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Media Thumbnail Upload Question

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knorway
2009-10-15
2013-05-30
  • knorway

    knorway - 2009-10-15

    Still wet behind the ears on PGV.

    Q: I tried to upload my first media, the thumbnail was not created.  (probably because the fullsize is large.)  So I created the thumbnail locally and uploaded it using Manage MultiMedia, and placed it (with same name as fullsize media) into a thumbs directory.  This uploaded but the thumb is not used when I display the Individual connected to the fullsize media.  Can thumbnails be upload separately from fullsize or must they all-ways be uploaded together?

    Structure:

    media
    media/thumbs
    media/Olsen
    media/Olsen/thumbs

    The fullsize lives in media/Olsen
    The thumbnail lives in media/Olsen/thumbs

    WAMP system living on a USB stick (just testing how thing work and learning best practices)  The media file "depth" is set to 5 so I can support a self documenting media structure.

    Another media created it's thumb on upload without me creating a thumb offline.  This is what I'd rather have happen all the time but I realize that "size matters" and some of my media will be big so manual thumb creation will be needed at times.

    Q: can media be updated (reloaded to media directories) and use the same @Mxx@ card/record in GED?

    Q: Why is the first media I added marked as @M2@  not @M1@     Just a curiosity nothing more..

    Thanks for any suggestions and help

     
  • Greg Roach

    Greg Roach - 2009-10-15

    What sort of "media"?

     
  • knorway

    knorway - 2009-10-15

    This is a jpg.     New install 4.2.2   A scanned page from a source book.

     
  • Greg Roach

    Greg Roach - 2009-10-15

    Could be the size.  JPEGs get decompressed before they get resized, and this can use 10 or 20 times the memory that the original file occupies.

     
  • knorway

    knorway - 2009-10-15

    I'm not sure I understand the answer.  I realize that a large jpg file may not automatically get a thumbnail created on upload and I'll need to make one of my own.  I'm ok with this.

    But if I forget to create a thumbnail on first upload and create one later and want to upload it separately can I do this?

    Thanks

     
  • Gerry Kroll

    Gerry Kroll - 2009-10-15

    Thumbnails have to live in a directory structure identical to the main image, except that this structure is subordinate to "media/thumbs" instead of "media" .  The file names have to be identical too.

    Therefore, if the main image is "media/olsen/foo.jpg", the corresponding thumbnail should be "media/thumbs/olsen/foo.jpg".

    There's also a GEDCOM configuration option (multimedia section) that determines whether PGV will send the thumbnail (if it exists) or the big image whenever a picture needs to be displayed on the Personal Details page, the Random media block, or on charts.

    You should ask yourself whether it's really necessary to have LARGE files as the main picture.  I think that anything larger than 800 px high or wide (whichever is smaller) is probably large enough.

    If anybody wants to see a copy of the very large image, they can always e-mail you.

     
  • Gerry Kroll

    Gerry Kroll - 2009-10-15

    Correction:  "whichever is larger"

     
  • knorway

    knorway - 2009-10-15

    After experimenting (I learn by doing) I see your point and the error of my ways.  I misread the thumb folder idea and tried to put all of my thumbs inside a folder within the Olsen directory:

    media/Olsen/thumbs

    This, as you said, should have been:

    media/Olsen

    media/thumbs/Olsen

    I also learned that uploading just the thumb (without the fullsize file) using the "Thumbnail to Upload" field on the upload screen (and not specifying a "media file to upload") uploads to BOTH the thumbs directory and the standard directory thus overlaying the full-size file with the thumb.   This is even true if I specify the thumbs/Olsen/  path in the "Folder name on server" field.

    This could be a bug but with this knowledge I'll just remember to upload both together and deselect the "Automatic Thumbnail" box.

    I'll keep a watch on the actual picture size.  With these new digital camera the photo size gets big fast.  I'm still trying to think of the picture saving capabilities in relationship to archiving data.  So my archival system will need to build and maintain 3 picture sizes,  Thumbnail, Web Display, High Res Reading.   All with the same name just in different directory.  My photo archive has almost 100,000 unique photos and grows very quickly.

    Thanks for everyone's help and thoughts.

     
  • Gerry Kroll

    Gerry Kroll - 2009-10-16

    The behaviour you noted (upload of thumbnail overwrites the main image) is correct.  That's how it's supposed to work.

    You don't need to de-select the Create Thumbnail option when you upload the main image and the thumbnail at the same time.  This is all explained in the Help text.

    If you want to upload a thumbnail after the main image has been uploaded, you should use FTP.  This is also explained in the Help text.

    We don't recommend that you use PhpGedView to organize your image library.  There are other, much better, tools for this purpose.

    You also shouldn't need to keep the for-the-web and the thumbnail sized pictures after they've been uploaded to the server's file system for use by PGV.

    If you limit the size of the for-the-web images as I've suggested, PGV will create the thumbnail for you when you upload each for-the-web image.  This assumes, of course, that you've permitted PGV to use an adequate amount of memory.

     
  • Anonymous

    Anonymous - 2009-10-16

    Just to support and add to Gerry's comments As well as the physical dimensions of uploaded images, consider also their resolution. Many digital cameras today will be set to high levels, which is great for printing, and image manipulation. But for the web 72dpi is adequate for most purposes. Lowering to that level can dramatically reduce file sizes, and therefore speed of delivery through the browser, as well as reduced storage requirements.

    In respect of your local archive copies, as Gerry said, no need for multiple copies. Just keep the very best quality you have. Lower quality / size copies can always be reproduced as and when required.

     

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