Very Nice "new" Pixel-Resize-Algorithm!

Hi Everybody,

perhaps this has already been posted or is in the wrong Forum (sorry if it is, feel free to move it to another Forum-Area or delete it).

Anyway, i just stumbled across this nice Algorithm. It would be nice if it could perhaps be implemented in an Extension or in a future
Release of Multimedia Fusion (perhaps MMF3).

Here' s the Website:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...kopf/pixelart/

Comparison between different Resizing-Algorithms:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...ary/index.html

Here the Full PDF-Paper that explains the Algorithm:

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...aper/pixel.pdf

What do You think? Nice isn' t it?

kind regards from

jahkri

It's a super excellent algorithm. Too bad they didn't post some software or code. :(

That seems like you could code it yourself just from the PDF, but I can't say it'd be efficient... or how it would come into play as an MMF2 extension.
A little switch on the bottom of your game with "Retro Graphics" / "Curvy Graphics"?

Looks very promising. I might use it for my studies. Cheers.

Adobe will jump on this for sure, and replace their algorithms.

@Phi; Shader instead of Extension :)
I thought it could perhaps be possible to apply the Algorithm as a Shader to a "pixelated" Active-Object. Wouldn' t it (theoreticaly) be possible to create a Pixel-Shader that does exactly this?
Perhaps it would be a highly complicated shader that would require PS3.0 (which MMF2 doesn' t support fully, as far as i know).

If anybody is able to make something out of this, please share your insight or (hopefully) Shader.

with kind regards,

jahkri

This is very neat, for once I am actually impressed by MS :D

I think it would be a very cool concept to have a game be in pixel art with very fine positioning and to apply this algorithm in real time to the display.

I agree, this would be awesome.

In the meantime: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/29692...dinary-images/ is rather cool for getting the pixel art look from a standard vector/image

This is impressive, but the research document states that it does not run in real-time. And maybe it's just me, but it doesn't look like much of an improvement over hq4x.

It looks like an excessive improvement over hq4x - unless they made the hq4x images blurry/fuzzy on purpose.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...nearest_8x.png
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...in_hq4x_8x.pnghttp://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...in_ours_8x.png
Left is hq4x, right is theirs.

You can still even see some of the original pixels with hq4x. It's too bad that MS' algorithm doesn't run in realtime, though :(

I don't get this realtime crud. Does that just mean it's not fast enough? With MMF2 having 50fps, that gives you 200ms to work with, and the algorithm took 86ms if I recall the article correctly.

Phi, multiply that 86ms by the number of objects that need to have that applied.

LB, if that is the case then how about applying it as a 'layer effect'? Would it still have to iterate all objects or just the surface?

It doesn't matter, the same number of pixels still have to be processed.

I think it'd just be neat if someone could post a non-realtime resizer that uses this algorithm.

I'm quite sure we're far away from seeing this algorithm implemented in real time applications. It seems to be quite complex in comparison to algorithms like hq4x, which involve only a couple of array lookups.

To me, hq4x still looks much better overall.
The results are far more faithful to the original (the MS algorithm seems to give everything the same cartoony feel, even if that wasn't the original style; it doesn't like straight lines either).
Also, a lot more detail is preserved - it's not noticeable on something very simple like that dolphin, but on more complex images the MS algorithm loses a ton of detail, and hq4x wins hands-down.

However, while I don't like it as a filter for use in games, it would be extremely good for generating vector files out of very low-resolution raster images.

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However, while I don't like it as a filter for use in games, it would be extremely good for generating vector files out of very low-resolution raster images.

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Yes! It's why I'd love to see someone simply implementing it as a non-realtime image resizer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MuddyMole

To me, hq4x still looks much better overall.
The results are far more faithful to the original (the MS algorithm seems to give everything the same cartoony feel, even if that wasn't the original style; it doesn't like straight lines either).
Also, a lot more detail is preserved - it's not noticeable on something very simple like that dolphin, but on more complex images the MS algorithm loses a ton of detail, and hq4x wins hands-down.

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This appears to be a matter of opinion - from what I can tell, you prefer the pixely look of the image - personally, I don't. As a non-opinion-based matter though, the MS algorithm does almost-completely eliminate the pixely-look. I don't see how that's debatable ;)

It's not the "pixely-look" - it's the fine detail. With the MS algorithm you lose all of it (all those Golden Axe sprites look like crap with the MS algorithm)

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...nearest_8x.pnghttp://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...02_hq4x_8x.pnghttp://research.microsoft.com/en-us/...02_ours_8x.png

It must be a matter of personal preference - the MS ones all look better to me :\

Well, the nose on the 3rd one sucks (no pun intended), and for the 2nd one, the arm/hand looks odd.

It seems like the HQ4x leaves some "Artifacts" in the Image. The MS One seems to smooth out Things much better. Ofcourse, it would be nice if for example you could manipulate the "Sensitivity" of the Colorblending-Treshold (ex. to define where the colours should be blended/smoothed and where to keep a sharp Line between Colors). I think it should be possible by "adjusting" some Values inside the Algorithm. Like Shaders offer the possibility to be tweaked in realtime through controls. But as i said in my first Post (i think :) ) i' m not realy into programming such algorithms and i don' t realy know what' s possible and what not.

(and i' m with Nifflas, a small App or even better an option in MMF2s (or MMF3s) Picture-Editor to use this Algorithm to scale Graphics at Edit-Time).

Oh MuddyMole, i see what You mean but i think it' s far more Easy to add (paint) Detail in again in the MS-Version than trying to fix/erase the "Artifacts" in the HQ4x-Version. But as LB mentioned, it seems to be a matter of opinion. Most likely there will be even better Algorithms in the Future :)

Anyway, nice Thread, thanks for all Your Opinions. As i also mentioned in my first Post, if anybody makes something out of this, please share some Insight in what You achieved. Thanks :)

with kind regards,

jahkri

The sword on the second one doesn't look much better than the first one. The third one's sword is definitely better than the second one's sword...