Dynamic Formats can be defined for images only and are rendered on demand for the selected Content Item in Fotoware Alto, not saved to storage, but only to a cache for the configured retention time. Dynamic formats may be Hero Images, Social Media Images, or Campaign Specials.

The benefits of dynamic rendering:

• Those are customizable by the customer during operation (setup via API)
• Dynamic formats are cached (via the retention time configuration), so the downloader does not have to wait for frequently accessed content. 
• Fotoware Alto does not store them, which saves on the monthly storage subscription fee. 

The drawback of dynamic rendering:

• Downloading multiple dynamic formats of the same Content Item is possible. 
• Rendering on request (lazy) may take some time until Fotoware Alto generates the output. Fotoware Alto will notify you when the ready-to-download file is available.
  
  
  You can continue working in Fotoware Alto while your download is being prepared. 
• Only available to produce images (rasterized files). 
• Cost during customer creation, predefined, and rendered for every Content Item in Fotoware Alto, and saved to the performance of the rendering microservice.

Static formats are created during customer creation, predefined, and rendered for every Content Item in Fotoware Alto, and saved to storage. The benefits of static formats:

• No waiting times for downloading them. Fotoware Alto creates the format after import, and every user can then download it directly.
• You can have static formats created for all file types (based on rendering support). 

The drawback of static formats:

• Costs storage, as all formats are rendered and saved there.

Previews are static formats, available for File Types. 

• The standard Windows server fonts are installed on our rendering server and will be applied and rendered to document previews. Any other fonts will be substituted.
• You see a file format icon when Fotoware Alto couldn’t render a preview, e.g., Indd for InDesign files.
• The original file is also available; accessing (downloading) it can be restricted by Content Permissions. 

You cannot restrict Access/Download of previews, but you can add a watermark to the preview, which is then also applied to other Formats and Thumbnails derived from the Preview. Check for formats and thumbnails to ensure the Watermark is applied everywhere when the rendering source is the Preview format.

Fotoware Alto generates the following previews for supported file formats.

The static formats are created when a customer is created. Check Format Modifications for the settings you require.

The dynamic formats are created via API: Fotoware Alto REST API V1. It is recommended to test your settings using the preview operation, which allows generating a temporary preview of your desired output to validate your settings: Fotoware Alto REST API V1 based on the actual Content Items of your Fotoware Alto. 

Examples

Output Format: Create Transparent Format for Download
Goal: Output a PNG with a red background.

Output Format: Watermark Format for Download
Goal: Have a dynamic format with a watermark, created via Postman via API.

Output Format: Watermark Placement
Goal: Assume you want to place a horizontal colored bar at the bottom of a format with a 10px distance to the bottom border and have the logo placed within this colored bar in the right corner with a 10px distance to the right border.

You cannot update static format attributes (e.g., resizing). You can, however, update attributes like:

• XMP Writeback (enableXmpWriteback; boolean)
• Filename pattern used when the file is downloaded (downloadFileNamePatterns; string translated)
• Permission to access output formats even if the source is not accessible (viewForAll; boolean)

You can update output formats using the API: Fotoware Alto REST API V1

Apply Resize Action

PUT: {{apiHost}}/v1/outputformats/{id}

{
   "id": "MyFirstFormat",    
   "names": {
       "en": "My first format"
   },
   "sourceOutputFormats": {
       "image": "Original",
       "video": "VideoPreview",
       "document": "DocumentPreview",
       "audio": "AudioPreview",
       "vector": "VectorPreview"
   },
   "format": {
       "kind": "JpegFormat",
       "resizeAction":{
           "width":50,
           "height":50,
           "resizeMode":"fit"
       }
   }
}

Media Optimization (IO) enables you to crop, resize, sharpen, change transparency, or rename images using the media editor, provided you have permission to edit images (role permission). The images can then be integrated into websites, e-commerce stores, or other apps. Content Delivery Networks (CDN) further improve global delivery and availability.

Media Editor

The media editor lets you dynamically make advanced transformations and image optimizations without changing the original. You can see the results instantly in the preview on the right. You can execute various modifications and validate your results by enabling or disabling them, and you can also chain everything together for multi-layered optimizations.

The following rendering actions are available:

• Crop, resize, rotate, sharpen.
• Alpha channel transparency (replace).
• Conversion into JPG, PNG, or TIFF.
• Rename the default filename for SEO purposes.

Conversion presets

Editors can save their settings in the Media Editor as content presets for later reuse on the same image.

Additionally, editors can create conversion preset templates in settings to make them available for any image, requiring the role permission to manage conversion preset templates.

A conversion preset template requires:

• Name: the name that appears in the Media editor
• Description: for internal purposes, not shown anywhere
• Template: the conversion string (with the option to add a placeholder for a focal point)
• Output format: the source where the conversion settings are applied

Common conversion preset templates are in use for

• Website hero or header images.
• Product shots used in commerce stores.
• Detail extracts from large-scale images.
• Different social media channels.
• Placeholders in sales presentations.

Permissions

If you want to enable your users to create and update conversion presets, the user's role must have the Manage items permissions on the Image Analytics layer.

Focal Point Editor

The focal point editor for images enables users to create, update, or remove focal points, including those generated by AI providers such as Azure. Permitted users can either create a single focal point or a bounding box that surrounds an object, such as a face. 

Click on the image to create a focal point, and click and hold to create a bounding box.

Each focal point has:

• Identifier: the short name of your focal point
• Confidence level: a number between 0 and 1, where 1 is 100% confidence.
• Optional reference: additional text which serves as a description.
• The bounding box also had width and height fields.

All information will be saved in the Image Analytics Layer of the image.

Cropping around Focal Points

For every Content Item, you can create focal points in the Focal Point Editor or via cropping to focal points from within the Media Editor. Additionally, AI Tagging proposes focal points for available areas of interest within an image. Depending on the model you choose, AI can also propose brand names, text, or demographics.

All focal points are saved to the Image Analytics layer, from which you can choose which to apply as a crop onto your images in the Media Editor.

You can create (2) or select existing focal points (1) for cropping in the Media Editor.