Launch GMAO with Java Web Start Launch GMAO with Java Web Start! (Java Web Start must be installed. Instructions for installation are here.)

There is also a Mac OSX Packaged version of GMAO available.

GMAO (Great Manga Application Onidzuka)

Great Manga Application Onidzuka is a program I wrote to help with translating manga. It allows you to mark up areas (text bubbles usually) on an image (scan of a manga page) and attach translations to the bubbles. (You need to do the translation yourself.) GMAO will then take care of laying out the text in the bubbles. It also does nice stuff like export pages with javascript pop-ups when you mouse over the bubbles you've defined, or export the image with the text from the language you wrote, or generate character lists, and so on.

More information about GMAO is below.
GMAO Server Logo

GMAOServer

The server portion for Great Manga Application Onidzuka. It is distributed along with GMAO in the .jar (along with source and stuff) but you can also launch GMAOServer via Java Web Start.

For the most part, as of 2015-05-10, I don't use this anymore. By placing the files that GMAO needs on Dropbox, I've found that working on multiple machines is a lot easier. This doesn't work as well for collaborating with multiple translators, but since that never really happened, it doesn't seem to be much of a loss.

Test GMAO out

Java Web Start version GMAO. Let's you download GMAO locally, easily install and run it. Let me know if you use the Java Web Start version, if you want additional features, etc.

There is also a Mac OSX Packaged version of GMAO available.
This is the most current version of GMAO, I use OSX at home and my workflow process automatically uploads the latest versions to this location. Well, when I tell it to anyway.

If you are not on OSX, and the Web Start verison doesn't work for you (which is likely, since I haven't touched that code in a long time) then you can try to run GMAO from a combined JAR. Download GMAOGUI.jar and double click it. It should run.

User's manual

The documentation on GMAO is not very good - because I don't have much time - but I do have a GMAO Manual (but it isn't useful for most people).

If you want to set up GMAO to use on your own project, check out the new GMAO QuickStart Guide.

There is also a short tutorial on how to use GMAO. It deals with how to use GMAO for a group translation project that uses a central annotation server.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please post a message on the GMAO Forum.

Great Teacher Onizuka Translation Project

I wrote GMAO so that I could translate the Great Teacher Onizuka Manga that I own. My Great Teacher Onidzuka translations have moved: http://GreatTeacherOnidzuka.com/.

What is GMAO

GMAO is a java application that I working on for annotating images with text. Specifically, the application that I have in mind is for the translation of Japanese Manga. Using GMAO, a user is able to define regions (Rectangles, Ovals, or Polygons) and attach annotations to those regions. Each annotation can have a user defined set of custom fields (although, currently this is hard-coded into the program - at a future date I plan to make these definable in the properties file for the application) and a text note attached to the annotation. The language can be any language that the user can enter using their local Java. Right now I enter English translations into GMAO, and the original Japanese text.

GMAO is a client-server architecture. I run a server on my machine that hosts the manga that I have used GMAO to translate. When you use GMAO on your machine, you can choose to connect to the server to send your updates to the server (this is on by default.) This means that you can add information from where you live! It also will allow multiple translators to more easily work on the same project.

To display multi-byte fonts, your Java must be set up correctly. There are instructions on how to add fonts to you JVM on Sun's web site. I've also written some stuff up on how to set up GMAO. I have not checked this lately to see if this is still necessary under Java Web Start. I will try to do this soon. You really, really really should just use the Java Web Start version to run GMAO.

GMAO uses an XML file to store the annotations and translations. This is a flexible, standard format that other applications should be able to use. The DTD (Document Type Definition) is specific to Manga translation though.

Images can be loaded either locally, or over the web. The xml file only contains the image file name, and relies on the settings in GMAO to be correct to get full image location.

I am still working on GMAO. It is currently in first release.

GMAO Download

Using the JavaWebstart GMAO link you can install and run GMAO locally. It will download a few Java jars (GMAO.jar, jfreechart-0.9.3.jar, jcommon-0.7.0.jar) and start GMAO via Java Web Start. The java code is included in GMAO.jar - find where it is located on your machine, unpack it and you have the code. Alternatively, download GMAO.jar right here unpack it, and go nuts with the code.

Please send all questions and comments to gmao@FuguTabetai.com. I'm really interested in hearing if people are interested in this project or not.

Other Manga-related software projects

There are a few other manga-related software projects out there that I am aware of. I think it is amazing that there are a few people interested in this type of thing, so I'm putting some links to some other projects that you might be interested in checking out.
A Manga Translation site owned by Fugu Tabetai. [Prev] [Next] [Random] [List Sites]

Fugu Tabetai
Last modified: 2004/06/03