~*~ Ultimate Comic Thread ~*~

[studangerous]

Click here to get email updates on new posts in this thread.

Reading Comics On Your iPod Touch & iPhone

Unfortunately for comic fans, iTunes converts all photos (or jpeg comic images) to a downscaled resolution when transferring to your iPhone or iPod touch so comic jpegs are unreadable. iComic overcomes this and utilises the touch-screen zoom, landscape view and accelerometer to provide a great portable electronic comic book reader and zipped image viewer. Welcome to the world of iComic.

iComic is developed and maintained by Yoshitake Yamamoto from Japan.

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

It's all about the community, so many many thanks and kudos to the following people for their positive input to this thread: lvlln, Jodymitoma, Mariarty, volandkit, Pazu, Aporu, zip, deviousbee, Jarlath, jreb13, Task, stompanato, rclancy, jbostouch and looopz

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

iComic (Appstore version)

The Appstore version of iComic was released on December 3rd priced at $0.99.[iTunes].

Updates:

• 2.0.1 released March 16th 2009 (bug fixes)
• 2.0 released March 5th 2009 (2-lvl folder support, folder creation, new menu graphics)
• 1.4 released January 23rd 2009 (title bar and page-turn animation on/off options)
• 1.3 released January 6th 2009 (swipe navigation and tap zoom)
• 1.2 released January 1st 2009 (back 2 old iComic icon, corner page turn option with left or right corner to page fwd)
• 1.1 released December 17th 2008 (support for list of zip comic files (.txt); history of inputted URL displayed in the list, cbz reg)
• 1.0.1 released December 10th 2008 (.cbz file support; corrects error downloading large files; stability tweaks)
• 1.0 released December 3rd 2008

iComic for Appstore FAQ

AppStore_iComic_V1.3_FAQ.pdf for Adobe Reader [rapidshare mirror]
iComicFAQ.zip for iComic [rapidshare mirror]
AppStore_iComic_V1.3_FAQ.doc for Word

and direct links to download from in iComic:
http://red.halfmoon.jp/iComicFAQ.zip
or
http://h1.ripway.com/studangerous/iComicFAQ.zip

Useful Links:

Yama's blog (Japanese translated by Google)
The iComic Wiki (Japanese & English)

iComic (Jailbreak version) Google code page
ComicViewer (Jailbreak version) Google code page

ComicRack (recommended FREE Windows CBR/CBZ comic viewer)

'Misery Depot' Test Comic Direct Download

http://h1.ripway.com/studangerous/MiseryDepot.zip

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

Looopz's ComicConverter

A marvelous one-click .cbr/.cbz to .zip converter and comic resizer for Windows [warning: small file size error occurs if you have any files that are not jpeg, gif or png inside the cbr/cbz archive]. Recommended to resize comics to between 800 and 1000 pixels high. Download from sendspace or rapidshare

Instructions: Copy your cbr and cbz comic files to be converted to a new folder. Around 5 or 6 of approx 10-20MB size is recommended but it can work with larger comics and runs. Make sure you only have image files in the cbr or cbz as other files (.nfo etc.) can kick up errors. Select the folder where you put your comics to be converted and set resize to between 800 and 1000 pixels high.

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

Useful Mac Scripts for iComic

A couple of scripts for Mac users:
For resizing and converting .cbr files to .rar; - see here for more details
To sections comics and create index .txt file for Mac built in webserver - see here for more details

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

iComic For Jailbroken Firmware 2.*

The latest English language version of iComic for Jailbreaks is v12 and is available from the iSpazio community source Cydia repo.

Cydia: http://ispaziorepo.com/cydia/apt

• Once you have installed iComic, your next step is to SSH into your device using WinSCP (or use iFunBox or DiskAid), create a directory on your device called Comic (case sensitive, under <root>/var/mobile/Media/). Your comics will be kept in this folder as zipped archives of jpeg image files. Correct paths should look like: <root>/var/mobile/Media/Comic/yourcomic.zip or <root>/var/mobile/Media/Comic/foldertobetterorganiseyourcomics/yourcomic.zip.

