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Help changing only width or height of an image?
Hi folks,
I've just upgraded to ProX and am finding that I am no longer able to do something that I did all the time in previous versions.
One of my common tricks is to take a scene I've created, create a bitmap copy of it, flip it upside down and then change only its height, producing a 'reflection' of the top half of the image. So: top half of image is my main image, bottom half is a squashed, semi-transparent mirror of it.
Since the upgrade, all manipulations of photos seem to insist on altering only the clipping edges of the image object, or scaling the entire image in both X and Y axis simultaneously. Has the ability to squash images been removed? If so, that seems like a real step backward from a program I've used solidly since about 2007.
Any help much appreciated!
Thanks,
-Dene
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
There are two ways (at least two that I tried).
One involves enabling "Show selection bounds handles" (this is the button just above the selection tool, it has a big square surrounded by 8 small squares). When you do this, then after you click an image you will be presented with the old 8 black little squares surronding the selected object, instead of those new blue dots and stuff.
The second method is to apply a group to your image (like, a group with this image only) - then old selectors (8 black squares) will appear around it.
After you've done one of the above, hold Alt and then click and drag one of the non-corner selectors to stretch/squish your image.
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
The newest versions have introduced something called Smart Transform which makes resizing photos and text behave differently.
You can disable this feature to get back to the old way of resizing. Right click in the lock icon and if you see Smart Transform in the pop out menu, deselect it.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
The newest versions have introduced something called Smart Transform which makes resizing photos and text behave differently.
You can disable this feature to get back to the old way of resizing. Right click in the lock icon and if you see Smart Transform in the pop out menu, deselect it.
For me it did not quite work as I expected. To make this setting work for image objects, I had to do one of the things that I described in my previous mail (either enable showing selection bound handles, or making a bogus group for the image). If the image was displaying the blue dots around it, then regardless of this setting the image was being cropped, not squished.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
I think you need to be in selector tool also [and not photo tool]
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Everybody's right and everybody's wrong. This requires a 2 prong attack. It's not either/or it has to be both!
Turning on 'Show Selection Bounds Handles' (just above the selection arrow) does nothing but remove the blue selection handles. Photo still crops not squash.
Turning off 'Smart Transform' (right click 'Aspect Ratio Padlock') appears to have zero effect on anything. It probably does, I just don't know what.
Fix? Turn OFF Smart Transform and turn ON Selection Handles. You have to do this for each photo, I haven't found a way to make it default for the whole document.
Just tried the 'ALT' method from morris. This appears to be the quickest/easiest way...turn on Selection Handles and then use the ALT whilst dragging...thank you morris.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
you don't need to use alt if you are in the select tool with smart transform disabled and show selection bounds handles enabled, it just does it like it always did... at least it does in my ver 15.1... ;)
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
you don't need to use alt if you are in the select tool with smart transform disabled and show selection bounds handles enabled, it just does it like it always did... at least it does in my ver 15.1... ;)
This is correct. The smart transform check option simply switches the default behaviour from scale to stretch, with ALT being the overrider, it doesn't disable it as previously mentioned.
If you have the default settings:
1) Select the object with the selector tool.
2) Make sure the "show selection bounds handles" option is enabled (first button on the selector toolbar)
3) Drag a handle to scale. Hold Alt and Drag to stretch.
If you right-click on the aspect ratio lock button and uncheck smart transform then step 3 becomes:
3) Drag a handle to stretch. Hold Alt to Scale.
If you see the blue smart-shape handles then you won't be able to stretch with these, you need to use the legacy handles which are enabled by checking the show selection bounds handle with the selector tool.
Thanks
Rob
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Does Smart Transform do anything else? Why not have it so that toggling the option (with ALT being the kb shortcut) does the required job? Why add the task of having to ensure Selection Bounds Handles are showing?
I would like to add that developing and updating software is hard, and Xara, in all it's forms, isn't a simple piece of software. I appreciate the work done and understand that what appears simple and obvious to the user is easily skipped over during development.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Smart Transform is just a word they give for the scaling behaviour of shapes and images, to resize and readjust them without distortion. As far as I'm aware, it doesn't do anything else. The handles on smartshapes don't support stretching, so in order to do so you need to switch on the legacy selection bounds handles.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chris M
Does Smart Transform do anything else? Why not have it so that toggling the option (with ALT being the kb shortcut) does the required job? Why add the task of having to ensure Selection Bounds Handles are showing?
