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Selection = new canvas size?


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Ok, did a search on "selection canvas size" and didn't see this.

PdN 3.31. Selected an area to do a copy/paste and performed said function. Clicked again to de-select. Clicked on the "New" icon to open a fresh canvas to start a second project and that new canvas was the size of my selection box on my previous canvas.

So, to put numbers to it - canvas A is 800x600. Selection A is 100x200. New canvas B is created at 100x200.

:?:

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Yes, intentional and a great feature to use.

So if I'm working on several projects that are the same size because I need to copy elements from one project to another, I need to keep going to Image>Canvas and re-doing the settings every time I start a new project?

How is that convenient? :?

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:| It is very intuitive. Perhaps explain how you would rather it be. Because if there is no image on the clipboard, then the default settings are 800x600. Are you saying that you're multiple images are 800x600 and you dont want those to change? Because if so, then know that not everybody uses those defaults ;)
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Ok, forget the numbers, just look at the logic.

I'm working on project A, at whatever size it is. I copy part of it and now need to paste that into new project B, which is the same size as project A. But when I hit "New", the newly created project B is the size of my selection, not the size of project A.

So now I have to stop and re-size project B to the same as project A, then move the object I copied/pasted that started all this to its correct position.

Now, I've worked on them some more and I need to take some section of project B and copy it into new project C, the same way I took part of A and copied it to B.

Every time I create a new project, I have to stop and re-size it because of the selection I'm copying. The selection is part of the project, not the other way around.

THAT'S why it's counter-intuitive and inefficient.

Look at the same problem out in the real world - if I'm building a puzzle and the box says it will come out to be, say, 15" x 20" when finished, why would I start building it on a table that's only 10" x 10"?

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If I may interject my input...

I can see your point. That could be rather frustrating, I'm sure. If your 100x200 selection is by itself on a layer - surrounded by transparency - you could then simply select the entire canvass (all of Project A) on that layer, and copy. Then it would be exactly to the size you need it when you create Project B, C, etc. In fact, you could then simply use the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl] + [Alt] + V (Paste in to New Image).

If that is not possible, and if the selected portion of Project A is needed for all consecutive Projects, then you could create a base image: Paste your selection in to a new image, positioned as you like; save it as "project-base.pdn" or whatever is convenient; open it, complete the transformations needed for whichever Project you may be working on, and save it by another name (i.e.: "project-b.pdn"). Repeat: open the original "project-base.pdn", complete all additions/transformations, save by another name. See what I mean?

I'm sorry if neither of these are a solution to the frustration. This is the way Paint.NET works (so far), and one must simply work around it. Photoshop does the same thing, although preset canvasses are available. Who knows, perhaps preset canvasses are in the future of PDN?*

I hope you find some way to get around it! ;)

*Do not take this as word, it may not reflect the views of Rick Brewster in any way.

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Honestly, I was quite disappointed when The GIMP stopped importing the clipboard data as the new image size.

Besides, when you press [Ctrl]+[N], the dialog pops up with the first Size field already selected. Type in the width, press tab, then type in the height. Just a few seconds extra - relatively painless, no?

I don't mean to sound insensitive, but I think you can tell from the dearth of people backing up your position, most people like it as it is. As such, as BB said, I think it would be better for you to adjust how you use PDN than to try to force everyone else to have to adjust to how you'd like to use PDN.

@Mike:

If this suggestion were implemented, we could get around it with a [Ctrl]+[V] [Ctrl]+[shift]+[X]. Since the selection is created at the size of the pasted image, and stays active after pasting, a Crop to Selection command would shrink-wrap it right down. ;)

I am not a mechanism, I am part of the resistance;

I am an organism, an animal, a creature, I am a beast.

~ Becoming the Archetype

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What about adding something to the Canvas Size dialogue box -

Default for new canvas:

Selection size

Standard size (with a pulldown menu of typical screen dimension combinations)

User size (with boxes for height/width/resolution)

That way the user can tell PdN how it should act instead of the other way around.

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Well, there is a "Choose Defaults" dialog where you can set a few custom options as defaults. Perhaps this option could be added, but no promises - Rick would have to weigh in with his thoughts.

I am not a mechanism, I am part of the resistance;

I am an organism, an animal, a creature, I am a beast.

~ Becoming the Archetype

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