Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

An effect I use fairly often is a highlighted section like this:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/ExampleHighlight.jpg
(Well, strictly it's a relative 'dimming' of the non-selected area.)

To do this I have to break off from working in IrfanView and load up
resource-hungry PaintShop Pro 8, a bit of a chore.

Over the years I've been delighted to find various features in IrfanView
that I wasn't aware of. I don't think this is one, but I'd appreciate
confirmation please.

Alternatively, any other fast-loading freeware tool that loads fast that
can do it?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Re: Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

>An effect I use fairly often is a highlighted section like this:
>https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/ExampleHighlight.jpg
>(Well, strictly it's a relative 'dimming' of the non-selected area.)
>
>To do this I have to break off from working in IrfanView and load up
>resource-hungry PaintShop Pro 8, a bit of a chore.
>
>Over the years I've been delighted to find various features in IrfanView
>that I wasn't aware of. I don't think this is one, but I'd appreciate
>confirmation please.
>
>Alternatively, any other fast-loading freeware tool that loads fast that
>can do it?

Irfanview can't do it since it doesn't offer the masking needed to
perform that task. However, some freeware programs can do that task
easily once you learn how to create and invert a mask, then lower the
brightness on the masked area.

The following are easy to use and allow you to move your masks.

Hornil StylePix Free
OS: Win XP/2003/Vista/2008/7
http://hornil.com/en/products/stylepix/Features.html

Photofiltre 7
OS: Win NT/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7
http://www.photofiltre-studio.com/pf7-en.htm

PixBuilder Studio
OS: Win XP/Vista/7
http://www.wnsoft.com/pixbuilder

Re: Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

M.L. <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:

>
>
>>An effect I use fairly often is a highlighted section like this:
>>https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/ExampleHighlight.jpg
>>(Well, strictly it's a relative 'dimming' of the non-selected area.)
>>
>>To do this I have to break off from working in IrfanView and load up
>>resource-hungry PaintShop Pro 8, a bit of a chore.
>>
>>Over the years I've been delighted to find various features in IrfanView
>>that I wasn't aware of. I don't think this is one, but I'd appreciate
>>confirmation please.
>>
>>Alternatively, any other fast-loading freeware tool that loads fast that
>>can do it?
>
>Irfanview can't do it since it doesn't offer the masking needed to
>perform that task. However, some freeware programs can do that task
>easily once you learn how to create and invert a mask, then lower the
>brightness on the masked area.
>
>The following are easy to use and allow you to move your masks.
>
>Hornil StylePix Free
>OS: Win XP/2003/Vista/2008/7
>http://hornil.com/en/products/stylepix/Features.html
>
>Photofiltre 7
>OS: Win NT/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7
>http://www.photofiltre-studio.com/pf7-en.htm
>
>PixBuilder Studio
>OS: Win XP/Vista/7
>http://www.wnsoft.com/pixbuilder

Thanks both, much appreciated. I'll investigate all four suggested
programs.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Re: Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

"Elias Fotinis" <efotinis@ya-hoo.com> wrote:

>On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 15:59:33 +0300, Terry Pinnell <terrypin@dial.pipex.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> An effect I use fairly often is a highlighted section like this:
>> https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/ExampleHighlight.jpg
>> (Well, strictly it's a relative 'dimming' of the non-selected area.)
>>
>> To do this I have to break off from working in IrfanView and load up
>> resource-hungry PaintShop Pro 8, a bit of a chore.
>>
>> Over the years I've been delighted to find various features in IrfanView
>> that I wasn't aware of. I don't think this is one, but I'd appreciate
>> confirmation please.
>
>AFAIK, IrfanView can only do rectangular selections.
>
>> Alternatively, any other fast-loading freeware tool that loads fast that
>> can do it?
>
>Paint.NET (<http://www.getpaint.net/>) can do this. Use the Ellipse Select tool, invert the selection and use the Adjustments menu to dim the outside area.
>
>Paint.NET is a nice intermediate tool to have when you need something more advanced than IrfanView, but also something lighter than, say, GIMP.

On installing I got message that it needed XP SP3. I'm still on SP2 and no
imminent plan to update.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Re: Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

Bear <bearbottoms1@gmai.com> wrote:

>Terry Pinnell <terrypin@dial.pipex.com> wrote in
>news:hrebu71n86hcnai6fhug5suoeiuvfpj5d3@4ax.com :
>
>> An effect I use fairly often is a highlighted section like this:
>> https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/ExampleHighlight.jpg
>> (Well, strictly it's a relative 'dimming' of the non-selected area.)
>>
>> To do this I have to break off from working in IrfanView and load up
>> resource-hungry PaintShop Pro 8, a bit of a chore.
>>
>> Over the years I've been delighted to find various features in
>> IrfanView that I wasn't aware of. I don't think this is one, but I'd
>> appreciate confirmation please.
>>
>> Alternatively, any other fast-loading freeware tool that loads fast
>> that can do it?
>>
>
>The fastest way I know how to do something similar is to use Google's
>Chrome Screen Shot extension and choose "capture page region"
>(CTRL+ALT+R) and use the printscreen button to capture the desktop,
>paste new image into Photofilter and crop the image to your liking.
>
>When you choose page region, the entire page darkens except for the
>selection box which you can move and size to the area of interest.
>
>http://bearware.info/screenshots/example.png

Thanks, but I don't use Chrome.

