Re: Ithmbconv.exe
Tatum Cartwright
Can anyone tell me how to open/view them?? when I click on the them i get 'no preview available.'
Edit: should explain...I'm checking up on my son..i went to attach a file on hotmail and up came these pics of half naked women....i found the FOLDERS they are in but cant open the ITHMB files to see what all the pics are of!!
Do i really want to know......... YIKES!!
It says 'downloading your file' and then nothing happens.
Make sure you have JavaScript enabled or you'll always get that message. When it only says Download File, click the Download File text and the file transfer should begin. At the extreme, it should say something like "Wait 28 seconds" and then count down (when busy).
Here's the link to the latest update. Let me know how it works for you... I need some feedback to continue.
(Remember, you need to use the program from a command line)
ok ok ..i had a pop up blocker on and i have allowed pop ups and now successfully downloaded the file.
i have followed your instructions (had to type in 'cd.. ' twice...first time went to documents and settings...second time got me to where i should have been!!)
typed in 'cd thumbs' all went well
then went to next step ithmbconv(replace with my filename).ithmb and it says 'this is not recognised as and internal or exoternal command, operable program or batch file
Thats as far as i have got :)
Question - is that hard to modify ithmbconv so it would do 2-ways conversion - from ITHMB -> PPM and PPM -> ITHMB? Or maybe just somehow resize those HUGE ITHMB files that lame iTune creates from small JPGs?
The reason I'm asking is that it's just a big waste of space copying JPGs to iPhone. I wanted to put all my pics (reasonably downsized to 1024x768) to the device - about 5500 files 800 MB total and realized it eats full 3.5 GB as ITHMBs!!!! That's not good, isn't that? 8-)
Question - is that hard to modify ithmbconv so it would do 2-ways conversion - from ITHMB -> PPM and PPM -> ITHMB?
The actual ithmbs are just 16bit-raw picture files (no compression) - that's the reason for their "extreme" size. With that ithmb converter all that it is doing is basically splitting up the file into it's components and then converts them to 24bit, then to PPM. Some parts of the ithmb though are in reversed byte order so a little extra "hacking" is done to reverse it back before the 24bit conversion.
PPM is pretty much a raw picture file too with just a header that allows a "paint" program to make sense of the file and how it it structured (width, height, and colour depth). This then allows the "paint" program to be able to edit it or allow you to create batch operations on them such as converting to other file formats.
Or maybe just somehow resize those HUGE ITHMB files that lame iTune creates from small JPGs?
iTunes needs to use this format (raw) for it to work on the various screen sizes without necessarily performing any computing on them. That's why you have 4 images of the same picture at different resolutions. I'm guessing that the processor on those things aren't too powerful or economic (yet). Any time spent converting the pictures from jpeg (or other) to raw (which is what the actual screen would use) would drain the batteries due to the extra computing overhead required by the processor - especially if you viewed the pictures one after the other.
So the problem is that ITHMB format doesn't support compression..... hmmm..... could it be a solution in reducing stored images resolution? I believe that iPhone screen is 320x480 and this shouldn't take 650 Kb, even BMP file in that size is smaller!
Well, I believe iPhone has enough processing power to rescale JPG in real time, at least that's what it does with pictures on web sites, so it looks like Apple's design decision - they didn't want to spend too much time adopting JPGs in iTunes when Ithmb were already supported there.
What if you compress images in ithmb file to see maybe iPhone would accept them? This app would be a HUGE thing because iPhone is really good at showing pictures but wasting 4 Gig's instead of 800Mb, that just makes me crying.... and I think I'm not alone....
Or here is another idea (if the compression algorithm is too complicated) - what if you remove 3 out of 4 images in ithmb, saving just G5_FSSIZE (320x240)? Or maybe replace them with small 'dummy' images if the device doesn't accept ithmb with G5 only...
By the way the latest ithmbconv (maybe with sources, as I'm C++ developer too, just a way too lazy :-)) would be nice to have as the last time I tried to extract images from ithmb I got this error - "File type is unknown: 671600 bytes."
Back in a tick with that link to QuickShare.com RapidShare...
Hmmm... QuickSharing.com doesn't want to accept it (as usual). But I've put it on RapidShare here ;)
[edit: I don't know for sure if this version actually works as expected - nobody has given me any feedback. I've only been able to use "test" files I created myself using the format(s) as a guideline]
I have uploaded real ithmb file here rapidshare.com/files/467...T1016.ithmb.html so you could test it.
