[frater]

Sometimes it is needed to clip an image which has a "portrait aspect ratio" to a "landscape" one. Clipping is then done evenly on the bottom and top part.
I guess this clipping is being done by a library function in XBMC (alas, I'm not a skinner). This "even clipping" results in chopped off heads on most pictures as they quite typically contain a person or a few persons.

This may be solved if this library-function accepts an extra parameter which instructs it to only cut the lower part (or maybe 10/90?).

Could some skinner please tell me if this is indeed a library function in XBMC and there is no way to do this themselves?

[z][ggy]

strange maybe it's just the pics i use but never had that problem with any of my pics

[Hitcher]

If you're talking about the Multiplex TV view then portraits aren't even mean to be used.

[frater]

If you're talking about the Multiplex TV view then portraits aren't even mean to be used.

I understand that it's the "fault" of the skinner to put a "portrait picture" into a "landscape frame". But if (some of) the thumbnails he has to work with are that way and still wants them cut instead of scaling them in and get ugly borders, or stretching them he could still use this alternate way of displaying them in his frame.

I even think that doing a little bit of everything (minimal stretching, cutting a little bit of the top, some more at the bottom and maybe some small black borders) gives the best result.

Cutting evenly will give you almost always an ugly picture.

It should be seen as "doing the best we can with the pictures we have to work with"

[azido]

If you're talking about the Multiplex TV view then portraits aren't even mean to be used.

i tend to use your picard picture here since i already told him there is no function in xbmc or a skin to make a portrait image look good when thrown into a landscape formatted image control. though it might be interesting to have a "real time" crop instruction like <cropping>top/middle/bottom>/cropping> here, this would also mean you have to tell the image control it has to deal with the fact a user might throw a portrait (poster) image in here.

this would mean you need to have the control to get the image dimensions for every single image and upon that decide what to do with it - else it would crop every image, regardless of it's given dimensions.

a waste of code in my opinion, since the better solution already exists: switch between 2 different image controls based on the condition of how it should be displayed onscreen and scale every image to the given width/height of it's position.

[frater]

i tend to use your picard picture here since i already told him there is no function in xbmc or a skin to make a portrait image look good when thrown into a landscape formatted image control.

I fully understood that, so I was thinking of an enhancement...

this would mean you need to have the control to get the image dimensions for every single image and upon that decide what to do with it - else it would crop every image, regardless of it's given dimensions.

Besides additional coding, this can be done without any speed-impact. Cutting a big chunk from the bottom is as fast as cutting an even chunk from the top and bottom.

a waste of code in my opinion, since the better solution already exists: switch between 2 different image controls based on the condition of how it should be displayed onscreen and scale every image to the given width/height of it's position.

If what you're saying means.... For Show A you have portrait pictures, so we will have portrait frames and for show B we have all landscape pictures so we use landscape frames.... I agree. I just don't see this being done at the moment.

[azido]

If what you're saying means.... For Show A you have portrait pictures, so we will have portrait frames and for show B we have all landscape pictures so we use landscape frames.... I agree. I just don't see this being done at the moment.

no, i mean like the user has to decide which view he likes in general and then have to supply the appropiate pictures for all of the shows.

there is by the way no reason why you couldn't trim down your given portrait images by yourself to your liking so they would fit perfectly on a landscape-based image control.

obviously you are just too lazy to do that

i see your point in convenience, but i don't believe a skinner or the devs will follow you here.

Besides additional coding, this can be done without any speed-impact. Cutting a big chunk from the bottom is as fast as cutting an even chunk from the top and bottom.

i'm not talking about speed considerations. i'm talking about the fact you need to extend the image control to make the decisions a user should do. this kinda needs some a.i., doesn't it? i mean how should it be aware of the situation we have a portrait with faces (replace that with "main spot" to make it more general) in the middle, another one have them on the upper area, the next one shows two people that lay down on the bottom i guess you get me here. there is no general rule telling us a portrait image always has it's main focus on top (and only there).

[frater]

no, i mean like the user has to decide which view he likes in general and then have to supply the appropiate pictures for all of the shows.

Those pictures are being scraped by XBMC from, for instance, thetvdb.com. AFAIK they are either banners or posters.

there is by the way no reason why you couldn't trim down your given portrait images by yourself to your liking so they would fit perfectly on a landscape-based image control.

obviously you are just too lazy to do that

What a strange remark....
I'm not implying anyone else is lazy because they are not flying with a camera to all those TV-studios, taking a picture and photoshopping them until they fit. You are using scrapers yourself aren't you?

i see your point in convenience, but i don't believe a skinner or the devs will follow you here.

Well, that's too bad then. As I'm not a skinner myself there's not really a point to ask for such a feature....

i'm not talking about speed considerations. i'm talking about the fact you need to extend the image control to make the decisions a user should do. this kinda needs some a.i., doesn't it?

The decision to change the image is already being made now. You are telling the system to put a portrait picture into a landscape frame. To keep its aspect ratio it needs to put (black) banners at each side or crop the image. I'm just proposing that this cutting is done only (or mostly) from the bottom.

i mean how should it be aware of the situation we have a portrait with faces (replace that with "main spot" to make it more general) in the middle, another one have them on the upper area, the next one shows two people that lay down on the bottom i guess you get me here. there is no general rule telling us a portrait image always has it's main focus on top (and only there).

Well, in fact there IS a general rule and that same rule now makes more than 9 out of 10 are becoming something-one-doesn't-want. Cutting only or mostly from the bottom would make almost all pictures into something-you-do-want. Just a pragmatic approach to a given situation. a.i. doesn't come in, just common sense....

i mean how should it be aware of the situation we have a portrait with faces (replace that with "main spot" to make it more general) in the middle, another one have them on the upper area, the next one shows two people that lay down on the bottom

You are talking about a "portrait" with a couple laying down on the bottom? Not very likely to see such a picture on thetvdb. Do you think such a picture would look good if you cut both the bottom and the top?

[jbor613]

Scrapers are for general pictures and info - if you want more specific results, it's really not too hard to modify them yourself. I go to thetvdb.com, gram the poster thumbs, and then throw them into photoshop. Adjust the dimensions, crop to your liking, and viola!
That's what I do for my Season Thumbs - For the Show thumbs, I grab some fanart, because those have the same dimensions