[Gimp-user] Scaling an image down without ruining the text

[rich2005 <forums gimpusers com>]

> Hi,
>
> I have an image that is currently 2590 x 344. It is a footer image to
> be used in auto generated letters for a bespoke CRM system that is
> currently being developed. The required dimensions for the image are
> 790 x 115.
>
> Unfortunately, when I scale the image down to these dimensions, the
> text included on the image degrades and becomes completely unreadable.
> The entire image also loses quality which isn't really acceptable, I
> need it to retain the quality and the text to remain legible when
> scaling the image down.
>
> Hope someone can help me out!

Gimp is a raster editor (bitmap) editor any scaling up or down degrades the
image. Scaling down will 'throw' pixels away.

What might be possible and depending on the complexity of the image, is remove
somehow, usually 'clone-out' the text leaving the background and re-make the
text in the smaller image.

There is a practical limit on this, I would say anything smaller than 20 pt
(that is point not pixels) in the original is too small. 20 pt in the larger
image roughly equates to 8 pt in the smaller size.

notes: 

2590x344 uniformly scales to 790x105 not 790x115

Avoid exporting in jpeg format, that introduces artefacts around small text, try
png.

What is the size of the printed letter? 790 pix is about 1/3rd the width of a
regular Gimp 300 ppi US letter template. 790 pix width for a footer seems small
to me.

Could you re-work your image in vector SVG format? Will that be acceptable to
your software? It might scale in the printed document better than a raster
image.

Attachments:
* http://www.gimpusers.com/system/attachments/612/original/2590x344.jpg
* http://www.gimpusers.com/system/attachments/613/original/790x115.png

-- 
rich2005 (via www.gimpusers.com/forums)