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Thread: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

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    Ghost of Hexus Present sammyc's Avatar
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    can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    Hi, this question will probably sound v. dim but it's an area i don't have a very good grasp on... i was looking for a program that could alter the dpi resolution of images, & found this irfanview prog recommended. Supposed to be able to change image resolution (ie of a microsoft Paint drawing), so I opened an image at the original dpi (96 x 96) which gave a 3" image approx, then repeated it with a copy & changed the resolution to 300dpi & resized to same image size - printed out they both look the same. Shouldn't one look better than the other..?! On top of that when I click the print link from irfan it states a print dpi of 720, which I don't understand at all. (this applies even if i create an original image using irfan paint itself, with a setting of 300dpi from the start &c) What am i doing wrong please.... If it's just that you can't alter the original image dpi then i don't see why it offers you a change dpi function in the image info options...

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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    Increasing the resolution rarely works well - you are trying to put in information that doesn't exist, so the progtram interpolates between pixels to generate a smoother image. However it is unlikely that you will notice any improvement taking a 96x96 dpi picture and trying to increase the resolution to 300x300. However, if you have a 300x300 and chenge the resolution down, you are more likely to notice a difference (depending the quality of your printer). However the human signal processor (eye and brain is very good at interpolationg images, so even then your brain may fill in the gaps which is why a jpeg that is 2Mbytes in size (and jpg is itself a lossy format) can be recompressed to something like 50K with negligible loss of quality - certainly for web use and for small prints on a photoprinter.

    If you are a professional photographer, then you might take the original image in a raw format such as tiff which preserves all information, and work on that to produce a final jpeg. This is because editing suites such as photoshop can do more if the original information is there. You can always discard info - but you can't put it back.

    As for the specifics of Irfanview, while I have used it (and very good it is too, for basic image manipulation) I have only really scratched the surface of its capabilities, but it doesn't sound as if you are doing anything wrong, just that you are expecting it to do something that can't be done.
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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    Thanks very much peter for the clear explanation & help. I can see what you mean & will save me spending any longer attempting the impossible... I am actually working with .png format but I expect the principle goes across the board.

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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    I have known some irfan tutorial and I think it is good.

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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    cheers softix will bear that in mind. a few more pennies have dropped as i've done a lot more trawling round the net today for info (yes i should have done that first, of course) and i'm getting my head further round ppi & dpi etc. didn't realise these were used in a confusing/interchangeable way quite so often, which i soon would have done if i'd looked properly...
    instances of confusing use include (?i think): a site i was looking at requesting artwork be submitted at such-and-such dpi, why don't they mean ppi? ie image quality? dpi being about output/printing which is their end of things & their concern? And why doesn't IrfanView ask you to define your required settings in ppi rather than dpi when you're creating a new image? doesn't dpi in that case only affect the screen resolution or printing?
    (The 720dpi I mentioned above, I realised later was the selected print setting of my printer.... that was an extra-dim moment.)

    Anyway thanks again guys, I know this shouldn't be the first resort for such basic stuff & I will read up further. One guide I bought promised to 'demystify' dpi &c, but it was still a bit like maths lessons at school - that 'yes I think I see, sir' effect...!

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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    p.s. just found these two quotes within a couple of minutes of each other... i like the bit about “it will be up to us to clarify what they mean"!

    "When a 'virtual' digital image is output onto a monitor there is a one-to-one mapping from pixel to 'monitor dot' and we therefore also measure this in 'ppi'. Typically this used to be 72ppi with old monitors but these days is more likely to be as much as 92-96ppi. The more precise and accurate we are in our communication the less room there is for a mistake and that can only be of benefit to all of us. However we still need to remember that in general there is much confusion about the resolution units and we are bound to find that most people will just use 'dpi' for any description of resolution and it will be up to us to clarify what they in fact mean."

    "..What do you need it to be 200 dpi for? Resolution is for monitors - most monitors are at 72 dpi - In order to print graphics you need think about the final Print size then multiple that by 200 or 300...."

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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    You got me thinking about this again - I found this link which you might find useful...

    Measuring Resolution Inch by Inch - SPI PPI DPI LPI Demystified
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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    that looks excellent peter, will read & digest properly tomorrow; i see they too mention that context is key in spotting which use of a term is right, so that's a good rule of thumb obviously. ta again for your time.

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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    aha, becoming clearer! Nice to see the experienced saying they're confused also, I must say..
    Quick trivial note - thought i'd found a cunning way round the Paint/ppi issue, by starting a new image in Irfan at the required high ppi, re-opening it with Paint - which now tells you the Attributes are apparently what you want, 300 x 300 - but sadly once you add more artwork to the image it reverts to its old 96ppi. not so cunning after all. Paint would just let you zoom out on your 'canvas', like a sensible program, you could specify a size larger than required, then re-open with Irfan, change to 300 ppi & get the new smaller size that you actually wanted in the first place. But at 100% zoom at the Paint end of things with a large size you get a bigger canvas than you can fit on the screen & practically draw on. (Ok I'll just have to draw with Irfan in the first place - I just quite like Paint..)

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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    have you tried the freeware version of ultimate paint? JTL Ultimate Paint Image Editor Homepage

    it looks a lot like paint but with more options? perhaps the ones you need
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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    hi thanks a lot MadduckUK, looks like quite a cool little program would certainly be interested in trying it out - is it definitely 100% ok to download? couldn't find much about it, reviews etc.

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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    i think its just a case of no-one really caring about a better version of paint
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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    fair enough, i'll have a go - thanks again

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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    let us know how you get on
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    Re: can anyone help with IrfanView program?

    One quick crash course in UP later.. getting on ok. Give it a decade or so I'm sure I'll be fine. Nice to have some better text options than Paint (though I speak as someone old enough to have worked with 'Letraset'; so anything impresses me).

    Must be staring me in the face, but can't find the equivalent of Paint's 'paste from' command - how do I import an image from file to use with ongoing artwork?

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