Need help on image graphics design

[sue_melbourne]

One of my client requires to place over 2000 of images of all customizing product services they offer or done in the past, these are going to be thumbnails to larger view display files. Client' doesn't want images to get copied, can anyone suggest if there is any option to water mark images automatically on clicking for a larger view? and a search database for images? Appreciate help received.

[Robert Wellock]

I heard PhotoShop could do that with the Batch commands.

[simplygraphix]

Hi Sue, There are a few ways to do this:
1. If you are really serious about watermarking, register first for a "creator ID" at Digimarc Corporation (http://www.digimarc.com/register/). I guess there would be other companies but I am not sure.
Once that is done, save all images (assuming they are JPGs or GIFs) with the details. For example, Paint Shop Pro (PSP version 8 or 9) allows you to embed a watermark on images (Go to Images -> Watermarking -> Embed Watermark). PhotoShop would surely have a similar feature... check its Help menu.
But comaing back to PSP, you can store various details with the image such as copyright information, attributes (Restricted use, Do not copy, Adult content), watermark visibility.

2. If you want to do this cheaply (!), take a look at how to add a watermark to images (http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/tips/graphics/adding_a_watermark_to_images.php3). You can also feed the steps mentioned in this article into a batch program. Note the steps would vary depending on the graphics editor you use.

Hope this helps.

M

[simplygraphix]

Sue, a followup on your post:

> any option to water mark images automatically on clicking for a larger view
You can use PHP (or another client language) to read the image file and then put some small text on it as a watermark. So you can use imagefilledrectangle() PHP function and place some copyright text inside the rectangle.

> a search database for images
There are several ways you can go about this depending on server configuration and your expertise (and, obviously, the amount the client is ready to dish out)
a. Have descriptive image names. Store then in a JavaScript array (http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/tutorials/javascript/javascript_arrays.php3) (this can be placed in an external .js file). Create a small search form, that searches *inside* the image file names: This is a down and dirty method, but quite easy (surely time consuming for 2000 images). Here is my JavaScript tutorial - free (http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/tutorials/javascript/index.php3) !
b. Apply the same logic as per naming the image files but now use PHP to look for the *search query* in the file name. So your PHP script should first get the visitor input (the search query), go to the directory in which you store all these images (with their descriptive file names) and then check these files names for the search query.
c. Employ MySQL database and PHP. The MySQL database has the image file names (no need for then to be descriptive) in one column and the "keywords" associated with that image in the next column. Then use PHP to first get visitor search query, run through this MySQL database and finally display the search results. I have doen this kind of thing a few times for clients and it works very well. The PHP scripts that I created even have an "Admin" tool via which the client can upload their images and assign keywords to them. If you are interested more in SQL check the Free SQL Tutorial (http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/tutorials/sql/).

Obviously, you can use any server-side language instead of PHP and the same goes for a database application.
There are other ways you can go about this, but I guess one of the above should work for you.

M