http://www.techsupportforum.com Where new Articles are submitted and are pending for review en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:27:37 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.techsupportforum.com/cwd/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.techsupportforum.com http://www.techsupportforum.com/articles-tutorials-reviews/new-article-submissions/430822-newly-formatted-4gb-compact-flash-card-out-memory-digital-camera.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:59:59 GMT

Newly Formatted 4GB Compact Flash card "Out of Memory" (Digital Camera)

This is a tip for anyone like me that decided to add a spare 4GB Compact Flash card to their Kit only to find after (apparently successful) formatting within the camera that it is "OUT OF MEMORY" when you go to use it to take pictures.

My Camera is a Nikon Coolpix E4300 and it happened to me when I found a bargain 4GB card and I tried to use it!

This is my cure.

Looking at my 2GB Card using a CF-USB adapter I noted that the card format is FAT ie 16 bits. That basically means that one can only use up to 2GB of memory (2048 MB) just like in the good old days of DOS.
Partitioning to a max of 2GB & Formatting in FAT or FAT16 is required to make it useful.

Whilst looking at the CF card from within windows you will need to copy the contents of a formatted CF Card into a folder. In my camera there were two folders and a single file. DCIM, MISC & NIKON001.DSC.
You could use a new folder on your Desktop for example, then copy / paste the contents from the card to the new folder.

DCIM, MISC & NIKON001.DSC (or the equivalent on your card) MUST be copied back to the card after creating the 2GB partition. Without this information you'll need to reformat using your camera & you'll have to start all over again!

If you don't have the ability to do this from within Windows it is possible to do it another way as explained later.

Unfortunately it's not so easy to create a partition on removable media using Microsoft as your workstation.
If you can boot into a DOS Floppy that has USB support then you could use fdisk to create a DOS partition, but so far I haven't seen any bootable DOS floppy disks with that option. That doesn't mean that they don't exist, just that I haven't found any.

I used Parted Magic LIVE CD and having placed my 4GB card in an adapter and plugged it into a USB port, I then Booted from the live CD,


Fig 1
***NOTE that if you have problems, after booting, with seeing your Display, reboot & select #6 on the menu
Safe Graphics Settings (VGA = Normal) ***

"mounted" the 4GB CF card, created a folder on my desktop and copied the contents from the CF card to the Folder.

This can easily be done by opening two windows, one with the CF card and one with the New Folder, just click on each to open a window.
Left click (just like Windows) and you should see the commands Copy (& Paste after you have used Copy to place something in Memory)
(this is not shown in the photo's unfortunately)

DO THIS BEFORE YOU PROCEED ANY FURTHER SINCE WE ARE ABOUT TO REMOVE ALL CONTENTS FROM THE CF CARD!!

Also remember that since we are using the LIVE CD whatever we place on our desktop will disappear if we lose power or shutdown!


Fig 2
Select Partition Editor from the Desktop and when open select the USB device from the drop-down menu listing the storage media.


Fig 3

Click on the drive (under where it says Partition), click on DELETE and afterwards APPLY, both found on the menu bar.


Fig 4



Fig 5


Fig 6


Fig 7


Fig 8


Fig 9
Click now on the "Unallocated" area, select NEW, leave the setting as Primary Partition, adjust the size to 2048 MB and File System to FAT16.

Click on apply and then confirm to proceed.


Fig 10


Fig 11


Fig 12


Fig 13


Fig 14


Fig 15


Fig 16


Fig 17
A second FAT16 partition can also be created by clicking again on unallocated, selecting NEW then Create as EXTENDED,


Apply and confirm the action if & when asked.




Fig 18

Now select the unallocated space in the extended partition, Click NEW, leave the size untouched and select FAT16 again.

Click apply and confirm when asked.



Fig 19


Fig 20


Fig 21


Fig 22


Fig 23


Fig 24


Fig 25


Fig 26


Fig 27
You will now have two partitions on your CF card that have been formatted as FAT16.

Close the Partition Editor Window and then from the side bar on the window where you were working with the CF Card contents,
you should see the 2 NEW partitions listed. Click on the 2GB partition and select mount.

Fig 28


Open the other window where you had pasted the original contents, copy and paste them back into the 2GB partition.
Click on the side bar to "unmount" the partition and you will be able to remove the card and check it out on your camera.

It should see the partition and be working normally now, without an error message!

You will not be able to use that 2nd partition with your camera since the camera will only see the Primary Partition.
However it could be a useful Hidden area for transferring files around using your CF card reader.

Fig 29


Once finished just logout, remove the CD from the drive and reboot into your normal operating system.[/quote]

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]]> New Article Submissions Done_Fishin http://www.techsupportforum.com/articles-tutorials-reviews/new-article-submissions/430822-newly-formatted-4gb-compact-flash-card-out-memory-digital-camera.html http://www.techsupportforum.com/articles-tutorials-reviews/new-article-submissions/430735-tutorial-creating-out-bounds-image-oob.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:14:34 GMT Edits: V1.01 19:00 11 November 2009 - missing Fig 8 Added --------------------------------------------------------------- *Out Of Bounds or OOB*. This is a technique that makes a plain flat image come to life by giving it a 3D type effect. In this tutorial the author will explain the... Edits:
V1.01 19:00 11 November 2009 - missing Fig 8 Added

---------------------------------------------------------------

Out Of Bounds or OOB.

