[Q] Wallpaper - ugly banding in gradients - Droid X General

I've been searching, and have seen lots of threads about similar problems with the Evo and it's fairly low-color screen, but I was under the impression that the Droid X has a 24bit color screen so this shouldn't be an issue.
Anyway, I've got some wallpapers (cropped and resized for the Droix X from the originals at Ultralinx)
They look fantastic on the computer. They're the right dimensions. Tried saving as JPG and 24 bit PNG, but the outcome is the same. When I copy them to the phone and set them as wallpaper, the gradients don't look smooth; there is color banding all over the place.
I've got screenshots and originals up on the web, but can't link to them until my account is approved by a mod.
EDIT: Added attachments instead, but the forum super-compressing the images doesn't help their clarity at all.

Hey,
i've got the same problem.
That's not funny at all, I really don't know how to save it, that it looks like on my desktop pc!

4tticuz said:
Hey,
i've got the same problem.
That's not funny at all, I really don't know how to save it, that it looks like on my desktop pc!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to be off topic but I cant help but stare at your notification bar. What theme is it?

It's my own notificationbar.
Have to search the files first

It doesn't seem to be the screen. I dropped those images into my dropbox, and opened them in whatever viewer dropbox opened by default. The image was smooth as I zoomed in, until I zoomed in far enough to see a moire pattern. I also opened it in Astra's built in viewer; again there was no banding. However, when I set the image to be my wallpaper, I see the same banding you are seeing.
Bad news is, I don't know what the problem is; good news is it doesn't seem to be a screen limitation.

Thanks so far!
But what's the problem than?
I really have no idea :/

Ah ha! Google turned up this app: "Wallpaper Set and Save" (Sorry, can't post a link because I'm new, apparently. I attached an image of the QR code instead.)
It says it hasn't been updated for 2.x, but it worked fine on my droid x (running the stock rom with launcher pro.) Using it to set the exact same wallpaper, I now see no banding (although I did in the preview screen.) It's worth a try, although I'd still like to know what is causing this issue (since it obviously isn't a hardware issue.)
I attached a screen capture so you can see for yourself.
Edit: The forum's image compression adds some artifacts; it looks even smoother on my screen capture. Even here it's a big improvement over the others though!

Its probably the gallery app that is re-compressing the wallpaper and creating the bands

Related

Image rendering issue

I just downloaded a map from Sugarbush Ski mountain in Vermont so I'd have it handy when skiing there. Unfortunately, when I zoom in the image is so blurry that I can't really read the text. The same map looks fine on my desktop computer.
Unfortunately I can't post a link to the map because the XDA developer's site won't allow me to (you can't post links until you've made 5 other posts to the forum). Just google 'Sugarbush' and you will be able to find the static trail map image. Someone else who's been around here longer could post the link in a follow up message.
I've tried viewing it in multiple programs (standard browser, Dolphin browser, gallery view), and all show the same problem.
Can other Nexus one owners confirm that they have the same issue?
Any suggestions?
I think android might downsize/downconvert images automatically so you will not be getting the original resolution of the image.
UPDATE:I can confirm that the image is definitely lower resolution than the one that appears on desktop. Here is the link:
http://www.sugarbush.com/images/skiandride/trailmap0910large.jpg
I just mounted my Nexus via USB and checked the file that I'd downloaded to it. The actual file stored on the Nexus One is full resolution and displays fine on the PC. It's just on the Nexus that it fails to display well.
This seems more like a bug then a feature.
I just made a simple 2000x1000 graphic with two strings of text, one aliased and the other antialiased with a crosshatched background.
img22.imageshack.us
/img22/9896/2000x10005pxcheckerboar.jpg
You can clearly see how blurry both lines of text and the crosshatches are when you zoom in on the android browser or in the gallery. It looks like there is either a huge amount of compression being applied to the image, or that the image is being resized for viewing and the blur effect is due to a loss of detail that you don't get back when you zoom in.
I don't know if imageshack has a bandwidth limit, but here is the same image on imgur.com. You can see the extra effects of blurring, though you also see a lot of jpeg artifacting from the high compression imgur apparently automatically applies.
i.imgur.com
/VVdwQ.jpg
* sorry for the broken links. Despite having joined 2+ years ago, my low post count prevents me from posting urls. If anyone else can repost those links as real urls, it would be great.

