Black and White columns

[christchaaya]

Hello gurus.

I need to create 10 different images with black and white columns with different widths. The number of Cycles( 1 black column and 1 white column )/cm per image are :

[TABLE="class: outer_border, width: 200, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]Cycles/cm[/TD]
[TD]Width column (mm)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2,4[/TD]
[TD]2,083[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3,2[/TD]
[TD]1,563[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4,8[/TD]
[TD]1,042[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6,5[/TD]
[TD]0,769[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]9,8[/TD]
[TD]0,510[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]0,385[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]19[/TD]
[TD]0,263[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]26[/TD]
[TD]0,192[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]38[/TD]
[TD]0,132[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

As you can see we are talking about thousands of columns per image ( at the highest values of cycles/cm ). What I need to know is:

1) Which is the fastest way to do it ? Is there any function I can use ?
2) Is it possible to draw with photoshop lines that have a thickness of 0,132 mm ? If not , which is the minimum value ?

Thank you a lot for your attention,

Regards

 

[Tom Mann]

So, from your comment that you expect thousands of columns per image, but you only listed 9 column widths and you didn't specify a number of columns of each width, I presume you want the program / algorithm to randomly select one of the column widths, add it to the image, and keep repeating this process until you get the total number of columns that you want. Is this correct?

That being said, almost no matter what the details of the generation process are, this sounds much more like a problem best handled by a programming language with good graphing/plotting facilities, not by Photoshop. For example, my estimate is that the code necessary to produce the desired plot using Matlab would be at most only a few dozen lines in length. You would then use Matlab's export_fig() function:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentr..._thread/170398
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentr...629-export-fig

to convert the Matlab plot to a jpg, png, or whatever format you want for graphics purposes.

HTH,

Tom M

PS - BTW, contrary to popular belief, conventional image files, eg, JPGs, TIFFs, PNGs, etc. do not carry real world dimensions. In reality, these files have certain overall pixel dimensions (eg, 4000 pixels wide by 3000 pixels high), and a suggestion (say, 300 pixels per inch) that may or may not be honored by the printer being used. So, of course, PS, Adobe Illustrator, Matlab, or any similar program can produce lines of whatever width you want ranging from microns wide to meters wide, just by adjusting the PPI number, but to really obtain what you expect, you must pay a lot of attention to exactly how the file will be printed (or viewed). That's a whole separate discussion.

 

[christchaaya]

First of all thank you for your detailed and quick answer. Sorry for not specifing at the beginning that i need to fill all the screen with the columns that s why I didn t specified the number of columns ( depends on the width of the columns).

The purpose of these 10 different images is to create 10 different videos with Adobe Premiere . The purpose of each video is to make a "sliding columns" effect so i thought the best way was to create 2 images for each column size, 1 starting with a black column and 1 starting with a white column , and alternate them to create the "sliding columns" effect.

I'm sorry if I'm not being clear enough but It's not easy to explain with few words and I don't want to bother you with a kilometric thread. If you think that I can get it done with matlab then I'll start searching for some threads. Thank you for your help

 

[Tom Mann]

You are quite welcome.

To be honest, I still don't have a good idea of exactly what you want, but it almost doesn't matter -- when someone is specifying sizes this precisely, and needs lots of rectangles or other shapes, be they randomly placed or in some other arrangement, IMHO, a programming language with good plotting / output facilities (eg, Matlab / Octave) is clearly the way to go, especially since your task requires only very simple knowledge of the language and certainly no complex math.

Matlab is a product of Mathworks. It is not cheap, but I think there is a student version generally available, and there is the freeware clone, "Octave" that should also be able to do what you need. Mathworks has extensive documentation and examples on their website, so it would be the 1st place I would look for tutorials and reference material. For example, Googling {matlab plot solid rectangle} immediately turned up this description of their "rectangle()" function:
http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/rectangle.html

HTH,

Tom M

 

[christchaaya]

Thank you a lot for your help. I will start seraching for a solution via Matlab.

Regards