kelemvor Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) Howdy, I've searched Google and the forums and found other people with the same problem but haven't found a solution. I'm sure this is something simple but I'm at a stand still. I create a new Canvas at a specific size. I then pasted in an image into a Layer. The image was bigger than the canvas so I resized and positioned that layer where I wanted it. I then clicked the button from the Layers window to add a new layer. I then pasted in a second large image which added to the new layer. I then resized and positioned that layer where I wanted it. However, I then wanted to go back to Layer 1 and resize/reposition it a bit in relation to where I put layer 2 but I can't seem to find a way to do that. Layer 2 is currently outlined with the selection handles but when I click Layer 1 from the Layer Windows, nothing changes. If I click somewhere in my image to move Layer 1, layer 2 moves because it's still selected. How the heck do I just select Layer 1 in its entirety, including the part that's bigger than the canvas, so I can reposition it where I want it? I tried using the rectangle section thing but that only selects the part of the layer that's visible in the canvas and not the part that was too big that should still be there. Help Please! Thanks. Edited August 8, 2015 by kelemvor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midora Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Two questions, two answers. All layers share the same size. You can only change size and position of the layer content. If you paste an image to a layer and finish the operation by doing an other action like adding a new layer then the image will be cutted to this layer. No chance to get anything back which is not visible on a layer by moving the layer content. There is just one selection which operates on the active layer. I.e. - activate layer 1 - create a selection - copy the content of the selection to the clipboard (which is part of layer 1) - activate layer 2 - paste the clipboard content (layer 2 contains now the new content). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelemvor Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) So if I need an end result of a specific size but I'm combining multiple images that are larger than that size and moveing, zooming, etc them to get them to fit nicely, what woudl be the best way to do that? Do I need to make a canvas that's huge and then maybe draw a box that's the size I need the end result to be? Then I can move the layers around and modify them since the whole image would still be within the canvas? My specific example is I'm making a Facebook Cover image which can be 851 x 315 or something like that. I'm combining multiple pictures into a collage type thing and am jsut trying to figure out the best way to do that. Edited August 8, 2015 by kelemvor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midora Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Do I need to make a canvas that's huge and then maybe draw a box that's the size I need the end result to be? Then I can move the layers around and modify them since the whole image would still be within the canvas? Exactly. And after you got all images in the right relation to each other you can create a rectangular selection in 'Fixed Size' Mode and crop the layers to this selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Give me a few days and I'll try write a plugin that may be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eli Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) It is a nice trick to enlarge the canvas in order to have more space for your images. I do not know what MJW's plugin will produce but some guidelines to delimit the desired size would be cool (this would replace the box). Edited August 8, 2015 by Eli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) For some reason, I always hate to spill the beans too early, but since I would be better off knowing if what I plan is actually useful, I will. I intend to write a plugin to allow the image in the clipboard to be scaled and translated then blended with the current layer. From what I understand of the original request, that should help. If not, then I hope kelemvor will explain more what's needed. EDIT: I'm not so sure it would be useful for this. It would provide an easy way of moving images around, but whether it would help in this particular situation isn't clear, because I'm not certain enough about what the objective is. I might write the plugin anyway, since it seems somewhat useful, and as far as I know, there's nothing currently that does that. ANOTHER EDIT: I'm not even sure that such a plugin would be much better than just copying and pasting the selection into another layer and moving it around and resizing it with the handles, though that can be a little awkward when the selection is large relative to the window it's pasted into. I'm certainly beginning to doubt that it's even worth doing. Edited August 9, 2015 by MJW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eli Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 (edited) That would be great MJW. What I had in mind with guidelines is a plugin that would draw/create the guidelines given a size (based on the discussion between Midora and kelemvor). Something like this where the center area is the "useful area". Once the user is happy with his/her composition. The image can be cropped to selection. Edited August 9, 2015 by Eli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 What isn't clear to me is why kelemvor would require a "huge" canvas to allow the pasted images to be moved around. Though the exact final size of the images might not be known, I'd think that some reasonable estimate could be made, and so I don't understand why they wouldn't first be rescaled to the maximum size they'd likely be. Eli, it would probably not be too difficult to make a plugin to do that. It would just be a Render effect that would have a few adjustments for the size, opacity, etc. The sort of ugly part for a CodeLab plugin is that I'm pretty sure there'd be no way to set up reasonable pixel-valued defaults for the center and dimensions, and at least the dimensions should be in pixels. While there's no requirement that the default values are sensible in relation to the full window size, since they can be easily changed, that would certainly be more elegant. EDIT: If no one else wants to do this, I will; though my version will probably not be particularly polished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eli Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 The last time I made a collage of pictures a larger canvas (I did not think of that) and some guides