comics2video

Converts Comic Book files to videos, to be watched on TV/Video players.

The possibility of reading a Comic Book by watching a video allows the user to be hands-free (no need to hold a phone or press a button/screen to change the pages) and also allow the reading by people with disabilities/paralysis.

Documentation language: English | Português - Brasil

How it works

Example using Whiz Comics #34 (1942) - Fawcett Publications (Public Domain)

Video generated by comics2video:

Recommended usage: Ready-to-use executable

In Windows:

1. Download the package file:
   • comics2video 2.2.0 for Windows
2. Extract the downloaded file and open the executable:

In macOS:

Since the file is downloaded from GitHub instead of Apple Store, follow all steps below before running comics2video for the first time

1. Download the package file:
   • comics2video 2.2.0 for macOS
2. Extract the downloaded file
3. Right-click the file comics2video_Prepare_First_Execution and choose "Open" in the submenu
4. Confirm that you want to open the file. A script will be executed and show a "Done" message
5. From now on, open comics2video using the app file:

comics2video main screen

Use the buttons to select a Comic Book file (or folder) in your file system and start the conversion

Developer usage

Node.js source-code

Git clone the project files, then run:

npm install

In Windows or macOS, start the Graphical User Interface using:

npm start

In Linux, start the Terminal Interface using:

node comics2video ./path/yourComicBookFile.cbr

If the parameter is a folder, all valid files will be processed.

Using as a NPM module

Add comics2video to your own Node.js project using:

npm install comics2video

Then use:

const Comics2video = require('comics2video');

const source = './path/myComicBook.cbr'; // File or Folder
const userParameters = { } // Parameters listed in next section

const comicsConversion = new Comics2video(source, userParameters);

// Event triggered on each status change
comicsConversion.on('progressUpdated', (data) => {
	// toString() combines all fields in 'data' object in a single string
	console.log(data.toString());
});
// Event triggered only once at the end of conversion
comicsConversion.on('processCompleted', (data) => {
	console.log(`(${data.resultType}) ${data.resultMessage}`);
});

( async () => {
	await comicsConversion.start();
})();

User Parameters fields (all optional):

Name	How to set	Default	Description
generateVideo	boolean	true	If false, only the image frames will be generated
contentProfile	string: 'simple', 'complex'	'complex'	Changes how OCR calculates each frame duration: • 'simple' : Ideal for Comics for kids, art with few details • 'complex' : For Superhero or Comics with detailed art
readingSpeed	string: 'slow', 'normal', 'fast'	'normal'	Also changes how OCR calculates duration: • 'slow' : Ideal for Kids or reading in foreign language • 'normal' : Normal reading speed • 'fast' : For speed reading
coverPageProcessing	string: 'thumbnailPage', 'normalPage', 'thumbnailAndNormalPage'	'thumbnailPage'	Process Cover Page as: • 'thumbnailPage' : Cover Page as a single thumbnail • 'normalPage' : Cover Page as a normal page • 'thumbnailAndNormalPage' : Thumbnail and normal page
messageLanguage	string: 'en', 'pt'	'en'	Language for the Graphical User Interface and elements: • 'en' : English • 'pt' : Portuguese (Brazil)

Using the generated files

For each comic book processed, a folder with the same name will be created, containing:

• The video file in .MP4 format
  • Just open it in the TV/Video player of your choice, like a regular video. Pages will be changed automatically (pages with more text will last longer)
• A subfolder named 'Images' with all the frames in .JPG format
  • That can also be opened in modern TVs, advance each frame/page manually using the remote control

Project comics2video

Dependencies

Extraction from CBR/RAR files: unrar-promise, CBZ/ZIP files: win-7zip+cross-zip, PDF files (Windows): node-poppler, Image processing: sharp, OCR: tesseract.js, Video generation: ffmpeg-static, Graphical User Interface: electron+photonkit

Next steps

• Help needed: Translate the Graphical User Interface and documentation to Spanish and other languages (besides English and Portuguese)
• Any good suggestions you have 😉

Contact

🐧 Maurício Antunes Oliveira: [email protected]