topic Re: Adobe file format transformation support in Alfresco Archive

Adobe file format transformation support

manders — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:33:47 GMT

From what I've gathered:Alfresco uses ImageMagick to handle image transformationsImageMagick handles PSD (Photoshop) and EPS (Illustrator PostScript) formatsYet Alfresco does not have built-in support for converting from PSD and EPS to more basic, web-ready formats (JPG, PNG). In fact, the PSD mime-

Re: Adobe file format transformation support

mrogers — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 19:53:13 GMT

First question last, you can plug in different content transformers to Alfresco, its easy to extend. Its just a case of providing a transformer and then telling alfresco which formats it can convert.

http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Content_Transformations

Since image magic does appear to support PSD files, Getting support for PSD files could be as simple as a couple of configuration changes. Give it a try and see what happens.

Re: Adobe file format transformation support

jottley — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:01:43 GMT

Both of these transformations are quite easy to achieve in Alfresco. As you noted ImageMagick supports both of these filetypes. The key is configuring Alfresco to know about them. This is accomplished by adding the appropriate image/* mimetype. Alfresco's image transformation service will reject any content that is not of mimetype image/*. Once you have added the appropriate mimetypes and restarted Alfresco you will be able to convert both psd and eps images to gif, JPEG or png. A couple of notes: any content already in the repository before the mimetype change will require you to update it to the new mimetype. They won't automatically be changed. A simple script can do this for you. The other note is psd specific: you must pass the -flatten option to merge all visible layers down to a single layer for appropriate transformation. If you want to create animated gif files, don't pass -flatten. Each visible layer will then be used as part of the animation.

Re: Adobe file format transformation support

manders — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:31:34 GMT

Thanks for your help. I'll try to implement this in our Labs test install ASAP.

I had seen the Content Transformations wiki page. I assume we're talking about a runtime transformation then? As in, no actual Java code needs to be written to define the transformation?

Two quick follow-up questions:

Is it possible to override the image transformer such that mime-type image/* is executed with one set of options, but image/photoshop is executed with a different set (in this case, -flatten)?

Is there a specific reason Alfresco (Labs?) does not provide transformations and mime-types for these pretty common formats out of the box, if the addition is so trivial? Seeing how Alfresco and Adobe recently became technology partners, and the obvious benefit of using content management products in creative workflows, I would've thought these formats would be high on the priority list.

Re: Adobe file format transformation support

jottley — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:40:30 GMT

I had seen the Content Transformations wiki page. I assume we're talking about a runtime transformation then? As in, no actual Java code needs to be written to define the transformation?

Correct. No Java code needed to implement this.

* Is it possible to override the image transformer such that mime-type image/* is executed with one set of options, but image/photoshop is executed with a different set (in this case, -flatten)?

Yes. The options are to write a custom transformer or extended the existing transformer to handle the the specific cases for PSD images. Or you can handle this through the rules engine (no coding, just specific space applications/rules).

Re: Adobe file format transformation support

dmatejka — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:53:03 GMT

hi manders,
Im also interested in using alfresco with adobe products.. the psd was one of the questions I have run into.. the other is using indesign files via CIFS.. as indesign links can be only to local drive it is essetial if we want to use alfresco and indesign together in the workflow..

Unfortunatelly it seems that indesign has a big problem with alfresco handling of his temporary file. We were trying to find some workaround but no luck.. Any success on your side??

Anyway, if you have a luck with psd transformation please let us know.. that would be very nice feature to have..

thank you

Re: Adobe file format transformation support

erictice — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:34:30 GMT

I have the same question regarding the indesign links issue. I noticed the last post on this was in April of last year. Has a solution been found since?

Thank you