About
Put photos, logos and graphics on your slides. Upload an image to your Library once and use it on any slide in any playlist. On the slide you can crop, resize, rotate, flip and fade it, put it in front of or behind other objects, group it with them, or cut it into a shape.
Get Started
Everything here starts in the editor: go to Playlists, click Edit on your playlist and choose the slide. When you’re done, click Publish.
Add and manage
Add an image to a slide
- Click Assets in the top menu (or press Shift + A)
- Find or search for the image, and click it
- Drag it into place and resize it with the corner handles
Upload new images to your Library first.
Replace an image
- Click the image
- Click Replace Asset in the settings on the right
- Choose the slides where it should be replaced, and pick the new image
The image is replaced on all the slides you choose, not only on the slide you’re working on.
Remove an image
- Click the image
- Click Remove in the dark bar above the slide, or press Delete
The image stays in your Library, so you can add it again later.
Edit on the slide
Crop an image
- Click the image
- Click Crop image in the settings on the right
- Choose a shape at the top (Free, an aspect ratio or a circle) and move the edges
- Click Save
More in Cropping Images.
Lower the resolution of an image
A smaller image loads faster on your players. An image that fills a quarter of an HD slide only needs 960 × 540 pixels.
- Click the image
- Click Crop image
- Enter the new Width and Height
- Click Save
Resize and move an image
- Click the image
- Drag it to move it, and drag the corner handles to resize it
- For exact values, enter Top and Left under Positioning, and Width and Height under Sizing
Rotate an image
- Click the image
- Under Rotate, enter an angle, use the slider, or click Rotate counter clockwise or Rotate clockwise
Flip (mirror) an image
- Click the image
- Under Rotate, click Flip horizontal (the arrow pointing left and right) or Flip vertical (the arrow pointing up and down)
Make an image see-through
- Click the image
- Set Opacity between 0 (invisible) and 1 (solid)
Lock an image in place
- Click the image
- Click the padlock under Alignment and cropping
A locked image can’t be moved, resized or removed. Read more about locking objects.
Arrange and combine
Align an image on the slide
- Click the image
- Under Alignment and cropping, click Fit to canvas, or one of the align buttons (left, center, right, top, middle, bottom)
Put an image in front of or behind other objects
- Click the image
- Under Layer, click Bring forward or Send backward, or drag it in the Layers tab
Group objects
- Hold Shift and click each object you want to group
- Under Actions, click Group objects
To make them separate again, click the group and click Ungroup.
Cut an image into a shape (mask)
- Put the object that gives the shape (a circle, an icon or text) on top of the image
- Hold Shift and click both
- Under Actions, click Masking Selection
The result is a new image, saved in your Library in the folder Masking selection.
Make an image a button on a touch screen
- Click the image
- Under On Click, choose the slide to jump to when someone taps the image
Read more about touch screens.
Options
Image settings
Click an image and open the Settings tab.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Alignment and cropping | Fit to canvas, align left, center, right, top, middle or bottom, lock and unlock, and Crop image |
| Details | The file name and the image size in pixels |
| Replace Asset | Replaces the image on one or more slides |
| Layer | Bring forward and Send backward |
| Rotate | Angle (0 to 360), slider, rotate counter clockwise and clockwise, Flip horizontal and Flip vertical |
| Positioning | Top and Left |
| Sizing | Width and Height |
| Opacity | How see-through the image is, from 0 to 1 |
| On Click | The slide to jump to when the image is tapped on a touch screen |
Several objects selected
Hold Shift and click more objects. You find these under Actions.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Align selected objects | Lines up the selected objects |
| Center selected objects | Centers the selected objects |
| Group objects | Makes the objects one group. Not available when a video is selected |
| Masking Selection | Cuts the bottom object into the shape of the top one. Needs exactly two objects |
Group settings
Click a group and open the Settings tab.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Alignment | Align left, center, right, top, middle or bottom, lock and unlock |
| Ungroup | Makes the objects separate again |
| Layer | Bring forward and Send backward |
| Rotate | Angle, slider, rotate counter clockwise and clockwise, Flip horizontal and Flip vertical |
| Positioning | Top and Left |
| Sizing | Width and Height |
The dark bar above the slide has Undo, Redo, Copy, Paste, Remove and Zoom. See all keyboard shortcuts.
FAQ
Files and quality
Which file types are supported?
Most formats. See the list of supported file types. For photos, use JPG or PNG. SVG is great for logos and graphics, because it scales without losing quality.
What is the recommended image resolution?
The resolution of your screen: HD (1920 × 1080) in most cases, 4K (3840 × 2160) on a 4K setup. A bigger image doesn’t look better. A 4K image on an HD screen has 4 times the pixels, must be scaled down and slows the player. The same goes for images that don’t fill the slide: an image that fills a quarter of the slide needs roughly a quarter of the resolution.
Why did my image change when I uploaded it?
