Image manipulation action in Ultimate Forms

Hi,

We are happy to announce a new addition to the Actions component of Ultimate Forms: Edit Images action type. Using this action type, you can easily automate image manipulation in your lists and document libraries. We support the following operations:

• Resize - change the image to dynamically specified dimensions, optionally preserving proportions
• Crop - cut out the important part out of the image, using dynamically specified position and size
• Rotate - rotate the image using dynamically specified angle
• Flip - flip vertically or horizontally
• Straighten - automatically identify potential vertical lines and rotate the image accordingly
• Adjust - change brightness, contrast and color gamma
• Grayscale - remove color from image
• Sharpen - automatically sharpen the image
• Smoothen - remove small details for a smoother image
• Blur - use Gaussian blur algorithm on the image
• Change background color - automatically detect background and replace it with a provided color
• Watermark - automatically add dynamically specified text inside the image (the rest of the blog demoes this process)
• Add logo - embed the specified logo image inside the main image

You can run the action on both list item attachments and images in image/document library. The resulting image can then replace the original, be placed beside the original or uploaded to a library of your choosing (including dynamically determined site/list). You can also choose to save the image in a variety of formats, including all major image formats, as well as HTML, PDF, AutoCAD, etc.

In my demo, I will use a combination of image file and a Location column in its properties. Once the location is found on the map and set, the action is triggered.

It will then create a full address from the location and embed it in the top left corner of the image. The updated image will then replace the original one.

So all we need to do is create a new action that runs on Edit and monitors changes to the Location column. Once that is filled, the action embeds the address inside the image.

1. Create a new Edit images action. The important parts here are the action type and the event type.
   
2. Under Conditions add "after change" condition that checks the Location column and makes sure it's not empty. The "after change" setting ensures that the action is only triggered when the value is actually changed.
   
3. Now the interesting part. Under Action settings specify what the action should actually do.
   
   
   1. First of all, under Affected items it says ID=[ID], that makes it run on the current item (the item that triggered the action).
   2. Target is set to Replace, the new image will replace the old one.
   3. Under Text I assembled the full address out of the various subproperties of the Location column.
   4. Then I specified font and location properties. I also chose to leave the image in its original format (not shown).
4. Save the action.
5. Upload an image, open its properties and set location. In about a minute the image will be automatically updated to include the address.

Enjoy!