Precleaning (High Pass Sharpening Filter)
This filter sharpens the image, which can make things appear over-leveled if you’re not careful. I don’t recommend this technique for anyone who does not have a good grasp of what over-leveling looks like. It is easy to abuse and thus screw up.
Aside from overall quality, I was messing around with some Jump SQ raws and discovered that the High Pass filter is really good for darkening line art that has gray tone under it. So it’s great for MQ cleans where you don’t want to spend much time on the gray areas. Also, this does not destroy gray tones the way a denoise program can.
Additionally, it works fine regardless of your raw page size.
This method was passed on to me from abu_89, who says “Warning. Excessive usage of this technique is like drinking alcohol. You know what happens– it might seem cool at the time, but in the end, it just means more work for you.”
Use sparingly!!
For the Jump SQ pages I was playing with, I first precleaned using the diffuse filter.
- Duplicate the leveled layer twice.
- On the top duplicate, use the High Pass Sharpening Filter. Go Filter > Other > High Pass. Choose 15 px radius.
- Set that layer to Soft Light mode.
- Add a Gaussian Blur. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Choose 1-4 px (I liked 2.5 px).
- Merge down to combine the two duplicated layers.
- Now you should have your original raw layer, a leveled/diffused layer, and a high pass layer. I like to keep all three so that if I ever want to go back and change something, I won’t have to start from scratch.
Like abu said, this method can be abused by repeating it over and over again, but after once or twice, the quality really takes a dive, so please DON’T USE THIS MORE THAN ONCE PER PAGE.
If you are forced to use a small raw (1200 px height or so), then tweak the settings accordingly : something like High Pass 10 px radius and Gaussian Blur 2 px. These numbers aren’t set in stone, but again, keep an eye on your page and make sure you don’t over-do it ^^
For Maximum7 Bleach cleaning did you use this high pass sharpening filter at the end of the process? (After preclean until grays redraw) Or did you use any other filters to make the line art looks darker?
Are you looking at our most recent releases? Almost all our cleaners nowadays use a denoise program for precleaning, however the goal is generally to smooth out the line art, which is why it may look darker to you. Also, since we redraw our grays, you can’t tell that everyone is using a different program (and thus mauling the grays in different ways). I’m probably the most conservative and only use Neat Image to get rid of the paper texture. Some of our other cleaners use various programs by Topaz, but I think the key point is that they are all good enough to identify when the denoise becomes detrimental. Sorry if I sound preachy, but I believe that denoising in the wrong hands leads to horrible results :3
Oh I see. So it means that you guys don’t go nuts with the denoise program like most shitty speed scanlators did right? Because I once read somewhere in manga cleaning forum where most speed scanlators go crazy with the denoising until it destroys the line art. But at the M7 cleaning academy was the preclean tutorial is an alternative for using diffuse filter in photoshop rather than denoise program?
The diffuse filter method and the high-pass sharpening filter are alternatives to denoising. I’ve found that people are less likely to mess up using these filters, and I don’t think that new cleaners should use denoise programs until they have some experience under their belts :P
I think thi is a really good method but only when the raws are bad
is anyway better then a denoise in my opinion XD
seem M7 is the only one use this method
i’m a cleaner of a vietnamese group and use highpass in pre-cleaning too but not pro like this, this (and all of other method) is clearly and awesome, thanks very much ^^
This is the great look over for me, Should admit you are probably the greatest bloggers I ever observed.Thank you for posting information.
Yeah, I think a lot of the new scan groups only do denoising. I like this method because it helps darken line art in gray tones (which usually gets destroyed when denoised…). I’m glad it helped ^_^
Ever tried Topaz Denoise 3? What it can do is shocking. It’s a life-saver when you have low quality raws.
Speaking of low quality raws… It’d be nice to see some guides about taking care of gutter shadow and other things that show up on bad scans. Unfortunately, most manga guides are put up by sites that are well-established enough to get the best raws, so you don’t see much of that kind of thing.
I’m still a purist and I think that the denoise filters destroy the gray tones. And the detail in the gray tones. I will concede that some people have become very VERY talented at denoising, however.
Someone else left a comment about gutters, so I’ll refer you to that response: http://senbonzakura.kageyoshi.net/2007/12/17/intro-to-leveling/comment-page-1/#comment-5706
There’s only so much you can do with a LQ raw. I think when that is the case, you should focus on super awesome typesetting because THAT is something you have full control over.
Ah gutter shadows. What a pain. I’ve had to deal with some really nasty ones so I developed a decent technique for it. I select it, feather the selection until the feathering just about reaches the outer edge, and then level it. You probably know this, but the reason you do feather so much is so you can level the darker parts without the light parts getting too light, so it blends in nicely. Give it a try. It’ll be lighter, but of course there will still be little to no detail in that area.
I found a nice way to fix that when dealing with patterned areas. Download a pattern generating plugin (I don’t remember where I got it), and use that to make a pattern from the cleaner area. Then lay the pattern over it using a layer mask.
PS seriously, have you seen Topaz Denoise 3 on a bad scan? Because if not, I can give you my personal assurances that you will s**t bricks.
Can you post a couple raw + denoised examples? I know a bunch of people who use Denoise, but I don’t specifically remember seeing it with a LQ raw…
before: http://s387.photobucket.com/albums/oo316/greenpeppers311/?action=view¤t=HDBF32_p6_dirty.png
after: http://s387.photobucket.com/albums/oo316/greenpeppers311/?action=view¤t=HDBF32_p6_topaz.png
Another example, zoomed in to 100%
before: http://screencast.com/t/NzdkNWFh
after: http://screencast.com/t/ZGRmNzRkZTg
Ah, I’m familiar with this after all XD
It’s definitely one of the best denoise filters out there! I still think Neat Image + diffuse filter (maybe high pass) makes the line art better, but I think most people like how Topaz gives the grays a tone pattern. And I have to admit that i love how it inks the blacks, too :3
One terrible tragedy I saw with Topaz Denoise, however, was a tank raw that had been denoised. Such a horrible waste T_T