Add a new cropping mode to keep the reference to the original image

[qborisb]

We would really appreciate one extra feature to the image editor. Let me show you how it would work by the following example 😄

In the image editing modal, we want to add a new option called Create New Image:

If you check it and save the changes, a new image (crop) will be created on the disk while keeping a reference to the original image and the crop coordinates. If the crop was created within the settings of an item, then the item would now need to have a relationship with the crop, not the original image.

Then, when you want to edit the image again, the image editor will recognize that it is a crop referencing a certain original image. This original image will be used for cropping, while the crop will be used as a frame that will get automatically drawn when the modal gets open:

Importantly, when the Create New Image checkbox remains unchecked, the behaviour of the image editor is then unchanged from what is currently implemented in Directus.

The following video will better illustrate the feature we have in our mind:

feature_demonstration.mp4

[rijkvanzanten]

What is the "top level" use case for this? Is it to select the vocal focus point in an image for use?

[dvic]

What is the "top level" use case for this? Is it to select the vocal focus point in an image for use?

In addition to what @qborisb mentioned below: usually we have clients that have some sort of "master" photo of an item from which various crops are made for different ui elements (slides in a slideshow, banner images, etc.). So the usecase here is also to have to original present in the media library without having to upload it again (because each crop is a separate image).

[dvic]

this opens up new possibilities for directus (e.g., to have the media library to be more of a digital asset management kind of thing)

[qborisb]

@rijkvanzanten no, the use case would be to simplify re-editing images. If crops keep the reference to the original image, it makes it much easier to adjust them again relative to the original whenever users want to make slight changes to them.

[qborisb]

@rijkvanzanten so, what do you think about implementing this feature? Can we schedule a short meeting to discuss it? I can show a demo of how it would look like!

[rijkvanzanten]

I'd love to discuss it more! From the points above, it definitely sounds like the initial design goal would be a (re)configurable vocal point which is stored on the file metadata, and can be edited after the fact. The API would then automatically use this vocal point as the center point in its various cropping operations (which can then be overridden in another query param). I do think that the actual cropping sizes etc are better of controlled through the API still, but happy to keep discussing that too. @benhaynes thoughts on everything above?

[benhaynes]

I really like the idea of adding focal point coordinate metadata to the file library. It seems pretty straightforward to get this added, but I wouldn't say trivial. One thing to figure out would be how to regenerate existing thumbnails if the focal point changes later on. Would love to work on a design for this when we're ready.

I'd be happy to hop on a call to discuss, I'm also curious if this is something you or your company is looking to sponsor or submit a pull request for. Just to set expectations, our engineering team is pretty maxed out at the moment, and so even if approved our core team wouldn't get to this for a bit.

Also, we might want to pull this into a separate GitHub discussion, I thought there was a focal point one somewhere. This seems related but different to the aspect ratio topic above.

[janwillemvd]

Hi @benhaynes, I'm a co-worker of @qborisb and @dvic.

I'd be happy to hop on a call to discuss, I'm also curious if this is something you or your company is looking to sponsor or submit a pull request for.

Yes, definitely! We'd love to submit a PR request for this :) In fact, we have a proof of concept ready to demonstrate the idea. We agree with you it's relatively straightforward to add this, but not trivial and we should make sure we're on the same page ;)

Maybe we can already schedule a call to discuss it / show the proof of concept?

[benhaynes]

Absolutely. Are you on our Discord? If you DM there I will give you my calendly link and we can coordinate a chat (with Rijk).

https://directus.chat

[rijkvanzanten]

Heya! Thank you for taking the time to submit this request!

It has been over 90 days, and this discussion has not received at least 15 votes from the community. This means that we don't feel like there's enough community interest to warrant further R&D into this topic at this time. 🧊

This request will now be closed to keep our discussions tidy. Please reach out if you have any questions!

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