Software to turn BW into color?

[Ilovemycam]

Is there any software that can colorize BW?

 

[480sparky]

Yes. Most PP software can.

But there won't be a 1-click option. It must all be done manually.

 

[The_Traveler]

Is there any software that can colorize BW?

Where would the software get information on what should be which color?
If you have a digital image where the conversion has been made through a B&W layer, which is still intact, then you can just delete the layer but otherwise the color, and color choices, must be made by a sentient being.

 

[table1349]

Let me google that for you

 

[Mully]

Not from a strictly shot on film B&W

 

[Derrel]

Turn lead into Gold: Is it possible? - Yahoo! Answers

Kind of the same question, only it has been around a LOT longer!!!

I had a brief fling with Marshall's Oils wayyyy back in the 1980's...used to be "the way" to turn lead into gold....err, I mean to turn B&W prints into COLOR prints!!! It's still kind of fun!!!

Amazon.com: Marshall's Hobby Oil Set Photo Coloring System photo oil kit: Arts, Crafts & Sewing

 

[table1349]

Not from a strictly shot on film B&W

How To Colorize Black and White Vintage Photographs in Photoshop - How-To Geek

 

[Ilovemycam]

I was hoping they had some type of generic thing that gave you a bunch of choices and you picked something doable.

 

[The_Traveler]

I was hoping they had some type of generic thing that gave you a bunch of choices and you picked something doable.

Come on, think this though.
How does a program, seeing only bits, running on a home computer, know what a hat is or a tree or a car or any of the thousands of other possible items in a photo?

 

[480sparky]

Gray is gray. The computer can't tell the difference between a gray sky (to make it blue), a gray shirt (OK, what color to make the shirt now?), gray grass (to make it green), a gray car (lessee now... is it red or blue or purple or orange or yellow?), a gray dog (Brown? Gray? Yellow?), a gray house (what color is the real siding?).......

 

[DannyLewis]

A piece of software called black magic is what you are looking for google and go

 

[Ilovemycam]

Sure, not looking for the real colors. Just a half ass thing. Blue sky and flesh color. If something was off color, click on it for a pallet of colors to choose from.

Software should be able to figure sky, people, maybe grass, streets. buildings, cars. Don't like a blue car, click on it for red or pink. But software would give you something to start with.

 

[The_Traveler]

Sure, not looking for the real colors. Just a half ass thing. Blue sky and flesh color. If something was off color, click on it for a pallet of colors to choose from.

Software should be able to figure sky, people, maybe grass, streets. buildings, cars. Don't like a blue car, click on it for red or pink. But software would give you something to start with.

There's no 'should' in there.
Software and hardware combinations can do that for specific items and situations but it is very computer intensive.
Computers are not a magic box.

 

[480sparky]

Sure, not looking for the real colors. Just a half ass thing. Blue sky and flesh color. If something was off color, click on it for a pallet of colors to choose from.

Software should be able to figure sky, people, maybe grass, streets. buildings, cars. Don't like a blue car, click on it for red or pink. But software would give you something to start with.

Sounds like you've identified a niche market. Start writing the script and fill it. In no time, you'll be hobnobbing with the Vanderbilts and lunching with Gates.

 

[The_Traveler]

Sure, not looking for the real colors. Just a half ass thing. Blue sky and flesh color. If something was off color, click on it for a pallet of colors to choose from.

Software should be able to figure sky, people, maybe grass, streets. buildings, cars. Don't like a blue car, click on it for red or pink. But software would give you something to start with.

Sounds like you've identified a niche market. Start writing the script and fill it. In no time, you'll be hobnobbing with the Vanderbilts and lunching with Gates.

What Sparky is saying is that it is an enormously difficult problem that is only handled at this time by dedicated hardware and software issues that can do sophisticated pattern matching.
A computer would have to isolate something from a digital image and match it against a pattern for all possible items in every possible configuration.

Not simple or easy - even with dedicated fast hardware on a limited set of potential items in the field of view.
With no limit of what is in the field from grass to cats to airplanes, the number of patterns that would need to be scanned is astronomical.