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star*sites
were set up primarily to handle images and descriptions of taxa. Each
picture is represented by a number of files, collectively referred to
as a family. At this time, families have several members: the display
image, the thumbnail image , and the download image.
Future plans are indicated at the bottom of this file.
The
adoption of the following conventions will allow for quick and easy integration
of new materials into a star*site, and will assst in trouble shooting.
When
developing images, please bear in mind the community nature of the star*sites,
and that your images will supplements ones already in place. If there
are existing images that convey information effectively, there may be
no advantage in adding new ones. Also, in looking at existing material,
should anything be inaccurate or could benefit from improvement, please
let us know.
Image
formats
There are three widely used image formats: TIF - which is referred to
as a lossless format, and JPG and GIF, both of which are lossy. JPG and
GIF are widely used in web sites because the file sizes are small and
so the images download quickly. Examples of highly magnified graded lines
are shown in the adjacent picture (which is a jpg image, so the entire
image has been degraded a little). TIF gives the best quality, edges are
sharp and colours retain fidelity; JPGs integrate data from adjacent pixels
and so images are blurred and the color in pixels is distorted; and GIFs
only provided a limited range of colors. We recommend that the TIF format
be used for original images, for any quality images required for printing,
and as the basis of the download files. JPGs are widely used for images
of photos to appear on a computer screen. GIFs are preferred for diagrams
but some environments and softwares will not work with GIF files, so to
ensure that your images present no problems, we prefer JPG files as the
format for the images.Editing is carried out with TIF images to protect
image quality.
Images
shown on computer screens are 72 dpi (dots or pixels per inch); overall
image information is measured in number of pixels.
File
names
We use the following naming conventions when preparing images
- genus_species_xx.tif:
original file, largest possible files; the reference materia, TIF
-
genus_species_xxa.tif: edited tif file, in which the image has
been oriented, cropped, levels checked, etc.
-
genus_species_xxz.zip: zipped version of xxa file (typically,
all images related to a genus from one site are bundled up and saved
as genus_xxa.zip)
-
genus_species_xxw.jpg: for display images, up to 400 wide X
up to 350 high 72 dpi JPG versions of images, usually with a logo
-
genus_species_xxt.jpg: thumbnails: 100 wide X 100 tall, 72 dpi JPG
versions of images, usually an important area within the xxw file is
selected
The
file names are in lower case; xx defines the collection from which the
image comes. This coding is unique for a collection, and if images are
to be shared with other star*sites you need to select a unique code. A
list of collection identifiers can be found in the toolbox,
or you can contact us.
Adopting
this convention speeds up image processing and populating Filemaker and
MySQL tables, and allows easy tracking of sources of images.
When
there are multiple images of the same organism from the same collection,
we use the convention:
-
genus_species01_xxw.jpg
-
genus_species02_xxw.jpg
-
genus_speciesb01_xxw.jpg
As
images are uploaded into star sites, the system will amend the file names
to
-
genus_species_datestamp_xxz.zip: downloadable image
-
genus_species_datestamp_xxw.jpg: display images
-
genus_species_datestamp_xxt: thumbnails
Protocol
to prepare an image
 You
must use a very good monitor for this work
The monitor should be able to show that all elements of the chart
to the right, with the exception of those in the first and last columns,
are different
If
you use the default directory structure, go to starpreparations/images_from_sites/2Bworkedup/
and create a folder with the name xx_sitecollection (where xx is your
site code and sitecollection is the name of the collection - e.g. pn_planktonnet).
If you do not yet know the name of the collection and the site code, visit
the toolbox,and go to the tools for adding
and editing collection information. We advocate adding the following folders:
xxother:
into which all images and ancillary materials go, and where all initial
editing goes
xxz: contains zipped files when prepared
xxw: will contain web based files when they are prepared
xxt: will contain the thumbnails when they are prepared.
- Images
for editing should have been saved as TIF files with the following name
genus_species_xx.tif. If micrographs, they should be saved with
a scale bar towards the margins of the image, where they can cropped
out during image preparation. The range of levels in original images
should not include black or white.
- Compare
all available images, select only good ones and we recommend using only
the minimum that are needed to show all of the features that you wish
to communicate. Too many images slows down processing, and does not
help visitors to the web site.
- Open
theimage in Photoshop or an equivalent image processing software. Have
the layers menu open
- Have
your logo available, we use a 25 pixel logo with a transparent background
(25pixellogo.psd) and this is probably best located in the .../assets/icons
folder
- Select
the region of the image with the scale bar and copy (control c), this
will be pasted into a new layer later
- Adjust
image so it looks nice: this involves rotating it - we recommend placing
anterior to point directly up and flip etc. so that the material is
oriented as if being observed from the outside (from dorsal if looking
at the dorsal surface; or from ventral if looking at the ventral surface).
If there is a sense of light from a direction or dark region, if possible
turn the image to make the dark at the bottom and the light coming from
upper left. Remove any extraneous materials using clone stamp tool,
and crop. Use the levels command to make sure that the brightness range
is fairly complete (narrow the range so that the darkest is or near
black, and lightest is at or near white). You may also need to adjust
the tonal quality differentially, and this can be done using the curves
command.
- Save
as genus_species_xxa.tif
- Paste
in scale bar into a new layer
- Reduce
image size so its fits into a box 400 pixels wide, 350 pixels tall,
72 dpi
- This
reduction tends to add some noise so you may need to add a little contrast
and brightness, or select the filter>sharpen tool.
- Move
the scale bar to bottom left (if possible) or bottom right
- Using
pure yellow (256 red, 256 green, 0 blue), draw a 2 pixel line to the
same length as the scale bar, and add text in 12 point bold arial, no
or slight aliasing, and add text as to what the scale bar represents
(use multiples of 1, 2 and 5) - ALT 230 (press alt key and type numeric
230) is the code for the micron sign
- Select
the position control, and align the scales and text so that they are
in a consistent location (we recommend scale bars lower left)
- Go
to your logo, select all, copy (control c)
- Return
to genusspecies_xxa.tif, and paste the logo, move to upper right (or
other consistent location)
- Flatten
image
- Save
as genus_species_xxw.jpg this will be the display version of
the image
- As
an option, select a square(ish) part of the image, reduce the size so
it fits into a 100X100 pixel box, >filter>sharpen to bring back
the contrast, and save as genus_species_xxt.jpg This will be
the thumbnail version of the images. If you do not wish to do this,
the star software will create a thumbanil from your display image automatically.
- Run
compression software such as WinZip and make a new file genus_species.xxz.zip
and add all genus_species_xxa.tif files; this becomes the downloadable
version
The
toolbox has tools to help you load these images into a collection, and
to add appropriate annotation (genus name, species name, short caption,
long caption, etc.). As files are uploaded, the filenames will be adjusted,
see above.
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How
to prepare an illustration