Since version 2.4.0.0, Photobone Studio allows creating mosaics, which consist of individual photos taken during an event, together forming another image, specified by the operator. In this article you can find the documentation of this new module.

Mosaic can be created in two ways:

• The mosaic is created from the photos after the event, then it can be printed/exported as a whole.
• The mosaic is constructed progressively during the event. Mosaic pieces are created as individual photos are captured. When there’s enough pieces to fill the paper, the mosaic part is printed. There is a paper with a pre-printed grid the parts are glued on, slowly forming the picture of the mosaic. The raster grid can be generated directly in the application using the “Generate underlay raster” button on the “Mosaic” screen.

Mosaic configuration

There is a new “Mosaic” tab on the operator screen. The first step is always configuring the mosaic for the current project. Mosaic configuration can be opened by the “Mosaic settings” button.

The essential steps are selecting the base image and configuring the size of the mosaic. There are several standard sizes available, you can also set up your own dimensions.

Tile count and size, printer

The software automatically chooses the tile count so that the individual tile size is 5 × 5 cm. Unchecking “Automatically” under the “Total tile count” field allows configuring custom tile count and thus custom tile size (tile size is calculated as whole mosaic dimensions divided by tile count).

The tiles can have arbitrary aspect ratio, they don’t have to be squares. If you print the tiles en situ with a photo printer, the tile count will probably not precisely match the photo paper size. Therefore there will be a white border around the tiles on the paper that needs to be cut off.

The “Printer” field works in a similar way to configuring printers for templates (see Multi printer support). The “Automatically” option will adhere to the default printer and parallel printing settings. If you select another option, the mosaic tiles will always be sent to the specified printer (this allows you to have a special printer just for mosaic tiles).

Advanced settings

The “Advanced settings” tab allows you to further personalise the mosaic:

• Linear filtering: With this option active, there will be no sharp pixel borders visible for the base image. Instead there will be smooth gradients between the pixels.

• Adjacent tiles on the paper: With this option active, the print data is constructed in such way so that tiles printed next to each other on the paper are also adjacent on the mosaic. As a consequence, the individual tiles don’t need to be cut from the paper, but the whole paper containing multiple tiles can be used as a part of the mosaic. In the opposite case, the tiles are placed randomly on the paper and the paper needs to be cut to the individual pieces.
• Show label with position of the tiles: With this option active, each tile contains a label describing its location in the mosaic in the right bottom corner. ¨
• Random tile numbering: With this option active, the tile positions are generated randomly (1 is not next to 2 etc.). With this option inactive, each tile contains precise information about the row and column it belongs to (for example A-1), which makes it very easy to locate the correct spot for the tile on the base grid.

• Print tiles on the fly: Prints the tiles as soon as there is enough unprinted pieces to fill the paper. If this option is not checked, tiles have to be printed manually from the Mosaic screen.
• Only include one photo from a collage: If a collage consists of multiple photos, all photos from the collage are used by default. You can enable this option if you use multi-photo collages and you don’t want to have too many potentially similar photos on the mosaic.
• Do not include photos from unprinted collages: With this option active, only photos from collages that have been at least once printed are added to the mosaic.

Mosaic modes

Mosaic mode determines how the photos of the individual tiles are combined with the mosaic base image:

• Base image as background, keyed photos over it: In this mode, only photos are used from the original collages (background selection is ignored). The keyed photo is placed directly over the base image background.

• Adjust photo colors based on base image: This mode blends the photo with the base image.

Both modes can be further personalized:

Personalising the “Base image as background, keyed photos over it” mode

The “Base image as background, keyed photos over it” works similar to a standard photo environment: the foreground is the keyed photo, the background is part of the mosaic base image. Therefore this mosaic mode can be based of any photo environment in your software. You can also create a new, inactive (hidden for customers) environment specifically for this mode.

The original background image for the environment does not matter, because it will be replaced by the mosaic base image. However all filters and layers of the environment will be applied on the mosaic photo and base image. You can for example use the following effects:

• Transparency for making the photo transparent, so the mosaic base image can be seen through it.
• Black and white/tint for artistic effect.

To select the photo environment to be used as the mosaic mode, go to “Environments → Details” and press the “Use for mosaic” button.

Personalizing the “Adjust photo colors based on base image” mode

The “Adjust photo colors based on base image” mode can be personalized directly in the mosaic settings dialog. After selecting this mode, the “Effect settings” button appers under the mdoe selection.

Mosaic management

After configuring the mosaic, the “Mosaic” screen displays the preview of the mosaic and makes mosaic management tools available.

If the mosaic tiles are to be printed on the fly during the event and glued on the base paper, it is recommended to prepare a base raster grid beforehand. This can be done using the “Create underlay raster” button.

¨

The mosaic preview will be fully grayed out at the beginning. During the event, individual tiles will be showing up. If a tile is tinted blue, it

Náhled mozaiky bude zpočátku zcela zašedlý, v průběhu akce se v něm budou zobrazovat jednotlivé dílky. If a part is highlighted in blue, it means that it has not yet been printed (either continuous printing is deactivated or the paper is not fully filled yet). It is possible to hide the grid and highlights using the “Hide grid” button on the top left.

Mosaic corrections

The mosaic can be further managed. If for example there was not enough photos taken during the event to fill the whole mosaic, the remaining pieces can be filled in using the “Fill missing tiles” button located on the right panel. Individual tiles can be selected and removed using the “Delete selected” on the top panel and potentially further replaced with a different photo.

It is also possible to fill in the mosaic using hand picked photos. On the “History” and “Photos” screens, you can simply select the photos/collages you want to use and then execute the “Add to mosaic” action (can be hidden under the “Action” menu button).

Mosaic export

You can also print all remaining unprinted pieces using the “Print unprinted tiles” button. The mosaic can also be exported in the JPG format using the “Export mosaic” button.