How to scale up and maintain sharpness?

[mburwen]

I want to double the pixel size (in both dimensions) of a bitmapped (png and bmp) graphic image and maintain sharpness/clarity. I tried every combination of resizing on the PE menu, but the images all degrade. Is there a way to accomplish what I want to do? FYI, I design buttons for touch screen remote controls. The latest remote has twice the pixel resolution of the older models. If I can't resize my existing buttons, then I'll have to redo hundreds of graphics from scratch. Grrrrrr.

[Wendy]

Hi ...

Have you tried increasing the size in 10% stages ... ??

... but when you increase the size of something Elements literally just makes up the extra pixels but looking at nearby ones so its not going to be anywhere near perfect.

Wendy

[frank abramonte]

All photoshop files will degrade when sized up. You should start with files which are larger than you will ever need and always size down, keeping your original files as masters for future use. If your graphics are type and/or illustrations you can create them in Adobe Illustrator which can be sized up and down without loss of sharpness.

[druhl]

I hope shooting large and sizing down will be a more frequent option for me one day.

I use a 6 meg (and at times a 4 meg) camera and have had acceptable results sizing up in 10% increments as described by Scott Kelby: With resampling turned off set the Resolution to the pixel/inch you desire. Turn the resampling (bicubic) on and increase the height/width in 10% increments to get the size you want.

As Wendy and Frank have already said, it's not magic but I have found it helpful (within limits) in quite a number of situations. I work in .jpeg and .psd formats. I suspect it would work the same in .png and .bmp.

Good Luck

Donn

[Ric Cisson]

If I may, if 10% increments don't work to your satisfaction, try 5 %. Working at the lab we find 5% increments in upsizing does a much better job than 10% in many situations. One tip I can give you is do a save as about half way to your desired size and start again from that point. Do the "Save As" as a PSD and you should see a nice result in the end. Again, it is not a perfect science, but it will produce acceptable results. We have worked with a Rebel XTi RAW File and upscaled and printed a very good 18x24 for a client recently and believe me it was very acceptable, and wonder if it could have gone to a 24x32. One will never know until one attempts. Anyway, this input is from a lab perspective. We have taken 8MP RAW Files and upsized to 24 x 30 at both 10% and 5% increments, and the prints resulting from 5% increments looked so much better in our tests. Just from my perspective, mind you.

[Light and Shadow]

take a look at some fo the software plug ins to assist in enlargement. Look at fixer labs http://www.fixerlabs.com/New_Website...FRZrNAodSCirLQ

genuine fractals http://www.ononesoftware.com/detail.php?prodLine_id=2

[Diana]

I use Mehdi's Zoom Engine and get pretty good results with it.

http://www.mehdiplugins.com/english/zoomengine.htm

Diana

[sydneysnana]

I've used this and it is sooooooo easy and free:
http://www.imphotography.com/downloads/ssimagesize.htm

Michelle

[Inspeqtor]

Originally Posted by sydneysnana

I've used this and it is sooooooo easy and free:
http://www.imphotography.com/downloads/ssimagesize.htm

Michelle

Michelle, does this work with Elements? The website mentions Photoshop.

Thank You!

[sydneysnana]

I used it in 3 and now in 5. It installs in the same place as Grants tools, and Graffi's Handy actions, but show up in Editor under File/Automation tools. I think Graffi's Add-O-Matic would'nt install so I went the other way..

Michelle