Image Manager addon

[buildingblocks]

I'm testing this mod on a 139h zen cart. After resizing the images I noticed the image created as the large image was loading really slow. I then noticed the large image that was created was very large in kilobytes. For instance the main image that was uploaded is 44 KB and the large image that image manager creates is 238 Kb. Are there any settings that will restrain the weight of that large image?

[boudewijn]

I'm testing this mod on a 139h zen cart. After resizing the images I noticed the image created as the large image was loading really slow. I then noticed the large image that was created was very large in kilobytes. For instance the main image that was uploaded is 44 KB and the large image that image manager creates is 238 Kb. Are there any settings that will restrain the weight of that large image?

One would expect that the small image size is smaller than the large image size. In this case I suspect that IM does not enlarge the picture in dimensions, but creates a larger file as a watermark is added. Is that correct?

[buildingblocks]

One would expect that the small image size is smaller than the large image size. In this case I suspect that IM does not enlarge the picture in dimensions, but creates a larger file as a watermark is added. Is that correct?

original image
Size: 44 Kb
Dimensions: 485 x 640

In configuration > Image Manager I set the max large image width and height to 600

no watermark file present

Image manager generates the large image at
Size: 236 Kb
Dimensions: 455 x 600

LOL

Does anyone else notice this happening in their installation?

[boudewijn]

original image
Size: 44 Kb
Dimensions: 485 x 640

In configuration > Image Manager I set the max large image width and height to 600

no watermark file present

Image manager generates the large image at
Size: 236 Kb
Dimensions: 455 x 600

LOL

Does anyone else notice this happening in their installation?

The images are resized, and the watermark is applied by using the standard functions in the PHP-GD library. As far as I know I cannot influence the way these functions handle this, or at least I have no idea yet how to do this.

[boudewijn]

Found it.

The size of the copied/resized image depends largely on the parameter that defines the quality of the destination file. More quality, larger files.

IM 1.5 will have a configuration option to enable the admin to determine the quality, and therewith the size of the created files.
Note that this option only works for jpg and png files, NOT for gif files.

[buildingblocks]

""new options:
- one for new images, uploaded throught the add product page:
- a configuration option to enable the admin to determine the quality, and therewith the size of the created files.""

perfect!!!!
I find so many folks who are nervous about getting involved with ftp or just don't want to learn it. Having an extra area to add the additional images on the product page is a huge plus and a control to determine the quality.......I'm looking forward to the next release!!

It didn't take you long to find where the quality control is.

I was playing with the firefox macro mentioned in a previous post. That works great for dealing with existing images. I never knew about that.

[boudewijn]

Well, the code is ready, but I want to do some more testing, especially to see if the new functions also handle errors well.
If you want to help me on this and try the new 1.5, please send me a private message with your email adress, and I will send you the new package.
It also contains installation instructions.
If anything goes wrong, it's very easy to roll back to 1.4 (just copy 1.4 package to the server and it will overwrite 1.5).

The quality setting was easy to find in the PHP documentation once I realised that it has a relation with file sizes. Previously I hardcoded the quality to 100, but experience from others is that a lower value of 75 is the best trade off between filesize and visible quality.

I remember the discussion about macro's. The problem with online systems, is that they are transaction oriented and not batch oriented. Due to execution time restrictions on servers it's not handy to process large numbers of images in one transaction. If the time limit is exceeded, you're left with half done or broken work. Macro's can help here, but for multiple actions on one single image it's better to build another (combined) action in the code itself.

Btw it's fairly easy to set the defaults for IM in such a way, that the user always starts with a page with files that need attention.

[paulcreedy]

Found it.

The size of the copied/resized image depends largely on the parameter that defines the quality of the destination file. More quality, larger files..

The 'smaller' file being larger is something that's quite common after resizing even when reducing the image quality. However whilst the image size may be larger the dimensions are smaller so it at least fits better on the page.

Is 1.5 ready? Where do I get it from to try it out?