interesting program

[tom c]

Although I am not in the business....i was reading some very good reviews of a spline program that maybe of some interest to this forum.
tom c

http://www.shortcut.nl/products.php?parentid=3&count=7

( I pasted this url...hope it works)

Is this the right place to post ?

[Sharon Brunson]

I haven't used this program, Tom, or Genuine Fractals, but I recently learned of a freeware action called Stair Interpolation that I have had some success with. Here's the link

http://www.fredmiranda.com/SI/index.html

I think it is only for Photoshop but I like the price. Probably not as good as the program you mentioned.

I always like to hear about new programs.

Sharon

[Ed_L]

Tom,
Thanks for the URL. It looks like a pretty impressive program.

Sharon,
How long have you been using that program? It too, looks really good. Have you noticed much of a difference when using it on different type images? Thanks for the tip. The price is certainly right!

Ed

[George]

Ed:

I tried Stair Interpolation and Genuine Fractals on two landscape images. I used a scanned 35 mm negative at 2400 dpi and a 14 Meg digital camera image. Opened the images in Photoshop 6.0 and used each of the programs to enlarged then to 12 x18 at 360.

I then printed the four images from the two programs out on Epson 1270, using heavyweight matte paper, at 1440 dpi. In my opinion the prints enlarged using Genuine Fractals were better than those enlarged using the Stair Interpolation.

It is important to point out this is my opinion only and as I found out fifty years ago when I first started taking and printing photographs, each person has their on opinion on what is good.

I had the Genuine Fractals plug-in so it was easy for me to make the comparsion. The cost difference between the programs could be a major factor in regards to which one some one would select to use.

I have also been using the Lanczos 8x8 enlargement process ( much faster than Genuine Fractals) in Picture Windows Pro 3.1.

I used this process on the same two images and enlarged then to 12 x 18 and printed them out the same way. When I viewed these prints against the ones enlarged using Genuine Fractals in my opinion they are just as good as the ones enlarged using Genuine Fractals.

Irfan View also has lanczos as one of the ways to enlarge an image. I have tried this procedure also but did not find it to be as effective as the one in Picture Windows Pro 3.1. In PWP3.1 I have three lanczos methods to choice, 4x4, 6x6, and 8x8. I can also select the dpi I want the enlarged image to be.

George

[Sharon Brunson]

Ed,

I'm sure George is right about Genuine Fractals, but there is no way I am going to spend that much. I just don't use it enough to justify the cost.

I noticed a big improvement in enlarging things like postcards that leave a strong moire pattern, especially when scanned at a higher resolution in order to enlarge them. I can scan at a lower resolution and use SI to enlarge without such drastic moire.

I've only used it a couple of weeks and am still experimenting with it, Ed. But it hasn't caused any problems with my system or Photoshop and it does a better job at enlarging that Photoshop so I think it is worth the download.

If you need to make really big enlargements, like for ads or large murals, then you need Genuine Fractals or something similar.

It's an easy action to run.

HTH

Sharon

[Ed_L]

Thanks to both of you for the replies. There's no way I could justify the cost of Genuine Fractals, but I might be able to swing SI. Thanks again.

Ed

[paulette conlan]

Sharon-
I downloaded the SI action,unzipped it and thought I loaded it etc. but I can't seem to find it anywhere in my action palete.It seems like a very useful action and I'd like to give it a try. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.
Paulette

[DJ Dubovsky]

Thanks for the urls Tom and Sharon. I will definately check these out. George, it's always good to have personal experience and a comparison of software. Thanks for your valuable input.
DJ

[airubin]

slide scanner

Hi George,

What slide scanner did you use? I'm looking into the Nikon Coolscan IV ED, but I have not made a final decision.

Thanks for the comments of Genuine Fractals. I'm going to give a trial after i get back from vacation. It would save me a considerable amount of time as I save about six files for every digial camera image I want to work with. This includes a duplicate and the web and print sizes.

alan

[Sharon Brunson]

Paulette,

I have a separate actions folder that I use. I keep it in My Documents and use it for any non-adobe action that I use. Saves the action list from getting too long plus it is easy to back-up. When I want to use one of these actions, I can easily navigate to this folder from within Photoshop.

I didn't do anything unusual for to open this action. I notice my Adobe actions (ver6.01) are under C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 6.0\required. Like I said, my other actions I keep separate.

I know this isn't much help, just letting you know how I used it.

If I can confuse the issue any more, let me know.

Sharon