Layout

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Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Layout

Post by Marpel »

Am about to begin a project using Layout and want to clarify a couple things before I start.

First, is there a size limitation? I am wishing to do up a banner style image that, when printed at 300 ppi, would be over 10 feet long and about 5 inches high. So the image size would be about 34,000 X 1500 pixels. Is this possible? I couldn't find size limitations in the Help file.

Second, the images (about 22) are all jpeg. The background will be a solid colour and will be visible in some places in the final image. Does that mean, the best way would be to draft up the background image first and save it as a jpeg, then bring it into Layout as the background image. All other Layouts I have done have been with 48 bit tiffs with a solid colour background made on the fly, so am unfamiliar with jpeg stuff.

Third, if I do the background first, bring it into Layout, then add the images, when I complete and save, will the finished image go through the jpeg saving process again? And will that have an effect on the quality?

Any other tips/comments that I may have missed would be appreciated.

Marv
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Layout

Post by jsachs »

Layout should be able to handle that size image. There are probably some limits to the maximum size image file that different formats can handle, but 34000 seems to be OK for either JPEG or TIFF. To limit the image size, I would convert all images to 24-bit color before adding them to the layout. If you save as TIFF you will not need to resave the JPEGs. Resaving a JPEG is not generally a disaster unless you do it over and over or use a low quality setting.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Layout

Post by Marpel »

I just finished three composited images using Layout. They were all 1400 pixels high by differing lengths, between 21000 and 34000 pixels, as in a banner.

The source images were all 1400 X 1400 in size and the layout included spaces between some of the images, so correct math had to be used to determine the lower left corner placement of each source image and each ultimate image had the spaces between source images in different locations, so saving the layout from one did not work for the others. The background was an image that I resized prior to initiating Layout.

I will say that, if all calculations are correct and all steps completed properly, the tool works a charm.

However, that did not happen for two of the three Layouts and I ran into the following:

In one operation, I forgot to identify the background image, although the sizing was correct, so the result was fine except it showed a white background. To correct this, I double clicked the final image icon in the browser to bring back the dialogue and merely placed the image in the background box, then clicked OK. The result was a row of tiled images (with only partial images showing beneath others) with large empty spaces. I brought back the dialogue and used "Cycle through panels" to fix the mess. Pretty well every source image dialogue box had to be re-entered because all the numbers were incorrect, including source image size.

In another, I misaligned the last two images (placed the lower left corner of each image short by 100 pixels) in the banner and tried to do the same fix as above. This time only a few of the dialogues were messed up, but a couple of the images had been moved over top other images way down the line. An image in the second to last spot had been moved into the third image spot (even though the dialogues showed numbers appropriate for where these images had been placed). This one was so confusing, I had to trash the whole thing and start again.

Seems there is some issues with recalling the dialogue after OK is clicked.

Marv
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Layout

Post by jsachs »

I need a lot more details so I can reproduce the problem here. Please create a simple test case and send me a script file or a screen shot with all your settings.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Layout

Post by Marpel »

Jonathan,

I just did an abbreviated Layout, with 5 images (each a solid colour for convenience), four are 1400 X 1400 and the fifth is 7000 X 1400 (solid colour background). I placed the first image at 500px from left edge, the second immediate to the right of first, the third 3700px from the left edge (so there is a space between second and third), and the fourth immediately to the right of number 3 (which leaves a space after the fourth image).

I did an OK, with the background unchanged so it was white. The image came out fine, except it had the four images over a white background.

I re-opened the dialogue and added the fifth image to the background button and clicked OK. The result was the third and fourth image were moved to the left so they overlapped, and the space on the right side of the image was more background image showing than there should be.

I have no problem re-doing this again and saving a script for you, however, I know nothing of scripts and would need guidance on how to follow your request. As a starter, there are apparently 4 different options, including workspace script, to choose from?

I can also do a screenshot, if you advise at what stage that screenshot should be. Or do I do a screenshot at each stage?

Marv
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Layout

Post by Marpel »

It appears I am having no luck with saving and loading a Layout file.

This also happened yesterday when I did the larger files, but as I was unsure if I was doing something wrong, I did not mention it then.

I just saved the Layout of the four image composite, closed the composite, recalled the Layout and added the four images back into the Layout. The result was the four images pushed well to the left and overlapping each other. I captured a screenshot of each step of this process if you are interested in looking at them.

Marv
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Layout

Post by jsachs »

Layout has lots of settings and it can take hours of trial and error to find the combination you are using that is causing a problem. The ones I have tested work OK.

To save a script, just do a Script/Save Workspace Script with Image Names command and save the workspace script to some location. Then email me the workspace script file as an attachment at jsachs@dl-c.com.

If you have screen shots and a description of what you did in between screen shote, I can work from that also. The more information I have the faster I can fix the problem.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Layout

Post by Marpel »

Jonathan,

Sent you two scripts (if I have done things right) via email, of the layout workflow I was trying that caused me issues.

And, I was going to ask in one of the previous posts but forgot. When I do a "Save Settings As" to save a layout, I get a message telling me that the transform depends on (place number) auxiliary inputs and the save settings file will omit this info, and to save inputs or masks that depend on other images, to use scripts instead. What does this mean, and do I just ignore it? No masks were used in my set-up but don't know the consequence of "inputs" and "other images".

Marv
jsachs
Posts: 4203
Joined: January 22nd, 2009, 11:03 pm

Re: Layout

Post by jsachs »

When you save the settings, the locations of all the panels are saved but not the background image or any images in the panels which come from other transformations. These images are not part of the Layout settings since to regenerate them would potentially require regenerating all the images they depend on. This is exactly what script files do -- they save the current image and all the images required to regenerate it. The warning comes up if you have input images in Layout to warn you that these are not being saved. Same with any masks for the input images. When you load the settings you get a blank layout without any of the images.
Jonathan Sachs
Digital Light & Color
Marpel
Posts: 692
Joined: September 13th, 2009, 3:19 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Nikon D810
Location: Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Re: Layout

Post by Marpel »

Ok, makes sense. When I loaded a saved layout, the image place-settings were blank squares of grey.
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