Save default settings to inches rather than pixels

[tpatino]

Hello, someone at work just asked me if it was possible with irfanview to save the default unit of measure to inches rather than pixels.

I could not determine if this was possible via i_view32.ini or through the settings dialog.

The dialog they are asking about is the "Image" --> "Resize" --> "Set New Size" section, "Unit" radio button. Is there a way to control this default setting?

Also, is there an option to convert to grayscale via batch/script?

Thanks in advance.
-Tony

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Inches mean very little with images. It is best to use pixels. There is no way to change the default AFAIK.

The option to convert to greyscale is on the Batch conversion, Advanced options dialogue.

[matera]

Inches are only meaningful when you are printing. An image saved to 3x5 inches could be 150x250 pixels or 3000x5000, and the print size can be re-adjusted at any time without changing the actual size of the image. Most resizing is done for sharing on the Web, where the pixel size is what matters.

[Mij]

Hello, someone at work just asked me if it was possible with irfanview to save the default unit of measure to inches rather than pixels.
I could not determine if this was possible via i_view32.ini or through the settings dialog.
The dialog they are asking about is the "Image" --> "Resize" --> "Set New Size" section, "Unit" radio button. Is there a way to control this default setting?
-Tony

I believe that the answer to your question is no, it is not possible to set Inches as the default.

I agree with the arguments of Bhikkhu Pesala and Matera about the advantages of working in pixels rather than inches but must also accept that many people do nevertheless prefer to work in units they can visualise.

Now that Irfanview does properly support working that way, allowing dimensions in inches to be entered to two places of decimal in all dialogs, it would seem appropriate that IV should also allow users to set it as a default. The present situation where users have to reset units back to inches every time they re-enter the Resize dialog must be very frustrating for them.

[Sam_Zen]

To put it a bit rude :
I don't see any valid reason why a wrong habit should be rewarded with an option to make it the default.
As matera says, inches are useful when printing, and that's it. As long as it's on screen, it's pixels.
Maybe DPI, to make it more clear, should be called PPI.

[Mij]

We could argue this at some length. I would not presume to call it a wrong habit if someone wants to work in inches or centimetres instead of in pixels. I am just glancing down at the wool sweater I am wearing and recalling that I bought it by the number of inches around the chest not by the number of rows of stitches. There comes a point when you must stop thinking in terms of how something was made and start thinking in terms of how it will be used. I believe it should be down to the user to decide when that point should be.

I am not, by the way, talking about what the default should be following installation, just about the ability to save the option in the ini file so that it does not have to be constantly reset. At least let it be consistent. In the Custom selection dialog it is stored. In the Resize/resample dialog it is not.

[Sam_Zen]

Yoo got a point about the ini file.

[dorami]

We could argue this at some length. I would not presume to call it a wrong habit if someone wants to work in inches or centimetres instead of in pixels.

I agree with you. We are in a transition phase. The techies and the power users have to accept that a user in the real world does not think in pixel dimensions. ;-)

It would be nice to be able to switch the whole user interface of Irfanview to a real world dimension and to use pixels only where you have to be exact.
Most of the picture you get nowadays include a dpi value and for the rest you could assume a standard screen resolution of 96dpi.

OK I know this will never happen with Irfanview. But maybe MS Windows will switch in the future from pixels to a vector based interface (or the programming of 3D screens will be a real mess).

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

I disagree. New users really do need to learn how to use pixels. Making it easier for them to use inches or cms is making it easier for them to get it wrong. Inches and DPI means nothing when images are on the web, and for printing it is important that users understand the relationship between image size in pixels, image resolution, and the size on paper.

• I opened a 600 dpi image of 1500 x 750 pixels.
• I resized it to 1" wide — it was then 600 x 300 pixels
• I first changed the resolution to 100 dpi
• I resized it to 1" wide — it was then only 100 x 50 pixels.

These two results are totally different. If the new user is not aware of the meaning of dpi and just resizes using inches, they may not get the intended result.

Many printers confound the problem by asking for images at 300 dpi without specifying the print size in inches.

Herewith attached is my high resolution photo for your newsletter at 300 dpi.

[dorami]

Like Mij, I don't think it makes sense to do this kind of discussion. It's like the discussion about the iPad.
But if you really like to continue to discuss this, please move the relvant part of this thread to a different location in the forum.

My statement was just to give a normal user a feedback that his view of the world is OK.
You could write a user interface that avoids pixels.
Also the content on the web will change from pixels to something like SVG in the future.

BTW: Your example just shows that if you are doing two different operations you will get different results.
In a non pixel userinterface the user opens the 2.5" x 1.25" image, scales the image to 1" and maybe asks the operation to deliver the scaling result in a certain dpi resolution.
No need to look to the pixels.

[WellOiledPC]

To be a Michael Schumacher, one had better know a lot about automobiles - maybe not everything, but certainly a lot of things - like Pixels, for example. On the other hand, if one merely want to touch up a few old photos or drive around the block at a sedate speed, its different.

Physics is far older than either Windows or IrfanView. Yet, you have the FPS, the MKS and the SI Systems of measurement running simultaneously for many years now. That hasn't stopped mankind from making all sorts of machines for his comfort! What Windows really wants is to be faster, with zero crashes and well, GREAT, whether in 2D or 3D!

[matera]

My monitor thinks in pixels. Web page code does not deal with inches; browsers must be given dimensions in pixels, in % of width/height, or in terms of font measurements. What good is an inch to me, unless the picture is on paper?

[dorami]

My monitor thinks in pixels. Web page code does not deal with inches; browsers must be given dimensions in pixels, in % of width/height, or in terms of font measurements. What good is an inch to me, unless the picture is on paper?

But you are using PDFs or? The success of PDF is that is does not care about pixels.

Wouldn't it much better to take a 9x13cm picture from your camera and see it by default in 9x13cm on the screen?
Still you can scale it. In the older non-digital days you did the same with your negativs.

Your printer talks postscript and there are screens using display postscript.

And if your are looking to your self then think about that your eyes are working pixel based (like a digital camera) but your brain doesn't.

BTW: Font measurements is done in point (1pt = 1/72 inch).

[Sam_Zen]

So my brain does it with inches ?
PDF, projecting a negative slide, it's still all related to the final stage of printing.

[dorami]

So my brain does it with inches ?

There is always a background process running in your brain doing measurement.
If not it would be quite difficult to interact with the real world.

PDF, projecting a negative slide, it's still all related to the final stage of printing.

A screen is an output device like a printer. It has a dimension, so there should be no reason for a normal user to deal with pixels.
It's just a problem with the existing applications.