How to add and amend usage type sizes

Now that you have set up your usage type, you are going to set up some sizes for the users. This means that once the user has selected the usage type, they will be asked to select a size and, based upon that selection, they will download the asset in the size and format they require.

•  From the menu click Admin - Download Options. The Usage Types screen will appear.

Fig 1 - Download Options screen

• Find your usage type and click the [edit sizes] link next to it. You will be taken to the User Type Format screen.

Fig 2 - Usage Type Formats screen

• Fill in the form to add your new size, use the following guide to help you.
  • Name - the name of your usage type size, give this a name which the user will be able to identify, it is also a good idea to state the dimensions in the title e.g. ‘Web Article – 200px by 200px’.
  • Max Width/Max Height – this defines the bounding box which your images will be proportionally resized to fit within unless the crop to fit checkbox is on.
  • Crop to fit - selecting this means Asset Bank will scale the image to cover entirely the bounding box. It will be centred and any remaining parts of the image and the tip and bottom or either side will be cut off,. As a result the image will be exactly the dimensions entered in the max width and max height fields.
  • Convert to - select the format you need the image needs to be. For example JPEGs and GIFs are best for use on websites and newsletters as they are less cumbersome to download.
  • Except for - this creates exceptions for the format conversion above. When converting a file format there is always the possibility that the file quality deteriorates, for that reason it is a good idea to specify file types which need not be converted. For example GIFs and JPEGs are both suitable for websites, therefore if the original asset is a GIF there is no real benefit to converting it to a JPG.
  • Density - this gives a density value to the image in DPI (dots per inch). The DPI value is used for printing. A higher value (typically 300dpi) will result in a smaller image of better quality as there are more dots per inch. If in doubt leave the field at 0 and do not set a value.
  • JPEG quality - sets the quality of resulting JPEGs, higher values result in a higher quality JPEG which may take longer to download. If in doubt leave at the 0 default, this will apply a standard web quality of 85%.
  • Color space - this drop down allows you to define the color space that will be applied to the downloaded image by default. If your Asset Bank version is newer than 3.695 then the selected color space will automatically be applied to a download with this usage type size. However, if your version is prior to this the relevant color space checkbox will automatically by ticked for the user. Please note however that the user can override this by ticking an alternative checkbox themselves. The reason for this option is purely to provide a default color space in case users are not aware of the implications of selecting an inappropriate color space for an images usage. As an example, if your usage type was called 'For a website' then it would be sensible to set the default color space to RGB, because CMYK images are not properly supported by many browser. You can also add new color spaces .
  • Scale up - if the image that the user wishes to download has dimensions smaller than those you have set, you can instruct Asset Bank to increase the size to your dimensions.
    
    
    Note: It is likely that scaling up will make the image blurred, use this option with caution.
  • Strip - ticking this checkbox will strip out any of the embedded metadata that may exist within your asset.
  • Watermark - Asset Bank will overlay your watermark on the downloaded image if you select this tick box.
  • Omit if image is of lower resolution - you have the option to hide your usage type size from the user on images that are smaller than the height and width you have specified.
  • Fill background - If you tick this option you can select a background colour to fill any canvas space with after the image has been resized (i.e. if you specify a canvas size of 800 x 800 and your image only takes up 600 x 800 of the canvas after resizing then it will end up with 100px wide bar down either side in the solid colour that you selected).
• Click Save, your usage type size has been created and will appear at the top of the screen.
• All existing usage type sizes are listed at the top of the screen.
• To edit, click the [edit] link next to the usage type.
• To delete, click the [X] next to the usage type.