Image manipulation on the EPlaya

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:44 am

Image manipulation discussion for EPlayan's mostly related to Thematic art..A place to test things too! trying to figure out how to make a picture a link? try it here..Trying to display a clear background pic try it here..etc etc

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:31 pm

.
Very good! Thanks, Rockdad!

And a place to test is a great idea.

Here is the brain storm that lead Rockdad -- in desperation, no doubt, on account of my computer ignorance! -- to launch this thread:

Over on yet another thread (Wheeled vehicle construction, or maybe Tracked vehicle...) one of our Mutant Vehicle gurus brought up the common problem of photos that are so wide that they force the page off the edge of the monitor screen and we have to scroll back and forth to read.

This is one of my (rare) disappointments on ePlaya, and I jumped on the topic and posted my thoughts all over the place. My dream is to establish a simple system for limiting photo width, and distributing this knowledge to everyone who posts photos on ePlaya. Many participants have this down pat already, of course, but I am thinking of greenhorns like myself.

My system -- which is perhaps not he best, but works for me -- is to re-size photos in a program called Paint, which I happen to have on my 'puter. Rockdad is trying to enlighten me to better ways, and that is why we are here: to establish the best and simplest method for solving the problem -- in a way that can be unobtrusively shared with every newcomer.

For the distribution part, I'm thinking of putting the info, or a link to it, in my automatic signature.

All right -- now we have a suitable forum for the problem, and I shall go and do something else for a little while, and we'll see what develops.

Thanks, All!

DVD Burner · Post by **DVD Burner** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:36 pm

Elliot wrote: Over on yet another thread (Wheeled vehicle construction, or maybe Tracked vehicle...) one of our Mutant Vehicle gurus brought up the common problem of photos that are so wide that they force the page off the edge of the monitor screen and we have to scroll back and forth to read.

You know something, you should send a message to Spanky. I already sent him a phpbbs plugin for that.

This has come up once (several) times before. It was supposed to be fixed.

bringer · Post by **bringer** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:38 pm

I simply host my images on imageshack.us

There is an option to resize on upload.
Then I link from there.

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:36 pm

Well where to begin..The problem at first was a problem with understanding the difference between file size and picture size and Elliot not comprehending the difference even though picture size can affect file size, File size does not necessarily affect picture size so then the conversation lead to size in pixels height and width versus actual file size in bytes what Elliot was demonstrating on the Apok thread was reducing picture size by reducing file size in percentages of bytes I think not in pixel width and height...

Well first Elliot we need to get you a real picture editor Paint sucks but I was just playing with it and I need to know were you resizing pictures with the skew/stretch tool? If so it appears to me it reduces picture size by precentage of actual size in pixels not bytes which will work fine..

Irfanview the first free tool I would download for picture manipulation it will open anything just about and convert it to .jpg or .gif. and the resize tool is much better than paint.

Irfanview Link is here It is a free tool with a lot of picture tools and such

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:38 pm

bringer wrote:I simply host my images on imageshack.us

There is an option to resize on upload.
Then I link from there.

Another good point I use flickr and it does the same thing with auto resize and nobody can accuse you of hot linking...

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:40 pm

.
bringer: I use Photobucket. I see that they will resize automatically, but only very large files to slightly less large files. Definitely still too large for our purpose. Do you mean that Imageshack can automatically make the files suitable for our purpose?

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:41 pm

Flickr automatically makes them small. medium, large, huge

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:50 pm

.
We are tripping over each other again!

Rockdad, I still hope to comprehend what you are teaching me. Please give me time -- I'm a short bus kinda kid when it comes to 'puters.

Yes, I use the Paint Stretch/Skew thingie. All I know is that I managed to learn how, and it seems to get the job done.

If Imageshack and Flickr can do it for me, then I might switch to one of those.

We are making progress!

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:03 pm

Sounds good use it then...I would also download that free one I referred to for resizing on your puter because it will assist in finding pictures you already have on your puter without using Windows explorer..Also if your going to buy anything I would suggest discussing pro's and con's here first..

