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Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping



 
 
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  #61  
Old February 19th 18, 02:49 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
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Posts: 6,438
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

"JJ" wrote

| (What _is_ the "native" format for
| Macs then?)
|
| pdf
|
| Yeah, right...

Ask an AppleSeed a technical question....

On the other hand, PDF seems a suitable
format for Macs: Expensive, locked, and
being the best tool for a very narrow range
of mostly commercial uses.


Ads
  #62  
Old February 19th 18, 03:27 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
nospam
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Posts: 4,718
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

In article , Mayayana
wrote:


| (What _is_ the "native" format for
| Macs then?)
|
| pdf
|
| Yeah, right...

Ask an AppleSeed a technical question....


not only will they correctly answer it, but they won't resort to
insults.

On the other hand, PDF seems a suitable
format for Macs: Expensive, locked, and
being the best tool for a very narrow range
of mostly commercial uses.


all false. pdf is an iso standard and apple is not paying licensing
fees, one of the main reasons why they switched from dps to pdf.

as usual, you do not understand what you're babbling about.
  #63  
Old February 19th 18, 03:41 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
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Posts: 6,438
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

"nospam" wrote

| On the other hand, PDF seems a suitable
| format for Macs: Expensive, locked, and
| being the best tool for a very narrow range
| of mostly commercial uses.
|
| all false. pdf is an iso standard and apple is not paying licensing
| fees

Who said anything about licensing fees? I
don't mean expensive as in paying royalties.
I mean expensive in that one needs software
to make them and the best software is very
expensive. By contrast, one can write HTML
or DOCs or TXT for free.

(I'm not even getting into the strangeness
of you thinking PDF is an image format.)

PDF has one specific strength: Accurate printing.
It's for things that need to be printed, like
legal or business docs.

It's overused for another reason: Because it's
relatively immutable compared to things like
DOCs or TXT or HTML. Thus it's preferred for
commercial documents where the author wants
to prevent change to the content.

In other words, it's mainly a format for use in
business and official docs, to be shared with
"consumers".


  #64  
Old February 19th 18, 03:54 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
nospam
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Posts: 4,718
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

"nospam" wrote

| On the other hand, PDF seems a suitable
| format for Macs: Expensive, locked, and
| being the best tool for a very narrow range
| of mostly commercial uses.
|
| all false. pdf is an iso standard and apple is not paying licensing
| fees

Who said anything about licensing fees? I
don't mean expensive as in paying royalties.
I mean expensive in that one needs software
to make them and the best software is very
expensive. By contrast, one can write HTML
or DOCs or TXT for free.


no additional software or payments of any sort are required.

you *clearly* don't understand how pdf is used in mac os and how it
fits into the grand scheme of things, and what's worse, you aren't
interested in learning anything.

(I'm not even getting into the strangeness
of you thinking PDF is an image format.)


i said it's the native file format, and it is.

PDF has one specific strength: Accurate printing.
It's for things that need to be printed, like
legal or business docs.


pdf is *much* more than for printing. much, much more.

pdfs can contain video with sound. how do you plan on printing that?

the rest of your ignorant babble snipped.
  #65  
Old February 19th 18, 04:20 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)[_4_]
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Posts: 2,679
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

In message , Mayayana
writes:
"nospam" wrote

| On the other hand, PDF seems a suitable
| format for Macs: Expensive, locked, and
| being the best tool for a very narrow range
| of mostly commercial uses.


(-:
[]
(I'm not even getting into the strangeness
of you thinking PDF is an image format.)


I can remember when a lot of scanning software, especially that
accompanying scanners aimed at office use, _did_ _default_ to .pdf -
even to the extent that it was sometimes quite difficult to make it
produce anything else (though I don't _think_ I came across one where
you couldn't at all).

I suppose it did have _some_ justification where the scanner had a sheet
feeder. The _other_ justification usually given at the time, that
everybody has a .pdf reader but not everyone has a viewer for the image
formats, I never accepted - it might have been true, but there were even
then free image viewers easily available.
[]
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"Dook, that was great but I think the line needs
awe. Can you do it again, giving it just a little awe?"