We optimize images to make them smaller, so they load faster. PNG files without transparency are converted to JPG, with as little loss in quality as possible.
Images bigger than 4K (3840 × 2160, or 2160 × 3840 in portrait) are scaled down to 4K and keep their shape. Huge images have no practical use and can crash entry-level players.
Tip: For a video wall or other high-resolution setup, turn this off in Profile → Default Values → Library defaults → Downscale high-resolution content to 4k.
My 4K image is blurry. What do I do?
If your 4K image has a lot of detail, such as a lot of text in a food menu, the fine details may look blurry or be hard to read on the screen. A workaround is to turn the image into a short 4K video. You can use any software you like. Here are two examples.
To turn an image into a 5-second 4K video with the free ffmpeg command-line tool:
ffmpeg -loop 1 -i input.png -t 5 -vf "scale=3840:2160:flags=lanczos" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -preset medium -pix_fmt yuv420p -r 30 -movflags +faststart output.mp4To turn an image into a 5-second 4K video with DaVinci Resolve 20 (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/event/davinciresolvedownload):
- Start a 4K project and timeline. Open Resolve and click New Project. Click the gear icon in the bottom-right corner, then Master Settings. Set Timeline Resolution to 3840 × 2160 Ultra HD and click Save. Tip for slideshows: if you’ll add a lot of photos, set the default still duration now in DaVinci Resolve → Preferences → User → Editing → Standard Still Duration
- Import your images. Go to the Edit page, click File → Import → Media… and choose your photos. Drag them to the timeline in the order you want
- Make the image fill the 4K frame without black bars. Select the clip on the timeline, open the Inspector, and adjust Zoom and Position under Transform. If your image has a different shape, go to Project Settings → Image Scaling → Input Scaling and pick Scale entire image to fit (keeps the whole image, may add bars) or Scale full frame with crop (fills the frame, crops the edges). Click Save
- Choose how long the image stays on screen. Right-click the clip, click Change Clip Duration… and enter the length, for example 00:00:05:00 for 5 seconds
- Export a real 4K file. Go to the Deliver page, then Render Settings → Custom Export. Choose Format MP4, Codec H.264 and Resolution 3840 × 2160, and set the frame rate you want (for example 24, 30 or 60). Click Add to Render Queue, then Render All
If you see a warning about rendering at a higher resolution than the timeline, your timeline isn’t 4K. Go back to step 1 and set Timeline Resolution to 3840 × 2160.
Flip
How do I undo a flip?
Click the same flip button again, or click Undo right after flipping. Flipping never changes the file in your Library.
Can I flip text, emojis, SVG files or videos?
No. The flip buttons are on images, groups, icons and the Circle, Rectangle and Triangle shapes.
Is Flip horizontal the same as the Flip in X animation?
No. Flip horizontal mirrors the object for as long as it’s on the slide. Flip in X and Flip in Y on the Animate tab are entrance animations that make an object flip into view.
Will a flipped image look the same on my screen?
Yes. The flip is saved with the slide, and the players draw it with the same engine as the editor. Remember to click Publish.
Groups
Why is Group objects greyed out?
Either you’ve only selected one object, or your selection includes a video, a YouTube video or a stream. Videos can’t be grouped.
How do I change one object in a group?
Click the group and click Ungroup under Actions. Change the object, then select the objects again and click Group objects.
Can I animate a group?
No. The Animate tab is greyed out for groups. You can animate the objects before you group them, or ungroup them to change their animations.
I copied a group, but the pasted objects aren’t grouped. Why?
At the moment, a copied group is pasted as separate objects that are selected together. Click Group objects right after pasting to group them again.
Do groups work on all players?
Yes. When you publish, the objects in a group are sent to your screens as separate objects, so every player shows them in the right places. In the editor, they stay grouped.
Masking
What does Masking Selection do?
It cuts a picture into the shape of another object, and the result is a new image. The object lower in the layers is the picture, and the one on top gives the shape. Change the order with Bring forward and Send backward, or in the Layers tab, before you click Masking Selection.
Why is Masking Selection greyed out?
You need to select exactly two objects, and both must be images, shapes, icons, SVG files, emojis or text. It doesn’t work with videos, GIFs, plugins or groups.
Can I use text or an emoji as the shape?
Yes. Put the text or emoji on top of the picture, select both, and click Masking Selection. The picture then shows through the letters or the emoji.
Can I undo a mask?
Not directly: Undo doesn’t bring the two objects back. Remove the masked image, add the picture and the shape again, and mask them again. The original picture is still in your Library, and the masked image is saved there too, as a PNG in the folder Masking selection.
Why does my masked image look blurry?
The masked image is made at the size the slide is shown in the editor. Click Zoom in in the dark bar before masking, and wait until the picture looks sharp in the editor. Then mask again.
Why did I get Failed to save changes when masking?
Check that the two objects overlap. If the shape doesn’t cover any part of the picture, there’s nothing to keep. Also check your Internet connection, because the result is saved in your Library.
