ABOUT SHAPE COLLAGE
Vincent Cheung started Shape Collage in 2007 because, as the website says, he had thousands of photos and did not know what to do with them. He had thought about making a photo collage with his photos but did not like the existing collage-making programs. They required too much work to make a collage, did not look attractive and did not give users enough control. Cheung invented a new algorithm for automatically arranging photos in a collage, an algorithm that was not restricted to rectangular collages. Shape Collage is the only collage maker that enables all of these functions: • optimally arranges photos • creates collages in different shapes • can handle thousands of photos • generates super high-resolution images (up to 200 megapixels) • makes collages in seconds • exports to Photoshop PSD file format
VINCENT CHEUNG
Cheung received his undergraduate degree in computer engineering from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. He received his doctorate from the University of Toronto, where he specialized in machine learning and computer vision. Cheung has worked at Microsoft Research and Google and has published numerous research papers. “When I’m not on a computer,” he said, “I can usually be found playing volleyball, snowboarding, rollerblading, traveling or playing with my cat.”
THE COVER • Made using photos entered in last spring's JEA Write-off photo contests.
The easy way to make collages Diverse choices enhance appeal BY BRADLEY WILSON, CJE
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t is possible, although extremely time-consuming, to create a photo collage in Photoshop. Create a master document, size each separate image with a border and shadow and bring each into the master document. With more than 100 photos, the process could take hours. Shape Collage does it in seconds. The software programmer Vincent Cheung created maximizes the visibility of each image and allows users to create collages in almost any shape from a rectangle to a heart to a dog or in the shape of a word. The full version of Shape Collage, which does not have a watermark, allows for independent rotation of images in Photoshop or GIMP. The software is available for Windows, Macintosh OSX and Linux. In addition, there is a version for iPhone or iPad. Designers can also create a collage of images from a Facebook gallery or use the online version.
COMMENTS FROM THE WEB • Review-Ninja.com — Shape Collage … gives you a lot of control over how your collage will look, such as randomness, transparency, shapes, size and image quality • Nicole Young — This program is really cool. I like the fact that you can save a .PSD file from the collage if you want to do more editing in Photoshop. • Liana Lehua — I love this program. I don’t do a lot of collages, but it’s nice to know it’s available when I do. Thinking Christmas already. • Stephen — Wow. It runs incredibly fast. I’m very impressed …, and I’m especially happy it exports to Photoshop so you can tweak if need be. This is the perfect tool for Mother’s Day or to throw together a quick collage of vacation photos. n
THE COVER VARIATIONS
WWW.SHAPECOLLAGE.COM
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STEP 1 • The initial settings for the software are best for creating a simple rectangular collage.
STEP 2 • Click the + icon in the lower left to select the images for the collage. The software works better with more images.
SHAPE COLLAGE FEATURES • Create picture collages in less than a minute with just a few clicks. • Photos are automatically and intelligently placed using a fast patent-pending method. • Use photos on the computer or from the Web to make collages. • Make collages in any imaginable shape or form, such as rectangle, heart, circle, letters or a selfdrawn shape • Adjust the collage size, size of the photos, number of photos and spacing between photos. • Change the background, the color of the border and more. • Save as JPEG, PNG or Photoshop PSD. • Free for personal use with no trial periods. • Works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. • Online and Facebook versions available.
STEP 3 • Animation for the preview shows how the software arranges the image but not thumbnails of the images. STEP 4 • The final image can be edited in Photoshop as a PSD file, with each image on a separate layer, or saved as a JPEG file.
FACEBOOK • Shape Collage also has a Facebook version that allows users to create a collage using images from their albums or from the albums of Facebook friends. Though there is low resolution, users can capture the Facebook collage.
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