Filed under: Photo, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Productivity
SmillaEnlarger makes images bigger, but maintains quality
by Jay Hathaway Aug 6th 2009 at 4:00PM
SmillaEnlarger is a single-purpose app that enlarges images without leaving them blocky and indistinct. Its algorithm obviously isn't going to do a perfect job of filling in the details, but it draws smart curves that actually look good at large sizes. Just as importantly, it eliminates the artifacts and pixelation that usually show up in enlarged images.The display features the original image and the enlarged result side-by-side, so you can easily see which part of the source image you've selected, and you can crop and reposition as necessary. You can adjust the size of your output image either by using a slider or by entering the target dimensions. SmillaEnlarger is not a full-featured image editor, but there are a few options for adjusting sharpness and noise. It's a free app, but it would be worth paying for to anyone who has to manage a lot of frustratingly tiny photos.
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Molly said 4:13PM on 8-06-2009
great find, thank you, Jay!
on another note: this is one of these posts that remind me what downloadsquad.com used to be all about. unfortunately, between all the "Twitter this" and "iPhone that", those gems become increasingly rare. :(
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xlerate said 5:08PM on 8-06-2009
Yes, I agree.
Downloadsquad has wandered a bit, although to stay relative, you must be adaptive.
Lets get more 'download' back in the squad.
Jay Hathaway said 7:40PM on 8-06-2009
Thanks, Molly! I do my best to find actual downloads, 'cause I'm a big fan of desktop apps, but I know there's an audience out there for web app stuff, too. A lot of people don't know that there used to be a separate social software blog on Weblogs Inc. that got rolled into Download Squad, so it's our responsibility to cover that stuff.
smknight said 1:50AM on 8-07-2009
Agreed, thanks for the post Jay.
Kenn.keeper said 9:15PM on 8-06-2009
A very nice app. I do alot of personal graphics and photo restoration as a hobby on my computer. Thank you for posting it as I haven't found anything quite like it in my searches of freeware.....
Free is Good Jay
Kenn.....
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hazard said 12:21AM on 8-07-2009
yay 4 jay
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shohel_rc said 3:15AM on 8-07-2009
Please give me google book downloader.
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brogers101 said 11:43AM on 8-07-2009
I understand you have to cover other topics, but perhaps you can start putting tags that say DOWNLOAD or DESKTOPAPP so people who still enjoy using tools where the web isn't available can do so.
I love the site, just disappointed how little in 2009 is a "download" article.
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Stuart Halliday said 8:31AM on 8-09-2009
So is this similar to the Fractal method or is it (more likely) an enhanced Lanczos or B-Spline algorithm?
The fractal method is the best on the market. Look up Genuine Fractals.
But it's an expensive program. Though they do allow a free trial that does amazing things to small images.
The Lanczos or B-Spline algorithm have of course been around for many years in the form on the free IrfanView program.
So I was interested in trying this program out.
Well after trying this program I can only say it's close to being a pile of poo.
You can only only enlarge a small subsection of your photo and then only enlarge by a small fixed amount. It's not very user friendly at all.
Seems to be just a test example program rather than a end product that can do any real work.
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hazard said 8:42AM on 8-10-2009
The GUI is a little confusing and the "Calculate" button should be "Export" or "Save". But it does work and works quite well. The subsection you refer to is only a preview and the image will be saved to file when you select Calculate.
I compared performance against Lanczos and B-Spline in IrfanView and ImageEnlarger produced clearly superior result.
jh said 1:59PM on 8-11-2009
This download seems to work on my Mac, so I think your
windows header is off
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