Comic Reader

Rodel Reader provides a professional comic reader with multiple reading modes and rich customization options.

Interface Overview

The comic reader interface consists of the following parts:

Area	Function
Reading Area	Comic page rendering, supports touch and mouse operations
Top Bar	Reading mode, layout, direction settings (tap center to show)
Bottom Bar	Progress bar, page number, page turn buttons (tap center to show)

Reading Modes

The comic reader supports two reading modes:

Mode	Description	Use Cases
Page Mode	Turn pages one at a time, supports single/dual page layout	Japanese manga, Western comics
Scroll Mode	Continuous scrolling	Webtoons, web comics

Click the mode button in the top bar to switch between modes.

Page Mode

Layout Options

In page mode, you can choose different layouts:

Layout	Description
Auto	Automatically choose single or dual page based on aspect ratio
Single Page	Display one page at a time
Dual Page	Display two pages side by side (ideal for wide screens)

Page Direction

Direction	Description	Suitable Content
Left to Right	Turn left for previous page	Western comics
Right to Left	Turn right for previous page	Japanese manga

First Page Position

In dual page layout, you can set the position of the first page:

Position	Description
Left	First page on the left
Right	First page on the right (common for Japanese manga)

Tip

Enable page turn animation for a smoother page turning experience.

Scroll Mode

Scroll Direction

Scroll mode supports three directions:

Direction	Description	Suitable Content
Top to Bottom	Vertical scrolling	Webtoons (Korean, Chinese)
Left to Right	Horizontal scrolling	Horizontal webtoons
Right to Left	Horizontal scrolling (reversed)	Horizontal Japanese manga

Page Width

In vertical scrolling, you can adjust the maximum page width percentage (default 80%) to prevent pages from being too wide on wide screens.

Inertia Scrolling

Scroll mode supports inertia scrolling - the page continues to slide for a distance after releasing touch or mouse. You can adjust the friction coefficient in settings.

Zoom Control

Fit Modes

Mode	Description
Fit Page	Entire page fits the window (complete display)
Fit Width	Page width fits the window
Fit Height	Page height fits the window
Original Size	Display at 1:1 original size

Double-tap the reading area to reset to fit mode.

Manual Zoom

Mouse Wheel: Zoom in/out
Drag: Pan to view
Zoom range: 1x - 5x

The reading area is divided into three touch zones:

Zone	Action
Left 30%	Previous page (page mode) / Scroll backward
Center 40%	Show/hide menu bar
Right 30%	Next page (page mode) / Scroll forward

Tip

In right-to-left reading direction, the left and right zone actions are automatically reversed.

Progress Bar

The bottom progress bar supports:

Drag the slider to quickly jump to any page
Shows current page number and total pages
Direction automatically reverses in right-to-left mode

Page Turn Buttons

The ◀ ▶ buttons in the bottom bar allow quick page turning.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The comic reader supports the following keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut	Action
`→` / `PageDown`	Navigate forward
`←` / `PageUp`	Navigate backward
`↑`	Scroll up (scroll mode) / Previous page (page mode)
`↓`	Scroll down (scroll mode) / Next page (page mode)
`Home`	Jump to first page
`End`	Jump to last page

Zoom

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl` + `=` / `+`	Zoom in
`Ctrl` + `-`	Zoom out
`Ctrl` + `0`	Reset zoom

Mode Switching

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl` + `F`	Cycle fit mode
`Ctrl` + `M`	Toggle reading mode (page/scroll)
`Ctrl` + `L`	Cycle layout mode
`Ctrl` + `D`	Toggle paging direction

Interface

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl` + `Tab`	Show/hide menu bar
`Esc`	Hide menu bar (only when menu is visible)

Image Processing

The comic reader provides various image processing options:

Option	Description
White Border Crop	Automatically crop white borders around pages
Denoise	Reduce noise in scanned comics
Sharpen	Enhance image clarity
Contrast	Adjust image contrast (0.5 - 2.0)
Brightness	Adjust image brightness (-0.5 - 0.5)

The comic reader includes a built-in image super resolution feature that upscales low-resolution comic pages and enhances details, significantly improving visual clarity. Two super resolution methods are available:

Method	Scale	Speed	Quality	Description
Anime4K	2x	Fast	Good	Real-time upscaling algorithm based on GPU Compute Shaders, optimized for anime-style images
Real-ESRGAN	4x	Slow	Excellent	Deep learning model based on ONNX Runtime + DirectML, ideal for maximum image quality

Hardware Requirements

The Real-ESRGAN model relies on GPU inference acceleration. A dedicated graphics card with 8GB or more VRAM (e.g., NVIDIA GTX 1070+, AMD RX 580+) is recommended for a smooth experience. Insufficient VRAM may cause extremely slow processing or failures — in that case, consider using Anime4K instead.

How It Works

Once super resolution is enabled, the reader automatically processes pages using the following strategy:

Current viewport pages first: When turning pages, old tasks are immediately cancelled to prioritize the new visible pages
Pre-process upcoming pages: After visible pages are completed, pages ahead in the reading direction are processed automatically
Backward pages on demand: Pages behind the current position are only processed when the user scrolls back and they enter the viewport

Upscaled pages are cached on the GPU to avoid redundant computation. Switching between super resolution methods will automatically reprocess the current pages.

Reading Settings Persistence

The comic reader automatically saves the following settings:

Saved Content	Description
Reading Progress	Current page position
Reading Mode	Page/Scroll
Layout Settings	Single/Dual/Auto
Direction Settings	Page direction, scroll direction, first page position
Image Processing	Brightness, contrast, and other parameters

Each comic's settings are saved independently and automatically restored when reopened.

Try switching to Original Size fit mode
Check the image quality of the comic source file
Try enabling the Sharpen option

Pages too small on wide screens?

Page mode: Switch to Dual Page Layout
Scroll mode: Increase the Page Width percentage