Brand new to the forums

[Glenn]

As you can see, I am new to these forums. I have a simple question that probably everyone knows except me. I am trying to take a bitmap the size of your screen and reduce it in size down to about 2" wide by 1.5" tall. My problem is that I lose clarity when I reduce the size. I am using Capture X3 and copying the bitmap to the clipboard at the original size. Then I paste it into PhotoPaint X3 and resample it to the dimensions above. I end up with a picture that isn't real clear. So, I use the correction tools and try unsharp mask, sharpen, adaptive sharpen, and so on to get the dropdown menu text to be readable. I know it can be done because I have seen magazine articles that show a screenprint and you can actually read the dropdown menus. I just don't know how to do it. Can anyone help? Thanks.

P.S. I am not a graphic designer; I am trying to learn this program to help my wife write a paper so I have very little background in this area.

[sallybode]

Welcome to the forum.

Your screen capture is 72 dpi, you need 150 to 300 dpi for a decent print image. Just start a new image, and you can paste your screen capture into PP as a new image. If you are uncertain of how to get a screen image, just click "Print Screen" on your keyboard. You can resize the screen capture in PhotoPaint, and in the resize dialog box check off maintain original size. This way you can control your output the best.

Then of course you can optimize by sharpening, and auto adjusting. To refine this last shortcut, the fade command works really well.

[Glenn]

Good point! I used the Corel Capture and set it to various resolutions (went up to 600dpi to see if there was a difference). I keep it at 300dpi just to eliminate that variable from the mix. When I resample it in CorelDraw, I keep the resolution at 300dpi. I tried the auto adjusting but it ended up changing the color too much. What does the fade command do? I didn't see it in the correction section. Would there be any advantage in trying to save the graphic in another format prior to resizing to avoid compression artifacts?

Thanks.

[Glenn]

Okay, here is something that is puzzling to me. If I take a bitmap and bring it into PhotoPaint and then resample it down to roughly 2" wide by 1.4" tall, the lettering across the top bar is illegible. If I take that same bitmap and bring it into CorelDraw and resample it to the same dimensions, the lettering is legible. The resolution is the same, the starting and ending bitmap dimensions are the same, the only thing that is different is the program used to get the bitmap to the final dimensions. Does Corel use a different algorithm for CorelDraw vs. PhotoPaint?

[sallybode]

With DRAW the drag resizing works well, however, if you do the same thing in PhotoPaint, well the results speak for themselves. But the way to do it is by the numbers, you get much better results. Use Resample Image

[Sark]

If you resample in draw you should get the same results. If you just resize an object in Draw the image will not be resampled, instead the resolution increases to compensate for the smaller size.
When you down sample pixels are discarded, reducing image quality. Resizeing in Draw will not resample, or discard pixels. Having said that the image will still only display at the monitors resolution and therefore pixels are discarded on screen, but this may not use any softening as in most resampling algorithms, hence a cleaner looking image.

Sark

[Glenn]

Okay, I am digesting what you guys are saying. I notice that in PhotoPaint, there doesn't seem to be a resize option, only a resample option. In CorelDraw (I am liking that program more and more), it gives me the option but when I save the resized image as a file and then insert into WordPerfect, I get a blurred image. However, when I go back to CorelDraw to sharpen the image, it already looks sharpened because it looks exactly the same as the screen print (at 800%). I will play with it some more but right now it appears that I have to
- save my results into a file and then insert that file rather than just copying and pasting from CorelDraw into Wordperfect
- Use resample vs resize- so far, resizing results in a blurred picture when inserted into WordPerfect (I will work with that some more)

Thanks for the good info. I really appreciate it.

Glenn