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Author Topic: Request: "File -> Open" command for editor  (Read 4583 times)

tranglos

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Request: "File -> Open" command for editor
« on: January 06, 2012, 08:24 AM »
I'm looking for one, but can't find it :)

Now here's why. I needed to take an existing image and crop it to a specific pixel size. This simple task is surprisingly hard in most image editors, because:

1) In most simple editors, the selection rectangle is not persistent: you draw it with the mouse, then it disappears as soon as you click elsewhere. This means that if I need a selection rectangle that's exactly 655 x 342 pixels, I have to get it right the first time. Not easy! Good-bye, Paint .Net.

2) In more capable editors, the selection rectangle "sticks" and you can resize it with the mouse. The editor in ACDSee 10 does that, for example. But would you believe it, it does not display the dimensions of the selection, so you can't tell if the rectangle has the right size. Bye-bye!

3) Even if the selection is sticky and sizeable, often it cannot be moved around the image to cover a different part of it. You can get the rectangle to the required size, but when you drag it around, it moves together with the pixels it contains, leaving a white spot in its original location. Bye-bye, Snagit editor!

Needless to say, Screenshot Captor gets all three tasks perfectly! But I couldn't find a way to open an arbitrary image :) I copied the image to SC's screenshot folder instead, but a File -> Open would still be very useful, if possible.

Oh, and for the procedure I was doing, there's one other thing that would help that no editor does (that I know of). Let me specify the dimensions first, in pixels or percentage, in a dialog box. Click OK, and the selection rectangle is placed on the image at the exact size and can then be moved around to select the desired area of the picture. That would really help a lot, because even with the sticky selection, it's not that easy to change the width or height by 1 pixel or so.

Not urgent, not critical, just a couple of things that would help me a lot when needed.

mouser

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Re: Request: "File -> Open" command for editor
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2012, 08:28 AM »
nice ideas.

i particularly like the set selection size thing -- i'll do that right away.

the open with SC.. i can add that easily enough, but would it be ok if sc switched to that file's folder too?  if not it might be harder.

lanux128

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Re: Request: "File -> Open" command for editor
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2012, 08:44 AM »
Oh, and for the procedure I was doing, there's one other thing that would help that no editor does (that I know of). Let me specify the dimensions first, in pixels or percentage, in a dialog box. Click OK, and the selection rectangle is placed on the image at the exact size and can then be moved around to select the desired area of the picture. That would really help a lot, because even with the sticky selection, it's not that easy to change the width or height by 1 pixel or so.

i use IrfanView to do the above. there is a dialog box to set the dimension in cm/inches/pixels (it can't do percentages though) and you can use right-click to drag the selection around. the screenshots might be more useful..

IrfanView_Create custom selection_06_01_2012_001.pngRequest: "File -> Open" command for editor
IrfanView_Create custom selection_06_01_2012_002.pngRequest: "File -> Open" command for editor

tranglos

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Re: Request: "File -> Open" command for editor
« Reply #3 on: January 06, 2012, 08:56 AM »
i particularly like the set selection size thing -- i'll do that right away.

So now I don't know what to say :) That would be great, but really, it's not that urgent. Thanks!

the open with SC.. i can add that easily enough, but would it be ok if sc switched to that file's folder too?  if not it might be harder.

Totally ok, yes.

tranglos

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Re: Request: "File -> Open" command for editor
« Reply #4 on: January 06, 2012, 08:58 AM »
i use IrfanView to do the above. there is a dialog box to set the dimension in cm/inches/pixels (it can't do percentages though) and you can use right-click to drag the selection around. the screenshots might be more useful..

Thanks, that looks good too. The right-button move is neat, I didn't know about that.

vlastimil

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Re: Request: "File -> Open" command for editor
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2012, 12:03 PM »
A shameless plug, I cannot resist, sorry  :-[. I believe my freeware image editor (RealWorld Paint) can offer the crop functionality you are looking for thanks to its command line interface:
1. open an image
2. type or paste the prepared command line to the area near the bottom of the window, for example: DrawTool.CROP(Document, 0, 0, 655, 342);
3. move it around with mouse
4. apply the command (with a down right mouse gesture or by right clicking and selecting Apply from a context menu or by pressing Enter while the canvas has input focus)

tranglos

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Re: Request: "File -> Open" command for editor
« Reply #6 on: January 06, 2012, 05:31 PM »
DrawTool.CROP(Document, 0, 0, 655, 342)

You have written an image editor with a built-in command line?!

Checking.... checking... OMG.

Love it! Thanks, Vlastimil, this is seriously neat. My editing needs are usually limited to cropping and an occasional color correction, but hey, this is really a sweet and precise way to slice and dice graphics.