Bob Hawkins
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Posts posted by Bob Hawkins
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Sarkut and nemo,
I thank you for your contributions.
I do use the 'Move Selected Pixels' tool to drag the image into approximate position, and I appreciate that I can identify that position eventually by referring to the ruler. However, in working with my montage and numerous layers, there is a time delay, due to memory, between using the 'Move Selected Pixels' tool and the reappearance of the image in its new position; it isn't an actual drag where the image is visible the whole time. So it is only by trial and error that I can eventually obtain the position, both horizontally and vertically, that I want. And the ruler sometimes, even, is not sufficiently graduated to place the image precisely. That is why it would seem so much more useful if coordinates could be entered and have the image move to that location.
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theonlychad,
I entered measurements in Layers>Rotate/Zoom... to move an imported layer. I imagined that if I entered 5.00 for both, the image would move 5 centimetres (that being the units of my canvas) to the right and down. That is not the case, certainly. I see that if I pan 5 centimetres to the right and down, the dialog box reads X Pan: 0.226 and Y Pan: 0.362. Clearly, I do not understand the relationship between the pan and the actual movement, nor what the units in the boxes represent. I do not understand the sentence in Paint.NET Help either:
Pan
This allows you to slide the image around so that you can get the right portion in view of the canvas.
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I note that one of two methods of interpolation is chosen having selected 'Best Quality' in the 'Resize' dialog box: Bicubic and Super Sampling. I haven't been able to figure out the criteria that the application uses for selecting one over the other, yet. Can anyone throw further light on this subject?
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I have recently completed a photo montage. I found the 'Align Object...' plugin very helpful. My task would have been further assisted if there was a facility to position an image accurately by entering measurement coordinates into a dialog box. I have searched the plugins list but do not see such a tool. I seem to remember this was part of my Serif application, but I ditched that in favour of Paint.NET.
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I have just completed my photo montage. I rotated and cropped 20 images as appropriate, resized them at 300 pixels per inch (118.11 pixels per centimetre), added white borders to 12, saved them as .png files and imported them in turn to my 420 x 297 millimetre (A3) canvas of the same 300 pixel resolution. The process of moving the images and reordering the layers became progressively more difficult and time-consuming. Sometimes, I received a message stating there was insufficient memory to load an image, but by saving, closing and reopening the .pdn file and Paint.NET, I was able to continue. Paint.NET crashed on three occasions. I had to resort to flattening and saving half the positioned images as one .png file, then use that as a single layer, adding the remainder to it in order to complete the task.
In spite of all that, I have enjoyed the exercise; I learnt a lot, and I am extremely pleased with the faithful reproduction of the originals in the final .png and .jpg files.
My purpose in telling this is that I cannot believe what I experienced is how it must be, and that there is not a better way to a result.
I worked on my laptop, which has 3GB RAM and 320GB hard drive, using Vista and Paint.NET 3.36.
I should dearly appreciate it if someone could offer advice on how more easily one should carry out such an exercise.
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Myrddin
I thank you for your swift and helpful response.
My desktop, upon which I carried out these tests, has 1GB RAM. My laptop has 3GB. I have found subsequent to my post that I can save an A3 canvas at 200 resolution on my laptop, but see that importing images and moving them takes some time. My difficulty is knowing what maximum resolution to use, if progressive importing and moving uses more and more RAM. I guess it might only be by trial and error that I eventually find out.
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I have been given a number of excellent .jpg images with which to create a photo montage. The original images are 3872 x 2592 pixels. I require each image to be 9cm x 6cm, approximately. In order to retain the same number of pixels in the new image, the resolution has to be 415. I can save the image at that resolution, but I am unable to create a background of A3 size at that same resolution: a message, "Not enough memoray to create new image." appears. Initially, 180 resolution is accepted.
Several questions arise:
1. Is it the memory of my computer that imposes this limitation?
2. As I have in the order of 20 images to compose in this montage, am I likely to run out of memory as I progress?
3. If there are two operations to complete before importing the image to my A3 canvas (resizing/rotating and importing on to a canvas large enough to facilitate a white frame), will I lose definition by the number of saves that have to be made?