"Sure, George," said Wayne and looking up at the cross said:
"Aw, truly this man is the son of God."
(recounted in Radio Times, 30 March-5 April 2013.)
  #66  
Old February 19th 18, 04:42 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
Mayayana
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Posts: 6,438
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| I can remember when a lot of scanning software, especially that
| accompanying scanners aimed at office use, _did_ _default_ to .pdf -

My latest all-in-one is like that. Older
scanners I had came with TWAIN applets
that had to be used with graphic editors.
The Envy is dumbed down. It defaults to
save or "email" as JPG or PDF! I have to
get into the settings to get a BMP. Even
then, I can't import directly to PSP. I have
to let it save a file to disk and then open
that.
But I think of that as a recent development.
In a way I'm surprised it doesn't have "bluetooth
this to your phone", for posting to Instagram.
Email is so 00s.

| The _other_ justification usually given at the time, that
| everybody has a .pdf reader but not everyone has a viewer for the image
| formats,

I guess there's probably some truth in that.
Nospam proclaiming PDF the default format of
Mac is a good example. Most people have had
Adobe Reader shoved down their throat via
numerous software installs, but Windows has
never had much of a built-in image viewer.

Adobe have been very insidous in their spreading
of Acrobat Reader. It's like Flash and Microsoft's
ActiveX: A very clever and useful invention, but
used to build monopoly, and neither company took
responsibility when it turned out their inventions
were malware magnets. Even now Adobe links PDF
with javascript functionality, decades after they
should have known better.


  #67  
Old February 19th 18, 04:46 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
nospam
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Posts: 4,718
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

| The _other_ justification usually given at the time, that
| everybody has a .pdf reader but not everyone has a viewer for the image
| formats,

I guess there's probably some truth in that.
Nospam proclaiming PDF the default format of
Mac is a good example. Most people have had
Adobe Reader shoved down their throat via
numerous software installs, but Windows has
never had much of a built-in image viewer.


you still don't get it.
  #68  
Old February 19th 18, 06:27 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
Paul[_32_]
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Posts: 11,873
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message , Mayayana
writes:
"nospam" wrote

| On the other hand, PDF seems a suitable
| format for Macs: Expensive, locked, and
| being the best tool for a very narrow range
| of mostly commercial uses.


(-:
[]
(I'm not even getting into the strangeness
of you thinking PDF is an image format.)


I can remember when a lot of scanning software, especially that
accompanying scanners aimed at office use, _did_ _default_ to .pdf -
even to the extent that it was sometimes quite difficult to make it
produce anything else (though I don't _think_ I came across one where
you couldn't at all).

I suppose it did have _some_ justification where the scanner had a sheet
feeder. The _other_ justification usually given at the time, that
everybody has a .pdf reader but not everyone has a viewer for the image
formats, I never accepted - it might have been true, but there were even
then free image viewers easily available.
[]


But that's an abuse of PDF. It's simply a wrapper around an image
format. You're relying on whatever the best compression options
are available in the PDF, which might not be as good as the
best separately-available image format.

The main advantage of the PDF, is for lazy users who will not
be repurposing the scan. The PDF can be easily printed with
a useful scale, on the first try to a printer, without wasting
paper. If you give a user an image file, it might take a couple
tries before they get all the printing settings right. And for the
people who just scan and attach a multi-sheet scan to an email,
look at the convenience factor. It's less useful if you want to
reuse the images for some reason.

Paul
  #69  
Old February 19th 18, 10:07 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
ultred ragnusen
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Posts: 248
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

wrote:

Try the Associated Image setting. The default is "Full Screen". Change it.

https://s14.postimg.org/ftqehnrld/faststone.gif


Voila! That was the charm button!
https://s14.postimg.org/ftqehnrld/faststone.gif

Fastone: Settings Settings Viewer Associated image launches in:
Change the default from: Full Screen
Change the default to: Windowed View

And, get this ... we get sane /fixed menus/ out of the deal, for free!

Thank you Paul for finding the Fastone "sane setting" for its defaults!

Back on topic, the known Windows aspect-ratio freeware apps a
# Fastone (the aspect ratio crop is the best - on top of the picture)
# Microsoft Photos (the aspect ratio crop is sadly below the picture)
# Irfanview (the aspect ratio crop is cryptically accessed with Shift+C)
# The GIMP (the aspect ratio crop is, like all things Gimp, unintuitive)
# ?

