Kodak photo CD files
Joe Means
extensions so I don't know what type of images they are. How can I open them in
Photo-paint 8?
Thanks,
Joe
--
From:
Joseph E. Means, Assistant Professor Forest Science Department
Internet: Me...@fsl.orst.edu Oregon State University
Phone 541-750-7351 Fax 541-750-7329 Corvallis, OR 97331 U.S.A.
http://www.fsl.orst.edu/rogues/meansj/meansnew.htm
Bill Whelan
First, make sure you have the .PCD filters installed. If not, you may custom
install those filters. Here is a ton of information from the PP8.369
Help Menu re: Photo CDs.
<>The Photo CD dialog box automatically displays when you open or import a .PCD
image. This dialog box lets you specify image size and color mode, as well as apply
color correction to a Photo CD-ROM image before importing it into your Corel
application. There are two color correction methods you can choose from: Gamut CD
and Kodak.
· Gamut CD
Uses gamut mapping to enhance the color fidelity and tonal ranges of the image,
which ensures that the colors in a computer image can be reproduced by a printer.
· Kodak Color Correction
Lets you alter color tints, adjust brightness and color saturation, and adjust the
contrast in your image.
To apply Gamut CD color correction to an image
1. Open the Photo CD Image.
When you open a Photo CD, the Photo CD Image dialog box automatically opens prior to
displaying the image.
2. Click the Gamut CD button on the Enhancement page.
3. Click a preview button at the right side of the dialog box. Best Preview displays
an accurate color preview but requires more processing time. Fast Preview displays a
quick preview of the image.
4. Click the Set Active Area button and marquee select the area on the preview image
that you want to be considered for the image enhancement calculations.
5. Do one of the following:
· Enable the Adjust White In Image button if there is white in the image and type a
value in the Absolute White box to indicate how pure the whitest white should be
(255 is pure white).
· Enable the Adjust Black In Image button if there is black in the image and type a
value in the Absolute Black box to indicate how pure the blackest black should be (0
is pure black).
· Click the Set Neutral Colors button and click the Neutral Colors on the preview
image if there are neutral areas (black, gray, or white) in the image. The color
casts will be removed from the image. To obtain the best results, specify colors
that span as much of the lightness range of the image as possible.
6. Click the Preview button to evaluate your settings.
Tips
· Disable the Adjust White In Image check box or Adjust Black In Image check box if
your image does not contain these elements. Otherwise, the resulting image may
either be too dark or too bright.
· Enable the Adjust Black In Image check box to darken an image containing no black
and type a value greater than 0 in the box.
· Enable the Adjust White In Image check box to lighten an image containing no white
and type a value less than 255 in the box.
To apply Kodak color correction to an image
1. Open the Photo CD Image.
When you open a Photo CD, the Photo CD Image dialog box automatically opens prior to
displaying the image.
2. On the Enhancement page, click the Kodak Color Correction button.
3. Type values in the Red, Green, and Blue boxes to adjust the tint.
4. Type a value in the Brightness number box to adjust the brightness level.
5. Type a value in the Saturation box to adjust the degree of saturation.
6. Choose No Gamma Adjustment or a Contrast Level from the Color Metric list box.
7. Enable the Show Colors Out Of Screen Gamut check box. Click the Preview button to
verify that the adjustments made in steps 3 to 6 are not too extreme.
If they are, out-of-gamut pixels are rendered as pure red or pure blue so that you
can identify out-of-gamut areas of the image and adjust accordingly.
Note
· The scene balance adjustment is made by the photo finisher at the time the
original image is scanned and placed on the Photo CD disk. Enable the appropriate
check box to preserve the adjustments.
(c) 1992 - 1998 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved<>
Bill (typo) Whelan
Joe Means
the list of Corel components iunder Help:About and found I have version 8.369. I went
to Tools:Options:Global:Filters and I see that "Corel Kodak Photo-CD Import Filter is in
the active list.
I then added the extension .pcd to the file. I chose this file based on the printed
thumbnail on a photo CD in an office across campus. Someone else FTP'ed it to our Sun
FTP site, and I FTP'ed to our Novel network.
I then clicked the open file icon in PP8 to get the Open an Image dialog, and selected
file "31.pcd". The Open an Image dialog then tells me this file has "File format:
Macintosh PICT (PCT)". Unexpected!
