DIY 31 Megapixel Enlarger

[avandesande]

Good afternoon, today I received this 10.1-inch screen with a resolution of 8K, and I started studying.

The screen connected to the Nvidia RTX 3060 video card via HDMI without any problems.
I set up a resolution of 2560 X 4320, 23 hertz, CVT with reduced flashing (there was a screenshot of the settings here, I did everything the same way)
I used your converter. The test table is 6919 X 4320 in size, the converted size is 2306 X 4320.

Then I opened the converted image on the screen in full-screen mode and please see what happened.
On the left side is the original template before conversion, on the right side is the final result on the screen.
In this topic there is a photo of a screen with the same table - everything is high-quality and smooth there. I have a different result.
I have prepared an image according to the PNG instructions of 8 bits in grayscale.

I managed to take a screenshot of the converter's operation - please take a look.
It is written in Cyrillic:
Unhandled exception, System.Runtime.....: A general error occurred in GDI+,
......\Program.cs:line 67
......\Program.cs:line 167
I also tried to output a photo that was in the archive (it has already been converted) - the result is the same as with the table.
Please tell me - what could be wrong?

Try lopping off a pixel or two in the x-direction. There is a problem with bounds checking since you can't fill a pixel partially (x length should be dividable by 3)
This is very early software from when I was prototyping.

 

[AlexMk]

Try lopping off a pixel or two in the x-direction. There is a problem with bounds checking since you can't fill a pixel partially (x length should be dividable by 3)
This is very early software from when I was prototyping.

I tried to cut off pixels from the image horizontally instead of 6919 - 6918, 6917, 6916, 6915 and 6885. Unfortunately, no changes have occurred.
If you take a piece of the converted image in Photoshop and stretch it three times horizontally, the same thing happens, the left triangle stretches normally, the right one with a terrible comb.
Maybe you still have some images adapted specifically for this screen?

 

[avandesande]

I've uploaded a new version of the utility. Can you try downloading again? I didn't include the shortcut, just drop the image you want to convert on the exe file. If it's working you can make your own shortcut.

 

[AlexMk]

I've uploaded a new version of the utility. Can you try downloading again? I didn't include the shortcut, just drop the image you want to convert on the exe file. If it's working you can make your own shortcut.

Yes, I have now downloaded the converter again, tried it, and I got the same result, the images are converted, but in the same way.
An RGB picture was posted here in this topic - I attached it.
If you display it on the screen, you get slender lines of different thicknesses literally from one pixel (horizontal or vertical). That is, the screen that I have with this picture works as it should.
I tried to put a photo in your converter not in PNG but in JPEG and I got a picture with RGB colors and the result on the screen is slightly different from PNG.
Maybe the converted image needs to be opened by some other program? (I open with a standard imageview)

 

[avandesande]

Full screen mode is not enough. You have to make sure the pixels are displaying at 100%. It has to be exactly pixel for pixel.

 

[DanyB]

Awesome idea! Congrats!

 

[AlexMk]

Full screen mode is not enough. You have to make sure the pixels are displaying at 100%. It has to be exactly pixel for pixel.

Eureka!!! Everything is working!

Avandesande, thank you so much, I would never have done this without your help!

It wasn't easy for me, but I was finally able to figure out your program and now the images that it converts have really started to be displayed qualitatively in 8k resolution - this is a real revolution, I am amazed at the quality.

 

[maurix]

Hello
i just would like to ask why a 16K Display does not work?
should i still buy a 8K Display or is there any news about altering the Resolutions.

Can i send the coverted pictures over an Raspberry and Linux to the driver board ?

Thanx
Maurizio

 

[avandesande]

Hello
i just would like to ask why a 16K Display does not work?
should i still buy a 8K Display or is there any news about altering the Resolutions.

Can i send the coverted pictures over an Raspberry and Linux to the driver board ?

Thanx
Maurizio

The 10.1 16k display is 3 bit. You would have to write software to play 32 frames to approximate 8 bit. It's doable but I am happy with 8k that is plenty for 8x10 and the rare 11x14 print.

