Warning, /documentation/digikam-doc/image_editor/transform_tools.rst is written in an unsupported language. File is not indexed.

0001 .. meta::
0002    :description: digiKam Image Editor Transform Tools
0003    :keywords: digiKam, documentation, user manual, photo management, open source, free, learn, easy
0004 
0005 .. metadata-placeholder
0006 
0007    :authors: - digiKam Team
0008 
0009    :license: see Credits and License page for details (https://docs.digikam.org/en/credits_license.html)
0010 
0011 .. _transform_tools:
0012 
0013 Transform Tools
0014 ===============
0015 
0016 .. contents::
0017 
0018 Cropping a Photograph
0019 ---------------------
0020 
0021 .. _transform_crop:
0022 
0023 Manual Crop
0024 ~~~~~~~~~~~
0025 
0026 Cropping a photograph is not only a common operation, but an often underestimated photographer's tool to compose an image. The Image Editor makes it very easy. To crop a photograph simply drag a rectangle over the image by holding down the left mouse button and moving the mouse. You will see a wire frame rectangle appear as you move the mouse. 
0027 
0028 .. figure:: images/editor_crop_selection.webp
0029     :alt:
0030     :align: center
0031 
0032     A Region from Image Editor Canvas Ready for Manual Crop
0033 
0034 When you release the button the area of the photograph that will be removed by a crop operation is greyed out. This allows you to get a good view of how your photograph will look once you have cropped it. You can change the size of the cropped area by dragging the corners of the rectangle, and you can create a new crop area simply by dragging out another rectangle.
0035 
0036 Once you are happy with the crop, click on the Image Editor **Crop** button on the toolbar and the photograph will be cropped :kbd:`Ctrl+X`. Use the :menuselection:`File --> Save` or :menuselection:`File --> Save As...` entries in the File menu to save the newly cropped photograph.
0037 
0038 .. note::
0039 
0040     The Histogram tab from the right sidebar will recompute the color statistics accordingly with the current selection on image.
0041 
0042 .. _transform_autocrop:
0043 
0044 Auto Crop
0045 ~~~~~~~~~
0046 
0047 The Auto Crop tool removes the borders from an image. It searches the largest possible border area that is all the same color, and then crops this area from the image, as if you had used the Crop tool.
0048 
0049 This tool can be used for example to crop a stitched panorama, assembly with many images, which generate black borders around.
0050 
0051 See below a stitched Panorama processed with auto crop tool.
0052 
0053 .. figure:: images/editor_autocrop.webp
0054     :alt:
0055     :align: center
0056 
0057     A Panorama Processed on the Bottom by Auto-Crop to Drop the Black Frame Around the Original Image on the Top.
0058 
0059 .. _transform_proportionalcrop:
0060 
0061 Proportional Crop
0062 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0063 
0064 The Aspect Ratio Crop tool goes further. While you are editing digital images, it is often necessary to create a compatible format with, for example, your photo album or paper formats. If you print an image from your digital camera and then try to put it in your photo album, you may notice that the camera has a different width or height ratio than a normal photographic film format so you need to crop your digital images in a predefined ratio (for example 5:7 or 2:3 which is a standard photo ratio). 
0065 
0066 .. figure:: images/editor_ratio_crop.webp
0067     :alt:
0068     :align: center
0069 
0070     The digiKam Image Editor Ratio Crop Tool
0071 
0072 In the preview area you can resize the cropping rectangle by moving the corners with the mouse. It will keep the ratio value set in the bottom of dialog.
0073 
0074 In the Aspect Ratio Crop tool settings, you specify the **Orientation** as **Portrait** or **Landscape**. Portrait will always have the larger size assigned to the **Height** and Landscape to the **Width**.
0075 
0076 Aspect Ratio Crop tool uses a relative ratio. That means it is the same if you use centimeters or inches and it doesn't specify the physical size. For example, you can see below a correspondence list of traditional photographic paper sizes and aspect ratio crop.