Direct downloads of iComic & ComicViewer

Download Yama's ComicViewer beta or, the more stable, iComicv 13 for 2.0 firmware from the links below. For English menus delete the japanese.lproj folder and amend 'ja' to 'en' in the Info.plist file. SSH into your phone and copy the iComic.app or ComicViewer.app folder into your Applications folder. Make sure your application folder and the files inside are all set to 755 or 777 permission. Create a folder called Comic under var/mobile/Media and SSH transfer your comics to this folder.

Latest versions:

Comic Viewer: http://cfuncname.up.seesaa.net/download/ComicViewer_r77_2.0Beta3_2.zip
iComic: http://iphonecomic.googlecode.com/files/iComic013_for_v2.zip

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

Installer Legacy Repo for iComic & ComicViewer for firmwares 1.1.*

http://myrepospace.com/repo/studangerous

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

Troubleshooting Jailbreak Versions Of iComic

• If the iComic or ComicViewer application crashes back to the springboard - possible solutions: i) check permissions are correctly set as 755 or 777 for the iComic.app or ComicViewer.app folder and all files inside. ii) try deleting the Library/ComicViewer or Library/iComic folder, which contains your program settings that may have become corrupted, and restart your device. iii) delete the iComic or ComicViewer application and try redownloading the prog and make a fresh install.
• If you have added comics and get the error message 'No Comic Mobile' or your comics are not showing up at all, either i) you have not created the /Comic directory correctly (the path should be <root>/var/mobile/Media/Comic/batman.zip or <root>/var/mobile/Media/Comic/BatmanComics/batman.zip), ii) you have not written Comic with a capital C (it is CASE sensitive) or iii) have the /Comic directory in the wrong folder (f/w 1.1.1/2 read below). iv) If you are sure you have the /Comic directory in the correct place then try setting permissions on the directory to 755 or 777. v) If you're still not having any joy delete the /Comic folder and create it again.
• OVER SIZE OVER SIZE OVER - your comic jpeg is larger than the maximum permissible.

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

Contents of the rest of this thread (needs updating fyi)

1. Manually installing iComic or ComicViewer on your device.,
2. Creating the /Comic folder.
3. iComic and ComicViewer in other languages.
4. Resizing and converting comics to correct format.
5. Uploading comics to your device
6. Settings and recommended configuration.
7. Comic links and downloads.

[studangerous]

1 – Manually Installing iComic Or ComicViewer On Your Jailbroken Device

You will need to set up WinSCP, iFunBox or DiskAid to manually install iComic.

Once you have the iComic.app or ComicViewer.app file (see first post for links) for your particular firmware and have set up a program for transferring files, copy the app folder to the <root>/Applications directory and set permission on this folder and all contents to 755 or 777 (use WinSCP or terminal commands for this).

If you now open iComic or ComicViewer from the springboard you will see that menus are in Japanese. To change this to English, navigate to the <root>/applications/icomic.app directory and delete the japanese.lproj directory, which will change menu text to English. To change the buttons to English, copy the "info.plist" file from the icomic.app directory to your desktop, open it up in Wordpad and change the "ja" in the following line to "en" or "english". Save it and then overwrite the old file on your iphone/touch.

from:

	<key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>
	<string>ja</string>

to:

	<key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>
	<string>en</string>

To change to another iPhone / iPod touch supported language:

i. to change the buttons to another language format you must amend the CFBundleDevelopmentRegion string (as shown above) to your language, e.g. "ru" or "Russian" for Russian language buttons.

ii. to change the menu text to a different language you will have to edit the 'localizable strings' files in the japanese.lproj directory - copy the files to your desktop, open up in Wordpad, change the Japanese translation of the English text into your own language, save the two files and copy back over the original localizable strings files on your device.

