mcjDespeckle

Purpose

NEW ! Control mcjDespeckler from the comfort of Daz Studio

this way ---> https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts7/mcjdespecklefrontend

Images rendered using "path tracing" renderers like iRay, Blender Cycles, LuxRender/Reality, octane, etc.

often exhibit bright specs of light. This nasty effect is strongest when rendering scenes with small punctual light sources

and when there are glossy objects in the scene.

This windows-PC application will take your image, detect the defective pixels and replace them with the average color of the pixels around ithem.

History

June 1st 2016 4AM the new .exe does not need the user to have or install missing DLLs

June 1st 2016 3AM i added a pack of 5 sample batch files

May 31st 2016 11:59 PM release

Installation

The application ( mcjDespeckle.exe file ) is in the zip package found at the bottom of this page.

The filename is mcjDespeckleApplication.zip

unzip it wherever you want but we suggest you unzip it in the folder where your rendered images are stored.

Note that this application will never overwrite an existing image unless you very clearly allow it.

Use

1 - The Drag and Drop method

The easiest way to use mcjDespeckle.exe is to open the folder containing both your image and mcjDespeckle.exe in Windows Explorer.

grab your image by left-mouse-clicking on it,

don't release your left mouse button

move the image icon over mcjDespeckle.exe

release your left mouse button

It takes about 1 second and you'll see the filtered image appear in the folder

if your image was named myrender.png, the filtered image will be named myrenderOut.png

2 - the batch file mode

method 1 was easy but we couldn't adjust the filter strength or use its format conversion goodies

2.1 - Chosing your own output filename

open the folder containing both your image and mcjDespeckle.exe in Windows Explorer.

create a new text file in this folder

rename it DESPECKLE_MYRENDER_PNG.bat

Say your rendered image is named myrender.png

but you don't want the filtered image to be named myrenderOut.png

in DESPECKLE_MYRENDER_PNG.bat you could type

mcjDespeckle.exe myrender.png myrenderDespeckled.jpg

save the DESPECKLE_MYRENDER_PNG.bat ( if you use wordpad, make sure it saves in plain-text format )

In Windows Explorer, Double-Left-Click on DESPECKLE_MYRENDER_PNG.bat

if myrender.png is indeed in that folder, you will see myrenderDespeckled.jpg appear !

2.2 - Chosing your own output image format

create a text file named DESPECKLE_ANY_AS_JPG.bat

using notepad type

mcjDespeckle.exe %1 -format jpg

save DESPECKLE_ANY_AS_JPG.bat

now anytime you drag and drop an image on it will create a filtered version of it, but always in jpg format

The input and output formats supported by mcjDespeckle are

By the way, when you "run", the .bat file, the %1 is replaced by the name of the image file you drag-and-dropped on it

2.3 - Telling mcjDespeckle it's OK to overwrite existing files

By design, mcjDespeckle will refuse to overwrite existing image files.

If you filtered mypic.png and it produced mypicOut.png ,

then if you attempt to filter mypic.png again, mcjDespeckle will just not do it

But if you use the reserved keyword -overwrite it will accept to overwrite them ( just this once! )

create a text file named DESPECKLE_ANY_OVERWRITE.bat

using notepad type

mcjDespeckle.exe %1 -overwrite

save DESPECKLE_ANY_OVERWRITE.bat

now anytime you drag and drop an image on DESPECKLE_ANY_OVERWRITE.bat it will create a filtered version of it,

even at the cost of destroying the previous version

You could also combine it with format by writing DESPECKLE_ANY_OVERWRITE_JPG.bat

mcjDespeckle.exe %1 -format jpg -overwrite

2.3 - Telling mcjDespeckle to use a lighter filter than the default

By default, the filter strength setting for mcjDespeckle is 0

this is in fact the strongest setting, so strong it can even "eat" pixels that were not really defects

The lightest setting is 2040, in only removes totally bright white pixels on black backgrounds.

create a text file named DESPECKLE_NONTROPPO.bat

using notepad type

mcjDespeckle.exe %1 -factor 500

save DESPECKLE_NONTROPPO.bat

now anytime you drag and drop an image on DESPECKLE_NONTROPPO.bat it will create a filtered version of it,

but using a less agressive brush.

and yes you could also have DESPECKLE_ANY_JPG_OVERWRITE_500.bat

mcjDespeckle.exe %1 -format jpg -overwrite -factor 500

The message you'll see when something went wrong

This is also a quick rundown of mcjDespeckle's command line syntax

License

// =====================================================================

// by mCasual/Jacques

// You can use this script freely for personal or commercial use.

// You may not sell, resell, sub-license or rent this script in any way.

// you may credit this script to mCasual/Jacques

// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,

// EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES

// OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND

// NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT

// HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,

// WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING

// FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR

// OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

// =====================================================================