2017-02-01 01:36:39 (edited by magurp244 2018-07-29 05:09:09)

Well its been awhile, I've been looking over the code recently and fixed a few issues that were stacking up. You can grab the latest version [here].

Changes include:

-Fixing it so images won't always save with an alpha channel, even if alpha is disabled.

-Adding File Association support, so users can now set up BrushTone with "Open" and "Open With" to quickly load an instance of Brushtone with the selected supported image. Note that each time an image is loaded this way it will open a new instance of BrushTone, to load images in an existing instance you need to use the load option in the Canvas Menu. File loading unfortunately is still limited to the directory BrushTone is in but this can help side step that a little.

-Removed the JPeg and BMP options when saving images. As it turns out Pyglet can only save PNG images, so whatever files may have been called with previous versions, they're all actually PNGs. Not too happy about that one.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2017-06-16 11:53:40

Just uploaded v1.2.4 which you can get from the link above.

Changes include:
-Renamed the Braille Multi-Row Mode to Greyscale Mode
-Added Braille Monochrome Mode

In Monochrome Mode a single Braille Dot represents one pixel with a brightness greater than 128, so a Cell represents 6 pixels in total with 2 per row relative to the cursors position. The top row for just above the cursor, the middle for the current row, and the bottom row for just below the cursor. It occurred to me to add this mode in recently as it may help give a bit more detail for black and white or similar images with conventional braille displays.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2017-06-16 13:55:00

Hi Magurp Can you please make it possible for us to run this awesome application with our screen readers?

best regards
never give up on what ever you are doing.

2017-06-17 02:15:27

Hmm, well I have gotten more familiar with Tolk lately. I'll look into it and see how it goes.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2017-06-17 13:06:07

thanks. it is such a cool app

best regards
never give up on what ever you are doing.

2017-06-18 01:08:51 (edited by magurp244 2017-06-18 07:00:18)

After a little fiddling and some entirely unnecessary combing of thousands of lines of code, implementing it turned out to be fairly straightforward. So I just uploaded v1.2.5 [here] which now has native screen reader support for NVDA, Jaws, Windows-Eyes, SuperNova, System Access, and ZoomText. I also plugged in the Braille display output to run through Tolk by default instead of changing the window caption bar, although I have no way of testing if that works so if there's any problems with it let me know.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2017-07-01 23:51:43

Just uploaded v1.2.6 which you can get from the link above.

Changes include:
-Added Braille Alpha Mode
-Added Braille Alpha Monochrome Mode

Decided to add these because there is currently no way to separate the alpha layer or view the alpha channel through braille output. The Alpha Mode functions like Greyscale mode, with 3 rows each with 1 pixel per row representing the current Alpha, in this case the higher the value the more opaque the pixel is, the lower the value the more transparent it is. Alpha Monochrome mode also functions the same as the regular Monochrome mode, with one dot representing an alpha value greater than 128.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2017-07-02 01:47:15

Thank you! Downloading...

2017-07-02 02:46:56

This is actually really cool. Good job!
I wish that you could have an optional mode where not only the center line of your view is represented in the middle, and the pan would give a greater overview of where the cursor is from left to right. Or I'm just missing something pretty obvious.

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2017-07-02 04:08:01 (edited by magurp244 2017-07-02 04:11:09)

So a mode where the current line could be on the bottom giving a view of two rows above and such?

For the cursor, are you referring to the stereo panning? It can be a bit tricky to deal with that. The current build isn't using any advanced HRTF functions or EFX filters so its more "as is" at the moment. I'm not sure how far I'd want to go down the rabbit hole on that, though I can see if I can add HRTF.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2017-07-03 19:09:47

Hi, another surgeestion if i might ask, is that it could be possible for us to save the file formats in another couple of other formats.
I wanted to save it as a jpg Image, and so on.

best regards
never give up on what ever you are doing.

2017-07-04 03:27:48

Would be nice if we could edit major canvas. I tried to edit an image from a game to see how it works and get a basic notion but it doesn't work propperly. But thats an awesome project!

2017-07-04 11:22:51 (edited by magurp244 2017-07-04 11:23:54)

@ashleygrobler04
It was originally supposed to also be able to save as jpeg and bmp, but it turned out Pyglet can only save png's so it was saving all of them as png under different names. I removed the feature after some attempts at a work around didn't pan out so as to not confuse anyone for the time being with mislabeled png's. I've started looking into the PIL library so we'll see how that goes.

@brian.kurosawa
Major canvas? In what way does it not work properly, was the image too large to load?

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2017-07-04 14:54:56

Last time i tried to edit an image from an example of a game in python but it was cut into 64 by 64, but let me download and try it again maybe i was using an older version.

2017-07-07 13:02:47 (edited by magurp244 2017-07-07 13:05:26)

Just  uploaded v1.2.7 which you can get from the link above.

Changes include:
-Fixed initial display issue when loading GIF's
-Fixed some issues with x/y menus not speaking correct values
-Added HRTF Audio
-Added Jpeg, BMP, and GIF format support.

So, you can now save images in PNG, JPEG, BMP, and GIF formats. Jpeg's and GIF's don't support alpha. Gif animations are created from all the currently loaded images and are limited to 256 colors, any images that have more colors than that will undergo color reduction which may effect the quality of the image.

