There must be a simple way - 2 pics into 1

[helvetica]

A long time ago when windows was just a twinkle in Bill Gates' eye, I used a Sinclair ZX81 then a Sinclair QL. Although digital images were not what they are today, there was a very very simple program (only about 35 KILObytes, not Megabytes) for the QL. You got two pictures on the screen, clicked the first..enter, then the second..enter, inserted the distance you wanted between them then pressed enter and it stuck the two pics together side by side. Job done.
These days the photo stitching software is massive and extremely complicated, it wants to know angles, vectors, lens types plus a lot of settings I don't even begin to understand.
At the moment, when I have two images of a coin (obv + rev.) I use Paint Shop Pro 6.0 (old but good enough for me), enlarging the canvas on the obv. then copying and pasting the rev. then cropping and re-saving the pic.

Is there any really simple software anywhere (preferably free) that works in a similar easy way as the old QL software described above ? click.. click.. do it. ?

[renegade3220]

Not free and not quite as easy, but I think PhotoShop in the Adobe Suite is pretty easy to use to stitch photos.  Especially if you are already using it to edite a photo.

If you use a stand setup then all your photos will always be the same size.  Open up each photo in photoshop, resize the image to what you want, either by pixel or aspect ratio by inches.  Again, if using a camera stand then they can be matched easily.  Crop, if necessary (this will make it where your pic wont be exact same size but that is ok).  Open up a new canvas large enough to hold the others, drag each pic layer onto the new canvas and you can move them around as you wish.  Then just crop the new canvas appropriately.

I find it pretty quick if you use this program.

[helvetica]

That is already how I do it in Paint Shop Pro.
What I need is something simpler without all the changing of canvas size, cropping, copying, pasting etc.

[renegade3220]

Then I am of no use! 

[Andrew McCabe]

A long time ago when windows was just a twinkle in Bill Gates' eye, I used a Sinclair ZX81 then a Sinclair QL. Although digital images were not what they are today, there was a very very simple program (only about 35 KILObytes, not Megabytes) for the QL. You got two pictures on the screen, clicked the first..enter, then the second..enter, inserted the distance you wanted between them then pressed enter and it stuck the two pics together side by side. Job done.
These days the photo stitching software is massive and extremely complicated, it wants to know angles, vectors, lens types plus a lot of settings I don't even begin to understand.
At the moment, when I have two images of a coin (obv + rev.) I use Paint Shop Pro 6.0 (old but good enough for me), enlarging the canvas on the obv. then copying and pasting the rev. then cropping and re-saving the pic.

Is there any really simple software anywhere (preferably free) that works in a similar easy way as the old QL software described above ? click.. click.. do it. ?

I've been using such software for years. Open software (instantly, it's really tiny) and it has one window with four big buttons - one to select obverse image, one to select reverse image, one to select save file location, and one that says "Go". There are also various options (if needed) for example distance between images, orientation, batch processing and a few others, all of which I ignore. When you select the obv/rev images a window opens so you can select the images visually (and not just by name) and they appear stitched in the main window before you actually press "Go" so if you've made an error you can stop. When you close the programme it remembers your prior settings e.g. save-location when you open again. It is perfect for the task, 10 seconds per coin to operate.

Unfortunately it's not yet available publicly - it's a small module within a large planned numismatic project (currently on hold) that the software writer gave me to try out (and it works excellently), and I was asked not to distribute it.

If you wanted it for Wildwinds use, considering your services to numismatics etc. I'm sure that could be arranged - contact me offlist.

NB this is not an imaging software. It is a dedicated "stitch coin images" software

[areich]

I use Irfanview and it's incredibly simple. I have explained it here several times, searching for the program name should do it. It's much simpler than any other program I have tried and the descriptions I have read of what other people do. And it has more useful features than Andrew's program, it's my choice for rotating (though I have now eliminated the need for that), cropping and combining, and of course viewing pictures. Everything else I do in other programs, currently the GIMP.

[ancientdave]

http://www.irfanview.com/

[helvetica]

Thanks for the reply. I know irfanview (and despise their sick logo of a dead cat which is one reason why I don't use it) but I only want a tiny tiny program which ONLY sticks two images together. I have Paint Shop Pro for all my other needs. I really don't want to download another 20-30 Megabytes just to use one function. I am not short of space or anything but when I think back to the tiny (35 kb, written in early C+ as described in my first post) program which did just that back in the early 1980s I feel there MUST be something out there which does the same and is not bigger than about 100 Kb even when its written in C++.

[wileyc]

I use Google picassa which works okay, the there recent update has changed the picture collage edit that I use.

cw

[moonmoth]

I haven't tried this one, Picture Merge Genius, but it's only 1614k, which is nothing these days, and it's free, so might be worth a go.

http://www.sharewareconnection.com/picture-merge-genius.htm

There seem to be several similar programs available, but none quite as simple or specific as you'd like.

http://www.filebuzz.com/findsoftware/Software_To_Combine_Two_Images_Togeather/1.html

Bill

[helvetica]

Now THAT looks more like it, moonmoth !! I have just downloaded it and will give it a try. Thanks for the tip!