Resizing images

[Spyk]

I don't know how awkward of a question this is but here we go. So I am making art for a program called Hyperspin. The program naturally runs at a 4:3 ratio. I would like to upscale my art for it to HD standards. Unfortunately it is not as simple as clicking an option in the program. If you hit full screen it just stretches images to match the new ratio and everything looks stretched out. I would like to resize everything for 1080p and 4k as well but haven't the slightest of how to go about this to ensure that it displays correctly, compensating for the stretch the program is going to do and to make sure my image quality isn't trashed by the resizing. So far all other information I have been able to find info on the web for. This one I can't seem to find a damned thing for without being referred to flash. I wouldn't mind doing so but I would rather not pay a monthly subscription for a program (one time fee and I would be fine). Anyone have any information that could help me out here?

[rich2005]

Never a good idea to upscale more than a little, because of interpolations, graphics lose definition.

A good idea is to give the size in pixels of your images

What do you call HD? maybe 1280 x 720 pixels? Full HD is 1920 x 1080 pix and 4k can be 3840 x 2160 pix.

All of those are 16:9 aspect ratio. If your work is already 4:3 ratio then you have two options. Add a 'pillar' to each side to pad out to widescreen or crop your 4:3 image to 16:9 (and losing top/bottom) before upscaling.

What is the best course for you?

Quote:... make sure my image quality isn't trashed by the resizing..

Back to the beginning, does not matter much if you use Gimp / PS / or some other application, scaling up loses quality. Depends how much you upscale.

Edit: Just wondering if you need to use an anamorphic format for your application

DVD video regardless of 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio has a 'frame size' size 720 x 540 (PAL) pixels. For wide screen 16:9 the pixels are not square, they have more height than width. When played the video player stretches the pixel to 'square' and the picure becomes widescreen.

Gimp can adjust the x and y resolutions to different values for an anamorphic picture.

Then where do you expect the work to be displayed? For a TV some small images display quite well, I have some 1000 x 600 video that plays perfectly well on a 1920 x 1080 TV. Even regular DVD format is not too bad.

[Spyk]

Hmm kinda hard to explain. This is basically a front end (or menu if you will) for video games. When you put it into 1920 x 1080 it stretches the image from a 4:3 to a 16:9. I guess my question would be how would I resize an image so that when the program stretches the image, things look proportional on the front end. For instance say I have a cartridge for a video game show up on the screen. I have it edited in gimp and it looks perfect. Now, because the program reads the image in a 4:3 aspect ratio, when I have it set to 1080 it fits the image by stretching everything. Now I have checked with people on the forum and they apparently use flash to try and bypass this problem, however, flash is a pay as you go application. I would rather pay one time and have it. Either way, flash gets rid of any distortions and makes everything look natural. I was wondering if there was any way I could do this through gimp by editing the image so that when it appears on the front end it appears normal or if there was some other method for this I haven't explored yet.

[rich2005]

It looks like you need an image that automatically changes its aspect ratio. Never come across one that can do that.

When I make a DVD menu, I start off with the correct size for 16:9 then scale the width down to give 4:3

but if I play that on an old TV then that is equally distorted as your images but the other way, compressed.

When you say 'flash' is that ad*be (was macromedia) flash - something.swf files?

[Spyk]

Yes. I don't understand the process but .swf files. I have never used flash but I can only find a pay per month version of it so I feel kinda outa luck. I hate the idea of pay per month for software. One time is fine, every month and I feel cheated.

[rich2005]

It is a type of animation. Not supported much by modern browsers because of security issues/better methods. I suppose it will be two 'frames' toggled by a mouse click.

Other than ad$be you could try a (free) command line utility see: http://www.swftools.org/about.html

There might be other (pay-for-once) applications if you search. I use linux so not much help when it comes to windows.