stuartb

Interesting you mention FastStone. I have been using that also for many years . .in fact it is my default app for images, and for printing, and for scanning. I particularly like the multi-page file builder and the contact sheet generator (although I wish they would add iptc to the captions printing options). I use Picasa as well though, mainly as I have 10,000 office and personal images to manage and it is just SO fast at searching. PLUS it can batch-edit all selected images and give you the choice to undo those edits or save them. AND it has a one=click upload to Smugmug. I have been using Picasa since the days when you had to pay for it! bit I see very little evolution in its basic abilities since google took charge. Now and then I find I need to clone-out stuff or repair images so I was searching for a lightweight app which I could launch from Picasa on the occassions I need to clone. Thats how I found paint.net (via Paint Star and Artweaver). I still fire up photoshop now and then and get stuck into some serious image manipulation but its maybe only once a month. I can launch paint.net from picasa with a right-click. So right now for my daily use I need FastStone, Picasa AND paint.net for my image management. It would be nice if there was a single app that would do it all so quickly. There may just be a golden ooportunity for paint.net here . . . as some of the bigger players are making a real bloatware mess of things.

If I drag a whole folder of jpgs onto the paint.net shortcut it fires up and opens them all. So I was wondering . . is it possible for me to have paint.net open up the images . . run an auto-level command on them all . . . . and then save the images and then close down again? That would be perfect.

I have been doing a lot of testing over the last few days. It seems that the one-click auto-levels function in paint.net is significantly superior to photoshop elements, picasa, acdsee pro2 and, most importantly to me, better even than DCE autoenhance, which I currently use in conjunction with Picasa. I have a lot of images with a blue colour cast which paint.net sorts out in one-click. I cannot get comparable results in any other app (yes I know I am very fussy). So now I am desperately keen to see some sort of 'picasa-like' thumbnail browser which works hand in hand with paint.net. Maybe call it browse.net. Plus the ability to apply the auto-levels to multile images at once. I know I can open many images in paint.net but I then need to save them out one by one. Paint.net seems pretty brilliant in many ways . . . . fingers crossed 4.0 isnt far away! Regards

If I run 'Adjustments - Auto Levels' on a photo I seem to be getting levels sorted out AND colour balance sorted ou? Not complaining . . its great. Just wondered if this is expected behaviour? Auto-level + Auto-Colour Balance in one click.

when using clonestamp . . you often get better results if you 'weaken' the effect of the clone stamp and 'build up' your patch gently. Lower the transparency. Hit F8 to bring up the colour wheel then 'more' then adjust the slider.

thanks. I cannot get the 'feather tool to work at all. Does it only work on selections? I also found the alpha mask tutorial for featherd eraser! I think I will wait for version 4.0!

I want to gently erase through one layer to the one below but always get hard-edged circles. I see that alpha transparency slider works on the eraser tool but that still leaves hard-edged circles (albeit lighter ones). Strangely enough, the clone tool seems to be nicely soft-edged when tweaked with the alpha slider, so I wondering why the eraser is so 'severe'. Or does this topic come under 'custom brushes' on the 'frequently requested improvements list'? In which case I apologise in advance.

I am guessing thats the same as what i just posted above. Its ok, but its not the same as a proper soft edged brush. Lesser apps (such as Paintstar and Artweaver) offer a soft edged brush for the clone stamp . . . it just seems to be an obvious entry-level requirement to me. Lets hope they add one . . . . . . then I will feel good about donating! Or maybe I should donate first . . . that would show committment on my part.

?????????? I just need a clone stamp brush with a soft edge . . . . . I really want to use paint.net and I see all the clever stuff it can do but this is such a basic requirement. I want to clone out stuff from my photos quickly and easily. Artweaver, paintstar etc etc can all do it but they have other problems. Sigh . . my search continues I guess. EDIT : - I have found my answer (sort of) here : viewtopic.php?t=113 no feather plugins or duplicate layers needed . .just tweak the alpha under the colours menu. Still getting the ghost of the circle but with fussy alpha tweaking (58 seeems best) then the results are acceptable. Soft edged brush and proper feathering is still sorely needed IMHO

plugin downloaded and installed . . but cant find instructions o tutorial for the actual feather command. I see it in the menu . . effects - object - feather . . I move the sliders . . but see no change in my highlighted layer? I guess I am missing something fundamental.

I was just reading that as you replied! OK I have mastered using the duplicate layer . . dropping opacity and now cloning great with nice light semi transparent stamps! BUT still no soft edge . . . ??

Newbie . . read the FAQ . . done the Search . . still stuck. I want to clone-out some telepgraph wires across the sky in an image . . but the clone stamp brush is hard-edged and i get obvious circles. How do I blur the edge of the brush or reduce the opacity of the stamp . . .or is their a 'smart patch' that adjusts the stamp for the colour of background? Brilliant app . . . I hope there's a way to do this.