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Image preview generation in Studio Server 10.27 or higher

Updated

Info: Performing the steps described in this article requires direct server access. Depending upon how your system is hosted and the level of access you have to that system, coordination may be required with your Partner or WoodWing Support team. For a full overview of the steps that need to be done by WoodWing and how to request them, see WoodWing Cloud - Change management.

Note: This article is aimed at Studio Server versions 10.27 and higher. For versions 10.26 and lower, see Image preview generation in Studio Server 10.26 or lower.

With the default configuration of Studio Server, ImageMagick is used for generating image previews for the following types of images:

  • AI
  • EPS
  • GIF
  • JPG
  • PDF
  • PNG
  • PSD
  • TIFF
  • WEBP

When Assets Server is integrated, image previews are generated by Assets Server (for supported file types), alternatively through an external processing engine.

In this article, the process of setting up Studio Server for generating image previews for the various formats is explained. It also explains how to set up image generation for additional image formats, such as HEIC and HEIF.

ImageMagick integration

Studio Server is shipped with an ‘ImageMagick Preview‘ Server plug-in that can be activated after installing ImageMagick and Ghostscript. The plug-in uses the ImageMagick and Ghostscript applications to generate previews from uploaded native files.

For some image formats (such as PDF, EPS, and Adobe Illustrator) ImageMagick invokes Ghostscript to render the preview. Both ImageMagick and Ghostscript applications are required by the ImageMagick Preview plug-in (see the Installation steps below):

When ImageMagick does not generate previews

When a client application uploads an image to Studio Server, it may provide the preview of the image as well. In such cases Studio Server will not request ImageMagick to generate the preview.

This could happen for example when creating a new image that was locally placed on an InDesign layout page.

When Studio Server is integrated with Assets Server, the image preview is generated by Assets Server. This is regardless whether the client application provides a preview while uploading an image. The uploaded preview will be ignored and the one generated by Assets will be used instead.

Support for HEIC and HEIF image formats

HEIC and HEIF image formats are not supported in Studio Server workflows that rely on InDesign Server.

While these formats may have worked in certain older or specific environments, support has always depended on operating system-level codecs. These codecs are not consistently available or supported in server environments, including Windows Server.

As a result, HEIC/HEIF files cannot be reliably processed in automated workflows such as preview or PDF generation. Jobs that include these formats may fail or cause instability during processing.

Recommendation

To ensure stable and supported workflows, convert HEIC/HEIF images to supported formats such as JPG, PNG, or TIFF before they are processed by Studio Server or InDesign Server.

This conversion should be performed as early as possible in the workflow, for example during upload or ingestion into Studio or Assets, or as part of a pre-processing step.

Customers can use commonly available tools such as Adobe Photoshop (batch actions or droplets), ImageMagick, or similar utilities to perform this conversion.

Studio Server and Assets do not automatically convert HEIC/HEIF files as part of standard processing. Any conversion should be implemented as part of the customer’s own workflow, tooling, or custom-built services/integrations.

Installation

Step 1. Install ImageMagick or Ghostscript.
(See ImageMagick integration or Ghostscript integration)

Step 2. Set Read & Write access rights to the Temp subdirectory of the ATTACHMENTDIRECTORY for the Web Server user:

  • Windows: “IUSR_<servername>”
  • Linux: “nobody”

Note: The ATTACHMENTDIRECTORY is specified in the config.php file (recommended: config_overrule.php file).

Step 3. Ensure that the Web Server user has execute access for the ImageMagick and Ghostscript executables ("convert" and "gs").

Step 4. Install the ImageMagick Preview Studio Server plug-in. (See About the ImageMagick Preview Server plug-in.)

Configuration

In this step, the file formats are configured for which ImageMagick needs to generate previews.

Step 1. (Optional) Apart from the pre-configured image formats, you can have ImageMagick generate previews for additional image formats by doing the following:

Step 1a. In the configserver.php file (or preferably the config_overrule.php file), locate the EXTENSIONMAP option and make sure that the file format for which you want ImageMagick to generate the preview for is listed.

Step 1b. Still in the configserver.php file (or preferably the config_overrule.php file), locate the IMAGEMAGICK_FORMATS option and add the file formats for which you want ImageMagick to generate previews. In case the option is already listed but prefixed with two slashes (//), remove those slashes to make the option active.

Step 1c. Save the file.

Step 2. On the Health Check page, run the ImageMagick test to validate the default or customized configuration.

The test will validate the image format added in the IMAGEMAGICK_FORMATS option. If any of the listed image formats are not supported by ImageMagick, the test will raise an error.

When an error is raised, do one of the following:

  • Remove the reported image format from the IMAGEMAGICK_FORMATS option if you do not plan to use it for your installation. Removing this option means that previews for this image format will not be available.
  • Add the reported image format module to the ImageMagick executable. This requires recompiling and reinstalling the ImageMagick binaries.

Step 3. Test the configuration by uploading an image to a Dossier in Studio. Check if the preview of the image is available by selecting the image and pressing the Spacebar.

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