Creating frame/border round image

[fergy]

Hi

I am trying to find out if PTE has the ability to place a border around an image

To explain - say that I have an initial image, and I then want to place a second, smaller image on top, with the initial image becoming the background.

I would like to create a thin border round the smaller overlay image, to help differentiate it from the background

I have previously done this, whithin Photoshop, by resizing and placing a stroke round the image

Is it possible to do something similar directly in PTE ?

Any advice would be appreciated

Fergy

[Lin Evans]

Hi Fergy,

What you need is a very simple PNG file with the correct aspect ratio. This can be created in Photoshop, PixBuilder Studio or your choice of photo editors which supports PNG files. It "could" be a jpg file, but a PNG could be more versatile depending on your individual type of border desired. What I mean by this is that if you want an irregular border, PNG supports transparency where jpg's must have a rectangular appearance.

Since PTE can have multiple layers the only thing necessary to show the border is to size this file so that it frames the smaller image in the foreground but doesn't obscure the background image. This is very easy to do. The framing image goes between the background and foreground images in the Object's List.

If you will post three image and say which you want to be in the background, which you wish to use as the border for the smaller image and which you want to be the smaller image I will create a quick sample for you.

Best regards,

Lin

[fergy]

Hi Lin

Thanks for responding so quickly

Sounds an ingeneous idea - particularly where you have a series of images with consistent aspect ratios.

Unfortunately this is often not the case, particularly when images have been cropped in order to improve the composition.

I was hoping that PTE would have a similar facility to that in ProShow, where you can outline each image/object

Sounds as though that's not possible, pity

Fergy

[Ken Cox]

proshow not perfect either

see

http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewtopi...=10&t=11504

ken

[fergy]

Hi

Agree with that comment, and that's why I am sticking with PTE, but still a pity re the ability to outline

Fergy

[Ed Overstreet]

Hi

Agree with that comment, and that's why I am sticking with PTE, but still a pity re the ability to outline

Fergy

Fergy, this sounds to me like something you might want to post separately under the "Ideas and Suggestions" part of the PTE Forum as a possible future enhancement, maybe providing a little more explanation, just to make sure Igor doesn't overlook it in this thread.

I use a similar technique in Photoshop sometimes to differentiate images that I plan to layer on the screen, also to roughen the edges when I have several images in a sequence where the images vary slightly in aspect ratio (e.g., 15-20 pixels difference in height) and where the blend will produce a border that jumps up and down in a distracting way during a fade-in/out, whereas a wide and feathered edge usually can mask that variation in size without my having to take more radical steps. I agree that the feature you describe would be a nice feature to have in PTE, though maybe not as high a priority as some of the other things listed on the other forum. But why not post it; if it's easy to do, maybe Igor will get to it relatively soon.

[Hawk]

Hi Fergy

Is it possible to do something similar directly in PTE ?

I go along with Lin on this one.

However if your concern is different aspect ratios and creating more than one .png, you could add a drop shadow using Cone Inverted.

Sample below, Cone Inverted - White color - Opacity 100 - Angle -(78.69) - Distance (0) - Size (2.65) - SAVE AS TEMPLATE add to all images.

Added - Just noticed in middle image - portrait, you may have to set to Size (4.65) to keep consistant.

Using the above settings with Size (1) gives a nice thin clean border.

[Ken Cox]

HAWK HAD TO SHOW HIS CARDINAL

nice shot

Fergie

i have put the thread in the suggestions slot

ken

[fergy]

Thanks, everone, for the input

One of the reasons for the query, was also to rty to create a consistent width border

When I used the stroke option in Photoshop, I would choose say 2 pixels, but the impact in the final presentation varied, particularly if I didn't resize beforehand

I agree it's not a must have, but will add it to the Ideas & Suggestions list, as I think it would be a good addition to the range of tools, and cut out an element of the pre-processing of images, thus speeding up the workflow

Fergy

[susiesdad]

May I suggest an alternative method.

Why not simply place the small image above a filled frame or rectangle that is sized just one or two pixels larger than the image. In fact if the image was placed as a child of the frame or rectangle then any pan or zoom required could involve the pair and the visual border would be maintained. This method would also avoid the need to have a set of templates.

Alan

[xahu34]

... Why not simply place the small image above a filled frame or rectangle that is sized just one or two pixels larger than the image...

Hi Alan,

I have also thought about this solution. I think that it will work well, as long as the images are static. In case of animations, I made the experience that the edges of rectangles were not animated in the same smooth way as those of images.

Regards,

Xaver

[davegee]

Isn't a white rectangle made in Photoshop at a few pixels larger than the image and saved as a JPEG not an image as well?

One single white JPEG made at screen res should be all the is needed - it can then be resized (even distorted) to suit any image and animated if necessary. It would not have to be a high quality large file.

DaveG

[Lin Evans]

Hi Dave,

I think Xaver was referring to a "rectangle" as created by PTE internally rather than a jpg image. Rectangles and Frames (solid color) called in O&A seem to have a different aliasing applied and when animated the edges look a bit strange where a jpg or png image holds its shape better.

Best regards,

Lin

[xahu34]

... I think Xaver was referring to a "rectangle" as created by PTE internally rather than a jpg image. Rectangles and Frames (solid color) called in O&A seem to have a different aliasing applied and when animated the edges look a bit strange where a jpg or png image holds its shape better ...

Hi Lin,

Thank you for making this point clear. In the context of Alan's post, I did not expect that there could be a misunderstanding

Regards,

Xaver

[thedom]

Igor wrote about one year ago (I couldn't find the post) that he would add the ability to add a border to an object in a future version.

May be in next version... ?

[Igor]

Yes, I remeber about this idea with a border for an image object.

Also in v5.7 we've added "Edge antialiasing" option for Rectangle objects (like currently for Image objects). It is adaptive/dynamic antialiasing which works perfectly for any Zoom values.