Image Manager

You can store images as sources in WYSIWYG using the Image Manager. By assigning textures to saved sources instead of to specific images, you can change or modify the texture of multiple objects at the same time using the Image Manager.

In this section

Image_Manager

Image_source

Changing_image source_properties

Using_Quick_Image/Video Tool

Image Manager

The Image Manager also enables you to perform minor image modifications, such as flip horizontal or flip vertical to images without permanently changing the source file. This feature is useful in situations where the texture is flipped as a result of incorrect surface winding. For details, see Drawing surfaces.

You can use the Image Manager to create subsources of an image (i.e., divide the image up), which can then be applied to objects such as surfaces, screens, LED walls.

Notes:

• The Image Manager window preview can be resized to accommodate images that have a higher or wider aspect than the default window size.
• The Image Manager window preview will display a grey checker pattern to identify the alpha levels that are defined in an image.
• The maximum resolution of an image that can be imported into the Image Manager is equivalent to 4,194,304 pixels (2048 x 2048). You can import into the Image Manager, images that are very wide and not tall, or vice versa.

To access the Image Manager

1. In CAD mode, select Managers > Image Manager.

Result: The Image Manager appears.

Image source

To create a new image source in the Image Manager

1. In the Image Manager, click New Image Source.
2. Browse to locate the image on your computer, and then click OK.

Result: The image is added as a source.

Source Properties

• Source Name: The image’s file name.
• Source Path: The path to the physical file. Click the file open icon to select a new file.
• Flip Horizontal: Click this option to flip the image source horizontally. For details, see To flip an image source. Note that you cannot flip image subsources.
• Flip Vertical: Click this option to flip the image source vertically. For details, see To flip an image source. Note that you cannot flip image subsources.
• Dimensions: The file’s dimensions in pixels.
• In Use: Informs you of whether the image source is in use. If the image source is currently in use, it cannot be deleted from the Image Manager.

Display Settings

• Show image at: Select the zoom level for the image. You can choose to Fit the image in the display window, or show it at a percentage of its actual size: 100%, 200% or 300%.
• Display Borders: Select this option to show the subsource borders in the display.
• Display Selected Only: When you have selected a subsource in the table, select this checkbox to only show the subsource in the display area; if you do not select this checkbox when a subsource is selected, the entire source is shown (with the subsource borders highlighted in the display if you selected Display Borders).

To flip an image source

In situations where a surface was drawn in a clockwise direction (see Drawing surfaces), the texture may appear to be “flipped” either horizontally or vertically. To avoid this problem, flip the image source using the Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical checkboxes, as shown below. Note that you cannot flip image subsources; only the actual image source can be flipped.

1. Open the Image Manager.
2. In the table to the left, select the image source that you want to flip.
3. Based on the direction in which you want to flip the image, select either Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical.

Result: The image is flipped, as shown in the following sample graphic, which was flipped vertically and horizontally.

To export an image source

After flipping the image, you may want to save your changes to a new image file as follows:

1. Open the Image Manager.
2. In the table to the left, select the image source that you want to export.
3. Click the Save icon in the top left of the window.
4. Type a name and select a file type for the new image, or accept the default file type of PNG.

Note: When exporting an image source the default file type is PNG, but you can choose a different file type, if desired; when exporting a subsource, you cannot choose the file type. The subsource is exported to the same file type as its source.

5. Click OK.

Missing images

If you have turned off the option Save external textures within the document in Application Options > File Options, when you move image files from their original location, they may not load from within WYSIWYG. When this happens, the image source will be highlighted in red, as shown in the following graphic:

To address this issue, select the image source highlighted in red, click the folder icon beside the Path box, and browse to select a new image. When you are finished, click OK.

Creating image subsources

Just as with videos, you can create one subsource or multiple subsources from an image using the following procedures. Image subsources are useful in scenarios where you need to apply part of an image to one object and another. Normally, to do so you would need to open the image in a photo editing software program, make your edits, crop the image, and then import two images. However, with the image subsource creation feature, you can just import the source file, and create the necessary subsources within WYSIWYG. For example, you could use this procedure if you have a photo that you want to break into quadrants (2 x 2), and then apply each quadrant to a separate surface, screen or LED wall, etc.

To create a single image subsource

1. In the left pane of the Image Manager, click to highlight the image which you want to create a subsource for.
2. In the bottom left corner of the window, click Single Subsource - create one.

3. Type the subsource name.
4. By default, the system uses the start and end coordinates of the selected source, but you can change these values as desired. When you change these values, the system automatically updates the dimensions.
5. Click the Border box to specify the color of the border that will appear around the subsource when displayed.
6. Click OK.

To create multiple image subsources

1. In the left pane of the Image Manager, click to highlight the image which you want to create subsources for.
2. In the bottom left corner of the window, click Multiple Subsources - create many.

3. Type the subsource name.
4. Define the subsource matrix by specifying the number of columns and rows. The dimensions of the subsources are displayed for your reference.
5. By default, the subsources are created by taking the overall source area (height & width) and evenly dividing it by matrix provided. However, you can modify the total area by changing the start/end coordinates and, therefore, the overall dimensions used to create the subsources. To do so, select the checkbox beside Modify total area for subsources, and then type the new coordinates.

