path: root/README.md

# KCC

`KCC` (a.k.a. `KindleComicConverter`) is a Python app to convert comic files or folders to ePub or Panel View MOBI.  
It was initally developed for Kindle but since v2.2 it outputs valid ePub 2.0 so _**despite its name, KCC is
actually a comic 2 epub converter that every ereader owner can happily use**_.  

It can also optionally optimize images by applying a number of transformations.

### A word of warning
**KCC** _is not_ [Amazon's Kindle Comic Creator](http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1001103761) nor is in any way endorsed by Amazon.  
Amazon's tool is for comic _publishers_ and involves a lot of manual effort, while **KCC** is for comic _readers_.  
If you want to read some comments over *Amazon's kc2* you can take a look at [this](http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207461&page=7#96) and [that](http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=211047) threads on Mobileread.  
_kc2_ in no way is a replacement for **KCC** so you can be quite confident we'll going to carry on developing our little monster ;)  


### Donations
If you find KCC valuable you can consider donating to the authors:

* Ciro Mattia Gonano [![Donate](https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_SM.gif)](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=D8WNYNPBGDAS2)
* Paweł Jastrzębski [![Donate](https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_SM.gif)](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=YTTJ4LK2JDHPS)

## BINARY RELEASES
You can find the latest released binary at the following links:  
- OS X: [https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16806101/KindleComicConverter_osx_2.10.zip](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16806101/KindleComicConverter_osx_2.10.zip)
- Win64: [https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16806101/KindleComicConverter_win-amd64_2.10.zip](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16806101/KindleComicConverter_win-amd64_2.10.zip)
- Win32: [http://pawelj.vulturis.eu/Shared/KindleComicConverter_win-x86_2.10.zip](http://pawelj.vulturis.eu/Shared/KindleComicConverter_win-x86_2.10.zip)
- Linux: Just download sourcecode and launch `python kcc.py` *(Provided you have Python and Pillow installed)*

_It has been reported by a couple of users 2.10 crashing on OSX at start. If it happens to you please append
your message to [Issue #52](https://github.com/ciromattia/kcc/issues/52).  
In the meanwhile you can download [version 2.9](https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16806101/KindleComicConverter_osx_2.9.zip)_

## AWKCC .NET GUI
![AWKCC](http://pawelj.vulturis.eu/Shared/CurrentAWKCC.png)

[All-in-one package for Windows users](http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2444957&postcount=3)

## INPUT FORMATS
`kcc` can understand and convert, at the moment, the following file types:
- PNG, JPG, GIF, TIFF, BMP
- Folders
- CBZ, ZIP
- CBR, RAR *(With `unrar` executable)*
- PDF *(Extracting only contained JPG images)*

## OPTIONAL REQUIREMENTS
- `kindlegen` v2.7+ in a directory reachable by your PATH or in KCC directory *(For .mobi generation)*
- [unrar](http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm) *(For CBR support)*

### For compiling/running from source:
- Python 2.7+ (Included in MacOS and Linux, follow the [official documentation](http://www.python.org/getit/windows/) to install on Windows)
- [Pillow](http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Pillow/) for comic optimizations like split double pages, resize to optimal resolution, improve contrast and palette, etc.
  Please refer to official documentation for installing into your system.

## USAGE

### Important tips:
* Disabling **HQ Panel View** will highly decrease size of output file. Consider it when Panel View support is not needed.
* Disabling **HQ Panel View** might improve sharpness of image when it is not zoomed. But disabling it will decrease quality of Panel View.
* Use high quality source files. This little detail have a major impact on the final result.
* The first image found will be set as the comic's cover.
* All files/directories will be added to EPUB in alphabetical order.
* Output MOBI file should be sideuploaded via USB. Other methods (e.g. via Calibre) will corrupt it.
* If you're converting color images and the end result is not satisfactory, experiment with Gamma correction option (first try 1.0 setting).

### GUI 

Should be pretty self-explanatory, just keep in mind that it's still in development ;)
While working it seems frozen, I'll try to fix the aesthetics later.
Conversion being done, you should find an .epub and a .mobi files alongside the original input file (same directory)

### Standalone `comic2ebook.py` usage:

```
Usage: comic2ebook.py [options] comic_file|comic_folder

Options:
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -p PROFILE, --profile=PROFILE
                        Device profile (Choose one among K1, K2, K3, K4NT, K4T, KDX, KDXG, KHD, KF, KFHD, KFHD8) [Default=KHD]
  -t TITLE, --title=TITLE
                        Comic title [Default=filename]
  -m, --manga-style     Manga style (Right-to-left reading and splitting) [Default=False]
  -c, --cbz-output      Outputs a CBZ archive and does not generate EPUB
  --nopanelviewhq       Disable high quality Panel View [Default=False]
  --noprocessing        Do not apply image preprocessing (Page splitting and optimizations) [Default=True]
  --forcepng            Create PNG files instead JPEG (For non-Kindle devices) [Default=False]
  --gamma=GAMMA         Apply gamma correction to linearize the image [Default=Auto]
  --upscale             Resize images smaller than device's resolution [Default=False]
  --stretch             Stretch images to device's resolution [Default=False]
  --blackborders        Use black borders instead of white ones when not stretching and ratio is not like the device's one [Default=False]
  --rotate              Rotate landscape pages instead of splitting them [Default=False]
  --nosplitrotate       Disable splitting and rotation [Default=False]
  --nocutpagenumbers    Do not try to cut page numbering on images [Default=True]
  -o OUTPUT, --output=OUTPUT
                        Output generated file (EPUB or CBZ) to specified directory or file
  -v, --verbose         Verbose output [Default=False]
```

