We’re currently kicking around the idea of adding the ability to crop an image in some capacity to Gigapixel AI. We’ve had multiple requests for this over the past year and we’d like to dig a little further into what people would want from a cropping feature. Our goal is to implement the most high-impact version of the feature that will add to the most common potential use case.
Two versions of this have been proposed:
Version 1: The ability to specify an output width and height for an image or group of images and have the image cropped around the borders (think Canvas Resize in Photoshop). Users would be able to pan the image to change where the crop would occur. This way, if you had multiple images you wanted to scale with different dimensions, you could specify a single width and height and have all the images cropped to that width and height when processing. There’s also the question of what to do with the borders of the image if the output size exceeds the dimensions of the scaled image - do default to a white background? Transparent? Perhaps the ability to change that background?
Version 2: A crop tool similar to the one in Photoshop. Users would be able to toggle a “crop mode” and specify a rectangle where the image would be cropped. So far, we’ve noticed that most users do this outside of the program and then import the cropped image into Gigapixel for resizing. The thought is that this fine-tuned cropping is typically done on no more than a few images at a time.
Our goal again is to cater to the most common use case and alleviate pain points in users’ image manipulation workflows, while also keeping the software focused and bloat-free. Your feedback on this is greatly appreciated! Thank you.
That last one is my preference. I crop in Photoshop, save the crop to desktop, open it in GigaPixel, process and save back to desktop. To open/crop/process/save in one app is highly appealing.
Thanks for the feedback! Regarding that workflow, do you typically crop them all first then import them into Gigapixel and batch process them? Or is it easier for you to do them one by one?
The second version is the one most preferable for me. Since Gigapixel is a stand-alone, the image has had to be brought into an editor prior to opening in Gigapixel, do the cropping, saved as a new image and only then opened In Gigapixel. Having the ability within the app would save a lot of time.
I prefer the second option. My current workflow is the same as Jack and Eleanore…Photoshop to crop > Save > Process in Gpxl. I would be great not to have to go into PS first.
I prefer to work on images individually so do not use batch processing.
My images would have already been cropped so I’m happy with Gigapixel without a crop.
That said, and being honest, if the crop functionality is as poor as the one in Studio 2, then Gigapixel AI would be better off without it.
Any cropping I do (which is very little) is carried out as the first step in my raw processor so I’m also happy with Gigapixel not having it. If it’s going to have one my vote would go for option 2.
The only time I would use cropping in Gigapixel is to make a final print size such as 250 ppi at a 16 x 24 (2x3) ratio but this can be done in a photo editor. I would like to see a good healing brush though.
To my way of thinking…batch cropping would be of the least concern. Every image is different and one size would be unlikely to work for all. In most cases, at least in mine, the most useful purpose of cropping is to extract the subject from uninteresting or meaningless surroundings with resulting smaller image less for the app to concentrate on.
My cropping is typically done well prior to ever considering an image worthy of enlargement in Gigapixel. If the capability is added it would only ever be used in an emergency if I discovered that the image could not be made as large as I needed without an additional trim after I was already in Gigapixel.
I’d presume that most post processing would take place on the enlarged image, being able to crop an image prior to enlarging within Gigapixel would save a step and time processing.
I disagree - personally I’d do all my post processing first, and only even consider taking an image into Gigapixel if I wanted to resize it after everything else was done. It seems to me that anything you do after Gigapixel has a lot more work to do (assuming upsizing of course) than it would if done beforehand - others may have a different outlook.
Everyone’s workflow is different but I think it depends on the image itself. Restoring old images is one instance of where I’d do as much repairing as possible prior to enlarging and then go back and fine tune but the pixel count on these oldies doesn’t give as much of an option as a newer image. When isolating a portion of an image from a distance shot to enlarge, I find I can do a much better job of post processing after enlarging and the file size to process is much smaller. No matter how you slice it… I’d love the cropping ability.
I’d love the cropping ability.