jAlbum/Settings/Effects

"Effects" are image filters that are applied to all scaled, but not to original, images of an album. (One can make exceptions for individual scaled images under Explore view mode.)

Text

Text Settings are applied to all scaled-down images. Once the effect has been applied the header turns green.

Text

Enter the text to be applied, such as a copyright notice, for example. You can use any character but no line breaks, the text will automatically wrap if it is too long to fit on one line.

Effects

The text can be plain, have a shadow applied, appear as a watermark or with a (darkened) background. These effects are mutually exclusive. Shadow effect has separate controls for color and distance. See below. Watermark sets the color to black and the strength to 20%.

Font

Select a font from all fonts enabled on your computer. The font will be rendered as a bit map, so you don’t need to use web-safe fonts. In the size box enter the size, between 8 and 800. Check the option boxes for bold and/or italic as required.

Angle

The angle of the text, and any shadow, can be adjusted between +/- 345°. A value of 90 will set the text to vertical, reading downward and -90 to vertical reading up.

Color

Enter the color code in the format #rrggbb. For standard web colors such as red, blue or double click on the small rectangle to open up a color picker window.

Shadow color

You can select the shadow color independently of the text color (above) using the same choices to select a color.

Shadow distance

The distance from the text to its shadow can be set from 0 to 20 pixels.

Rounded border

When the 'Background' effect is selected this option is active and allows the background to have square or rounded corners of the border.

Layering

For transparent images you can select how the text is applied:

all over, behind the image or on top of the image.

Strength

The strength, or transparency, can be adjusted between 0 and 100%, though a value of 0 won’t actually be seen! If you click on the slider to make it active, you can use the arrow keys to make fine, 1%, adjustments.

Alignment and Margin

The text can be aligned on the 3x3 grid, top left to bottom right. You can either click on the small grid or click and drag the text to select the alignment, the current alignment is highlighted by a green dot. The margin can be set between +/- 99 pixels, it is the distance from the edge of the image to the text.

Tile

This will tile the text being applied across the whole of the image. Note the alignment will change to centred if not already in that position.

Offset

When tiling the text you have the option of offsetting the rows, the offset range is 0 to 100 percent, both zero and one hundred give no offset, the words are vertically aligned. For example with the numbers 1,2…9,0 and an offset of 10% the number 1 on each subsequent line will be below the number 2, 20% moves it below 3.

Logotype

Logotype Settings are applied to all scaled-down images. Once the effect has been applied the header turns green.

Image URL

This shows the path to the active logotype, which can be an internet location or a local file. You can use a preset logo or your own by clicking on the small folder icon to the right and navigating to your file. You can use GIF, PNG and JPEG (JPG) file types, though GIF and PNG are best suited, as they allow transparent backgrounds.

Presets

The three presets are for jAlbum logos. jAlbum and jAlbum.net both require an internet connection to show, whilst Dor (as shown to the right) is part of the jAlbum application. They are all PNGs with transparent backgrounds.

Scale

The size of the logotype can be adjusted from 0 to 100%, though a value of 0 won’t actually be seen! If you click on the slider to make it active (blue edge), you can use the arrow keys to make fine, 1%, adjustments.

Angle

The angle of the logotype can be adjusted between the limits of +/- 345°.

Strength

The strength, or transparency, can be adjusted from 0 to 100%, though a value of 0 won’t actually be seen! If you click on the slider to make it active (blue edge), you can use the arrow keys to make fine, 1%, adjustments.

Alignment and Margin

The logotype can be aligned on a 3x3 grid, top left to bottom right. You can either click on the small grid or click and drag the logotype to select the alignment, the current alignment is highlighted by a green dot. The margin can be set between +/- 99 pixels, it is the distance from the edge of the image to the logotype.

Tile

This will tile the logotype being applied across the whole of the image. Note the alignment will change to centred if not already in that position. The offset controls the distance, for alternating rows of the image, at which the image is repeated. A figure of 50 would have the image above and below start at the midpoint of the central image.

Offset

When tiling the text you have the option of offsetting the rows, the offset range is 0 to 100 percent, both zero and one hundred give no offset, the words are vertically aligned.

Excluding an Image

You can exclude an individual image from the album-wide logotype filter by opening the image for editing in jAlbum, opening the Variables panel on the right, and entering a new variable with the name applyLogo and a value of false.

Gray

Gray Settings are applied to all scaled-down images. Once the effect has been applied the header turns green.

There is not much to say about this effect! You can enable or disable it. That’s it! It, of course, turns all of your images to grayscale. It really is, almost, that simple. It does not however affect the text or logotype filters. Those colors remain. It can though be used with the Arty filter to change the grayscale dynamics.

Auto

Auto Settings are applied to all scaled-down images. Once the effect has been applied the header turns green.

Fix all of your images in one go with this filter, either by auto fixing colors, contrast or levels, or by enhancing all three at once.

Arty

Artistic effects are applied to all scaled-down images. Once the effect has been applied the header turns green.

All effects are preset, there are no user adjustments (select the first thumbnail to remove the filter).

Hover over a thumbnail to get the name of the effect and a brief description of what it does.

The effects, 1 is top left and 12 is bottom right, are

1. Original: No effect.
2. Sunflower: Low key effect with an emphasis on greys and browns.
3. Rainflower: Darker version of Sunflower.
4. Lily: Unreal effect with high contrast and brightness, coupled with a gradient border.
5. Pink:Faded colours with an emphasis on yellow and beige tones, coupled with a gradient border.
6. Thistle: Antique effect, used look with scratches.
7. Tulip: Fuzziness effect with an emphasis on yellow and golden tones, coupled with a gradient border.
8. Snowdrop: Blurred effect with increased brightness.
9. Daisy: Greyscale type effect but with yellows and red tones present.
10. Cross processed: Film style cross processed colour change.
11. Cinema: Applies a cinematic look.
12. Red litho: Reds standout against muted other colours.