Cannot see how to adjust size for printing.

[paulo]

Have just bought PaintShop Pro X8 as I want to use some of my photos to send as Christmas cards. What I want is to crop my pic (and edit if needed) and then make sure that the printed result fits into the aperture in the ready made card blank. I am reasonably happy with cropping/editing but just cannot find how to get the final size right. I don't want to use loads of ink and photo paper by using trial and error method.
Any help or advise would be much appreciated.

[Kathy_9]

You can input the height and width; circled in red below.

click for larger view

[paulo]

Thanks Kathy for your help. I did originally tried the size buttons and thought I'd succeeded but what through me was that once I pressed the 'apply' button (green tick) the values for the size reverted to something like 0.10 so though I had not managed to save my size.

[paulo]

Hi again Kathy, not sure if you can help but I've still not been able to do exactly what I want to achieve. By just putting the dimensions in on the Width and Height adjusters I end up with a cropped picture that excludes some parts that I want to keep. What I want to do is crop my pic as I need to then once I have that pic, I want to make sure it prints at 15cm X 10cm to fit my card aperture. Is this possible do you think?

[Jean-Luc]

Hi Paulo,
make sure your image is proportional to 1772 x 1181 pixels.
If not, the following steps may introduce a little deformation in the image.

Go to :
-> Image
-> Resize
-> By Print Size
-> Resolution : 300 pixels/inch
-> Uncheck "Lock aspect ratio"
-> New Width : 150 millimeters
-> New Height : 100 millimeters
-> Resample using Smart Size
-> Sharpness (what you want) : I do most of the time Sharper (100)
-> Uncheck "Maintain original print size"
-> Check "Resize all layers"
-> OK

Now, you may print and the printed image will be exactly 10x15 cm.

Best regards,
Jean-Luc

[MarkZ]

Hi Paulo,
make sure your image is proportional to 1772 x 1181 pixels.
Best regards,
Jean-Luc

Jean-Luc:

Where did this proportion come from? I think using those units may be a bit misleading.

Instead I would say: Check the width/height ratio of the starting image. If it is not the same as what you desire (in this case 15/10), crop the image to that ratio to avoid distortion. For 15cm/10cm you would use the preset 2 x 3 (4x6) crop ratio. Now that the proportions are correct, in resize enter the print size you desire for one side and with a locked ratio the other side is correct.

[Jean-Luc]

Jean-Luc:

Where did this proportion come from? I think using those units may be a bit misleading.

Instead I would say: Check the width/height ratio of the starting image. If it is not the same as what you desire (in this case 15/10), crop the image to that ratio to avoid distortion. For 15cm/10cm you would use the preset 2 x 3 (4x6) crop ratio. Now that the proportions are correct, in resize enter the print size you desire for one side and with a locked ratio the other side is correct.

I have understood that Paulo didn't want to crop. He said "putting the dimensions in on the Width and Height adjusters I end up with a cropped picture that excludes some parts that I want to keep".
I think a little distorsion is sometimes acceptable.
Paulo also said "I want to make sure it prints at 15cm X 10cm to fit my card aperture"
When creating an image at 15x10 cm, 300 dpi, the resultant pixels size is 1772 x 1181 pixels (calculated by PSP). If you create a crop rectangle of this size and maintain the proportions (checked), you may adjust the crop and the cropped image will be in the good proportions.
Printing with my method does what Paulo wants. I do it myself very often because I need to obtain the same specific print size with differents images (but not the same size).

[brucet]

Would creating a new blank file at the correct dimensions help? If you did that, and saved it as a "master" file, you could be then guaranteed that you have the correct dimensions every time. Use this "master" file as the starting point for all your work.

Now open up your new "master" file. Then open up your desired file.Then crop and edit it. Once finished do a Edit/Copy.Then go to your new "master" and do a Edit/Paste As New Layer. Then with the pick took you can drag your new layer to fit the new "master" file dimensions. Should work but it will depend on how much distortion you find as acceptable. Merge All your layers (Flatten). Save as a new file name to protect your "master" file for future use.

I supply mounted prints to museums/galleries that always have to be the exact same size to fit mounting etc. This "master' plan ensures every print is the exact same size.

regards

[JoeB]

I'm thinking that the problem is that the original poster - @Paulo - didn't provide enough detailed information about what he was trying to actually achieve, and that can perhaps make the replies a bit confusing.

The first thing we need to know, Paulo, is whether you are actually cropping the image (that is, cutting parts of the original off of it) or just trying to resize it to fit a particular space. Because before you do any resizing you have to have an image that is the correct aspect ratio. An image that you want to print at 15 x 10cm has to have an aspect ratio of 1.5 to 1. In pixel size, that means something like 1500 pixels x 1000 pixels, 3000 x 2000 pixels, or an equivalent proportion. So if your image does not have a 1.5 to 1 proportion you will have to crop something off of it to achieve those proportions.

Also in that regard, we have to know whether or not part of the image will have to be covered by the card holder you are placing it in. Most picture frames, for example, cover a bit of all the edges of a photo, so when cropped (and if you want 15x10 cm to be viewable and not hidden by the frame) you want to leave enough space at all edges where there is no important part of the image that can be covered by the edges of the frame. But the image with that extra space still needs to have that 1.5 to 1 aspect ratio.

One you have the image cropped to the correct aspect ratio, you will want it to print with a decent quality output. In an abundance of caution that means you want to set the resolution in the PSP Resize dialogue to 100 pixels per cm. For your printer to print 100 pixels of your image to one cm of paper you need the pixel size of your image in PSP to be 1500 pixels by 1000 pixels (100 pixels per printed cm times 15 cm print size equals 1500 pixels of image to input to the printer).

So go to Image>Resize and click the circle beside By Print Size. In the dialogue that opens uncheck Maintain Aspect Ratio (I'm assuming you did a good crop job as described above and might only be out by a few pixels either way). Then go to the width and height boxes, select Centimeters in the dropdown box, and type in 15 and 10 respectively (assuming 15cm is the printed width and 10cm is the printed height you want) or vice versa if the opposite is true. Then in the Resolution section select Pixels/Centimeter and in the box type 100. In the lower part of the dialogue make sure Resample Using is checked and set to Smart Size and that Resize All Layers is checked, then click OK.

That should result in a printed image of good quality, although if the image was larger in PSP than 1500 x 1000 pixels then you will likely have to sharpen it and/or use Adjust>Brightness/Contrast>Fill Light/Clarify with a Clarify setting of about 50 and zero for fill light (you can experiment with the Clarify setting). If, however, your image was significantly less than 1500 by 1000 pixels in PSP then resizing will likely cause visible degradation which can be fixed somewhat by the sharpen and clarify tools.

EDIT: I should add that most images that you resize you will want the Maintain Aspect Ratio to be checked so always check its state (checked or unchecked) when resizing. I only suggested you uncheck it for this purpose because your crop might be out by a few pixels and if it was checked it might change some of the upper settings by a very small amount and that might be confusing. If unchecked, and if your crop was only a few pixels out, there would be no visible distortion at all in this case.

HTH.

[paulo]

Very many thanks to Kathy, Jean-Luc, Mark2, Brucet, JoeB for all your help and for taking the time to help. I have studied all the replies and learnt a great deal from them and experimented too so now I am much happier with sizing, proportions and ratios etc. Happy Christmas to all.

[Kathy_9]

Glad we could help. Merry Christmas!!