I would like to add that developing and updating software is hard, and Xara, in all it's forms, isn't a simple piece of software. I appreciate the work done and understand that what appears simple and obvious to the user is easily skipped over during development.
Chris, because it was "Not invented here!". I recall hours of debate over the simple use of the Alt key. Xara chose the route that web designers needed Xara's interpretation of what to do with images and text. My gut tells me having a free-range approach to either could not be easily coded into the Xara Cloud so the Desktop applications were forced into this unholy ritual (i.e., https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...173#post605173).
Acorn
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
You only need to press the selection bounds key and uncheck the smart transform once, and then now all your objects behave like the old method of simply dragging a handle to stretch. Xara's default stance is to treat images and objects in a non destructive manner by cropping (which can be uncropped), and stretch being a more deliberate action. Again you can change the default behaviour with 2 clicks, which I know, is a lot of steps for this "ritual".
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
You only need to press the selection bounds key and uncheck the smart transform once, and then now all your objects behave like the old method of simply dragging a handle to stretch. Xara's default stance is to treat images and objects in a non destructive manner by cropping (which can be uncropped), and stretch being a more deliberate action. Again you can change the default behaviour with 2 clicks, which I know, is a lot of steps for this "ritual".
Rob, sorry but it is a ritual as you have to remember to switch between blue and black control points whenever you are resizing or squishing/squashing. The Smart Shapes cannot be (Metakey-)dragged from any of the blue control points and don't snap so you have to go black. This is fine for Smart Shapes but to impose it on text and images where text doesn't have the blue colour as a prompt and images never needed it before forces a simple workflow into a ritual: (text, image, smart shape) & (blue, black) controls and Smart Transform (on, off). To additionally hide the Smart Transform state behind the only right-click on any icon in the control bar is equally daft.
Acorn
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
I'll ask about the smartshape snapping which I know is annoying.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
I'll ask about the smartshape snapping which I know is annoying.
Rob, thank you.
If it can be make to work then the Smart Arrows come into their own as a powerful benefit.
Mind you, I'll then be asking for them to become sticky with other shapes (c.f., Visio)!
While we are at it, the Ellipse Smart Shape > Centre control point does absolutely nothing.
Acorn
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
I don't have access to XDP at the moment, but using XWDP I can't squish/squash a photo using any combination of the above methods.
Link to video so that someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong and possibly explain why it's so complicated when it wasn't before.
https://auzlink.net.au/xara/index.htm
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Forget the ALT key ...
Turn smart transform OFF (unchecked)
Turn on selection handles and drag any of the control points as previously - without pressing ALT.
I'm using XP&GD ... I can't see why but maybe XWDP doesn't work the same way, but XDP certainly does.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ss-kalm
Forget the ALT key ...
Turn smart transform OFF (unchecked)
Turn on selection handles and drag any of the control points as previously - without pressing ALT.
This is where the wheels fall off. I'm using WDP 16 and the method you describe does doesn't squash the image, it crops from the centre. However, it DOES work with XDP 16
Attachment 123362 Attachment 123363
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
could be web designer dosn't do this - we had to 'make noise' to get it reinstated in xdp and xp&g when it was ommitted in ver 15.0 - xara's philosophy of making design for web and office documents 'easy' [and 'non-destructive' as Rob said] tends to discount squishing as unwanted distortion - it would not be the only thing missing from the web specific programs
acorn will probably know... :)
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
could be web designer dosn't do this - we had to 'make noise' to get it reinstated in xdp and xp&g when it was ommitted in ver 15.0 - xara's philosophy of making design for web and office documents 'easy' [and 'non-destructive' as Rob said] tends to discount squishing as unwanted distortion - it would not be the only thing missing from the web specific programs
acorn will probably know... :)
The current approach (Smart Transform) in XDPXv16.0 was applied to v15.1 but not before, if that helps. I stopped the Update Service for XWDPv15.0 so I can only hazard a guess that no v15.0 Desktop applications have any mechanism to bypass this situation. Xara stands by its position that is is not a bug. As a result I still keep XWDPv12.8 at hand.
All very sad,
Acorn
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
I equate the approach as - our software is not really meant to do this [squish] unless you are one of those designers who use bitmaps that are not photographs, or who 'distort' photographs before tracing over them for art ,which actually, is a pretty common workflow at least for animation - this is not our core client base
it was at least good of them to put back the legacy way in ver 15.1
and lets face it, even with the tools it has, xara's raster tools are rather macdonalds to photoshop's beef wellington; if you want to do mesh warp and the like you can't use xara anyway, unless you set another program up an external editor which does not always work as it should
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
NOTE: Chris said he did this in WDP 16, which doesn't work.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
put back in in ver 15.1 of XDP .then.. as far as web designer goes I don't know it was ever there as I said...
