Topic: uploading images

I want to start using larger sized photos in my galleries. I am dragging photos into the Showkase Upload Photos dialog box that are 2048px wide and the dialog box to the right says "2048 x 1536", but after it is uploaded it is sized as only 1024px wide. I cannot find a way to get it to retain the larger size photos. Please let me know how to fix this. Thank you!

Re: uploading images

That sounds odd.
Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately), I cannot replicate this.

As a test I have just uploaded a 2048 x 1536 image using the upload module in Showkase v1.7.5 (set to HTML 5).
I first uploaded the image with resize dimensions of 2048 x 1536 (the same as the original image) and the 'Resize images' checkbox selected.
I then uploaded the same image with the 'Resize checkbox' deselected.
The resulting images on the web server both had the same dimensions of 2048 x 1536 (as expected).

Here are a couple of tips which might help.

(1) If the 'Resize images' checkbox is selected, make sure that the 'Max height' is large enough to accommodate the 'Max width' that you want.
If you set the 'Max width' to 2048 (for example) but set a low 'Max height', then the image may be scaled with the 'Max height' value being the controlling factor and the actual width of the resulting image may be below the 'Max width' value.

(2) If you deselect the 'Resize images' checkbox, then the images you upload will not be resized at all (and will, therefore, retain their original dimensions).

I hope this helps.

Re: uploading images

Thanks, but still having same issue. Even when the "resize images" is unchecked the same thing occurs. For example, in this instance I uploaded an image that is 2048x1368. After it is uploaded and I go to the "images" tab, I can see the dimensions have changed to 1024x684.

Is there a setting somewhere else in Showkase that may be forcing it to this size?

Re: uploading images

It sounds like you might be using multi-size images.
Check your settings in 'Site -> Customize Viewers -> Juicebox-Pro (Edit) -> Pro Viewer Options -> Multi-Size Images (Pro)'.
The default values are for the 'Large images', 'Medium image resize' and ''Small images' checkboxes to all be deselected (and for just a single image size to be used).
Try deselecting the 'Medium image resize' checkbox (if it is selected) or increase its pixel values. (The 'Medium image resize' checkbox in the 'Multi-Size Images (Pro)' section overrides the 'Resize images' checkbox in the upload module.)
Sorry I did not think of this earlier (it is not switched on by default).
I hope this helps to explain what you are seeing.

Re: uploading images

All 3-boxes for the sizes were selected. I tried having only the Large selected (2048x1536), but after publishing the results were the same. I then tried deselecting all of them and publishing... still no change.

However, one change I do see is that the Images tab for the page now does show that the images are the correct dimensions there. It just doesn't show it when viewing a gallery. Any other possible causes you can think of?

Re: uploading images

However, one change I do see is that the Images tab for the page now does show that the images are the correct dimensions there.

That's a step in the right direction.

It just doesn't show it when viewing a gallery.

How are you determining the dimensions of the images being displayed in the gallery? Are you using your browser's developer tools?

By default, Juicebox-Pro dynamically scales images to fit within the bounds of the gallery's image area and it can be hard to tell at a glance what the actual dimensions of a gallery image are.
If you want Juicebox-Pro to display an image at its actual size (without any dynamic scaling), then set imageScaleMode="NONE" (in the 'Main Image (Pro)' section of the gallery's page settings). However, unless you have a fixed size gallery whose dimensions match those of the images, the images may not fit well within the gallery without any dynamic scaling and are likely to be cropped.

In any case, if things don't look as expected when you view your gallery after making any changes, try completely clearing your browser's cache before reloading your web page to ensure that your browser is using the current files from your web server (instead of older, cached versions).
Caching can certainly be useful but it can also sometimes be a hindrance to development.
Maybe this accounts for what you are seeing.

Re: uploading images

Additional notes:

I tried having only the Large selected (2048x1536)...

Showkase will always generate a medium size image in additional to the optional large and small size images.
You'll notice the Large and Small checkboxes read 'Large images' and 'Small images' respectively whereas the Medium checkbox reads 'Medium image resize'.

If, in the 'Multi-Size Images (Pro)' section, you have only the Large checkbox selected, then Showkase will generate a medium size image according to the settings in the upload module and a large size image according to the settings in the 'Multi-Size Images (Pro)' section.
When Juicebox displays the gallery, the medium size image will be used for the regular gallery display and the large size image will be used when the image is opened in a new window or downloaded.
You can check out the logic for which images are used in a multi-size image gallery here.

If you deselect all three checkboxes in the 'Multi-Size Images (Pro)' section ('Large images', 'Medium image resize' and 'Small images'), then Showkase will generate just one image for the gallery (according to the settings in the upload module) and, as there are no other image sizes available, Juicebox-Pro will have no option but to display this image in the gallery (and also use it for when the image is opened in a new window or downloaded).

Incidentally, it is always the medium size image dimensions that are displayed on the 'Images' tab.

I hope this helps to further explain how things work.

8 (edited by dennis 2020-12-11 18:16:22)

Re: uploading images

Thanks for the reply!

How are you determining the dimensions of the images being displayed in the gallery? Are you using your browser's developer tools?

I am viewing the "images" tab on the page in Showkase and there it shows the pixel dimensions of the photo. I understand that is not necessarily the size it is displaying, but I am guessing the largest size it will show when possible (without pixelating) 

try completely clearing your browser's cache before reloading your web page

I have been clearing the cache to view.

In looking at the ACQUA demo, my images are displaying at a very similar size when viewed on a PC monitor with a 2560x1440 resolution. If the full screen button is activated on the demo site, then there is a huge difference. My concern with this though is that the images don't look sharp. Is this because Showkase is forcing those photos to be larger than the native size that was uploaded?   