0077 
0078 =============================================================== =================
0079 Standard Photograph Paper Size                                  Aspect Ratio Crop
0080 =============================================================== =================
0081 10x15cm 20x30cm 30x45cm 3.5x5" 4x6" 8x12" 12x18" 16x24" 20x30"  2:3
0082 6x8cm 15x20cm 18x24cm 30x40cm 3.75x5" 4.5x6" 6x8" 7.5x10" 9x12" 3:4
0083 20x25cm 40x50cm 8x10" 16x20"                                    4:5
0084 15x21cm 30x42cm 5x7"                                            5:7
0085 21x30cm 42x60cm                                                 7:10
0086 =============================================================== =================
0087 
0088 At the far right of the dialog two buttons are available to move the crop selection automatically to the horizontal or vertical center of the image.
0089 
0090 At the very bottom line of the dialog, the **Max. Ratio** button lets you set the crop area size to the maximum size according to the current aspect ratio settings and orientation.
0091 
0092 .. note::
0093 
0094     The Aspect Ratio Crop tool remembers the settings depending on image orientation (horizontal or vertical). When you use the crop tool next time, these settings will be used as default values depending on the image orientation. The changed image dimensions are stored into the Exif tables so that the Exif data reflects the cropped image and not the original one.
0095 
0096 .. _transform_composition:
0097 
0098 Composition Guide
0099 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0100 
0101 When first looking at an image, the eye of the viewer rarely settles at the center of the image, but moves instead from the top left to the right, and then from the lower left to the right again. This pattern is unconscious but has been well documented. It is probably associated with the western reading pattern. From the photographer's point of view, the goal then becomes to guide the gaze of the viewer to the subject, being aware of the way many people perceive an image.
0102 
0103 The **Composition Guide** settings provides guiding elements to better compose your images. These guides are:
0104 
0105     - **Rule of Thirds**: a grid that divides the image into thirds in every direction (that makes for 9 parts). These proportions are close to the golden rule and are derived from the field of view of the human eye. They are often used with slight variations throughout a large number of commonly used objects. Within that frame there are precise areas where the important parts of the image should be placed. The same principle is used to determine the position of the horizon and the proportion of ground to sky. Many photographers and artists are aware of the Rule of Thirds, where an image is divided into three sections vertically and horizontally and the points of intersection represent places to position important visual elements. Moving a horizon in a landscape to the position of one third is often more effective than placing it in the middle, but it could also be placed near the bottom one quarter or sixth. There is nothing obligatory about applying the Rule of Thirds. In placing visual elements for effective composition, one must assess many factors including color, dominance, size and balance together with proportion. Often a certain amount of image balance or tension can make a composition more effective.
0106 
0107     - **Harmonious Triangles**: harmonious divisions rely on the principle of similarity. Like the Rule of Thirds guide, Harmonious Triangles are another division of the image using a rectangle into equiangular harmonious triangles aligned with the diagonal.
0108 
0109     - **Golden Mean**: the Golden Mean is a ratio underlying numerous growth patterns throughout nature (from the spiral of a Nautilus shell to the petals of a sunflower), it has an uncanny way of showing up in all kinds of things we deem beautiful. The Golden Ratio is the irrational number 1.618033988..., and it is usage dates back to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks who used it in the construction of their temples and pyramids. Artists and architects throughout time have used the Golden Ratio when composing their paintings, buildings, and even photographs, in order to give their creations a sense of natural order and beauty. The ratio is inherent in the Fibonacci series: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 etc.., where each succeeding number after 1 is equal to the sum of the two preceding numbers. The ratio formed 1:1.618 is the Golden Mean. A composition following this rule is considered visually harmonious. The Golden Mean provides more fluid guidelines when used to compose an image. These guides are listed below:
0110 
0111         - The **Golden Spiral** guide will increase your odds of getting captivating results in your photographs. As opposed to Rule of Thirds, the Golden Spiral forms a fluid line for the eye to trace through the image. This style of composition will invite the viewer's gaze into the image along the line of the spiral, creating a more symmetrical visual flow, and an overall compelling viewing experience. See below an image composition example using golden spiral.
0112 
0113         - One more rule is a **Golden Spiral Sections** (or Golden Rectangles). These rectangles are used to build the Golden Spiral. There should be something leading the eye to the center of the composition. It could be a line or several subjects. This "something" could just be there without leading the eyes, but it would make its job.
