| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| I want to make a suggestion for improvement? | Please enter your request here. |
| Two source images are open. Why is it not possible to open more? | MERGE works with exactly two source images. Attempting to open a third will prompt you to overwrite one of the two sources already present. Using the clipboard it is possible to merge in more than two images. Another way is to send the target image (with two merged images) back to source 1 (or 2) and then load a 3rd image to source 2 (or 1). |
| I have rotated one of the source images and the corners are not at right angles? | This will only happen if the height and width have different scalings. The axis of rotation becomes tilted away from the vertical (that is looking out of the screen). In this case source image corners will not be at 90 degrees when the rotation angle is not a multiple of 90 degrees. |
| Saving or printing results in lost edges of one or both source images? | MERGE works on the principle that only what is present in the target image is copied to disk or printed, no more and no less. The size of the target image is set from the edit menu, that size is not related to any aspect of either source image. If you wish to see more of a source image then reduce its scaling and/or scroll it fully into view. However if the "Scale Srce 1/2 to Target" is set to "true" and scaling is set to 100% then at load time the scaling of a source image is affected by the size of the target image and it will be scaled to just fit within the target image while maintaining its natural aspect ratio. This cosy fitting is affected by the scale value which defaults to 100% If the "Scale Srce 1/2 to Target" is set to "false" then that source image will display at its natural size, irrespective of the target size setting and any offside edges of the source image(s) are lost. Do note that a text based source scaling to target will always be false, setting it to true will have no effect. |
| Using one of the adjoin buttons, I put two images side by side but there is a big gap at the bottom? | Using this command will reduce the size of both source images while maintaining the aspect ratio, therefore there will be a gap at the bottom. You can reduce the height of the target image size from the edit menu to remove this gap. |
| Where is the undo button? | There is no undo button in merge, however the rightmost button in the toolbar menu does allow removal of all editing to the beginning. A later version of merge may address this isue. |
| How do I prevent destroying blending when applying later actions such as moving, resizing a source or anything else? | This is to do with the way merge works which applies blending and/or articulate effects to the "finished" target image. Other changes causes destruction and regeneration of this finished image with result in collateral damage to blending and articulate effects. The way out of this predicament is to ensure these two effects are applied last. (they don't destroy each other) This is not an ideal situation but the 'proper' way would result in lengthy processing and slow rendering of the image. One way to lock in these effects is to send the target to a source. |
| Is merge stuck with the target size irrespective of the size of the input images? | This is the way merge works and the target image size is set by you the user and is the last word irrespective of the input image sizes. Merge will scale the input images to a fraction of the target size. You the user can set that fraction to any value less or greater than 1, within limits. There is also an option to allow switching off this scaling and the source image will appear full size, regardless of any truncation or otherwise by the target dimensions. |
| Batch Merging | |
| I am not interested in merging two images but I want to batch rotate a bunch of files in a single folder. Can merge do this? | You bet it can, just load the first image (source 1) in the following way: Click "software source" and then click "Null". Load an image file (source 2) from your folder and rotate that image. Select batch merge with source 1 fixed and away you go. |
| Similar to above: I want to batch-crop a bunch of files in a single folder. Can merge do this? | Set an appropriate target sze and load a null source 1 image as before. Load an image file (source 2) from your folder and scale it up to greater than 100% and position it. In the target you can see the image is cropped, so just batch-merge as before. Note that all images end up the same size of course (the target size) and all images are cropped by the same fraction. |
| What is source fixing for? |
Source fixing is used to anchor sources when scrolling through files or batch merging, useful when aspect ratio of either or both source images are not consistent. When batch merging several files you may wish to put both images side by side or top and bottom with a fixed gap (or no gap). If the images had varying aspect ratios then the distance between them would vary and could possibly overlap in some cases. The merge software could be made to accept a user input to fix that gap to some value but this would be less flexible as merge now allows fixing to any corner, edge or middle. Also your "gap" setting is made when aligning the two images prior to the batch merge process. |
| Internet | |
| What does merge do with my computer? | Merge does not affect any part of your computer except for the registry where it stores file path names and configuration information pertaining to merge such as start up window size. Merge does not interfere with or monitor any other activity within your computer. (Naturally file-saving will result in a new image file being generated and saved, or batch merging that will generate many image files) |
| How does merge interact with the internet? | There is no interaction with the internet and merge does not try to "phone home" for updates or data collection or anything else. It does however allow looking at the Graphicutils website if you press the button in help - about. |