PhotoImpact: Stop Automatically Adjusting Image Size in Properties Menu

Ok. So I tried PhotoImpact from ulead a long time ago. Not bad. They have a free trial and the full version starts at 50 dollars. That's a whole lot better than photoshop! I'm not good at image stuff but It was useful for making simple drawings. There was one problem I ran into and apparently others too.

Problem: When I make an object and size it, if I go back to the properties window the image has been resized by one or two pixels in some direction.

For most things, this isn't that big a deal and you'd never realize it. But if you need tight margins or exact positioning then this is awful! If I center a 50 by 50 image on a page (25 to the left of center and 25 to right) if it is resized to 50 by 51, then I can't center it if my original image has an even number of pixels.

Solution: Turn off anti-aliasing when creating the image. This option is in the tool properties menu. Click on the shape drawing tool. In the far right bottom of the top tool bar there is a button that looks like a window with check boxes and an arrow. This is the properties menu. Then in that menu uncheck anti-aliasing.

I get it, this feature makes lines smooth. But seriously, this is a terrible feature to have selected by default and hidden away with no explanation of what is going on with your figure.

All in all, I like this program. The learning curve is ok. The menus and settings are pretty damn awful but probably no different than photoshop. Best of all, it's cheap and does what it needs to do. If you don't need to get crazy with photoshop - or even if you do, you might want to see if this will work for you first.