Simple means of joining images?

[sword]

Photoshop can do this but it is not 'simple'. Gimp should be able to do the same.
I use Photoshop to make something like old 'contact sheets'. Make one basic background with a layer. Open files and paste them. Each can be cropped, dragged or overlapped and the combination can be processed or saved in many ways.

[Curt]

Image joining software?

I use PhotoScape for a similar feature; they call it, to combine.
http://www.photoscap...wnload.php?update=on

-Curt (January 13, 2009, 05:05 PM)

Yes, this is exactly it.  Awesome!

-superboyac

-superboyac (January 13, 2009, 06:14 PM)

Software to make image collages, film strips, and other multi-image compositions?

-JavaJones

Photoscape is a good find. It actually has some options that Picasa doesn't and while it's a bit clunkier, I think it's worth keeping in the toolbox for when I want to do things a that Picasa's collage system just won't do. Rounded corners is an example of a feature that, while small, is something I've done occasionally in the past and is very easy to achieve in Photoscape.

-JavaJones (December 14, 2011, 04:40 PM)

http://www.photoscap...ps/main/download.php
Not as many options as you may be asking for. But simple, free, and quite good.

[rjbull]

Does OneNote allow you to save the composite as a new image, and/or send it to the clipboard? Yes to both, and in alternative ways. I could explain it but you'd probably be best off trialling OneNote and seeing how it works yourself. A video on OneNote could help - would you like me to point you at some?

-IainB (May 03, 2012, 02:48 AM)

Yes, please, for the videos.  I bought a student license for Office 2010 a couple of years back, so in fact I have OneNote 2010 - but had never opened it...   I've had a five-second play, and begin to see what you mean.  It doesn't offer an obvious option to save as a graphics file, but I suppose I could screenshot the composite.

[rjbull]

PPX6 would probably work for you if your intended "final destination" was a printed page -- but (a) I assumed you were more screen-focussed and (b) I was trying to find a free solution that I'd be at least reasonably happy to use myself.

-oblivion (May 03, 2012, 04:34 AM)

Correct, screen-focussed.  At that point I hadn't thought as far as PPX6's output, only that it should give very precise control over positioning.  It wouldn't cost me any extra as I already have a copy.

IainB's suggestion of OneNote looks good, but I'm not sure it's an appropriate solution to the problem if it's the only likely use you have for it and if you don't already have an Office license.

-oblivion (May 03, 2012, 04:34 AM)

I already have a license, and if all else fails it may well do, but I agree that it (and some other suggestions) are getting heavy-duty for what I wanted.  I was hoping for something small and simple.

If you already have a PhotoPlus license for pretty much any version at all [...] each dropped image becomes a layer that you can manipulate independently [...]

-oblivion (May 03, 2012, 04:34 AM)

As soon as people start talking about layers, which I don't understand, the complexity of the software begins to loom large.

(PhotoPlus also has screen capture capabilities, if you're in reductionist mode, although ScreenshotCaptor has elbowed everything else I've ever used for such purposes out of the way!)

-oblivion (May 03, 2012, 04:34 AM)

At the moment I'm using HyperSnap 6.  SSC is complex, and its Ctrl+Z Undo didn't seem to work for me.

[rjbull]

I think this may be a new feature of version 7, but I'm not sure.

-cyberdiva (May 02, 2012, 04:18 PM)

I popped up a query in the HyperSnap forum.  Indded, they say that pretty much everything I wanted is available in HS7, though I'd have to pay for the upgrade.

[oblivion]

As soon as people start talking about layers, which I don't understand, the complexity of the software begins to loom large.

-rjbull (May 06, 2012, 11:05 AM)

In this context, just imagine that each time you drop an image into the workspace, it lands on a new sheet of clear acetate. As long as you keep the acetates separate from each other, you can slide them around without affecting the contents of any other acetate. The useful thing about layers it that they allow you to handle components of images separately from other components -- in other words, you can move things around with respect to each other without having to worry about bits getting intermingled in such a way that you can't undo it again. So you can resize and reposition each image with respect to all the others to your heart's content and if you don't want to you never have to do something that commits your changes irretrievably.

It took me quite a while to get comfortable with a layered approach, and I'm still occasionally confused by it but it's generally far less tricky than it appears as long as the software itself doesn't make moving between them and reordering them too complicated. (I still struggle with adjustment layers, but generally manage to live without them and you don't need them to do this sort of stuff anyway.)

[Dormouse]

Snagit will do this easily.

Not sure you would really want to add another screen capture tool to your collection though.

[rjbull]

In this context, just imagine that each time you drop an image into the workspace, it lands on a new sheet of clear acetate. [...]

-oblivion (May 06, 2012, 12:33 PM)

Thanks!  That's the clearest explanation of layers that I've seen.  I still think it's more advanced than I want, but now I see a little clearer what the photoshop fans are driving at.

[rjbull]

Snagit will do this easily.

Not sure you would really want to add another screen capture tool to your collection though.

-Dormouse (May 06, 2012, 02:47 PM)

I already have the free license for Snagit 7 that they gave away a few years ago    It doesn't work for me on Vista, though, so it's not much use now.  And as you observe, I already have access to multiple alternatives...

[MerleOne]

Please, is there a simple program that will allow me to butt-join graphic images together, much like you'd do with paper and glue?  This would be nice for things like before-and-after screenshots, etc.  The images might not always be the same size or shape.  I'd like full control over their positioning, and to save the composite result as a new graphic.

I thought this was what NANY 2012 Pledge & Release: Image Grid was, but it felt like a sliding-block puzzle and wasn't quite what I wanted.   

-rjbull (April 30, 2012, 03:59 PM)

I found a while ago, on GOTD : Total Image Slicer.  Reasonably easy to use and does just that.

[IainB]

Total Image Slicer looks quite handy!    

I have also been playing about with SSCaptor, with interesting results.
If you create a large image as a "canvas" for SSC - say an all black or an all white image - then you can use that as the background and paste/float smaller images over it. I haven't quite figured out how to use it properly like this.

Anyway, here's an example. The background ("canvas") in this example is a large screenshot, and I pasted on a couple smaller screenshots, leaving them as transparent.
I thought it could be pretty useful - once you got the hang of using it that way (as a general purpose image manipulation tool).
If you pasted on more than one additional smaller screenshots like this, you can move them around. They can slide over each other. The main constraint seems to be the boundary edge of your "canvass" image.