New- photo size question

[hickoryp]

Is there a way to tell the program what size to make the picture that I select when I put in on the page? I would like them to be 3 1/2 x 5. When the pictures are on on the page and I resize them is there a way to tell how big they are in inches? I know the size is in the bottom left corner when the photo is selected but it is not in inches.
Thanks for your help
Kristine

[Lee]

Refer to thread "cutting pictures..."

There's no direct way to set a picture size in SBM but you can do it indirectly. Refer to this thread.

In a nutshell, you use the gray/white checkerboard that appears behind the photo as a ruler. For example, if you want 3 1/2 x 5, you pretend each gray/white square is an inch. Therefore, your photo should be 3 1/2 squares by 5 squares. When you click "OK", the photo shows up in your page as an indeterminate size but with the correct ratio. Then, using the rulers along the top and left side, grab a resizing handle at one corner and set the photo to the desired size. Clear as mud?

[hickoryp]

I'm confused sorry. I did read the other posts as well. I only see the squares when I have the picture in the crop box. And if I count the squares the picture should be about 18x20 but when it is on the pages it looks roughly like 4x6 or a little bigger because it only fills a small part of my 12 x 12 page. What size is a picture automatically when you just select it and put it on the page? So my question is still how do I get it to be 3 1/2 x5?
Kristine

[hickoryp]

3x5 huh?

There is a number in the bottom left corner 400 x600 something. What does this number correspond to when the picture is 3 1/2 x 5.
Thanks
Kristine

[Lee]

English is such an imprecise language...

OK, let's try to explain this a different way. There's no way to directly set a crop size so we have to apply a workaround.

To do this, you have to first use the crop box to set a ratio. In your case, you want a photo to be 3.5 x 5. At this point, it doesn't matter what units of measure you're using. It could be meters, light years or in your case, inches but we need the final image to be 3.5 something by 5 something.

Since units or measure aren't important at this point, you can use the gray/white squares as the units of measure. Set your crop box to 3.5 squares by 5 squares and position the crop box over the area you want to crop. If 3.5 x 5 is too small, you can use 7 x 10 which is the same ratio (3.5 x 2 = 7 and 5 x 2 = 10). If the crop box is too large, you can use 1.75 x 2.5 (3.5/2 = 1.75 and 5/2 = 2.5). Since you have approximately 18 x 20 squares, you could go as big as 14 x 20 (3.5 x 4 = 14 and 5 x 4 = 20).

Once you have the crop box set to the desired ratio, position the box over the area you want to crop (the area to be kept). When you click OK, the photo appears on your page but it's not 3.5 x 5 yet.

Place the picture in the upper left corner of the page so it's aligned with the zero point of the ruler. If your ruler isn't visible for some reason, click View, Ruler to turn it on. You notice that when the photo is selected, the photo dimensions are highlighted in the ruler. In my case, the horizontal ruler is shaded from the zero mark to 4 inches and the vertical ruler is shaded from zero to 2.75 inches.

Grab (click and hold) the lower right corner of the photo (when the cursor turns into a slanted double-headed arrow) and drag the corner until the photo is 3.5 inches x 5 inches. Clear as mud?

If you're still confused, send me an e-mail and I'll set up a Webcast tutorial for you. Assuming you're on broadband (high speed), I'll set up a site so you can connect directly to my PC and watch as I go through the steps. You can reach me through my website.

[Marion]

Hey, I learned something new today. I never knew there was a ruler! And all I had to do was click on it!!!! I always felt that was lacking but with all the good features of scrapbook max I wasn't about to complain. Thanks for pointing that out Lee!

(P.S. I know I keep coming to this forum for a good reason!)

Marion

[Lorne]

Being able to set the size directly is something I'd also like to see added in the future. I checked just to make sure, and yep, it's still in our list of suggestions (REF: 13198). So this may get added at some point, it just depends on the old balancing act between adding more options and keeping things easy to use.

I know we considered this very subject early in the design process, but at the time a decision was made to keep things less "precise" in order to avoid overcomplicating the settings and to encourage a more touchy-feely kind of approach. I think we wanted people to do stuff 'til it looks nice, and not worry too much about the exact details.