Anatomy of an Asset

When searching for an asset in the Asset Manager, there are multiple ways to find what you are looking for. You can use the Filter Panel to narrow your search and find the perfect asset for the project you are working on. The Asset Manager also has a lot of information stored within an asset that can be used to help you find what you are looking for.

Let’s look at the information the Lytho DAM can store in an asset for better searchability.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Asset Preview

• All details

• General

• Info

• Automatic information

• Manual information

• Variants

• Embedded Link

• Set Focal Point

• Embed preview image

• Cropper Presets

• Embed full file

• Manage

• Versions

• Tags

• Protection

• Permissions

• Quitclaim

• Planning

• Publish date

• Visible date

• Watermark, Block download, For use in publications only

• Watermark

• Block download

• For use in publications only

• Meta

• Custom Fields

• Metadata

• Content

• Usage

Asset Preview

Click on an image to open the Asset Preview Window. Here you will find information that has been brought in from the asset when it was uploaded to the Asset Manager. This includes Name of the asset, Description, Filename, File Type, Size, Modified and Uploaded by. 

All details

Click on All details on the bottom right-hand corner of the Asset Preview Window. 

This allows a user to dig deeper into an asset. Admin users can use this section to create an embedded URL, create links between related assets, manage variants and versions, and more! Stakeholders can use this view to download variants, view previous versions, and see the asset's metadata.

There are five sections across the top of this window you can navigate through. General, Manage, Protection, Meta, Usage. 

General

Under the General tab you will find three sections: Info, Variants and Embedded Links.

Info

Information that was available in the Asset Preview Window, including Name of the asset, Description, Uploaded by, File Type and Size. You will also find number of Downloads and Versions available.

Automatic information

• File Name - Taken directly from the uploaded asset's file name. It can be manually changed here.

• Uploaded by - The user that uploaded the asset into the DAM. May show as an email address for non-user uploads.

• File Type - The type of file as well as the file extension. 

• Size - The size of the full file on download.

Manual information

• Description - You can add information about the asset.

Variants

Variants occur when you have slight alterations to your asset that don't take away from the core idea of the asset. Color tones, image resolution, and sizing are all examples of variants.

You may have several variations of an asset that you want to make available to your user and choose to store them under a single "parent" asset.

Learn more about Variants here. 

Embedded Link

Creating Embedded Links will allow you to generate a direct link to the active version of your Lytho assets. 

Once you click on Create link, a URL will be created for you to share and/or embed. Click Copy link and it will be added to your clipboard.

When you embed a file, you have the option to Embed preview image or Embed full file.

Set Focal Point

For both Embed preview image and Embed full file, you have the ability to set a focal point. Click on Set focal point to hover over the image and choose where you want your assets focal point to be.

Embed preview image

By default, the Embed preview image will be selected. This will generate an image wherever you embed your link to show you what the file looks like. You can choose what size the image preview displays by using Cropper presets. Using the Set focal point feature will determine the center point for the chosen size.

Cropper Presets

Assets can be cropped manually to a specific width and height using the input fields under Width in px and Height in px.

You can lock the aspect ratio by clicking on the Lock icon and check the Use dimensions for cropping to specify that these are the dimensions you’d like to apply to the asset when cropping.

In Lytho DAM, you can also create custom presets in the Presets section under your DAM settings. By creating Cropper presets, your users will be able to choose the correct size for their assets according to how they plan to use them. For example, Instagram post (1080px X1080px) or Facebook cover photo (851px X 315px).

By clicking on the Cropper presets menu, you will see a menu of options that are available to you according to the presets that are set up in Lytho DAM.

Embed full file

Embed full file will generate a link with the full file size.

Manage

The second section allows you to manage both Versions and Tags.

Versions

Versioning allows you to upload multiple versions of the same asset. Versions don’t have chronological or sequential meaning rather they occur when there are more than one edition of the original asset. For example, you could store an alternate file format or resolution with the parent asset. More information about Versions. 

Tags

Easily add tags to an asset by clicking Apply tags for searchability. The information added to this section is done manually. Learn more about Tags.

Once you click Apply Tags, a menu of tags will be displayed allowing you to make your asset more searchable. Any tags that are applied will be set above the menu and a search bar is available for quickly finding what you need.

Protection

The third section allows you to protect your assets. The allowances in this section are manually added.

Permissions

You can apply Permissions to an asset to restrict the asset to a user with the same permission.

Quitclaim

Use Quitclaims to manage publication agreements for individuals releasing their image to appear in photographs and other media. You can either link a quitclaim document that has been uploaded to your Asset Library or you can mark a file as a quitclaim document to be linked later. Learn about Quitclaim Documents.

Planning

Add planning dates to set a date or date range that your asset is allowed to be published or made visible in the Asset Manager.

Publish date

Adding a Publish date to your asset will block the asset from being shared while outside of the set date. The asset will be visible in your Asset Manager.

Providing a date range will allow an asset to only be shared or downloaded during that date range. Leaving the date fields blank will allow it to remain accessible with no time limitation.

Visible date

Adding a Visible date to your asset will hide the asset from being viewed while outside of the set date.

Providing a date range will allow an asset to only be visible to users during that date range. Leaving the date fields blank will allow it to be seen with no time limitation.

Watermark, Block download, For use in publications only

These three items can be toggled on by clicking the check box and used to further protect your asset.

Watermark

When toggled on, a Lytho watermark will appear on the asset. This can be added to prevent misuse and add further protection to assets you aren't ready to be freely downloaded.

Block download

When Block download is checked, a user will not be able to download the asset. The asset will be visible in the Asset Manager but will not be available for download.

For use in publications only

Publication-only assets will not be visible to users in the Asset Manager and can only be used when creating a publication in Create and Publish module of the DAM.

Meta

This section houses your Custom Fields information and the metadata imported from the asset.  Custom Fields are manually entered, whereas the metadata is automatically brought in when you upload the asset to the Asset Manager.

Custom Fields

Lytho DAM enables you to add Custom fields to your asset's metadata that are unique to your process and organization.

By adding a custom field to your asset, Lytho DAM is now able to use that data for searchability.

Metadata

When an asset is uploaded into the Asset Manager, the metadata associated with the asset will automatically be imported and stored here. The metadata that is stored contains the specific details of that image file. These can include: File name, File type, Size, Date created, Dimensions, Image description, etc.

Content

This tab will appear if you are viewing a an asset with a text layer such as a PDF or Word Document. This section pulls the content from the asset and puts it here so the information can be used for searchability.

Usage

The Usage section tells you where your asset is being used within Lytho DAM.

On this page you will see a drop-down menu of places where your assets have been used.  Clicking on an item from the menu will tell you how that asset is being used and/or how often.

Examples:

Choosing Collections will tell you which collections, if any, an asset is a part of.

Choosing Shared Links will tell you how many times a shared link has been created for that asset.