Cropping, scaling and color conversions

Owned by Jacob Salomonsen
Last updated: Apr 24, 2024 by Rune McLeod Winther
4 min read

 

Cropping and scaling print creatives

If a print creative does not have the correct size, it is possible to either crop it or scale it. The cropping and scaling tools appear in the toolbar of the preview panel when a print creative has been uploaded.

Cropping

Cropping is used when a creative is too large compared with the booked dimensions. Cropping removes some of the artwork of the creative in order to make it fit within the boundaries of the booking.

HINT: Cropping is very useful for removing empty space (white space) around creatives and to get rid of cropmarks and other page furniture that should be part of the creative.

 

To crop an image, enter the the preview page and press the cropping tool in the toolbar.

A yellow ruler appears on top and to the left of the creative. And a Cropping Summary Panel is shown to the right.

A dotted cropping box indicates the area that will still be visible after cropping. All artwork outside the cropping box is dimmed.

To change the cropping box, you have the following options:

  • Manually change the size of the cropping box by dragging the handles

  • Enter coordinates of the cropping box in the Cropping Summary Panel. The cropping box’s size and position changes accordingly.

  • Choose one of the cropping modes:

    • Manual: Used for setting the cropping box manually as described above

    • Full size: Used for resetting the cropping box to the full size of the creative

    • Booked size: Used for setting the cropping box size to the size of the booking. Hereafter it can be placed manually without changing its size.

  • Press APPLY to confirm the cropping. A new preview will be shown in the preview area. Press CANCEL to leave the cropping tool without cropping the creative.

HINT: When a creative is cropped, a new version is automatically created. To go back to a previous version go to the Version panel to select the new version.

Scaling

Scaling is used when a creative should fill up the full size of the booking. Scaling stretches or shrinks the creative in one or both dimensions and can be controlled to work in either proportional or non-proportional modes.

HINT: Scaling is useful when a creative is slightly off size but still can be adjusted to fit into a booked space.

To scale an image, enter the the preview page and press the scaling tool in the toolbar. Upon choosing the preferred scaling tool, an updated preview is shown and a Scaling Summary Panel appears to the right.

There are 5 different scaling modes:

  • Scale to booked size: Scales the creative to fit the booked size. This may cause non-proportional scaling.

  • Proportional scale:

    • Proportionally scale to booked width: Scales the creative to match the booked width. The same scaling factor is applied to the height.

    • Proportionally scale to booked height: Scales the creative to match the booked height. The same scaling factor is applied to the width.

  • Non-proportional scale:

    • Non-proportionally scale to booked width: Scales the creative to match the booked width. No scaling is applied to the height.

    • Non-proportionally scale to booked height: Scales the creative to match the booked height. No scaling is applied to the width.

Press APPLY to confirm the scaling. A new preview will be shown in the preview area. Press CANCEL to leave the scaling tool without scaling the creative.

 

 

 

Add whitespace on print creatives

The Add whitespace button adds empty space (whitespace) around print creative. This is useful to “fill up” the space surrounding the artwork of a creative in order to match the size of the material specification (booking).

Trim whitespace on print creatives

The Trim whitespace button removes empty space (whitespace) around a creative. ADPOINT calculates the smallest possible rectangle in which the artwork fits and sets the file size accordingly. The new creative is added as a new version. To go back to the original creative, please remove the new version.

Convert to black and white

The Convert to black and white button applies a greyscale colorspace to a color image. The new creative is added as a new version. To go back to the original creative, please remove the new version.