## Image

This tab enables you to choose an image file and reduce it.
The button in the top tool bar, corresponding to Open... [⌘O] in the File menu, enables you to locate and open an image from a file. Once open, it appears in the left-hand image pane.
Before commencing processing, it is recommended that you read the Image hints page - to ensure the best possible results for your project.
Since the output is generated at one stitch per pixel, you will almost certainly need to reduce the size to workable dimensions.
As a guide, you might not want an image much larger than 300 wide or 560 tall to create a workable project. Smaller is probably better, as long as the image doesn't lose too much detail as a result.
The image's dimensions are already shown in the editable fields. They are accompanied by a padlock icon - a control which constrains the image's aspect ratio (its relationship between width and height). If you want it to remain with the same proportions (the vast majority of the time surely you would), keep the padlock in the locked position, enter your chosen dimension in either the width or height field and press tab (→|) or return (↵) - then the corresponding value will be calculated for the other dimension.
The padlock control can be useful if, for example, you set the height to 490 - the equivalent of 7 full pages of output (each full page is 100 wide and 70 high), and the width is calculated as 202 - which means the output will have pages with just two stitches per page. By deselecting the padlock, you can replace 202 with 200 - and there will likely be very little distortion of the image for such a small change.
There will be a message to the right of the Reduce button, giving the number of pages of output this size of image will generate. If this will produce more than 30, this will appear in red, with a suggestion that you should consider resizing; if it's blue, it's below that threshold. At full coverage, a single page might take around a month of fairly constant evenings and weekends' work, thirty pages would take around 2½ years to complete the project. However, you are free to ignore it and produce projects with as many pages as your heart desires.
Once the dimensions have been entered to your satisfaction, press the Reduce button (menu equivalent: Process | Reduce [⌘R]). The reduced image will then be reproduced in the right-hand pane. The image's palette will also appear to the right of that. The reduced image should be visually very similar to the original, in the left pane - perhaps slightly more blurred, since resizing will lose some detail - although it is still shown at the same size as the original. The more it is reduced, the more detail will be lost.
Pressing the Reduce button will also reduce the palette from the original image down to 256 or less colours. This is usually without any appreciable difference in its appearance, but the reduced image is shown in the right pane so that it can be compared with the original for any noticeable loss.
The app will automatically resize the window to enlarge the output and assist visual comparison.
If you're happy with the colours and size, you're now ready to Match the image.