Any image manipulation gurus around here?

[DoYouKubuntu]

I had no idea where to post this as it involves the GIMP, Linux, and CafePress, and has nothing to do with my particular version of Kubuntu, KDE, etc. One thing I'm sure of, though: IT'LL BE LONG! I'd appreciate some brainstorming to help me sort out a better/easier way of accomplishing a particular task.

Here's the story: CafePress now has so many different products, and with so many different image size requirements, that it's no longer possible (well, ideal) to use a few versions of a design's images on all the products. (You can, but they won't look right on some items.) Some products have the same aspect ratio, so even though their actual sizes are different, they can use the same image (made for the product with the largest requirement) without issue. For example, most of the t-shirts, along with some other items, use square images, so regardless of each particular item's size requirement, whether it's 13"x13" or 1"x1", I can use the same 13"x13" square image on all of them. Ditto for a few circular, rectangular, and oval designs; as long as their aspect ratios are the same, the largest of the images will work.

But the problem is that there are now so many products that have unique image size requirements, and some of those even have a particular perspective, that I have to make MANY different versions for each design. There are approximately 70 different image requirements! (And that's just for the products I'm currently using; if I added in a few miscellaneous products I'm not using, it would be more like 75 or 80.) Look at this product page for an idea of how many different products/images there are. (If you're offended by mild obscenity, don't click the link!) Note some products that look similar, such as the Kindle, Nook, and iPad sleeves. They LOOK similar, but their aspect ratios are different.

I use the GIMP and what I'm currently doing for the individually different aspect ratio images is using an image with a similar shape, such as rectangular, then copying the design from it, pasting it as a new layer on the new image, and scaling the layer to the correct size. Sounds easy...except when you're looking at doing this 70+ times per design.

I'm very good with ImageMagick at the command line and use it for a lot of mass editing functions, but I just can't quite see how it fits with this particular task, mainly because most designs need some tweaking done after visually inspecting them. Also, as I said earlier, some of the products' images have a perspective--which means they require stretching the layer smaller at the top and larger at the bottom.

I've slowed way down on cranking out new designs because it's just too daunting a task to create all the images! Any ideas on how to streamline/speed this up would be greatly appreciated.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Any image manipulation gurus around here?

Hi
I've done a lot of "image manipulation" for a long time, but only for a couple of t-shirts and polo shirts.

I designed a sew-on badge for Xandros quite a while ago before I figured out what they were all about, but anyway, I used a very early version of GIMP and basically had to do what you require, first the lozenge, then the border then the Tux, then the name Xandros.

Then I did a "top hat" tux that had a cane and was "strutting" between the n and the d.

Since I write books, I've also done quite a few image manipulations using a scan of a drawing, then the text elements and lines, etc.. Mostly science stuff.

And, basically, if I understand what you are saying, you do on a much more vast scale what I have done en smalle'.

And, until you get to a full bore dedicated application and use a portrait monitor as opposed to a landscape monitor, it is possible that you are "just stuck" with what you are doing.

However....given that....if one watches any of the last two seasons of Project Runway, they provided HP tablets, very large form factor, that uses a lot of "tools" and pens and the people very quickly got used to them, apparently the interface is very intuitive, of course Project Runway is getting advertising revenue from the product placement.

So....the point to my post is this:

a) If you draw a lot of money from this it may be that going to windblows and a dedicated app might be the way to go.

or

b) Cathedral and Bazaar. It "might" be that if you were willing to purchase the hardware, in terms of a monitor that will swivel.......

The devs for GIMP made the add-on that makes it look like Photoshop.

How long it took to do that I do not know, but....it "might" be that if one approached the devs for GIMP, and explained the situation that..... and said...."Hey..... if you guys could develop an interface for me that allows me to easily manipulate images in such and such a way, maybe using a pen, and the interface might bear little resemblance to GIMP as we know it....maybe something with the "tools" spread along one side and the top kind of like the icons in the Unity interface... and the file structure, maybe in a "big window" at the "top right" don't know, but a "file interface" that would be static, so that one can just get at the image, drag with a pen, place, expand, whatever.

