Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

Mike's Software => Qimage => Topic started by: gber on April 23, 2011, 04:50:07 PM



Title: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: gber on April 23, 2011, 04:50:07 PM
(Apologies in advance as I suspect this is a repeat question, but I'm not finding it in search...)

I want to save various crops of the same image, and it has occurred to me that applying the crops in qimage and saving the filters is an efficient way to do it.  This would mean multiple filters per picture.  I have experimented, and it seems to work fine - I open up the filter I want to apply when editing the picture and it seems to apply just fine. 

Are there any gotchas I should be aware of with this approach?  I don't want to go to far down the road and realize that I was using filters in a wrong way.

Thanks!


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: Fred A on April 23, 2011, 05:10:39 PM
Quote
I want to save various crops of the same image, and it has occurred to me that applying the crops in qimage and saving the filters is an efficient way to do it.  This would mean multiple filters per picture.  I have experimented, and it seems to work fine - I open up the filter I want to apply when editing the picture and it seems to apply just fine.

Are there any gotchas I should be aware of with this approach?  I don't want to go to far down the road and realize that I was using filters in a wrong way.

Thanks!

If you want to make multiple crops of an image, and want to use filters to save various crops *of the image*, is to use the Right Mouse click on the thumbnail of the image you cropped, and use COPY. When the box opens, simply swipe (select the text) and type in a suitable name like "close crop" in place of the text you swiped.
Now reopen the original image, and make your next crop and do the same thing.

If you are actually cropping to print various crops, you can do this on one, the original image without any COPY crops. Qimage will remember the print crops too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=pgHp45B1QXo&vq=hd720

Fred


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: gber on April 23, 2011, 06:00:20 PM
Hi Fred,

Excellent video - and I tried out your suggestion.  I see how the copy creates a new jpg with a new associated filter.  In my case, I want to have only 1 copy of the jpg, but multiple crops filters.  That helps me in 2 ways:

     1. If I want to subsequently edit the base image in photoshop, it automatically applies to all crops of that image.

     2. Since I'm only saving crop filters, I save a lot of space compared to saving multiple jpgs.

QImage lets me do it, though it is a tad bit of pain because filters open/save dialog boxes default to the the QImages\filter folder -- it would be better to have it default to the same folder that the Image is in.

What makes me a *little* bit nervous is that when I open an filter from with in the image editor (File -> Open Filter Parameters From File ), it doesn't take effect completely until I click on the image itself.  I think it is just an events/sequencing bug in the editor, but what prompted my post was my thinking, well, maybe I'm not supposed to be doing things this way.

Hope that makes sense.  Thanks.




Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: Terry-M on April 24, 2011, 06:46:11 AM
Hi,
Just some more points wrt your query:
Quote
What makes me a *little* bit nervous is that when I open an filter from with in the image editor (File -> Open Filter Parameters From File ), it doesn't take effect completely until I click on the image itself.
This puzzles me. The filter is applied immediately and you should see the effect can on the image in the editor.
Quote
it would be better to have it default to the same folder that the Image is in.
You can save a filter to wherever you like.

Going back to the original requirement: multiple crops for a particular image: are your crops all odd aspect ratios or specific ones that are re-used? Or, could you use a set of fixed aspect ratios to suit most of your needs?
If that is the case then you could use Print Cropping and create a custom set of print sizes to achieve this. You only need 1 custom print size for each aspect ratio because once set it is easy to drag the image to size in the Page Editor - and adjust the crop position which Qimage will remember.
I use this technique, see attached screen shot of some of my print sizes with aspect ratio noted.
Terry


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: Terry-M on April 24, 2011, 07:11:42 AM
Hi again,
Quote
I want to save various crops of the same image
It has occurred to me to go back to basics and ask why you want multiple crops of the same image?
If this is to cope with different print sizes; eg 10x8 and say a 20x30, then using print cropping, not image cropping, is the correct way to go and Qimage remembers the crop as I said in my previous post.
Terry


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: gber on April 24, 2011, 05:56:12 PM
Hi Terry, great questions/points.  Many times I like to have a few compositions for the same photo.  I do mainly urban architecture and often like both a square crop and a 4:3 crop for the same picture.  Googling Adobe forums, I can see that I'm not alone - it is a fairly common question (saving multiple crops in one photo).  In the past, I've saved an image for each crop I want, but when I want to go back and retouch something, I have to revisit each crop.  Crop filters give a huge advantage - I only have to retouch one photo, and automatically it gets deployed to my different compositions. 

After a day of fooling around with crop filters, I might have some different workflow suggestions/enhancements for qimage, but in general, I'm feeling confident that it works well enough. 

Cheers!


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: jeffjessee on April 24, 2011, 06:26:13 PM
If you define a square crop in the full page editor (not the filter screen) by just making the print square sized, and define another 3:4 crop of the same image in the FPE, with a version of the same image defined for that sized print, then any time you bring a square print of that image into the editor, it will apply the previously defined square crop. And any time you bring a 3:4 shaped version of the same image into the FPE, it will use that crop. At least it works that way for me, wiht 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10 crops of the same image. And the 8x10 crop would also be applied if I brought the print in as 16x20. So only one filter is needed. Crops from the full page editor are saved with the print sizes, (actually shapes), not the filters, which I think is just what you want.