images in browser/apps displaying in low res

Hi
just got a galaxy s on tmobile in the UK.
It's good but it seems that lots of images in the browser and displaying in low res, they all look blocky.
It's happening in apps too - the thumbs of peoples faces in facebook are blurred/blocky, images from the engadget app are blocky etc.
I've compared to another galaxy S and the images on that look fine.
Would anyone have any idea whats causing it? thanks
Edit - It seems to be intermittent too. For example, if i do a google image search, the thumbs are sharp, but if I click on a pic and it goes into the slideshow view all the images are REALLY blocky. If I click the link to the original page were the image is coming from the image loads up fine.
It seems to be my carrier, tmobile.
When i put other sim cards in the phone it works fine.
Very annoying, makes buying a nice phone like this for web browsing kind of pointless.
Anyone know of a way to bypass this?

Set my own pix as wallpaper?

How do I set one of my own pix, located in the eMMC /media as a wallpaper WITHOUT having resize it?
I can set any pix by tap and hold on the main screen then choose Wallpaper and select the pix I want but it always asked to resize before let me save as wallpaper.
Doing so will shrink my pix. I don't want to resize it, how do I do it?
Note: even I pre-cropped my pix to 1024x600, it still wont let me choose the entire image as wallpaper.
Not entirely sure, but you might try moving your presized images into the same folder where the Cyanogenmod wallpapers exist and selecting from there. I know when I select those, it doesn't ask for resize.
Good strategy, krevo.
I'll try that but b4 that, where is the Cyanogenmod wallpaper folder?
Try QuickPic and please don't think I'm being insulting when I suggest you double check your horizontal and vertical dimensions. I have swapped them a couple times without thinking about it and then couldn't figure out why the pics looked so messed up.
+1 for QuickPic--Love It!
Running off eMMC w/o uSD, Gallery didn't work so QuickPic was my one of my choice and is my favorite (other choices were Large Image Viewer, ...)
Anyway, as I stated above, even 1024x600 pix, still forced me to crop. Expanding the crop box to maximum, of course, still not happy with it. I look for a way to just use the pix as wallpaper w/o modifying the image.
votinh said:
Good strategy, krevo.
I'll try that but b4 that, where is the Cyanogenmod wallpaper folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked and it turns out that it isn't a folder its an app.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
I thought/hope krev said that he did put his pix in the folder.
anyway, I don't know why it's so complicate just to use our own image as wallpaper w/o doing resizing.
It's strange that you can't. I don't have any trouble. How many screens are you using? That might have something to do with it. This thread has some suggestions you might try.
irisclara said:
It's strange that you can't. I don't have any trouble. How many screens are you using? That might have something to do with it. This thread has some suggestions you might try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can and I don't then I blame myself first, must do something wrong. Will try again and again.
Anyway, I always set up 3 screens (note: by default, it's 5)
In that thread I linked some people are saying that Wallpaper Set and Save made it work for them.
I just don't understand why we are all having different experiences with setting wallpapers. I guess there are so many possible combinations of ROM, launcher, resolution, apps, and who knows what all else. I seem to recall a big thread at MobileRead about this very thing.
Another thing you might try is searching the Nook Themes And Apps forum here for wallpaper threads. This is a common situation that has been solved several times but not always the same way.

Wallpaper Solved! (Using Gallery Cropping Tool)

