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gbmcneil

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Looking For Software To Enlarge / Reduce, Rotate, And Vary Transparency of 2 JPG Images

Hello Experts -

Does anyone know a good Windows 7-compatible piece of software that will allow me to manipulate 2 jpg images (one on top of the other)  with the interactive ability to resize, crop, and label the combined image at varous angles?

Idealy the software would also allow the transparency of the background image to be varied in transparent intensity.

I can see some possible candidates by doing a Google search, but without some hands-on experience, I'll have no way of determining which particular piece of software really offers the desired characteristics.

Thanks for any advice you may offer.
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Mal Osborne
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Thanks, Mal. Let's see if anybody else has a recommendation.
I'll put a +1 on Mal's recommendation of GIMP and will also recommend taking Kyle Santos' free Course on it here at Experts Exchange:

Introduction to GIMP

A very worthwhile 15 minutes! Regards, Joe
Yes, Joe. Thanks very much for your input. You have helped me in the past.

I hate to close this this thing out so quickly. Please give me a couple more days before I ward points.

It does seem like a trend is emerging, however.
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Hi Gordon,
There's absolutely no reason to close it out quickly. Leave it open for a while...some other ideas may emerge. For example, I've previously recommended other imaging software to you, such as GraphicsMagick, ImageMagick, IrfanView, and Paint.net, although in this case, because of all the requirements, I led with GIMP. But other folks may have other suggestions. Regards, Joe
Free solution: GIMP (haven't used personally but heard a lot about it)
A good but cheap (very similar to Adobe Photoshop and powerful) solution: Affinity Photo @ $50 (On time)
Professional: Adobe Photoshop (Yearly subscription)
as Shaun Vermaak mentioned above (https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/29078465/Looking-For-Software-To-Enlarge-Reduce-Rotate-And-Vary-Transparency-of-2-JPG-Images.html?anchorAnswerId=42435678#a42435678), you can do this with Paint.NET (layers, rotate layers, layer transparency) more easily than with GIMP.

i use both  Paint.NET and GIMP on a regular basis.

but whichever choice you make, you will still have to invest some time learning.
You should take a look at Paint.Net, it supports layering and allows interactive adjustment of transparency, etc.  I use it a lot for image editing and for free it works well, and is actively maintained.

Paint.NET - Free Software for Digital Photo Editing

User generated image

»bp
Just one other thought, if you have a digital camera you might want to check for utilities from the manufacturer. I own a Canon DSLR, and it comes with a suite of tools including a decent image editing utility.  I suspect some other brands do as well...


»bp
Hello Mal, Joe, Obeid, Paul & Bill -

Thank you all for your input. The term "layer" precisely describes my interest. I have aerial photos and snapshots taken from drone flights. What I am trying to do is place not-all-that-exact boundary lines as overlays on top of these ground pictures.

Therefore, my situation is starting with a ground pic as a layer, overlay lines and text on top of this base as another layer that can be separately manipulated. I know that  AutoDesk Survey can do this and more - but, that software is way too advanced and expensive. Also, if I created 8 or 10 rough plot plans this way during the next year, I'd be happy. After all, I'm just a hacker.

Paul's comment about Paint.Net dealing more easily with "layers" caught my attention.

Does anyone wish to counter with "Paint.Net not being the best" for layered graphics?

Thanks again.
Apologies Paul, was reading the thread this morning trying to catch up and didn't see your mention to Paint.Net, should have phrased my post more as a seconding endorsement rather than what I thought was a new suggestion.


»bp
@bp - no problem... :-)

"Paint.Net not being the best" for layered graphics
i don't think anyone said that!

everything you can do using Paint.Net can be done using GIMP, however, you can do more with GIMP than Paint.Net.

from the description of what you want to do, i think Paint.Net will be good enough. But if you want to edit images with more detail, then you will get better results with GIMP.
Everything you can do using Paint.Net can be done using GIMP, however, you can do more with GIMP than Paint.Net.  From the description of what you want to do, i think Paint.Net will be good enough. But if you want to edit images with more detail, then you will get better results with GIMP.
That sums it up pretty well for me, GIMP and Paint.Net are pretty much the top freeware options in this space.  A recent summary and detailed reviews can be found here...



»bp
> i don't think anyone said that!

Hi Paul,
Gordon is not implying that. Note the beginning part of his sentence that you quoted:
Does anyone wish to counter with "Paint.Net not being the best" for layered graphics?
The "Does anyone wish to counter with" is crucial. Regards, Joe
I just wanted to stimulate the conversation.

Hope all you Experts aren't going to charge me per your standard hourly rates. If so, you ain't going to get paid.

I think that I'm going to go with Paint.Net. If it doesn't do everything I'm looking for, I'll move up to GIMP. That's the plan.
Sounds good...except for not paying the invoice that I just sent you.
lucky you, no invoice from me - i'm retired!
Joe Winograd.  Who's Joe Winograd?  Never heard of him.
It's time to award the prize and I don't know what I'm going to do. All of you have been helpful and I appreciate all of the messages I received.

To avoid a situation where each of you makes little more than nothing at all, I'm going to go with a scheme that rewards the Experts who were first to make significant contributions to my problem. That would be Mal Osborne and Shaun Vermaack.

But, thank you all.
You're welcome, Gordon — as always, happy to help, but does this mean that you're really not going to pay my invoice?