Russian localizable strings (thanks Mariarty)
Czech localizable strings (pinched from a Czech iComic version)
French localizable strings (pilfered from a French version)

2 - Creating the /Comic folder

For 2.* firmwares: Use WinSCP, DiskAid or iFunBox to create a folder called Comic (case sensitive, i.e. must have a capital 'C') under <root>/var/mobile/Media. Thus your directory structure for this folder should be <root>/var/mobile/Media/Comic

For 1.* firmwares: Use WinSCP, DiskAid or iFunBox to create a folder called Comic (case sensitive, i.e. must have a capital 'C') under <root>/private/var/root/Media. Thus your directory structure for this folder should be <root>/private/var/root/Media/Comic

[studangerous]

4 - Resizing and converting comics to correct format

Converting: iComic and ComicViewer can only read .zip or basic .cbz files containing jpeg, png or gif images. You will need to convert your .cbr files to .cbz or .zip.
Resizing: In some cases image sizes may be too large for viewing (you will get a 'SIZE OVER SIZE OVER' image in place of your comic if this is the case) or you may just want to resize to ensure faster page turns, zooms and to prevent extra stress on your alreday overworked device.

You have several methods for converting and resizing:

1. Looopz's ComicConverter - full details in first post

2. For converting single comics to zip:

Download Comic Rack, arguably the best comic reader for Windows.

http://comicrack.cyolito.com/

Load up your comic then select 'File' -> 'Save ecomic as...' and set 'Save As Type' to 'eComic (zip)'.

3. For large comic runs with or without resizing:

1. Use Batch File Renamer to rename .cbr files to .rar and .cbz files to .zip.



download batch file renamer from:

http://cerebralsynergy.com/download.php?view.55

2. Use WinRAR to unpack all your newly renamed .zip and .rar archives to separate folders



3. For faster page turns and smaller file size you may want to resize your images (~800 pixels height is a good base size) using a program such as Xnview.

http://www.xnview.com/

In Xnview go to Tools -> Batch Processing. Under the 'general' tab individually add each folder of images to be resized using 'Add Folder'. Then go to the 'Transformations' tab, select resize from left hand menu tree, click the 'Add' button.



4. Select all of the comic folders, right click and select 'add to archive'. Make sure you select the option highlighted below so that each folder is packed in its own archive.



n.b. for Mac users 'If you want to resize the JPGs for faster page turning and/or do PDF to JPG conversions and you'rfe a mac user I'd recommend Graphicconverter at http://www.lemkesoft.com/ interface is a little ugly but very powerful and fast for batch conversions' (thanks zip).

5 - Uploading comics to your device

Open up WinSCP, iFunBox or DİskAid and drag and drop your comics to the Comic directory.

Note that Jailbreak versions of iComic support both folders inside the Comic directory, allowing better organisation of your comics, and folders inside the comic zip files.

[studangerous]

6 - Addendum 1: comic navigation, settings and recommended configuration
(work in progress, please feel free to contribute - thanks to Jodymitoma for his contribution)

In-comic Navigation



When viewing a comic, tap in the bottom right hand corner to forward-page, left hand corner to back-page & top left hand corner to exit the current comic and return to the root comic menu.

OPTIONS

View menu

Bounce: allows you to drag further than comic edges. Recommendation: Off

Move to the top right: pages open showing top right corner if on, or bottom left corner if off. Recommendation: On.

Keep scale: keeps subsequent pages at the same scale as current page (e.g. if you zoom 400% then all subsequent pages will be viewed at 400%). Recommendation: Off

Hide status bar: hides the top status bar in menus and in comics. Recommendation: On.