This is a technique that makes a plain flat image come to life by giving it a 3D type effect. In this tutorial the author will explain the various processes needed to convert Photograph 1 into Photograph 2


Photo1


Photo 2

In this tutorial, I have used Photoshop. The technique can be done similarly in most photo software that supports Layers and Masks

Before creating an OOB, choose suitable subject and resize it to a suitable size to display on monitor or printer

Step 1 - Setting the image up.
Convert original to a layer & name it ‘Original’
Make duplicate of Original layer
Add 5 transparent layers and name them
* Picture Frame – this is the pseudo photo frame
* Picture frame Shadow – the shadow of the pseudo photo frame
* Test View White – used to judge progress but otherwise not used in final image
* Test View Black – used to judge progress but otherwise not used in final image
* OOB Background – the general background of the final OOB image.
You should now have 7 layers. See Fig 1

Fig 1


Step 2 - Arranging the layers.
Re arrange the layers (top to bottom)
Picture Frame
Original Copy
Original
Picture Frame Shadow
OOB Background
Test view Black
Test View White
See Fig 2



Step 3 - Setting the layers.
Use paint bucket to give a white fill to Test View White layer
Use paint bucket to give a black fill to Test View black layer
Leave OOB Background layer transparent for the time being.
Now add a layer mask to Picture Frame and Original Copy layers
Make Original layer invisible (You may never need this layer)
See Fig 3

Fig 3

Step 4 - Creating the Pseudo Picture Frame.
1 - Select the transparent Picture Frame (Not the Picture Frame Mask)
2 – Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw the outline of your picture frame. See Fig 4

Fig 4

3 - Edit-->stroke. Select 15 pixels, inside and white colour, blending normal at 100% opacity. Then click OK.
4 - Select --> Transformation Selection. (Ctrl+T). See Fig 5

Fig 5

5 - Place mouse inside the selection area and single Right Click and choose Perspective. Then use the grab points to alter the shape of the pseudo picture frame to suit the image and effect. See Fig 6

Fig 6

6 - when you are happy with the desired shape of the Picture Frame, press Enter to accept the transformation.
7 - Select --> Deselect (Ctrl+D) to deselect the Picture Frame. See Fig 7

Fig 7


Step 6 - Masking Out the background.
1 - Select the MASK of the Original Copy layer
2 - Select the paint brush in the tools pallet. Set it at about 13 pixels with 95% hardness. Ensure that Black is chosen in the colour pallet in the Tool set.
Note: If you haven’t used masks before, the technique is easy and non destructive. Basically you use a Black brush to paint transparency and White brush to restore the image if you make a mistake or need to do some fine tweaking… Before we remove all the unwanted background, it is wise to test that you have selected the mask properly. Step 3 below will do this test. If the test fails, start over from step 1 of this section.
3 - With the black paint brush, paint over a small portion of the background. It will appear black, however if you make the ‘Test View Black’ layer invisible, the masked area will appear white. If that is so, reselect the MASK of the ‘Original Copy’ layer. See Fig 8

Fig 8

4 - Zoom in to the portion of the image you want to have outside the frame 200~300% and start to black paint out the background. You will probably need to alter the brush size from time to time, especially to get into tight corners etc. If you make a mistake and paint over a bit that you didn’t intend to, just change the brush colour to white & paint it back again. The more time you spend being carefully painting out, the better the result. Fig 9
shows the part process at 300% with the ‘Test View Black’ layer switched off.
See Fig 9

Fig 9

5 - Zoom out to normal size and carefully use the black paintbrush to paint around the picture frame. See Fig 10

Fig 10

6 - Now select a larger brush and black paint the rest of the unwanted background. See Fig 11

Fig 11

At this stage, you can toggle the visibility of the black & white ‘Test View’ layers to confirm all is well.


Step 7 - Masking the Pseudo Frame.
1 Zoom in to 200~300%
2 – Select the MASK on the ‘Picture Frame’ layer
3 – Black paint out the portion of the picture frame that obscures the OOB portion. Pay attention at the edges.
See Fig 12

Fig 12

4 – At this stage you can crop the image to the finished aspect ratio. See Fig 13

Fig 13


Step 8 - Adding a slight shadow to two sides of the Picture Frame.
1 set the ‘Test View Black & white’ layers to invisible.
2- Select the ‘Picture Frame Shadow’ layer
3 – Select black colour and a paintbrush of about 13 pixels hardness = 100%
4 – Draw a line of black at the left and bottom of the picture frame. See Fig 14

Fig 14

(To draw a nice neat straight line, click on the start point, then move the cursor to the finishing point and press & hold shift, then click)

5 – Filter --> Blur --> Gaussian Blur and set radius at 6 pixels. Don’t worry at this stage if the shadow looks too heavy. Just accept it for the moment. See Fig 15

Fig 15


Step 9 - Creating a Pseudo Background.
It is important to have a neutral background to that the picture frame stands out.
1 – Select the OOB Background layer
2 – Select the Gradient Tool (It could be hiding under the paint bucket tool). With the gradient tool selected, select a neutral gradient and drag a gradient onto the background.
3 – Set the ‘Test View Black’ layer back to visible
See Fig 16

Fig 16


Step 10 - Adjust Picture Frame Shadow.
1 – select the ‘Picture Frame Shadow’ layer
2 – in the layers pallet, select the opacity and set it to about 30~40%
See Fig 17

Fig 17


Final steps.
1 - Save the image in a format that will preserve the layers. (For future reference) I use Photoshop’s native format *.psd
2 – Layer --> Flatten Image. (You will be asked ‘Discard Hidden layers’ - press OK)
3 – Save as a *.jpg

Enjoy.

Article Copyright 2009 - DonaldG & techsupportforum.com ]]> New Article Submissions DonaldG http://www.techsupportforum.com/articles-tutorials-reviews/new-article-submissions/430735-tutorial-creating-out-bounds-image-oob.html