Please post here anything else (not relating to Maxwell technical matters)
#185978
I just used the free demo of this software, and I am VERY happy with the results. I took a couple of my photo's and blew them up to poster size, and they look great; in fact, I think better than the originals from Photoshop. Give it a go, it's free for 30 days...

www.alienskin.com
Last edited by mtripoli on Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
By Carl007
#185992
Very happy indeed.
Tnx for the tip.
User avatar
By Frances
#186001
Thanks Mike! :)
By JCAddy
#186003
Ah ok got it. File / automate


I am not too impressed so far. I've done a couple images and they look SUPER blury and mushed together. Sure it keeps edges looking nice but it blurs everything in between.
By mtripoli
#186101
Ok, here are a few tests I've done. I'll preface this by saying that for "pure" arch viz stuff, or things where very sharp edges are absolutely needed, it's best to render bigger and reduce... however, for photo's and such where you want to make a poster size, etc., I feel that the results are very, very accpetable (to me anyway)... I'm having two "art prints" done that have been blown-up and I am very happy with the results. Anyway, here are a few tests (sorry for the large picture sizes):

Original: 8x7.5" @ 72dpi
Image

Size 32x30" @ 72dpi - no sharpening
Image

Size 32x30" @ 72dpi - 50% sharpening
Image

Size 32x30" @ 72dpi - 100% sharpening
Image

Size 32x30" @ 300 dpi - no sharpening (only link - it's over 1Meg in size)
Don't forget, if your browser automatically resizes pictures to fit the screen, use the little "four corner" icon that pops up in the lower right hand corner to make the image full size...

http://jfww.com/maxwell/blowup/sam_32_30_300dpi.jpg

Art print examples:

Original 15x15" @ 72 dpi (notice jaggies along orange <?> edge}
Image

23x23" @ 200 dpi - no sharpening (jaggies gone)
Image

Now, I agree that they get a little "soft", but for a blow-up to poster size for family pictures and such, and from a couple of feet away (unless you LIKE looking at photo's from a few imches) I find this to be perfectly acceptable. Perhaps not magazine print quality, but damn good.

Lastly, check out Cafe Press... you can get all kinds of things printed for gifts etc., and they'll do one (1) item! I just had two large posters done...
http://www.cafepress.com
User avatar
By zoppo
#186105
thanks mike, but could you show us some blown up renderings. at last that's what i'd use it for ...
By mtripoli
#186112
OK you maniacs... :lol:

Here's the only rendering that I had on this hard drive for an example...

It's plastic screws. The threads have a sharp edge, should be good to see the edges...
ALL BLOW-UP IMAGES USE 50% sharpen...

Original 8x11.5" @ 72dpi
Image

22x16.5 @ 72dpi
Image

The next ones are too big to post, so you can download... remember not to let your browser or such to auto-size them:

44x33" @ 72dpi 1.7 Meg
http://jfww.com/maxwell/blowup/screws/s ... _72dpi.jpg

88x66" @ 72dpi (that's over 7 x 5.5 FEET) 4.9 Meg
http://jfww.com/maxwell/blowup/screws/s ... _72dpi.jpg

and the 88x66" image resampled using Photoshop - resample Bicubic down to 21x16" @ 300 dpi
http://jfww.com/maxwell/blowup/screws/s ... 300dpi.jpg
By mtripoli
#186113
Last time... comparison of Photoshop Image resize vs. Blow-up...

I did not post the 22.x16" comparison; to my eye, there was virtually no difference between the two images,
so much so that I cut one and mixed it with the other. I could not detect anything different between the two.
Here's the 44x33" @ 72 dpi comparions:

Photoshop:
Image

Blowup
Image

Photoshop 88x66"
Image

Blowup
Image

That's all from me. I'm out...!
By glypticmax
#186118
Thank you for taking the time to post those images.
I've been looking at doing just such a thing with my Maxwell renders.
Alien Skin is looking pretty good.
User avatar
By zoppo
#186136
yeah, it is - thanks for taking the time!
By mtripoli
#186180
I tried ResizeIT!:

http://www.outdoorgrace.com/ResizeIT.htm

I'm not going to post a bunch of pictures, however I think it looks VERY good, and for $25 can't be beat (BlowUp costs $200)...

Give it a go...
By glypticmax
#186207
Hi Mike,
I got Alien Skin last night.
And its pretty dang good.
I was little sick when I saw there is a $25 alternative.
But as long as Le Wife doesn't find out, I'll survive.
I bought her a really cool plant as insurance. :wink:
I figure its like betting (which I only do with software). As long as its within a certain range, and the client's check just cleared, I'll go for it.
Thanks again for posting your pics.
cheers,
larry
By mtripoli
#186263
I'm going to do another poster from Cafe Express using ResizeIt and compare. So far, ResizeIT looks ok on the screen (it looks more like "pointalism" than the blockiness from the others)...

So far, I'm still leaning towards BlowUP myself...

Stay tuned...

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