Genuine Fractals 6

[Tommy L]

Any tips on using Genuine Fractals 6? Ive never used it before, Im against a deadline and I have to increase an image from 72dpi to 300dpi (6000pixels up to 21000).

I have done it with GF but would be interested to know if there are any tips for making it best possible quality.

Thanks!

Tom.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

I have had better luck just doing it in Photoshop, rather than using GF. Try stepping it in PS. 6250 then 6500 then 6750 then 7000 then 7250... etc. All the way to 21,000. This way PS interpolates the pixels. The edges will still be blurry, but at least it will be a smooth bluriness, and not a pixelated bluriness.

[Tommy L]

Thanks!

I am now having a go at rendering in strips @ 20,000 x 10,000 pixels. Its a holiday weekend after all...

[ivorip]

I've had no issues with GF. It just works.

[Tommy L]

Sure, but Photoshop just works also. I need to optimize the result.

[bricklyne]

I have had better luck just doing it in Photoshop, rather than using GF. Try stepping it in PS. 6250 then 6500 then 6750 then 7000 then 7250... etc. All the way to 21,000. This way PS interpolates the pixels. The edges will still be blurry, but at least it will be a smooth bluriness, and not a pixelated bluriness.

 

 

 

..........or you could use Fred Miranda's Stair Interpolation (SI) plugin which dies it all in one step or rather one action (as opposed to 36 repetitive steps); since like Genuine Fractals, it is an Automated action script.

 

 

But if you really want the best results IMO and have access to both, use them against each other since they use algorithms that sort of work in different or opposite ways to increase the image size. Whereas Miranda's SI tool tends to smooth out the end result (therefore blurring some details), Fractals, on the other hand has a tendency to sharpen the end result with pronounces edges and in some cases accentuated artifacts. So what I would do is I would first double the initial image using one, plugin and then double what you get using the other plugin -all the way until you get to your desired resolution or size (in your case, 2 steps up to 18,000 and then one more to 21,000 pixels - since you're doing an odd number of steps, it will matter greatly which plugin you use first since that will be the dominant one. And that depends on your starting image and what you want as an end result. Since it's so fast I would try both and compare the 2).

 

The end result will tend to be a trade-off or average between a sharpened image and a over-smoothed out and blurry one, and IMHO the best result - over using either one on its own.

 

Some people I know also combine yet another plugin (like a Lanczos filter plugin) to menage trois it, but I tend to think that that's overkill.

 

2 is really all you need.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Great tips.

[Tommy L]

Thanks guys, all will be useful if the giant render approach is a no-go.