feature request for the Resize transformation : specifying an aspect ratio

[pierrelabreche]

It would be useful to resize an image by specifying a long side or a short side measurement and the desired aspect ratio proportion.

[jsachs]

You can enter expressions for the width and height -- for example you can set the width to 5 inches and the height to 5*5/4 inches.

[pierrelabreche]

Feedback on typing expressions
The implementation of expressions is not practical for me.
While typing an expression, for example 5*2, after typing the asterisk, the expression almost immediately resets to "5". I do not have enough trime to enter the rest of the expression. At extreme typing speeds, I can succeed entering "5*2" ; the result of the expression 10 then replaces the expression typed in the data entry box.

More thoughts on expressions

• The expression calculator should wait for the user to finish typing before computing the result. For example it could wait the user types a carriage return "enter" or a tab to move to the next field of the form.
• How about keeping the expression in the data entry field, for preserving the expression intent. ( like a spreadsheet formula )
• In particular, the capability should be usable in scripts when the source images for a resize transformation may may have diverse dimensions. For example, if the intent of a resize is to preserve the long side dimension and resample the short side only, I dont see how expressions would be workable.
• Expressions should have the ability to refer to macros for "short side" "long side" "height" "width" . These macros could also be useful for the Text transformation.

[tomczak]

Have you tried increasing the Text Delay value in Preferences?

[jsachs]

This does not seem like a particularly useful feature, especially compared to the complexity of implementation and making the user interface busier -- altering the proportions of a photograph by stretching one of its dimensions usually makes it look unnatural. The Crop transformation already lets you crop to an aspect ratio and then resize if desired.

[pierrelabreche]

Have you tried increasing the Text Delay value in Preferences?

Thanks for the tip. I increased the value to 1.5 and data entry appears more usable.

One difficulty with formulas is that some operation symbols on a numeric keypad do not work in formulas. For example, Num pad * is interpreted as a zoom command. Typing Shift-8 on the regular keys takes more time.

[jsachs]

Unfortunately there is no easy way to turn keyboard accelerators on and off.