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Trouble with softening edges..


StarryKat

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Hi all, I'm beginning to feel a little more comfortable with Paint.Net (finally).. I still find it a not very 'user friendly' program like the late, great Microsoft Picture it!.. I loved Pic It!, but I can't get it to work with Vista and, as far as I know, Microsoft has no intentions of bringing an upgraded version out.. One thing I loved doing with photographs was blurring or softening the edges, making them almost invisible or kind of 'fogging' them.. It really made for a soft, romantic quality.. It was as easy to do with Picture it! as I find it difficult to do with PN.. In fact, I have not been about to get it to work in PN at all.. This is a shame for someone who loves to send lots of touched up family photos to everyone.. I'm always being asked how come I don't do that anymore.. So, I'm here begging for help.. Is there an easy way to do the same thing in PN? I've tried that Gaussian Blur but it does nothing for the edges of the photo.. In fact, I've tried everything I can think to do this, but nothing works.. Why would such a thing be so difficult to add to the program? In Pic It! It was a 2-step process, just click the button on 'soft edge' and move the slider to get whatever quality you wanted, what is so hard about adding this feature to PN? After all, you can do virtually the same thing with the overall photo itself, so why not the edges? Anyway, hope someone can tell me in plain ol' english how to accomplish this.. Thanks so much..

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Look, I'm not looking to spend all day searching through a bunch of tutorials trying to find a quick answer to a quick question, please don't ask me to do that, I'm old and don't have forever, ok? I just want an answer to the question! Thank you..

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Look, I'm not looking to spend all day searching through a bunch of tutorials trying to find a quick answer to a quick question, please don't ask me to do that, I'm old and don't have forever, ok? I just want an answer to the question! Thank you..

Wooooow... rude...

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Look, I'm not looking to spend all day searching through a bunch of tutorials trying to find a quick answer to a quick question, please don't ask me to do that, I'm old and don't have forever, ok? I just want an answer to the question! Thank you..

Wooooow... rude...

Then you are misreading me entirely.. It's a request for help not a demand.. Thanks..

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I don't know if there are any plugins to do this automatically, but here's what you can do. Select the :GradientTool: gradient tool, and set it to :AlphaChannel: transparency mode. Click from where you want the left edge to start fading and drag to where you want it to stop. Repeat for each edge, dragging the gradient toward the edge each time.

Lemme know if you need pictures or more explanation and I'll do it up.

"I'm old and don't have forever, ok? I just want an answer to the question!"

If that's not rude, I'm a lobster.

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I did a picture anyway.

Untitled-1.jpg

Click :GradientTool: first, then :AllColorChannels: to switch it to :AlphaChannel: , then click from the base of each arrow to the point of it.

xZYt6wl.png

ambigram signature by Kemaru

[i write plugins and stuff]

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I don't know if there are any plugins to do this automatically, but here's what you can do. Select the :GradientTool: gradient tool, and set it to :AlphaChannel: transparency mode. Click from where you want the left edge to start fading and drag to where you want it to stop. Repeat for each edge, dragging the gradient toward the edge each time.

Lemme know if you need pictures or more explanation and I'll do it up.

"I'm old and don't have forever, ok? I just want an answer to the question!"

If that's not rude, I'm a lobster.

Care to come to dinner? :twisted:

Ok, I'll try that and let you know in a few.. Thanks, Hon, really..

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My grandma is hooked on Picture It. We've tried a few times to get her to switch to something not so... obsolete, but she just refuses. It's a pain, 'cause you can't even install Picture It! on anything newer than XP Service Pack 2. She accidentally uninstalled it, and since she's running XP SP3 now, I had to do some ridiculous computer voodoo just to reinstall the thing. Not fun, but I got some moneys for it, so it was worth it :D

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I do see what you saying, I think.. I managed to get the edges of my photo softened, but why do you have to do each edge at a time, save, and then repeat the process for the next edge, wouldn't it be much simpler to create a edge blur effect with a slider like they have for softening the entire photo? :)

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If you want this

vignette.jpg

Try the Vignette plugin in this plugin pack :

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=26244

One thing I loved doing with photographs was blurring or softening the edges, making them almost invisible or kind of 'fogging' them..

Take a look at Focal Point too : viewtopic.php?f=16&t=22919

edit: photo CC -> http://flickr.com/photos/monsieurlam/3192774488/

No. Way. I've just seen Bob. And... *poof!*—just like that—he disappears into the mist again. ~Helio

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If you want this

vignette.jpg

Try the Vignette plugin in this plugin pack :

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=26244

One thing I loved doing with photographs was blurring or softening the edges, making them almost invisible or kind of 'fogging' them..

Take a look at Focal Point too : viewtopic.php?f=16&t=22919

edit: photo CC -> http://flickr.com/photos/monsieurlam/3192774488/

I looked at the photos that come with this plugin, but they don't seem to do what I'm asking for, they blur the whole picture or a piece of it, but I don't see where they soften the edges of the photos.. There was another plug in the did something similar but it seemed designed to blur the whole photo with the exception of a small center area.. :?

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I assume you're talking about Focal Point.

What about the two others (which I provided examples in this thread)?

No. Way. I've just seen Bob. And... *poof!*—just like that—he disappears into the mist again. ~Helio

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There's Fade Edge too : viewtopic.php?f=16&t=22881

edit: fade_edge.png

Yes, this is exactly what I want and I went and downloaded it, put the files in PN and now where do I find it exactly? :o (Just remember guys, you talking to a grandma here who knows little to nothing about using PN.. So have patience).. Thank you.. Lobster dinner for everyone when we're all through.. You bring the lobsters! :lol:

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where do I find it exactly?

Effects Menu > Photo > Fade Edge.

No. Way. I've just seen Bob. And... *poof!*—just like that—he disappears into the mist again. ~Helio

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where do I find it exactly?

Effects Menu > Photo > Fade Edge.

Well, I don't know why, they're in the PN folder, but they are not showing up when I open PN.. I'm now twice as confused.. :cry:

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Look at this thread :

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2023

Yes, I already looked at this tread when the files didn't show up, thought maybe I didn't download it right.. There is no 'effects' folder in my computer under Paint.Net.. Only 3 folders are in there, file types, resources, staging.. All the other application files are just in the main folder.. I extracted these files to that and they are in there, but the apps don't come up when I open PN.. And I did close it before adding the files.. :)

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