Corel Stretch, question

[Dave Johnson29]

Hi All,

I have a certificate to replicate and the picture provided is very slightly out of square and slightly pin cusioned.

The left, bottom and right edges are parallel to the Corel Photo grid but the top right corner is slightly down. As in, the right height is about 1/8" shorter than the left height.

I need to stretch just that top right corner up about 1/8" but cannot find anything in the help system. I have tried manipulating it in both Draw and Photopaint with no success.

Any suggestions how to grab that top right corner and stretch it up a little?

Thanks.

[Frank Corker]

Not too sure in Corel, but if it is still a bitmap the best course of action would be to edit and then choose skew. If you are still struggling Dave send me your picture I will pm you my email address.

[Dave Johnson29]

Not too sure in Corel, but if it is still a bitmap the best course of action would be to edit and then choose skew. If you are still struggling Dave send me your picture I will pm you my email address.

Hi Frank, got your email, but would have to check first with the owner as it is a very personal document, not a simple award thing. I guess you know what do-gooder Privacy issues are like in this part of the world.

It is in JPG format at the moment and is 600K at 1200x1600 or thereabouts. I will try Skew if my v10 Corel has it.

OK, v10 has Skew but it pulls both vertical edges. I need to just drag that single top right corner and leave the other three corners where they are.

[Mike Null]

Dave

Open the photo in Draw and take the shape tool, select the photo, at which point you will see 4 nodes. Grab the node you need to move and position it where you want it. You might use guidelines to help.

Another way is to use the crop tool which will make the photo slight smaller but it will square it up.

[Dave Johnson29]

Another way is to use the crop tool which will make the photo slight smaller but it will square it up.

Thanks Mike, sounds like that's what I need. I can't crop yet as it is a certificate and there are other borders and lines that would then look out of whack to the crop boundary. I will have to crop it eventually but I need to get it all straightened up first.

Actually it was when I went to crop that's when I noticed the out of square as it is not that visually obvious in the pic. But, when aligned on the plaque I have to burn it on to it would be very obvious, well to me anyway. Damned Engineering brain that requires everything oi straight lines or ordered curves. Out damn Spot, out.

[Mike Null]

Dave
Here's a pic. This is in Draw not Paint.

[Dave Johnson29]

Here's a pic. This is in Draw not Paint.

Thanks Mike,

I tried that but it allows me to drag the blue dotted line where I would like it, it turns into a solid blue line, but does not change the shape of the pic. I have checked that the object is unlocked.

Interestingly, if I move a node inside the pic boundary it will crop with a taper and not actually adjust or skew the actual pic shape.

I had Imported it as a TIFF and tried both as Imported and as Convert to a bitmap and no difference. I does not want to do anything that would be larger than the actual pic.

Beats me, but thanks so far.

[Andrea Weissenseel]

Dave you can do it in Photoshop. If you use the crop tool, then you have the choice to correct the perspective. you can correct it by checking the box for 'perspective' on the options bar.

[Dave Johnson29]

you can do it in Photoshop.

Thanks Andrea,

I only have v6 of PS and it does not appear to have that option. Although I have not used it for many years, so I may be missing something in it.

I have asked the customer to bring the document over and I will take a pic with my camera mount and it will be square to the axis.

Thanks again for trying.

[Darren Null]

I ***think*** this works in photoshop v6:

1) Create a layer from background. Layer --> New --> Layer From Background (The technique won't work on a locked background)
2) Zoom out a bit, so you can see the image and all around it. (This gives you room to move the perspective handles. You may need to move them quite a distance. I seem to recall that the magnification tool is disabled during dragging, but you can still use 'View --> Zoom Out' if you run out of room)
3) Click on the Move tool (at the top of the toolbar), and make sure that 'Show Transform Controls' is ticked (top bar). (This pops up the handles you're going to move around)
4) Hold CTRL down, and drag the corners around individually until your perspective is good. <-- the important bit
5) Double-click the image to let photoshop know you've finished dragging
5½) Select --> Select All. Image --> Crop. (This gets rid of the invisible bits of picture beyond the frame. They're not normally a problem, but can come back to haunt you if you forget. As I did when writing the destructions).
6) save
7) look smug at your 1337 skillz.

It definitely works in CS2, which I have fired up at the moment; so with your client's permission I'd be happy to do it if it doesn't work in V6. Probably does though. PM for email address if you need it.

EDIT: Attached is Mike Null's example after using the above technique. Took 30 seconds, and most of that was my laser mouse having wobblies.

[Mike Null]

Darren

Now that's impressive.

[Darren Null]

I discovered it by accident when trying for something else entirely. It's very handy for straightening bits of photos up though. If it's an object, just remember to shoot on a bit of paper or something, so you've got corners you know are square. As a bonus side effect, if you set the image size to the paper size, you can get your object almost exactly life-size. I use this quite a lot, because your photography is never as square-on as you think it is.
This is also how to take photos of mirrors you've engraved and get them square for your catalogue; but with you not reflected.

You're never going to get it perfect due to lens curvature, so if you do this, zoom in as far as you can to minimize the effects and step back a bit.

The above example is a bit skew- example quality only*. Impressive only if you consider that my mouse was throwing a fit and I was hitting a moving target.

*Disclaimer- Example quality only. Remember that image sizes can go down as well as up. Your mileage may vary. May contain nuts.

BONUS STRAIGHTENING TECHNIQUE- Horizontals (horizons) and verticals.

1) Use the Ruler Tool (towards the bottom of the toolbar, usually buried under another tool, position varies in different versions), drag a line across the horizon (or whatever)
2) Image --> Rotate Canvas --> Arbitrary
3) The ruler tool fills in the amount of rotation needed. Click OK.
4) Crop the triangle bits out.
5) Done.

[Dave Johnson29]

I discovered it by accident when trying for something else entirely.

Darren,

Thanks so much for both of these techniques. Since the customer is bringing the pic in Tuesday I will try with the camera mount table as it will be square and perpendicular. If I still have problems I will fire up PS6 again.

[Darren Null]

You're welcome. If you think you might have problems, remember to shoot one image with max zoom to flatten out the lens distortion. Probably an idea to do that anyway...

[Dave Johnson29]

remember to shoot one image with max zoom to flatten out the lens distortion.

Good point Darren, thanks. One of the nice things about digital cameras, you get to see the results instantly and try again if needed.