would have been welcome. I did find myself rearranging pics and had to delete and reload those that were touching the edges. I think it can be useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 (edited) If Eli or anyone else has any suggestions for features they'd like for the guideline plugin, please post them here soon. Also, if anyone has a good name, tell me. I can never think of good plugin names. I think this is a useful plugin (or I wouldn't write it), but since I don't see it as being especially widely used, I'd prefer a name that's specific enough that it won't be taking a name someone might want for some future plugin. Is it useful to allow the horizontal guidelines to be a different color then the vertical guidelines? It's easy to do, but is it worth having more controls? I intend to allow some color choices for the guidelines so that they will contrast with the image being edited. Edited August 9, 2015 by MJW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoltBait Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I intend to write a plugin to allow the image in the clipboard to be scaled and translated then blended with the current layer. Isn't that what my plugin Effects > Fill > From Clipboard does? Quote Download: BoltBait's Plugin Pack | CodeLab | and a Free Computer Dominos Game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelemvor Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 (edited) So like I said, I needed to make a Facebook cover image at a specific size of 851 x 315. I created a canvas of 851 x 315 to get started. The images I'm using to make this are straight from my camera so they are obviously way bigger than that. I want to play around with adding 2 or 3 photos into Paint.net and then be able to independantly move, zoom, etc them until I get it just right. I might put in photo 1, put it where I think I'll want it and then add in photo two. After setting photo 2 in place I might realize that I need to zoom a bit in or out or photo 1 to a new spot. When I tried that now, photo 1 had been cropped to where I had dropped it after the initial placement and I now had no way of getting back to the full image that I had pasted in. If that doesn't make sense, let me know. Edited August 9, 2015 by kelemvor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Isn't that what my plugin Effects > Fill > From Clipboard does? Though I had in mind some additional features, such as rotation, blend modes, and opacity control, the only important difference in regard to this thread is that I'd allow a wider selection of bounds handling. I don't think wrapping would work for what kelemvor has in mind (I'm not sure my envisioned plugin would help much, either). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoltBait Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I guess I could add a feature that would NOT tile the picture. Should that handle most problems? Quote Download: BoltBait's Plugin Pack | CodeLab | and a Free Computer Dominos Game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I think that would be a good idea. Though I have a tendency to want to throw everything and the kitchen sink into plugins, your Paste from Clipboard plugin, with the option of not wrapping, would probably handle most situations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoltBait Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Try this build of Effects > Fill > From File <snip> For some reason the [+] control seems backwards. I'll have to play with that. Quote Download: BoltBait's Plugin Pack | CodeLab | and a Free Computer Dominos Game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I like the choice of tiling or not. I suspect the reason the positioning control is wrong is that it depends on point of view. If you consider the position as the position within the file image, the movement is correct. Of course, it should be the other way, since that's what the user expects. Other than that, the one problem I have is that the range of the position control should allow for the clipboard or file image to be moved to every visible position. Ideally, when the [+] is moved to the very top, the bottom edge of the mapped image should just disappear off the top of the window. Right now, there are positions to which I can't move the mapped image. That may be fixed once the motion direction is reversed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoltBait Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 OK, try this one: <snip> That should fix the backwards [+] control. I updated my plugin pack with the new versions of Fill from File and Fill from Clipboard. Please provide feedback. If not positive, what do I still have to fix? Quote Download: BoltBait's Plugin Pack | CodeLab | and a Free Computer Dominos Game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midora Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Instead of a simple on/off switch for tiling you may add the typical flip modes for tiling. No tiling, tiling, flip tiles hor, flip tiles ver, flip tiles hor & ver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eli Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 @MJW: I do not mind the kitchen sink! My PC is in the kitchen . I can not think of a name for the effect... that is probably why my cat's name is kitty . @BoltBait: FillFrom43 is working as expected : Example1, example 2 @midora: "No tiling, tiling, flip tiles hor, flip tiles ver, flip tiles hor & ver" I tried google translate and it did not help me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midora Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 @midora: "No tiling, tiling, flip tiles hor, flip tiles ver, flip tiles hor & ver" I tried google translate and it did not help me. There are several possibilties to place the tiles. You know 'Flip Horizontal' and 'Flip Vertical' from the 'Layers' menu. Flipping tiles means that you flip every second tile. This makes it easier to create seamless patterns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red ochre Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Flipping tiles means that you flip every second tile. This makes it easier to create seamless patterns. I call that 'reflected' tiling. Quote Red ochre Plugin pack.............. Diabolical Drawings ................Real Paintings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midora Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 I call that 'reflected' tiling. Tell this MS ;-) The WrapModes are named TileFlipX, TileFlipXY, and TileFlipXY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eli Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 This is becoming a tonguetwister thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.