PyQArt - QArt Python implementation

中文版 README

introduction

QArt is a method of combining QrCode of an URL with any image, which was submitted in an article writen by Russ Cox on his personal website.

An Example(come from the article):

This repo is Python implementation of it.

Install

pip install pyqart

Note: Support Python3 only, please make sure you are using pip of Python3.

Usage

For code reuse, I split the lib to two part. One for generate normal QrCode, another for generate QArt.

The Qr Part

Use pyqr CLI to create normal QrCode.

 pyqr -p 5 -c 102 204 255 "Hello World!" -o qr.png

The options:

• -p for point size of QrQCode, by pixel, default is 3 pixel.
• -c for color of point, default is black. Background color can be set with -g option, default is white.

If you want show it in terminal, just don't provide -o option:

pyqr "Hello World"

Then you will see:

The actual result you will see depends on your font setting, I'm using Dejavu Sans Mono.

Yes, it is only useful for small QrCode.

Run pyqr -h for more options and their effect.

The Art Part

Use pyqart CLI to create QArt. It may take a long time, please be patient :)

This is an example that mix my blog url and my Github avatar:

pyqart -v 8 -c 102 204 255 "http://0v0.link/" photo.jpg -o qart.png

My Github avatar:

The QArt Code:

Not meet your expectations? Try -n option to pick point at random(default is pick low-contrast region pixels first):

pyqart -n -c 102 204 255 -v 8 "http://0v0.link/" photo.jpg -o qart-n.png

Still not satisfied? Use -y option to enhance the accuracy of the central region by giving up the control of the edge pixels:

-y and -n can be used at the same time, but no obvious improvement.

Note： because that -y option will only use data block, ignore error correction block，it reduce many many many calculate. It has about 30x to 100x speed up compare with no -y option case. So I strongly recommend using -y option whenever you needn't make a full picture fitting.

Use -r option to set rotation degree, The controllable data region can be changed into a horizontal area, it will make it easier to process very wide picture.

Run pyqart -h for more options and their effect.

Use it in your codes as a module

Documentation is in preparation.

Gallery

python.org(used -d option, means dithering, see help message for more info.)

github.com

bilibili.com (An ACG videos website)

Halftone and HalfArt support

Halftone support added in version 0.1.0, and I made another new method which combined Halftone and QArt, so I call it HalfArt temporarily.

Arguments for all methods

The following code shows arguments to get output image of all kind of method:

from pyqart import QArtist, QrHalftonePrinter, QrImagePrinter, QrPainter

QR_VERSION = 10
POINT_PIXEL = 3

artist = QArtist('http://www.nankai.edu.cn/', 'example.jpg', QR_VERSION)
painter = QrPainter('http://www.nankai.edu.cn/', QR_VERSION)
artist_data_only = QArtist('http://www.nankai.edu.cn/', 'example.jpg',
                           QR_VERSION, only_data=True)

# normal
QrImagePrinter.print(painter, path='normal.png', point_width=POINT_PIXEL)
# Halftone
QrHalftonePrinter.print(painter, path='halftone.png', img='example.jpg',
                        point_width=POINT_PIXEL, colorful=False)
# Halftone colorful
QrHalftonePrinter.print(painter, path='halftone-color.png', img='example.jpg',
                        point_width=POINT_PIXEL)
# Halftone pixel
QrHalftonePrinter.print(painter, path='halftone-pixel.png', img='example.jpg',
                        point_width=POINT_PIXEL, colorful=False,
                        pixelization=True)
# QArt
QrImagePrinter.print(artist, path='qart.png', point_width=POINT_PIXEL)
# QArt data only
QrImagePrinter.print(artist_data_only, path='qart-data-only.png',
                     point_width=POINT_PIXEL)
# HalfArt
QrHalftonePrinter.print(artist, path='halfart.png', point_width=POINT_PIXEL)
# HalfArt data only
QrHalftonePrinter.print(artist_data_only, path='halfart-data-only.png',
                        point_width=POINT_PIXEL)

Result example for all method

Halftone	Halftone colorful	Halftone pixel
QArt	QArt data only
HalfArt	HalfArt data only

TODO

• Make QrPainter decided argument by itself.
• Art part
• CLI
• Package
• Halftone support
• self-made HalfArt method
• GUI
• Use Cython to accelerate Reed-Solomon error correction
• Docs
• Tests

Other Implementation

• Golang: qr by Russ Cox
• Java: qart4j by dieforfree

Acknowledgements

• All credit goes to Russ Cos, Thanks for his article and implement.
• Thanks for qart4j project by dieforfree，which helps me so much on how to implement the art part.
• Thanks to a series of articles named QR Code Tutorial in thonky.com, It's very detailed. Whenever I faced problem about encoding or error correction, I will go to it for help.
• Thanks to the Python programing language。

LICENSE

MIT.

See LICENSE.