Our first article on Dynamic Image Serving (DIS) addressed the cost benefits and revenue generating potential of real-time image resizing, zoom and pan and how to adjust the size of your images to control bandwidth costs.Our first article on Dynamic Image Serving (DIS) addressed the cost benefits and revenue generating potential of real-time image resizing, zoom and pan and how to adjust the size of your images to control bandwidth costs. This second article covers a really cool form of spin and zoom, how to automatically add visual watermarks and text overlay to your images and how to protect your original source file images.
(Part Two of Two)
· Interactive 360 degree Spin and Zoom – offering a compelling viewing experience like nothing else on the Web
· Visual Watermarks – which allows any image to be overlaid with an indelible watermark for improved security at a fraction of the cost of traditional off-line methods.
· Text Overlay – allows data-driven text to be applied indelibly to any image making it practical to communicate everything from copyright information to advertising specials right through the image.
· DIS Security Model – lets users see the detail of your images without allowing them to download your original source files.
These are some of the many advantages of using Dynamic Image Serving to manage and manipulate your images. Jack Martin from Cool Piranha describes DIS as, “Massively powerful and highly efficient imaging technology that allows users to interact with images in exciting new ways, thus increasing membership conversion and retention, whilst internally it can save thousands in production costs”.
A Really Cool Feature – Interactive 360 Degree Spin with Zoom
As described in the first article, Zoom allows users to explore images interactively to view the details of most interest to them. Interactive 360 degree Spin with Zoom takes this a step further – it allows the user to not only zoom in on an image, but to actually choose their own preferred perspective. This means the user isn’t restricted to just a single view of a scene, it’s as if they can ‘walk’ around the scene, front, back, or side, to get their best view. This is something like the spin technique used in the movie the MatrixTM, except the user picks the perspective.
Spin window in user’s browser
See dynamic Spin in action
Spin with Zoom provides users with a highly interactive and compelling viewing experience that can be used to increase membership conversion and retention. Since there’s nothing like seeing to believe, you can follow this link or the link above to look at a live spin demo with adult content. Have fun! For a non-adult demo, visit TrueSpectra’s website at www.truespectra.com.
360 degree Spins are inexpensive to produce and don’t require special camera equipment or software. When a scene is photographed, instead of just shooting from one perspective, the photographer takes shots in 20 or 30 degree increments around the scene depending on how smooth he wants to make the spin appear. The adult images in the above spin demo were taken every 20 degrees around Courtney Taylor, Penthouse Pet, March 2002, by Jim Hancock Productions using a simple turntable.
Want to add any of these spin-enabled images to your website? Since the spin-enabling DIS software resides on the server, you can easily add these spin demos to your website using these links:
http://tsdemo.coolpiranha.com/demo/adult/spin1.html
http://tsdemo.coolpiranha.com/demo/adult/spin2.html
http://tsdemo.coolpiranha.com/demo/adult/spin4.html
http://tsdemo.coolpiranha.com/demo/adult/spin5.html
http://tsdemo.coolpiranha.com/demo/adult/spin6.html
Alternatively, you can copy the source code for these images into your webpage. Either way, you are welcome to link to these images free for the next 90 days, compliments of TrueSpectra and Cool Piranha Adult Hosting.
Visual Watermarking and Text Overlay
Dynamic Image Serving makes it easy to add visual watermarks, logos or text to any or all of your images instantly without having to create new images offline or alter your original source file images. This is all done by adding simple instructions to the URL used to call the image:
Web page images
See dynamic Watermarking in action
See dynamic Text Overlay in action
For example, this link shows how a visual watermark can be added to the base image using the effect command.
As these links can all be created using the Image URL Generators (you can try them yourself in the demo), there is no need to learn any new syntax in order to start using text overlays or visual watermarks on your site.
Remember with Dynamic Image Serving, none of this changes your underlying source file images. You are simply requesting the common source image with appended commands that determine the characteristics of the output images. If you are using any application server environment, including ASP, PHP, Macromedia’s ColdFusion®, BEA’s WebLogic® or IBM’s WebSphere®, it is possible to make global changes to all your images by simply changing a few lines of code in your page templates.
Want to add Drop Shadows and Borders?
Dynamic Image Serving also allows you to add drop shadows and/or borders to your Web images, simply by adding instructions to the Image URLs.
Web page images
See dynamic Drop Shadows and Borders in action
Why make permanent changes to your original source file images with desktop tools like PhotoshopTM, when Dynamic Image Serving makes it so easy to add and change the image effects you want in real-time?
DIS Security Model – Protecting Your Original Source File Images
Dynamic Image Serving provides comprehensive security features that prevent users and other website operators from applying any dynamic manipulations you want to prevent. For example, you can cap the size of output images, block or hide entire commands, even programmatically apply commands behind the scenes via your application server. For example, the following URL invokes the same base image shown above, but it does so through a virtual path named ‘azw’ that has been configured to apply an indelible watermark:
The URL for this image is: http://server/azw/alison2.jpg?cell=200&cvt=jpeg. The ‘azw’ virtual path has been configured to block the original file from being downloaded, as well as preventing the output image size from exceeding 700 pixels. Try it yourself – via this virtual path it is impossible to view this image without a watermark, or to view it larger than 700 pixels in size.
Want to Learn More?
More information on Dynamic Image Serving, including demos, white papers and developer guides, is available from TrueSpecta®’s website, www.truespectra.com. For additional information, contact sales@truespectra.com or call 1-866-237-4462.
Cool Piranha Adult Hosting is now offering TrueSpectra Dynamic Imaging as an add-on feature to its hosting services. The monthly charge for this service starts as low as $50. For more information, go to http://www.coolpiranha-hosting.com.
*** YNOTMasters Special Offer — YNOTMasters has negotiated a special price from TrueSpectra for adult website operators for a limited time. Through April of 2003, TrueSpectra has agreed to offer its Image Server – Version 4.1, to adult Webmasters that reference this article at $5,000. This reflects a YNOTMasters volume discount of 50%! ***
TrueSpectra, Inc. is the leading provider of Dynamic Image Serving Software. TrueSpectra’s Image Server Software is available for Solaris 7 and 8, Windows 2000/NT/XP and Linux (Red Hat 7.3) and is available in two versions. Image Server Version 4.1, a production server appropriate for large websites, sells for $9,995 per dual CPU server, plus support. Image Server Developer Edition is a desktop version for developers and small websites that sells for $499 and can be purchased at www.truespectra.com. For more information please contact John at Johng@TrueSpectra.com.
Cool Piranha USA, Inc. is a leading content provider to the Adult market. Having used and benefited from TrueSpectra’s technology, it has launched Cool Piranha Adult Hosting to bring these and other advantages to Webmasters both big and small via dedicated and managed hosting solutions. For information and demonstrations please visit http://www.coolpiranha-hosting.com.
