Lee

This is strange. I have been playing around with the settings in Paint.Net. I was afraid if I reduced the pixels, it would effect the quality of my print out. My problem has been, the photos won't fit in my first layer. First layer's settings: Page: Letter size DPI: 150. Photos will print out & fit in first layer at: 7" x 10" filling up my first layer. I don't dare resizing with mouse as I believe the photo will pixelize or not print well. I was taught to crop photos. Photos are showing to be in size: 15" x 9". Dpi: 180. One set of photos were too pretty to crop so I took photos & imported them into a bigger layer than the photo size showed & set layer at 20"x18". Saved file. Took a snapshot at full screen & pasted to same layer. This did give me the effect I wanted, a smaller frame size than what I started with, without effecting those pixels. This was a real pain to do tho. As there must be easier way, I tried resizing thru Paint.Net. Reduced the pixels by 70%. I take it those filters are helpping me (bicubic etc)? It worked. I got a much more manageable photo to import into my first layer without effecting the quality of print. David I believe you said it depends on your printer. I doubt if I took what I am creating to WalMart's photo dept, they could print as good as what I am experiencing right now with my printer. At least I am guessing about this. So am I wrong to change the pixel size? Without changing pixel size of file, the file is unmanageable in my first layer (letter size, dpi 150). Taking snapshots of the screen is a real pain to do.

Girls if you are interested I posted in the Tutorial forum how to do this. I ran several test in last week on best how to do this. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=23605 Post subject: Photos - cropping without stretching or shrinking photo Photos must be "cropped" has been my experience. The dpi's for both layer & imported photo must be the same. If photo's dpi is higher in value than your first layer you created, your photo will look too big for your first layer you created. So best to have the same dpi's in both files. Changing dpi of photo from 300 down to 100 dpi, will distort the photo. Best to make your first layer's dpi, same as dpi of photo. I hope this has helpped both of you...

David, I am surprised you do not know that if you change the dpi to a higher dpi while keeping the same frame size (letter size) that you do not know, the file saved on hard drive will be much larger. I did some test with Paint.Net & some other pgms & Paint.Net was the only one that did not increase file size on hard drive. Unfortunately Paint.Net failed with this test. I tried several times to take a snapshot of screen, paste into a layer with the dpi I wanted. Paint.Net blew up the image I was pasting into that later (without expanding canvas size). I was trying to take a 100 dpi (letter size) & make a new file with settings of 300 dpi (letter size). I was able to do this thru another pgm....FastStone, Irfan which are both viewers...not graphic editors. When I changed dpi settings in file, the pixels increased, save file & file size was bigger. I have posted in the Tutorial forum the correct way to crop a photo. I will probably post in that forum how to change dpi's while creating a new file with a higher dpi. My print out of the new created 300 dpi file printed out fine. See file attachment as of my results.

The Acrobat thing did not work so I am back to capturing the screen & pasting file in a pgm. I have always used the PrintScreen key when I need to capture. PrettyDarnNeat posted how to do this by creating a layer, preseting the values, then pasting the captured screen into a new layer. I tried her method thru P.Net & the file was stretched. I can not have that. But might use her technique if I need to take a small frame size & make it a bigger frame size. Other thing was print file then scan printout. When scanning, my scanner software will save file with 300 dpi. Only other way I can take a file that was preset at 100 dpi & turn it into a 300 dpi digital file that I know of at this time. Btw, why isn't there a "preview" command in P.Net? To view your file at full screen while still in P.Net.

YOU ARE RULE! I HAVE BEEN READING ABOUT THE RULE MODS. YOU ARE ONE OF THEM I SEE!

To PrettyDarnNeat: I was curious in your method & decided to runs some test. It is a pretty neat way to crop a photo. Somelthing I had not thought of. I used your method, saved file using 100 dpi, then printed file. I found it blew the pic up. I took original file with 300 dpi & cropped file with the mouse & thru Paint.net & then printed the file. Here are my results. Btw, now I know how to blow up a pic which occationally I need to do, using your method.

I am dealing with photos from digital camera. I have found by resizing, it effects the pixels which effects the printouts. The photos are blurred in other words when I print them later. Background files are 100 dpi. I tried importing photos which are 200 dpi. The photos are off my original first layer & I have to shrink the photo to get photo to fit in that first layer. This effect the pixels causing the printout to be blurred. In Paint.net, I do like the way I can open & work on 2 or more files at one time. This helps me crop one file & then go back to my first file & import the cropped & resaved file.

