Re: my thumbnails suck! help!

Lest we forget...the usual use of a thumbnail is as a "suggestion" to the 
viewer to look at the larger (and bigger) graphic. It doesn't necessarily 
HAVE to be an exact miniture, but a suggestion of what the viewer wants to 
see. I have had incredible luck with VuePro, resizing jpg's to thumbnail 
size.

Dan Fleming
On 01/08/98 21:42:47 you wrote:
>
>Hello e!
>
>> I really really need advice on creating thumbnails.  
>
>> http://www.netcom.ca/~enigma/INDEX.html    
>
>> can use with paintshop pro? Currently I am scanning at 200dpi and
>> reducing the image size using the RESIZE option.  Also, is .gif or
>> .jpg generally better for thumbnails?  
>
>'Thumbnail' is irrelevant regarding GIF or JPG. These are 'photoreal' 
>images and call for JPG.
>
>The problem with thumbnailing is that -so- much information is just 
>plain lost in resizing, regardless of image format. Example, self.jpg 
>is 250x361 = 90250 pixels. The thumbnail is 50x72 = 3600 pixels, appx 
>4% of the original. A thumbnail will look 'similar' to the full size 
>image, but no way can it really look 'the same but smaller'.
>
>Here's a 'for instance' a speck of 'red' against 'white':
>
>WWWWW
>WWWWW
>WWRWW
>WWWWW
>WWWWW
>
>Shrink that by 25x and you're left with:
>
>W
>
>...and the bit of red is lost.
>
>Here's one way to retain 'some' of what's lost, two steps, blur 
>slightly then resize. Using the above example, some of the 'red' is 
>blurred outward into the white area:
>
>
>WWWWW
>WRRRW
>WRRRW
>WRRRW
>WWWWW
>
>Then after resizing:
>
>R
>
>...and that speck of red is retained.
>
>In JPG every little bit of color that gives the 'impression' of 
>'something' helps a lot, yields a 'better' picture.
>
>I don't take credit for that trick, I read it somewhere, probably a 
>long time ago in an HWG list.
>
>Have a :) day!
>
>jim barchuk
>mailto:jb(at)jbarchuk.com
>http://www.jbarchuk.com
>
>



Dan Fleming
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dflem(at)ix.netcom.com

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