Help - Other When you HAVE to resize a QR Code...

EDIT 29/11/2017: Things have evolved since this thread have been initiated. There is now an alternate and more simple solution to resize the QR code of a card. Go and watch further below in this thread.
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Sometimes things are supposed to work but doesn't.

As I have mentionned in my level Petroleum, the card has been first exported straight from the game but the QR Code was unreadable despite this and really tiny in the frame... So I have been obliged to resize it from my computer with Gimp and the interpolation option disabled. That doesn't alterate the QR Code.

Note that I do that only if the original QR Code is unreadable, otherwise, no need to do it (and honnestly that was the first time it happened to me).

By default, when you resize a picture, and specialy a QR Code, an interpolation can alterate it from a pixel point of view. As an exemple, here is the pixels of a QR Code that has been resized with a cubic interpolation :



Hum... Not very good isn't it? And here is what happen when there is no interpolation :


Perfect pixel scares

So here is what I did when I had to resize the QR Code of a level :

1. The original card looked like this but was unreadable:

2. I open up with Gimp and use the rectangle to select the interested area




3. Then select the scale tool...



... and choose the "none" option for the interpolation (VERY IMPORTANT!)



4. Then resize the selected area (note the anchor to keep the proportions) to fill almost all the frame (but not all)



The QR code isn't alterated or modified in a such way. Each pixel stay bit 0 or 1 (and not a qbit)

5. Save your work by exporting it (overwrite or "export as..." if you wanna keep the original)



6. Test and rejoyce:

I hope you enjoyed

But do not abuse of good things Only if an ORIGINAL card is unreadable, please.

 

I agree with you both : zooming in the QR Code can make it readable. But you are well aware of how to do that which is not the case of everyone.

So in fact, to make it readable, we're asking players to:
1. Open the card under Mekorama and discover that the card is unreadable
2. Open the picture on another software (outside Mekorama)
3. Zoom into the QR Code
4. Take a screenshot
5. Open the screenshot with Mekorama

Of course I am aware of that and I can do all of these steps quickly myself. But for many people I think that could be a lot of obstacles:
1. Why is it not working? That level sucks! --> give up
2. How can I open a specific picture on my phone? (appart from those taken with the cam) --> give up
4. How can I take a screenshot with my mobile phone/tablet??? --> give up

Players shouldn't be bottered with such technical stuff. They just came to play. Just one obstacle can be the nightmare of a level.

My position is to deliver a fully playable level, not something the player have to fight with to load. So I think that the creator can bear the responsability to make his level playable for everyone, even those who don't know so much about computing and stuff like that.

As this issue seems to be a Mekorama bug, only @Martin Magni can do something to fix it (and thanks to him to have done so great game). But by the time, level creators spend time too on their creation to discover sometimes lately that their card is unreadable and have to ask the players to zoom in and take a screenshot.

That's a better option to let the creator be aware of a temporary solution of this bug, not to invite everybody to modify their card as they want. In fact I have been tempted to increase the QR code in my Transformers level (as it is small in the frame), but I didn't do anything just because... it is readable as is, so no need.

 

It's been a while since this thread was initiated (more than one year!), but it is worth noting that things have evolved during this time and tasks can now be accomplished in different and more convenient ways. During this period, Mekostudio.com has emerged to offer free services around the Mekorama forum and the application itself.

Recently, a new feature has been added: a QR code optimizer, which is a simple tool to resize the existing QR code on a card (or generate a new one) such that it fits the whole available code area on the card. It only works with an "original" exported card from the Mekorama app. A screenshot or other picture will not work.

How does it work?

We're going to use the card already shared in this thread previously

Spoiler: An example of an original card

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Here are the steps to follow:

1. Go to the Mekostudio Customizer web page.

2. Load the level card. Since the process we're talking about here is for exported "original" cards, you would use the first option ("Choose a level file") to load the card from the location of where it was exported to. Technically the second option could also work, but only if you enter the URL of a card found in the forum that has a clean exported version of the card.

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3. Assuming again that the level card is an original one, swipe to the Options section and select the "Optimize" tab (#1).

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4. And then check the first box (#2). The second box/option is a way to generate a new code with the MekoStudio application, but you shouldn't need to use it. If those options are greyed out, then it means that the application is not able to process the optimization of the card uploaded in step 2.

5. When the options are configured, click/tap on the "Generate" button and wait for the application to process the optimization of the QR code.

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6. Once the process has finished, the card will be displayed, and it is possible to save it to your device by clicking on it.

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Tada! Here is the result (note the size difference of the QR code from the one on the original card):

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Easy enough?

I hope everyone will find this useful and convenient.

Cheers!