Pics.io Release Notes, 19 March 2019
Improved keywording & custom thumbnails
Do you know what I call a fly in the ointment? For me, these are all those small things about an online service that spoil your whole user experience. A scroll box which is too small or hardly visible, or an unwanted tip that pops up and hides the field where you need to type something…
Such annoying things, as small and insignificant as they may seem, can make or break your impression and influence your decision to buy a subscription. But on the other hand, small useful features which you could probably live without, but which are certainly nice to have — these can become that icing on the cake that will make you fall for the app.
Our latest release in Pics.io Digital Asset Management service is about such small features that are meant to make your user experience more efficient and enjoyable.
So, we are happy to present 3 new improvements. Apart from minor fixes and changes that certainly took place as well.
1. Multi-lingual Auto-Keywording
Yes, you’ve read it right. Auto-keywording which used to be restricted to English alone is now available for any language you need.
With only one click you can select the desired language in the Settings menu — Policy tab. This is the same tab where you select other rules and policies that apply to the whole team.
What is auto-keywording and why do you need it?
Putting it simply, it’s about letting computer attach keywords to your visual files automatically.
Yes, it means losing some control over what kind of keywords are generated for your images. But if you don’t have a super-rigid taxonomy of tags in your digital library, auto-keywording is something that can save you a lot of time and effort.
Good news is that algorithms standing behind AI vision are getting better and better with every year coming. Which means that auto-keywording is getting increasingly reliable.
If you need a reminder on where to find auto-keywording, here’s a small tip. You can either auto-generate keywords for one particular file (a “magic wand” in the Infopanel). Or you can set up a team rule that will automatically generate keywords for every single file you upload to Pics.io. Without you having to lift a finger! Awesome…
2. Custom thumbnails for video
Video is the king of modern content marketing. That’s why we are constantly trying to improve the way you can work with your video files in Pics.io. We already have a diff tool for video, timestamp markers, cropping tools and other useful instruments for managing video files.
And now there is more!
The newly introduced custom thumbnails let you choose a good snapshot & use it as a thumbnail for your video. Say goodbye to random thumbnails provided by Google which are often blurred, grainy and simply weird. Instead, you can get a nice image that will instantly show what your video is about.
How to create a custom thumbnail?
Take a close look at the toolbar in the video player. You’ll see a new button there with a telltale name — “Create custom thumbnail”. All you need to do is to find the right moment in your video and hit this button.
Custom thumbnails will certainly help you navigate your digital library easier, and much more enjoyable.
3. Attach keywords — easier and faster than ever before.
This one is again about how you can tag your assets with keywords.
In our previous release, we made it possible to attach keywords in the Infopanel by simply typing them with commas. Now, this trick also works when you upload your files to Pics.io.
So, you simply type the keywords you need separating them with commas. Or copy & paste them from somewhere. And if there are any brand-new keywords that you haven’t used yet, they will be safely added to your general list of keywords in Pics.io.
These are just small improvements in Pics.io. However, we hope that these micro-changes will add to your satisfaction while using Pics.io and become that “icing on the cake”.