0114 
0115         - The **Golden Triangles** is a derivative of the Golden Spiral discussed above. Its vertices are the midpoints of the sides of the Golden Rectangle. Note that unlike Harmonious Triangles, Golden Triangles aren't equiangular triangles. Placing diagonals along these lines can make an otherwise static subject appear more dynamic. When you use Golden Triangles to break up your frame, you're creating an effect professional photographic experts call Dynamic Symmetry. Try to keep your focal subject on one of the intersecting points, and place other visual information into the triangles you've already divided out. The result will be a very attractive composition you may not have otherwise attained.
0116 
0117         - Like the Rule of Thirds the **Golden Sections** affects the ratio of an image size as well as the placement of the main subjects on the photo. This ratio is close to the 35mm ratio, so you don't need to change the size of the photo in most cases. But you need to consider the composition: the main subject should lie on one of the four lines or four intersections (subject's eye for example). Truthfully speaking, these rules are not the same. Rule of Thirds is a simplified version of the Golden Mean.
0118 
0119 The **Flip Horizontal** and **Flip Vertical** options can be used to apply flip transformation to the harmonious divisions.
0120 
0121 The **Color** button lets you set the guidelines color. If you have an high color contrast image, the guidelines may become invisible. By the way, you can adapt the color guide to the current image.
0122 
0123 .. _transform_rotationflip:
0124 
0125 Rotating or Flipping
0126 --------------------
0127 
0128 If the photograph shows a wrong orientation you can **Flip** or **Rotate** it to the orientation you would like by using Transform Flip/Rotate tools available in :menuselection:`Transform --> Rotate and Transform --> Flip` menus.
0129 
0130 With flipping options, you can flip or turn over the image horizontally or vertically like a card deck. With the rotating options, you can rotate the image in 90 degrees steps clockwise. It can be used to change the display mode to Portrait or Landscape. Be aware that this rotation is not lossless when using JPEG format. You also can rotate more accurately to a finer degree by using the Free Rotation tool. You can access it by the :menuselection:`Transform --> Free Rotation` menu entry. See the dedicated Free Rotation section below for more information.
0131 
0132 .. _transform_freerotation:
0133 
0134 Free Rotation
0135 -------------
0136 
0137 The digiKam Free Rotation is a tool for image rotation by any arbitrary angle.
0138 
0139 When taking an image it is all too easy to hold the camera not quite perfectly vertical or horizontal, resulting in an image where things are tilted at an angle. The way to fix this with the digiKam Image Editor is to use the Free Rotation tool. Select :menuselection:`Transform --> Free Rotation` and adjust to the target angle.
0140 
0141 Rotate your image by using the **Angle** slider (value in degrees). Press to **Reset Values** for reset the slider to zero. A rotating effect preview is available on the right side of the dialog. The new target image dimensions in pixels are shown.
0142 
0143 For better orientation, the Free Rotation tool provides a vertical and horizontal guide. Move the mouse cursor under image preview to display the dashed line guide. Move the cursor to an supposedly vertical or horizontal feature in the image like the sea or a building border and press the left mouse button for freeze the dashed lines position. Now, adjust the angle accordingly with the guide.
0144 
0145 .. warning::
0146 
0147     After rotating the image, you often find that things are better but not quite perfect. One solution is to rotate a bit more, but there is a disadvantage to that approach. Each time you rotate an image, because the rotated pixels don't line up precisely with the original pixels, the image inevitably gets blurred a little bit. For a single rotation, the amount of blurring is quite small, but two rotations cause twice as much blurring as one, and there is no reason to blur things more than you have to. Sure, the guide tool available in the Free Rotation preview can help you to apply correctly at the first time an angle adjustment to an image.
0148 
0149 .. figure:: images/editor_free_rotation.webp
0150     :alt:
0151     :align: center
0152 
0153     The digiKam Image Editor Free Rotation Tool
0154 
0155 After you have rotated an image, there will be unpleasant triangular *holes* at the corners. One way to fix them is to crop the image with :menuselection:`Transform --> Crop` Image Editor menu.
0156 
0157 A more elegant way to crop the rotated image is to use the **Auto-Crop** function. Choose anyone of the following options from the combo-box to your preference:
0158 
0159     - **Widest area**: This option crops the rotated image to the widest possible (width) rectangular section.
0160 
0161     - **Largest area**: This options crops the rotated image to the biggest surface.
