cliff_bickel

I know that when it comes to resizing/resampling images, you always get a better result when resizing smaller than the original, than you do when you try to resize larger than the original. But I have some files that are pretty small (only about 100 pixels square) that I'd like to resize large enough (say, 300 pixels square) to make them a little more useable. Of course, the problem is that doing so causes them to look horrible...very blurred and pixelated (they are JPGs to begin with).

So I was wondering if there's some "technique", or maybe a plugin, that does this kind of function better than just telling PE to resize the file?

I did find a PS plugin from Extensis, called pxl SmartScale, that sounds like it's designed to help with this. But it's $199, which is a little steep for me to use just for these few images.

Any other (CHEAP) plugins or methods that might work better?

beth_haney

I've run into the same challenge, and I still haven't found anything that works magic. However, you can sometimes get pretty good results by resampling upwards in increments of 10% - in other words, if the original is 72ppi, go to about 80ppi first, then roughly 88ppi, etc. The Image>Resize>Image Size box also has an area in which you can choose to resample by percentage. I've never used that (the easy way!), I just always go with what's harder and longer. My basic nature, I guess.

There's another plugin called Genuine Fractals. It's also very expensive to buy, but they do have a demo version that can be downloaded and used about 10 times, I think. You might try that. In either case, first make a copy of that original before you start playing with it and also make sure it's been converted to a non-lossy format if you haven't done that already.

If you do find anything magic, let us know!

leen_koper

Next to Genuine Fractals there is S-spline and many others.
A pretty recent test in a usually well informed Dutch magazine about digital photography showed there is hardly any noticable difference between the quality of the results of third party software and the bicubic scaling in Photoshop. Sometimes it is different, but not always better.

Leen

rogier_e2

get a better result when resizing smaller than the original, than you
do when you try to resize larger than the original. But I have some
files that are pretty small (only about 100 pixels square) that I'd
like to resize large enough (say, 300 pixels square) to make them a
little more useable. Of course, the problem is that doing so causes
them to look horrible...very blurred and pixelated (they are JPGs to begin with).

Cliff, you really might want to try S-Spline Pro, we have a demo on
our website: http://www.shortcut.nl/redirect.php?page=downloads.product&id=ssplinepro

It's much cheaper ($129) than Extensis and delivers at least
comparable quality (actually better in my opinion, as smartScale seems
to force some sort of sharpening afterwards which results in equally
sharp but more jaggied edges). For less professional usage there's
also a regular version (S-Spline 2) for $69, which basically does the
same but misses certain Pro features like batch processing, built in
unsharp masking (auto post-processing), allowing manual finetuning of
the enlargement algorithm, support for image formats with 16 bit per
channel precision, and it's only a stand-alone application (whereas
Pro can be used stand-alone as well as a Photoshop plugin).

Leen, what Dutch magazine are you refering to? I've read an article
recently in "Publish" in which several products got reviewed. Genuine
Fractals got a 6/10 score and S-Spline Pro was the clear winner with
10/10. If they state that there isn't much different between
PhotoShops bicubic or the 3th party software specifically made for
enlarging, I wonder how well they actually tested it. For any images
with sharp contrast, edges or high detail, it makes quite a big
difference whether you use S-Spline Pro or common enlargement
techniques like bicubic.

Hope this helps!
Rogier.

cliff_bickel

Beth,

Thanks for the pointer to Genuine Fractals. I did download their trial product and test it. Unfortunately, it appears that it needs a fairly large hi res file to begin with to work it's magic, which these little 160 pixel-square files aren't. So it wasn't able to increase their size without also inducing lots of artifacts. Didn't look quite the same as the artifacts from simple resizing, but still unusable. Thanks for the info though. I'm afraid I'm just out of luck with these things.

julio_guerra

Cliff
Extensis has a program called pxl Smart Scale that does what you want I think.
Julio

callum_ferguson

Hello Cliff.
Odd that you should ask that, this months issue8 Digital Photography Made Easy mag - an Oz mag - has a review of Genuine Fractals and includes a cd with the said Print Pro v 3 on it, they are very impressed, as a bonus there's a vidio on Paths.
Regards
Malcolm

cliff_bickel

Julio,

Yes, in my first note I mentioned that I had found pxlSmartScale while researching this. But they don't have a demo of the product to try, and it's a pretty expensive plugin. I assume it will have the same problem as the Genuine Fractals program I tried...probably does OK at taking an already huge, hi-res file and scaling it even larger for banners or something, but can't do much with tiny 160-pixel images like what I've got to work with. Thanks for responding though.