How to Read Barcodes with Imbalanced Colour

As we all know, any color is composed of red, blue and green (RGB). If the image is a colour image, DBR will convert it to grayscale first for further processing.

Gray = Red*RedChannelWeight + Green*GreenChannelWeight + Blue*BlueChannelWeight

The default weights in DBR are suitable for most cases. However, some color images may produce poor grayscale images based on the default weights. For example, the image below is a color image with imbalanced colour.

The default grayscale image converted by DBR is shown below.

The image below shows the grayscale image converted by DBR using only red channel.

As we can see, the gray image converted using only red channel is much better than the default gray image. Now we will demonstrate how to configure the colourConversionModes to adjust the colour channel weights used for converting a colour image to a grayscale image.

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// Obtains the current runtime settings of DBR.
let rs = await scanner.getRuntimeSettings();
// Sets the text filter mode.
rs.furtherModes.colourConversionModes[0] = Dynamsoft.DBR.EnumColourConversionMode.CICM_GENERAL;
// Updates the settings.
await scanner.updateRuntimeSettings(rs);
// Fine-tunes some arguments of the first mode in `colourConversionModes`
// In this case, we set RedChannelWeight to 1000 while GreenChannelWeight and BlueChannelWeight to 0 which means using red channel only
scanner.setModeArgument("colourConversionModes", 0, "RedChannelWeight", "1000");
scanner.setModeArgument("colourConversionModes", 0, "GreenChannelWeight", "0");
scanner.setModeArgument("colourConversionModes", 0, "BlueChannelWeight", "0");
await scanner.show();

// Obtain current runtime settings of `reader` instance.
PublicRuntimeSettings settings = reader.getRuntimeSettings();
// Enable a colour conversion mode
settings.furtherModes.colourConversionModes = new int[]{ EnumColourConversionMode.CICM_GENERAL };
// Update the settings.
reader.updateRuntimeSettings(settings);
// Fine-tune three `Weight` parameter value of the first mode in `colourConversionModes`
// In this case, we set RedChannelWeight to 1000 while GreenChannelWeight and BlueChannelWeight to 0 which means using red channel only
reader.setModeArgument("colourConversionModes", 0, "RedChannelWeight", "1000");
reader.setModeArgument("colourConversionModes", 0, "GreenChannelWeight", "0");
reader.setModeArgument("colourConversionModes", 0, "BlueChannelWeight", "0");

NSError* err = nil;
// Obtain current runtime settings of `reader` instance.
iPublicRuntimeSettings* settings = [reader getRuntimeSettings:&err];
// Enable a colour conversion mode
settings.furtherModes.colourConversionModes = @[@(EnumColourConversionModeGeneral)];
// Update the settings.
[reader updateRuntimeSettings:settings error:&err];
// Fine-tune three `Weight` parameter value of the first mode in `colourConversionModes`
// In this case, we set RedChannelWeight to 1000 while GreenChannelWeight and BlueChannelWeight to 0 which means using red channel only
[reader setModeArgument:@"colourConversionModes" index:0 argumentName:@"RedChannelWeight" argumentValue:@"1000" error:nil];
[reader setModeArgument:@"colourConversionModes" index:0 argumentName:@"GreenChannelWeight" argumentValue:@"0" error:nil];
[reader setModeArgument:@"colourConversionModes" index:0 argumentName:@"BlueChannelWeight" argumentValue:@"0" error:nil];

// Obtain current runtime settings of `reader` instance.
let settings = try? reader.getRuntimeSettings()
// Enable a colour conversion mode
settings!.furtherModes.colourConversionModes = [EnumColourConversionMode.general]
// Update the settings.
try? reader.updateRuntimeSettings(settings!)
// Fine-tune three `Weight` parameter value of the first mode in `colourConversionModes`
// In this case, we set RedChannelWeight to 1000 while GreenChannelWeight and BlueChannelWeight to 0 which means using red channel only
try? reader.setModeArgument("colourConversionModes", index: 0, argumentName: "RedChannelWeight", argumentValue: "1000")
try? reader.setModeArgument("colourConversionModes", index: 0, argumentName: "GreenChannelWeight", argumentValue: "0")
try? reader.setModeArgument("colourConversionModes", index: 0, argumentName: "BlueChannelWeight", argumentValue: "0")

error = BarcodeReader.init_license("YOUR-LICENSE-KEY")
if error[0] != EnumErrorCode.DBR_OK:
    print(error[1])
dbr = BarcodeReader()
settings = dbr.get_runtime_settings()
settings.colour_conversion_modes[0] = EnumColourConversionMode.CICM_GENERAL
dbr.update_runtime_settings(settings)
# In this case, we set RedChannelWeight to 1000 while GreenChannelWeight and BlueChannelWeight to 0 which means using red channel only
dbr.set_mode_argument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "RedChannelWeight", "1000")
dbr.set_mode_argument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "GreenChannelWeight", "0")
dbr.set_mode_argument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "BlueChannelWeight", "0")
text_results = dbr.decode_file("YOUR-IMAGE-FILE-PATH")
# Add further process

