Showing watermarks on images stored in Assets Server

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.

Examples: A watermark can: Indicate the source of the images. Indicate that the use of an image is under embargo. Prevent proper use of an image until it is purchased.

Using Assets Server, 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.
• A watermark is never added to the original file.
• A user is under no circumstances able to remove a watermark.
• The way the watermark looks can be configured.

When enabling watermarking, the functionality can be configured as follows:

Configuration 1: A watermark is shown at all times, except under specific conditions.

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 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 Assets.)

Configuration 2: A watermark is never shown, but can be added when sharing images.

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 Assets.)

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 Assets.)

When sharing images with a watermark, the option 'download originals' cannot be used (because that original does not contain the watermark).

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.

Configuring the functionality

In this step, the functionality as explained in 'How it works' is configured: the conditions when a watermark is applied and which users are affected by it.

Enabling the watermarking feature consists of the following steps:

1. Configuring Assets Server
2. (Optional) Setting up Rules to exclude users or user groups from seeing the watermark in Elvis

1. Configuring Assets 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 Assets.

• 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 Assets.

• false. Watermarking is hidden and not applied but can be requested through the Preview API by adding _watermarked_true to the URL.

Example: http://demo.assets-server.com/preview/5LMAQTW9qfhANn7f6JJVpl/previews/maxWidth_1600_maxHeight_1600_watermarked_true.jpg

• 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 files in Assets Server.

Note: The permission 'Hide watermarks' is directly linked to the permission 'use original': When 'Hide watermarks' is not set, 'Use original' can also not be set. This is because the original image does not contain the watermark and the user should therefore not have access to that image. When 'Hide watermarks' is set, 'use original' can also be set.

Customizing the watermark

In this step, the way the watermark looks is configured.

Default image

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

Replacing the default image

Info: Performing the described step 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.

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

To implement the new image, restart Assets Server.

Changing the size

Info: This feature is available for Assets Server 6.61 and higher. For lower versions, the size of the watermark is set to 20% of the image size and cannot be configured.

Watermarks will be in the center of the image and scaled to the width or height multiplied by the scaleFactor, relative to the largest of the two dimensions.

To change the size of the watermark, set the following option:

• File: cluster-config.properties.txt
• Option: watermarks.scaleFactor
• Possible values:
• 1. The watermark fits exactly within the image, touching at least 2 opposite sides of the image.
• A number between 0 and 1. This leaves room around the watermark; lower values means a smaller watermark.
• A number above 1. Part of the watermark will be rendered invisible outside of the image bounds. On Linux and Windows the watermark will still be centered, on macOS it will be placed on the left and/or top edge of the image.

Note: 0 is not a valid value; set watermarks.enabled to false instead.

• Example:

watermarks.scaleFactor=0.2

Changing the opacity

Info: This feature is available for Assets Server 6.61 and higher and only applies to processing on Linux or Windows.

To change the opacity of the watermark, set the following option:

• File: cluster-config.properties.txt
• Option: watermarks.opacity
• Possible values: a number between 0 and 1 (0 is fully transparent, 1 is no transparency).

Note: Changing this option requires a restart of Assets Server to take affect.

• Example:

watermarks.opacity=0.7

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. Clear cached images in the Web browser in which Assets or the Brand portal is used.