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ss-kalm
NOTE: Chris said he did this in WDP 16, which doesn't work.
Apologies, this should be fixed in the next patch
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
so it worked in wd15 but not in wd16 - then I rest my case... xara's priorities [in my opinion] are elsewhere... either that or they have grown 'careless'
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
handrawn
so it worked in wd15 but not in wd16 - then I rest my case... xara's priorities [in my opinion] are elsewhere... either that or they have grown 'careless'
No, it didn't work in WD15 nor in 16, but we've fixed it and it should be in the next patch coming up. No need to be sassy either.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Wow, this really is a splinter in the collective finger.
I can get around the lack of squish/squash, it's the lack of snapping when resizing in Smart Transform that bothers me more. Even that isn't a huge deal, it just slows the workflow.
It sounds like the Smart Transform seemed like a good idea but may need some rethink. Having said that, are there any users that think it works well?
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
It sounds like the Smart Transform seemed like a good idea but may need some rethink. Having said that, are there any users that think it works well?
No, just remove it and convert to how it used to be. It's an unnecessary complication that confuses not only new users but vetran users.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
No need to be sassy either.
I use and interface with a whole raft of software Rob - no release is ever perfect, but rarely do I see software releases so rough around the edges as I do with Xara time and time again
I'll remind you that I joined TG as many did in order to help others; I respected what the program and the company was then, which was why I did that; I still respect what the program was, but the company seems to have morphed, and with it the product, into something I have difficulty now relating to
of course it is possible you meant sassy as in 'confident or showing confidence' in which case, thank you for that ;)
@ iamtheblues Bob, I updated my aging corel painter to ver 2015 when the particle brushes were introduced back in 2014, I could not believe how wonderful they were at the time; they still are... just updated painter to 2019 - xara-wise I could do everything in ver 11; version 12 and 15.1 are slightly better, but I could happily live with 11.......
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
I've not been here long enough to know where Rob-Xar sits at the Xara table, so please don't take this comment literally if you aren't in a position to make decisions.
Twice in this thread Rob has referred to the original method as 'legacy'. In the software world legacy doesn't mean older, it means discarded. Was this just a figure of speech, or has Xara decided that deforming photos and text is off the table for good? The term 'non destructive' I always took as meaning the original would not be altered in any way. To claim distorting within the program itself is destructive doesn't make sense. If that were true, then simply changing the colour would be classed as destructive.
Memories of Clippy spring to mind.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Moved this slug fest, er, discussion to Dear Xara.
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You only need to press the selection bounds key and uncheck the smart transform once, and then now all your objects behave like the old method of simply dragging a handle to stretch. Xara's default stance is to treat images and objects in a non destructive manner by cropping (which can be uncropped), and stretch being a more deliberate action. Again you can change the default behaviour with 2 clicks, which I know, is a lot of steps for this "ritual".
Makes sense to me.
And Chris M, I just checked my copy of WD15 and un-checking Smart Transform and Lock Aspect Ratio, and selecting Show Bounding Box Handles does NOT work for resizing a bitmap non-proportionally.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
lots of things can make sense, even some that are perverse in nature
i am not a fan of the sort of design that is the equivalent of painting-by-numbers which is where i perceive xara's current focus to be - sure it can look great but really it is just post-processing asset in the same way you might post-process a photo; creative therefore in a sense only...
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chris M
I've not been here long enough to know where Rob-Xar sits at the Xara table, so please don't take this comment literally if you aren't in a position to make decisions.
Twice in this thread Rob has referred to the original method as 'legacy'. In the software world legacy doesn't mean older, it means discarded. Was this just a figure of speech, or has Xara decided that deforming photos and text is off the table for good? The term 'non destructive' I always took as meaning the original would not be altered in any way. To claim distorting within the program itself is destructive doesn't make sense. If that were true, then simply changing the colour would be classed as destructive.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to correct you here on a couple of terms.
1) Legacy doesn't mean discarded. If it was discarded, it wouldn't be within Xara. It hasn't been completely replaced either, there are still many areas of the program that use the old handles and in this context we still update them. Moving forward however, we are working on the smartshape handles for everyday use in Xara.
2) Deforming photos and text is not off the table and for the foreseeable future it's not.
