Scaling images by percentage

Question

Level 1

15 points

Scaling images by percentage

Am I missing the way to scale images/objects by percentage? I really don't think sitting with a calculator to multiply pixel numbers is really the best answer.... Its easy in powerpoint, but powerpoint is so slow... I need to be able to scale technical drawings by percentage quickly. Help?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.5), 2 GHz/1GB/100GB

Posted on Aug 22, 2007 5:52 AM

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Answer 1

Brian Peat

Level 6

18,216 points

Aug 22, 2007 8:15 AM in response to Chain

No way that I know of. When I need exact stuff (which is not often) I just take it into Photoshop and resize there.

Wish I had a better answer.

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Answer 2

Chain Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 22, 2007 9:18 AM in response to Brian Peat

No, that won't do. In powerpoint, this is easy - you can do pixels or %. My current solution is to make the presentation in powerpoint where I can size things, then open it in keynote for tweaks. Bad. Very bad.

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Answer 3

mflider

Level 2

283 points

Aug 22, 2007 10:41 AM in response to Chain

What is your goal with resizing images? If it's to resize a group of images the same amount, you can drop them all on the canvas, group them, then scale the group to apply a uniform scale to them all. If you lay them out how you want them to appear before grouping, you can tweak the scale to fit your slides better.

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Answer 4

Kyn Drake

Level 7

21,597 points

Aug 22, 2007 10:54 AM in response to Chain

mflider asks a good question. Perhaps knowing what you intend to have as a result will help to find some Keynote solution that will work for you.

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Answer 5

Chain Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 22, 2007 11:07 AM in response to Kyn Drake

Alright - I am making schemes in Cambridgesoft ChemDraw, copy/pasting them into my slides, and they need to be scaled once this is done. Typically 125%. Scaling them in chemdraw distorts them. Tweaking the stationary in chemdraw to compensate for the slides distorts them. There are no problems pasting these into powerpoint and scaling them 125%. There are no problems pasting them into word and scaling them 75% (per ACS publication guidelines). I only have trouble with Keynote and Pages with respect to this issue, which is frustrating because they run faster and are more user friendly than office applications. I cannot simply scale the objects by 'eye' on screen and hope I'm close to 75 or 125%. Its ridiculous to sit here with a calculator and figure out the pixel count. Its very frustrating that a simple manipulation by percentage is not immediately available in the default adjustments.

Does this help with regard to a possible solution? I really want to use Keynote and Pages, but this feature may be the deal-breaker.

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Answer 6

Kyn Drake

Level 7

21,597 points

Aug 22, 2007 3:31 PM in response to Chain

Yes, it does. It helps greatly knowing that what you're trying to do is because of a ChemDraw's limitations.

So, if there's another way to get the graphic out of ChemDraw at 75% or 125%, then that would also be ok, right?

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Answer 7

Chain Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 22, 2007 4:50 PM in response to Kyn Drake

I'm sorry but I don't consider Keynote lacking the ability to scale something by 125% at a click of a button just like powerpoint can a limitation of chemdraw....

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Answer 8

Kyn Drake

Level 7

21,597 points

Aug 23, 2007 10:13 AM in response to Chain

You said "Scaling them in ChemDraw distorts them." ie, if you could scale them in ChemDraw, then scaling them in any external app would be a non-issue (And might be worth an email to the developers for this enhancement). But, because you can't scale them in ChemDraw, that's why you need an accurate scale in the external app you use them in. PowerPoint offers this scale, Keynote doesn't.

Because I haven't used ChemDraw, I was inquiring if the main goal, then, was a way to get these images into Keynote precisely scaled to 75% or 125%. The solution won't be as simple as PowerPoint's (since Keynote doesn't have this feature) but I'd thought that something simpler than manually figuring out the pixel count might be welcome.

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Answer 9

Chain Author

Level 1

15 points

Aug 23, 2007 11:19 AM in response to Kyn Drake

For anyone following, after trying to pin the problem on other applications, the answer is:

The solution won't be as simple as PowerPoint's (since Keynote doesn't have this feature).

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Answer 10

Kyn Drake

Level 7

21,597 points

Aug 23, 2007 12:02 PM in response to Chain

If you want to send a feature request to Apple, you can do that here.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/keynote.html

The answer was actually Brian's reply
"No way that I know of. When I need exact stuff (which is not often) I just take it into Photoshop and resize there."

You already have a workaround (figuring it out manually), I was only trying to determine if there was another easier one.

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Answer 11

yelvis

Level 1

0 points

Oct 30, 2007 4:08 PM in response to Chain

I too have hoped that Apple would add percentage sizing to images in Keynote 2008. Yes, I can do them via a calculator, but that takes more time that typing 125%! I do not like resizing them in ChemDraw as any subsequent changes after you initially resize are not to the same dimensions. I definitely encourage everyone to send Apple feedback concerning this request. It would be an easy feature to add in a software update... especially concerning you have the option of % rulers now in the latest version.

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