Then I click Open in that dialog and the Import into Bitmap dialog comes up. I select
Paletted (8-bit) under Color because I have my display running in 8-bit mode and click
OK. The Font Matching Results dialog comes up and I accept its one substitution.
I then get an image that is blank except for a text message at 4x4 pixels per character
and hard to read. It says something like "QuickTime and a PhotoCD xxxxxx processor are
needed xx to use this picture"
Do you know what is going on? Will quicktime really help?
Joe
Bill Whelan wrote:
> Hi Joe,
> First, make sure you have the .PCD filters installed. If not, you may custom
> install those filters. Here is a ton of information from the PP8.369
> Help Menu re: Photo CDs.
>
Bill Whelan
Hi Joe,
I feel a little embarrassed for two reasons. First, I'm from Rochester, NY
Home and Headquarters of Eastman Kodak. Second, I don't own a single
Kodak Photo CD - :(
I read on further from a document posted at Corel Web Site:
What I read was, it shouldn't really matter whether the Photo was Mac
or IBM (PC) - Don't think you will need Quicktime either. Unless it's a
video CD!? Perhaps the one font substitution is not installed on you
computer!?
I'll throw a whole bunch more of document # 5200 at you, if this fails
to help you, then I'll have to pass this one on to someone more knowledgeable regarding
Kodak Photo CDs.
Wish I could be of more help. However, Corel did not include a single
Kadak Photo CD in the DRAW 8 Suite, nor the Photo-Paint 8 Standalone
version.
<># 5200- Corel® PHOTO CD -
General Information
The Corel® Professional PHOTO CD is an ISO 9660 CD-ROM disk that
can be read by either MacIntosh® or IBM machines. The PCD images are
transferred from a Kodak (XA) formatted disk to the ISO disk in order to
be compatible with the widest variety of CD-ROM drives. As a result, the
Corel disks can NOT be read in a Kodak PHOTO CD-ROM player
attached to a television and do not require an XA compatible drive on a
computer.
The Kodak PHOTO CD Process (In Brief)
Kodak images are digitized from 35mm slides or negatives at a resolution
of 2048 x 3072 pixels generating an 18 MB RGB file. The 18 MB file is
then compressed by reducing the image data to Luminance and
Chrominance information which produces a smaller, 4.5 MB file called an
Image Pac. This file includes the image in 5 sizes: Thumbnail or Base/16,
Base/4, Base (which is close to the NTSC Television standard and
similar to the MAC and VGA - 640 x 480), 4Base and 16Base (see Table
below).
In the process of scanning the image, the PCD Data Manager workstation
automatically adjusts the color of each image according to the make and
type of film it is scanning. It will properly balance more than 200 types of
film. When importing bitmaps, some DTP (Desk Top Publishing)
applications will ask what type of film the original image was taken with in
order to do some color balancing. Since the Kodak process already
performs this balancing when producing the original image, no further
balancing is required.
Printing and Converting PHOTO CD Images
PostScript Printers
There is no application supplied with the Corel PHOTO CDs that will
allow one to print the photo CD images. They must be converted to
another file format and then imported into a Drawing or Desk Top
Publishing package.
All printing will be handled by the application but the image quality will be
dependent on the resolution of the converted image, the physical size of
the image and the resolution and screen frequency of the printing device.
How each of these parameters affects the final output is beyond the
scope of this document.
Non-PostScript Printers
If the images are being printed to a non-PostScript printer, the print
quality will be primarily dependent on the graphics card and driver that
are being used to run Windows. A non-PostScript printer driver creates
the image that will be used for printing, directly from the video RAM so, if
the video is low resolution, low color, the printer will output a similar
quality. PostScript printing will generally give better results.
Converting/Exporting PHOTO CDs
When the conversion from PCD into a another file format (TIFF for
instance) is performed, the image that is produced has an effective scan
rate of 300 DPI. Therefore, if the printer is set up for a 150 LPI screen
frequency, no modifications need to be done to the TIF image to produce
the best quality image without excessive file overhead.