0162 
0163 Hold the mouse over the combo-box and scroll with the wheel between the two possibilities.
0164 
0165 The **Anti-aliasing** checkbox will smooth the image a bit after rotation. Please read the warning above.
0166 
0167 .. _transform_perspective:
0168 
0169 Perspective Adjustment
0170 ----------------------
0171 
0172 The digiKam Perspective Adjustment is a tool for adjusting the image's perspective.
0173 
0174 With this tool you can work on the perspective in a photograph. This is very useful when working with photographs that contain keystone distortion. Keystone distortion occurs when an object is photographed from an angle rather than from a straight-on view. For example, if you take an image of a tall building from ground level, the edges of the building appear to meet each other at the far end. On the other hand you can use this tool to introduce a new perspective that is not a face-on view but to give the image a creative spin.
0175 
0176 All perspective transformations are performed around a fixed point called the reference point. This point is at the center of the item you are transforming and is displayed by a red circle.
0177 
0178 To change the perspective, use the square areas at the image corners for dragging. The perspective preview is rendered automatically. On the right of the dialog you'll find a set of information witch help you to control the perspective change:
0179 
0180     - **New Width**: show the new image width in pixels including the empty area around the image resulting from the geometrical transformation.
0181 
0182     - **New Height**: show the new image height in pixels including the empty area around the image resulting from the geometrical transformation.
0183 
0184     - **Top Left Angle**: show the current angle in degrees at the top left corner of the perspective area.
0185 
0186     - **Top Right Angle**: show the current angle in degrees at the top right corner of the perspective area.
0187 
0188     - **Bottom Left Angle**: show the current angle in degrees at the bottom left corner of the perspective area.
0189 
0190     - **Bottom Right Angle**: show the current angle in degrees at the bottom right corner of the perspective area.
0191 
0192 .. warning::
0193 
0194     After applying the perspective adjustment, the image inevitably gets blurred a little bit. For a single adjustment, the amount of blurring is quite small, but two adjustments cause twice as much blurring as one, and there is no reason to blur things more than you have to.
0195 
0196 After you have adjusted the perspective of an image there will be unpleasant triangular *holes* at the corners. One way to fix them is to crop the image with :menuselection:`Transform --> Crop` Image Editor menu.
0197 
0198 .. figure:: images/editor_perspective_tool.webp
0199     :alt:
0200     :align: center
0201 
0202     The digiKam Image Editor Perspective Tool
0203 
0204 .. _transform_shear:
0205 
0206 Shearing Image
0207 --------------
0208 
0209 The digiKam Shearing Image is a tool for shearing an image horizontally or vertically.
0210 
0211 The Shear tool is used to shift one part of an image to one direction and the other part to the opposite direction. For instance, a horizontal shearing will shift the upper part to the right and the lower part to the left. This is not a rotation: the image is distorted. In other words, it will turn a rectangle into a parallelogram. This tool is available from :menuselection:`Transform --> Shear` menu.
0212 
0213 Shear your image by using the **Horizontal Angle** and **Vertical Angle** sliders (values in degrees). You can shear along either Horizontally and vertically at the same time. Click on the **Reset Values** to reset. A shearing effect preview is shown on the center of dialog window. The new target image dimensions in pixels are displayed at the right side of dialog.
0214 
0215 To assist you in aligning, the tool provides a vertical and horizontal guide. Move the mouse cursor under image preview for display the dashed lines guide. Move the cursor to an important place in the image like the sea or a building border and press the left mouse button for freeze the dashed lines position. Now, adjust the shear correction according with the guide.
0216 
0217 .. warning::
0218 
0219     After applying a shearing adjustment, the image inevitably gets blurred a little bit. For a single shearing, the amount of blurring is quite small, but two shears cause twice as much blurring as one, and there is no reason to blur things more than you have to.
0220 
0221 After you have sheared an image, there will be unpleasant triangular "holes" at the corners. One way to fix them is to crop the image with :menuselection:`Transform --> Crop` Image Editor menu.
0222 
0223 .. figure:: images/editor_shear.webp
0224     :alt:
0225     :align: center
0226 
0227     The digiKam Image Editor Shear Tool
0228 
0229 .. _transform_resize:
0230 
0231 Changing Image Size
0232 -------------------
0233 
0234 Overview
0235 ~~~~~~~~
0236 
0237 The digiKam resize Photograph is definitely one of the most advanced tools to increase a photograph's size with minimal loss in image quality.
