Download here. Recent examples here.

The main changes in this version of Pixcavator are the following.

First, an annoying bug in the user interface was fixed. I don’t want to remind everybody what it was but I do certainly apologize. A few minor bugs were fixed too.

Second, a new slider “Border contrast” replaces the old. The idea is that by moving it you can jump to the nest sharp border. For example in the image below, the change in the gray level is very gradual. So, if you move the slider “Size” or “Contrast”, the growth is very slow and the former won’t even notice the sharp edge. With the new slider you get there is just a few abrupt steps: border contrast = 0, 10, and 15, respectively.

To our current customers. You can download the new version of Pixcavator and then activate it with your current serial number. This amounts to free upgrades for a foreseeable future.

BTW, the first digit in the version number refers to the calendar year of the development. This is the fourth since version 1.0 appeared in August ’06 (a prototype/testing program was created in the summer of ’05).

Finally our plans for the coming months:

• 4.1: Introduce a way to fully pre-compute all data (not only the construction of the topology graph but also and its analysis) so that moving sliders will change both the contours and the sliders virtually instantly.
• 4.2: Speed up the core algorithm (construction of the topology graph) significantly. I think its complexity will be linear instead of the current quadratic.
• 4.3: Introduce more data filtering tools (beyond unmark dark and light objects).

I’d be glad to hear your suggestions.