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Lets you enlarge photos and maintain their pixel quality

Lets you enlarge photos and maintain their pixel quality

Vote: (54 votes)

Program license: Free

Developer: SmilaEnlarger

Version: 0.9.0

Works under: Windows

Vote:

Program license

(54 votes)

Free

Developer

Version

SmilaEnlarger

0.9.0

Works under:

Windows

Pros

  • Preview window gives a true-to-life view of the new image
  • By default creates a new file for the new image
  • Numerous options to affect the new image
  • Streamlined controls that allow for simple use

Cons

  • Comes with limited instructions as to how users should go about the resizing process
  • The result of small-to-large conversions are perfect
  • Trial and error are necessary before desired conversions can be mastered

Image files are sensitive. While changing an image from small to large may not result in a drop in quality, changing an image from small to large will likely give a blocky collage of pixels. This distorts the original so much that it is no longer recognizable to the original. But now users have an option when wanting to take images from large to small or vice versa--SmillaEnlarger.

Features:

SmillaEnlarger is a program that maintains a great portion of the quality of an image while changing its pixel size. The resizing algorithm that is the base of the program smooths the image out rather than simply resize the image from its format to the one desired by the user.

The user interface of SmillaEnlarger is fairly simply, one users get a feel for the controls. The image that the user wishes to resize is shown in two windows, one showing its original size--as it fits in the window in true size--and a zoomed-in section of the image, giving a close-up view. Using the tools provided, users can adjust the depth of the zoom, making it larger or smaller. A preview is made available to users so they can determine if the new resizing fits to their desired image. "Calculate" exists as an option that helps to do most of the number work rather than leave it up to the user. There are also numerous options made available to the user to change the resolution of the new image before saving it.

Once calculated and resized, users can save the new image to the location of their choosing.

Quality:

SmillaEnlarger does a good job with supporting file types (JPG, GIF, TIFF, PPM, PNG, BMP). This covers a great deal of the image file types that most users will encounter when creating new images or downloading them from the Internet. While that is appreciated by many, there is some trickery involved in getting a good result from a resized image.

On first attempts, users may feel disappointed with the outcome of their resized image. The new file may appear distorted, grainy or waxed like a painting rather than a photo or a an actual representation of the original image. As a result, users need to fiddle the sharpness, flatness, dithering, and de-noise options to affect the image in a way that betters the resized result. These options work on sliders, allowing the adjustments to be slight, increasing as much as the user wants a at a time. It is best to test these in small increments, to see the result in the preview window.

Pros

  • Preview window gives a true-to-life view of the new image
  • By default creates a new file for the new image
  • Numerous options to affect the new image
  • Streamlined controls that allow for simple use

Cons

  • Comes with limited instructions as to how users should go about the resizing process
  • The result of small-to-large conversions are perfect
  • Trial and error are necessary before desired conversions can be mastered