 

[travelight]

I’ve been following this thread and I’m considering making something to use in my Durst 8x10 enlarger.
Given there is a 12k display now available fairly cheap from sumopai - will your code work with that, or is it also 3bit like the 16k one?
Asking because the 12k looks like it would handle a bordered print on 16x20 paper which is my largest usual print size.

 

[avandesande]

I’ve been following this thread and I’m considering making something to use in my Durst 8x10 enlarger.
Given there is a 12k display now available fairly cheap from sumopai - will your code work with that, or is it also 3bit like the 16k one?
Asking because the 12k looks like it would handle a bordered print on 16x20 paper which is my largest usual print size.

You can contact them on aliexpress and ask for a spec sheet, or just if it is 8 bit. Keep in mind it has rectangular pixels, so you are going to have to do a factored resize on the image in addition to the bitmapping. It's not quite 300dpi but the 16x20 prints I have made with the 8k lcd look fine.

 

[travelight]

You can contact them on aliexpress and ask for a spec sheet, or just if it is 8 bit. Keep in mind it has rectangular pixels, so you are going to have to do a factored resize on the image in addition to the bitmapping. It's not quite 300dpi but the 16x20 prints I have made with the 8k lcd look fine.

Thanks for the quick reply, maybe I’ll start with an 8k screen to get it working and understand the tech/code - then I’ll upsize if I need it. I have coded in the past but it’s a long time since I wrote anything that directly addresses device drivers
I have a spare carrier, so I should be able to make it a swap-in unit.

 

[Glauber]

Hi, I am so happy I found this post. I have being working with similar approach for over an year now, first using my mobile and later considering a similar display. I was about to order one from aliexpress. I have developed a program, with calibration capabilities. I think I'm exposing each tone on a slightly different manner, using only black/white pixels. I later saw that another guy was using a very similar approach as well and he used the monochromatic lcd with contact print, his project is also mentioned in this topic by another member. The generated tonal sequence on this program have many steps, and limited the exposure total time a lot due to refresh rate of the screen I was using. I wrote the software in java and on android environment so a google laptop or pc should be used. I wonder if now I just go the rp4 route if the software here is available for trial. I would gladly share my code as well if that is desired.

 

[avandesande]

Hi, I am so happy I found this post. I have being working with similar approach for over an year now, first using my mobile and later considering a similar display. I was about to order one from aliexpress. I have developed a program, with calibration capabilities. I think I'm exposing each tone on a slightly different manner, using only black/white pixels. I later saw that another guy was using a very similar approach as well and he used the monochromatic lcd with contact print, his project is also mentioned in this topic by another member. The generated tonal sequence on this program have many steps, and limited the exposure total time a lot due to refresh rate of the screen I was using. I wrote the software in java and on android environment so a google laptop or pc should be used. I wonder if now I just go the rp4 route if the software here is available for trial. I would gladly share my code as well if that is desired.

You can download the exposure software here...

 

[travelight]

When I was chatting to the vendor Sumaopai, he suggested using this microcontroller in addition to the driver and display. If I understood correctly he said there are some users printing using this setup without requiring a connection to a PC. Is anyone here using one of these microcontrollers and can advise whethere that's a good/better route?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007774144039.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.promoteRecommendProducts_6000234135681.1005007774144039

 

[koraks]

these microcontrollers

What you're referring to is not a microcontroller, but a single board computer (SBC). In this case it appears to be a kind of clone or alternative to a Raspberry, based on a 3rd party Chinese-made & engineered CPU (and it's not a microcontroller). I personally can't vouch for or against this particular board. I think the main reason why people want to run the display with a board like this one instead of a laptop or computer is because they want to keep things a little more compact. In principle, there's no reason at all why you couldn't use a regular laptop or desktop computer to drive the display, as long as it's capable of delivering 8K video (assuming you're going to use the 8K display). The RK3588 does have that capability, apparently.
Also note that the vendor sees an opportunity to sell not just a display, but also an SBC. That's fine, but evidently they have more than just a technical/functional reason for suggesting this particular solution.

