Watermarks

Image Serving implements a simple visual watermarking facility.

A watermark typically is a semi-transparent image, but it may be text, or a more complex, layered composite image. The server layers the watermark over the reply image after all view attributes ( wid=, hei=, align=, scl=, bgc=) have been applied.

Watermarking is enabled by setting attribute::Watermark to a valid catalog entry which would contain the watermark image or template. If attribute::Watermark is set in a named catalog, the server adds the watermark to all image requests which reference the catalog id in the request URL. If default::Watermark is set (in the default catalog, default.ini), the watermark is applied to all image requests regardless of whether they reference a catalog or not.

Watermarks are not applied to images returned in response to thumbnail requests ( req=tmb) and certain requests from Dynamic Media viewers.

Scaling and alignment

When a watermark is specified, the server first generates the composite image (the target image) to which the watermark needs to be applied (before applying the view transforms). The server then generates the composite image for the watermark just like any other image (the watermark image).

Unlike standard images, sizeN= may be specified for layer=0 or layer=comp of the watermark image. This allows scaling of the watermark image relative to the target image. If sizeN= is not specified, the watermark image retains its pixel size when being merged with the target image.

Request commands (such as fmt=) and view commands (such as wid=) are ignored in watermark records, with the exception of align=. align= can be used to position the watermark image relative to the watermark image relative to the target image. This allows positioning of the watermark relative to a corner or edge of the target image.

After scaling and aligning, the server layers the watermark image over the target image using the blendMode= and opac= values specified for layer=0 or layer=comp of the watermark image. Finally, the request and view commands specified for the target image are applied to construct the reply image.

Note that the watermark image never extends over any blank space added to the reply image by the wid= and hei= commands.