Others Batch Image Processing - Shadows / Highlights

[Xavster]

To this point I have been using GIMP / FastStone to do the batch processing of images for my game Callisto. Up until this point, this has worked fine as the tweaks haven't been much more than saturation / contrast / resize. With a recent batch of animations, I have found that the image quality is greatly increased via the use of the shadows correction adjustment within either of the programs. Whilst it is no problem to do this image by image, the adjustment does not appear to be functional in batch mode. For example

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response related to GIMP.

As I literally have thousands of images to be processed, either a work around for either of these programs or an alternative free use program would be appreciated.

Spoiler: Please Help Tiffany - before / after shadow correction applied

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[Synx]

You could look if you can get the results you want in Blender. It has some postprocessing build in (nothing fancy, especially compared to photoshop) but it has the ability to process batch processing of images (sort of).

Inside blender go to the compositor tab (top left you can change the tab).

Remove the render layer node, and add an image node (you can add nodes with shift A), and a viewer Node. I would put the viewer node beneath the composite node and the image node a fair amount to the front of it. Connect the image output (the small yellow circle) on the image node to both the compositer and the viewer node. At the top right enable backdrop.

Start with the image node. Open any of the images in the image node. If everything works right you should see the image in the background. You can zoom out with V and zoom in with ALT+V. Now in the image node change it from single image to image sequence. Change frames to the amount of pictures you have, and leave the rest on what it is.

Now you can start adding nodes between the image node and the compositer/viewer node. Use shift A to search for nodes like Gamma, Hue, etc. I dont know if theres a shadow alteration node really. As long as you connect the image output of the last node to the viewer you should see the changes you made in the background.

If your happy with the end result press f12 and I think it should apply the modifiers to every single image in the map you linked.

 

[Xavster]

You could look if you can get the results you want in Blender. It has some postprocessing build in (nothing fancy, especially compared to photoshop) but it has the ability to process batch processing of images (sort of).

Inside blender go to the compositor tab (top left you can change the tab).

Remove the render layer node, and add an image node (you can add nodes with shift A), and a viewer Node. I would put the viewer node beneath the composite node and the image node a fair amount to the front of it. Connect the image output (the small yellow circle) on the image node to both the compositer and the viewer node. At the top right enable backdrop.

Start with the image node. Open any of the images in the image node. If everything works right you should see the image in the background. You can zoom out with V and zoom in with ALT+V. Now in the image node change it from single image to image sequence. Change frames to the amount of pictures you have, and leave the rest on what it is.

Now you can start adding nodes between the image node and the compositer/viewer node. Use shift A to search for nodes like Gamma, Hue, etc. I dont know if theres a shadow alteration node really. As long as you connect the image output of the last node to the viewer you should see the changes you made in the background.

If your happy with the end result press f12 and I think it should apply the modifiers to every single image in the map you linked.

Thanks for the feedback, however I don't think it is really headed down the right path for what I require. I am already fairly familiar with adjusting lighting for renders via my experience with Daz3D. Adjusting the rendering settings would make the the character brighter, however would also affect the background. The advantage of the shadows correction is that it makes the characters "pop" out of the background. I am also not seeking to re-render the thousand or so frames already rendered for the animations.

The environment in which the renders are taking place are lit predominately with a single HDRI with a couple of emissive sources as well. Whilst the lighting from the opposite side looks really nice, the characters are just a little too dark from the angle of the images posted above. The shadows correction of the image is fixing this issue perfectly, hence my desire to resolve in post processing.

 

[Synx]

Thanks for the feedback, however I don't think it is really headed down the right path for what I require. I am already fairly familiar with adjusting lighting for renders via my experience with Daz3D. Adjusting the rendering settings would make the the character brighter, however would also affect the background. The advantage of the shadows correction is that it makes the characters "pop" out of the background. I am also not seeking to re-render the thousand or so frames already rendered for the animations.

I think you misunderstood what the compositor in Blender is. It's all post processing. You dont have to rerender or load your whole scene in blender. You just plug the images you made in DAZ in the compositor, throw some post processing nodes in the mix and hopefully get a result you like.

For example i used your picture and put it into three nodes: Color correction node (changing the gamma shadows strenght), gamma node, and bright/contrast node. Set-up looks like this:

Spoiler

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and this would be the result:

Spoiler

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It's properly to bright but i hope it atleast shows you its a post processing thing and not a completely rerender thing.

 

[Xavster]

I think you misunderstood what the compositor in Blender is. It's all post processing. You dont have to rerender or load your whole scene in blender. You just plug the images you made in DAZ in the compositor, throw some post processing nodes in the mix and hopefully get a result you like.

For example i used your picture and put it into three nodes: Color correction node (changing the gamma shadows strenght), gamma node, and bright/contrast node. Set-up looks like this:

Spoiler

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and this would be the result:

Spoiler

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It's properly to bright but i hope it atleast shows you its a post processing thing and not a completely rerender thing.

Ok, I stand corrected in what Blender offers, however it's still a matter of getting access to the shadow correction adjustment. The adjustments that blender is capable of, is what I am already able to do via GIMP or FastStone.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

Ok, I stand corrected in what Blender offers, however it's still a matter of getting access to the shadow correction adjustment. The adjustments that blender is capable of, is what I am already able to do via GIMP or FastStone.

Lightroom can do that if I'm not mistaken. Save a preset and then use it automatically (in quick develop option iirc) when you import a folder. Just have to export back the 'edited' folder/pics. But it's not "free alternative software" .

 

[Synx]

Ok, I stand corrected in what Blender offers, however it's still a matter of getting access to the shadow correction adjustment. The adjustments that blender is capable of, is what I am already able to do via GIMP or FastStone.

Well the only program (besides the ones you mentioned) I know that has some kind of shadow correction is photoshop but that isn't free at all. I think you are a bit out of luck really; use gimps shadow correction on every image 1 by 1, or use a different method for post proccesing so you can use batch image processing.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

Well the only program (besides the ones you mentioned) I know that has some kind of shadow correction is photoshop

There are plenty (Luminar, Lightroom, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, CorelDraw...), mostly anything that can edit a real photography. But free+batch process... None that I can think of. I don't think people gonna ever use Blender nor Daz for postwork, it's rather limited and you have to be a bit masochist .

 

[Xavster]

There are plenty (Luminar, Lightroom, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, CorelDraw...), mostly anything that can edit a real photography. But free+batch process... None that I can think of. I don't think people gonna ever use Blender nor Daz for postwork, it's rather limited and you have to be a bit masochist .

Ended up purchasing Luminar 4 for my post processing needs. Affordable once off purchase that fits my requirements.

 

[Synx]

There are plenty (Luminar, Lightroom, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, CorelDraw...), mostly anything that can edit a real photography. But free+batch process... None that I can think of. I don't think people gonna ever use Blender nor Daz for postwork, it's rather limited and you have to be a bit masochist .

Fair enough. I got a free Adobe packet license from my work so haven't really looked any further then photoshop.

The post processing in Blender isnt bad if you rendered in Blender as well. It gives you different layers like shadows, alpha, illumination etc which you can postpreccos seperatly. Nothing compared to what photoshop does but for some easy stuff it ain't bad.