Automatic boxset - creating missing posters

[steve1977 67]

I really love this plugin - automatic boxsets are fantastic!

 

Just one feature request - is it possible to create a boxset for the boxsets that don't have a poster on TMDB. Could be based on the posters of the individual posters?

 

Thanks in advance for considering!

[ebr 16169]

The CoverArt plug-in will do this and a whole lot more..

[steve1977 67]

I have both the coverart and the boxset plugin. I like both, but cannot get the boxsets to work nicely.

 

I use coverart for movies and shows to add nice frames, which is a great feature.

 

I use boxset for displaying collections nicely in MBS (scraping collection posters and backdrops and putting everything in order), which is fantastic.

 

What I am lacking with both plugins is the following:

 

1) I really like to keep the collection poster (untouched) as long a it exists. No changes to it and just the plain collection poster. This is what boxset plugin does.

 

2) For the collections without a collection poster (on TMDB), I would like to have one of the two plugins create a collection poster. I had posted this in a separate coverart thread, but understand that this is not easily doable. So, I was hoping that the boxset plugin can achieve this.

 

 

There was a second requester in the other thread, so I am not completely alone. Really like to keep the collection posters form TMDB whenver they exist.

[ebr 16169]

You could always add a poster on tmdb...

[steve1977 67]

Sure, this will be an option. Easy to add posters for movies as I can find and add them online. More difficult for boxsets as they rarely can be found online and would require me to get active with photoshop or alike. You basically have it automated already with the coverart plugin, so this would be create if this can auto-create it with the same routine. I can then still take the "result" and upload it to TMDB. I have 100+ boxsets and around half of them lack a poster.

[ebr 16169]

I don't plan to copy part of the logic from CA into this plug-in.  It really wouldn't be that simple anyway as CA is a large and very complex plug-in.

 

Anyway, CA will create nice images for box sets that don't have them.  Your request is fairly unusual as you want the images to look one way in one instance and another way in another.  This doesn't work very well for client display as you end up with images of varying shapes and, then, the problem of things looking too big or too small.

 

The only possible enhancement I could make to CA that might satisfy this request would be to use one of the child covers as the basis for the treatment if there isn't an actual cover for the Box Set.  However, this could only be done if you were using one of the multi-treatments that already uses child covers (like the case fan example above) or you could end up with the box set looking exactly like one of the movies.

 

I will see if that might be possible.

[steve1977 67]

Thanks, really appreciate all your active development. Actually, what I am looking for is not so different from the existing feature "enable video image extraction". Basically an equivalent for collections.

 

I like what you are proposing and actually I would not even mind if the collection poster is the same as one of the child posters, Indeed a bit weird, but better than just a black image and a lot better than the CA poster ;-)

[ebr 16169]

Alright - try this version of CA (just download it into your server plug-ins folder over top of the one you have then restart the server) and let me know what you think...

[steve1977 67]

Thanks. Tried, but no change, What do I need to enter as setting?

[ebr 16169]

No change how?  You re-started your server?

 

You are not on the dev level server, right?

[steve1977 67]

No change how?  You re-started your server?

 

You are not on the dev level server, right?

 

Yup, I even restarted 3 times. Tried both in both "ignore" and "fan" mode. I am using the stable server version. Thoughts?

[ebr 16169]

Okay, you aren't looking for what I changed.

 

What I changed was how the treatments that use the actual box set cover behave when there is no specific box set cover.  In that instance, those treatments will now use one of the child covers instead of the generic blue CA one.

 

Neither the "Fan" nor "Ignore" selections will be affected by this as neither one involves the actual box set cover.  Try the CaseFan or MetroCaseCDs or any of the other multi sets that use the actual box set image and see how they look on box sets that don't have an image on tmdb.

[steve1977 67]

Is there a function to reload / clear the cache? RIght now, half of my collections are shown as "fan" and half as "stack". None is shown as "casefan", which I have set in the plugin settings.

[steve1977 67]

* Update * I disabled "use original aspect ratio" and now it somewhat works like you had envisioned. Issue though is that the posters are square and not close to using the full space (basically like a CD case). Any chance to have this working when enabling "use original aspect ratio" and also have it working when selecting "ignore" or "stack"?

[ebr 16169]

What about the stack treatment isn't working?  Nothing we've been talking about should have an effect on that treatment.

