I want to upload the next ~60 pages of Qalcove's 'Little Things' comic but right now they are combined into just nine separate image files.
They contain roughly five to fifteen pages each and I got them from DA around 2018-06-xx.

Is it okay when I split them up before uploading?
I'd be using XnView's crop function with one copy of the original image for each output image (not saving as new files but always overwriting the current file. thus without re-encoding I hope).

The pages are divided nicely without overlaps like here (not like e.g. Savage Company where it'd be less clear where to subdivide exactly).

Keywords: split divide section segment separate whole comic pages giant files distinct stack multiple

kalider said:
I'd be using XnView's crop function with one copy of the original image for each output image (not saving as new files but always overwriting the current file. thus without re-encoding I hope).

It will be reencoded if the image was altered, including cropping. Overwriting the old file just means the old file is deleted and the new one is written in its place, it doesn't avoid reencoding.

That said, if the original image is PNG, then it's fine to reencode. The format is lossless, so it can be reencoded without introducing any additional artifacts. If it's jpeg, then it's lossy and will have additional artifacts from recompression.

watsit said:
It will be reencoded if the image was altered, including cropping. Overwriting the old file just means the old file is deleted and the new one is written in its place, it doesn't avoid reencoding.

That said, if the original image is PNG, then it's fine to reencode. The format is lossless, so it can be reencoded without introducing any additional artifacts. If it's jpeg, then it's lossy and will have additional artifacts from recompression.

What if I use lossless cropping ?
(should have searched for that before - XnView can crop JPEGs lossless too but not the way I use it)

kalider said:
What if I use lossless cropping ?
(should have searched for that before - XnView can crop JPEGs lossless too but not the way I use it)

If the 8- or 16-pixel boundary is acceptable, that may work. It may look off if that causes some of the previous or next page to be visible, though.

But I wonder why not just upload them as-is? Does it need to be split into smaller uploads for some reason?

watsit said:
If the 8- or 16-pixel boundary is acceptable, that may work. It may look off if that causes some of the previous or next page to be visible, though.

But I wonder why not just upload them as-is? Does it need to be split into smaller uploads for some reason?

Well, the usual image size is 827x1299 and with cropping it would be 827x1300 or x1292 but the border is big enough to just drop those 7 pixels.
post #2447260 (just an example of the border)
It looks a tiny bit off with one additional line of pixels.

I prefer one page per image.

Nevertheless, writing my questions down and getting your answers helped me realize that e6 is intended as an archive so modifying original images is not the best way...
-> I'll compromise and only upload the last ~6 pages of chapter 2 cropped because all the rest are already separate images.
Chapter 3 and 4 on the other hand are mostly stacked pages, so I'll upload those as they are. :-/

in my opinion comics strips should be split into images that are preferably readable on a single screen without having to scroll, this both makes it more readable but also makes it easier for users to comment on certain parts of the comic as well as makes the thumbnails more look-at-able. I'd say cropping/splitting longer strips to be as near to 3:5 aspect ratio as possible without cutting panels in half should be the way to go.

the way that the E(x)Hentai user Moximoore splits the Sundrance strips is a pretty good example of what I'm talking about and it's one of the reasons why it's my preferred way of reading that comic

darryus said:
in my opinion comics strips should be split into images that are preferably readable on a single screen without having to scroll, this both makes it more readable but also makes it easier for users to comment on certain parts of the comic as well as makes the thumbnails more look-at-able.

That wouldn't be good given a widescreen display, and/or if the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. Keeping the image at full width, any decently-sized page needs scrolling. If it's small enough to not need scrolling, it becomes difficult to read or make out details. Your example, for instance, needs scrolling here. What's a good vertical size depends on the comic too, since you want a consistent flow while also not creating page breaks in between two panels that should be read together.

darryus said:
in my opinion comics strips should be split into images that are preferably readable on a single screen without having to scroll, this both makes it more readable but also makes it easier for users to comment on certain parts of the comic as well as makes the thumbnails more look-at-able. I'd say cropping/splitting longer strips to be as near to 3:5 aspect ratio as possible without cutting panels in half should be the way to go.

the way that the E(x)Hentai user Moximoore splits the Sundrance strips is a pretty good example of what I'm talking about and it's one of the reasons why it's my preferred way of reading that comic

Soooooo much YES on all points!

watsit said:
That wouldn't be good given a widescreen display, and/or if the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. Keeping the image at full width, any decently-sized page needs scrolling. If it's small enough to not need scrolling, it becomes difficult to read or make out details. Your example, for instance, needs scrolling here. What's a good vertical size depends on the comic too, since you want a consistent flow while also not creating page breaks in between two panels that should be read together.

I'm using 19:10 screens (1980*1200) and almost never turn the main one into portray mode to read any comic regardless of formatting but even the cropping done by Moximoore is better on a widescreen than the alternative (IMHO).
Who cares if the browser fills the whole screen or not? That's the most simple thing to do and shouldn't have any bearing on pro/contra cropping.
~50/50 on the rest of your points.

Those don't really apply to Little Things (chapter 3) - the pages are strictly separated with nothing overlapping between pages.
There is no flow to interrupt or any possibility that page breaks would disturb it.

After uploading the latest three files I can honestly say I regret everything[1] and bleeping hate it.
Tagging so many pages in one go is a mayor pain and for FSM's sake with meatballs on the side: I'd rather invest the time and split all remaining ~40-50 pages up into single files than to waste it trying to tag them grouped together in the remaining seven original files.


[1] for varying definitions of everything.

---- EDIT ----
Not to mention the almost fundamental concept of divide and conquer in computer sciences.
It is far more easy to re-combine such images than it is to divide them in the first place.
Machine learning works better too I think (someone suggested such an endeavor on e6's archive to train a tagging helper bot).

---- EDIT 2 ----
But this has given me a whole new appreciation for all the diligent tagging work done by the e6 members.

watsit said:
That wouldn't be good given a widescreen display, and/or if the browser doesn't fill the whole screen. Keeping the image at full width, any decently-sized page needs scrolling. If it's small enough to not need scrolling, it becomes difficult to read or make out details. Your example, for instance, needs scrolling here. What's a good vertical size depends on the comic too, since you want a consistent flow while also not creating page breaks in between two panels that should be read together.

I just saying that all of the panels should be readable (both text and visuals) with the image at {max-height: 100vh} (assuming that the format of the strip would allow it, which it would in the grand majority of cases)

also I don't want to have to say "haha, character x's face in panel 67 out of 325 was pretty great".