Side note to the unwary: if creating images its best practice not to save the original in JPEG format, the reason is that it is a "lossy" format which stores a rough approximation of color values. If you create an image with 2 colors and save it as a Jpeg, when you load it again it would have a thousand variations of those two colors.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
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2017-08-17 08:49:11

I attempted to draw something ... it didn't go that well. But here it is anyway, good luck figuring what it's meant to be. I hope I didn't mess something up.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6tpfk85or1we … s.png?dl=1

Yes, I definitely left the forum. Mhm. Why would you have any doubt?
Code 7 tips: https://forum.audiogames.net/topic/4010 … or-code-7/
Don't forget to be awesome!

2017-08-17 09:52:39

Its a grassy field with a flower in the center under a sunny blue sky with clouds overhead, yes? I think you did rather well actually.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
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2017-08-17 10:47:24

Amazing, it's not that bad after all! smile I already asked some other sighted people for opinions, before that the sky was only on the top of the picture, the flower was only one circle and I had no idea how to make clouds. I'm slowly figuring this drawing thing out, any tips welcome.

Yes, I definitely left the forum. Mhm. Why would you have any doubt?
Code 7 tips: https://forum.audiogames.net/topic/4010 … or-code-7/
Don't forget to be awesome!

2017-08-18 10:42:52

There are a few art tricks people pick up as they go, such as shading, perspective, color, etc. But the best advice for now would be to keep practicing and trying new things, and having fun of course, heh.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
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2017-08-18 11:48:19

The problem that I'm having is that I can't draw something without knowing how it looks. There are tutorials on the internet, but they usually use pictures as examples and generally assume the person reading is sighted, because why wouldn't they be? Maybe I just don't have enough imagination.

Yes, I definitely left the forum. Mhm. Why would you have any doubt?
Code 7 tips: https://forum.audiogames.net/topic/4010 … or-code-7/
Don't forget to be awesome!

2017-08-19 07:22:26 (edited by magurp244 2017-08-19 07:42:49)

I wouldn't say you have a poor imagination, more that you may not have many points of reference and may not be sure of how to approach the subject. Its possible that you could load their reference images in Brushtone or another tool, but they generally aren't structured in a very readable way. Studying low rez artwork could also help or some of the art from NES era or stylized games, there's actually a low rez game jam going on right now on itch.io, if you like I can scrape some screen shots and provide descriptions.

There is some available research and information available for blind and visually impaired artists, and their methodology naturally differs a bit from sighted artists. What there is though largely relates to tactile mediums like painting, sculpting, or pencil work, digitial paint tools like Brushtone are a very recent development however so in some respects this is a new frontier. Many of the principles of art theory translate across mediums and tools though, so maybe those might prove more useful? It may actually be worth while to look into writing a more in depth Art Tutorial that provides more tailored examples and descriptions of techniques and approaches with digital software.

The wikipedia page on [Blind Artists] offers a few book selections on art theory and methods that you may find interesting, along with the article [How the Blind Draw]. Something else that may be of passing interest is that modern Pixel Art is actually closely related to [Needle Point] embroidery, a much more tactile form of art involving looping colored threads or yarn through a grid of fabric or plastic frame.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
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2017-08-19 08:54:51

I did try to check out a few pictures, some from the internet and the already provided ones, but I can't make heads or tails of them. While seeing only one pixel works out when you're drawing your own things, because you already know where everything is, it's nearly impossible to figure out a shape of something that way. Even if you do figure out that a shape might be a circle, you still can't be sure if it's really a circle or just pixels placed in a simelar way. I love this program an will continue to draw with it, but it's so much easier to make a good picture if you can actually put your hands on it and see the intire thing, like sighted people. There are most likely blind people that find viewing images like this very easy, I just don't have the memory for it.
Thank you for the links, I'll make sure to check them out. Sorry for complaining so much, I know you did the best you could, just had to get this out of my system. smile Thank you for this amazing program.

Yes, I definitely left the forum. Mhm. Why would you have any doubt?
Code 7 tips: https://forum.audiogames.net/topic/4010 … or-code-7/
Don't forget to be awesome!

2017-08-19 10:44:30

Heh, its quite understandable. While BrushTone does have braille display output it would be nice if there were any multi-row displays on the market to use with it, and 3D printing is still a ways off. Hm, from your description though, are you viewing the images with just the cursor? Other than braille output BrushTone also has a few other tools for viewing entire images and image segments available that may help, such as the Sonifier and Scanline functions.

-BrushTone v1.3.3: Accessible Paint Tool
-AudiMesh3D v1.0.0: Accessible 3D Model Viewer

2017-08-19 12:06:16

Braille output doesn't seem to work here, maybe I don't have the right display. The scan function is useful, but I still usually use the cursor because I find it more practical. I am unsure of how the sonifier works, because it just plays one sound going from left to right, no matter where on the image my position is and what the colors there are. I'll play around with it a bit more.

Yes, I definitely left the forum. Mhm. Why would you have any doubt?
Code 7 tips: https://forum.audiogames.net/topic/4010 … or-code-7/
Don't forget to be awesome!

2017-08-19 18:48:56

IIUC, the sonifier doesn't care about colors, just brightness. It's based on the vOICe, which takes loads of getting use to, but the learning edition for Windows does have a couple practice games (tic-tac-toe and a sequence of random shapes). It's easy-ish to get use to big, mostly straight lines, but more complex images take practice to interpret. The Tic-tac-toe game actually helps a little, because it makes you get use to the sound of intersections and circles in gradually more complex configurations.
(Come to think of it, I kinda think the vOICe was database material, back before the database got flooded with enough simple games that the filtering had to get pickier.)

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