Asset previews and posters
- Olivier Grenet
When an asset is inserted into the system, a preview is automatically generated.
Default previews
for images, it is the rendering of the native image in a web format,
for videos, the default preview is the first, non black, image of the first 10 seconds,
for documents, it is the first page of the document,
for InDesign file, it is the first page of the document,
for Autodesk DXF / DWG, it is the first page drawing,
for 3D models, a rendering with a gray background,
for audio files, it is the audio wave,
for fonts, it is a default rendering of the alphabet in that font
for binary files such as ZIP files, it is a default icon representing the file type
Customizing the default preview for videos
Customizing videos is possible for end-user that have :
access to the back-office
are autorized to update the image :
After getting into the update mode of a video asset, below the asset preview, the “more” option allows to choose another poster :
3 options are offered :
AI based “best stills” : a gallery of stills of the video that is generated by the AI :
Pick a frame from the timeline : play the video, pause at the desired still, and click on the “Create snapshot” button :
Upload your own poster :
Customizing the default preview for other file types
For other file types than video, you need to upload a “poster” that will replace the preview of the document in the lists :
Will be listed as :
Setting up the poster property
The “poster” property is set up by default in the Starter Kit.
If you need to set it up manually, or set multiple posters, you need to :
Add a property of type “file” in the datastructure of the asset. The name of this property is free.
Add tags to this property :
evp/poster → tells the system this is where the video poster thumbnail should be stored
gallery_thumbnail → this property will act as a thumbnail
gallery_thumbnail/priority/{number} → the priority rank of the poster : if multiple poster properties exists, this allow to prioritize them. The higher the number, the higher the priority : the property tagged “gallery_thumbnail/priority/10” will take precedence over the one tagged “gallery_thumbnail/priority/5”
rest_api_not_required → when creating an asset from the REST API, this property is non mandatory.
Using Poster in the variation API
When using the Variation API, you may ask for a the poster if it does exist, by inserting it into the list of the requested variations.
Here, the API variation will request the preview with the following order :
→ the poster, as defined by the user, or if it does not exist…
→ the photo, a best guess of the preview, or if it does not exist…
→ the thumbnailSmallAuto, the autogenerated preview that take into account transparency if supported by the browser, or if it does not exist…
→the thumbnailSmall, the autogenerated preview without transparency, or if it does not exist or the user is not allowed to see it…
→the thumbnailsmall_w, the autogenerated preview with a watermark, or if it does not exist
→ default, the file icon.
Using Poster in the Back-Office lists
You may customize the WXM_BO_OPTIONS priority list of variation by changing the default setup to choose where you would like the poster be used : in the list, in the asset details etc:
To prioritize the poster over the generated “thumbnails”, move it to the front string :