PaintShop Pro ??

[beavereater]

Using paint shop pro, I am trying to design a small postcard size flyer. Unfortunately, when it comes time to make the map, things get screwy because I have just a little space, only about 1/4 of the postcard sized paper. Now, I have seen maps made smaller, but everytime I get PSP to zoom in to do the work, everything comes out choppy and terrible. I'm no pro, but I am sure there's a way around that, isn't there!? Or am I just outta luck!!

[flaninacupboard]

try designing it on a large canvas and then resizing down to fit into your space. should have a smoother look to it.

[beavereater]

I will try that...I just hope that it comes out OK. Sometimes I want to use clipart that I find, and it's pretty small compared to what I would like to use it for. If I enlarge it, it gets all jagged...so I try and work with it on a smaller scale. Then the other stuff comes out funky...

[DVD_Ripper]

Larger Canvas... save as WMF or CGM (meta files - they are vector based images and can resize and will not deteriorate)

[thecoalman]

What your seeing beavereater is pixelation, it can work both ways either from a small image you make bigger or a large image you make smaller. One thing to keep in mind when looking at an image on a display that is not the actual size unless that is the view you have selected. Additionally the actual size in pixels can vary from the printed size. I suggest you do a little research on resolution and how it relates to image sizes. For building web pages this doesn't matter much but for printing and scanning it can have a big affect on how well your final product looks.

When you put a small image based object on a large canvas then enlarge the object the pixels or each block of color become many blocks of the same color. You can fix it a little by first enlarging your selection then see if there is soften, blur or average tool or effect in your software program. I'm not familiar with PSP but I'm sure there is something like that. You will lose sharpness to the image and can get to the point of being unrecognizable but it's really the only way to enlarge a image and remove pixelation. Additionally you will want to make sure you have anti-aliasing enabled, this will blend the edges with your canvas.

This can also appear when viewing a large image that has been resized smaller to fit your screen. For example if you have a image that is 3000px X 3000px you can't view all the pixels that the image data contains because your monitor doesn't go that high. If you set the view to fit in window the software resizes it to fit your monitor and it will sometimes exhibit the pixelation. This will in no way affect the printed product.

Vector based objects or path objects use attributes to determine the data and can be resized without pixelation providing the attibute is not based on a image. A prime example of this is stock clip art in MS word. They are based on lines and curves not images. If you resize them it just applys the same attribute to the larger lines and curves. A clip art image will look the same if it 20 feet wide or 2 inches wide. The same holds true for fonts.