Tested - it's not a format recognised. Is it a iPod or an iPhone ithmb, and which version (generation)? Which directory did you get this file from (e.g: /photos/iPod Photo Cache/F00). I might be able to track down the format and add it to my program.
Well, I'm getting the same error.
If you read the information on this page by Jesse Hollington (first post) you will see the breakdown of the various formats and sizes that ithmbconv for iPods supports (except Album Artwork) . This is where I got the info from that ithmbconv uses.
The file you put up on RapidShare is not even the size of a 720x480 16bit picture which is the first part of a G4 or G5 iPod ithmb file and it's way to big to be a Nano iPod ithmb file! And that file name suggests it's not part of an ithmb "Photo Library" file. Are you sure it's not corrupted?
Is it a iPod or an iPhone ithmb, and which version (generation)? Which directory did you get this file from (e.g: /photos/iPod Photo Cache/F00). I might be able to track down the format and add it to my program.
This is from iPhone, I would guess Gen 1? Yep, that one is the very first file in the folder /iPod Photo Cache/F00
It shouldn't be corrupted as it's transferred to my iPhone and looks good there. I believe the resolution should be 480x320 as this is the phone's native screen size.
This is from iPhone
Well that's the problem right there ;P
ithmbconv doesn't handle iPhone ithmbs - only iPod ithmbs. I'd say the different size screen of an iPhone would explain the differences in file size.
It shouldn't be corrupted as it's transferred to my iPhone and looks good there.
Good :)
I believe the resolution should be 480x320 as this is the phone's native screen size.
I know zero, zip, zilch, nada, about the iPhone and even less about the screen resolutions.. Do you have the manual for the iPhone and does it contain the specifications for the resolutions of the images it displays on the screen?
Is this an interlaced picture (can it be output to a TV)? Are there any other resolutions that the iPhone supports? For example: Does it show thumbnails of images on the screen that you can select? What size are they in pixels? What is the bit-depth of the images (8, 16, 24, or 32)? From these resolutions I might be able to figure out the format of the ithmb file and add the code to ithmbconv.
I'll try and find some info on the 'net abut the iPhone in the meantime ;)
It shouldn't be corrupted as it's transferred to my iPhone and looks good there. I believe the resolution should be 480x320 as this is the phone's native screen size.
I examined the file with some tools. It would seem a photo you take with the iPhone is actually 640x480. I just can't get the colour right... Seems too red and lacking in blue.
Whose party was it? ;)
Wow, looks like a big progress, congrads! Well, in fact, I have absolutely no idea what photo was that as iTunes doesn't show the original file name and ithmb's content seems to be encrypted/hashed. Is there a file name field in ithmb file? I don't recall any pictures taken in 640x480 though, maybe iTunes did a conversion?
Is there a file name field in ithmb file?
There does not appear to be. There is still some data in the file I have not been able to work out what purpose it serves (maybe colour info, camera data, etc.). Unfortunately, I still haven't found any info about the ithmb format for iPhones on the 'net.
I don't recall any pictures taken in 640x480 though, maybe iTunes did a conversion?
Considering the iPhone plays/records video at 640x480@30fps. I'd say the camera's image is actually internally stored that way and resized to fit the iPhone's screen.
Well, in fact, I have absolutely no idea what photo was that as iTunes doesn't show the original file name and ithmb's content seems to be encrypted/hashed.
Here's the image I extracted out of that ithmb file. Ring any bells???
Note the apparent "redness" in the picture. The tools I use don't have the colorspace I suspect it is (unless it is actually meant to have that red hue), so I may have to write some code for it :(
[edit: Turns out that the redness is actually correct for that picture. Apparently, some iPhones seem to have a problem with "white-balance" and may show a (hue) bias toward red or green! As a test I ran the image through "autocolor" in Irfanview (here) and Photoshop, and used "White Balance" in Gimp. All of these repaired the image to the correct-looking colours]
I think I know what the other parts of the file are as well now. They are either thumbnails or video sequences. I'd say they are thumbnails because of their size (really, really tiny).
[edit2: Here's a link for the ithmbconv.exe that should extract the 640x480 image out of that iPhone iThmb file. You may need to do post-processing on the resulting image to get a better image ("Auto colour correct" or "White balance") ]