Cut-out spotlight background

[Viperexs 5]

Hello
if possible to make a cut out tool to choose were to view the spotlight

for example, here is a background image:

i want the spotlight to be more in her face (up) 

but here is the result

just to image it

tt

The red line is the cut out in my pc / android devices

the blue is on my tv (emby for android)

as you can see in the first image , only her nose is showing 

if possible, to choose to move it up or down and if possible, to preview in deferent devices 

other than automatically cut out the middle part

 

in my tv is showing like this the border is only showing:

[Neminem 1741]

This is from the Android TV Beta and it looks so much better that the android and web version I have seen.

 

Edited May 16 by Neminem

[speechles 2086]

4 minutes ago, Neminem said:

This is from the Android TV Beta and it looks so much better that the android and web version I have seen.

I admit. That does look good. The glowing ball to indicate the index position you are in the row. The balls indicate total items in the row. It does give a good look at much more of the backdrop this way. All the apps should have this. It is that good. I agree.

[Neminem 1741]

4 minutes ago, speechles said:

The glowing ball to indicate the index position you are in the row.

Not just that....

The image is not cut to pieces like in the New android App and web.

[speechles 2086]

14 minutes ago, Neminem said:

Not just that....

The image is not cut to pieces like in the New android App and web.

It also gives a much more immersive spotlight for the item. It feels larger.

The entire reason for the spotlight is to give a larger "Hero row" where you can see the larger image. It is supposed to be at that wide aspect-ratio and using zoom to scale. Zoom to scale will cut off the top/bottom edges. It is supposed to look more cinematic this way.

When it does this zoom to scale you have to choose where to land. Top, center, or bottom. In this case center is the most obvious to choose. Top could be chosen. But why? When it could just have the option to allow fullscreen style spotlights instead of the hero row style. Center could be kept on the hero row spotlight style. That is all that is needed. I agree. All apps should be able to do this fullscreen style. I know the Roku can. We know Android can.

Edited May 16 by speechles

[Smitty018210 160]

How about adding new image selection "Spotlight". User could select image that will only be used for spotlight on home page. 
Default could be to use Fanart/Background as image, but allowing user to select a different image that fits the scale of new spotlight makes way more sense. 
 

Edited May 16 by Smitty018210

[speechles 2086]

The alternative to scaling with zoom, is scaling to fit. Scaling to fit leaves those black bars on the sides. The placeholder is visible. The row items all have placeholders behind them to separate their container from the others. So the images if they do not fit the exact dimensions of the container it will show portions of that placeholder. To prevent that it is using scaling to zoom.

The spotlight could allow different image types to be used, but that over-complicates what should be a simple feature. I think having it allow a full-screen backdrop too would do just that. Adding the setting to select the different image would be used by a slim minority of users. Most wouldn't even be using the spotlight because it has to included by the user running the server. Even getting the spotlight added is just for a slim minority of users. They do not even know it is there. It would need to be enabled by default with a row or something to get them to know it exists. That might be needed to get them up to speed.

How many enable the spotlight and know how to do it? How many after doing that would prefer a full-screen backdrop spotlight style over the standard hero row card style? How many wish they could change the style? How many wish they could change what type of image is used?

It is a good idea. But this would have to get done on the server (web app) side either way. It has to start with change somewhere. IMO... Having the server (web app) go directly to having a full-screen spotlight style option would be more beneficial than just changing what image shows up on the hero row spotlight style. After that I can see perhaps extend the spotlight to allow more imagetypes to appear in the hero row spotlight style.

But the full-screen should always be using the backdrop since its designed for that purpose. Just my opinions, not the entire Emby team or anything. My opinion doesn't carry more weight than any other. We code for whichever way the ball falls. If it lands one way that is what is done. We will code it however the team wants it done.

 

Edited May 16 by speechles

[Smitty018210 160]

36 minutes ago, speechles said:

The alternative to scaling with zoom, is scaling to fit. Scaling to fit leaves those black bars on the sides. The placeholder is visible. The row items all have placeholders behind them to separate their container from the others. So the images if they do not fit the exact dimensions of the container it will show portions of that placeholder. To prevent that it is using scaling to zoom.