Jeff Jessee


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: Terry-M on April 24, 2011, 06:26:23 PM
Quote
After a day of fooling around with crop filters, I might have some different workflow suggestions/enhancements for Qimage
You'll probably find Qimage can do what you want already in a number of different ways. Like I said, you can crop with a filter or a print crop, both can be saved and both only require the one image and you could use either or both for your situation.  8)
Remember, Qimage is not Photoshop and you probably need to get out of PS mode into Qimage mode to get the full benefit of its features   :o  ;D
Terry


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: Owen Glendower on April 25, 2011, 05:40:09 PM
Valuable thread, here, and the video is quite well-done, too, especially the brief intro explanation of print cropping and aspect ratio.  My occasional reading of photo forums tells me that this basic point is not at well understood.  Over & over again, people complain that their freehand crop cannot be printed to fill a standard paper size without additional cropping, and ask, "What am I doing wrong?"  My question is, does no one remember high-school geometry?


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: Fred A on April 25, 2011, 06:11:10 PM
Quote
My question is, does no one remember high-school geometry?
+

Of course they do.
That's where they get into trouble.
You see!  pi r 2
pi R square

Everyone knows Pie are round!

Before you know it, Terry starts with the millimeters, and there's no pi left for me.

Fred


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: Owen Glendower on April 25, 2011, 06:42:58 PM
Quote
My question is, does no one remember high-school geometry?
+

Of course they do.
That's where they get into trouble.
You see!  pi r 2
pi R square

Everyone knows Pie are round!

Before you know it, Terry starts with the millimeters, and there's no pi left for me.

Fred

"Pie are round."  Haven't heard that one for ages.  By the way, why do we park in a driveway but drive in a parkway?  [Answer: Because this is the English language.]

Perhaps I'm being too hard on the "why won't it fit?" people.  I can only assume that they crop a photo in a ratio somewhat close to a standard 5x7 or 8x10 and are puzzled why it won't fit perfectly, because I can't believe that someone would (for example) do a square crop and not be able to see that you can't just scale it up and fill a 5x7 or 8x10 perfectly.

I have even seen people complain that their photo-editing program won't let them "stretch" the photo--that it, distort it--just a bit so it will fill the desired space.  (Some programs will, I know).  These people are evidently freehand-cropping close to the desired aspect ratio...but, as the saying goes, "close" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Glad I'm a Qimage user.  Impossible to crop in the wrong ratio unless you turn off the crop lock.


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: Fred A on August 30, 2011, 09:23:00 PM
Quote
(Apologies in advance as I suspect this is a repeat question, but I'm not finding it in search...)

I want to save various crops of the same image, and it has occurred to me that applying the crops in qimage and saving the filters is an efficient way to do it.  This would mean multiple filters per picture.  I have experimented, and it seems to work fine - I open up the filter I want to apply when editing the picture and it seems to apply just fine.

Are there any gotchas I should be aware of with this approach?  I don't want to go to far down the road and realize that I was using filters in a wrong way.

Thanks!

Assuming you want to crop the images in various ways, the easy way is to make your crop in the Editor and then say Done, saving the crop as a filter.
So far easy!
Now you want to make a second or a third crop of the same image.
Just right mouse click on the thumbnail of the first cropped image and click COPY.
When the box opens, clear the text and type in something descriptive, like, Portrait crop of aunt Suzie. Say OK
Now that crop is saved in a copy but the original is still there too with that same crop that you just copied.
Reopen that original and change the crop to suit your wishes, and click DONE. You can use COPY to rename that one to Landscape crop or something suitable, if you have more to do.

It sounds complex, but very simple. It takes 10 seconds to do it.

Fred


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: vdr on August 30, 2011, 09:42:54 PM
I process and save multiple Crop Filters as needed.  I do NOT save separate Image files for these different crop sizes.  That would be defeating the beneficial feature of the Filters (and their small sizes) that are an excellent feature in Qimage without having another "specific sized" file of the cropped image file.
Many times, I will load a Folder of images in Queue, and (for example) apply a 4 x 6 Crop to one image; then select to apply to ALL images.  Then I will save the Filter files in a different Folder with same Folder Name as original PLUS _4x6 as part of the Folder Name.  Total Folder size is very small for the Filter files.
Other times, I will apply different (and specific) crop to each image then save ALL Filter files as discussed above.

When cropping just a few images in a folder for different size crop, I save each Filter File and add the size to the end (again such as _4x6, _5x7, _8x10, _16x20; etc -- then, when using one of these specific Filters, the size must be removed (prior to use) so to match with the original Image File Name.
 


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: Fred A on August 30, 2011, 09:54:14 PM
You are absolutely correct as long as you want to save Print crops and not image crops.
So, What is your question?

Fred


Title: Re: Multiple filters to manage crop sizes
Post by: vdr on August 31, 2011, 01:39:40 AM
Hello Fred,
I believe the OP's question is in the last 3 lines of the original post.
After reading all the posts, I had almost forgot the original question and/or concern.
My Regards, Vernon....