Best way to Crop an Image?

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@VectorStyler

I just downloaded the demo and the first thing I did was look for a crop tool to try out. I am glad I didn't purchase it.

No real, easy to use, crop tool - no purchase and no point in going forward in using VectorStyler. I am going to uninstall the program right now.

-pw

Would you like to know how an easy to use Crop tool should look/work ?

Or what it should be able to do ?

b77

@pw That was unnecessary harsh, since there's an easy way to (non-destructively) crop an image or any selection of objects:

draw a rectangle (or any closed shape) over the image or shape(s) you want cropped;
select them all, and…
click the Move Inside Last button:

Quick video here:

alt text

… .. .
(And the developer didn't say anywhere that a Crop tool is not coming).

Boldline

I don't think this was a serious rant. Whether it was or not, there's sure to be more trolling on the forum at some point as VS begins to grow.

I can safely admit that finding a dedicated and easy to use crop tool would never be my top priority nor would it be what I judge a vector based application by.
If by "crop' he's referring to "clipping" - that is more relevant but still not something to uninstall the entire application over lol

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@Boldline said in Best way to Crop an Image?:

I don't think this was a serious rant. Whether it was or not, there's sure to be more trolling on the forum at some point as VS begins to grow.

I think you are not far from the truth.
Found the post also a bit curios.

I dont see that much of a difference between
Crop and Clipping and i have done more Photo clipping
in Xara (back in the days) as in Photoshop

And VS is also very useful in this case

Ingolf

Illustrator, CorelDRAW and Affinity have destructive crop tools built-in. Useful for posters and other applications that include bitmap images. And good to have at hand.

Now I've always finished and cropped images in Photoshop first, but it's heavy detour if you just need to remove some of the image.

One should not underestimate that many designs are a mix of both vector and pixels.

Boldline

@Ingolf said in Best way to Crop an Image?:

Illustrator, CorelDRAW and Affinity have destructive crop tools built-in. Useful for posters and other applications that include bitmap images. And good to have at hand.

Being that most of my work over the years has been 100% vector, the need to destructively crop an image in illustrator or another vector program for me has been minor to none. Just applying a clipping mask was easy and destructive
If I remember correctly, the roadmap in VS mentions the ability to open and edit an image in VS in that native program to make further edits, such as cropping.

pw

Sure!

I simply want a crop or clipping tool to be able to select part of an image and have it cut out to that area. In one easy step. Drag around an area by pressing down on the left mouse button. That would specify the area to keep by pressing a button or checkbox or clicking on a menu item to accept the action. Very simple.

b77

Clipping rules — it's basically nondestructive and reversible crop.

But cropping is also needed, and I guess @pw wants cropped vector shapes, not just cropped bitmaps.

And he wants it now, or else!

(No, @pw is not a troll… he's just trying to hurry the developer with this.

Which is unpossible, because 'Improved image cropping tools' is already in Phase 1 on the Roadmap.

Boldline

@pw said in Best way to Crop an Image?:

I simply want a crop or clipping tool to be able to select part of an image and have it cut out to that area. In one easy step. Drag around an area by pressing down on the left mouse button. That would specify the area to keep by pressing a button or checkbox or clicking on a menu item to accept the action. Very simple.

Are we wanting to crop vectors or raster images?

Boldline

@b77 said in Best way to Crop an Image?:

(No, @pw is not a troll… he's just trying to hurry the developer with this.

I'm glad to hear he's not a troll! lol. I'm not sure threatening to uninstall the trial of VS is going to make the developer work any faster!

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@pw said in Best way to Crop an Image?:

Sure!

I simply want a crop or clipping tool to be able to select part of an image and have it cut out to that area. In one easy step. Drag around an area by pressing down on the left mouse button. That would specify the area to keep by pressing a button or checkbox or clicking on a menu item to accept the action. Very simple.

And this is not easy ?

Position a Rectangle over the Area you like to Crop
(could be any Vector Shape)

Select your Picture, put it in the Clipboard
Ctrl-X

Double click on the Rectangle (left mousebutton)
(and you are in Clipping Mode)

Past your Picture
Ctrl-V

Double Click on the Canvas
to leave the Clipping Mode

Done

See Video here

Edited: Typo
Double Click again on the Rectangle
should be
Double click on the Canvas

pw

Hi,

In this case, I was trying just to crop a jpg photo.

Thanks

-pw

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@pw said in Best way to Crop an Image?:

Hi,

In this case, I was trying just to crop a jpg photo.

Thanks

-pw

see my post above
Bitmap format doesnt matter as long as
you could import it in VS

pw

I couldn't that to work but thanks. Not as simple as using the mouse to draw around an area then pressing the enter key.

-pw

Ingolf

@pw said in Best way to Crop an Image?:

I couldn't that to work but thanks. Not as simple as using the mouse to draw around an area then pressing the enter key.

-pw

Most of us here found Vectorstyler because of its exceptional vector features at a price that is far, far from Corel's and Adobe's rather high prices. It's like a date, if you leave your date immediately on a single flaw, you may be leaving the person who will follow you faithfully through thick and thin.

I agree that such a program here, when it supports JPG and bitmap, should also have a common tool like crop, and you should know that the programmer behind VS has improved the program significantly and quickly several times, so it's not a shortcoming that necessarily persists. I haven't seen a program before where it pays to be optimistic and keep up like this.

I can certainly recommend exploring the vector toolset, and for bitmap there are also quite a few image effects, so apart from crop I don't really think anything is missing.

On the bright side, having used many of the major programs for decades, I can tell you that I have waited for bug fixes for years or months or in vain in other programs, but many really annoying bugs in Vectorstyler disappear in a few weeks. By comparison, I've waited for several bug fixes in other programs since way back in 2002. And never before have I seen them fixed as quickly as in Vectorstyler. Not even close.

pw

@Ingolf

Thank you. I just wanted to use part an image for something and thought it would be nice to not have to switch to another program to do that. Seems like something like that is kind of expected.

I will check out the features again of VectorStyler to see if I can use and adapt to it. And if I there is anything that it does that I am missing.

No, I will not rent software for life from Adobe! Even if I had a big company to pay for it!

-pw

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@Ingolf

well said

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@pw

By the way, there are yet other ways to crop a bitmap in VS
.
.
Simple Crop may be a little faster

But the clipping method has a few advantages

you can use any vector shape for cropping/clipping
you can rearrange the clipping area at any point you like
- double click on the clipping object
  rearrange your bitmap
  double click on the canvas
  done
The whole thing works non-destructively, the original bitmap
will not be changed. Only areas are covered.
Your vector object (Rectangle) can still be edited

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@pw

If you have any further questions, your welcome to ask them in the forum

If you like to share Ideas to make VS better your welcome to
post it in the "Features and Ideas" Section

ambros

Can't seem to find the crop tool ?
Where is it.. have read thread but can;t work it out