 To
make a new image, select File/New or CTRL-N or the paper icon on the menu
bar.
Either way, the create a New Image dialog box opens: |
 The
Color Mode list box gives a choice of eight different settings.
Use the 24RGB setting or 8-bit grayscale for Web, in any case it's possible
to change this setting as final step (menu Image/Color Mode).
It's possible to chose a color for the background.
The No background check box creates an image that only contains one transparent
object: this feature is very handy for making images for the Web or to create
objects for other images.
The settings in the Image Size section of the dialog box are closely interrelated.
The preset available in the size drop down list change to match the units
of measure.
Although Resolution has preset value, it can be modify.
When selecting a resolution, remember that if are not exactly sure about
the size of the new image, make it too large rather than too small: images
suffer much less quality loss when made smaller than when they must be made
larger.
Selecting the Create a Movie check box allows to specify how many frames
a new animation/movie will contain.
You can always add more frames later. |
Changing the size of an image
There are different ways to change the size of an image: most of the commands
are found in the Image menu.
Commands in the Image menu affect the entire image and cannot be applied
to a portion of the image.
Resizing: changing the resolution
of the image, thereby affecting the printed size without adding or substracting
pixels.
Resampling: this command makes the image larger
or smaller by adding or substracting pixels.
Crop Tool:
this tool acts like a traditional cropping tool. It allows to define a specific
area of an image and to remove all of the area outside the defined area.
Paper size: this command uses a combination of resampling
and cropping. The paper size command increases the overall image size by
increasing the size of the base image: it is as you put a larger sheet of
paper under the original. It can be used to crop the image. |
The Resample Command
Both resizing and resampling of an image is done by the same Resample command.
Resampling actually recreates the image, adding or substracting pixels as
required and changes the image size in pixels and therefore the file size
will vary: it must in order to store the different number of pixels.
Selecting Mantain Original Size unchanges the new image size.
Increasing the size of the image usually introduces distortion in the form
of softening.
Decreasing the image size causes distortion, but the effect is less apparent,
because of the optical effect of a reduced size.
Each method changes the size of the printed size and each has it own advantages
and disadvantages.
Resizing:
Resizing the image by changing the resolution is accomplished by choosing
Image/Resample and, after the Resample dialog box opens, clicking the button
labeled Mantain Original Size.
Next, change the values in the value boxes to the desired size (or percentage
of reduction or increase).
Enabling MOS forces PP to resize the image by keeping the
file size (total number of pixels in the image) unchanged. |
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Resampling:
When you must resample the image to get the needed size or resolution,
with this method, none of the parametres of the image are restricted.
PP adds or substracts pixels from the image to make it fit the new dimensions
entered.
When the number of pixels increases, PP creates more pixels through a process
called interpolation: the program resamples by examining every
pixels throughout the entire image, comparing pairs of adjacent pixels and
creating pixels that represent the average tonal value.
If Mainatain Aspect Ratio is off, it is possible to change one dimension
without causing the other to change and so a perspective distortion will
be introduced and this distortion will be noticeable if the values entered
vary too grately from the original aspect ratio. |
The Paper Size dialog box
The width/height values determine the the new width and height of the paper
according to the units of measurement.
If the lock icon is enabled, the aspect ratio is mantained.
The placement of the original is determined by selecting or placing the
cursor in the preview window and moving the image to the desired location.
This command offers a quick way to change the size of an image without changing
its resolution or resapling and it also is the best way to do either precision
crops or add a border to an image.
This command, when the new dimensions are lower, crops the image and so
deletes the areas that are out of the new edges, if you apply the command
to the background.
(see the crop command)
If you apply it when the image is an object, the command crops only the
background, but all objects, that have an area inside the new area, isn't
deleted.
So, it is possible to determine new precise dimensions for the image that
can be decreased with the dimension handles. |
 
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 Cropping
involves the removal parts of an image to change its size (tools box and
image menu).
There are different ways to crop an open image:
a) Crop to selection,
b) Crop to mask,
c) Crop border color |
 
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Crop to selection
After you select the crop tool, draw a rectangular bounding box that surrounds
the subject and excludes the area to crop. The area, that will be removed,
will be darkened.
The bounding box can be resized and moved using the handles:
Double click within the rectangle crops the image to the shape
of the rectangle;
Double click outside of the ractangle cancels the crop command.
This command crops also all objects of the file.
Crop to mask
This option operates like Crop to selection except that it crops to a mask
rather than to the rectangle created by the crop tool.
To crop an area, begin by surrounding it with a mask, select the crop tool
and right click inside of the mask to see a choice of crop selection options:
choose crop to mask.
Crop Border Color
The crop border color command removes borders of a particular color from
an image. The idea is to select the color of the border (maybe white or
black) and click the button and the border disappears. |
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