BarcodeReader.initLicense("YOUR-LICENSE-KEY");
BarcodeReader reader = new BarcodeReader();
PublicRuntimeSettings settings = reader.getRuntimeSettings(); //Get the current RuntimeSettings
settings.furtherModes.colourConversionModes[0] = EnumColourConversionMode.CICM_GENERAL;
reader.updateRuntimeSettings(settings); // Update RuntimeSettings with above setting
// In this case, we set RedChannelWeight to 1000 while GreenChannelWeight and BlueChannelWeight to 0 which means using red channel only
reader.setModeArgument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "RedChannelWeight", "1000");
reader.setModeArgument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "GreenChannelWeight", "0");
reader.setModeArgument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "BlueChannelWeight", "0");
TextResult[] result = reader.decodeFile("YOUR-IMAGE-FILE-PATH", ""); // Start decoding
// Add further process

string errorMsg;
EnumErrorCode iRet = BarcodeReader.InitLicense("YOUR-LICENSE-KEY", out errorMsg);
if (iRet != EnumErrorCode.DBR_SUCCESS)
{
    Console.WriteLine(errorMsg);
}
BarcodeReader reader = new BarcodeReader();
PublicRuntimeSettings settings = reader.GetRuntimeSettings(); //Get the current RuntimeSettings
settings.FurtherModes.ColourConversionModes[0] = EnumColourConversionMode.CICM_GENERAL;
reader.UpdateRuntimeSettings(settings); // Update RuntimeSettings with above setting
// In this case, we set RedChannelWeight to 1000 while GreenChannelWeight and BlueChannelWeight to 0 which means using red channel only
reader.SetModeArgument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "RedChannelWeight", "1000", out errorMsg);
reader.SetModeArgument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "GreenChannelWeight", "0", out errorMsg);
reader.SetModeArgument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "BlueChannelWeight", "0", out errorMsg);
TextResult[] result = reader.DecodeFile("YOUR-IMAGE-FILE-PATH", ""); // Start decoding
// Add further process

char errorBuf[512];
int iRet = -1;
iRet = dynamsoft::dbr::CBarcodeReader::InitLicense("YOUR-LICENSE-KEY", errorBuf, 512);
if (iRet != DBR_OK)
{
    cout << errorBuf << endl;
}
CBarcodeReader* reader = new CBarcodeReader();
PublicRuntimeSettings* runtimeSettings = new PublicRuntimeSettings();
reader->GetRuntimeSettings(runtimeSettings); //Get the current RuntimeSettings
runtimeSettings->furtherModes.colourConversionModes[0] = CICM_GENERAL;
reader->UpdateRuntimeSettings(runtimeSettings, errorBuf, 512); // Update RuntimeSettings with above setting
// In this case, we set RedChannelWeight to 1000 while GreenChannelWeight and BlueChannelWeight to 0 which means using red channel only
reader->SetModeArgument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "RedChannelWeight", "1000", sError, 512);
reader->SetModeArgument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "GreenChannelWeight", "0", sError, 512);
reader->SetModeArgument("ColourConversionModes", 0, "BlueChannelWeight", "0", sError, 512);
reader->DecodeFile("YOUR-IMAGE-FILE-PATH", ""); // Start decoding
// Add further process

int iRet = -1;
char errorBuf[512];
iRet = DBR_InitLicense("YOUR-LICENSE-KEY", errorBuf, 512);
if (iRet != DBR_OK)
{
    printf("%s\n", errorBuf);
}
void* barcodeReader = DBR_CreateInstance();
PublicRuntimeSettings runtimeSettings;
DBR_GetRuntimeSettings(barcodeReader, &runtimeSettings); //Get the current RuntimeSettings
runtimeSettings.furtherModes.colourConversionModes[0] = CICM_GENERAL;
DBR_UpdateRuntimeSettings(barcodeReader, &runtimeSettings, errorBuf, 512); // Update RuntimeSettings with above setting
// In this case, we set RedChannelWeight to 1000 while GreenChannelWeight and BlueChannelWeight to 0 which means using red channel only
DBR_SetModeArgument(barcodeReader, "ColourConversionModes", 0, "RedChannelWeight", "1000", sError, 512);
DBR_SetModeArgument(barcodeReader, "ColourConversionModes", 0, "GreenChannelWeight", "0", sError, 512);
DBR_SetModeArgument(barcodeReader, "ColourConversionModes", 0, "BlueChannelWeight", "0", sError, 512);
DBR_DecodeFile(barcodeReader, "YOUR-IMAGE-FILE-PATH", ""); // Start decoding
// Add further process