In actuality...... it would be a VERY simplified version of GIMP.

Anyway....this "might" be a way for the devs to go to a model where the interface is the first of many interfaces that could be used commercially.

One can also approach Canonical, they are kind of "huffy" about how the approach is made.....they want it in a few lines... and you might actually have to go to a developer conference... but.....

Canonical has money to allocate for this kind of stuff if they think the idea is good. The money would be for you to "develop" it, but in actuality you might "subcontract" the money to the devs for servers or a monitor, as part of the development process.

So.... enough blathering on my part.

Hope you get things figured out!

woodsmoke

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Any image manipulation gurus around here?

Thanks for the input, woodsmoke. Going to windoze is *NOT* an option! So that idea is out. The rest of what you said...I don't know, any kind of add-on or product or improvement, whether in the GIMP or Kubuntu, would take time, probably lots of it, and I'm looking for a quick fix. Like yesterday. I can't put into words how daunting a task it is to create SO MANY different images for just one design. I used to be able to crank out a design and get the products ready in an hour or two; now it's taking DAYS, not only because it's so time consuming, but because I lose patience and give up for a while. I'm glad CafePress is always expanding its product line, but I wish more of the products would have the same aspect ratios!

[woodsmoke]

Re: Any image manipulation gurus around here?

Maybe a wacom Bamboo?

woodsmoke

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Any image manipulation gurus around here?

Maybe a wacom Bamboo?

That's a graphics tablet, right? I've never used one...haven't even seen one (that I recall). Do they require a steady hand? If so, that's out. (I have a tremor in my right hand after breaking the wrist, and it's only apparent when doing fine motor stuff, like using a pen or stylus.)

[slush1000]

Re: Any image manipulation gurus around here?

Gimp is a tool that should be used in the workflow depending on the design but IMO it is the wrong tool to be using (for what saproducts I looked at) with many of the designs largely text based.

A vector graphics program, such as Inkscape, would be much better suited for these. With the attached example of 7 shapes, (I put no thought into the typeface or shapes... just a quick test) was completed in about 15 minutes. So 70 shapes/ratios could be done in under 3hrs.

The idea is to make the file(s) with all the shapes/ratios you require. A good idea would be to have a file for square/rectangle, one with oval, circle and one with irregular shapes all saved as master templates to use.

So the workflow would be something like the following:

• Open a template file, save under new project name/folder
• Create a text area type out the chosen text and apply typeface
• Select both the text and the first shape and apply 'flow into frame' (Alt-W)
• Duplicate the text and repeat for the remaining shapes/templates - adjusting the font size as required
• If an image is to be added such as Tux in the example... fit it in where you want it and if needed modify the underlying shape so that the text will 'flow' around the image
• Apply colours/shadows/effects to the text
• Finally export as a PNGs (either seperately or as a whole page and cut up using Gimp)

That is just my idea on how I would approach something like this - hopefully it will give you some ideas.

[DoYouKubuntu]

Re: Any image manipulation gurus around here?

Thanks for the input and suggestions, slush. I have Inkscape installed but I've really never done anything with vector graphics. However, the procedure you outlined is pretty much what I'm already doing, but with the GIMP. I already have templates--both provided by CafePress and generic ones I made (rectangular, round, oval and square); here are a few of them:



What I'm really HOPING for [but am not too optimistic about finding] is a way of automating the [very painful, boring, and slow] process, a la ImageMagick's mass editing capabilities at the CLI. I *CAN* knock out all the different images for one design in 1-3 hours, *IF* I stick with it. But I lose my patience because it's so annoying and cumbersome. Hence why it sometimes takes several days to finish working on one design (including the CafePress part, i.e., applying all those different images to their respective products).

Again, thanks for the input.

[Snowhog]

You mean this:

Posting an image (file) in vBulletin is different than in SFM. I used your "link" - the http:// through .png portion. I clicked on the 'Insert Image' button and then clicked on 'From URL' and pasted in the URL. This produces the image above.