Custom Thumbnails Album

kmlucy · 2015-06-22 04:18:18

So I suppose this would be a feature request, but if there is some way to do this with the existing product, that would be great. I use Iconic for my auto index, and I upload all my custom thumbnails into the /galleries/custom-thumbnails/ folder. What I would like to do is have an album that is hidden from auto index with a slug of custom-thumbnails, so that I can manage my custom thumbnails from within Lightroom, as opposed to having to export and FTP them.

When I tested this, I found that publisher doesn't look into the photos subfolder, and so doesn't see the published images. Is there a way to allow publisher to look into the custom-thumbnails/photos/ folder and choose images from there, as opposed to just the root of the custom-thumbnails directory?

Thanks,
Kyle

Matthew · 2015-06-22 15:09:25

For your template, try editing the setup.xml file.

Find:

             <renditionPath>photos</renditionPath>

Change to:

             <renditionPath></renditionPath>

If that doesn't work, then try:

             <renditionPath>./</renditionPath>

Let me know how that works for you.

kmlucy · 2015-06-22 20:42:29

Using

 <renditionPath></renditionPath>

worked great. Now I can just drag new thumbnails into that album without having to export and FTP.
Thanks!

rod barbee · 2015-06-23 02:23:09

great idea Kyle!

Daniel Leu · 2015-06-23 04:12:40

Have to try this! That makes it so much easier to create my custom thumbnails.

alfred · 2015-07-02 19:21:16

After some thinking and a bit of trial and error I have got this working. Very nice!

Now here is a question, for which the answer escapes me: How do I create thumbnails, which are having less than 250 pixels on the short side? When I try to set the size of the uploaded photos for the created custom-thumbnails album (which are supposed to serve later as thumbnails) below 250 in the Gallery template I am not allowed to do this. There is a lower limit of 250 pixels. Any clarification much appreciated.

Thanks, Alfred

alfred · 2015-07-02 20:43:50

Forget my earlier post - when creating thumbnails so far I have created them in the size I was going to use and uploaded them manually. I do think now that this is not really necessary, insofar the raised question is irrelevant. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Last edited by alfred (2015-07-02 20:44:25)

rod barbee · 2015-07-02 22:04:56

I think that many people create custom thumbnails for use in Iconic indexes at sizes greater than 250px, which is probably why Kyle wanted to be able to look into the photos/ folder.

If you need thumbs smaller than 250px and want to use this method you might try changing this line instead:

<renditionPath>thumbnails-for-mobile</renditionPath>

and use the thumbnail rendition settings in Lightroom to set the size needed.

Just a guess on my part; I really don't know if that will work. But it can't hurt to try.

alfred · 2015-07-02 23:04:32

Yeah ... I must admit that not using these features on a daily basis, makes it difficult to maintain oversight. When I use an Iconic Autoindex - I can set the aspect ratio, but not the actual size of the required thumbnails, correct ? The required size of the thumbnails is indirectly determined by the overall core width, the aspect ratio and the number of album columns or? Now, if I am going to use custom thumbnails is it then sufficient to have the aspect ratio set correctly and the size is subsequently scaled automatically?
In any case it is very convienient to manage them through Publisher if one uses custom thumbnails at all. I can see that already.

If I would want smaller thumbnails, then I can see no reason why your suggestion would not work - but I am going to try this tomorrow as I am on the same side of the world as Mat and Ben and need to call it a day.
:-)

Last edited by alfred (2015-07-02 23:09:05)

rod barbee · 2015-07-02 23:09:34

When I use an Iconic Autoindex - I can set the aspect ratio, but not the actual size of the required thumbnails, correct ?

Correct.

The required size of the thumbnails is indirectly determined by the overall core width, the aspect ratio and the number of album columns or? Now, if I am going to use custom thumbnails is it then sufficient to have the aspect ratio set correctly and the size is subsequently scaled automatically?

Yes, just be sure to make the thumbnails large enough so they won't have to be upsized. That could lead to ugliness

alfred · 2015-07-02 23:11:19

Thanks Rod, will add a line to my "not to forget" file.

kmlucy · 2015-07-02 23:13:15

My custom thumbnails are wide and short, and the short edge is actually less than 250px. I just crop to the correct aspect ratio and constrain from the long edge. I'm not sure what ratio you are using for your thumbnails, but that might be an option.

If both edges are less than 250px, I would try something like Rod suggested, and use the thumbnails instead of the actual photos. You can set the size of those less than 250px.

alfred · 2015-07-02 23:20:11

Kyle, what I was trying to do is setting the the size of the exported jpg files in the Gallery template, which I use for the custom-thumbnail album to 300/200, but I can't go below 250 pixels - hence my question. So how do you achieve a short edge of less than 250 pixels?

rod barbee · 2015-07-02 23:48:13

So how do you achieve a short edge of less than 250 pixels?

that will naturally happen if the long edge is longer than 250 px. For example, if you set the long edge to 500px for an image that has a 4:1 aspect ratio, the short edge will be 125px.

kmlucy · 2015-07-03 00:03:49

So for your example, if you want a 3:2 aspect ratio at 300x200px, just set the long edge to 300px, and the short edge will be set at 200px. The short edge slider becomes irrelevant.

alfred · 2015-07-03 06:26:51

Cool! Another entry for my "not to forget" file, although it is much easier not forgetting what you have understood! Have tried setting both at the same time ...

Thanks again for the support in this forum. Alfred

Matthew · 2015-07-03 10:29:36

We're already talking about hacking the setup.xml file. For each output rendition, you can see the width and height values in the file, so you can change these to values that may not be otherwise supported by the Web module sliders.

Community @ The Turning Gate

#1 2015-06-22 04:18:18

Custom Thumbnails Album

#2 2015-06-22 15:09:25

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#3 2015-06-22 20:42:29

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#4 2015-06-23 02:23:09

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#5 2015-06-23 04:12:40

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#6 2015-07-02 19:21:16

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#7 2015-07-02 20:43:50

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#8 2015-07-02 22:04:56

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#9 2015-07-02 23:04:32

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#10 2015-07-02 23:09:34

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#11 2015-07-02 23:11:19

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#12 2015-07-02 23:13:15

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#13 2015-07-02 23:20:11

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#14 2015-07-02 23:48:13

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#15 2015-07-03 00:03:49

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#16 2015-07-03 06:26:51

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

#17 2015-07-03 10:29:36

Re: Custom Thumbnails Album

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