Resize Selection

[DeadOnArrival]

I tried to search in regards to this query but couldn't find anything on this specifically. I have noticed when working with Paint.NET that when you try to resize a large selection down you incur a noticable loss of quality, the larger the disparity of the original and new size the more noticable the loss in quality - this only appears to happen when you downsize a selection, and not when you use the Image -> Resize option from the menu bar.

The workaround I've been using is to first use the menu bar resize to slightly bigger than I need the selection and then making precise adjustments directly. I can sort of understand why this would happen, as the on-the-fly processing of a selection resize must be using a low quality setting for speed purposes - but isn't it possible to program selection resize in such a way that you can get the selection to the size you want in this on-the-fly manner and then when you finish resizing have the program re-calculate the new size for best quality? This problem caused me no end of hassle when I first started using Paint.NET, mostly because I was becoming aware of high quality images that had taken significant losses in quality and was stumped to what was causing it until I figured it out - maybe Paint.NET, if incapable of doing the above, should present a warning to the user when resizing a very large selection down to a much smaller size that this will result in a loss of quality and that the menu resize should be utilised first?

[Sarkut]

DeadOnArrival,

Try this:

Duplicate your layer.

Resize the top layer by resizing selection.

With the selection still active, make a note of the

selection dimensions shown down in the status bar.

Delete the top layer and use Image > Resize

with those dimensions.

Edited April 30, 2010 by Sarkut

[DeadOnArrival]

Thanks Sarkut, but I'm not actually stuck. As I mentioned above I've already found a workaround for this problem that works for me, I probably should have been more specific in that I was wondering if this is a feature or a known bug which will eventually be addressed.

Coming from other image editors, it's par for the course that if you upsize something you'll lose a lot of quality, but it's not really a given that you could lose quality from downsizing...

Edited April 30, 2010 by DeadOnArrival