Composite Transform

[Marpel]

May not yet fully understand how the new Composite works, so some of this may be user error.

1. I can't seem to use an image in a branch for an overlay image (list of available images do not include the noted image). Is this intended?
2. Composite with a mask loaded, after enabling Alignment: 1-point (shift), I have to click on the header of the Composite dialogue to get the alignment border and point 1 to show. Why is this step necessary and the point/border does not show when 1-point shift is invoked?
3. Composite with two images that are not the same size (did not try this with two similar sized images) and the overlay image has a mask attached. If I recall (can't confirm as I do not have PWP7 on this computer), PWP7 would show the the 1-point and alignment borders on the input image. In PWP8 I can only get the 1-point and alignment borders to show on the overlay image. As I am trying to place an object from the overlay image on to the input image, I have to move the point in the opposite direction to move and place the masked object. Confusing. Is this intended or am I just not understanding something?
4. And last, may be my set-up as I just got a new computer and am still working things out. In my last session with Composite, with a mask, three out of the five times I tried, when I clicked on either OK or Cancel in the Composite dialogue, PWP would shut down, without warning. This was after multiple movements of the 1-point alignment. I have 8gb of ram and I think there was another thread where someone asked about how much ram PWP8 needs. Could this issue be a matter of insufficient resources and I should be looking at adding ram?

Marv

[jsachs]

1) You can use images from other branches as long as they don't depend on the image you are working on. If you give me more details I can see if it is a bug or if you are trying to do something illegal.

2) When I try this here shows the alignment point on the base image without having to click on the title bar. To see the alignment point on the overlay image, you need to click on its half-size thumbnail next to the main thumbnail in the image browser. To return to seeing the alignment point on the base image, click on the main thumbnail.

3) see above

4) Unless the images are huge, It's probably not a problem with your computer. If you can create a scenario that crashes all the time, please let me know so I can track down the problem.

[Marpel]

I did the following multiple times with the same result every time:

- Open 3 images (base, overlay and mask).
- Base is active > open Composite. (base is on left and blank white on right).
- Identify overlay image. (base on left and base on right with overlay on top - overlay is smaller than base so it is visible in lower left corner of base).
- Identify the mask image in the overlay mask box. (left image changes to overlay with red mask over object - right side stays same).
- Alignment = 1-point (no change to either left or right images - no visible 1-point or border on either image)
- At this point the two mini thumbnails of overlay and mask have white header. Base image header is grey.
- Click on base image thumbnail (left image changes to base image only and Comp and Mask dialogues disappear).
- If, however, I click on Comp dialogue header, point and borders appear on overlay image with mask, on left.
- Click on base image thumbnail, left image changes to base image only with 1-point and borders overlaid (but Comp dialogue and mask dialogue disappear and can't get them back).

Haven't yet tried to recreate the other issues.

Marv

[jsachs]

I am trying to reproduce the problem, but I am not seeing "- Click on base image thumbnail (left image changes to base image only and Comp and Mask dialogues disappear)." Are you clicking on the Composite thumbnail or the thumbnail for the original input image? You need to click on the Composite thumbnail to switch back to the base image with alignment points marked on it. I am changing the wording in the help file as I can see how you would get the wrong idea.

The reason the alignment points disappear when you select the overlay mask is that the Mask dialog box is in control, placing Picture Window in Mask Mode. Check out the section in the first help topic (Main) under Mode Selection. Clicking on the title bar of the Composite transformation puts it back into Composite mode and restores the overlays.

[Marpel]

Hello Jonathan,

Yes, I was clicking on the Composite thumbnail and not the thumbnail for the original image. As mentioned, I tried this multiple times with the same result.
Regarding the alignment point/borders, I identify a mask in the mask "box" first, then click on the Mode button to get 1-point. The point/borders do not show until I click on the Composite header. Initially, I thought when I clicked on Mode and chose 1-point that, because the Mask dialogue was so close to the bottom of the Composite dialogue (both on a second monitor) the cursor may have landed on the header of the Mask dialogue, so I actually moved that dialogue away from the Composite and tried it a couple more times, with the same result.

As I may have mentioned earlier, not only do I have a, just new, computer build, but I have just set up a dual monitor system. Maybe these issues I am experiencing are somehow related to that and not the program (as an example, took me forever to get the computer to recognize both monitors). I have run into some issues with the Clone tool as well, that I will describe in another post.

Thanks for your help.

Marv

[jsachs]

Just to be clear, the only way I know of to make the Composite dialog box and the Mask dialog box disappear is to click on some thumbnail that is not one of the following three adjacent thumbnails: the Composite thumbnail the Overlay Mask half thumbnail and the Overlay half thumbnail. Clicking on one of the thumbnails for the images created by File Open will hide the Composite dialog box and close its mask dialog box. Clicking on the Composite thumbnail will bring the Composite dialog box back. To get the mask back you need to click on the Overlay Amount mask button and select Edit... from the popup menu.

The reason you have to click on the title bar of Composite is that clicking on the Alignment setting is not enough to restore control to the Composite transformation. You need to either click on the title bar or click on a blank area on the dialog box. With a lot of work in all the transformations I could fix this but for now that's now it works.

I use dual monitors all the time and have never seen them cause any problems.

[Marpel]

Understand the need to click on the Composite dialogue to restore control.

And, I hear you about the way the Composite transform works as you know it, but as stated, I clicked on one of the three related thumbnails and each time the dialogue for mask and composite disappeared. The only way I could get the Comp dialogue back was to first click on the initial base image thumbnail (this was after the dialogue had disappeared), then click on the Comp base image (and I stumbled on that merely by trying a bunch of different things).

I'm also having occasions where after doing a fair few transforms, PWP will unexpectedly shut down and I would lose everything to that point. So, with your explanation of how things work, I suspect the computer is doing some weird things on its own.

Marv

[jsachs]

OK, if you can, please save a workspace script of the Composite with its three images that is causing problems and email it to me (jsachs@dl-c.com). To save the workspace script, use Script/Save Workspace Script with Image Names... command. This will give me all of your color management settings as well as all the images and transformations.

Also, which beta version are you using?

[Marpel]

Unfortunately, in my efforts to straighten out this problem, I downloaded the latest version of PWP prior to reading your most recent post, so can't send you a script that would reflect the version I was using (and I think it was a couple versions ago, but as I was not paying serious attention to that, can't even be sure).

On a positive note, as I was trying multiple things (and I had dual monitors set up with the browser window, and dialogue boxes, on the second monitor), one of the things I did was reset the browser back to the main window on my main monitor. Tried to replicate the issues and everything worked as it should, so it appears my dual monitor set-up was causing the issues.

I then undocked the browser and placed it back on the second monitor and found, as long as it only took up about half the monitor width, everything worked OK. The more I widened the browser to almost full monitor width (used to have it set so about 15% of the right side was open so I could access the dialogue boxes whenever the browser overlapped them), the more the issues returned. So, to be on the safe side, I have now left it so the browser is only a bit less than half the width of the monitor. It looks like problem solved.

Thanks for all your efforts.

Marv

[jsachs]

Glad you tracked it down -- I was running out of ideas.

It may have something to do with the magnification factor you have set on the two monitors. Display Settings/Scale and Layout -- try setting it the same on both if you haven't already. It should not matter and it works OK on my computers with different scale factors, but display drivers are often buggy, especially for the less-used features like multiple monitors. Might also be a good idea to check if there is a more recent display driver update available.