PSP X5 Resize problem

[pgbish]

I have been using X2 for a number of years and recently updated to X5
I have a problem in X5 when I open up some recently taken photographs the resize dialog box comes up with completely blank boxes and I am unable to resize
I have opened up some very old pictures and it works fine.
in X2 it works fine for all pictures, so it appears the problem is in X5 with recently taken pictures.

Any ideas?

Pete

[trueblue]

Have you tried going to Preferences, General Programme Preferences, Transparency and Shading. Check out the settings to make sure the crop tool will function correctly.

[pgbish]

I have eventually got an answer from Corel support that points out the problem and found a thread which answers my question, although it doesn't solve the problem.

Corel photo album 6 (which I use to view and save files) apparently saves jpg files as very small size but with high dpi, which apparently x5 cant handle.

x2 and x3 can handle this issue, x5 cant. A backward step!!

I either have to dump my photo album 6 or dump x5 and go back to x2

its a shame that Corel cant handle files created by its owns products.

[hartpaul]

Just wondering there why the images are saved at a small size with a high dpi. This sounds more like you are trying to work with the thumbnails generated by Corel Photoalbum 6 rather than the original files.
ie. whan an album / manager type program operates it notes where the original files exist and then generates a series of thumbnails for those images. In that program the thumbs load quickly and when you click on the thumbnail the program brings up the full size file from its location rather than using the thumbnail to generate an image.
It is impossible to bring up a large detailed image from a small thumbnail no matter what the resolution (raster images - vector images are a bit different as they involve a set of instructions and a resizable thumb which can be regenerated from those instructions).
You can test this by taking any raster (picture) image in X5.

1. I loaded an image to my workspace from a test folder and cropped it to 1200 pixels square and made the resolution 72 dpi. (Image > Resize - Untick Resample box and change the resolution to 72 dpi click OK and then Save as Options set Compression Factor 3 and completed save with a sensible name).
2. Same image still on workspace, now change the resolution to the max 2540 pixels per inch and resave with another unique sensible name.
3. Now resize the image to 150 pixels square (Image > Resize Tick the Resample box and change the pixel dimensions to 150 each and again Save As with a descriptive name. Note that the resolution stays the same at 2540 pixels/ inch)
Now compare each image

When I compare each image
Original large 1084 KB
Large 72 dpi 1306 KB
Large 2540 dpi 1306 KB
Small 2540 dpi 43 KB

If I load that small image again and even though it has a large dpi value I will never get the detail available in the larger images as it has been thrown away in the resizing.
If Corel Photo Album 6 changes the resolution figure to a high value I suspect it is because those thumbnail images are not meant to be looked at in other graphics programs nore used in place of the larger image. This means that later versions of Paintshop pro are behaving as they should and rejecting those images, - a step forward rather than backward from earlier versions.