Getting Image Colors to Show Up Right

[GeekDadKen]

Trying to create some very simple images and get them to show up on a pixel matrix. I created a png file the same pixel size as my matrix, made all the "unused" pixels black, and then drew a simple jack-o-lantern outline in orange, eyes in yellow, and a green stem. When I used PE to display the image on the matrix, the colors were all completely washed out and almost indistinguishable from the image. Any ideas why this happens and how to fix it?

[MattBrown]

I'm a little unclear on what the problem is. Could you post a picture?

[GeekDadKen]

Okay, took a while to get back to this, but here's what I'm talking about. The first image is the image I created (a simple jack-o-lantern) for the pixel matrix. It's very orange, as it should be. And the orange shows up nicely in preview (the second image), but when it's actually on the pixels, it's all washed out (in fact, the last image below looks better than it does in real life because the phone camera used HDR). I've been able to get a much better orange color out of the LEDs by playing around with the color palettes in the effect generator (had to choose something more magenta in preview to see orange on the pixels), but there's no way to "touch up" images in the program. I'm just wondering if there's some setting somewhere I can mess with, or do I just have to use trial and error when I create the image in an image editor, to get a color output that's closer to what I want? Thanks for your help!

[MattBrown]

In PE Prop Definition, do you have the Dimming Curve setting set to "Pixel Curve"? You can also create your own curves by making a copy of the "pixel curve" file. The curve files for PE are located at:

\Light-O-Rama\PixelEditor\Curves  (usually under your Documents directory, unless you told LOR setup to put it somewhere else)

Also, some pixel controllers have a Gamma correction setting that also might help.

Matt

[GeekDadKen]

Ah, that's the kind of next-level stuff I was hoping for, thanks! I'll work on this suggestion, and report back!

 

~Ken

[GeekDadKen]

Well, I've obviously done something terribly wrong, because that folder is empty, and the drop down in Pixel Editor has no choices. Is there anywhere I can dig those files up?

[MattBrown]

Please see my new post on dimming curves, it includes the files you are missing.

http://forums.lightorama.com/index.php?/topic/41253-pixel-editor-dimming-curves/

Matt

[GeekDadKen]

Great, thanks - I'll start testing these!