How to "cut out" a section of an image

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2018-10-31 08:38:24

I have a few dozen pictures (actually, screenshots) where I would need to "cut out" a wide, empty, rectangular section from them.

If I try to simplify a bit, assume a picture that is actually a scan of a document, where I have a title, a lot of blank space in the middle, followed by some text from half down the page.

I am looking for a way to simply and quickly "cut out" that empty space from the pictures/scans:
ideally I would select that empty space, then a "cut and shrink" option, or an "inverse crop" option, et voila:
my picture is now the title followed by the text/body section.

I could do this by copying and pasting the title section in a new image, followed by copying the body section, but I would prefer the approach of removing the blank section from the original picture.

Is such a workflow at all possible with PixelmatorPro?

TIA
User avatar

2018-10-31 14:45:37

Hi Cacio.

I don't believe that there's a function in Pixelmator Pro that will do that (v1.2 at time of writing).
The question was also asked here: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=15535

Pixelmator Pro has gained some features since then, including Export for Web which allows you to define slices which you could then expprt and re-import. I'm not sure you'd gain any significant time over your method, though. (and all the images would need to be the same size).

What I'd probably do If I had a load of these is (assuming they are all the same size) is load them all into the same document as layers, set up a marquee that defines the top area I wanted to keep and keep cutting and pasting that area into a new file, for each layer, making the topmost layer invisible as I go. Repeat for the bottom (resizing to fit after the first paste), making them visible as I go from the bottom up

Hope this helps some.

- Stef.
User avatar

2018-10-31 15:08:59

Thank you Stef
I will try the approach that you mention.

I also have the "standard" Pixelmator available on my Mac, but I assume that it makes no difference on this request.

Thanks
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2018-10-31 15:55:42

I also have the "standard" Pixelmator available on my Mac, but I assume that it makes no difference on this request.
Not as far as I know. I use both and believe that they have similar features in this area.