Scroll speed: not played with this, mine's at 85

Slide to right: page slides to right (rather than left for Japanese comics). Recommendation: On. (iComic and ComicViewer)

Left Button Is Next: sets the left hand button to page fwd - i.e. for Japanese comics. Recommendation: OFF

Reload Screen: If On: when you zoom this will reload the jpeg to ensure the best resolution, but at the sake of slower zooming, if Off - zooming will not rescale to the new size but will be faster. Recommendation: ON

Max Scale: sets the max levels of zoom - Recommendation: 6

Resize big image: resizes large images to fit screen. Some comics or pages appear corrupted if this is turned off. Recommendation: On.

Fit Screen: defaults the comic to fit to screen when opening. Recommendation: ON

Button size: the size of the 'invisible' buttons.

Button Ignore...!?!?! Im guessing this leaves a margin btw invisible page turn buttons and border... but I'm not sure.. I have mine at default.

Gravity page slide: nice use of the device's accelerometer, though difficult to use in practice I found. Rotate your device to change pages. Recommendation: Off.

Button page slide: use 'invisible' buttons to change pages and return to main menu: bottom right to page forward; bottom left to page back; top left to return to comic menu. Page movement defaults to this if all three 'slide' options are off. Recommendation: On.

Swipe page slide: swipe your finger left or right to advance or go back a page. Good substitute for the 'invisible' buttons. recommendation: Off (but its more personal choice I suppose!).

Sound On - Beeps when you press the invisible buttons. Recommendation: ON for iPhone users, OFF for iPod Touch users.

Rotation - sets comic view rotation (thanks jodymitoma)

G - gravity view, rotate device to rotate view.
1 - normal portrait view.
2 - inverted portrait view.
3 - landscape view, left.
4 - landscape view, right.


7 - Comic links and downloads

Links to websites for comic downloads:

http://bdcomics.bdgamers.net/
http://blueapplecomics.blogspot.com/
http://comicspoint.blogspot.com/
http://www.freecomicbooks.org/

or search for comics on Google... see:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2554/google_for_free_comic_books/
http://blogs.tech-recipes.com/shamanstears/2007/08/15/google-search-for-free-comic-books-on-online-storage-services/

+++ Support comic book authors and artists. If you like it, buy it!

Free Public Domain & Creative Commons comics coverted to iComic format:

Tales From The Public Domain - BoundByLaw [website] [3* / 16.9MB] (CC)
Time Management for Anarchists [website] [3* / 4.4MB] (CC)
Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now by Cory Doctorow [website] [5* / 26.1MB] (CC)
Diesel Sweeties 01 02 [website] [3* / 17-35MB] (CC)
Misery Depot by Juan Romera and Hermés Piqué [website] [5* / 3.6MB] (PD)


Flashback Universe Comics [website] [donate] [blog]

• The Paladin - I, Paladin [4* / 7.6MB] (C)
• Terrorsaur Rex Backstory [4* / 7.1MB] (C)

The Incredible Amazing Five 00 01 02 03 04 [website] [2* / 2-4MB] (CC)

Golden Age stuff:
Ghost Comics 01 (Fiction House) [3* / 9.9MB] (PD)

(CC) Creative Commons, (PD) Public Domain, (C) Free Download w/ Copyright

Enjoy

[Manic Nimrod]

Thank you for this, but for the forum you have to sign up to view anything, but sign up is for invite only.

Could i have a invite code please?

[8gigaPodTouch]

cool huh! is there a Batman story here? if there, it would be nice, Batman fanatic eh!

[studangerous]

sorry just noticed that xxxxxxxxxx now requires an 'invite' for registration to the forum. Unfortunately, I haven't got the ability to invite anyone in as yet as I'm fairly new myself... sorry again.. until you get in try these links to satiate your comic needs

http://bdcomics.bdgamers.net/

http://blueapplecomics.blogspot.com/

http://www.freecomicbooks.org/

[Manic Nimrod]

ok cheers dude

[Jodymitoma]

Thank you kindly for this.

[Jodymitoma]

hehe, but honestly, there are far too many tutorials on how to jailbreak, ect..

The only steps I needed were 8 and 9..