Yes, I see your problem. I honest don’t know an efficient way of doing that without Photoshop’s “Automate” feature.
Is this for your own convenience?
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I don’t have Photoshop now either, but there’s a free program called GIMP that has many of the same functions. I haven’t played with it enough to be sure it can do it, but it might be an option.
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I think with the right Quartz filter, I should be able to automate it.
So far running Lighten in step one and then k2pdfopt -mode copy -dev dx in step 2 is the best I’ve found, it makes images far clearer on the Kindle, but still makes text somewhat unclear.
I’ hoping to either tweak the existing options to create a new filter for step 1, or find some way to create an icc profile, test that, and use it to create a new filter for step 1.
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Or you could do that.
I’m also considering using LittleCMS Color Abstractor to create my own ICC profile, import it into Colorsync, and create an Automator script which will run part 1.
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Verrry nice!
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wow, that’s looking beautiful. i’m so impressed by people like you who can build such things by hand. i kludge my way through every hands-on project i attempt that involves tools, lol
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Incidentally:
I was completely useless at pretty much all practical skills until I was in my forties. I very rarely attempted even the most basic handyman tasks, and when I did the results were generally comedic. Couldn’t build anything, couldn’t repair anything, couldn’t grow anything, couldn’t cook anything.
The only practical skills I had related to basic wilderness survival (bushwalking and rockclimbing) and very rough improvisational mechanics (forcing broken-down motorcycles and malfunctioning lab equipment to work temporarily, motivated by desperation).
But then I got sick. Spent a few years gradually disintegrating on my own, then fell apart enough that I had to move in with my Dad.
After a year or so of sitting around miserable and bored, I asked my Dad to show me how to use a lathe. Made a bunch of bad bowls and so on, gradually got a bit better until I could fairly reliably make nice (not elite craftsman spectacular, but nice enough) things.
Then I moved to Tas and needed to set up my shed if I wanted to keep making bowls. I couldn’t afford to buy workbenches, but I’d seen some Youtube vids of basic 4x2 bench construction that seemed simple enough. Doesn’t matter if it looks a bit rough: it’s only a workbench.
And it was rough, but it worked.
(note the gappy joinery and the glue stains all over the place, also note the total absence of anything more complicated than a 90° square cut)
Then I build a little coffee table for the back porch. Same basic 4x2 construction, just a bit more sanding and varnishing to make it look a little nicer.
Then I built a desk. And some shelves. And a footstool. And a little box. And a nicer coffee table, with some slightly fancier joinery. And so on, and so on, and so on. Most furniture construction is really just variation and rescaling of making boxes.
For me at least, it was mostly about:
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Having somewhere to start from (so I believed that it was possible for me to make something worthwhile), and
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Giving myself permission to make things badly to begin with.
The first one is always pretty shit, but even imperfect things can be useful. And the second one is nearly always better.
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thank you for sharing this. i can see how you progressed from simple[r] things to what you do now. my problem is, even the simple things are beyond me at this point. i just never learned to use tools, or at least use them correctly. but there’s hope!
[EDIT]: didn’t mean that to turn into a registered trademark symbol on “simple.” – fixed now.
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Good advice for living!
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Similar here. Couldn’t even use a saw competently a few years ago, and powertools used to absolutely terrify me.
If you ever do decide to try and change that, I’d highly recommend this Youtube series:
Minimal investment required in either tools or materials, and Rex is good at explaining things from the ground up.
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So weird, my mother’s maiden name was Carpenter, and my dad and his dad were both woodcraftsmen, my grandfather for a living, Dad for a hobby.
This makes me think of them fondly. Thanks for keeping us all up to date on its progress.
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the decal on my headtube had half worn off and also a bunch of my previous touch-up paint had chipped again.
the decal had orange and blue racing trim that clashed with my bike anyway, never cared for it.
I looked around for Miyata branded decals on the internet, but what I really wanted was a cool headbadge, those metal logos that used to be the standard until the 80s.
there was a decal that matched my colors for $10, and the same style in a headbadge for a bit more, but the official Miyata logo is pretty meh.
so I checked eBay. no Miyata but lots of cool vintage and repros, but pretty much all over $30. until I happened on a guy selling 2 vintage ones for $5+5shipping. they were still riveted to the bikes, the seller used an angle grinder to slice off the whole headtubes lol.
I retouched all the worn paint with black and silver nailpolish, not smooth up close but looks pretty factory from a few feet. then I pinstriped all the lugs, seattube end, and dropouts with red model hobby paint (which I had been considering doing since I got the bike) and glued down the headbadge.
here you can see more of the lugs and where I painted the edges of the headbadge before gluing it down.
I had replaced the old, UV faded cable housings for new ones within the last year so they’re nice and bright red now, too (seen top right)
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