Some points to remember before
Converting/Exporting Images
The conversion process can take considerable time to complete if the
larger file size is selected. Even on a fast machine, the 2048 x 3072 may
take as much as 30 minute before it finishes writing the file to the hard
disk. This file will be the largest and will be approximately 18 MB. As a
result, it will require a considerable amount of hard disk space and RAM
to complete the conversion successfully. If there is less that 12 MB of
RAM on the system performing this export, it may not be able to complete
the conversion to the two larger sizes.
Image Resolution
When converting/exporting an image, regardless of the size the image, it
will more than likely read as a 72DPI ( dots per inch) image in an
application such as Adobe® Photoshop®. The reason for this is quite
simple. The images are stored in high resolution on the CD-ROM, but the
PHOTO CD format does not store the DPI value. When these files are
opened they will display the default resolution (either 72 or 96 dpi). To
rectify this problem, simply re-sample the image, with maintain file size
checked, to the appropriate resolution and the images will become the
new size, without any loss of quality.
Glossary of Terms
DPI - Dots per Inch - a measure of the output resolution produced by
printers, image setters or monitors.
Lino - Linotype - This is a popular brand of image setter. It is very high
resolution; generally at least 1200 DPI.
LPI - Lines Per Inch - A measure of the frequency of a halftone screen
(Usually ranging from 55-200). This terminology is a holdover from
traditional printing methods of producing various shades of the same
color.
PCD - PHOTO CD Data format
PPI - Pixels Per Inch - A measure of the resolution of an electronic image
from a source such as a scanner or a digital camera.
RIP - Raster Image Processor - Part of an output device that rasterizes
information so that it may be imaged onto film or paper. The RIP is one
part of an imagesetter.
Screen Angle - The angles used to offset the different films in process
color separations. If correct screen angles are not used when printing, the
final result will show Moir or Rosette patterns. This is a printing
adjustment. It is not determined by the original image.
Screen Frequency - The number of lines per inch of a half tone screen.
This is also a printing setting<>
Bill Whelan
I had a few minutes on my hands while waiting for a telephone call, and
picked up a book - Corel Photo-Paint 8 The Official guide by
David Huss, and found some more information that may be of interest
to you.
Picking the right size when opening a Photo-CD:
When a photo CD is initially opened, the dialog box displays the image tab.
If color correction is not desired, the only choices must be made are the size of the image
and color selection. The size choices and their size in pixels are wallet (192x128),
Snapshot (384x256),Standard (768x512)
Large, (1536x1024), and Poster (3072x2048) The available color selections are 16.7 million
(24 Bit), 256 colors (8 bit), and 256 gray scale.
After you have the size and color, click the OK button to load the image.
Bill (typo) Whelan
Joe Means
1. The images that I ftp'ed you are in the PICT format (Macintosh native
picture format). They are based on the QuickDraw display language. In order
to open them you will need Photoshop and QuickTime installed.
2. We have been having problems with ftp'ing to UNIX based networks. The
transfered images seem to lose their headed that tells software that they are
a picture. To overcome this we have been telling people to download the
images from the server as binary, when you do this most ftp software wants you
to designate a creater based on what software you have on your system.
Choose
Photoshop, Photopaint, Graphic Converter, or what ever you are using. It may
also be helpful to add the three letter extension *.pic.
3.The Photo CD's that these files came from are produced by Kodak. They are
JPEG compressed PICT's and do require Apple's QuickTime to open them.
........ So I got QuickTime 3.0.2 from the Apple site. I followed the instructions
in PP8 help to add a plug-in filter and mapped the QuickTime directory. I still
get the same error message when I try to open the *.pic files in PP8. Ideas?
Joe
Bill Whelan
Is it possible for you to send me one of those files you are having
trouble opening in PP 8? Attach as binary file to my personal e-mail
address - Keep it under 500K Bytes if possible, and I'll try to figure out
what's going on with those Kodak files created on a Mac using Quick Time
for Videos. Also, why did you install Quick Time as a plug-in in PP 8 -
PhotoShop compatible Plug-ins only. Are you using a Mac or PC?
Also, Quick Time has 3D draw software.
Bill (typo) Whelan
ps
QuickTime is the Apple
technology that makes video,
sound, music, 3D and virtual
reality come alive for Macintosh
and Windows. Now QuickTime
takes your multimedia capabilities
to the next level — and the one
beyond. Introducing QuickTime 3
and QuickTime 3 Pro.
