software to colorize photos

[Panpan]

Here is a beta version of a program to colorize black and white photos. I haven't tried it yet.

Pierre

[fpellerin]

Thanks for the link Pierre. I'll give a spin at lunch time.

Edit:
Well, I just finished "giving it a spin". Ran it on one of my medium resolution B&W images. After over 60 minutes of processing, I killed the job. It wasn't even half way through colorizing the image. I'll try it again later with a much smaller file.
(FYI: Running XP on a P4-3400 MHz, 1 Gig RAM, SATA Drives)

[byRo]

Thanks for the warning.......

I tried this out on a very small image (200 x 300px) - my machine is a few decades behind your's.
The colouring took about 30 seconds.

Very easy to use, after 5 attempts (without reading the ** manual) I got some good results. see atachments 1st, 3rd and 5th attempt + colour strokes.
I used a greyscale image that I'd made for the Niki thread.

The preset colours are very useful, the results are good.
Only worry is how it scales up to full-sized images.

Rô

[byRo]

This is fun!

Here's a larger (RTP size) image.
The colouring process is still quick - well under a minute.

Rô

[CJ Swartz]

Very nice, Rô! I'm trying the program also, and it is easy to get reasonable results. With your eye and patience, the results are much better!

Pierre -- thanks for the link! Hope you try it soon.

[Panpan]

I tried it with a 2848 x 2136 StockXchng black&white image.

I did only two iterations to come up with the middle one. That's because it took 25 minutes for my six year old computer to colorize such a large photo. It discourages experimentation.

I used Photoshop to correct the overall cast, give the girl rosy cheeks and a better lip color and clean up some of the graininess.

Pierre

[fpellerin]

Nice work everyone!

I guess I was a going a little "overboard" with my first picture (4519 X 5668).

Got some very acceptable results timewise with smaller files. Neat little program!!!

[Cassidy]

oh dear, green thumb here, green bleed all over the place
oh dear, might have to read that manual after all. But wish my thumb was green when gardening, impressed by what others have achieved though. 3 min foray only here, maybe I was way to ambitious

[byRo]

When things start to bleed.....(insert pun here )
...just put in some more coloured strokes on each side, closer to the boundary that you want to fix.

Which is why you'll need at least a second iteration.

Also, I've observed that colours seem to saturate quickly, so go for something a little duller.

Rô

[nebgranny]

Hi Ro:
I downloaded the beta file . I tried it and it seemed to work ok, however when looking closer at your post I saw my workspace was missing the bg and fg choices on it. I tried to extend it out and does not work. What do you suppose is going on ? Bad download maybe?
Neb

[twinkissed]

So far, and maybe I'm using the wrong pictures but so far I haven't had too much luck with it. Some parts not taking the color, others bleeding, and the colors are too technicolor at times. Probably user error here but that's what I've done with it.

[byRo]

Neb, if you click on the line at the top of the two palettes (the cursor becomes a cross) and push they become "free-floating".
A double-click on the name of the palette will cause it to dock again, but it gets pretty messed up. So best leave them as floating palettes.

twinkissed, you probably need to help the program a bit. The programa can only decide how to spread the colours based on the luminosity information of the image. So, use images that have a good (luminosity) separation between the different coloured areas.
What also seems to work well is drawing a coloured line just inside the outline of the coloured area. (see attachment)
And, try using less saturated (duller) colours.

Rô
(P.S. just in case you're wondering. I do not have any connection with the author of this program)

[nebgranny]

Ro I took this ss after moving them. As you can see the bg ad fg still do not show up..Am I still doing somrthing wrong?? Neb

[byRo]

Neb, I'm quite sure that there's nothing that you are doing wrong.
There must be some sort of incompatability in there somewhere.
I've tested this with Windows 2000 and XP, which system are you using?

You can try this, but I'm not sure that it will help much.
- exit from Recolored;
- in the folder where you saved the program find the file "Recolored.ini";
- rename this file to "xRecolored.ini";
- run Recolored again.

This will reset all the options to there initial state, but like I said, I don't actually think that this will solve your problem.

On the other hand, it seems that the only time you need the bg/fg indicator is when doing colour replacement.
Here's a workaround...When using the eye-dropper, left click will set the foreground and right click sets the background.

Rô

[nebgranny]

Thanks Ro,appreciate your help! Neb