 

Where are your covers appearing square? Even without the original aspect option, normal posters should look fine as long as you don't use a square treatment style.

 

Perhaps if you posted a couple of screen shots it would be clearer.

[steve1977 67]

What about the stack treatment isn't working?  Nothing we've been talking about should have an effect on that treatment.

 

Where are your covers appearing square? Even without the original aspect option, normal posters should look fine as long as you don't use a square treatment style.

 

Perhaps if you posted a couple of screen shots it would be clearer.

 

Stack treatment is working well (and is actually very nice!).

 

What happened is that something is "stuck" in the cache. When I now select "ignore", I am seeing half of my posters as "stack" and half as "fan". Very weird!

 

When I select "casefan", everything sortof works as long as I disable "original aspect ratio". However, the posters are square (like a CD case), which looks quite crap. When I enable "original aspect ratio", it does not work.

 

I can find a few screenshots to illustrate the issue.

[ebr 16169]

Try re-downloading the dll from the link above and re-start your server.  Nothing in the logic is changed but I changed a date we use for caching that might force all your box sets and folders to rebuild.  See if it clears it up.

[steve1977 67]

Yes, this did the trick. No idea what you changed, but it is working.

 

For casefan - it looks proper now when enabling "original aspect ratio" and square like a CD box when disabling it. I assume that this is actually intended behavior. The box always has a blue stripe with "bluray" on its left side, which I also assume is intended behaviour.

 

Now, only question whether this could also be applied for "ignore" (i.e., using one child poster if no collection poster available)? Or (even better) to have a "stack" or "fan", but only if the collection poster is unavailable?

Thanks again, a really cool plugin!!!

[ebr 16169]

I don't want to alter the behaviour of "Ignore" because that should continue to really mean ignore this - don't alter it at all.

 

The other request is also just a little too complex from a user standpoint.  The system works by applying the treatment you select to the items you specify.  There is currently no mechanism to define complex logic like "but, if this situation is so, then use this treatment instead of the one I asked for".

 

While that would be powerful, it would also be pretty complex to configure and just make the plug-in that much harder for folks to understand.

[steve1977 67]

Makes sense. What about adding one more view then? You have it basically implemented already with the casefan view. Just take the fan out from this view and it's there! :-)

 

My issues with the current views for collections:

 

"ignore" - is fine, but no longer usable as it shows coverart posters

 

"casefan" - is quite nice, but the "fan" is covering 90% of the poster.

 

"stack" - is probably what I would need to use (and it is very nice), but I would "lose" the collection poster

 

 

So, a casefan without the fan would be one option.

[ebr 16169]

That already exists.  Case, SideCase, ClearCase etc.

 

Your issue is that some of your box sets simply don't have specific covers.  I don't want to assume that a child cover is a replacement for the actual cover of the item in question unless it is already one of these multi-style treatments.  That could end up with some confusing displays.

 

All of your issues would be solved by either using one of the existing multi-treatments or just creating (or even copying) a folder.jpg for each of your box sets that don't have them.

[simono5 21]

@@ebr, I like this tweak a lot.  I also had a lot of images missing for boxsets and this change gives a much better feel to my box-set library.

 

Would like to see this as part of the core plugin release.

 

Thank you.

[ebr 16169]

It is.  I just haven't released it yet.

[steve1977 67]

That already exists.  Case, SideCase, ClearCase etc.

 

Your issue is that some of your box sets simply don't have specific covers.  I don't want to assume that a child cover is a replacement for the actual cover of the item in question unless it is already one of these multi-style treatments.  That could end up with some confusing displays.

 

All of your issues would be solved by either using one of the existing multi-treatments or just creating (or even copying) a folder.jpg for each of your box sets that don't have them.

 

I understand your logic and diamondcase may be close enough for me. One last idea - can I actually somewhere find the "coverart poster" (the blue one saying coverart 4.0). If I could replace this with the old dummy poster used elsewhee in MBS or just a black box, this would also solve my issue. Basically the same what I had prior to installing the plugin (but keeping all the nice plugin features for my individual movies).

 

One other thing is that I am still not sure whether the cache management works well. I have changed to diamondcase to try it out and the screen is yet again mixed between collection posters, coverart posters, and fan posters. See screenshot below:

 

[ebr 16169]

Do you have multiple profiles defined in CoverArt?

 

Also, do you get the exact same mixed bag in MBC or MBT?