QuickTime 3 advances
your multimedia
capabilities. Download it
— and then upgrade to
QuickTime 3 Pro for
extended features - -
B.W.
Joe Means
First, thanks much for all your time at this! I have the sense that we will crack this
nut.
I tried giving the files a .pct extension also. No matter whether they start out with a
.pct or .pic extension PP8 and PP7 both give them .cpt extensions, then give the message
in the image pane: "Quicktime and Photo CD Decompress are needed to use this .."
Joe
Bill Whelan wrote:
> Hi Joe Means,
> Interesting! Curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to create JPEG (*.jpg) images
> in PShop and saved as Mac (*.pct) . The images are 400x400 pixels @ 72 DPI and 24 bit
> color depth.
>
> I then (twice) opened in Photo-Paint 8, clicked open, Shape Me.pct and a menu dropped
> down giving me choices. I choose 8 bit palleted (once
> and 8 bit gray scale the second time. Both times I chose import from
> bitmap, size 1:1, width 400 pixels and height 400 pixels, resolution 72
> DPI, super sampling. . . Poof, the image opened time after time from
> PP 8. I tried this on other PICT images as well without a single problem,
> opening from PP 8 - I don't use Quick Time (nor is it installed on my
> machine), but it works from here.
> If changing the extension to .pct doesn't work for you. . . Then I really
> don't have a clue.
> <>See the attached screen shot<>
> Try adding a three letter extension (*.PCT) instead of (*.PIC). . .
> Good Luck, and Happy Holidays to you and your students.
> Bill (typo) Whelan
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> [Image]
Bill Whelan
You're welcome, and you're correct - We will crack this nut one way or
the other. Thanks also, for a personal e-mail reply - I'll look around and
find one to download. Four meg files are only a problem when
attached to my e-mail address. My ISP simply returns files that are
larger than 1MB. . .
Bill (nutcracker) Whelan
Joe Means wrote:
Bill Whelan
Hi Joe,
When I try to access the URL you have posted below; the following
message is displayed.
<The requested object does not exist on this server. The link you followed is
either outdated, inaccurate, or the server has been instructed not to let you
have it.>>
Bill (typo) Whelan
Bill Whelan
More info:
<>Saving PICT files (raster only)
The PICT format is widely used among graphics and page layout applications as an
intermediary file format for transferring documents between applications. The PICT format is
especially effective at compressing images that contain large, flat areas of color. This
compression can be dramatic for alpha channels, which often consist of large, flat areas of
white and black.
Note: You can save images in the PICT File format, raster only.
In the PICT dialog box, specify a resolution of 16 bits per pixel or 32 bits per pixel. You
can also choose from four JPEG compression options for the file.<>
Bill Whelan
Bill Whelan
I've worked on your file 31.pct a little through a text editor, and see the
original file was indeed a Kodak Photo CD Image created here in the
Greater Rochester, NY area. :-)
"If you change a filename extension, the file may become unstable"
That was my first impression - - However, I opened the file in DRAW
8 and noticed the text "Quick Time and a Photo CD Decompressor
are needed to open this picture" were written in a Vector format, and
saved as such. When I removed the text in DRAW 8, and saved the
file as .PCT; it was "reduced from 4.74 MB to 574 Bytes".
The file was definitely saved in the PICT format sometime after
opening the Kodak Photo CD image.
Now, as I see it, we have only three choices to make. One, the file
was made unstable by renaming it. Two, the file is corrupted from
another source. Three, someone duped you. . . :(
I'm not a Software Engineer by any means, but I know all the file
extensions mentioned in this thread work very well in Photo-paint 8 -
BTW - I couldn't open the file from Pshop with any of their extensions,
in any way, form shape or matter.
What was supposed to be on the 31.pcd image? Do you have an idea?
Anyhow, I asked for it. . .
In Part -From Text Editor:
<>Vkpcd Photo CD
PCD_IPI __<_ 4â5ê4â5ê_052/55 SPD 0000 KODAK /4220 FilmScanner 20004.17
894 _HEastman Kodak
_ ® n _ _ _ _ _
_ ( ( #_QuickTimeª and a ( @ __Photo CD Decompressor ( X __are needed to use this
picture ÿ<>
Best regards,
Bill (typo) Whelan