Notes:

• Subsources are always listed below the source from which they were created.
• The table in the Image Manager provides a convenient way of displaying source/subsource information; all sources and their subsources are grouped, and can be expanded/collapsed.
• You can rearrange the columns in the table by clicking the column header and dragging it to the new position.
• You can adjust the width of columns by clicking the column border and dragging the column to its new width.

To clone an existing subsource to a new image

1. In the left pane of the Image Manager, click to highlight the image you want to clone a subsource to.
2. In the bottom left corner of the window, click Clone From Existing Subsources.

3. Select the media type that contains the subsource you want to clone, either Image Sources or Video Sources.
4. Select the desired subsource from the corresponding source drop-down list.
5. Enter a name for the cloned subsource in the Subsource Prefix field.
6. Click Apply.

Result: The selected subsource will be cloned and applied to the selected image.

Changing the properties of image sources and subsources

Note: If you change the source after the subsources were created, and the new source has different dimensions that do not match the subsources dimensions, the affected subsources are highlighted in yellow (and a dialog box appears to notify you as such).

When you select a row in the Image Manager table, the properties of the image source or subsource are displayed in the Source Properties section of the window. You can change various properties of the image source and subsources as follows:

• To change the border color of image subsources, in the table, click the appropriate border color and then select the new color from the drop-down list that appears to. Click Update.
• To change the name of the image source or subsource, in the table, click the appropriate row. Type the new name, and then click Update.
• If you have already applied an image to multiple objects, and then you want to replace the source file with something different, you can make the change once in the Image Manager and have it automatically applied to all related objects (i.e., you don’t have to individually apply the changes to each object's properties). To do so, you change the underlying source file to the Image name.
• You can define a subsource either by its start/end coordinates or by its dimensions:

To resize the subsource, click the appropriate row in the table. Change the start/end coordinates as desired, and then click Update. Note that if you change the coordinates, the system updates the dimensions automatically.

To change the dimensions of a subsource, click the appropriate row and then type the new dimensions. Note that when you change the dimensions, the system will automatically add to the start coordinate to determine a new end coordinate. Click Update.

Note: You can use the Quick Image/Video Tool to apply the Image Subsources. For details, see Using the Quick Image/Video Tool.

Using the Quick Image/Video Tool

The Quick Image/Video Tool enables you to quickly configure which video sources / subsources or images to attach to selected objects like screens and LED Walls in your drawing.

To use the Quick Image/Video Tool

Note: Before you use the Quick Image/Video Tool, you must already have created the video source and/or subsources or images that you want to apply to the selected object(s). For details, see To configure a new video source for streaming video and To create a single video subsource.

1. From the Tools menu, choose Quick Tools > Quick Image/Video Tool.

Tip: Alternately, you can click the Quick Image/Video Tool icon on the Tools toolbar.

2. In the Source Type section,

• Select whether you want to apply either a video or image source.
• Choose the source from the appropriate drop-down list, or click New to add a new source from the Image Manager or Video Manager that will open.

3. In the Source Options section, choose from the following options:

• Use the entire source: Select this option if you wish to apply the entire source (as opposed to its subsources). Proceed directly to step 12.
• Use a single subsource: Select this option if you wish to apply a single subsource, and then choose the subsource from the drop-down list. Proceed directly to step 12.
• Use Multi-Split subsources: Select this option if you wish to apply Multi-Split subsources. This option will start at a specified subsource and increment the rows and/or columns until it reaches an ending subsource, at which point the tool will finish automatically.

4. If you have chosen Use Multi-Split subsources above, from the Subsource prefix drop-down list, select the Multi-Split subsource prefix to apply.
5. Note the # of rows and columns shown. These values denote the number of rows and columns available for this Multi-Split subsource prefix. The Starting and Ending Row, and the Starting and Ending Columns may not exceed these numbers.
6. In the Starting Subsource - Row box, enter the row of the starting subsource. It may not exceed the number of rows for this subsource prefix.
7. In the Starting Subsource - Column box, enter the column of the starting subsource. It may not exceed the number of columns for this subsource prefix.
8. In the Ending Subsource - Row box, enter the row of the ending subsource. It may not exceed the number of rows for this subsource prefix, and cannot be less than the starting subsource's row value.
9. In the Ending Subsource - Column box, enter the column of the ending subsource. It may not exceed the number of rows for this subsource prefix, and cannot be less than the starting subsource's column value.
10. Under Increment Mode, choose the appropriate option:

• Click Left to right if you want subsources to be applied from left to right. This way, subsources on the same row will be applied first, and the current row will move down once all subsources on the current row have been applied.
• Click Top to bottom if you want subsources to be applied from top to bottom. This way, subsources on the same column will be applied first, and the current column will move right once all subsources on the current column have been applied.

11. Click OK. The cursor will show a “Q”, indicating that Quick Tools have been activated.
12. Click an object, or multiple objects in sequence to apply the video/image source or subsource(s) that you have chosen.