PAINTSHOP PRO HELP!!!

[burstintoflame81]

I edited a bunch of pics and saved them as .tif files so I could attach metadata. They saved as icons for Corel PaintShop Pro but when I try to re-open them it says that it is not a supported file type. What gives!? Can someone help?

 

[burstintoflame81]

UPDATE:

Changed to a compressed .TIF which worked in certain forms of compression, but the thumbnails keep showing up all screwed up.

 

[burstintoflame81]

anyone???

 

[musicaleCA]

Thumbnails in Windows Explorer? If so, it's Windows being Windows; very little to do about that without some tinkering.

You probably won't find many Corel users on here. It's a Lightroom/Photoshop/Aperture dominated market. I'd give GIMP a try though; it probably has better TIFF support...I think. Never used it myself.

As for the files having a Corel icon on them, again, Windows being Windows. Corel's software probably told Windows to open TIFF files with it, except evidently for some strange reason their software doesn't support it.

 

[johnnytwo]

UPDATE:

Changed to a compressed .TIF which worked in certain forms of compression, but the thumbnails keep showing up all screwed up.

same problem here

 

[burstintoflame81]

It just didn't make sense why the .tif file that was created by Corel, can't be re-opened and read with Corel. It makes no sense. As for the thumbnail issue, I figured it probably had something to do with windows. I like Paintshops features, this is the only problem I have really encountered, but given the importance of being able to use .tif files, I am not sure what else to do. I don't want to save every edited pic in a tiny jpeg format. However, I don't have a grand to drop on photoshop.


Thanks for offering some help.

 

[musicaleCA]

Photoshop? Not a grand. Maybe half, less if you're a student. But still, I understand budget being an issue. You might be better served contacting Corel. And try GIMP. If you can't open them in some other program, then Corel is really saving them wrong, or corrupting them, or something...Honestly I'm guessing here.

 

[burstintoflame81]

Well, I saved the file in packbits compression ( or whatever it was called ). After doing this the thumbnail was correct, file size was the same as the uncompressed, and in the metadata/properties of the files, it said it was uncompressed. So I assume that is what I should be using. I think it was like 96 dpi and I also tried it saving it as 300dpi. Both worked. GIMP could not read the other .TIF files either. So it must be some flaw in Corel. I guess for now that is what I will do.

 

[Dwig]

... evidently for some strange reason their software doesn't support it.

There are a rather large number different TIFF variations; bit depth, color space, compression, presence of layers, byte order, ... . Few applications support all of them. Its not uncommon form some of the more modest applications to be able to write a larger range of TIFF variations than it is able to read. Also, Windows isn't able to generate icon previews from some of the less common TIFF variants.

The most universal TIFF is an 8 bit/pixel, RGB, no layers, no compression, "Windows" byte order. (8bpp + RGB + no layers = "24bit RGB")

 

[musicaleCA]

Well that clears that up. But I find it incredibly silly, from a programming PoV, to write software that will save in a format that it can't read.

I'm curious; is there any time byte order has been an issue for you? It's never been for me, though I lend that partially to the interoperability of OS X.

 

[Dwig]

Well that clears that up. But I find it incredibly silly, from a programming PoV, to write software that will save in a format that it can't read.

Its not silly. Its just an economy measure. It takes time and effort (read: significant expense) to code and test and import or export module. If there is a format that it not important to the job the application does but important to some other application further down the line it may be of some advantage to write the necessary export module. If the app has to sell for a modest price, then not writing and testing a similar import module is a reasonable economy measure. One case I've seen involved TIFF files. The app in question, modest price and targeting amateur digital photographers, only supported RGB color space but could write CMYK TIFFs, converting the color space on the fly during export. The application could not, though, read CMYK TIFFs.

I'm curious; is there any time byte order has been an issue for you? It's never been for me, though I lend that partially to the interoperability of OS X.

Yes, the last time was back in 1995 when I was testing Macromedia FreeHand's bitmap export functions (I was a QA tester for FH ver 5.0a on Windows and a feature designer on every version after that beginning with v5.0b for Windows and v5.5 Mac thru FH/MX v11 which was the last) and noticed that a then rather old, now extremely ancient, version of Pagemaker or Quark Express (I don't remember which) on Mac didn't get along with Windows byte ordered TIFFs. I've not heard of any mainstream app in the last decade that had any issues either way, Mac byte order on Windows or Windows byte order on Mac.

 

[musicaleCA]

Cool. Always a useful source of information, you are, Dwig.

 

[burstintoflame81]

Thanks for all of the help again. The economics of it does make sense. It was just wierd that not only Corel, but Windows also had problems with the files. So thats why I thought maybe I was just screwing something up.


If I save in a compressed .Tif format, would that still be decent quality if I wanted to use pictures for say a stock agency or something of that nature? I just don't want to save too many edited files if they aren't up to industry standard. I would rather just go buy software so that I am not wasting my time. So that anything I save now is still just as worthy once I do upgrade to photoshop.

 

[musicaleCA]

Yeah. Compressed TIFF formats, as I understand them, are lossless compression, meaning you don't actually lose any information from the image. It's similar to standards like ZIP, RAR, TAR, and 7z.