Showing watermarks on images in Elvis 5

Info: This feature requires Elvis 5 Server version 5.13 or higher, the Desktop client for Elvis 5.13 or higher and the Pro client and Brand portal of Elvis 5.13 or higher.

Adding a watermark to your images is an essential part of protecting the ownership of your images, especially when these are made available on the Internet.

Using Elvis 5, a watermark can be made to appear in the thumbnails, previews and downloads of images.

Figure: The default watermark shown on image thumbnails.

Figure: The default watermark shown on an image preview.

How it works

The basics of this feature is as follows:

• Showing a watermark is done for images only and is by default turned off in Elvis.
• A watermark is never added to the original file.
• A user is under no circumstances able to remove a watermark.

When enabling watermarking, it can be configured as follows:

Configuration 1:

In this configuration, the feature works as follows:

• A watermark is applied to an image on all levels: in the thumbnail, the preview, and the download of the image. This includes images that are shared.

• All users of Elvis will see a watermark on all images, except when:
• The user is an Admin user (with the role of Super User).
• The images are located in the private folder of a user.
• A Rule has been set up for a user or user group that determines that for a particular group of images, no watermark is shown.

• When an image does not have a watermark applied (see above), a watermark can optionally be added when sharing the image. (This feature is only available in the Elvis Pro client.)

Configuration 2:

In this configuration, the feature works as follows:

• No watermark is applied to any image for any user. This includes images that are shared.

• When an image is shared and a watermark needs to be added, this can be optionally enabled. (This feature is only available in the Elvis Pro client.)

Using original versions of images with watermarks

When a user is not allowed to see an image without a watermark, that user is also not allowed to download the original of that image (because that original does not contain the watermark).

The same is true for sharing images with a watermark: for such images the option 'download originals' cannot be set.

Watermarks and sharing images

When an image is shown with a watermark it can only be shared as an image with a watermark.

For images that do not show a watermark, a watermark can optionally be added when creating the Share Link. (This feature is only available in the Elvis Pro client.)

When sharing images with a watermark, the option 'download originals' cannot be used.

About the watermark

Watermarks are placed in the center of an image. A default watermark is provided which can be replaced by a custom image.

Configuration

Enabling the watermarking feature consists of the following steps:

1. Configuring Elvis Server
2. (Optional) Setting up Rules to exclude users or user groups from seeing the watermark in Elvis
3. (Optional) Customizing the watermark image
4. (Optional) Updating height and width dimensions for existing images

1. Configuring Elvis Server

Set the following option:

• File: cluster-config.properties.txt
• Option: watermarks.enabled
• Possible values:
• true. (See Configuration 1 in 'How it works' above) A watermark is shown for all images (including those that are shared) and for all users. However, exceptions exist. For these exceptions, a watermark can optionally be added when the images are shared with the Elvis Pro Client.
• shareLinksOnly. (See Configuration 2 in 'How it works' above) No watermark is applied to any image for any user. A watermark can optionally be added when the images are shared with the Elvis Pro Client.
• false. Watermarking is hidden and not applied but can be requested by using special URLs.
• Example:

watermarks.enabled=shareLinksOnly

2. (Optional) Allowing users to see images without a watermark

When the watermarks.enabled setting is set to 'true' (see above), all Elvis users will see a watermark on all images (except for images in the private folder of a user, or for users with the role of 'Super user').

Users can be given permission to see certain images without a watermark by setting up Rules.

Example: This can be a group of images in a particular location or images with a particular metadata property such as a status or tag.

Do this by setting up a Rule and assigning it to a user or a user group. When assigning the Rule, set the permission named 'Hide watermarks'.

For information about setting up Rules and assigning them to users, see Controlling user access to folders and assets in Elvis 5.

3. (Optional) Customizing the watermark image

A default image named 'watermark.png' is available in the config folder of Elvis Server.

Replacing the default image

To use your own watermark image, replace it with a file that has the exact same name.

To implement the new image, restart Elvis Server.

Updating images that show the previous watermark

To update the previews and thumbnails of images that still show the replaced watermark, do the following:

Step 1. In the Asset Processing tool, run the process named Regenerate thumbnails and previews.

Step 2. (Optional, for users of Web clients only) Clear cached images in the Web browser.

4. (Optional) Updating height and width dimensions for existing images

When upgrading Elvis 5 from a version that is older than Elvis 5.13, images in BMP and EPS format may miss height and width dimensions. These dimensions are used by Elvis to position the watermark. These images therefore need to be updated.

Do this by using the Asset Processing tool:

Step 1. Enable the option Re-extract metadata from files.

Step 2. In the Filter query text box, add the following:

extension:"bmp" OR extension:"eps"

Step 3. Click Start processing.

Document History

• 5 December 2018: Updated step 1 in section 3 'Customizing the watermark image'.
• 5 December 2018: Updated the steps in section 4 'Updating height and width dimensions for existing images'.