David why didn't you think of this...... Import all the graphics with same dpi...background or use background as first layer. dpi 100. Import all other graphics such as photo frames, icons etc. dpi 100. Everything but the photos. Print file scan file....now you have a digital file. Depending on scanner, you can set scanner to the dpi you want. (In my case I am going to try to export all the layers to 1 .png file, then export to a pdf. However thru the print command in P.Net I can turn all layers into one .pdf. Why? I have acrobatPro & can export what is in pdf back out as a graphic file. I can set the dpi in AcrobatPro. a lot of scrapbook freebies come in .pdf format. Not everyone knows how to extract what is in pdf without the software that is needed. Irfan's viewer will, as a example, extract what is in the pdf as a graphic file. I goes without saying, Acrobat does a better job of this.) Now with the digital file on hard drive, open fle with Paint.Net, import photos. Save file. Now I got to practic doing this & see how well it print. For several days now, I have been trying to get around this .dpi issue. You got to know what pgms you have & what each will do.

I do not know what your project is...mine is scrapbooking. Something I just thought of is to: import all the files that are of the same dpi. In my case, the background, photo frames & icons are all the same dpi. The actual digital photos is what is screwing me up. They are set at a higher dpi than the other files. Print file, scan print out. Not sure if all scanners will set the dpi at whatever you want it to be. Use the scanned file if already set at say 300 dpi, then open file with Paint.Net, import photos. Save file or resave file. Or second thing that comes to mind is after importing graphics of the same dpi size, save file to hard drive, open file with viewing pgm at full screen...so picture will fill up your screen. take snapshot open Paint.Net creating new layer, set your dpi, now paste the snapshot into new layer. This might work without printing file. I hope this helps you with your project.

One reason for this is your first layer is set at 96 dpi. Your imported file is set at a larger dpi. The actual frame size is bigger than your first layer you created. I am experiencing this problem right now. Sometimes Paint.Net ask me if I want to increase the present canvas size but not always. You need to crop what you are trying to import but if the dpi's don't match, are the same, your imported file will still be too large for what you started with. To help with this situation create you first layer with the same dpi as what you are going to import. If you stretch or shrink graphics with your mouse, it will make your print outs blurry. Changing the dpi's all to the same 300 dpi as a example, does not work either I found out if you are going to print the file later. It distorts the less quality files (ones that are already set at say 100 dpi). I have not found a total solution to this problem yet but am working on it. You can take snapshot of graphic at full screen & save as new file but I have not been totally successful at times. I have been somewhat successful at shrinking files by opening the file with Paint.Net, reducing window screen to say 15%, taking snapshot & saving file as new file. Paint.Net is preset to 96 dpi unless you change that first layer thru the commands to something higher. Hope this helps......

Ok....First layer dictates what follows of what dpi I will end up with. Got it. Now I got to figure out what to do with background files that are set at 100 dpi. They maybe unusable with Paint.Net. Btw, I notice if I change the dpi thru Paint.Net, the file size does not change. Why not? I would think more color would mean a bigger file size.

What better place for me to post my question but here. Your dealing with layers right? Your first layer is set at 100 dpi, if there away for all other layers that are imported for their dpi's not to be changed? I am running into a problem as I am importing several layers & they all have different dpi's. Some of the imported ones look as those they are being down graded to 100 dpi as they will not print well. Other imported files are set at 100 dpi with first layer set at 2-300, the imported ones of 100 dpi will not fit filling up the first layer as it should & appear to only cover first layer about half full. Is there anything I can do to get everything to fit as it should...fill the first layer up, without stretching graphics with mouse? If I stretch or shrink graphics with mouse, pic prints blurry.

Sorry David I will try to have better respect for the rules. You might move some of the above post to the appropriate forum as one mod did do this recently. I am still having trouble figuring out the dpi's. It looks likes from my testing I need to make the first layer at 300 so the photos will come out clear. While I can use Paint.Net for this project, Paint.Net is very slow at handling big file sized files. That is what I experienced the first time I use pgm. Took me 2 days just to create 2 pages. I thought I could use some background files that are 100 dpi, keeping the files down in size, making Paint.net work for me. Those files print very well, it is the photos that look like bloody potato when printed. It looks like to me, if the first layer is 100, everything I import is reduced to 100 dpi. Is this correct?

Look for Irfan viewing program on the net. It will display anything adobe offers including .pdf's.

You might try the "magic wand" within Paint.Net to highlight the hair. Then use the sharpener to make the hair more pronounced. You can download sharpener plugin in the plugin formum. Read instructions on where plugin goes in the plugin forum. I have not played around with "magic wand" that much for your application but believe it will work.

In previous file attachment is a dragline to the left of first photo (red thing in photo). The bottom photo is my favorite as the path goes deep into woods. I won't bore you much longer as here is just one more page I have created with Paint.Net.

Saved in jpg format & of low quality....but you will get it how beautiful it is out here.

