Improvements

[greenmorpher]

Come to think of it, the global "Remove dust/scratches" references surrounding areas, doesn't it, so what you're talking about Radio, is putting that into a tool which applies it only to a specific area.

Come to think of it, what would be best would be the ability to set the tool size PLUS the ability to set the size of the area you wanted the tool to use as reference / to blend into.

So instead of the usual total tool area, then percentage of that blur, you would want the specification turned around to tool size + blur, with the toltal area minus the tool size as the reference area.

Cheers, Geoff

Geoffrey Heard
Publisher, Editor, Business Writer
The Worsley Press

Get "Type & Layout: Are you communicating or just making pretty shapes?" to deliver your words with real zing; and "How to Start and Produce a Magazine or Newsletter" to learn to step safely in the publishing minefield. Amazon or www.worsleypress.com

[OldRadioGuy]

Sounds good to me. I wonder whether it is that hard to do? I have had the strong impression that the Repairing Tool (the brush with the bandaid) is influenced by the area surrounding the repair in addition to the reference area. Am I wrong? I don't know. But it seems to me to be so and has interfered with what I wanted to do some times.

Come to think of it, the global "Remove dust/scratches" references surrounding areas, doesn't it, so what you're talking about Radio, is putting that into a tool which applies it only to a specific area.

Here are examples of what I'm suggesting:

Example 1

For repairing scratches in photos, the Photoshop Elements tool requires you to select an area for sampling (indicated by the X) to copy to the repair area (in the circle). Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo samples on both sides of the scratch (shown by the narrow rectangles on each side of the largest rectangle) to copy to the repair area (shown in the interior rectangle). I think the PSP approach is better. The PL32 brush is like the Elements brush (except it offers that great viewer underneath the brush, showing the repair as you go). However, an improved tool specifically for scratches might offer each option.

Example 2 http://imgur.com/IFmi1.jpg

For repairing spots/blemishes in photos, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo samples all around the blemish/spot (the outer circle in the image on the left) to produce the repair for the damaged area (the inner circle). Photoshop Elements requires you to select an area for sampling (the X in the image on the right) for repairing the spot (in the circle). I think the PSP approach is better. This was my favorite and most often used PSP repair tool. Again, the PL32 brush is like the Elements tool. However, an improved tool specifically for spots/blemishes following the PSP approach would be faster, requiring one less click of the mouse.

[Koyaanis]

Here's a small perk I would really really like to see. You know in your recently-used file list? How about if there was a teeny tiny thumbnail next to each filename? Nearly every day I start up Photoline to go back to a project I was working on, usually it's some photo still in its native DSC-XXXX.JPG filename format. But ... which one was the one I needed to re-open? So, I end up clicking on up to 16 filenames until the one I wanted is found. It wouldn't have to be a big thumbnail. Just enough to give me a hint of which photo it was. Like how the color dialogs have the option for being listed in Small/Large Text List mode. A small square of the image in front of the filename. This would be SO cool!

*edit: and/or ... How about a small thumbnail pop-up window as you hover over each Recent-File List filename? Then there could be a user-selected larger thumbnail preview possible. Either method, the above or this pop-up method, or both would be really nice additions!

Addition #2, and this one is just a dream, but Photoline could be the very first editor to bring the world of Piezography to every printer owner out there. Not just a select few clogging Espon printers and having to pay exorbitant prices for custom designed printer drivers. How difficult would it be to create an option in the "Channel Mixer" tool that that would divide up the various gray-scale components to a printer's CMYK or CcMmYK (lower-case = photo color) inks. The printer owner having already replaced their CcMmYK ink tanks with black ink in graded concentrations (100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, or what have you). There's not too many combinations of inks out there that would make this very difficult. The vast majority of printers use CMYK or CcMmYK. Maybe this option in Photoline could just have a "How many ink tanks in your printer?" and a dialogue to set the black-coverage percentage of your chosen ink tank. Like you could have a dialogue that asks, "Photo Cyan Tank = ? % of Black", "Cyan Tank = ? % of Black" etc. This way the printer owner could even decide which tanks get which concentrations of black. Better black-percentage inks and methods might be found than those that the standard "Piezography" website recommends and sells. Heck, even more obscure and archival-looking prints could be made by incorporating ink-tones that would emulate many of the rare duo-tone methods like Platinum, Gold, Chrysotype, Cyanotype, Iron, etc. printing processes. There's so much that could be done if Photoline incorporated a piezography option. (Many of these old and useful B&W print-processing methods, gold, iron, etc. are emulated in thepluginsite.com "B&W Styler" plugin.)

[Gerhard Huber]

Here are examples of what I'm suggesting:

Is the healing brush what you suggest?

Gerhard

[Gerhard Huber]

Here's a small perk I would really really like to see. You know in your recently-used file list? How about if there was a teeny tiny thumbnail next to each filename? Nearly every day I start up Photoline to go back to a project I was working on, usually it's some photo still in its native DSC-XXXX.JPG filename format. But ... which one was the one I needed to re-open? So, I end up clicking on up to 16 filenames until the one I wanted is found. It wouldn't have to be a big thumbnail. Just enough to give me a hint of which photo it was. Like how the color dialogs have the option for being listed in Small/Large Text List mode. A small square of the image in front of the filename. This would be SO cool!