How to force a fixed aspect ratio in Fastone crop commands:
# Open the image in Fastone
# Fastone: Edit Crop Board (aka X) Paper Ratio ... 4:3 Ratio OK
# Left-mouse intuitively adjust the size and location of the crop area
# Press the "Crop" button
# Note that Fastone will remember your 4:3 selection for the next edit.
# Note that there are keyboard shortcut keys to shorten the sequence.
# For multiple aspect crops, pressing the "X" on the keyboard works well!

How to force a fixed aspect ratio in Irfanview crop commands:
# Open the image in Irfanview
# Left click drag & then lift up at your approximate desired crop area
# Irfanview: Edit Create custom crop selection (aka shift+c)
# In the "Create custom selection" form, choose your desired aspect ratio
# In the "Create custom selection" form, press "Save and draw on image"
# To adjust just the location, right click on the selection box & drag
# To adjust the area, hold the keyboard alt key & left-click drag an edge

--
The developers deserve a reprieve since I had already ordered them shot!
  #70  
Old February 19th 18, 10:15 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
ultred ragnusen
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Posts: 248
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

wrote:

I Ducked Imagemagick and Windows GUI and found this:
http://codecpack.co/download/ImBatch.html
I'm more of a Mac person and have not tried it but...


Thank you both for helping out on the quest for an aspect-ratio crop in
Windows freeware, and for staying on topic!

That links to ImBatch 5.8 http://codecpack.co/images/ImBatch.jpg
"ImBatch is a free batch image processing tool for Windows based on the
popular ImageMagick, a software suite to create, edit, compose, or convert
bitmap images. The program handles all popular image formats, such as BMP,
TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PNG, TGA, PIX, JP2, J2K, PSD, WDP, HDP. Also ImBatch
is distributed with 3 official plugins (DCRaw, ImageMagick, JBig), that
extend the number of supported image file formats. When all those plugins
are enabled, ImBatch support more than 100 image file formats, including
RAW ones from the many digital cameras. Using ImBatch you can resize,
rotate, watermark photos, flip pictures, crop images, convert colors, set
or remove EXIF/IPTC Tag, adjust Hue, Saturation, Lightness parameters, add
a shadow in the inner border of the image, add filter effects to your
selected photos in a batch mode and more."

I'll test it out and report back at the bottom of the thread, where the
summary is on topic for the aspect-ratio crop.

So far, these have been tested (or suggested):
Back on topic, the known Windows aspect-ratio freeware apps a
# Fastone (the aspect ratio crop is the best - on top of the picture)
# Microsoft Photos (the aspect ratio crop is sadly below the picture)
# Irfanview (the aspect ratio crop is cryptically accessed with Shift+C)
# The GIMP (the aspect ratio crop is, like all things Gimp, unintuitive)
# ImageMagick (the aspect ratio crop is, like all things IM, batch)
# ImBatch (this seems to be a GUI-based front end to ImageMagick)
  #71  
Old February 19th 18, 10:44 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson
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Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

On Mon, 19 Feb 2018 13:07:37 -0800, ultred ragnusen wrote:

# Irfanview (the aspect ratio crop is cryptically accessed with Shift+C)


Shift+C is just a shortcut to the Edit-CreateCustomCropSelection menu.
And just below that menu sits a special menu for maximized ratio-crops
followed by other specialized crop menu entries.

The shortcut keys and mouse moves I listed are just a small subset of the
available hotkeys. Alt was wrong, btw. It should have been Ctrl which
has to be pressed for ratio-resizing mouse moves. Ctrl can also be used
for ratio-resizing with cursor keys. The Alt key should do invers-ratio
resizing. It just doesn't work this way, at the moment. (Bug)

Maybe you check the Hotkey section of the IrfanView help file to find
the best method for your crop?

And you /do/ know about the batch-crop and command line crop features of
IrfanView, don't you?

