YouTube 1-minute micro guide
Hey there, folks! So this here is a fully featured (totally free) visual novel and manga reader that I proudly cooked up. It is meant as a streamlined Japanese learning tool, but you can use it with the browser's in-built translation too. The main TL;DR features are:
- Works right from the browser, nothing to install, nothing to configure, ready to be used in 1 minute!
- Uses OCR (text recognition), works on every novel / image / video
- Works with browser extensions (translation / flashcards/ AI etc.)
- Comes with a full text analyzer engine, kanji info database, full dictionary, 200 000 example sentences, smart automatic verb inflector/definflector, auto kana-to-romaji converter, word audio examples, and many other goodies!
How to:
- Press the 'Auto' button and select the novel window
- Select the textbox area
- Translate the page using the browser or any translation extension
Aaand that's basically it -- the app is configured to automatically scan and re-analyze the selected window every 3 seconds.
The full FAQ is available on the website. Here's the short version of it:
What is this?
This is a fully featured reader for Japanese visual novels (and manga, and other stuff) with built-in OCR text-from-image recognition, full dictionary, kanji data, text analyzer, auto-furigana, verb deinflector, example sentences and more!
Can I get full translation of the text / other functionality
Since this reader is a standard web app, it supports all the usual browser extensions, including the ones that offer translation / flashcards and other goodies!
If your translator works on text selection events, you can enable the auto-select option to automatically select the raw text output.
Likewise, if your translator works on clipboard copy events, you can enable the auto-copy option to insta-copy the raw text output into the clipboard.
Note: most browsers require a user gesture event (like a click on a page) each time before the auto-copy can be performed, therefore this option is best used with the manual mode.
Note: the processed text output does not work well with extensions, so make sure to select the "Show Raw" option to display the raw text.
How to improve character recognition?
- Only select the textbox area. Selecting too much empty space might lead to inaccuracies.
- Use the image invert, contrast and saturation options, until you get black text on a pure white background.
- Use opaque textbox if the novel you're reading has that option.
- Try using the "Best" recognition mode. It is slower, but (sometimes) better. Usually, the "Fast" option works well enough, though.
Certainly! Resize the browser window to a small size, put it in a corner, and use any app that enables it to stay always-on-top. Optionally, you may consider using an app that gives transparency to the browser window as well.
Is my data safe?
The part of the app that does image recognition is local -- none of your data / screenshots ever leave your PC, it works just like an offline app.
Oh, and the reader is only a small part of the main website, which is a complete dictionary / kanji reference / sentence database and many other things (also totally free)! nekocrow.com/about
Happy Reading! ^_^