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:14 pm

.
Actually, I have already bought Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0! And I have installed it. But I have yet to try to use it for anything. I'm going to need it for my magazine writing job. Just like with MS Word, the magazine wants things standardized. For ePlaya I may choose to use some of these other things that you and the others are recommending. Slowly but surely...!

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:18 pm

Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0

Ouch that was what I was scared of! Oh well Adobe makes a good product Cadillac even just way to pricey! Lots of software out there that will do same or more at 1/4 cost....

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:44 pm

.
Well this is the small Photoshop at $100. And the magazine insists I use the same software as they have, so that decision was made for me.

All right -- I'm going to try to study your information on pixels and such.

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:13 pm

If you want a sophisticated photo editing software without the expense of one of those other software suites, you can download The Gimp for free at that link. You'll also need the GTK runtime environment, which is also available from their download section. It offers many of the tools and scripts you'll find in commercial programs, and is completely open-source. The UI is a little odd, but once you get used to it you'll find it pretty natural. It even has scripts to make animated .GIF files from your photos, and will use photoshop plugins.

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:09 pm

.
I DO grasp the importance of pixels. I'll use width in pixels as my guide in the future. Thanks!

Now, how do we slip this information; this request; to everybody else -- without offending anyone, which I certainly wouldn't want to do?

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:17 pm

Good question but I think most people know the others either learn by experience or K4 jumps on them..k4 usually suggests 400 wide I find 600 fine I do not know what is best because there is so many different size monitors out there set at so many different resolutions in so many different browsers...

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:26 pm

.
Appreciate all your help Rockdad and everybody.

Practically every page winds up with scrolling, so I am putting a suggestion of max 500 pixels wide in my signature. Think that might help spread the word, inoffensively?

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:29 pm

Good chance to learn something How big is your monitor I am guessing 15" set at a low resolution..If you set it at a higher resolution you will display more dots per inch (DPI) and Poof the problem is gone! And it will display more websites correctly! Pictures and icons and such will appear smaller but with actually more clarity

EspressoDude · Post by **EspressoDude** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:38 pm

for a freebee.....If you have Windows, you probably have MS Photoeditor.
(maybe it is part of Office?)

open an image Click IMAGE; RESIZE; when the resize box opens, select UNITS; PIXELS........then you can see the present size in pixels, change the percent....see the new size in pixels, then SAVE, or SAVE AS (new file name)

( this was new to me a month ago)

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:30 pm

.
This is terriffic, guys; it is forcing me to learn.

The invoice shows a 17 inch (16.0 viewable, .25MM) M782 Monitor.

I poked around in Control Panel and found that it is set to 800x600 -- all the way to the left on the slider.

So... all those times when a web page runs off the screen by an inch or two.... You mean I can fix that simply with that little slider???

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:33 pm

Basicly yeah. Most any screen will run at 1024x768 these days. Things will start looking alot nicer while surfing the net.

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:44 pm

.
I don't seem to have MS Photoeditor. My photos are in "My Pictures", which I am happy with. (From there I can open to Paint or Photoshop.)

When I hover the arrow over a photo in My Pictures, I get a small window with Dimensions, Type and Size info. I just never learned the significance of the Dimensions -- somehow I was fixated on the KBs.

Ah... Capjbadger! Long time! Still my favorite avatar! I'll try a new screen resolution.

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:01 pm

Cap is right Elliot and now pictures will look much nicer like film even.
And you have a great puter set up with a Dell 2800 with a 17 incher your playing with the big boy's

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:06 pm

Dell M782 Top ten monitors
Solid image quality from a display that complements Dell's Dimension and OptiPlex computer lines.

Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Full Review

Test Report

WHAT'S HOT: Although the M782 was not the top performer of our group, it displayed sharp text, particularly in a Microsoft Word document and on our test screen of fonts. At $229, the M782 is also very affordable.

