Paintshop Pro - Wishlist for version X7

[Rick_R]

Regarding "mapping software provides this", PSP is not mapping software. It is aimed at a general market. Corel bought JASC specifically to have a low-end product for amateurs who don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on their pro or pro-sumer lines. And even with its target at non-professionals, it still has loads more features than most non-pros will ever use -- or even ever understand. One thing PSP users don't want is "feature bloat" like what happens with Microsoft products, with dozens of features and options almost no one uses, that require clicking through 5 levels to do the simplest things. (Last Friday I had to "merge cells" in a spreadsheet. 5 clicks for each group to be merged! Ridiculous!)

Regarding "I keep upgrading looking for these", face it that "magnetic north" is such a niche requirement that you're not going to find it in any mass-market photo-editing product. Aside from that, download the "try before you buy" fully functional versions and check them out first. One nice thing about PSP is you can have multiple versions installed and even running simultaneously and they don't interfere with each other. When I was having problems with various PSP versions crashing (due to an unrelated program I didn't realize was causing the problem) at one point I had X3 and X4 installed together and later I had X4 and X5.

[Rick_R]

Regarding "two-page center distortion", I think this might be a workable approach (and keep in mind that in my experience probably the best way to start is to split the pages):

Have a "multiple horizontal line straightener" mode:

1) The user can set two or more point-to-point horizontal lines.
2) For each line the user sets a point that is the "target elevation".
3) When the user clicks a check mark, the lines are straightened and end up at their "target elevation" primarily by vertically compressing or expanding.

Consider, for instance, the typical problem of a row of senior portraits (left page). The left-most portrait is a bit too low, the lower left corner of one just right of page center is at the "target elevation", the right corner of that is slightly high, and then the right-most image is again too low.

The user would set one line with points at the left and right top corners of each picture, then another line at the bottom L/R corners. Set the two target-elevation points, click the check mark, and the two lines will be straightened horizontally by mainly vertical adjustments.

(In the rare case where both vertical and horizontal distortion are pretty noticeable, either the user would have to use warp mesh or the user could first use the horizontal line straightener, rotate the image 90 degrees, apply it again, and then counter-rotate.)

[dave0judy]

Rick_R,

I understand and appreciate not wanting to be too complicated. My thoughts are that since someone already had the thought to include map coordinates when drawing, that it should be complete. Had PSP not included map coordinates at all, I would not have entertained completing the missing half of an option that is already there. Considering that magnetic coordinates are used far more than true coordinates (again true coordinates are already there), if not an option to have both, then maybe the coordinates included should be magnetic and not true?

Again, as to not complicate the software at all, with this feature being just an option under preferences, it would only effect those of us that actually want this option and turn it on under preferences. For those that don't, nothing changes, so no added complexity.

Anyway, I think I found a work-around, by doing a Print/Screen of the area on my other software (set to magnetic) and just paste it into PSP. I can then just draw my lines using true coordinates on this magnetically flipped map.

Lastly, you had mentioned that it was possible to install multiple versions of PSP on the same PC and they would not interact at all between them. I would love to have some of the prior versions that I had and have tossed. Would it be possible to obtain a download on any of my purchased prior versions?

[Rick_R]

Regarding page-split, I think functionally it could be done like this:

1) Most books are scanned in black and white. The center "split" line will either be dark black or a medium-light shade of gray.

2) There often is a black background area. So omit the top and bottom 5% when scanning for the split.

3) Starting at horizontal 35% (presumed center minus 15%), scan a narrow vertical area, break it into upper, mid and lower and calculate the average of the RGB pixels for each. Those should be close to 255,255,255. Move left, scan again, etc, to horizontal 65%. At some point near the middle the average RGB values should drop substantially--and be similar for all three--then go back to 255,255,255. (I'm just guessing +/- 15% would be best. Maybe 10%. 15% might have too much of a tendency to pick up photos and text. The upper/mid/lower split should help reduce this.)

4) How wide that "drop" area is could be used to automatically turn "wide separator" mode on or off.

[Rick_R]

Back in February 2013 Joanne mentioned keeping file locations in the same place.