This is alittle off topic here but I must show you the country side. I moved to the country last summer. The sites out here, will take your breath away it is so pretty. It is important to me to find a good graphic pgm that will do what I want, crop, adjust color, make great printouts etc, because these are digital photos. I am learning how to manipulate them, digitally. This summer I had someone help me cut down some low leam in this photo. Here is just one photo. dpi is 100.

I found out what some of my problems are...my dedicated viewer...Irfan. When I think something is pixelated, it is not. I do have FastStone & will start using it on a regular bases. In the file attachment, looked bad on screen using Irfan veiwing pgm. I created this file with Paint.Net & it looked fine at the time. I thought what I saw thru P.Net was the same as thru Irfan but found out otherwise today. What I thought were bad pics, were not. It was my viewing prgm.

>It depends on the DPI of your printer whether your image will look better printed at a higher DPI or not. Your image will look its best when printed at your printer's native DPI. It sounds like I am configuring these files just for my printer & may not print well on someone else's printer or at WalMart's Photo dept. I wanted to make files all at 300 dpi but Paint.Net can not handle huge files. That is why I dropped to 150 dpi. Besides I was pleased with what my printer printed. This is a Brother multifunction printer...not expensive...$50 after rebate...6000x1200 dpi it says. Got it about 1 yr ago & really have not used it much till now. I scan more than I print. Scrapbook is for a friend. As for screen work- if your picture is 800x600, it will be the same size whether you show it at 92dpi or 1dpi. Your computer largely ignores DPI data until it's time to print. It depends on the DPI of your printer whether your image will look better printed at a higher DPI or not. Your image will look its best when printed at your printer's native DPI. >As for screen work- if your picture is 800x600, it will be the same size whether you show it at 92dpi or 1dpi. Your computer largely ignores DPI data until it's time to print. So I need to print these files first to see how they print before importing them into a layer? I think this thing is set at the next setting. I thought I might play around with setting the monitor's resolution & see if I can create smaller frame sizes with some of these graphics. With graphics you "crop"...you don't shrink or stretch. I keep thinking about this & how it applies to these graphics. Now I just have to figure out how to do it, without effecting those pixels. Thanks David as I am starting to learn things here. Glad I join.

This brings to mind, another questions guys.... If I take a snapshot of my screen, can I set the dpi at anything I want? Does it matter on my monitor's resolution etc?

Guys I need a plugin that will curl or peal back a piece of paper. I want to thank BoltBait for the sharpener+. That works great! I am getting the hangs of things as I am learning how import that magic wand is & not falling back on PS4E. Which is not a old program really since date is 2006. Most of the time, I can not get the wand to disconnect & use another command. I just exit program & reopen the same file. Is there a trick to disconnecting the wand or a problem with this feature? I do like & prefer the looks of Paint.Net as P.Net has that magic ruler at the top of screen & to the left hand side of screen. Those rules helps me line things up better.

Does changing the dpi really improve the file when printing? I created a file with photos & graphics at 150 dpi. It printed great. Lost my original file on hard drive & recreated same file at 300 dpi. It did not print well. I am starting a new file in Paint.Net, setting page size & dpi, then importing all my graphics which are of different dpi's. I import background file, instead of opening background file & importing the rest. Some graphics are too small on my original file/layout. Others too big. I had though about resizing all of them to say 150 dpi or 300 & then try importing. But if that effect the pixels, I guess that is not a good idea. Other idea, open background file first (usually 100 dpi), import graphics. Take snapshots of anything that don't fit. Other idea was to take snapshots of graphics while at full screen, thus creating a new file & then I can paste into Paint.Net & set the dpi to what I want. What do you say guys? Create new file or resize or start with original background file first (don't create first layer)? I think I am still going to run into problems as camera's dpi is 200 dpi. Background files are 100-300 dpi. I am dealing with too many dpi's.

Yes, it is sort of clear. I have been up all nite, trying to figure things out. My photos are too big for photo frames & have been trying to figure a way to shrink them without effecting the pixels. I did try again taking a snapshot of photo at full screen & it worked better this time. I have not total figured out how to get things shrunken without effecting the clarity of the photos total yet. I did try putting a wide canvas in the photo & then taking a snapshot but that did not seem to shrink photo's snapshot. As this project is for printing, this is why Paint.Net freezes up, slows down, takes a lot of ram. My files are too big. Will you forgive me for misspelling your last name? Sorry.......:-(

Does changing the dpi in photos, suppose to make it alittle more pixelized? Do I need to change the pixels in order for photo not to look distored/blured? Can any of those plugins resolve some of these problems? David Atwood might beable to answer this as he acted as tho he knew some about dpi's in previous post.