I compose panels like the one above on my Photo Smart 3.9.0.0 software that came with an HP printer that is now long discarded. That software is the best photo manipulation system I have ever had the pleasure of using. It is simple, intuitive, and does what I want it to without confusing me or making me scream expletives. I can drag my scanned 8 by 10 inch panel images onto a custom 16-panel grid, and the software resizes them for me.
All that is well and good, but here's the problem: it's installed on my 15-year old, soon-to-retire desktop, and I don't have the installation disk. People a lot smarter than I am have tried to copy the software so that it could be installed on a newer computer, but their attempts have failed.
What can I do? Does anyone know of a program that can do what I need? Everyone suggests Adobe Elements, but I don't want to buy it without being sure that it will work. I tried to download a trial copy but got bogged down in the process. Help! I am very open to suggestions!
And thanks for listening to my rant!
Are you getting a PC or a Mac?
ReplyDeleteHave you tried contacting HP's customer support? They may be able to help you get a copy.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was going to suggest the same -- contacting HP. Chances are that you need to be insistent since they've discontinued maintaining that software. I'm not sure what their legal concerns are against distributing old software, but maybe you should show that you're willing to sign disclaimer forms and/or pay for the software & shipping.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried downloading it from HP's website? Here's a link that allows you to search for software based on the printer model you have: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/static_software_select?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you. Yes, I will try that tack (contacting HP). I'll keep you posted!
DeleteMy son, Henry, has been spending a few days with us over the holidays, and I asked him to tackle the 16-image problem. After days of searching for appropriate software he came up with a simple but elegant solution. I will ask him to describe what he did.
ReplyDeleteHenry: "Well, having had some success with InDesign while laying out a version of the entire map as a custom Google Map, naturally the first thing I tried was desktop publishing software, namely Scribus. Needless to say, the color management in Scribus, the missing ICC profile for my dad's venerable Photosmart 5510, and lack of drag-and-drop functionality in Ubuntu 12.10 (Unity) proved to be huge obstacles, so I switched tactics and installed Windows 7. After several fruitless Google queries -- "custom contact sheet layout software", "photo album template windows", etc -- I decided to take a break and finish painting the upstairs bedroom (note: I'm a horrible painter and seldom have the patience for it, so it goes without saying that I was pretty stuck). After a while my father announced that he had resumed his attempts to lay out the 16-up sheets in OpenOffice Calc. It wasn't working, and still didn't support drag-and-drop image replacement. I thought about it for a second and then realized we could probably get it done using a table in a word-processing document, so I launched OpenOffice Writer and laid out a table, set custom margins, and it worked! What I realized after a while was that the table wasn't necessary, so I just drag-copied the original, properly formatted image around the page and locked all of the images' size and position properties. Now all he has to do is drag images onto the existing grid of images in order to replace them, et voila!"
When I need to break something apart to a larger painting, I use PosterRazor. Have a look, it might be what you are seeking. It's Open Source and simple.
ReplyDelete"The PosteRazor cuts a raster image into pieces which can afterwards be printed out and assembled to a poster."
http://posterazor.sourceforge.net/
Thanks for that tip, Serena! I will take a look....
Deletehi jerry,
ReplyDeletesorry for being new to the blug - and thus not sure what your software needs are.... but if its simple what you are looking for, why not have someone program it for you?
if you think photoshop elements is to complicated or hast to much stuff you just do not need ... i could write a simple software for you. (if i can see that its only a limited amount of work, id be happy to do it for free to support your great work)
if you like us to talk about that, just write me an email: ludocrazy@gameprogramming.de
best,
Daniel
www.ludocrazy.com
Thanks so much for the offer, Daniel! I will send you an email.
ReplyDelete