Hi-Resolution Graphics Help Inquiry

**Soquili** · 28 February 2007, 05:24 PM

I would not call PhotoZoom bad software, simply not the program that works for what you want. It is still the best program I know of that can increase the dpi (and/or size) of an image with the least amout of pixelation or distortion.

Unfortunately with the small images you are working with and the detail required it may not be the best choice.

It works very well to enlarge a photograph without causing pixelation.

I made a test using the current download of version 2.0 of PhotoZoom.

Working with an antialiased image (attachment on the left). I increased the pixels per inch to 800 and then saved as a 24bit png. As you can see from the attachment on the right there was some antialiasing added (which would be excellent in a photo).

**mac53** · 28 February 2007, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by Soquili

Unfortunately with the small images you are working with and the detail required it may not be the best choice.

Bill...

If PhotoZoom is not the best choice, then what would you recommend then?

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Bill...

My comments about PhotoZoom was not intended as any pokes towards you and if I made you
feel negative in any way... I render to you my apology. I'm just getting a little frustrated with this... that's all! ;-)

**Soquili** · 28 February 2007, 08:51 PM

No No, I didn't take it you were making any 'pokes' at me. No apology is needed.

I was a bit rushed trying to type the post and handle my 'day job' at the same time.

I haven't had time to try a few things with my personal software collection at home. Have a couple more hours before I can get there to try.

I still think PhotoZoom may be the best because I haven't found anything else that does what it does with the same quality. May need to change the sequence of when the transparency is applied. It may need to be the last step of the entire routine.

**mac53** · 28 February 2007, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by Soquili

May need to change the sequence of when the transparency is applied. It may need to be the last step of the entire routine.

Bill...

I tried that. I tried to change the transparency after the graphic conversion and believe me buddy, that is definitely not the process! I'd be there converting the cyan over to transparency for hours. Simply put, there are some many different shades of cyan, you wouldn't believe. Out of the two methods... converting the cyan to transparency first is the best choice,...
"Scout's Honor"!

I'm biginning to entertain the thought of possible copy-paste procedure... Is that possible?

**Grafixman** · 01 March 2007, 12:02 AM

Have you tried the method I suggested? Making a separate black and white mask image from the original picture, then enlarging both with PhotoZoom and using the enlarged mask version to create the transparency? I'm sure you are familiar with importing grayscale images to create selections and alpha channels in bitmap editors. That should take care of the noisy areas in the transparent portions. If the mask image itself becomes noisy, a little fiddling with the levels control should fix the problem.
If the fringing effect is still present, perhaps you could shrink the selection a bit before filling in the cyan color in the background?
So 8 bit transparency is supported in the game engine. What about the transparency in the original extracted image? Is it 8 bit too? From 256 colors, I would expect only a 1 bit transparency is available. But from mac's last example, it does seem like it is supporting graduated transparency.

**mac53** · 01 March 2007, 01:16 AM

Graf...

You are far more advanced in the graphics community than I am... that's why I started a thread here and that's to hopefully learn about graphics editing.
You're being sure that I'm familiar with some of the graphic's techniques is slightly "off base"! It sounds like there isn't too much you can't do with graphics. I envy this! If you're willing to take the time to guide me through some of these processes, I'd sure be grateful.

**Grafixman** · 01 March 2007, 01:46 AM

Haha, well, I'm just a hobbyist. I try my best to keep up with the real pros here. You are the pro, since you do this for a living

.
Here's a little link to masking in PSP: http://www.webreference.com/graphics/column23/
So what you do is to create a copy of the unresized image. In the copy, select the transparent colors, fill it with black, invert the selection and fill that with white. Then use PhotoZoom to enlarge the black and white image. Load the result in the mask channel (via copy and paste? not sure since I don't have PSP, but that's the first thing I'd try.), and you have your selection to play with.
BTW, I downloaded a copy of the trial version of PhotoZoom just to check it out. There are lots of parameters to tweak under the Presets: Generic. Perhaps you could find one which minimizes the unwanted colors? (Artificial Detail to zero perhaps?)