(Archived) BUG: Selection motion for pixellate feature is oddly "constrained"

[soundsgoodtome 155]

I took an iPhone screenshot, and I need to pixelate a large rectangular area in its center. But Skitch won't let me.

 

I typically drag diagonally (for example, from the upper left to the lower right). But found I was being oddly constrained. That said, to explain this bug clearly, I have to describe dragging in terms of horizontal and vertical motions which, cumulatively, constitute diagonal dragging.

 

• If I first drag horizontally about 2 inches, Skitch only lets me drag vertically about 2 inches. (So I'm constrained to a square and can't select a "tall enough" area.)

 

• But if I first drag vertically, I can drag a "taller" area -- say 4 inches -- but then Skitch only lets me drag horizontally about 1 inch. (So I can't select a "wide enough" area.")

 

It's as if Skitch has decided it has a maximum selectable area for the dragging/selection motion, which makes no sense. If you drag "wide," you can't drag "tall." And if you drag "tall," you cannot drag "wide."

 

So frustrating.

 

I hope I've explained this clearly, and I hope you'll fix this ASAP.

 

 

 

[i misspelled "pixelate" in the subject field, but the software won't allow me to change it. I regret the error.] 

[Jer Villanueva 6]

Hi @soundsgoodtome,

 

Your description is spot on; the pixelation area has been constrained to 40% of the image. The rationale for this is that pixelation is a resource intensive task especially when pixelating a large area multiple times. The typical use case is to pixelate small regions (license plates, ID cards, faces) hence the constraint; but if you would like to pixelate a larger area, you can always select the pixelate tool again.

 

Optimizing pixelation is one of the items in our to-do list but for now, we've decided to constrain the region that can be pixelated at one time. If you have any suggestions to improve the pixelation experience, please let us know!

[soundsgoodtome 155]

Thanks for the reply and the suggestion.

 

The problem with selecting the tool a 2nd time is that it's tricky to align the 2nd application perfectly. But it's an available workaround for now. I do hope the percentage can be raised in the future.

 

 

Since you asked about suggestions:

 

- The current restraint feels like a bug. Until it can be increased, perhaps a bit of explanation somewhere on the page would quash that impression.

 

- I'd love to be able to adjust the size of the pixelation "pixels." A couple of iPhone pixelation apps offer that, and depending upon the material to be pixelated, it really comes in handy. The apps have a slider for choosing the size, but even a three options -- small, medium, and large -- would be great.

 

- Finally, a Gaussian blur tool would be killer, as well (and would allow us to eliminate yet another app or two from our phones/pads).  :-)

 

 

Thanks again.