Blurry image when scaled down and back up

GimpingAlong · **Joined:** Feb 20, 2018 **Posts:** 28

Greetings all, when I drag a screenshot into GIMP, it is initially crystal clear. If I scale it down too far, it becomes blurry. When I enlarged it, it stays blurry rather than becoming sharp again. Is there a way I can stop the image from becoming blurry in the first place, or make it sharp no matter what size it is? Please see attached examples. Thanks!

Wallace · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:14 pm **(#2)**

GimpingAlong wrote:

Greetings all, when I drag a screenshot into GIMP, it is initially crystal clear. If I scale it down too far, it becomes blurry. When I enlarged it, it stays blurry rather than becoming sharp again. Is there a way I can stop the image from becoming blurry in the first place, or make it sharp no matter what size it is? Please see attached examples. Thanks!

The only way to truly be able to scale an image or elements of an image.
Is to use vectors or paths.
Raster graphics don't scale well.
Best thing to do,
is to be sure the image you need.
Is as close to the scale needed.
With only minor scaling required.
I try to limit scaling as much as I can,
when using Gimp.

Also,
you may want to take a look at this thread linked to below.

Enlarge photos?

GimpingAlong · **Joined:** Feb 20, 2018 **Posts:** 28

Thanks!

Wallace · **Posted:** Thu Apr 19, 2018 11:31 pm **(#4)**

GimpingAlong wrote:

Thanks!

ofnuts · **Joined:** Oct 25, 2010 **Posts:** 4757

GimpingAlong wrote:

Greetings all, when I drag a screenshot into GIMP, it is initially crystal clear. If I scale it down too far, it becomes blurry. When I enlarged it, it stays blurry rather than becoming sharp again. Is there a way I can stop the image from becoming blurry in the first place, or make it sharp no matter what size it is? Please see attached examples. Thanks!

If this didn't happen, you would have invented infinite image compression: all images could be compressed to a single pixel, and then scaled back up when needed... In reality there is less "information" in a 100x100 image (10K pixels) than in a 1000x1000 one (1M pixels). When you scale up the amount of information stays the same(*) and you get either a pixellated or a blurry image, depending on the algorithm used.

(*) Unless you are an actor in a crime/detective TV show, in which case your scaling powers are absolute especially if you have either a beard or Asian ancestry.

Nidhogg · **Posted:** Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:49 am **(#6)**

Yeah, CSI is the best algorithm. It can upscale total mess into crystal clear HD.

Why would you downscale something and then upscale it back?

GimpingAlong · **Joined:** Feb 20, 2018 **Posts:** 28

It's a long story, but I'm not well versed in graphic arts at all. I'm a musician and I'm just sort of doing a makeshift job with some illustrations. I have a template drawing that is being used over and over, but each time with different text. So my method has been to drag the drawing into GIMP, then drag a screenshot of the text onto it, scale and drag the screenshot into position (the screenshot always appears huge initially, and so I must scale it and move it into the desired position). Sometimes I scale it a little too far, and the image becomes blurry. But then it stays blurry, even when I make it bigger. I'm sure there are a million better ways I could be doing this, but it's been working okay in the past, and I haven't had time to better educate myself with GIMP. The music part of my project has kept me more than busy, heh.

GimpingAlong · **Joined:** Feb 20, 2018 **Posts:** 28

P.S. I solved the problem by taking Wallace's fine advice, and simply made the original larger.

Wallace · **Posted:** Fri Apr 20, 2018 5:49 pm **(#9)**

GimpingAlong wrote:

P.S. I solved the problem by taking Wallace's fine advice,
and simply made the original larger.

If you're using the same text or image many times.
It may be to your best advantage,
if these images and or text were converted into paths or vectors.
This way you can scale them to the size you need.

Just a thought...
If you were to post the text or image.
Myself or perhaps one of our members,
might be able to create the paths/vectors for you.

GimpingAlong · **Joined:** Feb 20, 2018 **Posts:** 28

Thank you kindly. I'm almost done with this part of my project, and your first suggestion is working well enough to suit my needs. I will definitely keep your offer in mind in the future, because at some point, I'll have more work of this kind, and it would be nice to do it "legit". As always, I appreciate your help and the help of others. GIMP and GIMP Chat has been a blessing for my limited skills. :-)