unforum

[buzman]

Personal card scans

[Dorkmaster]

I'm not Mind Candy, so I can't say for sure, obviously, but here's what I was thinking...

Is there any way to have the entire card scanned at 60, but then to have the zoom function mapped to a higher-res image? This way, you get your detailed close-up, but that's the only good image you can get...

In other words, a way that the player could scan in a high-res image for the zoom mapping, but not for the main image? I know NOTHING about programming (I last programmed in Pascal) so I have absolutely no idea whether this is even feasible...

But I would imagine that this would allow for Mind Candy's fears to be removed, as no one could just print a good image of a card, but players could get the zoom functionality that would be cool. Anyway, that's my idea. I love the format you've got going though, for your program! I'd d/l it!

[BrianEnigma]

I'm no lawyer, but as I understand it, the 60dpi rule is for posting/sharing images and not necessarily for strictly-personal use (which would fall under "fair use" in the US.) For instance, I would be able to make a high-res scan/printout of the origami card so that I did not ruin an actual card.

Now, that would be my interpretation of the letter of the law (as I see it, at least.) If you had a tool that accepted your own hi-res scans and let you fiddle with them, that would be technically okay, as long as you used your own scans and cards. The problem I see with that is that it could very easily create a sort of black market (well, those are strong words--but at least a bunch of not-so-public trading) for high-res scans. If people see a feature that is disabled until they provide high-res scans, what would be the path of least resistance? Scan up to 255 cards themselves? Drop into IRC and say "hey, who can DCC me a zip of all the card images?"

To me, it seems to violate the spirit of Mind Candy's rules, even if it doesn't violate the letter of the rules. Besides--why would someone need to look at a high-res scan if they have a photo album (or whatever) of their cards at hand?

Fine Print: These are my own personal views and may or may not represent those of Unfiction, Mind Candy, Sente, Santa Clause, Satan, or anyone else.

[buzman]

Dorkmaster : Thanks for the comments - It's a good idea. It does beg the question whether this is meant as a reference for the cards/trades, or as a tool in the process of solving them. Taking Brian's comments, if you own the card, I suppose you're more likely to look at it 'irl' rather than going through the process of zooming it through the application.

Brian : I entirely accept your issue with the image dpi, and image sharing. As I said above, it's become obvious that if you've not got the card, there isn't much point zooming a 60dpi scan, and if you do own it you're more likely to look at the card directly.

To keep in the spirit of the game, I suppose the best approach would be to remove the zoom box - it never did sit that well with me (more an interesting programming exercise than a useful tool).

So, now that I've got some dead space on the form, does anyone have any good ideas what I can put in its place?!?

b

[Hunting4Treasure]

[Seej]

This app sounds cool. Maybe in the space you could just let people put their own picture, which seems like the perfect opportunity for everyone to get their Photoshop (or GIMP if you're cheap like me) out and produce marvellous works of art like the one below. Or hey, you could even spend more than 30 seconds on it.....

[buzman]

Hunting : yep - there's already a notes tab page, laid out exactly as you described

Seej : Thanks. Unfortunately, there's already an images tab on the card details form for that exact purpose (say, a piccy of some origami, or the card under u.v. for instance ...).

To be honest, it's taking an *awful* lot longer than I was expecting. So far it's complete except for a needed/wanted list export (not a big job) and the trading screens (bit more of a big job), plus some tweaks here and there (which will probably come with version 1.1!). I just want to get it out of the door and get people using it, so I can see where the big holes in the app are ...

b

[buzman]

Just wanted to say that the card manager (v1.0) is now available here :
http://buzman.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/PPCCM/
with some blurb here :
http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12330

cheers
B