Imgkap - kap File Converter Tool

[dacust]

Download .exe or source, including previous version. With documentation.

==>imgkap - Download

[MdJ]

Thank you all, sailorF54, HappySeagull and dacust.

Convert from kml to kap was very interresting with MOBAC, Mobile Atlas Creator (MOBAC), but rights issues, it is not possible to make satellite maps now. You do find old version on WEB.

Another solution would be to use WorldWind, World Wind JAVA SDK which is copyright-free, but make an application takes many work and time.

I also had a request to use directly imgkap in another program, I wait a return, but there is no problem, either in the form of shared library, DLL on Windows, or by compiling directly width imgkap.c

The ideal is to make code portable across all systems ...

(HappySeagull, my English is pathetic and I should use the translator)

Regards.

M'dJ

[HappySeagull]

	
	

			
				

					Originally Posted by MdJ
					
				
				
Thank you all, sailorF54, HappySeagull and dacust.

 Convert from kml to kap was very interresting with MOBAC, Mobile Atlas Creator (MOBAC), but rights issues, it is not possible to make satellite maps now. You do find old version on WEB.

Another solution would be to use WorldWind, World Wind JAVA SDK which is copyright-free, but make an application takes many work and time.

I also had a request to use directly imgkap in another program, I wait a return, but there is no problem, either in the form of shared library, DLL on Windows, or by compiling directly width imgkap.c

 The ideal is to make code portable across all systems ...

(HappySeagull, my English is pathetic and I should use the translator)

Regards.

M'dJ
			
		

...Better than mon Francais!and I apologise for my not-so-plain English.I can't help it!

The new version is very useful!I am just starting!

But,
I have a question about ....Palettes?or is it something else.
Here are some examples of a homemade chart.
SCREENGRABS:

Here it is in OpenCPN....it works fine.


Here it is in VisNav....not so good


Here it is in Cagney's Kapview....not so good


I also tried OziExplorer,too with a bad result.

Here are the originals

HeaderEX.txt.doc



The palette here is 16colours that I got from an extracted tif But I tried the same with 24bit and 8bit colours... I tried several image editors:Irfanview,Adobe Elements and Faststone,Xnview...

...so what's happening?It's nice to use the chart in OpenCPN but why won't it work in other apps?

[HappySeagull]

Oh,and here's the kap!

templateChartPalletteEX.kap.doc

[MdJ]

Originally Posted by HappySeagull

The palette here is 16colours that I got from an extracted tif But I tried the same with 24bit and 8bit colours... I tried several image editors:Irfanview,Adobe Elements and Faststone,Xnview...

...so what's happening?It's nice to use the chart in OpenCPN but why won't it work in other apps?

My goal is to make code compatible with all software, except that I do not own VisNav Software and Other ...

Analysis:

The image appears correctly, no scratches or error, but the colors are not correct.
For example, with tiff2bsb, it happens to have black stripes, in this case there is an error kap cuts pixels.
Here it is not the case, so this is a problem color palette.

Problems :

You'r Kap file contain 8 colors, and before you say 16 colors, in this case (2,4,8,16,32,64 and 128 colors), imgkap generates color RGB\0, but it is not accepted by libbsb and many software.

Origin :

I think this error is historic, the code tests the value 0 for the end of the line, but it makes it unusable color 0.

tiff2kap and now imgkap gets around this problem and writes the file kap one pixel of color 0 and not directly 0.
However most software is based on the original error, which limits to 127 colors in kap, 128 - the color 0

Solution :

Add or remove a color for not having a total 2,4,8,16,32,64,128 different colors.
In this case, the latest version of imgkap not generate the color 0, begin at 1.

I can also add an option to imgkap for this, however, this option limited to 127 colors and shoed bigger files.

Regards

M'dJ

[HappySeagull]

Merci,M'dJ,

Md'J,do you have Cagney's "kapview"?
http://opencpn.avnisoft.co.za/util/kapview3.rar
(from Nohal's post,
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tml#post625526 and above)
For me it's been a very good indicator on Windows XP whether a kap is "good" and will work in other software....

...Here is an imgkap kap that works perfectly in the other software.
testEX.kap.doc

and the header is

RGB/0,23,23,23
RGB/1,34,39,81
RGB/2,64,66,68
RGB/3,97,157,71
RGB/4,98,104,96
RGB/5,101,114,186
RGB/6,106,110,128
RGB/7,156,179,204
RGB/8,161,147,150
RGB/9,163,189,89
RGB/10,186,208,160
RGB/11,201,206,24
RGB/12,210,173,157
RGB/13,214,213,209
RGB/14,227,164,107
RGB/15,240,238,232

see? it has "RGB/0 so I misunderstand?