0238 
0239 Rescaling an image to make it smaller is easy. The big question is: how can you blow up an image and keep the details sharp? How can one zoom in when the resolution boundary has been reached? How can one reinvent or guess the missing information to fill in the necessarily coarse image after upsizing? Well, the algorithm we use here does an excellent job, try it out and see for yourself.
0240 
0241 Resizing a Photograph
0242 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0243 
0244 If the photograph has the wrong size, you can scale it to the size you would like by using Transform Resize tool. Select :menuselection:`Transform --> Resize` and adjust the target values. The Resize tool dialog is available below.
0245 
0246 .. figure:: images/editor_resize.webp
0247     :alt:
0248     :align: center
0249 
0250     The digiKam Image Editor Resize Tool
0251 
0252 This image resizing tool uses a standard linear interpolation method to approximate pixels. If you want to up-size a small image with a better quality, try the Blowup tool.
0253 
0254 Increasing Image Size
0255 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0256 
0257 Many image editing programs use some kind of interpolation e.g. spline interpolation to scale-up an image. digiKam uses a more sophisticated approach.
0258 
0259 You have to tell the tool about the resizing you want to do. These settings are available in **New Size** tab and are listed below:
0260 
0261     - **Maintain Aspect Ratio**: if this option is enabled, setting the new image size will preserve the aspect ratio of the original image.
0262 
0263     - **Width**: the new image width to use for blowing up.
0264 
0265     - **Height**: the new image height to use for blowing up.
0266 
0267 If you want to set filter parameters for finer adjustments, use **Smoothing Settings** and **Advanced Settings** tabs:
0268 
0269 Photograph Resize Smoothing Settings:
0270 
0271     - **Detail Preservation** p [0, 100]: this controls the preservation of the curvatures (features). A low value forces an equal smoothing across the image, whereas bigger values preferably smooth the homogeneous regions and leaves the details sharper. A value of 0.9 should well preserve details so that no sharpening is required afterwards. Note that **Detail Preservation** must be always inferior to **Anisotropy**.
0272 
0273     - **Anisotropy alpha** [0, 100]: a low value smooths equally in all directions, whereas a value close to 1 smooths in one direction only. If you have film grain or CCD kind of noise a high value will result in wave-like pattern, whereas JPEG artifacts are suited for values close to 1.
0274 
0275     - **Smoothing** [0, 500]: this sets the maximum overall smoothing factor (when p defines the relative smoothing). Set it according to the noise level.
0276 
0277     - **Regularity** [0, 100]: this parameter is concerned with the bigger structures. The bigger this value, the more even the overall smoothing will be. This is necessary when much noise is present since it is then difficult to estimate the geometry. Also if you want to achieve a 'van Gogh' turbulence effect, setting it higher than 3 is recommended.
0278 
0279     - **Filter Iterations**: number of times the blurring algorithm is applied. Usually 1 or 2 is sufficient.
0280 
0281 Photograph Resize Advanced Settings:
0282 
0283     - **Angular Step** da [5, 90]: angular integration of the anisotropy alpha. If alpha is chosen small, da should also be chosen small. But beware, small angles result in long runs! Choose it as large as you can accept.
0284 
0285     - **Integral Step** [0.1, 10]: spatial integration step width in terms of pixels. Should remain less than 1 (sub-pixel smoothing) and never be higher than 2.
0286 
0287     - **Use Linear Interpolation**: The gain in quality if you select this option is only marginal and you lose a factor of 2 in speed. Our recommendation is to leave it off.
0288 
0289 **Save As** and **Load** buttons are used to do just that. Any Blowup Photograph filter settings that you have set can be saved to the filesystem in a text file and loaded later.
0290 
0291 .. warning::
0292 
0293     Resize Photograph is very fast in what it is doing, but it can take a long time to run and cause high CPU load. You may always abort computation by pressing **Cancel** button during rendering.
0294 
0295 .. _transform_liquidrescale:
0296 
0297 Liquid Rescale
0298 --------------
0299 
0300 Overview
0301 ~~~~~~~~
0302 
0303 This tool is an Image Editor using the `Seam Carving method <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seam_carving>`_.