3) You have a copy of the photo in the bitmap gallery that you can import, however in your example changing the colour is non destructive as you can easily remove the colour. If you distort the image, we don't have an ability to undo that and return the image to the original aspect ratio (other than through the action undo, which is unfeasible if the image has been extensively worked on after distorting).
"I've not been here long enough to know where Rob-Xar sits at the Xara table, so please don't take this comment literally if you aren't in a position to make decisions."
No idea what you mean by this. Are you asking whether I'm important enough to comment or otherwise don't bother replying?
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Thank you fir all your help Rob, it's much appreciated.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
No idea what you mean by this. Are you asking whether I'm important enough to comment or otherwise don't bother replying?
I sorry if this question was taken out of context. I was asking what role you have in the Xara corporation, whether your connection between company and public is PR or development. I don't even know if you are employed by Xara, an ex employee with a strong interest in helping the public understand the working etc, etc. I genuinely don't know. My interest was further piqued by the fact a few members give the impression (as it seems to me) that you have significant sway with blunt statements like 'you should do this, or remove that and you are doing so-and-so as if you can make these things happen, indicating a rather high position in decision making. Once again, I apologise if the way I asked gave some form of offence, I assure you, it wasn't meant to.
Apology, and hopefully sorted, part behind us. My initial reason for asking about your official ties to Xara was how much knowledge you may have of the inner workings, ie: is the now infamous Smart Transform going to replace the original handles, run along side of, morph together etc? Again, the term 'Legacy' in the software context means outdated and no longer in development. A legacy item may still be functional, but it's at end of life and I was asking if you knew if that was the case here; hence my asking for clarification as to whether it was a figure of speech.
My analogy to destructive may seem a little naïve, but again it was genuine. If I distort a picture and change my mind I simply drag the original back onto the workspace because the original isn't affected by Xara. This is what I believed was meant by non destructive. I used the changing of colour as an example as what I perceive to be the same as I would not try to correct a series of colour changes, I would simply bash delete and drag the original back into workspace and start again. I was being genuinely curious with this too. I didn't see how, not just you personally, but anyone, would class distortion as destructive, not a criticism, a genuine question.
All perfectly innocent questions. I may be naïve on the workings, but isn't that part of the learning curve? Just for full disclosure - I don't have a huge problem with the Smart Transform other than the lack of snapping when resizing, which I have mentioned, not demanded or whinged about, elsewhere. True, it would be nice to be able to (simply) turn it off, but I have used it on numerous occasions without issue.
Can we shake hands and give manly nods to each other now please?
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
The clue's in the title ...
Attachment 123396
Rob is probably the Xara employee with the most obvious presence on the forum, and as such seems to get dumped on more than most. It's a good job he's doesn't take this personally.
Thanks once again for your participation Rob.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
Yes, saw the technical support heading, but it doesn't explain how far Rob can go. As an example, I am an independent technician. When I worked for a company I was labelled level 3 and had access to company kept private emails and passwords. Level 2 and 1 did not. It seemed natural to me to ask where on the table Rob sat because it affects the type of question.
I'm genuinely interested in why there's such a bee in the bonnet over the Smart Transform as I've not used the software long enough to have formed bone deep habits. This curiosity led me to finding out that XDP and XWD handle the situation differently and reported what I found to see if it helped all the information that was flying around. Naturally I followed the thread.
Rob then used the term 'Legacy' which made me wonder if he knew the direction the software was heading at a high level, or as I stated, was it just a figure of speech (as my 'position at the table' is).
Back on topic. I also don't understand whether Gary is agreeing or disagreeing with me in regards to XDP and WDP, and at this point I'm too afraid to ask!
Quote:
And Chris M, I just checked my copy of WD15 and un-checking Smart Transform and Lock Aspect Ratio, and selecting Show Bounding Box Handles does NOT work for resizing a bitmap non-proportionally.
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Re: Help changing only width or height of an image?
legacy can mean depricated... [not the same as discarded]... but it can also mean 'the old way of doing things' and in many instances the old way and the new way can procede together...
can I just also say that Rob is a very very helpful guy
I had a slug-fest discussion with another member here about non-desructive editing which I personally find a nusience because of the way in which it still interferes with the work-flow I established before it arrived [long time ago], and which interference gradually becomes more pervasive
he could not understand my point of view [going so far as to suggest i was using the program only as a toy :rolleyes: :D] - however I can understand how useful it is to those who work in such a way, but I just don't need to