I make DVD inserts for disks that I’ve bought used from Blockbuster. I typically scan the cover and cut it down to size; then add track info found on the web.
I started scanning 300 dpi to get better quality inserts and my troubles began.
It’s near impossible to add text to the scans in a decently formatted way.
I use mspaint and it does not allow you make an edit box bigger than the screen and if you scroll to enlarge the edit box it will disappear.
Is there a better tool to do this task, or is there a way to make mspaint allow me to have an edit box larger than the currently visible area?
I know this isn’t quite clear; if someone wants me to elaborate I will in future posts. Thanks.
There are any number of tools, nearly all of which are going to be better than MS Paint. Paint Shop Pro is supposed to be pretty good, but I use Ulead PhotoImpact that I got free on the cover of a magazine.
I get around this (with crappy-looking results, sometimes) by pasting the picture into an MS Word document, highlighting it, and using the box that appears to shrink the picture by moving the right side in and the bottom up. Click the picture, highlight it again, and copy the smaller result; if you go small enough, you should fit into MS Paint just fine (though you’ll lose some detail).
No Krok - you’re missing my point. My images are 1432 x 2250 pixels in size.
I need to be able to superimpose text in a neat fashion inside a square thats probably 800 x 1500 centered inside the bigger image (most likely in 2 columns).
The problem is you can never see the entire 800 x 1500 area, so you can’t set up an edit box that will allow you to enter the text.
Height is usually the problem, I can’t make an edit box bigger than whatever I can see on screen. When you drag the box to enlarge, it stops at the bottom of your screen, no way to scroll and keep enlarging at the same time.
You need to get a graphics package that allows you to zoom out on the image and see/work on the whole thing at once, while still maintaining the actual resolution of the underlying file.
In other words, anything other than MS Paint (don’t get me wrong, it has its uses… although I’m struggling to think of one… ah yes, if you want to quickly create a bitmap file from the contents of the clipboard).
GIMP is a free program for Linux that is a lot like Photoshop, minus the easy-to-use help files Photoshop has. Being familiar with Photoshop helps a lot… There’s a version for Windows called…ummm…“GIMP for Windows”.
(-GIMPdows?)
-Anyway, I tried it once on my Win98SE setup and it was crash-o-rama, but your luck might be different. If it will run on your PC, it will do what you describe needing.
~
The current version of Irfanview does text very nicely, and the price is right: free! It doesn’t let you paint, but it does nearly everything else with graphics, and more besides.
Have you tried adding text one portion at a time. Enter the upper half or quadrant the way you want then scroll to access another part of the pic and repeat. Another option is to use a blank canvas and get all the text applied the way you want it then paste it to the cover.
I have done that a few times; but the lining up of the 2 sections really shows; since the text is 2 columns of track names with numbers. In a word, it looks ugly.
You say the lining up of the two sections really shows. Do you mean the misalignment shows, as in the left side of a line doesn’t match the right side, or what?
Actually its the bottom and top halves that never line up perfectly.
Imagine two numbered columns with text, say 1 -10 in column 1 and 11- 20 in column 2. Now imagine they are cut so that you can only see 1 -5 and 11-15 in the top half. Now mind you I have to create those two half columns.
I save it. Now I can scroll to see the area where 6-10 and 16-20 should go.
But I have to open a new edit box there and it’s practically impossible for me to open it so that ‘6’ will line up perfectly with ‘5’.
The answer to your problem is not to add the second and succeeding sets of text directly to your label using the text editor, but put them on a separate, blank canvas and, using the select tool, copy the text and then paste it to the label. That way you can position it exactly where you want it. Make sure you click the transparently option after you click the select tool when you copy and on the paste canvas as well.