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crop to specific size


Bruce

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This is really just a repeat of an old feature request topic that has now been locked (and presumably rejected).

See here: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=28270

I can't overestimate just how useful this feature is if you have to crop a lot of images for the web. From reading the previous thread it seems like there is some confusion and misunderstanding about what exactly is being asked for. So I'll try to explain it again.

Just for reference, here's a screen grab from Photoshop CS3

crop-to-size.jpg

This function is part of the crop tool. What it lets you do is define the exact dimensions of cropped image before making a selection. It's important to note here that the pixel size of the selection box which you draw is not constrained, however the apsect ratio is, so that the cropped image always conforms to your specified dimensions.

This is very different from a fixed size selection box. A fixed size selection gives you no flexibility over the portion of the image contained in the cropped version because there is a 1 to 1 mapping between the pixel size of your selection box and the pixel density of the image. Imagine you have a photo of a group of people and you just want to crop out a face, and also, you want to crop the photo to be exactly 300px by 220px for a website. As things currently stand, this is how you would achieve this function in Paint.net:

1. Use the selection tool in normal mode to select the part of the image you want

2. Crop to selection

3. Resize to the desired width (because all photos on your website have to be 300px wide)

4. Use the fixed size selection using a width of 300px and a height of 220px to select the vertical portion of the image you want to keep

5. Crop to selection

There's also an alternate way to do this:

1. Define a fixed ratio of 300x220

2. Crop to selection

3. Resize "by absolute size" and set the pixel width to 300px. The height should automatically adjust to 220px (although i have a hunch you might sometimes get a rounding error here and it could be out by a few pixels - not absolutely sure about this).

You now have the desired portion of the image cropped to your required size. Using the crop to size function in Photoshop all of these steps are condensed in to 1 step. If you have a lot photos to crop this function is a massive time saver (and it gives you more creative control with less trial and error involved).

I really like Paint.net, but I'm a web designer for a magazine who's been using Photoshop for over 10 years this is the feature that I really, really miss. If you have to quickly crop 50 images it's a lifesaver. Please, please implement this.

Thanks

(Gimp can't do it either btw!)

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I have read the other thread that you was so kind to link to, and it just seem that we will be dancing in circle again. I would follow Rick's suggestion in that thread and crop to your desired size. If it is not doing it for you, then I would suggest you reevaluate how PDN may not be useful to you in this regard. I am sure there are plenty of other free photo editing software out there for you to play with.

Officially retired from this forum. Have a nice day.

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Rick's suggestion is really just about resizing the image and changing the canvas size. Some of the steps I outlined would still have to be followed to achieve the results i'm looking for.

Oddly, there's very few pieces of software that are able to do this. Aside from Photoshop the only application I've found with this functionality is the web based photo editor Picnik - http://www.picnik.com - it achieves the same thing via a check box on the crop tool settings marked "Scale photo". I actually thought it was quite interesting that this function was included in Picnik as the application is specifically designed as an editor for photos contained within various web based services - unfortunately a web app is not much use to me. I do wonder however if there's something about this function that makes it's usefulness more apparent to those who spend a lot of time cropping photos for use on the web... If this is the case then I would think it's a particularly useful feature for PDN to incorporate as I suspect a lot of PDN users are just looking for a free editor for quickly editing photos before posting them online.

Another thing that occurs to me about this function is that it probably requires the presence of a specific "crop" tool in order to implement. Something which both PS and Picnik have but PDN does not. I can actually see why it doesn't make sense to incorporate one if you don't have this function as it would end up being very similar to the selection tool (except with the double click to crop).

Anyway, I'd urge you to take a few mins and have a look at Picnik as maybe it will help you understand why I feel this is such an important tool to have. When I read the other thread I thought that maybe the reason it was going round in circles was really just a communication problem and that many people were not understanding how this was any different to what was currently available. I'm now pretty sure you must understand understand how what i'm asking for is different from what is currently available, and that the real issue is that many people just don't see how extremely useful this (and therefore do not believe that it merits the additional development work required to implement it). In many respects this is actually a usability feature and I can see why it might be felt that development time is better spent on features that allow you to achieve things which are currently just not possible with the application.

I wish I could be more persuasive as really can't overestimate just how useful this would be. Thanks for your time though.

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I am not disagreeing with you that it would be an awesome feature for sure. Just want you to be aware that it is only Rick that is doing the programming and coding of PDN, and it may be a long time before it is available.

Officially retired from this forum. Have a nice day.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I would happily donate to pdn if this function was available... the single most important function of an image editor these days if you ask me.

Was hoping pdn would meet my needs, and allow me to save my karma (not pirating ps anymore) but alas.. without this function, I still need to use ps.

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I was never really able to understand what was being asked for before.

So basically you want to be able to state, "I want the final image to be 300 x 220 pixels." and to then crop out any area that has an aspect ratio of 300x220 (in other words, after simplifying the fraction, that's 15x11), and to have it then resized to precisely 300x220 pixels.

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@Bruce: I still don't know why you're so anti the selection method.

Select the rectangle selection tool :RectangleSelectTool:

Drag out the rectangle until you get the right pixel size (displayed in the statusbar)

Move the selection to where you want with the move selection tool :MoveSelectionTool:

CTRL+Shift+X

Why all the need to resize? Or am I missing something?

edit: I get it now - I had to reread it several times!

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Yeah it seems like the functionality being asked for amounts to adding on "execute Image->Resize to W x H pixels after I've selected a W x H area using Fixed Ratio", as part of a second Crop-style command. Does that sound right?

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Hello,

I am looking for this feature too. I am using this a lot in photoshop elements to produce my own thumbnails for my website.

Here is my try at explaining what is actually wanted (as there seems a lot of confusion):

1. suppose i have a 800 x 600 image

2. i want to crop part of this image, and the result should be 100 x 50

3. i select the crop tool, and create the selection that automatically has a 100 x 50 ratio, the selection itself is 400 x 200

3. i crop, and now 2 things happen:

-the usual crop, so everything outside my selection is removed

-the resulting 400 x 200 part is instantly resized to 100 x 50

Does that sound like understandable?

Thanks for implementing this!

Matt

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Yes, that sounds right.

Thanks for implementing this!

I never said anything about implementing it. I haven't committed to anything of any type for anyone regarding any feature at this time.

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Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html

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  • 1 month later...

I use and like paint.net too, since the earlier versions ....

But this is some Function i miss too ....

And its easie to implement ... for this, there is NO NEED for an EXTRA CROP TOOL ...

Simply make another Item in the Dropdownbox where we now can select The FixedSize and Aspectratioe Option ...

Name it something like CropResizeTo ...

Then do the same as the AspectRatio Option do and then Resize the Picture to the Enterded values ....

Thats all we need ... Not more and not less ....

And for somewhere in the Future .....

During Creation and Move of the Selection, somthing like Snap to the CanvasBorders or at least a Hint by changing the Framecolor of the selection to see that we are Exact at the Border of the Canvas would be helpful ....

Not thanks for implementing, but thanks for reading ... and hopefully thinking about it ;)

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And its easie to implement ... Simply make another Item in the Dropdownbox ...

:roll:

I'm locking this thread. dldummy, don't ever go shooting your mouth off that things are "easy to implement." You have no idea what you're talking about. There is more to real software than just clicking and adding a new item in the Forms Designer in Visual Studio. "Difficulty" often has little relevance with whether a feature is added or not.

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