 

[AndrewBurns]

I use a raspberry pi 4 to drive my 7k mono display that I use for contact printing. The display came with an FPGA-based driver board that has a standard HDMI input (and a USB input to power the driver board). So yes, in my case you could connect the display to any PC/laptop/whatever that has a HDMI output.

It's worth noting that the driving device only needs to be capable of 4k video output, not greater, because these mono displays use a bit of a hardware hack where colour channels are assigned to full pixels, so there is 3 times less data being transferred over the cable than the resolution of the display might suggest. So in my case a 7k display is actually only getting a ~2.3k signal, which is why the raspberry pi can handle it despite only being capable of up to 4k video output.

This does mean that if you send a normal image or video to the display it will look completely wrong, that's why you need software to manipulate whatever image you want to print before sending it to the display.

In my case I've been using python installed on the raspberry pi to do the image manipulation, and after the image file has been converted (which is really a simple process) I just display it full-screen (using the OpenCV library) and I can then print. Converting and displaying the image is easy, but all the other things you might want to do make it more complicated (e.g. applying correction curves, dynamic range expansion, compensating for uneven illumination etc.). But I'm a mechanical engineer so if it's within my programming abilities it should be possible for a lot of people.

 

[koraks]

It's worth noting that the driving device only needs to be capable of 4k video output, not greater, because these mono displays use a bit of a hardware hack where colour channels are assigned to full pixels, so there is 3 times less data being transferred over the cable than the resolution of the display might suggest.

Thanks for reminding all of us; of course, you're right.

 

[avandesande]

If you look earlier in the thread the user Radiant successfully set up exposure with Raspberry Pi. There is nothing wrong with going this route if you are familiar with linux and want something small.

 

[Glauber]

You can download the exposure software here...

Thank you so much! I will order the 8k 10.1 inch screen. Will try to get a good video card as well.
One question, have I understood correctly, you are exposing using 4 tones in each frame of the exposure sequence, based on the values of the calibrated the material in order to determine the contrast curve of it correct?

 

[Glauber]

I found this card locally, is this the one you are using @avandesande ?

 

[avandesande]

I found this card locally, is this the one you are using @avandesande ?

I don't think I can recommend the amd cards. The driver software is pretty clumsy. If I could do it again, I would just buy an old business pc/laptop with nvidia graphics. As others have mentioned, any computer that supports 4k should be able to work and the nvidia drivers have no problems recognizing the lcd displays.

 

[Glauber]

perfect will go from there

 

[avandesande]

Making some small steps with '16k' lcd. For starters, it's not really 16k. its resolution is 11,154x6,230 adjusting for the rectangular pixels which is really slightly under 12k. However, that is enough to fully resolve the GFX50r output or a 60mp full frame camera. Still a ton of work to do to get this in the darkroom... I am going to incorporate resize into the application itself (a complex subject) and look into GPU acceleration. Probably several months out. The photo is a image that has been bitmapped to 3 bit. Dimensions are 11203 x 6192 and 1400 x 6192 after the mapping. I promised myself I wouldn't work on this but like the story of the scorpion and the frog I can't resist, not sure if I am the scorpion or the frog!

 

[Glauber]

Making some small steps with '16k' lcd. For starters, it's not really 16k. its resolution is 11,154x6,230 adjusting for the rectangular pixels which is really slightly under 12k. However, that is enough to fully resolve the GFX50r output or a 60mp full frame camera. Still a ton of work to do to get this in the darkroom... I am going to incorporate resize into the application itself (a complex subject) and look into GPU acceleration. Probably several months out. The photo is a image that has been bitmapped to 3 bit. Dimensions are 11203 x 6192 and 1400 x 6192 after the mapping. I promised myself I wouldn't work on this but like the story of the scorpion and the frog I can't resist, not sure if I am the scorpion or the frog!

Fantastic!