## CREDITS
KCC is made by [Ciro Mattia Gonano](http://github.com/ciromattia) and [Paweł Jastrzębski](http://github.com/AcidWeb)

This script born as a cross-platform alternative to `KindleComicParser` by **Dc5e** (published in [this mobileread forum thread](http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192783))

The app relies and includes the following scripts/binaries:

 - `KindleStrip` script © 2010-2012 by **Paul Durrant** and released in public domain
([mobileread forum thread](http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96903))
 - `rarfile.py` script &copy; 2005-2011 **Marko Kreen** <markokr@gmail.com>, released with ISC License
 - the icon is by **Nikolay Verin** ([http://ncrow.deviantart.com/](http://ncrow.deviantart.com/)) and released under [CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) License
 - `image.py` class from **Alex Yatskov**'s [Mangle](http://foosoft.net/mangle/) with subsequent [proDOOMman](https://github.com/proDOOMman/Mangle)'s and [Birua](https://github.com/Birua/Mangle)'s patches
 - `magic.py` from [python-magic](https://github.com/ahupp/python-magic) library

## CHANGELOG
####1.00
* Initial version

####1.10
* Added support for CBZ/CBR files in comic2ebook.py

####1.11
* Added support for CBZ/CBR files in KindleComicConverter

####1.20
* Comic optimizations! Split pages not target-oriented (landscape with portrait target or portrait with landscape target), add palette and other image optimizations from Mangle. WARNING: PIL is required for all image mangling!

####1.30
* Fixed an issue in OPF generation for device resolution  
* Reworked options system (call with -h option to get the inline help)

####1.40
* Added some options for controlling image optimization  
* Further optimization (ImageOps, page numbering cut, autocontrast)

####1.41
* Fixed a serious bug on resizing when img ratio was bigger than device one

####1.50
* Added subfolder support for multiple chapters.

####2.0
* GUI! AppleScript is gone and Tk is used to provide cross-platform GUI support.

####2.1
* Added basic error reporting

#### 2.2:
* Added (valid!) ePub 2.0 output  
* Rename .zip files to .cbz to avoid overwriting

####2.3
* Fixed win32 ePub generation, folder handling, filenames with spaces and subfolders

####2.4
* Use temporary directory as workdir (fixes converting from external volumes and zipfiles renaming)  
* Fixed "add folders" from GUI.

####2.5
* Added --black-borders option to set added borders black when page's ratio is not the device's one (#11).  
* Fixes epub containing zipped itself (#10)  

####2.6
* Added --rotate option to rotate landscape images instead of splitting them (#16, #24)  
* Added --output option to customize ePub output dir/file (#22)  
* Add rendition:layout and rendition:orientation ePub meta tags (supported by new kindlegen 2.8)  
* Fixed natural sorting for files (#18)

####2.7
* Lots of GUI improvements (#27, #13)  
* Added gamma support within --gamma option (defaults to profile-specified gamma) (#26, #27)  
* Added --nodithering option to prevent dithering optimizations (#27)  
* Epub margins support (#30)  
* Fixed no file added if file has no spaces on Windows (#25)  
* Gracefully exit if unrar missing (#15)  
* Do not call kindlegen if source epub is bigger than 320MB (#17)  
* Get filetype from magic number (#14)   
* PDF conversion works again  

####2.8
* Updated rarfile library  
* Panel View support + HQ support (#36) - new option: --nopanelviewhq
* Split profiles for K4NT and K4T  
* Rewrite of Landscape Mode support (huge readability improvement for KPW)  
* Upscale use now BILINEAR method  
* Added generic CSS file  
* Optimized archive extraction for zip/rar files (#40)  

####2.9
* Added support for generating a plain CBZ (skipping all the EPUB/Mobi generation) (#45)  
* Prevent output file overwriting the source one: if a duplicate name is detected, append _kcc to the name  
* Rarfile library updated to 2.6  
* Added GIF, TIFF and BMP to supported formats (#42)  
* Filenames slugifications (#28, #31, #9, #8)

####2.10:
* Multiprocessing support
* Kindle Fire support (color ePub/Mobi)
* Panel View support for horizontal content
* Fixed panel order for horizontal pages when --rotate is enabled
* Disabled cropping and page number cutting for blank pages
* Fixed some slugify issues with specific file naming conventions (#50, #51) 

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 2012-2013 Ciro Mattia Gonano and Paweł Jastrzębski.  
KCC is released under ISC LICENSE; see LICENSE.txt for further details.