I'm not clear why you'd use it? Or the PrtScr button? I've just installed
Photofiltre and that does it OK on its own. BTW, it seems unable to draw a
circle around a chosen point; is that possible please?

If only PaintShopPro 8 wasn't so slow to load and heavy on resources that
would be my obvious choice, as I'm so familiar with it.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Re: Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

If only PaintShopPro 8 wasn't so slow to load and heavy on resources that
would be my obvious choice, as I'm so familiar with it.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK
================================

Terry, any chance you can increase the memory on that PC? PSP8 should not
be /that/ slow. A disk with significant built-in cache might also help.

http://www.dabs.com/products/seagate...32mb-70JK.html

Cheers,
David

Re: Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

On 6/23/2012 5:59 AM, Terry Pinnell wrote:
> An effect I use fairly often is a highlighted section like this:
> https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/ExampleHighlight.jpg
> (Well, strictly it's a relative 'dimming' of the non-selected area.)
>
> To do this I have to break off from working in IrfanView and load up
> resource-hungry PaintShop Pro 8, a bit of a chore.
>
> Over the years I've been delighted to find various features in IrfanView
> that I wasn't aware of. I don't think this is one, but I'd appreciate
> confirmation please.
>
> Alternatively, any other fast-loading freeware tool that loads fast that
> can do it?
>
Not particularly clean, but you can select, cut selection, image/enhance
colors
change brightness, select region again and paste.
Depends on your ability to get the selection exact.

Re: Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

"David J Taylor" <david-taylor@blueyonder.co.uk.invalid> wrote:

>If only PaintShopPro 8 wasn't so slow to load and heavy on resources that
>would be my obvious choice, as I'm so familiar with it.
>
>Terry, East Grinstead, UK
>================================
>
>Terry, any chance you can increase the memory on that PC? PSP8 should not
>be /that/ slow. A disk with significant built-in cache might also help.
>
> http://www.dabs.com/products/seagate...32mb-70JK.html
>
>Cheers,
>David

Thanks David. Perhaps I'm exaggerating the slowness. And I'm referring to
the speed from a cold start, not with PSP8 already running.

A 4000 x 3000 JPG takes about 6 seconds to open using R-click > Open with
> PSP8 from its Explorer folder. IrfanView, FastStone Viewer and
PhotoFiltre are under a second.

Although now getting old, this PC is still fairly well specified.
'MESH GTS Xtreme', Quad Core Q9450 2.66 GHz, 4 GB DDR2 667 MHz, 512 MB
nVIDIA GeoForce 8800GT
2 x 750 GB Serial ATA2 HDs, plus external 1 TB and 2 TB WD 'My Book'
drives.

I *would* like more RAM; that 4 MB is apparently not fully usable under
XP, so in practice it's under 3 MB. Guess that will have to wait until I
face the hassle and aggro of re-installing everything on a new PC,
presumably Win 7 or 8.

Note also my other point; it's not just the speed of starting PSP8 that
irks, but also its CPU and memory usage.


--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Re: Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

mike <spamme9@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 6/23/2012 5:59 AM, Terry Pinnell wrote:
>> An effect I use fairly often is a highlighted section like this:
>> https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/ExampleHighlight.jpg
>> (Well, strictly it's a relative 'dimming' of the non-selected area.)
>>
>> To do this I have to break off from working in IrfanView and load up
>> resource-hungry PaintShop Pro 8, a bit of a chore.
>>
>> Over the years I've been delighted to find various features in IrfanView
>> that I wasn't aware of. I don't think this is one, but I'd appreciate
>> confirmation please.
>>
>> Alternatively, any other fast-loading freeware tool that loads fast that
>> can do it?
>>
>Not particularly clean, but you can select, cut selection, image/enhance
>colors
>change brightness, select region again and paste.
>Depends on your ability to get the selection exact.

Thanks Mike, but apart from the precision needed that you rightly point
out, IrfanView can only make a *rectangular* selection as far as I know,
so the task I described is not in its repertoire.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Re: Can this be done in IrfanView?
 

In article <n1ddu7l91e7ipclhbtaf3bp1ii8ioshmrc@4ax.com>,
terrypin@dial.pipex.com, Terry Pinnell says...
>
> "Elias Fotinis" <efotinis@ya-hoo.com> wrote:
>
> >On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 15:59:33 +0300, Terry Pinnell <terrypin@dial.pipex.com> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> An effect I use fairly often is a highlighted section like this:
> >> https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/ExampleHighlight.jpg
> >> (Well, strictly it's a relative 'dimming' of the non-selected area.)
> >>
> >> To do this I have to break off from working in IrfanView and load up
> >> resource-hungry PaintShop Pro 8, a bit of a chore.
> >>
> >> Over the years I've been delighted to find various features in IrfanView
> >> that I wasn't aware of. I don't think this is one, but I'd appreciate
> >> confirmation please.
> >
> >AFAIK, IrfanView can only do rectangular selections.
> >
> >> Alternatively, any other fast-loading freeware tool that loads fast that
> >> can do it?
> >
> >Paint.NET (<http://www.getpaint.net/>) can do this. Use the Ellipse Select tool, invert the selection and use the Adjustments menu to dim the outside area.
> >
> >Paint.NET is a nice intermediate tool to have when you need something more advanced than IrfanView, but also something lighter than, say, GIMP.
>
> On installing I got message that it needed XP SP3. I'm still on SP2 and no
> imminent plan to update.

Why???? - you're on an unsupported platform, IIRC.

--
Duncan.