help with resizing!!

RawrAmy · Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 749 Location: USA - FL

hey just a quick question i just made a sticker and i want to resize it so it can fit the catalog image but i have no idea how to im............ using gimp , thanks Wink

Flowereater · Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 220 Location: USA - NY

Ok, when you're done with the sticker, save it and then go to Image--> Scale Image**. Click on the down arrow until the bigger of the two edges fits in a 100x80 pixel rectangle, and after that go to Image-->Canvas Size and click on the chain next to the image dimensions to unlock the proportion and make the smaller edge fit into a 100x80 pixel rectangle. When you finish all that and make the total image look pretty, save it separately from the sticker and upload it as your icon.

**When scaling, you might want to change the kind of resizing GIMP is doing from Linear to Cubic. At the bottom of the scaling window there is a drop-down menu displaying the options. Cubic scaling gives you a sharper result. If you're not satisfied with the sharpness of the scaled image, you can always run it through the sharpener under Filters--> Enhance--> Sharpen.
_________________

RawrAmy · Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 749 Location: USA - FL

umm ok i understand all the way until u start talking about edges i dont get that part Shocked

Flowereater · Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 220 Location: USA - NY

Ok, I'm gonna try to make this clear so forgive me if the details are excessive.

You understand that a rectangle has 4 edges (also called sides): two pairs of the same length, right? Two edges are horizontal and two are vertical.

When you open up the scale image window, you get the measurements for the edges towards the left. The top measurement is the horizontal length, and to the right of the measurement there are two little arrows pointing up and down followed by a little chain. The bottom measurement is the vertical length and it has the same things to the right.

Unless you have a square or circle sticker, one of your edges is going to be longer than the other. In order to work with that without making your sticker look badly stretched, you scale it in the proportion you already have--meaning you don't touch the little chains next to the measurements. The way you scale is by clicking the up arrow if you want to make the image bigger or the down arrow if you want to make it smaller.

In this case you would scale down until the longer of the two edges fits into a rectangle that is 100 pixels across by 80 pixels down. Otherwise some of your sticker is going to have to be cut off for the icon. The reason you have to later resize the canvas is because the shorter of the two edges probably won't end up fitting exactly into a 100x80 px rectangle. Basically, in unclicking the chain and resizing the canvas, you're adding the difference to make the 100x80 rectangle.

Do you understand it now?
_________________

RawrAmy · Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 749 Location: USA - FL

omg im really sorry to be bothering you with this like im really trying to understand this but you lose me at the last paragraph everything else i get im so sorry thanks for your time

Flowereater · Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 220 Location: USA - NY

let's say your sticker image is a rectangle like this:

As you can see, the vertical edge is longer than the horizontal edge. When scaling this kind of rectangle, you click the down arrow next to the bigger value, in this case, the one below the first number. Since the rectangle you want to make in the end is 100 pixels across by 80 pixels down, the vertical edge has to be scaled down to 80 pixels. As long as you don't touch the chain next to the arrows, you should simultaneously be scaling the horizontal edge as well. Ignore this for now, and just click ok.

Next you have to scale the canvas size as I explained before. The window that pops up is just like the scale image window you just saw. Click on the little chain next to the dimensions of the image to unlock the proportion. Now that your vertical edge (the number below) reads 80 pixels, you're not going to touch it. Instead click on the up arrow near your upper number, the horizontal edge, until it reads 100 pixels. Then click ok.

After you do that, you should have an image that is 100x80 pixels in size. The rest is up to you. Some people like to put pretty backgrounds on their sticker icons, and I like to put my logo, but since your image is the right size, you can just save it and upload it as your icon.

If you don't end up with a 100x80 pixel rectangle after doing what I told you, you're probably skipping something, so re-read what I've told you in these 3 posts.
_________________

RawrAmy · Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 749 Location: USA - FL

yay i got it but wen i did it this happened like a little part of the picture was missing how can i fix that oh and can u tell me how i can find some good backgrounds thanks so much for your help

Flowereater · Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 220 Location: USA - NY

Sometimes really small things "get lost" when you scale down an image dramatically and there isn't much you can do about it except kind of re-draw it in. If you're missing a section of the sticker, then you may have accidentally moved a layer at some point and just need to move it back so it's in the canvas.

As for backgrounds, you can try the Qbist renderer in GIMP. Make a new layer and then go to Filters-->Render-->Pattern-->Qbist. What you're gonna get is a window with 9 squares on it. Each square will have a different pattern on it. The center square is the active pattern. If you like this pattern, but aren't sure if you really need it at the moment save it with a really explicit filename so you'll know what kind of pattern it is. If you don't like it, click on another pattern you like better and another set of 9 patterns will come up, with the one you just chose in the center, and you can go on like that for as long as you need to until you find a cool background.

The Qbist renderer is completely random, so if you don't save something you like, it's very unlikely you'll ever see it again. Also, if you would like a pattern similar to the active pattern, but maybe with a few changes, you can keep clicking on it and different versions should appear in the other squares at least every few clicks. When you decide on a pattern, save it if you think you'll use it again, and click OK. Wait a bit for the program to render the pattern, and viola! You have a background for your icon.

You might want to reuse this background for all your stickers and future products, so you can save the catalog image in .xcf format, and everytime you resize a sticker, just paste it into this .xcf file as a new layer and hide the other layers you don't need. It makes things much easier.

One tip that I think will help you a lot in GIMP is to download the help files and use them. They're really helpful.
_________________

RawrAmy · Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 749 Location: USA - FL

thanks so much your a life saver but one more question how do i add the background to the picture? Confused

Flowereater · Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 220 Location: USA - NY

You add the background to the resized sticker as a new layer and move the new layer behind it.
_________________

RawrAmy · Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 749 Location: USA - FL

huh?

Flowereater · Joined: 16 Nov 2006 Posts: 220 Location: USA - NY

I was guessing if you've made a sticker that you've discovered that GIMP supports layers and you know how to use them. If all this sounds foreign to you, you really need to look at some start-up GIMP tutorials (like the ones at gimp.org). I already told you explicitly everything you need to know for the questions you're asking, so I don't understand why you're so confused.

If you don't know how to use layers, you make a new layer by going to Layers-->Make New Layer. This is the layer you use to render a Qbist pattern as I explained previously. If you render it on the layer where your resized sticker is, you're gonna lose the sticker and you need to undo the rendering (that's just a simple undo). Once you have the background, you go to the layers tab or window, click on the layer with the background, and drag it to the bottom of the list of layers.

It seems like you're just playing around with GIMP and not teaching yourself how to use it. You need to learn the basic tools of this software before you can do anything nice with it, which is why the tutorials and help files are necessary.
_________________

ForrbiddenRoManCe · Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 280 Location: USA

download paint shop pro it's free and it's real easy to resize pics
_________________
Previously Sweeetcandyc
No I'm not new to the OT i just have a life.

CanCetin · Joined: 05 Dec 2009 Posts: 38 Location: USA - NY

Uhm. If you download Photoshop cs2 (adobe) u can resize all pic so easy really.

Brat · Joined: 05 Nov 2006 Posts: 335 Location: USA - AR

Another free program that resizes images very well, is Irfanview, it also has a feature that lets you copy multiple screenshots to its clipboard, plus cropping and many other features.
_________________