SlideShowPro News

09.22.07 | New in Director 1.1: "Focal Point"

We didn't plan on adding any new features this late in the beta testing game, and lord knows if we were a corporation with layers of management we never would have been able to do this. But since we're small and can rapidly prototype, test, and deploy, we can build something in the time it takes a project manager to draft a requirements document.

Alright, so what's the new feature?

Over the course of beta testing (and honestly before) we've been asked by photographers if it's possible to choose an area of a photo to use whenever it requires cropping. Currently, whenever an image requires cropping for the thumbnail navigation, an album preview, or when used as slideshow content with "Content Scale" set to "Crop to Fit," the image is proportionally scaled to fill the space it's loaded into, then cropped in the center. But what if you had a bunch of portraits, with the subject's head at the top of the image? All your subjects would be cut off.

So we started kicking around ideas. Add a parameter to SlideShowPro? That didn't make sense, cause you'd need an extra setting anywhere an image appears. Add to Director a Photoshop-like marquee tool to drag over an image to select an area? Better, but a bit cumbersome. Add to Director a drop-down to select a predefined quadrant (top left, bottom right...)? Easier, but not optimal for times where a subject is positioned somewhere inbetween those areas.

Then Brad came up with the best idea of all -- why not "point" at the area you want? Like you would with a camera?

So we added a "focal point" utility to the edit pane for each image. When clicked, a camera viewfinder-like graphic appears for you to click, hold, and drag to where your subject is. For example, if it were a portrait, you'd drag it near their face. And presto -- anytime that image is requested and a crop needs to be made, Director will maintain the assigned focal point to ensure that the subject is always in view.

We didn't plan on making this part of 1.1, but it worked too well not to. Want to see it in action? Check out this quick video that shows an image's focal point changing from the center to the top-center. Director then generates a new internal-thumbnail for that image, and will use that same focal point whenever SlideShowPro requests a cropped version. We think this will come in very handy for a lot of photographers out there.