4. If the original image is provided as a .jpg, is there any advantage to make subsequent saves as .png files? The final product will be a small number of copies printed on A3 photographic paper.
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Sarkut,
I realise now what was going on: I downloaded pyrochild's zip file and extracted that. I looked for something referring to Outline in Paint.NET and could only find it in Effects> Stylize, not realising that is part of Paint.Net, and was not pyrochild's Outline Object. But I guess you might be right that there was a conflict of some sort, because at that point Effects>Object did not exist, only since my subsequent download. I have now removed the original zip file and its extracted files. What a lovely piece of work the Outline Object plug-in is! I am so glad I persisted in my search for a solution.
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I have read much on outlining text, but remain confused. The most used plug in appears to be pyrochild's Outline Object. I have also downloaded Outline from BoltBait. I cannot get either to work to my satisfaction:
I wish to outline red type with white over my photo montage. I have added a new layer into which I have typed my text in red. Whatever Primary and Secondary colours are set, Outline Object gives me white text with a cyan surround. I do see, however, that when I use the tool on a new canvas on its own, that the red text becomes white with a red surround. Neither has given me what result I aim for. BoltBait appears to create a surround of horizontal lines the same colour as the text.
I don't doubt I am the one at fault; so I should be grateful if someone would kindly take the time to take me step by step through the process to achieve the result I seek.
I have just seen at http://I have a virus on my system!/Fea ... ne_Object/ a different dialog box displayed to that which presented itself previously. Using this download, I have been able to obtain the perfect result immediately.
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David,
Thanks for pointing me to Align Object. That is just what I was looking for to centre my photo images in borders.
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Scaling
I am creating a photo montage using layers. I rotate, crop and resize images before I import them. I note, however, that the imported image size is not the same as that which I originally set. For example, an image that I resized to 42 centimetres wide imports as 37.5 centimetres, and another whose height was 12.5 centimetres imports as 9.37 centimetres. Both are three-quarters the size I saved them. Is there an explanation for this?
Moving images
I note that when I initially import an image, I can move it easily and smoothly. Returning to an image after importing other images, say, the image stutters in its movement and there is a delay in redrawing and it is difficult to position precisely. What is the explanation and is there a way to overcome it?
Borders
I should like to create a white border around some images so that they stand out over other images behind them. Is there a method by which I can precisely centre an image over a larger background to create a required border size?
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I wish to create a montage of numerous photographs. I created a layer for each image, sizing and positioning the images over the background and partly overlapping them. I then saved the file, which is automatically .pdn format. Now, when I open the file, I appear not to be able to edit any of the previously individual images. I can understand that might be the case, once the file is saved. However, it seems not unreasonable to want to save something like this, either as protection or to return to it later to continue. What, then, must I do differently? Further, I should be most grateful if anyone can point me to a tutorial on this subject.
My apologies to users: I have reopened the file and have been able to move an image. However, I should still welcome any advice to make this Paint.NET learner more competent.
Bicubic and Super Sampling
in Paint.NET Discussion and Questions
Posted
Neil,
Thanks for your explanation.
Typically, I have an image which, when opened, is 136.60 x 91.44 centimetres at a resolution of 28.25 pixels per centimetre. '* Bicubic will be used' is at the foot of the dialog box (the default, I guess). I change the resolution to 118.11 (equivalent to 300 pixels per inch) and as soon as I start to enter a new value for either the width or the height, '* Super Sampling will be used' appears. Both dimensions are changed, however, because the 'Maintain aspect ratio' box is checked.
(It seems '* Super Sampling will be used' is selected because the program reacts as soon as the first number anywhere is entered, which will almost always be smaller than that it is replacing.)
I wonder whether the answer is as simple as enlargement and reduction. I note that for both 'By percentage' and 'By absolute size', if the figure I enter is smaller than initially displayed, '* Super Sampling will be used' is selected, whereas, if the figure I enter is greater than initially displayed, '* Bicubic will be used' is selected.