Seam Carving [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seam_carving ] has been around a while now, as this method of analyzing/altering images is finding its way into more & more apps. It's not something most people will use every day or on every image, but the capability is something you want in your toolkit... For web design it can help when/if you're creating a mobile version of your site(s), making images better fit the smaller screens of cell phones. For image editing seam carving apps/plug-ins can sometimes help a lot getting rid of something in a photo you wish wasn't there. And seam carving can in general help recomposing images so the image content you have better fits the space you want/need to fill. On the downside seam carving works best with more uniform backgrounds -- more complex textures &/or backgrounds may not stretch or shrink well enough to look natural, plus they'll sometimes fool seam carving algorithms.

iResizer focuses on stretching/shrinking images -- when you stretch an image the stretching is performed on anything painted red, avoided on anything painted green, & otherwise spread across the image -- shrinking works the same way, with anything painted red getting shrunk the most, disappearing if you shrunk the image enough. The way it works, both green & red masks are more like guidelines, telling iResizer's algorithm(s) what to try to avoid &/or what to focus on most heavily, so the rather imprecise paint-on masks are all that's required. One way to get a better idea of just how iResizer works is to visit gocomics.com , save one of the comic strips [usually right-click the strip/image], open it in iResizer, & just start playing... the Undo/Redo buttons make comparisons very easy. [FWIW I think comic strips are ideal in this case because there's little or nothing to confuse the seam carving code, so the results you see are just what iResizer does.] And once you have a fair idea of how today's GOTD works, you can either put it to work, or just have fun, e.g. you can make a car [or just parts of it] Much longer/taller or shorter.

iResizer is a small one file app... The "iResizer" program folder holds 3 files, ~8 MB, while the registry gets one key for the app & one for uninstall. While the Open Image dialog just lists .jpg, .bmp, .png, & .gif, selectng "All files (*.*)" for image type it had no trouble importing .tif images -- unfortunately without a complete list or help file you'll just have to try & see if your preferred image format's supported. Saves can be done in any one of those 4 listed. Multiple levels of Undo are stored, but the masks you painted on are not preserved, so if you click undo you have to recreate them. The resize dialog is a bit sparse, but you can change height & width independently -- you might want to just stretch or shrink to get the proportions you're after, then use your regular image editor to reduce/enlarge & optionally crop the entire image.

You can do the same things with or without seam carving apps/plug-ins, but it takes longer & is [sometimes Much] more work without them, so they're handy to have around. At the same time you might hardly ever use one of these tools because they are so specialized, & what you don't use you'll sooner forget. From that perspective, even if you have the same capabilities in your image editor of choice, if you can spare 8 MB & work with images at all, iResizer is probably worth having IMHO because it's so simple you can dive right in -- you might even be done in less time than it would take to read that image editor's help file, refreshing your memory on how to use its built-in seam carving features.

mike  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+49)

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Quite fun.
However it is not precise. User cannot exercise fine control. Not talking about the brush size which you can adjust.
Am talking about the resultant image that you will get.
Agree with others on need for auto scaling tool.
This software is in urgent need for multi-step Undo and Redo controls.
Then the user can experiment until he gets the net effect he wants.
It will refuse to function if you don't change the size, since the name of the software is resizer.
Inpaint seems straight-forward and better for removing objects.
Thanks anyway, GOTD and TeoRex.

ric  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+26)

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#2 Steve - Try the program and look at the video guides too then put your comment here...

Trucker  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+25)

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Not bad for free. Installs and works well on Windows 7 32-bit. Tried on photo of two people, and was able to bring them closer together with minimal problem.

One suggestion. When a person makes a mistake with the "markers" and needs to redo a portion, there is no way to "undo" just the last brush stroke. Undo is basically "start over" and I would find that unacceptable in a paid program. Freeware, maybe, but I would never buy it with that flaw.

Randy  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+19)

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Nicely improved from Version 1.0 offered 03/10/11. Removes unwanted portions of a photo a lot better than before as long as you set the new photo size to accommodate the area you want removed.
If you don't like the result, you can undo and try again until you get a satisfactory picture to save. I like it and it is fun to play with.
Definitely a thumbs up!

Dan  –  12 years ago  –  ¿Te ha parecido útil este comentario? si | no (+16)

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