Overwrite Options When Uploading Images

There are four variations of the Overwrite Image option that can be set for your entire company, and they are often misunderstood. In short, either you set the rules such that you want assets that have the same name to be overwritten more frequently, or you want overwrites to occur less frequently (in which case the new image will get renamed with a “-1” or “-2” extension).

  • Overwrite in current folder, same base image name/extension.
    This option is the strictest rule for replacement. It requires that you upload the replacement image to the same folder as the original, and that the replacement image has the same filename extension as the original. If these requirements are not met, a duplicate is created.

  • Overwrite in current folder, same base asset name regardless of extension.
    Requires that you upload the replacement image to the same folder as the original, however the filename extension can be different from the original. For example, chair.tif replaces chair.jpg.

  • Overwrite in any folder, same base asset name/extension.
    Requires that the replacement image has the same filename extension as the original image (for example, chair.jpg must replace chair.jpg, not chair.tif ). However, you can upload the replacement image to a different folder than the original. The updated image resides in the new folder; the file can no longer be found in its original location.

  • Overwrite in any folder, same base asset name regardless of extension.
    This option is the most inclusive replacement rule. You can upload a replacement image to a different folder than the original, upload a file with a different filename extension, and replace the original file. If the original file is in a different folder, the replacement image resides in the new folder to which it was uploaded.

Learn more about the Overwrite Images Option.

Although not required, while uploading using either of the two methods above, you can specify Job Options for that particular upload — for example, to schedule a recurring upload, set cropping options upon upload, and many others. These can be valuable for some workflows, so it’s worth considering if they can be for yours.

Learn more about Job Options.

Uploading is the first necessary step in any workflow because Dynamic Media Classic cannot work with any content that is not already in its system. Behind the scenes during upload, the system registers every uploaded asset with the centralized Dynamic Media Classic database, assigns an ID, and copies it to storage. In addition, the system converts image files to a format that allows dynamic resizing and zoom and converts video files to the MP4 web-friendly format.

Concept: Here’s what happens to images when you upload them to Dynamic Media Classic

When you upload an image of any type to Dynamic Media Classic, it is converted to a master image format called a Pyramid TIFF, or P-TIFF. A P-TIFF is similar to the format of a layered TIFF bitmap image, except that instead of different layers, the file contains multiple sizes (resolutions) of the same image.

image

As the image is converted, Dynamic Media Classic takes a “snapshot” of the full size of the image, scales that by half and saves it, scales it by half again and saves it, and so on until it is filled with even multiples of the original size. For example, a 2000-pixel P-TIFF has 1000-, 500-, 250-, and 125-pixel sizes (and smaller) in the same file. The P-TIFF file is the format of what’s called a “master image” in Dynamic Media Classic.

When you request a certain size image, creating the P-TIFF allows the Image Server for Dynamic Media Classic to quickly find the next larger size and scale it down. For example, if you upload a 2000-pixel image and request a 100-pixel image, Dynamic Media Classic finds the 125-pixel version and scale it down to 100 pixels rather than scaling from 2000 to 100 pixels. This makes the operation very fast. In addition, when zooming on an image, this enables the zoom viewer to only request a tile of the image being zoomed, rather than the entire full resolution image. This is how the master image format, the P-TIFF file, supports both dynamic sizing and zoom.

Similarly, you can upload your master source video to Dynamic Media Classic, and on upload Dynamic Media Classic can automatically resize it and convert it to the MP4 web-friendly format.

Rules of Thumb for Determining Optimal Size for the Images You Upload

Upload images in the largest size you need.

  • If you need to zoom, upload a high resolution image of a range of 1500-2500 pixels in the longest dimension. Consider how much detail you want to give, the quality of your source images, and the size of the product being shown. For example, upload a 1000-pixel image for a tiny ring, but a 3000-pixel image for an entire room scene.
  • If you don’t need to zoom, then upload it at the exact size it is displayed. For example if you have logos or splash/banner images to place on your pages, upload them exactly at their 1:1 size, and call them exactly at that size.

Never upsample, or blow up, your images before uploading to Dynamic Media Classic. For example, don’t upsample a smaller image to make it a 2000-pixel image. It won’t look good. Make your images as close to perfect as possible before upload.

There is no minimum size for zoom, but by default the viewers won’t zoom beyond 100%. If your image is too small, it won’t zoom at all or only zooms a tiny amount to prevent it from looking bad.

While there’s no minimum for image size, we don’t recommend uploading giant images. A giant image can be considered 4000+ pixels. Uploading images this size can show potential flaws like grains of dust or hairs in the image. Such images take up more space on the Dynamic Media Classic server, which can cause you to surpass your contracted storage limits.

Learn more about Uploading Files.