FTP crop sizing question

[usawayne]

So, I need to send in pictures to my newspaper at 180 dpi and 48 picas wide, or 36.
When I do my crop in photoshop I can set the crop tool to whatever size I need.
I want to eliminate going to photoshop to do this and crop in PM. What I have done is make a crop in PM, then when I send via FTP in PM, I choose 180dpi, but I never know what width or length the file will end up. I have seen the contrain proportion area on the preview, but that won't give me the actiual size, only the ratio.
How can I crop to a 180 dpi at 48 picas wide?
Wayne

[Kirk Baker]

Wayne,

So, I need to send in pictures to my newspaper at 180 dpi and 48 picas wide, or 36.
When I do my crop in photoshop I can set the crop tool to whatever size I need.
I want to eliminate going to photoshop to do this and crop in PM. What I have done is make a crop in PM, then when I send via FTP in PM, I choose 180dpi, but I never know what width or length the file will end up. I have seen the contrain proportion area on the preview, but that won't give me the actiual size, only the ratio.
How can I crop to a 180 dpi at 48 picas wide?

Photo Mechanic has no provision to work with picas.  You'll have to do the conversion from picas to pixels or inches/centimeters.  Then use the scale to box option and enter your value.

-Kirk

[usawayne]

Kirk.
Thanks a ton for your response.
I don't know what you mean by "use the scale to box option and enter your value".
Are you talking about the "constrained crop" feature in the preview window?
If so,
1. Do those numbers translate to inches? or centimeters? It appears they don't translate to a specific size, only a ratio.
2. I am only concerned with the width, the height can remain a variable. I don't see how to do that with the constrained crop feature.
If not,
1. Where is the scale to box option that you mentioned?
2. Can I enter inches or centimeters?
Wayne

[Kirk Baker]

Wayne,

I don't know what you mean by "use the scale to box option and enter your value".
Are you talking about the "constrained crop" feature in the preview window?
If so,
1. Do those numbers translate to inches? or centimeters? It appears they don't translate to a specific size, only a ratio.
2. I am only concerned with the width, the height can remain a variable. I don't see how to do that with the constrained crop feature.
If not,
1. Where is the scale to box option that you mentioned?
2. Can I enter inches or centimeters?

You were originally speaking about scaling during the FTP upload process.  The FTP dialog has the user interface I described.

Constrained crops are indeed just a ratio to constrain the shape of the crop.  So if you want an 8x10 shaped crop, you enter 8 and 10 for the parameters and then draw the crop to contain the parts of the image that you want to keep.  Later during processing you can scale the cropped image to whatever size you need.

-Kirk