# Gimp/Photoshop resize to a shape



## PODNickerz (Apr 14, 2002)

Hello,

Say i have an image, how can i scale that image to a specific shape? e.g a squigly circle etc...

Also,
Say i have an image 1000x500 and the program i am importing this image into only allows squares i.e 256x256, 16x16,1024x1024 etc...
So the only thing i can think of is scale the canvas to 1024x1024 which would leave a big amount of space and a big file
Would anyone have any suggestions on what else i could do? ( i want image to stay in proportion too and same size or bigger)


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## belithrawien (Aug 6, 2003)

Well the only way I could think of to make an image square while retaining proportions and not having any blank space would be to crop. You can use the selection marquee tool in photoshop, simply choose a starting point in the photo and hold down the shift key while dragging the mouse to the end point. Then go to the file menu and choose IMAGE > CROP. This is but one method, there are several. 

As for the first question, I am not quite sure what you mean. Do you want to take an image and resize the photo to match that size? Or do you mean to take a photo and reshape the edges?


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## PODNickerz (Apr 14, 2002)

For the 1st question i meant this










The black is the picture
The red is the shape

What i want is to scale the picture into the form of the shape instead of just a (a)x(b) square/rectangle

It's kind of like mapping the picture to a shape?


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## donhammond (Nov 23, 2004)

I'm not familiar with photoshop, but I used Paint Shop Pro 7 to do this.
I used the magic wand to select the shape, then inserted the image to the selection.


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## lister (Aug 10, 2004)

Whatever the shape of the viewed image, the actual image dimensions will always be rectangular.
The only way to see the image that you want, is to make areas of colour Transparent - as in a GIF or PNG (note that for the web, PNG Alpha transparency is not fully supported in Internet Explorer, but iIS in nearly every other browser) . 
Or in a Print layout application you would define a clipping path.

For the most supported format, I would use a GIF (gifs can only have up to 256 colours - not ideal for a photographic image). What you would do is make outside the shape a block of unique colour (IE: a colour not used anywhere else in the image) and then in the save for web dialogue (photoshop) define that unique colour as the transparency.

As for the resizing, the only way would be to either crop part of the image so that it fits into a square or resample the image to the desired shape - this would of course stretch or squash the image to fit.


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## buck52 (Mar 9, 2001)

lister said:


> this would of course stretch or squash the image to fit.


If i'm reading the original post correct I think this is what is desired...POD would like to squish/squash the entire image into a random odd shape...

buck


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## lister (Aug 10, 2004)

> i want image to stay in proportion too and same size or bigger


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## buck52 (Mar 9, 2001)

sorry I guess you were answering question number two


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## lister (Aug 10, 2004)

buck52 said:


> sorry I guess you were answering question number two


Same question I think. He was just clarifying *obviously not too well* lol.


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## buck52 (Mar 9, 2001)

lister said:


> Same question I think.


Somehow I don't think so... however I agree with the not to clear...

buck


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## photolady (May 5, 2004)

In photoshop if the lines are definable, you can use the magic wand to pick up just those lines you want and copy/paste after creating a new whiteboard. I just did this with a logo for Wal-Mart.  Enlarge the squiggle lines, or enlarge the photo/graphic. click on the "magic wand" then hold down the shift key, click on a line, it should select all of which ever line you choose, if it doesn't keep clicking until you have the entire line selected. There will be shimmering outlines showing what you've picked up. Next press the shift key and click on the other line until all is selected. Copy from the edit menu, and go to "File" then "New" select your size a bit larger than your image, paste into this window.


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