Scene Editor

You can add up to 6 background images. These images are the scene that your signs show on.

You choose where the images show. Select Enable Preview Images to show them on the visualiser. Select Enable Review Screen Images to show them on the Review screen. You can select both.

Follow these steps to add background images to your customiser:

1. In the admin, click Customisers.

2. Click the customiser that you want to edit.

3. In the left-hand menu, click Features → Scene Editor - Background Images.

4. Select at least one screen for the background images.

   

5. Click Add image. Upload your background images or drag them into the upload area.

6. Click Save.

Let customers upload their own background

Select Enable Preview Images. The option Allow customers to upload background images then shows below it. Select this option to let customers use their own photo as the background on the visualiser. To change the text on the upload button, edit Upload Background.

When a customer uploads a photo, a window asks for the real width and height of the scene in the photo. The default title of the window is “Relative Scale”. The customer must enter both the width and the height, or leave both fields blank. If both fields are blank, the visualiser does not scale the sign to a real scene. If Scale visualisation with size is cleared, the visualiser uses the usual fit. If it is selected, the sign still changes size with the size that the customer chooses. On a legacy plan, the window does not show.

The product image does not use the photo of the customer. For the full steps, see Upload background images.

How to scale the visualiser with your background

You can enter the real width of a background image that you upload. You can also save its height. The width controls the scale.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Features → Drag, Scale, Rotate.

2. Clear Enable Dragging, Enable Scaling and Enable Rotation. Then click Save. While one of these options is selected, you cannot select Scale visualisation with size.

3. Click Features → Scene Editor - Background Images.

4. Select Enable Preview Images or Enable Review Screen Images.

5. In Visualiser Scaling, select Scale visualisation with size.

6. In Manage Images, find each image under Existing Files. In the Scene size line, enter the real width of the scene in the first box. You can also enter the real height in the second box. The boxes use the measurement unit of your Store, centimetres or inches.

7. Click Save.

If an image has no saved positive width, the visualiser does not scale the sign to a real scene. The sign still changes size with the size that the customer chooses.

For example, a background that represents 300 cm by 300 cm makes an 80 cm sign appear at the correct relative size.

Likewise, a 120 cm sign on the same background appears larger, because it fills more of the 300 cm scene:

When Scale visualisation with size is selected and Drag, Scale, Rotate is off, Visualiser Scaling shows five text fields for the upload window:

• Scale modal title

• Scale modal description

• Scale modal continue button

• Scale modal cancel button

• Scale modal error text

Use these fields to change the text in that window.

Scale visualisation with size and Use the selected background in the product image need a current plan. On a legacy plan, the admin shows an upgrade message. You cannot change these options.

Set the default background size

You can set the real size of the built-in blue/grey background. This setting does not apply to an uploaded background.

The fields show only when all these conditions are true:

• Enable Preview Images or Enable Review Screen Images is selected.

• Display default blue/gray background image is selected.

• Scale visualisation with size is selected.

• Drag, Scale, Rotate is off.

Follow these steps to set the default background size:

1. Click Features → Scene Editor - Background Images.

2. Enter a positive value in Default background width (cm). If your Store uses inches, the label shows (in).

3. If needed, enter a value in Default background height (cm).

4. Click Save.

If you did not save a value, the field is blank and shows a placeholder. The placeholder is a recommended 300 cm, in the measurement unit of your Store. For example, a Store that uses inches shows 118.11 in. The placeholder does not set a size.

The width controls proportional scaling. The height is stored, but it does not control the scale ratio.

After you save a positive width, the built-in background scales the sign on the visualiser and the Review screen. If you leave the width blank, the visualiser does not scale the sign to a real scene. The sign still changes size with the size that the customer chooses. For more detail, see Set a real size for the built-in background and use scenes in product images.

Use the selected background in the product image

Select Use the selected background in the product image in Visualiser Scaling.

When this option is selected and the customiser is eligible, the product image for the cart and the order uses the selected background from your list. If the background has a positive real width, the image scales the sign against that width. For more detail, see Set a real size for the built-in background and use scenes in product images.

If the background has no positive width, the image uses the usual fit. If the selected background is the built-in blue/grey background, the image uses the flat visualisation background colour of the colour scheme.

This option needs Scale visualisation with size. Drag, Scale, Rotate must be off. A background that the customer uploaded is not eligible.

This option does not apply to lightbox customisers. A lightbox customiser uses Main Product Image when you configure it. If you do not configure a Main Product Image, the existing demonstration image is used.

When this option is cleared, the product image uses Main Product Image when you configure it. If you do not configure a Main Product Image, the existing demonstration image is used.

Show the Real size view

Visualiser Scaling also has the option Show Real size view. This option adds a Design | Real size switch to the visualiser.

The Real size view shows the sign next to a person who is 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) tall. The sign and the person have the same scale. The scale of this view does not depend on the real width of a background.

This option does not need Scale visualisation with size. You can use it together with Drag, Scale, Rotate. For lightbox customisers, the option does not show.

For the steps and the default settings, see Real size view.