I too like to keep my file locations in the same place across versions and find it a bit annoying having to manually enter the locations with each upgrade or install. (I have more than one Windows boot drive and different installs have different PSP installs.)

The easiest way to do this would be to allow Import and Export File Locations. Probably also Import and Export File Associations too while you're at it. (Or Backup and Recover--same functionality--since people tend to be more aware "I should back up" rather than "I should export.")

[LeviFiction]

I agree. They used to let us choose the location of "my Files" in the installer. They should bring that back. So if we want them separated we can do so. And if we want them together, we can do that as well.

For now, I've just made a script that updates my location list. Saves time, by just having to hit "play" to set the locations.

[Rick_R]

A save as *.icon or *.ico so that PSP images can be used as shortcut Icons or application icons with Windows Desktops and menus etc.
Allowing text to be created in 3 dimensions:
Perhaps an illusion of 3D text could be a merge between Text creation and the Perspective Correction Tool.
Perhaps the ability to create text that would fit inside of a Polygon, made of wavey lines.
The idea is to be able to wrap text on 3D objects. Like writing on a wall that is viewed from the side, so that the size of the letters changes with the perceived size of the wall.
A tool that allowed for the insertion of a layer or object within the polygon, so that its size would change relative to the shape of the polygon. Remember putting silly putty on comic books and making the superheroes stretch!

Adding icon support would require major changes. Icon files are not simple image files. They normally contain multiple images of different sizes. There are programs custom written for Icon creation, e.g., http://www.IcoFX.ro

[LeviFiction]

Simple ICO files can be made inside PSP and saved out easily. Just add this plugin to PSP.

http://www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/product/ICOFormat

[Rick_R]

Note that icon editing and creation programs also provide extraction capability.

A free program that can extract and save icons is IconExtract: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/iconsext.html

The Windows files with the most icons are C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll and C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll

[Rick_R]

SUGGESTION: "Ranged" Adjustment Previews

I don't know specifically what to call this. Arcsoft Photostudio 5.5 had it but 6.0 doesn't. You could apply a "smartfix" change to a photo and instead of making just one change it would give you a set of photos with the adjustment at different steps. So, for instance, instead of brightening by 20% it might give you 8 photos with brightening from +5% to +40% in 5% increments. You would then pick the one you liked best. I don't recall if this was a "smartfix" option (i.e., it adjusted multiple factors simultaneously) or if it only adjusted one factor.

[Rick_R]

Levi,

Thanks for the tip about creating a script to set the file locations. I hadn't thought of that.

By the way, I noticed that X5 puts the Corel_01, etc., files in C:\Program Files\Corel\ (etc) but X6 puts them in C:\ProgramData\Corel\ (etc)

(Since I'll be using X5 with Win 8.1 and X6 with Win 7, I have to put all that on a different drive and create junctions. I'm winding up writing a batch file for use with JPSoft's TCC replacement for cmd.exe to avoid having to create fifteen junctions manually per install! )

[sheilsoft]

If someone in Corel is scanning this forum, please consider this...

As DSLRs get higher resolution sensors, and therefore image filesizes increase significantly, working with multiple images in a session can fill PSPs cache very quickly, leading to sizeable total folder volume. This means, I think, at least what I'm seeing, that when you return to PSP for a further session, the time taken to access the cache can slow down the startup process considerably.

I know I could manually clear the cache, which gets rid of the problem, but why not add some automation as an option?

Could we please have as a Preferences option... Clear Cache on Exit.

Thanks!

Rgds,
Howard

[LindaP57]

I would like to see:

1. Healing Brush and Spot Healing Brush with Content Aware just like Photoshop Elements has

2. Make PSP compatible with the NIK plugins without having to use a script.

[Larry52]

Well I figure I'll ask again for this version.
Any chance of adding focus stacking?

[Safiren]

My wish is about the display of brushes.

I wish the display of brushes would be sharper.
In my picture, I have compared Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro where you can see a big difference.
The display in PSE is much sharper.
I find it difficult when choosing a brush to see how it looks in PSP.
In my image it looks sharper then it really is.