Cropping Out the Middle (White Space)

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Bev
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Cropping Out the Middle (White Space)

Post by Bev »

In SnagIt they have a neat little feature that lets you cut out white space in your captured image (both vertically and horizontally). This is great because sometimes there is a lot of white space on a screen that you really don't want to show. How can you do this in Capture?
SteveS
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Re: Cropping Out the Middle (White Space)

Post by SteveS »

I'm not sure what feature you are talking about. Are you cropping the image?
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Robotman
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Re: Cropping Out the Middle (White Space)

Post by Robotman »

In SnagIt it's called Cut Out (it's not Crop - that's a separate function).

I don't have the new Capture installed so I don't know if it has that feature.
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SteveS
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Re: Cropping Out the Middle (White Space)

Post by SteveS »

Ah. Must be a new feature, the only reference I an find to cut out in my version is selecting a region and deleting the content. Leaves a transparent region. Removes content, but the image stays the same size.
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atomdocs
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Re: Cropping Out the Middle (White Space)

Post by atomdocs »

The Cut Out function in Snagit is very nice. It is a variation of the Crop and Trim tools, which Snagit also has. The Cut Out tool allows you to remove a horizontal or vertical strip (edge to edge) from the middle of your image, and then close up the remaining parts of the image. There are fancy options available to close the two parts seamlessly, or with a gap and edge effect (e.g. torn edge). It is useful for removing internal whitespace, as Bev says, or for reducing the size of tall or wide screenshots if you are only interested in the top and bottom parts, or left and right parts.

Capture 7 doesn't have a Cut Out tool.

You can do it manually though:
  • Use the Rectangle tool to select and remove a strip from the image.
  • Use the Rectangle tool to select and move one of the remaining parts of the image next to the other remaining part.
  • Crop.
And no fancy options for the edges.
Tom
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talbert747
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Re: Cropping Out the Middle (White Space)

Post by talbert747 »

I appreciate the workaround, "Use the Rectangle tool to select and remove a strip from the image. Use the Rectangle tool to select and move one of the remaining parts of the image next to the other remaining part.", but after spending an hour reading both Capture Guides, I cannot locate the Rectangle tool. Could someone please provide me detailed steps for this valuable workaround?
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Re: Cropping Out the Middle (White Space)

Post by atomdocs »

I made a short movie to demonstrate the procedure: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zvi4j4ul4gf7 ... HLfYa?dl=0. No audio sorry. This applies to Capture 7.

I took a demo capture from this thread, and the goal was to remove the blank space in the middle. I also refined the procedure to skip the first step of my original task above - this is not really needed.

1. Start with the Edit tab.

2. Select the Selection Rectangle tool. [00:08]

3. Select the area that you want to move. [00:12] Note that you can start dragging outside the image area even though the pointer shows a kind of stop icon.

4. Move the pointer over the selected area [00:17] and drag it up over the blank space to close it up with the upper part of the image. Note that Capture does not have any constrain function (e.g. holding SHIFT), and the snap-to-grid function is not great, so you probably need to line it up by eye. You can use the arrow keys to nudge the selection into place.

5. Select the Crop tool and set the crop region. [00:30]

6. Click Crop on the tab toolbar to crop your image. [00:40]

I hope this helps.
Tom
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atomdocs
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Re: Cropping Out the Middle (White Space)

Post by atomdocs »

talbert747 - which version of Capture are you using? The procedure works with Capture 7. I can't remember if v6 has the Selection Rectangle tool.
Tom
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