Set a Sign area

A Sign area is a box that you place on a background image. In the Design view and on the Review screen, the sign stays inside that box. Use a Sign area when the background has a clear space for the sign. For more detail, see Set the Sign area for each background image.

The Sign area works with or without Scale visualisation with size. It does not need size backgrounds.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Features → Scene Editor - Background Images.

2. In Manage Images, find the image. Its Sign area row shows Set Sign area. If the image has a Sign area, the button shows Edit.

3. Click the button. The Sign area page opens.

4. Drag the box to move it. Drag a handle to resize it.

5. Click Save.

On the Sign area page, you can also do these actions:

• Press an arrow key to move the box by 1%. Hold Shift to move it by 10%.

• Press Tab to go to a handle. Then press an arrow key to resize the box.

• Click Clear to remove the Sign area. This button shows only when the image has a saved Sign area.

• Click Cancel to go back to Images without a change.

The Fit panel compares your largest sign with the width of the area. It shows when Scale visualisation with size is selected, the background has a saved width, and at least one size sets the sign width. A Frame Fit size sets the sign width. A Simple Letter size sets it unless its Size Strategy is Fixed Height - Width scales dynamically. Advanced Letter sizes do not count. If the largest sign is wider than the area, the panel shows a warning.

A large sign gets smaller to fit in the area. The size that the customer orders does not change. The product image uses the same area when Use the selected background in the product image and Scale visualisation with size are selected.

The Sign area is not available for lightbox signs. It is also not available when Enable Dragging, Enable Scaling or Enable Rotation is selected. If the Images form has unsaved changes, the Sign area buttons are off. Click Save first.

Show a different background for each size

You can link each size to its own background image. When the customer changes the size, the customiser shows the background that you linked to that size.

Use this feature for a semi-custom neon sign. Put your artwork in the background image, for example a moon, a cloud and stars. The customer types their own text, for example “Luna”. The text shows in the empty area of the sign. Each size has its own background. This lets you control how the artwork looks at Small, Medium and Large. For more detail, see Show a different background for each size.

Where it works

Size backgrounds work with Simple Letter, Advanced Letter and Frame Fit customisers. They do not work with the Fixed Height model. The links do not change the size that the customer orders. They do not change the price. When the product image uses the selected background, the main image in the order email to the manufacturer shows the linked background. For the conditions, see “The product image”.

How to set it up

1. Click Features → Scene Editor - Background Images.

2. Click Add image. Add the background images that you need, up to 6 in total. One image can serve more than one size.

3. Click Save.

4. Go to the bottom of the page. Find the Size backgrounds card, below Visualiser Scaling.

5. Click Set size backgrounds. If you already linked a size, the button shows Edit size backgrounds.

6. In Default background, choose the built-in backdrop or one of your images. If you do not choose an image, the built-in backdrop is the default.

7. In Background for each size, choose an image for each size that needs its own background. A size that is set to Default uses the default background. You can use one image for more than one size.

8. Click Save.

9. Go back to Scene Editor - Background Images. In Manage Images, click Set Sign area or Edit for each image.

10. Move and resize the box so that it covers where the text of the customer must show. Then click Save. For more information, see “Set a Sign area”.

The Size backgrounds card shows only when all these conditions are true:

• Enable Preview Images is selected.

• At least one background image has a file.

• The customiser has at least one size.

• The customiser does not use the Fixed Height model.

The card shows how many sizes have their own background. If the Images form has unsaved changes, the Set size backgrounds button is off. Click Save first.

What the customer sees

• The background follows the size. When the customer chooses a size, the customiser shows the background that you linked to that size. This replaces a background that the customer chose before. It also replaces the photo that the customer uploaded as the selected background. The photo stays in the background tray when customers can upload backgrounds. The size that is selected when the customiser loads also picks its background.

• A size with no link uses the default. A size with no link shows the default background. A custom size also shows the default background.

• The customer can choose another background. After a size change, the customer can choose a different background, unless the background tray is hidden (see the next point). The choice lasts until the size changes again.

• The background tray can hide. If every size has a link and the customiser does not offer custom sizing, the tray does not list your backgrounds. Simple Letter customisers have no Enable Custom Sizing option, so their tray hides whenever every size has a link. On Advanced Letter and Frame Fit customisers, the tray hides when Enable Custom Sizing is off. The upload option remains when Allow customers to upload background images is selected.

• Review shows one background. The Review screen shows only the selected background. If the photo of the customer is selected, Review shows its usual images. Enable Review Screen Images still decides if Review shows any image.

The product image

The product image for the cart and the order uses the same background and the same Sign area. All these conditions must be true:

• Use the selected background in the product image is selected.

• Scale visualisation with size is selected.

• Drag, Scale, Rotate is off.

• The customiser is not a lightbox customiser.

A background that the customer uploaded is not eligible. For the full rules, see the section “Use the selected background in the product image”.

Related articles

• Upload background images

• Visually scale signs for size dimensions

• Real size view

• Set the product title and main product image

• Set the Sign area for each background image

• Set a real size for the built-in background and use scenes in product images

• Show a different background for each size