New Member, Generic Question

[miken]

I was wondering if someone could help me with a general image processor question. I use several image editors including Canvas, Paint Shop Pro X2 and Corel Photo Paint. Have you ever noticed that the higher end image editors will sometimes have a poor display on-screen, while free/built-in software like Microsofts Image and Fax Viewer or Office Picture Manager will appear much better on-screen? Just wondering if there is any known explanation for this. It appears to me that some software must be smoothing or modifying the image in some fashion to make it display better?

Thanks in advance, Mike -

[Trev Bowden]

Could be. But a good image editor needs to show it as it is thats why you should view at 100 % for critical appraisal

[LeviFiction]

I have not noticed this, no.

However, I do know that certain zoom sizes do cause distortions in the image. Now this may have nothing to do with what you're seeing but it is interesting information that I learned from a Photoshop professional that I know and I always follow these guide-lines.

For example in Paint Shop Pro the amount of zoom applied to the image is located in the title bar so you can keep track of the zoom ratio just by looking at the image window or if you're in tabbed view on the actual titlebar.

Any zoom ratio over 100% is fine so long as it's a multiple of 100%. So 100%, 200%, 300% and so on. These produce no distortions. Now when you zoom below 100% pixels are dropped from view to fit the new zoom ratio. So there's a greater chance for distortion in these lower settings. For me every value between 50% and 100% is bad. So that's 51% zoom ratio to 99% zoom ratio just does not look good. From there the next good zoom ratio is 25%. And from there 12% was the last closest to good zoom ratio I could find.

I don't guarantee these results for anyone beyond myself. But I did find it interesting when I was told about this and tested it myself.

[Trev Bowden]

Folks used to complain about PSP 7 zoom steps But these where based on geting the best results rather then the Photoshops Dubling up and That psp now uses

[Tim Morrison]

The main difference is between image editors like PSP, which need to display every pixel accurately for editing purposes, and Image viewers, like the the Microsoft Image and Fax Viewer, that can anti-alias, sharpen and generally prettify the image so that it looks nice on screen.

[miken]

The main difference is between image editors like PSP, which need to display every pixel accurately for editing purposes, and Image viewers, like the the Microsoft Image and Fax Viewer, that can anti-alias, sharpen and generally prettify the image so that it looks nice on screen.

Yes, I agree. It must be the difference between a true image editor, and a image viewer. I think I read that some "optimize" for on-screen viewing.
Thanks to all, Mike -