redbone Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 I recently downloaded Barracora. The playfield was sub optimal and I went on a search where I found the playfield in jpg format that was used in this table. Inside the table, it was labeled upscale... but didn't look very well done. I decided to run it through https://imgupscaler.com/ at 400%. It looked great! After doing an overlay with some opacity to get everything lined up correctly I selected all the transparent parts and deleted the contents from the new layer. After I was done, I updated the vpx with my AI upscaled image and it looks much better. If we aren't all using various AI Upscale tools... we need to be! I've attached my new playfield. Please let me know what you think! Would love to hear if anyone else has done this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slydog43 Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Incredible, I was wondering how well this would work for a while but never got around to trying it. I just tried an old 1965 table that was blurry and now it looks awesome. Thanks for this GREAT information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Content Provider Wylte Posted January 31, 2023 Content Provider Share Posted January 31, 2023 Pretty nice! The only "AI Upscale" thing I clocked was the black->blue gradient stippling got turned into squares. But none of the usual edge weirdness or loss of detail otherwise that I can see! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 1 hour ago, slydog43 said: Incredible, I was wondering how well this would work for a while but never got around to trying it. I just tried an old 1965 table that was blurry and now it looks awesome. Thanks for this GREAT information. I would love to see your upscale. Which table was it and where did you get the source file? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 59 minutes ago, Wylte said: Pretty nice! The only "AI Upscale" thing I clocked was the black->blue gradient stippling got turned into squares. But none of the usual edge weirdness or loss of detail otherwise that I can see! Here was the file I used - https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-playfields/barracora-4/ I didn't use the one from the .vpx because it had already been upscaled. The best results are going to come from the best source file you can get of course. Starting with one that has already been upscaled isn't going to work very good. Where are people getting most of their source files for tables? I just happened across the one I linked to above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 Here's one for Laser Cue I did, but I just can't get it to line up with the playfield in the vpx quite right yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 @hauntfreaks I saw you were tagged in Laser Cue for providing the the initial playfield image. Can you please share where you got this image from? The one I found is skewed and seems distorted and I'm having trouble aligning it to the one in this release. I'd like to get the original one before any upscaling or enhancements have been done to try and push it through several AI upscalers to see what they can possibly do. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 @UnclePaulie I send you a message concerning this thread and to get your take on my upscale of Barracora. Thought you might like to give it a try. It looks really nice in the .vpx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 I worked on Laser Cue some more. I had to really warp the playfield I found after AI upscaling to get all the transparent cutouts to line up. Here is a closeup difference between the two. I'll follow up with the .png table after I finish the lettering. The top if obviously the AI upscaled and the other on the bottom is the one that comes with the .vpx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snort2root Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 Very interesting stuff! The upscaled images are very crisp, if at some subtle expense of depth / detail / shading to my eye. The original playfield has a certain richness which feels hand-drawn and authentic (which I think I prefer to the upscaled version 🙂) @redbone - thanks for sharing this - I'm very interested to see how this technique and technology develops. Anything which helps to preserve our beloved art is always appreciated. Best, D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 Here is a full of Laser Cue. It's far from perfect, but it was really hard to deal with warping the only playfield I could find into place. I'm certain there are better source files to start with than what I have been able to find. If there were, there wouldn't be the amount of distortion you can see in this, but it loads into the vpx fine and looks really good while playing. ... even with the warpy lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 I just ran Fathom through it. Here is a capture of the difference between ai upscale and the one from the newest vpx release. I like the preserved upscaled details of the one on top and the clarity of the letters in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tikimaster Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 On 1/31/2023 at 2:08 AM, redbone said: Here was the file I used - https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-playfields/barracora-4/ I took this file and did the best I can. First upscaled it, then sharpend and color enhancing. Ca 6mb - Mega https://mega.nz/file/PI5BBIAY#HU1bmoEiqwcD0E1mWJZ3hTZDbJxSEH9mDQVtXCA43jk - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 I did a lot of work on BARRACORA today. I only have about 3 more plastic pieces to place... but I may redo the whole plastic board because I'm actually shrinking them a little to match up. Anyway... here it is about 90%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoyser Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 This looks very interesting, I can see lots of potential uses. One quick question though, does the paid version remove the 5MB limit? I can't find anything about that on the site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbone Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 I don't know, but the 5mb limit is enough to run all the originals I've found on older tables with quality that you would want to use this method on. It doesn't help to do it on a source that had already been messed. The best source is the original regardless of original quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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