Use the browse window, "Recent Files" for this.

Gerhard

[Gerhard Huber]

Addition #2, and ...

that's the wrong way you do it. You should try to find a tool that creates a ICC profile for your ink. You should not change the image to get a correct printout.

Gerhard

[Koyaanis]

Here's a small perk I would really really like to see. You know in your recently-used file list? How about if there was a teeny tiny thumbnail next to each filename? Nearly every day I start up Photoline to go back to a project I was working on, usually it's some photo still in its native DSC-XXXX.JPG filename format. But ... which one was the one I needed to re-open? So, I end up clicking on up to 16 filenames until the one I wanted is found. It wouldn't have to be a big thumbnail. Just enough to give me a hint of which photo it was. Like how the color dialogs have the option for being listed in Small/Large Text List mode. A small square of the image in front of the filename. This would be SO cool!

Use the browse window, "Recent Files" for this.

Gerhard

Thanks. I didn't even know that option was at the very top of the directory tree list. In fact it took me about 10 minutes to find what you were talking about. I'll probably use that now, occasionally, but it's still an extra step of having to open the browser to do it, which I rarely use. This is why I use the recently-opened files list from Photoline's main workspace. So I DON'T HAVE TO open the browser and hunt for my photos again. Having it in the browser makes it a tad redundant since it already opens to the folder where I was last working anyway. Anyway ... whatever...

[Koyaanis]

Addition #2, and ...

that's the wrong way you do it. You should try to find a tool that creates a ICC profile for your ink. You should not change the image to get a correct printout.

Gerhard

I don't think you quite understand what piezography printing is all about. It's a method whereby you replace all the color-inks in your printer with varying densities of black inks. It's for B&W printing only, using the printer to lay down the most subtle of shades in fine dithered patterns. Rivaling most darkroom processes. I don't think that any ICC profile is ever going to come anywhere close to accomplishing this. Study up on what it's all about. Photoline could be the first program to provide this capability for every printer ever made. So far only a select few Espon printers are supported by the marketers of the process, at great cost to everyone. They've been promising to support other lines of printers for years but never have. People are tired of waiting for them to do so and have quit even asking them to do this for other printers. I thought you might like to target that vast market of pros that would also like to do this B&W process with their printers.

[OldRadioGuy]

Is the healing brush what you suggest?

Gerhard

No.

A. The healing brush requires these steps:
1. Select brush
2. Adjust brush size
3. Select area to be used for replacement
4. Select area to be fixed

B. The tool I'm suggesting would require these steps:
1. Select brush
2. Adjust brush size
3. Select the area to be fixed.

That's one less step. Plus, the brush would automatically sample from all around the blemish to be fixed, rather than a specific area identified by the user. (See the 2nd illustration in my earlier post on this topic.)

[Koyaanis]

Quite frankly, I'll never understand why the authors of Photoline don't install a copy of PaintShopPro X (or higher) and play with some of its tools to see how they actually work. Now that PaintShopPro is going under, all those good ideas will be lost forever. There are quite a few tools in PaintShopPro that work better than anything that I've ever seen in any other program and the only reason that I still keep a copy of it installed. One of which you are trying to describe to them.

The Scratch Remover tool. I used that quite a bit for image restoration projects.

Then there's the "Object Replacer" tool.

A few of my other favorites, and should be a must-have in any editor ...

PaintShopPro's "Chromatic Aberration Remover" which is wrongly named. As this is specifically designed to remove sensor blooming (purple/magenta/cyan fringing) in any range of colors (it has nothing to do with lateral CA). It's one of the more remarkable tools in PaintShopPro that I used to use extensively at times. I've never seen anything else like it in any other program.

I also liked its Red Eye Removal system, that would even automatically put a catch-light back into any color of eye, even animal eyes.

Their "Smart Photo Fix" tool also came in handy quite a few times.

Another is the "Fade Correction" which adequately fixed old faded color photos. That saved my ass in quite a few restoration projects.

PaintShopPro's "Background Eraser" also worked infinitely better than anything that's ever been in Photoline so far.

Then there's the "Split and Combine Channels" tools.

Another that I used quite often is the "Manual Color Correction" tool, whereby you sample a range of tones in your image then select which color that you want to enhance or alter that range of color tones. This fixes odd flesh-tones remarkably well when used properly. It even comes with a palette of flesh-tones from which to choose.

Really guys, take a few clues from this now defunct program. There are some remarkable utilities and tools in PaintShopPro. Just waiting to be resurrected even better in another good editor.

Everyone's loss if you don't.

[jcfnav]

I have to say that PSP tool scratch remover is the best, it sample real neighbour pixel not an "alien" area outside from the scratch that you want to heal.
I´m not saying that PL have to be a exact copycat, just take the good things on other softwares and see how to improve it... making life easier

Cheers
JC