The spotlight could allow different image types to be used, but that over-complicates what should be a simple feature. I think having it allow a full-screen backdrop too would do just that. Adding the setting to select the different image would be used by a slim minority of users. Most wouldn't even be using the spotlight because it has to included by the user running the server. Even getting the spotlight added is just for a slim minority of users. They do not even know it is there. It would need to be enabled by default with a row or something to get them to know it exists. That might be needed to get them up to speed.

How many enable the spotlight and know how to do it? How many after doing that would prefer a full-screen backdrop spotlight style over the standard hero row card style? How many wish they could change the style? How many wish they could change what type of image is used?

It is a good idea. But this would have to get done on the server (web app) side either way. It has to start with change somewhere. IMO... Having the server (web app) go directly to having a full-screen spotlight style option would be more beneficial than just changing what image shows up on the hero row spotlight style. After that I can see perhaps extend the spotlight to allow more imagetypes to appear in the hero row spotlight style.

But the full-screen should always be using the backdrop since its designed for that purpose. Just my opinions, not the entire Emby team or anything. My opinion doesn't carry more weight than any other. We code for whichever way the ball falls. If it lands one way that is what is done. We will code it however the team wants it done.

 

I will have to defer to you, but I am always for more options. 
We have different images for backgrounds, thumbnails, poster, ect.
I see no reason not to add new option for this.
Even if used by small number of people.
THEY would be happy/grateful for the option to be there. 

The first thing I will do when beta comes to stable is create future request for this anyway. 
I am trying to get this without having to do that. lol 

Edited May 16 by Smitty018210

[speechles 2086]

I agree. Everybody should be able to find their best compromise. Sometimes you feel it landed a bit one sided. Like your side got nothing, and the other side got their way. That is why I choose to avoid making decisions that way and find a way to code in something that pleases both sides. Having it card style spotlight diminishes the spotlight. Its just a card. Having the spotlight as fullscreen removes that card. Then you see the full image as expected. The bottom portion might be shaded a bit. But otherwise you should get a cleaner look without having other stuff in the view. With card style other cards to the left and right are there. Small slices of those other cards. The fullscreen style that isn't happening. It just provides a very clean way to show the spotlight.

Allowing the image of the card style spotlight to also get changed to a different style would also be interesting. Because then the style of the card would dictate more the size of the card. You would need several sizes of the larger hero card to fit each different type of image. Since you wouldn't want that placeholder to show. Even then you couldn't predict some oddball images which would produce the placeholder effect. The zoom eliminates the oddball images and placeholder effect. That is why it was done. Because it was easier? Sure. Because it was the best way to do it? Sure. Because it isn't finished yet? Sure.. You can say that too. That is likely what happened. It just isn't finished yet and we are blaming it for things that haven't had time to be incorporated yet? Maybe? Probably? I am guessing so.

I know lots of stuff has to get worked on at once and at the end of the day you only can do so much. So only so much time can be spent on certain things without other stuff falling behind. Lots of moving parts and you have to move with them. 

Eventually the spotlight will get something better and even I am unsure of what that may be. The future will tell us what that is. User demand will too. Your posts will help decide too. Thank you for the input.

Edited May 16 by speechles

[Viperexs 5]

Thank you all for the detailed explanations and feedback.

Now I understand the reason behind the current spotlight behavior much better, especially the “zoom to fill” cinematic approach and why center cropping is currently being used. I also really appreciate the discussion about Fullscreen spotlight styles and alternative image handling.

Hopefully this kind of customization can be considered in future iterations of the spotlight system.

I also agree that having a dedicated “Spotlight” image type or customizable spotlight-safe area could be an excellent solution. Especially for users who prefer manually creating customized spotlight backdrops instead of only adjusting the default backdrop positioning. 

For example, with image editing applications, I could intentionally add black bars or reposition the main highlighted subject toward the center to better fit the spotlight crop behavior across different devices. Having a defined spotlight focus area would make this much more accurate, flexible, and visually consistent.

+ I REALLY LOVE the spotlight functionality.
+ Recently added episode is also awesome.

Thank you again to everyone for the discussion, explanations, and continued work on improving Emby.