0304 
0305 The Seam Carving procedure aims at resizing pictures non uniformly while preserving their features, i.e. avoiding distortion of the important parts. The tool supports manual feature selection, and can also be used to remove portions of the picture in a consistent way.
0306 
0307 It works both ways, shrinking and enlarging, and it can use **masks** to select which features of the image should be preserved and which should be discarded.
0308 
0309 See below a sample image loaded in Liquid Rescale to illustrate the usage of this tool.
0310 
0311 .. figure:: images/editor_liquid_rescale_before.webp
0312     :alt:
0313     :align: center
0314 
0315     **Step 1**: A Sample Image Before Resizing Using Liquid Rescale Tool
0316 
0317 Target Size
0318 ~~~~~~~~~~~
0319 
0320 .. figure:: images/editor_liquid_rescale_size_settings.webp
0321     :alt:
0322     :align: center
0323 
0324     The digiKam Liquid Rescale Tool Size Settings
0325 
0326 In this section, it is possible to choose the final size. It is advisable to rescale always in one direction at a time. If both the **width** and the **height** are changed, rescaling is performed by default on the width first, then on the height. You can also **Preserve aspect ratio** from the original image. Dimensions can be set in pixels (**px**) or in **percents**.
0327 
0328 Rescale Percentage
0329 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0330 
0331 .. figure:: images/editor_liquid_rescale_percentage_settings.webp
0332     :alt:
0333     :align: center
0334 
0335     The digiKam Liquid Rescale Tool Percentage Settings
0336 
0337 In this section, you can specify here your desired content-aware rescaling percentage. This option sets the maximum enlargement which will be performed in a single rescale step. When the final size is greater than this, the tool will automatically stop and restart the rescaling as many times as needed. You might need to reduce this value if you have large preservation masks. Note that in this case, the same areas will be affected over and over by the rescaling.
0338 
0339 The Feature Masks
0340 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0341 
0342 .. figure:: images/editor_liquid_rescale_mask_settings.webp
0343     :alt:
0344     :align: center
0345 
0346     The digiKam Liquid Rescale Tool Mask Settings
0347 
0348 The masks are the easiest way to manually select the features of the image that you want to protect or discard. Turn on the **Add weight masks** option to switch in mask edit mode.
0349 
0350 To discard portion of image, press the **Suppression weight mask** button and paint the mask over the canvas. The mask is a virtual transparent layer using **Red** color, with 50% opacity to indicate the area to discard.
0351 
0352 To protect portion of image, press the **Preservation weight mask** button and paint the mask over the canvas. The mask is a virtual transparent layer using **Green** color, with 50% opacity to indicate the area to protect.
0353 
0354 You can change the **Brush size** to paint masks on the canvas. To change mask regions, use the **Erase mask** button and clean desired portion of masks over the canvas.
0355 
0356 .. note::
0357 
0358     Object removal is only possible when shrinking. By default, feature discard masks are ignored when enlarging, because in that case the masked areas would be inflated rather then removed. If you actually want to get this effect, you need to unset the corresponding option in the **Advanced Settings** tab.
0359 
0360     Preservation of features is not possible if enlarging too much, because the inflation process is the exact reverse of the shrinking process, so the maximum amount of pixels you can add to a layer corresponds to the amount of pixels which are not protected. For example, if you have a 1000 pixel wide image and you have marked a 800 pixel wide area for protection, the final width should be less than 1200.
0361 
0362 See below the sample image where masks have been applied to preserve important areas in green and remove unwanted in red.
0363 
0364 .. figure:: images/editor_liquid_rescale_masks.webp
0365     :alt:
0366     :align: center
0367 
0368     **Step 2**: Liquid Rescale Preservation and Suppression Masks Applied Over the Sample Image Before Resizing
0369 
0370 Energy Function
0371 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0372 
0373 .. figure:: images/editor_liquid_rescale_energy_settings.webp
0374     :alt:
0375     :align: center
0376 
0377     The digiKam Liquid Rescale Energy Function Settings
0378 
0379 In this section, you can choose a gradient function applied while rescaling. This function is used to determine which pixels should be removed or kept. Possible values are listed below:
0380 
0381     - **Norm of brightness gradient**: norm of the brightness gradient.
0382     - **Sum of absolute values of brightness gradients**: sum of absolute values of the brightness gradients in both directions.
