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The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map : Index >> Portal Talking Shop >> Recommendations for free paint or graphics programs
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AuthorRecommendations for free paint or graphics programs
Andy B



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 Posted 10-08-2006 at 00:34   
Can anyone recommend a free (freeware or open source) paint or graphics program for Windows or Mac that is easy for beginners to use, especially for doing things like resampling images down to 750x500, and (most importantly) saving with different levels of JPG compression (to get under 200kb file size), and doing other simple adjustments.

I know about The Gimp (rather complicated for beginners and large to download), Photoshop/LE etc (not free), Paintshop Pro (not free unless you have a really old version), XnView (would like to recommend a full paint program if possible)

What would you recommend? It's to add to the Portal's help/FAQ to help out new contributors.
Cheers,
Andy





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flatcap



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 Posted 12-08-2006 at 00:41   
Quote:

On 2006-08-10 00:34, Andy B wrote:
Can anyone recommend a free (freeware or open source) paint or graphics program for Windows or Mac that is easy for beginners to use, especially for doing things like resampling images down to 750x500, and (most importantly) saving with different levels of JPG compression (to get under 200kb file size), and doing other simple adjustments.

I know about The Gimp (rather complicated for beginners and large to download), Photoshop/LE etc (not free), Paintshop Pro (not free unless you have a really old version), XnView (would like to recommend a full paint program if possible)

What would you recommend? It's to add to the Portal's help/FAQ to help out new contributors.
Cheers,
Andy




So you can promptly remove their piccys Andy?





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Andy B



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 Posted 12-08-2006 at 00:58   
We have over 20,000 'piccys' and lots more coming in (17 in the queue at the moment).

Most that are deleted are due to being the wrong size (too large or small) or badly processed.

More in our FAQ but I would like to recommend a paint program that anyone can use.




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mishkin



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 Posted 12-08-2006 at 08:36   
I use Jasc Paint shop, a simple programme for photos, downloaded free by my son but I am not sure that it was free... It was brilliant on the museum photos I took for cropping, resizing and adjusting colour balance on relief carvings...




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JimChampion



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 Posted 14-08-2006 at 10:15   
I am told that this freeware is good, and does the things you want:

irfanview

Jim

[ This message was edited by: JimChampion on 2006-08-14 10:16 ]




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Andy B



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 Posted 04-09-2006 at 15:42   
I've found a couple of possible answers to my question:

Paint.NET http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint.NET for Windows, which is supposed to be an improved version of Windows Paint, and GIMPshop http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMPshop for Mac, Windows and Linux, which supposedly 'fixes' the slightly odd Gimp user interface to make it almost exactly like Photoshop.

I'll be trying these and reporting back.

I've also found Wikipedia's excellent 'Free Software Portal' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Free_software which has a section for Graphics packages.






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Andy B



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 Posted 26-10-2006 at 15:08   
OK, an update on Paint.Net. I've got hold of a copy and have been testing it. This is a most impressive free/Open Source application and I can see they are using some up-to-the minute Windows XP features like transparent dialogue boxes, which is quite neat.

If you have Windows 2000 or Windows XP Service Pack 2 installed you can download and use the latest one, but probably not the 'alpha' version unless you are feeling brave:
http://www.getpaint.net

If you are still on Windows XP Service Pack 1, you should install version 2.64 from here:
http://www.oldapps.com/old_version_PainDotNet.php

Which I've checked is sound as it's digitally signed by the author - well - someone called Eric that he says is correct

If you're on Windows 98 or ME then I also recommend Paint Shop Pro 3.12, which is old but perfectly functional for resizing and basic photo editing.

More about that here:
http://www.pagetutor.com/html_tutor/irfanview_psp.html
(scroll down a bit)

Happy photo editing...





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Aluta



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 Posted 26-10-2006 at 17:10   
Quote:

On 2006-08-14 10:15, JimChampion wrote:
I am told that this freeware is good, and does the things you want:

irfanview

Jim



I, too, use Irfanview, but I don't know how to change compression when I have photos the right size with file sizes that are too large. If anyone can tell me I'd appreciate it. I've been learning how to handle photos by experimenting, but that's got me stumped.




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Andy B



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 Posted 26-10-2006 at 17:45   
I don't know for Irfanview, but it's best to work on things and store your own copies at a higher res, and only resample down to small size JPG at the last minute.

Every time you load or save a JPG you introduce more noise and artefacts so you shouldn't really be loading a small JPG to re-save it again unless there's no alternative. Keeping them large until the last minute reduces this problem a lot.

Only once everything else is done should you resize them down (often called resample, which tends to be better).

Then save to JPG, at which point should be an option for the amount of compression, either directly there on the screen as a '%' or number, or buried in the program 'preferences' somewhere.

Cheers




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JimChampion



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 Posted 29-10-2006 at 21:56   
In irfanview you do this:

1. Choose "Save as" from the file menu, and make sure it says "Save as type: JPG" down the bottom.
2. In the bottom centre of the "Save Picture as" dialog box make sure that the Show Options Dialog box is ticked.
3. There should be the Options Dialog box stuck to the right hand side of your "Save picture as" box. Adjust the "Save Quality" slider, reducing it to make filesize smaller.

Mine is set at 90 by default (its an arbitrary scale from 1 to 100) - try not to go lower than 75 if you want a reasonable quality. It'll be a case of trial and error, and note what Andy says above about leaving resampling down until you've done everything else.

Phew - that's hard to describe in words. Hope you can follow it.

Jim

{Edit: I've really been getting on well with Gimp 2.2 for Windows (the free bitmap graphics program) and I'm amazed what you can do with it, but its not at all a beginners bit of software! Its very powerful.}

[ This message was edited by: JimChampion on 2006-10-29 22:01 ]




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Andy B



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 Posted 30-10-2006 at 13:06   
Agreed. I use Gimp but find it a bit confusing at times. As I said above there is a GIMPshop version that I've not tried, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMPshop for Mac, Windows and Linux, which supposedly 'fixes' the slightly odd Gimp user interface to make it almost exactly like Photoshop.

Not that I know any more about Photoshop so that would probably be equally confusing for an occasional user...




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Andy B



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 Posted 17-10-2007 at 21:48   
To resurrect this old thread - does anyone know how to use Photoshop, can you help with this seemingly stupid behavior - of Photoshop, not its owner!

A member writes:
While I thought I was sending you 640 x 480 sized photos, I noticed that they are only 288 x 216 on the Megalithic Portal site.
Question: why are they not 640 x 480?

I'm using Photo Shop. First, I reduced the original 1600x1200 size of the photo to 640x480 using the "Image Size" option. Then I "Save for Web" and using the Optimize slide bar, reduce the photo to below 200k. On the first photo I'm sending you, the file size is 181.3k. On the second photo, it is 192.4k.

My (not very helpful) reply:
This sounds like the problem where it is saving based on file size and adjusting the image size down to suit, without giving the option to lower image quality (which is stupid and I would expect Photoshop to do better).

Does anyone know how to get Photoshop to keep the res at 640x480 but reduce the save quality a bit to get the file size under 200kb?








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bigsur



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 Posted 19-10-2007 at 10:24   
Never mind Photoshop try this LINKY




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Andy B



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 Posted 19-10-2007 at 23:11   
Good suggestion, thanks, I'll add this to our help page. The Photoshopper above did work out how to use the 'Save for Web' properly to reduce images but he's forgotten how again!




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