[HappySeagull]

Aha! I'm getting it....you meant the old,OLD version -the one with "Neural" colour conversion....oui,it begins at RGB/1 in the header and that's why my very simple homemade kaps do display in kapview,Ozi,old old VisNav...!

Here's what it is,I think.....
Even though my example in the post above works in kapview etc despite the "RGB/0",if I begin with a blank image,or a two colour one, and then add a few colours to it...as though painting,it fails and displays a black background because of the first entry,RGB/0,also being the background colour.No matter what I do,(so far)or how many colours...
BUT,if I capture a screen,(with a dis-ordered ,multiple palette of many colours!) it works fine...this must be because if the RGB/0 is not being read and displays as black,it is not noticed.It is likely not the most common colour in the image anyways.....could that be it?

hmm.I have a few ideas to test this..

Boy,was that a good idea,but it doesn't seem to work.Now i can't make a "bad" kap!Cripes.

[MdJ]

The option '-n'exists in the latest version of imgkap but is not documented.

I checked in libbsb, RGB/0 turns black.
It is easy to verify by making a KAP in 2 colors.

I think that most software is not working with KAP in 2 colors (IFM/1).

I propose to change option '-n' to produce a KAP file without RGB/0, this reduces the colors to 127 maximum and minimum IFM/2, but this should make it compatible with other software ?

M'dJ

[HappySeagull]

hmmm.I actually have a Canadian Hydrographic Chart (1996) kap in two colours.

379501originalB+WEX.txt.doc



M'dJ,I'm going to try,the -n switch on my "problem" kaps.

[HappySeagull]

I think I found something.You've heard me say that before

When I extract the B+W image from the "real" chart I show above,with imgkap,the 16 colour palette is in it!...even though it is really just 2 colours!

B+Wchartpalette.pal.doc

But making a homemade painted kap,imgkap only writes a palette of the colours actually in the image into the header.
If I create an image as 16 colours but only use 2,imgkap sees only 2 and does not write the embedded palette from the image into the header.It only writes what you or I would see.

If I do this


everything is fine.

If I do this,


and make a kap,it fails.Even though both have a 16 colour palette embedded in the image.
Try it?(I was able to download these from the forum as correct size but it is 1024x616 to suit OpenCPN if you can't)
cmd line:
imgkap TestChartPaletteall.png 49.506478 -124.838820 49.480322 -124.772093

PS "-n" didn't help.

[HappySeagull]

M'dJ,
All this is not a big problem!...I just need to use more colours when I paint on a blank canvas as a chart...
It is interesting ,is all How many people will ever do this and then expect to see the chart in a very old navigation program? Not many!And they ALL work in OpenCPN!

If I extract a chart image,paint on it and rebuild with the extracted header,everything is ok
If I make a chart ,from a scan or a screen capture using the command line,everything is ok

so don't worry!

[HappySeagull]

better? example? This is not the same kap as above. It's another I was testing.
The imgkap extracted tif palette is left(gauche) side and are the colours seen in the kap by opencpn(but not in kapview,correctly).The original tif before making the kap is the palette on right (droit)side.All these colours do not all appear in the original tif.

of course,I could be totally wrong,too.That's a "given",eh?

[MdJ]

Originally Posted by MdJ

The option '-n'exists in the latest version of imgkap but is not documented.

I checked in libbsb, RGB/0 turns black.
It is easy to verify by making a KAP in 2 colors.

I think that most software is not working with KAP in 2 colors (IFM/1).

I propose to change option '-n' to produce a KAP file without RGB/0, this reduces the colors to 127 maximum and minimum IFM/2, but this should make it compatible with other software ?

M'dJ

Version 1.11 same as 1.1

Now option "-n" is modified to force KAP begin at colors 1 (max 127).

You can use -n option with all other option to produce KAP file

HappySeagull, try with VisNav...
> imgkap first.kap -n result.kap

Regards

[dacust]

Version 1.11 ready for download:

imgkap - Download

[HappySeagull]

I rewrote the helpfile for myself.A bunch of easy notes I'm afraid I'll forget without it!might help others?
NEWImgKap1.1.txt.doc

might be out of date now with newest version!