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



 
 
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  #71  
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: 92
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!
  #72  
Old February 19th 18, 10:15 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
ultred ragnusen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 92
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)
  #73  
Old February 19th 18, 10:44 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson[_7_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5
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!)===
  #74  
Old February 19th 18, 11:00 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
ultred ragnusen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 92
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)
# ?
  #75  
Old February 19th 18, 11:18 PM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
ultred ragnusen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 92
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)
# ?
  #76  
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: 13,611
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
  #77  
Old February 20th 18, 05:24 AM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
Eric Stevens
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13,611
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

On Sun, 18 Feb 2018 14:45:19 -0500, 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.


yep, and apparently not the only one.


Haw!

The only one is not the only one.

Would you like to reconsider?
--

Regards,

Eric Stevens
  #78  
Old February 20th 18, 05:30 AM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
nospam
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 24,165
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

In article , Eric Stevens
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.


yep, and apparently not the only one.


Haw!

The only one is not the only one.

Would you like to reconsider?


reread it one more time, this time very slowly.
  #79  
Old February 20th 18, 05:58 AM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson[_7_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

On Mon, 19 Feb 2018 14:18:47 -0800, ultred ragnusen wrote:

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).


After a couple of hours sleep I noticed, that I was wrong about that
matter: The difference between ALT and Ctrl applies when /starting/
a new selection. When the Ctrl key is pressed while creating a new
mouse selection by Click&Drag, then the selection area has the last
saved ratio from the CustomCrop dialog. When starting this selection
with ALT key pressed, the selection is created with inverse ratio.
This matters when working with a whole bunch of pictures, that are
sometimes in portrait and sometimes in landscape format.

When resizing an existing selection, the Ctrl and ALT keys behave
likewise, assuming the selection may already have been altered from the
CustomCrop dialog settings. So: No bug involved.

BeAr
F'up set to acf.
--
================================================== =========================
= What do you mean with: "Perfection is always an illusion"? =
================================================== =============--(Oops!)===
  #80  
Old February 20th 18, 06:17 AM posted to rec.photo.digital,alt.comp.freeware,alt.windows7.general
Savageduck[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 16,487
Default Windows freeware to lock in a 3: or 4:3 aspect ratio for cropping

Eric Stevens wrote:
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.


I am sad to report that even Graphic Converter couldn’t be bothered with
Corel Photo Paint.
https://www.lemkesoft.de/en/products/graphicconverter/key-features/import-and-export-formats/

....and if Corel couldn’t bother to have compatibility between their own
apps, it tells you all you need to know about Corel, and CPT.

--
Regards,
Savageduck
 




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