If this was done already than I apologize… I did make some effort to search the forum…. (little)
I tried many times to set custom wallpapers on my Tab... only to get frustrated with the Gallery Cropping Tool!
I tried many different wallpaper resolutions… some looked better than others.
The best results you get with abstract wallpapers since you probably do not care much if its crops things here and there…, but what if you want to center something in both portrait and landscape mode??
I decided to try a few things in Photoshop and was very happy with my results…..
(once again, If this was already done by someone in the past than I am sorry)
I created a Photoshop template that will help all in creating custom wallpapers.
The document has “crop areas” that match the Gallery Cropping Tool so that when trimmed you will get exactly what you placed in the “live areas” (with guides…etc.)
All is self-explanatory one you open it in Photoshop.
Do Not forget to save as a jpg
On the Tab,
Go to Gallery, choose the Wallpaper..... extend the cropping to maximum.
Attached is the PSD and a Sample Wallpaper.
I hope this helps..
Sample pics not showing, but sounds promising. I too have been frustrated by the stupid cropping of my wallpapers.
EDIT: Tried to download on my PC and says that zip is corrupted. Can you try a reup plz? Thanks
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium HD app
Have you tried multi-picture live wallpaper from the market?
Yes I did.
I wanted a different .....simpler approach to set custom wallpapers. (No need for extra apps on my Tab)
+ the template gives me more control
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium HD app
fixed and tested
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium HD app
Loops...noticed a problem...not a big deal....
When I made and tested the template I had wallpaper scrolling turned off and only one homescreen. Upon enabling all home screens (7) And enabling scrolling I found that while scrolling it over shoots into the gray area in both landscape and portrait mode. This can be easily fixed by extending images on the template....
I'll try to edit the template and make more guides when I get the chance.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium HD app
All you need is 'Simple Image Wallpaper'! Seriously. I went though all of this garbage to get the wallpapers to fit correctly and everything was solved once I got:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ridgelineapps.simpleimagewallpaper
peterniez said:
If this was done already than I apologize… I did make some effort to search the forum…. (little)
I tried many times to set custom wallpapers on my Tab... only to get frustrated with the Gallery Cropping Tool!
I tried many different wallpaper resolutions… some looked better than others.
The best results you get with abstract wallpapers since you probably do not care much if its crops things here and there…, but what if you want to center something in both portrait and landscape mode??
I decided to try a few things in Photoshop and was very happy with my results…..
(once again, If this was already done by someone in the past than I am sorry)
I created a Photoshop template that will help all in creating custom wallpapers.
The document has “crop areas” that match the Gallery Cropping Tool so that when trimmed you will get exactly what you placed in the “live areas” (with guides…etc.)
All is self-explanatory one you open it in Photoshop.
Do Not forget to save as a jpg
On the Tab,
Go to Gallery, choose the Wallpaper..... extend the cropping to maximum.
Attached is the PSD and a Sample Wallpaper.
I hope this helps..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am glad that you were able to figure it out, and I think pretty much everybody went through the same process if not on the tab then on another Android device ( I know I did with my old Captivate ). But I hate that we have to do it like this to get the pic centered properly on the tab or need to download a new app to make it work properly.

Google Now background as dynamic wallpaper?

I just though the Google Now backgrounds might make a nice dynamic background for my N7.
Does anyone know if anyone has done this?
I use paperland but I find animated backgrounds to be a bit laggy on the N7 so the GNow one might be a nice compromise.
I know blackbear has a gnex and has done this. Not sure if it was dynamic. I think so. I came across his g+ page and saw that he did it a few weeks ago.
I found this site, which appears to have everything I need to make it happen
http://mycolorscreen.com/2012/08/10/google-now-live-2/
I went there and downloaded the wallpapers and they aren't very clear they look upscaled. I really hope someone can vector those images and turn that into a functional live wallpaper, that would be outstanding. I'd rather not have to install some other apps to manage my wallpapers.
I was in London at the weekend and the top of the google now page was London themed.
Would be interesting if Google Now actually populated useful cards once in awhile.
frank35 said:
Would be interesting if Google Now actually populated useful cards once in awhile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It gives me a map and directions to appointments in my calendar, that's pretty useful to me anyway.
It also tells me what the weather was like several hours ago, which is useful if I build a time machine and just want to go back a few hours to test it.
flukeSG2 said:
I went there and downloaded the wallpapers and they aren't very clear they look upscaled. I really hope someone can vector those images and turn that into a functional live wallpaper, that would be outstanding. I'd rather not have to install some other apps to manage my wallpapers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was working on one, but the small details weren't turning out well. So I did a basic image of the large parts and it looked alright, maybe I will upload it later
I did it guys !
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2203949

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