Genuine Fractals Printpro users

hentaitic · 20th April 2003

honestly, I dun see any diff between the GF Printpro image resizing/resampling and the PS's own Bicubic resample image.

Or is there something that I am doing wrong.

I usually use a print resolution of 300 dpi setting on the GF Printpro.

what are the other (better if there is), softwares for this out there?

Zerstorer · 20th April 2003

If you look closely, the artifacts generated by this is slightly different from that created by bicubic resampling. In fact, sometimes it may even give a painterly look.

Why are you using this anyway? Are you making extremely large enlargements?

Personally I just use Qimage Pro with multitude of resampling algorithms.(Vector Interpolation, Lanzcos, Hermite, Bicubic...etc)

hentaitic · 21st April 2003

I only got an Canon A40. 2.1Mpixel only.

Wanna print A4 portraitures for sticking on my walls.

Found out that if I boost the image up to 3.2MP of 4MP, the printed image looks so much better.

BTW, is this Qimage Pro SW free? What's the best resampling algorithms in yr experience???

Zerstorer · 21st April 2003

Qimage Pro can be downloaded for a short trial, you have to pay to unlock its full functionality after that.

For now, Vector interpolation seems to give the least artifacting.

hentaitic · 21st April 2003

Thanks for the SW tip. I will check it out!

Think thr shld b another thread on this Qimage SW. Sounds interesting, as it is also well received by the Dpreview crowd.

Jed · 21st April 2003

Depends on the photo. In some instances GF does very little different than bicubic. And in some instances it does a MUCH better job. Ultimately, having a range of options works well, but I'd be happy to use GF all the time, or even bicubic for that matter.

kahheng · 21st April 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by hentaitic
honestly, I dun see any diff between the GF Printpro image resizing/resampling and the PS's own Bicubic resample image.

Or is there something that I am doing wrong.

I usually use a print resolution of 300 dpi setting on the GF Printpro.

what are the other (better if there is), softwares for this out there?

GF is useful when you have an original file that's at least 15 megs.

Personally, I have found it both pricey and less than good. It takes an awfully long time to work. Definitely not professional workflow quality material. Most sensible pros won't touch it these days. It's fame is more hype than anything in my experience.

PS's bicubic is will be good up to about 2x (Length + width).

My current favorite is Celartem's VFZoom and Irfanview's built in Lanczos, Mitchell and B-Spline formulae. The latter is Windows/PC only.

Lanczos will preserve edges better so it's more suited to images with a lot of texture. The other two have a 'smoothening' effect, preserves edges less, and are great to kill off some of the edge artifacts you sometimes get from consumer cameras. There's really no one do it all solution. You choose the algorithm based on the picture. Irfanview is FREE BTW.

VFzoom uses a really good vector interpolation algorithm that emphasises preservation of smooth tones. You can download a free demo at http://www.celartem.com. Basically, I like the aesthetics of the resized image using this app - it's very analog. It's good for up to 3-4x when your start with a reasonably large file (11-15 megs uncompressed). Though I have gotten a beautiful 10"x15" print from a Oly 2100 least compressed JPEG using this.

The previous poster's recommendation for Qimage is excellent. For printing direct to your home printer, it's unbeatable for price and quality. It's such a ridiculously low priced app. that provides absolutely disproportionate benefits.

Check out Profile Prism from the Chaney as well. It's great for building printer, scanner and camera profiles. There's no cheaper ICC profile generating app + target solution than this. It even reads the usual Macbeth charts. A Windows only solution unfortunately. Both are regularly updated. The current version of Profile Prism is particularly accurate for printer profiles. It took him about a week to ship PP to me.

Jed · 21st April 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by kahheng
Most sensible pros won't touch it these days. It's fame is more hype than anything in my experience.

Most sensible pros won't touch interpolation, full stop.

kahheng · 21st April 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Jed
Most sensible pros won't touch interpolation, full stop.

That's just not true. It depends on the level of equipment you have access to. Not everyone owns a digital back or double digit MP camera.

kahheng · 21st April 2003

Quote:

Originally posted by kahheng
That's just not true. It depends on the level of equipment you have access to. Not everyone owns a digital back or double digit MP camera.

Oh and BTW, for the longest time, many single shot digital back users were interpolating when their backs couldn't give enough pixels for very large outputs like for backlighted trans at shopping malls. Double digit single shot digital backs are a very recent phenomenon (save the Dicomed BS). Just the last two years.

icyflame · 9th May 2003

there was a review on the net b4 comparing the various forms of resizing/resampling

surprising the best tried out to be infraview's lanczos filter, even better than GF

that's the one i am using....the best thing is it's FREE!!!!

20th April 2003	#1
hentaitic Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 107	Genuine Fractals Printpro users honestly, I dun see any diff between the GF Printpro image resizing/resampling and the PS's own Bicubic resample image. Or is there something that I am doing wrong. I usually use a print resolution of 300 dpi setting on the GF Printpro. what are the other (better if there is), softwares for this out there?

20th April 2003	#2
Zerstorer Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 3,610	If you look closely, the artifacts generated by this is slightly different from that created by bicubic resampling. In fact, sometimes it may even give a painterly look. Why are you using this anyway? Are you making extremely large enlargements? Personally I just use Qimage Pro with multitude of resampling algorithms.(Vector Interpolation, Lanzcos, Hermite, Bicubic...etc)

21st April 2003	#3
hentaitic Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 107	I only got an Canon A40. 2.1Mpixel only. Wanna print A4 portraitures for sticking on my walls. Found out that if I boost the image up to 3.2MP of 4MP, the printed image looks so much better. BTW, is this Qimage Pro SW free? What's the best resampling algorithms in yr experience???

21st April 2003	#6
Jed Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,082	Depends on the photo. In some instances GF does very little different than bicubic. And in some instances it does a MUCH better job. Ultimately, having a range of options works well, but I'd be happy to use GF all the time, or even bicubic for that matter.

9th May 2003	#11
icyflame Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 202	there was a review on the net b4 comparing the various forms of resizing/resampling surprising the best tried out to be infraview's lanczos filter, even better than GF that's the one i am using....the best thing is it's FREE!!!!