Burst Cropping

Easel allows you to crop images with 4 different shapes (rectangle, ellipse, burst, and freehand). A burst crop is an attention-drawing specialty shape that evokes action.

To perform an burst crop on an uncropped image:

Step to take

Easel Response

1. Click image with right mouse button

Image menu appears

2. Left click Crop on image menu

Crop menu appears

3. Left click Burst on crop menu

Menus disappear, cursor changes to burst cropping symbol

4. Position the cursor at 1 corner of a rectangle containing the desired ellipse, then press and hold left button

Cropping begins

5. Drag mouse to define desired crop area

Dashed ellipse outlines area

6. Release left mouse button

Crop area defined (tentative)

7. Adjust crop area (if desired): move cursor over an edge or corner, hold down the left button, move mouse, then release the button

Crop area adjusts

8. Adjust crop location (if desired): same as adjusting crop area, but hold down Ctrl key.

Crop position adjusts

9. Click inside crop area to complete, or outside crop area to cancel

Crop complete, using current burst properties, or cancelled

10. Repeat #1 & 2, click Burst Properties on crop menu.

Burst properties dialog appears

11. Adjust properties as desired , click OK

Burst properties set.

12. Repeat #1 & 2, click Set Background Color on crop menu.

Color dialog appears.

13. Select background color, click OK.

Bounding rectangle fills with chosen color.

 

Burst Properties

Along with the selected area, the burst properties -- number of points and sharpness -- control the appearance of a burst crop. Decrease the number of points and increase the sharpness to increase the "spikyness" of the burst, and vice versa.

You can change the properties of a burst crop at any time by right clicking on the image, selecting Crop/Burst Properties.

You cannot modify the area of a burst crop the same way you can the rectangle or ellipse. Instead, you must uncrop, then do it again.

To uncrop an image, right click it for the image menu, select Crop/Uncrop.

Note 1: The appearance of a burst crop is highly dependent on image size and resolution. You will notice that burst crops get less "spiky" when they are shrunk, and considerably more spiky when printed on a high res printer, compared to what they look like on screen.

Note 2: By default, Easel allows you to select any portion of an image as the crop area. However, you can also preset the aspect ratio of the cropping area to make it fit in a given area. See constrained cropping for more info.