Chameleon Blog

Clear overview of all applicable sizes of sample thumbnails required or optional for sites in the database. Support of 2257 compliant thumbs! You can save time by using the automatic image / movie cropping tool which can create all thumbs from a single image, or even directly from a movie!

1. Sample Thumbnails:
The table contains all current sample thumbnail sizes (both default and 2257 compliant) ranked by the number of sites which require a specific thumbnail size (mandatory or optional).
Check the appropriate box if you wish to display ONLY the sizes of required sample thumbnails.

In case you wish to submit your gallery with a sample thumbnail, enter the path to its File and/or URL in the table, as specified below (point 2-4).
The thumb files/URLs entered in the table will automatically be used for submit.

If you do not wish to use a particular or any sample thumbnail with the submit, leave its row in the table (or the whole table) empty. In such case the site generation in Step 3 will automatically skip the sites where a gallery cannot be submitted without specifying a sample thumbnail.

2. Thumb Upload:
First, highlight those types and/or sizes of thumbs in the table, which you want to create/insert in the table and use for submit:

If you want to create/insert thumbs for sites requiring 2257 compliant thumb separately, click on 2257 Compliant to select all sizes of such thumbs and continue;
If you wish to create/insert other thumbs separately, click on the Default button to select them;
If you wish to create/insert all thumbs (both default and 2257 compliant), click on the All button.

Now select one of the methods for entering Local Files in the table:
a) If you already have prepared your own thumbs, click on “Select the sample thumbnails from your local drive” to find them (you can select all of them). The samples will automatically be assigned to the appropriate sizes;
OR
b) If you want to create them, click on “Select and crop an image from your gallery” to create all selected thumb sizes from a single image automatically.

After clicking on “Select and crop an image from your gallery” the following dialog is opened:

Crop Image

Find an image or movie file which will be used to create samples thumbnails (double-click on the image or movie to display it).

If you want to create sample thumbnails directly from the movie file, just select the desired frame using the seek slider under the movie being displayed – you don’t need to create additional shots!

Optional: Before selecting the area to crop you can define the maximum boundaries of the area in the picture (a new border of the picture). This area will then be used to create the samples. This optional feature is useful if you do not wish some part of the picture (e.g. copyright) to appear on the sample.
To define the boundaries click inside the image and while holding the mouse button draw the pointer to create a border of the desired size. To move the frame just click inside and move it to the desired position. To deselect, click outside the frame.
Confirm the new boundary of the picture by clicking on the Use as Border button and you can continue selecting other areas to crop. If needed, cancel the selection by clicking on Cancel Border.

To create samples select the part of image which you wish to have displayed in ALL samples. The software will automatically resize and add the selected part of the image to the required sample size in the remaining (unselected) part.
To select click on the image and drag the frame which defines the selected area (use Shift to retain proportions if desired).
To move the frame just click inside and move it to the desired position.
To deselect, click outside the frame.
If you are satisfied with the selected area click the Crop button. If you do not wish to continue, click on Cancel.

Enter the path to the local destination folder (terminated by “/”) where you want the new thumbs created after clicking on Create Thumbs to be stored (in “Save the created thumbs in this destination folder“). You can use the Browse button to enter the path.

NOTE: No thumbs have been created at this stage. To complete their creation please continue with the following point 3.

3. Preview / Modify / Finish Thumbs:
Having selected the area in the previous point you will now see a thumb preview where you can set the Quality (85 is optimum) and other adjustments for all selected sizes in one step; before they are actually created!

To view the modifications instantly, check Preview.
You can compare the size, image quality and other adjustments with the original size and quality of the cropped image by checking/unchecking Preview.

If you are satisfied with the settings, click on Create Thumbs / Apply Changes. All selected thumbs will be automatically created and saved in the previously specified destination folder (and the local paths will also be displayed in the sample thumbnail table).

You can view all thumbs in the table by clicking on Check Sample Thumbnails. This will open an HTML with a summary overview. The list contains images and information about their dimensions and filesize.

If you are not satisfied with sample quality, highlight those sample rows in the table which should be changed and repeat the process. Clicking outside the table cancels the selection.

4. Thumb URL:
If you want to submit URLs of sample thumbnails too, the following tool will help you to enter them in the table.
Before using this tool you need to have the Local Files entered in the table!

Enter destination URL of the sample thumbnails (terminated by “/”). The URL is already pre-filled by default and is the same as Base URL (can be changed if needed).
The filenames will automatically be added to this URL after you click on Complete full URLs automatically. The full URLs will also be displayed in the sample thumbnail table.

If you enter both types of sample thumbnail (Local File, URL), ‘Thumb Upload’ is preferred if the submit site supports both types. The reason is to save the bandwidth of your server. If you prefer to enter the thumbnail URL when submitting to such site, check the Prefer URL over Upload box.

Check the data you entered for correctness and click on Save&Continue button. This will store your data and you will be automatically brought to Step 3.
The submit process will not proceed correctly unless the Save&Continue button is clicked in all steps!

Tips & Tricks:

• The table contains all current sample thumbnail sizes (both default and 2257 compliant). Their number and sizes change according to db update and the number of sites in the database.
• You can sort the sample thumbnails in the table by the provided information (number of sites, type, width/height in pixels, aspect ratio, …) by clicking on the respective column’s header. The Ratio column can help you sort them in case you want to create thumbs with different aspect ratios separately.
• A 2257 compliant thumb will ONLY be submitted to the sites requiring a 2257 compliant, softcore or “face only” thumbs. When submitting to sites which do not use this rule a default thumb will be used. Therefore, if you only have softcore or 2257 compliant content, use the All button to create/insert thumbs of all available sizes/types.
• The 2257 compliant thumb must be in accordance with the ‘18 U.S.C. § 2257 statement’ and may not contain any sexually explicit object. If you use a hardcore thumb when submitting to a site which requires 2257 compliant thumbs, you might easily find yourself blacklisted.
• If necessary, you can type the URL or path to files directly into the table – by clicking the desired field.
• If you want the thumbs to be placed in the same local folder as the image to be cropped, check “Copy this path to destination folder” directly in the Crop Image dialog. Its path will then be copied to the “Save the created thumbs in this destination folder” field.
• When you change or cancel the selection of rows in the table after selecting the area, before clicking on Create Thumbs, no thumbs will be created.
• The completed samples in the table can be viewed individually in the preview mode. To view them at the saved quality make sure you have unchecked the Preview box for viewing adjustments.
• If necessary, you can edit the quality and adjustments of an existing thumb entered in the table. Highlight the row with the sample, change the settings to the required effect and click on Create Thumbs / Apply Changes.
  Bear in mind that with every additional adjustment to the thumb the final quality decreases. Therefore we recommend you to create it from scratch (that is, by cropping the original image).
• The samples can be created using the auto cropping tool from the JPEG image and those movie formats for which you have the necessary DirectX and codecs installed in your computer.
• Due to the rules of most sites the cropping tool only supports JPEG samples. For this reason it does not create other formats, e.g. GIF.
• If you only enter mandatory samples then those sites which accept but do not require samples will ALSO be generated (only samples specified in the table will be completed when submitting to these sites).