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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Cropping to Exact Pixel Size
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04/14/2005 10:59:40 PM · #1
I've been using Photoshop 5 & 7 for some time now and there is a feature in v.5 that I can't seem to use in v.7. When I use to the crop tool in v.5 I can specify what size the crop will be by typing in the size in inches or pixels. This is handy when I want the crop to be a perfect 640x480 or 1024x768 to make a perfect desktop wallpaper. I can't seem to figure out how to do this in version 7. The crop tool only allows me to enter pixels/cm or pixels/in.....not pixels alone.

Can anyone tell me how to accomplish this in version 7?
04/14/2005 11:12:33 PM · #2
Goto EDIT > Preferences > Units & Rulers > Under Units & rulers make sure you have it set to pixels.

Message edited by author 2005-04-14 23:13:15.
04/14/2005 11:14:05 PM · #3
I never use the crop tool. You can use the rectangular marquee and the info toolbar will tell you the size of selection. Then image>crop to crop.

Hope that helps.

Message edited by author 2005-04-14 23:16:53.
04/14/2005 11:14:10 PM · #4
Use the crop tool, and enter what pixel size you want in height and width, and put the px prefix after each (i.e. height: 1027 px , width: 768px). Just use 72 p/i as your resolution, and it will crop to that size.
04/14/2005 11:22:55 PM · #5
Originally posted by NickBall:

Use the crop tool, and enter what pixel size you want in height and width, and put the px prefix after each (i.e. height: 1027 px , width: 768px). Just use 72 p/i as your resolution, and it will crop to that size.


I just tried that, and it gave the right proportion, but then still let me drag it to any size (within the given ratio) I want.
How do you do an ABSOLUTE measurement, which I then could NOT resize?
04/14/2005 11:23:52 PM · #6
Wow! All excellent ideas and tips. Every ones of those tips is exactly what I was looking for and more. Thanks all!

If anyone has any more tips please feelfree to share.
04/14/2005 11:32:51 PM · #7
Originally posted by Beetle:

Originally posted by NickBall:

Use the crop tool, and enter what pixel size you want in height and width, and put the px prefix after each (i.e. height: 1027 px , width: 768px). Just use 72 p/i as your resolution, and it will crop to that size.


I just tried that, and it gave the right proportion, but then still let me drag it to any size (within the given ratio) I want.
How do you do an ABSOLUTE measurement, which I then could NOT resize?


Beetle you are correct, it does let you drag to any size within the ratio. The resulting crop will be in the specified size.

Another method of getting an exact size is to use the rectangular marquee tool, and under style set it to the size you want. This will give you a locked selection that you can move in the specified size. You could then use crop(Image>Crop) to crop. But I find the first method much easier to see the results and experiment with.
04/15/2005 12:21:40 AM · #8
A big advantage of the crop tool over the rectangular marquee is that you can rotate the selection at the same time. For example, you can straighten the horizon as you crop.

Message edited by author 2005-04-15 00:21:54.
04/16/2005 01:17:35 PM · #9
Originally posted by NickBall:


Beetle you are correct, it does let you drag to any size within the ratio. The resulting crop will be in the specified size.

I don't get this at all.
Let's say I want to do this:
1) open a (large resolution) photo and view it at 100%
2) take a crop (at the 100%) that will end up 500 x 500 pixels large.
That means I can only get a small portion of my high resolution image included in the sample, right?

Now if I use the crop tool, enter 500px by 500px, but it still lets me resize it to whatever I want, how can you say the end-result will be my specified 500 x 500 pixels?
As I make the box bigger, I include more pixels, right? Am I missing something here? Compression should not come into the equation at this point, so why is this not making sense to me?

How do I get an absolute 500x500 that I move around until I settle on the area I want to include.
By what Nick and General said, the marquee tool may be what I need, but it's not "as good".

So how do we do this?
04/16/2005 01:21:33 PM · #10
Originally posted by Beetle:

Originally posted by NickBall:


Beetle you are correct, it does let you drag to any size within the ratio. The resulting crop will be in the specified size.

I don't get this at all.
Let's say I want to do this:
1) open a (large resolution) photo and view it at 100%
2) take a crop (at the 100%) that will end up 500 x 500 pixels large.
That means I can only get a small portion of my high resolution image included in the sample, right?

Now if I use the crop tool, enter 500px by 500px, but it still lets me resize it to whatever I want, how can you say the end-result will be my specified 500 x 500 pixels?
As I make the box bigger, I include more pixels, right? Am I missing something here? Compression should not come into the equation at this point, so why is this not making sense to me?

How do I get an absolute 500x500 that I move around until I settle on the area I want to include.
By what Nick and General said, the marquee tool may be what I need, but it's not "as good".

So how do we do this?

The crop tool resamples your image at the same time. If you want to select a certain number of pixels from your image without resampling, then the marquee tool (set to a specific size) is what you want -- it will put out a box which you can move around but not resize. The only disadvantage is you can't rotate at the same time -- if you need to straighten the picture, do that before making any selections.

Message edited by author 2005-04-16 13:23:00.
04/16/2005 01:30:06 PM · #11
Use preferences to set ruler units to pixels (I leave mine there anyway, it's more useful). Set "snap to" guidelines. Drag guidelines from upper left corner to define the desired size of the crop. Use crop tool to the guidelines.

You may now drag this crop anywhere within the image, and you may also rotate it as you see fit.

Robt.
04/16/2005 01:30:41 PM · #12
Thank you, GeneralE, I understand now.
The resampling bit was the part missing from my equation.
Edited to add:
Thanks Robert, that makes sense and seems to give me the best of both worlds :-)

Message edited by author 2005-04-16 13:32:18.
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