Positioning images accurately on canvas

[Bob Hawkins]

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.

[barbieq25]

Yep, that'd be a handy thing. Hope also that someone can come up with a solution. Glad you asked the question.

[theonlychad]

You could always put each part of the photo montage on a different layer and use the rotate/zoom function (built in paint.net) to get exact measurements of where you want things to be :wink:

[Bob Hawkins]

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.

[Sarkut]

Bob Hawkins:

Selections can be moved pixel by pixel with arrow keys using and

If PdN Ruler is activated it will indicate position of selection edges.

Don't know of any plugin for this.

===================================

Pan - It lets you look at different parts of your canvas by drag-n-drop

when you are zoomed in with :ZoomIn:

Edited April 8, 2010 by Sarkut

[nemo]

also, not sure if this would help but i use it combining with Sarkuts method..

rulers and or grid when zoomed in, that way you can move pixels to exact spots easily

[Bob Hawkins]

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.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Did you try this plugin? Panelling Effect

[Bob Hawkins]

Ego Eram Reputo,

Many thanks for pointing me to MadJik's Panelling tool. It helps, certainly, in the absence of a tool into which I can enter actual coordinates. There are two issues as far as I am concerned:

1. The dialog box measurements are in pixels, which requires the rulers to be changed to determine the required location, if working in centimetres or inches.

2. Having moved an image, then requiring it to be moved further, the image will move again to that previous number of pixels entered as soon as the dialog box is opened, which then requires a reset before entering the new measurement. This applies not only to this tool but others in Paint.NET that I haved used, too. I wish that the dialog box had no effect like that and even more, in the case of the Rotate tool, that resetting displayed the actual angle of the image, rather than returning to zero even though the image is at an angle. (Of course, there is always the likelihood that I am using such tools improperly!)

I do not want these comments to suggest I am ungrateful, so I reiterate my thanks to MadJik for the tool and to you for directing me to it.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Try ScriptLab. You can create simple "scripts" based on an effect+the settings you want.

You could write several, using the same panelling effect but with different settings. Save each with a descriptive name.

Of course ScriptLab can do multiple effects in each "script" too.

[Bob Hawkins]

EER,

I have read what I could find on ScriptLab and downloaded the necessary .dll files to see whether I could determine by myself what I had to do, following your suggestion. I must ask you for further help, however, as I have no experience or knowledge of scripts and how to put in practice what you suggest could be an answer to my requirement. I have been able to ascertain so far that if, from the ScriptLab dialog box, I choose 'Panelling', 'Add Effect', then double click on the new entry in the right-hand pane, I can enter measurements in the resulting dialog box that are repeated each time I choose that item. To repeat it, it seems it only works if I select 'Repeat ScriptLab', not go to the ScriptLab dialog box. I do not understand how to change the title to something meaningful, nor do I know the purposes of 'Save' or 'Load'.

[Sarkut]

Once you have entered in your Effect, measurements, etc. that configuration

can be saved and re-used later by calling it up with Load.

The configuration file can be named appropriately as part of the

Save process.

[Bob Hawkins]

Sarkut,

Aha! Getting there; many thanks.

[Roygee]

Following on from this - my needs at this moment are very simple - to be able to center a single layer on the canvas - so that the center of the is exactly on the center of the canvas?

If this is not available within PDN, would the above mentioned plugin do this?

[david.atwell]

I think one large problem you're encountering in what you're doing is that "centimeters" has virtually zero meaning within Paint.NET. With the Image > Resize dialog, you can change the very definition of "centimeters." I recommend doing all of your movement and resizing in pixels - it's the way every graphics editor thinks.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

... to be able to center a single layer on the canvas - so that the center of the is exactly on the center of the canvas?

Try this: Align Object

[Roygee]

Thanks for the link - Google Chrome gave me a very serious security warning - so I backed out.

Do you know whether the site has been compromised, or is Chrome just being paranoid?

[Ego Eram Reputo]

I just checked out the site and firefox reports the same security concerns. The plugin author moc426 hasn't been around for a while so verifying the plugins status is difficult.

I'll see if I can scare up a copy and attach it to the original post.

[Roygee]

Thank you - much appreciated

[Roygee]

Sorry to bother - got hold of the plugin, installed in "effects" folder, it shows in the effects and the ui comes up when called - but does absolutely nothing :?

Could it be outdated ? I'm using V3.36 and the original post for the plugin was over two years ago

[Sarkut]

@ Roygee

Works okay on my v.3.36, although sometimes have to

click the adjustment twice before OKing it.

It won't work if the object is selected.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Sarkut

[Roygee]

Excellent

Thank you - the magic word was to deselect