BeAr
F'up set to acf.
--
================================================== =========================
= What do you mean with: "Perfection is always an illusion"? =
================================================== =============--(Oops!)===
  #72  
Old February 19th 18, 11:00 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
ultred ragnusen
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Posts: 248
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

wrote:

Back on topic, the known Windows aspect-ratio freeware apps a
# Fastone (the aspect ratio crop is the best - on top of the picture)
# Microsoft Photos (the aspect ratio crop is sadly below the picture)
# Irfanview (the aspect ratio crop is cryptically accessed with Shift+C)
# The GIMP (the aspect ratio crop is, like all things Gimp, unintuitive)
# ?


Elsewhere in this thread, the helpful user android kindly
ran a search which found a GUI-based UI to ImageMagick appropriately named
ImBatch (http://codecpack.co/images/ImBatch.jpg) located at
http://codecpack.co/download/ImBatch.html

I tested whether there was an option for a fixed aspect ratio, but I
couldn't find any such option, although you could /manually/ set the aspect
ratio using the following sequence.
# Open the image file in ImBatch
# In the "Preview" window, adjust your crop (manually to any aspect ratio)
# (+)Add Task... Selection Add Selection OK
# A pre-populated selection screen pops up with your selected numbers in it
# But, unfortunately, the "Selection Type" doesn't show "aspect ratio".
# The menu only has "Left/Right/Top/Bottom Position"

This ImBatch tool is nice because it puts a front end on ImageMagick, which
is nice if you know the position and aspect ratio ahead of time for a set
of files that you want batch processed - but this ImBatch tool does not do,
AFAICT, a locked-aspect-ratio batch by anything other than purely manual
means.

Hence, the known Windows aspect-ratio freeware apps a
# Fastone (the aspect ratio crop is the best - on top of the picture)
# Microsoft Photos (the aspect ratio crop is - sadly - below the picture)
# Irfanview (the aspect ratio crop is cryptically accessed with Shift+C)
# The GIMP (the aspect ratio crop is, like all things Gimp, unintuitive)
# ?
  #73  
Old February 19th 18, 11:18 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
ultred ragnusen
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Posts: 248
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

wrote:

Shift+C is just a shortcut to the Edit-CreateCustomCropSelection menu.


Yes. I know. When I write tutorials, I generally write them with the full
menus, in the syntax shown below so that others can easily reproduce steps:
Program name: Menu sub menu subsub menu selection sub selection

And just below that menu sits a special menu for maximized ratio-crops
followed by other specialized crop menu entries.


Yes. We all love Irfanview which is nice for aspect-ratio crops for a whole
bunch of good reasons, not the least of which it is the fastest photo
viewer out there, which counts for a lot, and Irfanview has, by far the
easiest fastest and most intuitive manual cropper of all.
Click ... click ... crop (e.g., control+y) ... save (e.g., control+s)

The shortcut keys and mouse moves I listed are just a small subset of the
available hotkeys. Alt was wrong, btw. It should have been Ctrl which
has to be pressed for ratio-resizing mouse moves. Ctrl can also be used
for ratio-resizing with cursor keys. The Alt key should do invers-ratio
resizing. It just doesn't work this way, at the moment. (Bug)


I just tested it using Irfanview 4.50 64-bit on Windows 10, where /both/
the control and alt keyboard keys do the same action, which is to allow one
to adjust the selection area keeping the aspect ratio locked at the
selected value (e.g., 4:3).

How to force a fixed aspect ratio in Irfanview crop commands:
# Open the image in Irfanview
# Left click drag & then lift up at your approximate desired crop area
# Irfanview: Edit Create custom crop selection (aka shift+c)
# In the "Create custom selection" form, choose your desired aspect ratio
# In the "Create custom selection" form, press "Save and draw on image"
# To adjust just the location, right click on the selection box & drag
# To adjust the area, hold either alt or ctrl & left-click drag an edge

Maybe you check the Hotkey section of the IrfanView help file to find
the best method for your crop?


At this stage of the question, we have a pretty good answer, where the
hotkeys can only make the task simpler.

Overall, Fastone has a /better/ locked-aspect-ratio crop than does
Irfanview (because there is no need for the keyboard drag of the area), but
Irfanview wins (for me) over Fastone because Irfanview is already my
default photo viewer.

For those who have Fastone set up as their default image viewer, the
cropping to a fixed aspect ratio is slightly easier (more intuitive) than
is Irfanview's crop to a fixed aspect ratio.