0383     - **Absolute value of brightness gradient**: absolute value of the brightness gradient in the direction of the rescaling (this is the default).
0384     - **Norm of luma gradient**: norm of the luma gradient.
0385     - **Sum of absolute values of luma gradients**: sum of absolute values of the luma gradients in both directions.
0386     - **Absolute value of luma gradient**: absolute value of the luma gradient in the direction of the rescaling.
0387 
0388 The **Preserve Skin Tones** option allows to preserve pixels whose color is close to a skin tone.
0389 
0390 Advanced Settings
0391 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0392 
0393 .. figure:: images/editor_liquid_rescale_advanced_settings.webp
0394     :alt:
0395     :align: center
0396 
0397     The digiKam Liquid Rescale Advanced Settings
0398 
0399 In this section, you can tune some advanced values to tweak the tool.
0400 
0401 **Overall rigidity of the seams**: Use this value to give a negative bias to the seams which are not straight. May be useful to prevent distortions in some situations, or to avoid artifacts from pixel skipping (it is better to use low values in such case). This setting applies to the whole selected layer if no rigidity mask is used.
0402 
0403 .. note::
0404 
0405     The bias is proportional to the difference in the transversal coordinate between each two successive points, elevated to the power of 1.5, and summed up for the whole seam.
0406 
0407 **Maximum number of transversal steps**: This option lets you choose the maximum transversal step that the pixels in the seams can take. In the standard algorithm, corresponding to the default value step = 1, each pixel in a seam can be shifted by at most one pixel with respect to its neighbors. This implies that the seams can form an angle of at most 45 degrees with respect to their base line. Increasing the step value lets you overcome this limit, but may lead to the introduction of artifacts. In order to balance the situation, you can use the rigidity setting.
0408 
0409 **Side switch frequency**: During the carving process, at each step the optimal seam to be carved is chosen based on the relevance value for each pixel. However, in the case where two seams are equivalent (which may happen, for instance, when large portions of the image have the same color), the algorithm always chooses the seams from one side.  In some cases, this can pose problems, e.g. an object centered in the original image might not be centered in the resulting image. In order to overcome this effect, this setting allows the favored side to be switched automatically during rescaling, at the cost of slightly worse performance.
0410 
0411 **Resize Order**: Here you can set whether to resize **horizontally first** or **vertically first**.
0412 
0413 More Details About the Seam Carving Technique
0414 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0415 
0416 The tool works by finding so-called *seams* over an image, i.e. continuous, zig-zagged lines transversing the image from top to bottom (*vertical* seams), or from left to right (*horizontal* seams). When one such seam, say a vertical one, is removed from an image (the *carving* operation), the width of the image is reduced by one pixel. Removing horizontal seams reduces the height. Iterating such operations (find a seam and remove it), one can reduce the image size at will. Collecting together all the seams which were carved from an image, in their respective order, constitutes what is called a *seams map*.
0417 
0418 Mirroring the carving process, by inserting additional seams besides the ones which are found by the algorithm, instead of removing them, image enlargement can be obtained, too. The meaning of the seam map is reversed in this case.
0419 
0420 In order to get good results from this technique, the main issue is finding which are the most suitable seams to carve or to insert. If the aim is simply to change the proportions of the image without affecting too much the content, for example, *good* seams will be those which don't cross important features of the image, and instead pass through a background landscape.
0421 
0422 By default, the tool tries to find the seams which cross the lowest-contrast areas (how this happens exactly is specified by the energy function settings). Therefore, each pixel of the image is assigned a so-called *energy value*, as the higher the contrast, the higher the energy, and seams are less likely to cross high-energy areas.
0423 
0424 Since in many cases this simple contrast-based method is not optimal, the energy function can be *biased* by the user, who can decide that some areas should have a higher energy (using a preservation masks) or, on the contrary, that they should have a lower energy (using a suppression mask), and therefore effectively *drive* the seams and the whole process.
0425 
0426 See below the sample image resized where width have been reduced by 30%. The height still the same. Look like preserved areas are not deformed while operation and the unwanted disappear magically.
0427 
0428 .. figure:: images/editor_liquid_rescale_after.webp
0429     :alt:
0430     :align: center
0431 
0432     **Step 3**: The Sample Image Width Finally Reduced With Liquid Rescale Masks Applied