Under Customize Theme, Gallery Pages, Max Image Width... if I increase the default max of 1024px to something maybe 150-200px greater, will I be causing other issues?   

Auto sizing for different devices/resolutions is very important to me, so I want to make sure I don't lose that feature. With that in mind, please tell me which boxes should remain checked. Your explanations have been great, but I want to make sure I'm not confusing myself with any of this.

I have been using the Juicebox script in Photoshop to prep the images for uploading. If I will now be needing to upload different size files for each image, will I be better off doing this in a different manner?

Thanks!

Re: uploading images

I am viewing the "images" tab on the page in Showkase and there it shows the pixel dimensions of the photo. I understand that is not necessarily the size it is displaying, but I am guessing the largest size it will show when possible (without pixelating)

If there are multiple different sizes associated with an image, then the dimensions shown on the 'Images' tab are those of the medium images. There may or may not be large and small size images, too, but there will always be a medium image and it is always the medium image whose dimensions are shown. For clarity, the medium image is the image directly inside the corresponding gallery's 'images' folder (i.e. not inside the 'large' or 'small' folders).

Also, when I say there is always a medium image, this is just a label. The medium image could, in theory, be the only image size being used but it could actually be a very large image (in terms of both filesize and resolution) if you want.

Under most circumstances (check the Multi-Size Image support page for details), it will be the medium image which is used for the gallery display and, if there is a corresponding large image, the the large image will be used if the image is opened in a new tab (via the 'Open Image' button), downloaded (via the 'Download' button) or if the gallery is expanded. (If there is no large image, then the medium image will be used for all occasions.)

Whatever image is displayed in the gallery, it will be dynamically scaled (at the time the gallery is displayed) according to the value of the Juiecbox-Pro imageScaleMode configuration option.
A short description of this configuration option and all its possible values can be found in the 'Main Image' section of the Config Options page here.
By default, imageScaleMode is set to SCALE_DOWN whereby images that are too large (in terms of resolution) to fit within the gallery's image area are dynamically scaled down to fit within the gallery's image area whilst respecting the image's aspect ratio and without cropping. Images that are smaller than the gallery's image area are not scaled up (as this would reduce their visual quality). Such images will be displayed at their actual size (perhaps with some space surrounding the images).
You could (if you wanted to), have small images dynamically scaled up to fill the gallery's image area (again whilst respecting the image's aspect ratio and without cropping) by setting imageScaleMode to SCALE (although I would not recommend it for most users).

In looking at the ACQUA demo...

The AcquaPhoto Fashion gallery (for example), is a single image size gallery (there are no large images).
All images in the gallery are 1024 x 640 (except for one which is 1024x648).
In this gallery, imageScaleMode is set to SCALE so, on a large monitor where the gallery's image area is larger than the actual image dimensions, the images are dynamically scaled up to fill more of the gallery's image area than they would if displayed at their actual size. (This accounts for the drop in quality that you see when you expand the gallery on your high resolution monitor.)

It is just a demo gallery but the following changes would be beneficial:
(1) Larger gallery images could be used so that when the gallery is viewed on a high resolution monitor, the images do not need to be scaled up to fill the gallery's image area.
(2) imageScaleMode could be set to SCALE_DOWN to prevent small images from being dynamically scaled up.
(3) Two images sizes (medium and large) could be used so that, when the gallery is expanded, the large images are used instead of the medium images.

With that in mind, please tell me which boxes should remain checked.

I can't really tell you which settings to use. It's a personal decision that only you can make. Different settings are useful for different audiences.
If your target audience is likely to be viewing your galleries on mobile devices, then there's perhaps little point in providing the gallery with large images and setting imageScaleMode to SCALE might actually be useful.
Having said that, it sounds like my three points above referring to the AcquaPhoto Fashion gallery would probably be useful to you, though.

If I will now be needing to upload different size files for each image, will I be better off doing this in a different manner?

If you want to use different image sizes, then it would be best (certainly easiest) to let Showkase resize them for you.
Just make sure your source images are large enough and set your image sizes on the 'Multi-Size Image (Pro)' section.
Showkase will not upscale source images when resizing them during upload. For any given image size (small, medium or large), if an image is already within the maximum dimension bounds ('Max width' x 'Max height'), then the image will just be copied across to the gallery folder without being resized.

I hope these nuggets of information help to put some of the pieces of the puzzle together for you.

Re: uploading images

Wow, this has been super helpful! 

I do have one more question. The default setting is 1024px wide for galleries (or Layout max site width 1078px). Are these something that can be made higher without creating all kinds of other problems with layout and functionality within Showkase? I'm just not sure if this was recommendations from a few years ago and wasn't updated with higher-res displays or if alignment and other issues may develop.   

Your help and suggestions have been great and I think I have enough to start reworking things!

Re: uploading images

Changing the maximum site width should cause no problems at all. The only thing to bear in mind is that if you increase the site width, then on high resolution screens, your galleries will appear larger than they would if the site width was restricted to the default maximum width of 1024px and you might have to use large images in your galleries to compensate (and potentially avoid having too much empty space surrounding your images). It sounds like you've got this covered, though, so increasing your site width should be absolutely fine. (Also, it's something that you can do quickly and easily and it's very easy to change back if you don't like the way things look.)

Re: uploading images

Thanks Steven, appreciate all your help!

Re: uploading images

You're welcome! I'm glad I was able to be of some help.
I hope you get on well with your customizations.