WHAT'S NOT: The M782 rendered color less consistently than it rendered text: While colors on some screens looked bright and inviting, on other screens they looked comparatively dull.

WHAT ELSE: You use five buttons located on the left-hand side of the bezel to manage the easy-to-use on-screen controls. However, the length of time the on-screen display remains visible cannot be adjusted, which can be frustrating if you need more time to make modifications. The M782 does distinguish itself by offering a Help button in the on-screen controls, which offers brief tips on such things as how to detect flicker and how to fix the display if images are distorted or discolored. With its black case and silver buttons, the M782 is designed to match Dell's Dimension and OptiPlex computer lines.

UPSHOT: Strong text and middling graphics make the M782 best suited for text-based applications, such as e-mail, word processing, and Web-based research.

Bottom line your Monitor is perfect for you since you are mainly text based with Silent radio - Future upgrade I would suggest 19" LCD and free up some desk space with bigger screen at the same time.

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:21 pm

.
Wow, this 1024 x 768 sure looks different from 800 x 600! I may need stronger glasses! But if it will bring more material inside the screen, I'll like it once I get used to it.

Rockdad · Post by **Rockdad** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:27 pm

Well find a happy medium you only need that kinda of res if your doing high end photo work...

well after checking my own setup
some much for that I am running 1152 x 864 but I do use 1.5 reading glasses

Yep and you can have a really messy desktop with like a 100 icons

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:59 pm

In case any of you were wondering what to get me for my birthday:

Screen Size 21"
Maximum Resolution 1680 x 1050
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Response Time 8 ms
Brightness 300 cd/m²
Portrait and/or Landscape Viewable Portrait, Landscape
Contrast Ratio 1000:1
Dot Pitch 0.27mm

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:27 am

Specifications:
16:9 widescreen aspect ratio delivers a cinema-style entertainment experience; 4 selectable viewing modes
1366 x 768 pixel resolution supports 720p signals for stunning image clarity
Dynamic contrast ratio (4,000:1) provides incredible images whether you're watching dark or bright scenes; 800:1 contrast ratio
Wide viewing angles (170° x 170°) let you view your TV clearly from anywhere in the room
Quick Shoot video circuit enables fast response time of less than 12 ms
High brightness (450 cd/m²) allows you to put your TV near windows, door or other light sources — and the picture is still vivid; 60,000 hour lamp life
Selectable color temperatures let you customize your viewing experience
Ultraslim LCD measures less than 5" deep; comes with table stand or can be mounted on a wall (with optional mounting kit, not included)
Progressive scanning maximizes the picture quality of progressive-scan DVD players, set-top boxes and digital video recorders
HD component video inputs make it easy to hook up a DVD player and optimize DVD output for stunning picture quality
Inputs: 1 RS-232C, 1 HDMI, 2 HD component video, CableCard slot, 1 S-video, 3 composite video and 3 audio
Outputs: 1 S-video, 1 optical digital audio, 1 RCA and stereo minijack
2 built-in 10W speakers with Mach 3 bass and BBE high-definition sound recreates the experience of cinema sound effects
V-Chip parental controls keep children from being exposed to undesirable material
ENERGY STAR compliance assures a high standard of energy efficiency

This is what I use as my primary display and it works well.

DVD Burner · Post by **DVD Burner** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:14 pm

I just discovered Hannspree yesterday by chance, check out these monitors:

This ones for cowboy:

These guys even make basketball monitors:

Not trying to post commerce but yall may just wanna check out this place.

PurpleKoosh · Post by **PurpleKoosh** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 11:13 pm

Second, third, and fourth the previous recommendation of IrfanView. (It's that useful.) I'm also quite enamored of Serif Photo Plus. I've used the Linux version of GIMP in the past (working on the CLUE buttons I brought out in '04, actually), and while I got the results I wanted, it took me a lot longer to get them than I was happy with. My local Linux guru notes that it's the sort of program that takes a LOT of practice before it gets really usable. I had no such learning curve with SPP.