG (no image-resize) // WARNING: 5mb
http://carniska.wippiespace.com/orion/2528x3963.png
Archive size for issue 01 (pages 01-58): 243 mb And there is still 5 issues remaining :S

JPG (no image-resize)

Archive size for issue 01 (pages 01-58): 167mb

PNG 1023x1601

Archive size for issue 01: (pages 01-58) 98mb

JPG 1500x2347

Archive size for issue 01 (pages 01-58) 52mb

JPG 1023x1601

Archive size for issue 01 (pages 01-58): 36mb

Btw. for some reason my mangareader (supports straight archvie reading) crashes if i use archives wich holds bigger pics Atm I would chose either 1500x or under(?)

[carniska]

I was thinking about torrent file size, that it would be good if its on reasonable range (not like 1.6 GB as one other version i made proved). So I finished the the second version gaining 254mb archive/torrent size with 1500px horizontal width for all issues (01-06).

I went throught all 272 images with adobe, edited dual-paged images into one, renamed whole filelist, seperated all issues/volumes to corresponding archives. Tested all 6 archives with different image viewer softwares (wich support direct archive reading) regarding compatibility and support.

here's sample pictures:

(click to show/hide)

With that quality presented in the spoiler, archives would be in reasonable size (272 pages -> 254mb in whloe) -- in my opinion.

I'll finish up the .png version and inform whats the accual filesize for the archives regarding 272 images.

[carniska]

Phew. The .png version might be too huge (or maby I'm just not skilled enough to make good png's couse the filesize was 1.2GB). But finally I finished 1600px version of jpg. File size: 156mb.

Anyways, 1600px version looks way better than the original - specially after I managed to adjust black&white levels with help of @Dille

Sample pictures of 1600px version after B/W levels adjusted:
http://carniska.wippiespace.com/orion/1600/130.jpg
http://carniska.wippiespace.com/orion/1600/117.jpg
http://carniska.wippiespace.com/orion/1600/112.jpg
http://carniska.wippiespace.com/orion/1600/98.jpg

Edit: I tested all the archives with different manga reader softwares -- wich support direct archive reading -- (Quivi, MangaReader, MangaMeey) regarding compatibility and correct pageflow.

[marcepan]

Atm it seems that the djvu format you have is the same that I've been using as source. The problem with colours -- in that publication is... hmm... Maby it's better to quote what our respected user @Dille said (and I agree with him/her amongst the others): [...]

I wholeheartedly agree with that. What I said about colour balancing and post-processing applies only when scanning the original manga. In the case where your only source is a low-quality scan, then manual retouching (like you have done for this release, I understand) is the only thing one can do to improve quality.

That said, you did an awesome job.

[carniska]

@marcepan, thank you so much for your comments To say honestly, I have been unsure regarding the entirety of the Orion 'manga' version that I have offered. I have provided some sample pics etc, but so far no one has said anything about the entirety, and at that point I thought it was ok thing: "No complains - it works or atleast it's ok". But that kind of thinking is only one sided.

I was so happy to read your comment/post about "colour reproduction", "colour charts" and "W/B levels" etc. (at this point, I can honestly say that I'm rookie) -- hope you understand what I mean; that someone criticizes "on the whole" -- specially after 1 month of waiting regarding the files I have offered =^.^= And honestly: I appriciate your comments and alot.

Thank you

[Xiong Chiamiov]

specially after 1 month of waiting regarding the files I have offered =^.^=

Threads go off the radar after a few days.  If you're waiting on input, just bump and tell us to stop being lazy asses and give you some.