PSP Ultimate Photo X2 - Help setting a Crop Default Setting:

[jack prz]

New member. Hi,
Using PSP Ultimate Photo X2 - Setting Crop default setting:

I could use some advice on setting the Crop Function to "5:3: Widescreen Photo Frame" as a default setting as this is the setting that fills the screen of my Kodak Picture Frame.

I was totally floored trying to remember all of the Tools, Palettes, etc. until I started an Excel page listing numbers in the "A" Column from 1.0 and increasing by 0.1 as I go down the column.

I then might list "Scan Photos" in Column "B" and in the next few Columns across I will list the Location of any Tool used and the action taken such as "File\Import\Twain Acquire", etc.

As I discover how to do something I include it in the next listings on down the line, 1.1,- 1.2, - 1.3 etc.

When I next have time to work on the images, I open both Excel and Corel and refer to the previous steps taken to quickly accomplish the task at hand.

Not perfect but it helps me to slowly memorize the actions and Tool locations.

Thanks in advance for any help or hints given.

Jack Prz

[LeviFiction]

Disclaimer: I am not a professional, I am terrible at math. And I tend to misunderstand people. The information I give here could easily be incorrect. But this is how I understand it.

Is that 5 by 3 inches? Or 5 pixels to every 3 pixels?

The crop tool allows you to define the crop by Inches, Centimeters, and Pixels.

Pixels is the actual number of pixels x and y that you want to include in the crop. The Resolution tells you how many of those pixels will fit inside of an inch.

Clicking Maintain Aspect Ratio will keep the selection at the aspect ratio of your current settings. So if your current pixel, inch, or centemeter settings are equal to a 5:3 aspect ratio, then you can keep that ratio while defining a new size in inches, centimeters, or pixels.

Clicking Specify print size automatically resets the resolution of the image to fit in your inches or centimeters settings. Since it defines how many pixels go into the inches or centimeters you cannot define a pixel size.

If you want to use 5:3 as in 5 pixels by 3 pixels go into pixel mode and select 5 as the width and 3 as the height. Click Maintain Aspect Ratio. Then so long as you have that selected you can resize the crop maintaining an aspect ratio of 5:3.

Again I could be wrong.

[jack prz]

Thanks for the response LeviFiction.

The Ratio I list is simply what that crop size is called in Google-Picasa which is what I have been using.

I have found that whatever program or system of sizing I use, whether Pixels or inches,
If I divide the Short side of the image by the Long side of the image, ( ie: 3 / 5 inches = 0.6 ), ( 775 / 1280 pixels = 0.605 )
and my answer is 0.6 or close to it, the image will fill the screen horizontally and vertically on the Kodak photo viewer.

When using Picasa it holds the Aspect Ratio as I vary the selected portion of the image,
and it does the job very well, but it lacks much of the refinements that I see in PSPproX2.

In my very limited time and experience using PSPpro I have already produced a few better and cleaner images than before.
Perhaps in a few hundred hours I'll become a capable PSPpro user.

Jack Prz

[Ron P.]

5:3 aspect ratio is basically the equivalent to the very common 16:9, either being a widescreen format.

The aspect ratios concern themselves more with video and television, and PCs. The major difference is that the older CRT televisions use a non-square pixel, where as PCs use square pixels.

[jack prz]

Thanks for the info. Vidoman.

I,m not getting much done on images yet, but I am familiarizing myself with PSP-ultimate-Px2's Tool, Palette, etc. layout and functions.

The toughest part of the learning curve is spending so much time looking for a way to accomplish a task,
that by the time you find the answer you've forgotten the question.

Jack Prz

[Tim Morrison]

Open an image and select the Crop Tool.
Make sure that you have the Tool Options palette visible. (The F4 key toggles it on and off, or use View > Palettes > Tool Options).
Set the units to "Pixels" and make sure that the "Specify Print Size" and "Maintain Aspect Ratio" options are not checked.
Set the Width to 500 pixels and the Height to 300 pixels.
Now select the "Maintain Aspect Ratio" option.
Click "Presets:" (on the Tool Options palette), and click the "Save Presets" icon there... it looks like a small floppy disk. Save your preset with a useful name.
While "Maintain Aspect Ratio" is selected, you can drag the corners and the centre of the sides to resize the crop outline, drag the centre to move the whole thing, or drag the little handle to rotate it, but whatever you do, the outline will stay at the correct 5:3 aspect ratio.

Any time you use the Crop tool, you can select that same preset that you saved and you will see a 5:3 outline that you can adjust to suit. You can choose your saved preset from either the Tool Options palette or from the small floating toolbar that is at the bottom of the crop outline.

If some other initial size suits you better, perhaps 1000 x 600, or 3000 x 1800 pixels, you can save the preset using those. Just make sure that the height is three fifths of the width and that "Maintain Aspect Ratio" is selected.

[jack prz]

Thank,s Tim for your helpful, concise answer.
It works exactly as I wanted it to.

Little by little as I read about PSPx2 and practice, I am becoming less dependent on the other programs I've been using, although half the time I do have to jump back and forth between the programs I've become familiar with just to get a job done.

At the moment I am still using M/S Picture It, which had been my mainstay photo editor, and Picasa.
After editing and cropping I then resize the images to 1280 x 720 pixels using Pic-Resize in order to conserve space.

I use ArchSoft Photo Impression whenever I am scanning old 35mm negatives.
I was also able to get PSPx2 to recognize the 35mm negative scanner, but I can't yet make it convert the negative to a positive image.

I am slowly continuing to make my way through folders of B/W and Color Prints, and envelopes containing 35mm negatives. Many of the prints and negatives have stuck together or are in bad shape from years of moisture caused damage, fungus? discoloration, etc. It's not a job for the timid.

My purpose in doing all this is to leave some memories for the kids. It has also given myself and my wife a few smiles as we look back. My oldest restored family photo is from 1921. My oldest personally taken photo is from 1947.

So far I have been able to at least partially resurrect well over a thousand photos.
I enjoy reading through the forum to glean information from the posts.

Jack Prz