And you /do/ know about the batch-crop and command line crop features of
IrfanView, don't you?


Sure. Irfanview batch actions are the greatest (easier to use than
ImageMagick and just as powerful for the most basic of batch actions).

I've been using Irfanview batch actions for, oh, I don't know how long - a
decade or more perhaps.

Overall I think we have a great answer to the original question, which is:
Q: What Windows freeware locks in a given aspect ratio for cropping?
A: Fastone, Irfanview, Microsoft Photos, & The Gimp (in that order).

# Fastone (the aspect ratio crop is the most intuitive mouse adjustment)
# Irfanview (the aspect ratio crop is second only to that of Fastone's GUI)
# Microsoft Photos (the aspect ratio crop is - sadly - below the picture)
# The GIMP (the aspect ratio crop is, like all things Gimp, unintuitive)
# ?
  #74  
Old February 19th 18, 11:50 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Monty
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Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

On Sun, 18 Feb 2018 19:52:10 -0800, ultred ragnusen
wrote:

wrote:

Q: What Windows freeware locks in a 3:2 or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping?
A: Irfanview (and Microsoft Photos and The Gimp - but they're cumbersome).


Fastone also has a crop to aspect ratio feature, which works even better
than Irvanview's does in that the cropping part is simpler.

I deleted Fastone after using it for a couple of hours though, as the
decisions made by the developer put us back in the single-screen days of
the 1980s, before "windows" existed on desktops.

Here is what I wrote up on the Windows 10 newsgroup about how to use the
crop feature of Fastone, which was suggested by Monty, I think.

----------------------------------------------
When opening a JPG, Fastone insists on an obnoxious full screen mode.


It seems to me that you did not look at the Help menu where you could
have discovered how easy it is to set the size of the display.

The Help menu offers a Help file which includes a list of options
using the Mouse and Keyboard.

Even better is the option to "Download Tutorial". In PDF format this
is a 95-page description with illustrations of how to perform the
options that Image Viewer provides. The Tutorial is also available in
ePub and mobi formats.

I am not going to waste much time describing how the F11 and F12 keys
play a large part in switching between full-screen or reduced-screen
sizes.

I couldn't find a way to turn that horrid always-full-screen setting off.


This brings up a menu which has a section called "Rotation, resize, &
text".

In that "Rotation, resize, & text" menu is a selection for "Crop board".
Clicking "Crop board" brings up the image in the desired size (finally!).

In that "Crop board", you can select something cryptically called the
"paper ratio" with a selection box for another cryptic setting of "flip
ratio", where the options for "5:3 ratio" and "3:2 ratio" are available.

Once you get to this point, Fastone is actually pretty decently efficient
in that the adjustment of that crop area is intuitive (far better than is
Irfanview) for both the relocation and resizing of that crop area.

So, Fastone works, and fits the requirement, and, once you get past the
huge annoyance of the (seemingly mandatory) full-screen view, it actually
is more efficient than Irfanview, if only at a half dozen steps later.

  #75  
Old February 20th 18, 05:21 AM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
Eric Stevens
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Posts: 911
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

On Sun, 18 Feb 2018 14:07:27 -0600, Savageduck
wrote:

Paul wrote:
Savageduck wrote:
nospam wrote:
In article , Savageduck
wrote:

In Windows however, not so. BMP is the native image format in that OS. i.e.
used by the graphic kernel.
Not being a Windows user, I don¹t understand this idea of holding on to the
BMP format when there are much better ways to go.
don't lump all windows users based on the actions of a few.


I know. As far as I know we only have a single BMP obsessed Windows user in
this NG.


So you've never run into a situation before, where a
tool doesn't support the entire spectrum of file formats ?

Fortunately for me, no.

For Mac users we have a very neat piece of software, “Graphic Converter”
which pretty much does that job. It can dig up some pretty obscure file
formats.
https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/

Otherwise Adobe CC, and some third party plug-ins cover my photo editing
needs.


I have the situation where Corel Photo Paint (CPT) images cannot be
read by Corel Paint Shop Pro (PSPImage) or by Photoshop.

I know of no software which can read them all.
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens
 




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