BrushTone
A downloadable tool for Windows
BrushTone is an accessible Paint Tool for the blind and visually impaired that allows users to view, modify, and create images purely using sound.
So, how does it work? Each pixel is represented by 3 values, Red, Green, and Blue. These RGB values are in turn represented by 3 sequential beeps, the pitch of each beep represents how bright each color value is, the higher the pitch, the brighter the color, the lower the pitch, the darker the color.
It has a variety of tools and functions, including but not limited to:
Pencil, Line, Square, Filled Square, Circle, Filled Circle, Flood Fill, Select, Cut, Copy, Paste, Flip, Rotate, Stretch, Skew, Invert Colors, Grey Scale, Adjust RGB, Cycle Colors, RGB Explode, RGB Condense, Slice, Stitch, and Alpha Channels with an Alpha Paint Mode.
It comes equipped with a window scan function, including Peter Meijers Image to Sound algorithm, as well as animation playback. Compatible formats include PNG, BMP, JPG, and GIF.
Version 1.1 now includes Braille Display support.
Version 1.2.5 now includes Screen Reader support for NVDA, Jaws, Windows-Eyes, SuperNova, System Access, and ZoomText.
If you encounter any performance issues, try to Disable Display Scaling on High DPI Settings and run it in compatibility mode for WinXP SP3.
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Thanks for making this app! I'm happy to draw again with nice accessibility help!
This is not a big problem but are you planning to put change key control feature someday? I have a keyboard without insert key and equal key. It seems like Shift + - key for equal key doesn't work.
ALso to people who has problem after downloading :
I tried to runit on my other PC but everytime Windows told me it couldn't find path or device, you might not have access to this file. and hide the exe file to somewhere.
I tried compatibility mode, get full control for the folder from property, unlocked block because it says this is taken from other PC lower the user account control, etc...nothing worked.
This way might work,
1. use other apps except WInrar to unpack it
2. unpack it or move it to documents
3. add it to exception on your anti virus if possible
4, turn off your antivirus or stop it
in my case, WIN + B then up arrow to go to avast then right click or or shift + F10 to open the menu then choose stop it for 10 mins.
5. run it (admin mode if you want)
hopefully works for you too
my environment:
Windows10 home
Avast antivirus
NVDA
Explzh for unpacking zip file
Key customization isn't off the table, but I had decided awhile ago to rebuild a new tool with numerous improvements, better GUI, and fixes, so its more a question of how much time to spend on overhauling this tool as opposed to the new one. But adding to that i've unfortunately been embroiled in other matters so the project has been moving at a glacial pace. What I can look into doing though is adding the options into the F# key menu's, so as to bypass the shortcuts if their otherwise unavailable.
As for virus detection, i've heard that Python files have been getting flagged lately for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately there's not a lot I can do about that short of re-writing it in a new language or recommending an exception. Usually for platforms like windows 10 the in-built windows defender should be sufficient, but I leave that to others discretion.
Awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing your new project !!
and yes F# menu would be great too.
Hello, I downloaded the app a couple months ago, but now when I click on the .exe file, nothing happens. No error is thrown or anything. I tried redownloading the file, but get an error on Chrome that the file is unsafe. When I say download anyways, it only downloads a couple of the pictures. Do you know how I can fix one or both of these problems? I'm running Windows 10 64 bit updated to the latest stable build of Windows.
Apologies for the late reply, I didn't seem to get a notification of your post. The download itself seems to work properly on another Windows 10 machine i've tested. Could you try downloading it with a different browser?
For the program itself, have you tried running it in compatibility mode?
Hi,
How do I draw? I am confused by your description of the pencil mode. I select pencil and hit the space bar. Do I move the mouse or what?
Hi,
Many thanks. Could you please add this superb explanation to the documentation?
Hmm, the external documentation doesn't seem to mention the arrow keys or the mouse, though the internal documentation in BrushTone sort of does... Oops! Thanks for pointing that out, I've fixed the inconsistences and elaborated a bit in the external documentation on how drawing works.
Hi,
I downloaded brushtone 1.3.1.
With jaws 2018 enabled, it doesn't work properly. When I press arrow keys, cursor is always to 0,0 choords.
How can I create animations?
Hmm, thats when pressing C for coordinates yes? Does it give the same behavior in NVDA? What operating system and hardware are you using?
To create animations create or load the desired frame images into brushtone, pressing tab can allow you to toggle between them. Then press F1 for the canvas menu and select "save image". Enter a name and select "gif" as the format. Brushtone will then take all the images currently loaded in order and save them as a gif animation. Note that the images should be the same size, and the number of colors in the images will be automatically reduced to 255, so some detail may be lost in high quality images. Also note that gifs will not save with transparency.
With NVDA all works correctly. I'm using windows 10, with jaws 2018.
Well thats some good news. BrushTone relies on the Tolk library for screen reader support, I've updated the drivers with v1.3.2 so hopefully that helps solve the issue.
Thanks! Are you using Tolk library? I'm using Tolk with python. Before knowing BrushTone, I was attempting to create a program for image manipulation in a BlindFriendly Version. I've some ideas and BrushTone can be a preliminary step. I seen 3daudimesh, but I don't have .stl file to try it and, with 3daudimesh I can't create 3d graphics; so, I don't know how it works.
BrushTone is the first version, I've been working on a new tool as time allows which will include a number of improvements and new features. There are a few other drawing tool's i've found around that you may also be interested in: SVGDraw01, BlindPaint, and TactileView. If your interested in any python examples or source code for OpenAL or Peter Meijers Sonifer method I have a bunch freely available in a repository.
As for AudiMesh3D, its more of a preliminary tool for only viewing 3D models, when you start it there's a default cube you can view so you don't strictly need a 3D model to use it. The interface is similar to that in BrushTone, though you can rotate, scale, and pan around the 3D model however you like. Its largely meant to be used with OpenSCAD, a free 3D CAD modeling program that uses text based scripting, there's a description in AudiMesh3D's documentation on how to use it with it. Essentially, what you can do is write a text based script file, then compile it into an STL file on the command line with OpenSCAD, then view it with AudiMesh3D.
Also, if you haven't already you should consider dropping by the audiogames.net community.