Silver Surfer

With more experimenting I've found that by reducing the pixels per inch and/or the print size using Paint.net's image resize dialog box and then saving the file in TIFF format it will open in MDI. Have not pinned down the exact limits on these parameters that seem to make MDI choke and gag, but I now have a good workaround for the problem. Those of you are who are more savvy about these things might understand what is going on, but I sure don't. Thanks to those of you who chimed in on this matter.

Mr. Brewster. I would gladly work with PNG format only; however, the folks at work would not be able to view the files that I create in that format due to the limitations inherent in the corporate software available to them. Mr. Null54, I looked into the 24 bit versus 32 bit issue you pointed out and came up with the following: MDI WILL open this TIFF: Dimensions 1600 x 1038 Width 1600 pixels Height 1038 pixels Horizontal resolution 120 dpi Vertical resolution 120 dpi Bit depth 32 Compression LZW Resolution unit 2 MDI will NOT open this file: Dimensions 18409 x 12000 Width 18409 pixels Height 12000 pixels Horizontal resolution 400 dpi Vertical resolution 400 dpi Bit depth 32 Compression LZW Resolution unit 2 Are there any clues in these file properties?

Did some more experimenting. Opened the original TIF file in MDI. All was well. Opened the original TIF file in Paint.net. Made absolutely no changes whatsoever to the file. Hit SAVE from within Paint.net. Then tried to open the "new" saved file in MDI. No good. "TIFF file type not supported."

Opened the original TIF file in Microsoft Document Imaging today. No problem. File opened just fine. Then opened the TIF file in Paint.net. Added a layer and made several additions. Saved the file in PDN format. Then saved it as a TIF. Tried to open the new TIF in MDI. No good. Message pops up stating that the TIF file type is not supported. I'm flummoxed.

Actually the message that Microsoft Document Imaging gives me is "does not support this type of TIF file." I ran that SFC thing as you recommended. It was unable to repair some Windows "notification .wav" files, but everything else was OK. I'm assuming that the .wav files are not pertinent to my problem? I did manually update to the latest version of Paint.net but don't recall exactly when. My suspicions at the moment point to large TIF files created in the latest version of Paint.net. Perhaps I'll revert to the previous version and try again. Will let you know the results. Thanks for giving me your thoughts on this issue.

Saved a couple of PDN files in TIF format. Microsoft Document Imaging says it can't open "this type of TIF file." Strange. In the past, saving PDNs to TIF did not give Microsoft Document Imaging any heartburn whatsoever. What's changed? By the way these are rather large files, 7 MB and 9MB.

Well, that was good advice. The color inversion turned out quite well. After the inversion, Sharpen gave me a mixed bag. The default setting seemed to improve the upper portion of the illustration, but made the curved lines in the bottom portion a little choppier. I can probably separate the two sections and manipulate them separately with features of Paint.net and then put them back together. But for now the illustration is much improved thanks to you.

Can you experienced types please give me a few tips as to which features of Paint.net or its add-ons would be best to make the attached scan of a copy of a copy crisper and sharper? Also, it doesn't really need to be white on black. Black on white would be just as good provided the sharpness is better than what it is now. Thanks.

Bingo! The resolution pixels per inch were different. Made them the same and all is well. Thank you.

If I copy a selection having a specific size, say 5" by 6" (per the ruler on the Paint.net window) from one pdn file and then paste that selection into another pdn file it is no longer 5" by 8". Instead its dimensions are something like 1.25" by 1.5" per the ruler for the second file. The two pdn files are not the same height and width if that makes a difference. I really want the pasted selection to be the same size as the copied selection. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for the reference Sarkut. I tried the shift + mouse wheel technique. It worked perfectly. Thanks for bailing me out.

When trying to use the wheel on my mouse to scroll left or right the scroll bar position indicator moves but the image does not. The mouse wheel will scroll the image up and down, however. Does Paint.Net not recognize left/right mouse scrolling?

Hmmmmm. Don't seem to have "visitor" in my font collection. I assume it can be found with some Googling?

Probably looking at 10 point and sometimes 12. I have noticed that Arial rounded looks much, much better than plain old Arial.

Perhaps clarity is a better descriptor. Crisp. Distinct edges.

For those of you with expertise in these things what font has the best sharpness when used for labels on illustrations? It's certainly not Arial based on my limited experience.

Just out of curiosity why can't there be an option to have the first canvas come up transparent?

My reason for wanting such a feature as tool deselect is that I tend to forget that I have a certain tool selected, and I inevitably click on something on the picture with no intention of using the tool that is selected. I've screwed up countless times because the tool stays active after I'm finished with it. What would be great is to have a toggle featrue on each tool button. Click on. Click off. Now that would be something at least in my humble opinion. Obviously the power users must not see a need.

Drat! OK. Thanks for the confirmation. That's what I was afraid of. I had the same gripe with Windows Paint.

Sorry for what is likely a dumb question, but when I select and use a tool such as the paintbrush, how the heck do I unselect that tool without selecting another?