Feature/Plugin Request: Magnifying Glass

[tabaddon]

Hi, I hope this makes sense. First, I'll say that I've searched but haven't found what I'm looking for. If it's already available, please let me know.

I'd like to have something like a magnifying glass to use while editing. When I'm working on small parts of large, high-res images (often over 12" at 300 DPI), zooming in and out and having to scroll around and find the details I need to work on is incredibly tedious and frustrating. It'd be great to be able to just load a magnifying glass that would stay on top and let me manipulate the image/layer below it.

As a bonus, its zoom could be custom-set the same way the main image window is, and it could be toggled on and off with keystrokes and/or even reside in the View or Window menu.

I know some of you may want to suggest using Windows' Magnifier, but it does not work for this at all. The image becomes too blurry and distorted and it seems to slow down my system. Everything I've tried to do using it has had to be redone. I've also tried a standalone magnifier in the past but it couldn't be made to 'stay on top' so it would leave focus when I tried to do anything.

In the meantime, if anyone can recommend a good, clear standalone magnifier that fits my needs, please point me to it and I'll give it a try. Thanks!

[pyrochild]

I know some of you may want to suggest using Windows' Magnifier, but it does not work for this at all. The image becomes too blurry and distorted

It's not blurry and distorted - pixels simply don't look good when you zoom in on them. Any other utility you might find will either appear the same (large squarish blocks of annoyance) or not be an accurate representation of your image.

[tabaddon]

The standalone magnifier I had on my old PC was excellent, actually, and I was able to use it for quick projects. It just wouldn't stay on top (it was supposed to and did when I simply clicked around but when selecting tools or another window, it'd hide). I can't remember its name or find a copy of it now, though. I only remember that it was made the same person who made a great standalone color picker, which was also very handy.

Windows Magnifier is really terrible, comparatively. The distortion I mentioned isn't just a little de-resing but out-and-out shape change. If zooming always distorts and blurs, then PDN shouldn't have that handy zoom feature, or it shouldn't work so well...

(I do know about pixels and what enlarging does, and that's not what I'm talking about here. I just want a simple zoom :ZoomIn: lens. Zoom to Selection :ZoomToSelection: is close, but I'd rather be able to keep an eye on the big picture without having to zoom in and out so much.)

[Rick Brewster]

Paint.NET has zoom in/out, and Windows comes with the magnifier. If your computer's too slow to run the latter well then I'd look at getting a faster computer. Try doing an online search too. You might find some other utility that does what you want.

[tabaddon]

I just thought I'd ask. I have been using my brand-new PC to search for something, as I said before, but haven't come up with anything that fits the bill, but thanks for trying. (I started typing, but decided not to get into my specs as this is not a pissing contest, right?) As stated twice, the Windows Magnifier is the most inferior of any options I've tried. Constantly zooming in and out, panning, etc, takes me about 10x longer than it would if there was a small lens I could simply set and move around. Thanks again.