Although you can just import product data and make schematic based planograms with the use of placement boxes your planograms you can really bring your planograms up to the next level by using product pictures instead of those boring placement boxes used in schematic based planograms.. And the quality and the impression your planograms make is pretty much directly determined by the quality of the product pictures you use. Use home-made looking products pictures hurriedly taken with your smart phone and you will have a home-made looking planogram. Use professional photos taken by a professional photographer and you will have planograms that really pop with that extra glean of professionalism. Here are the basics regarding what kind of pictures you can use in PlanoGraphics Online.
File Formats
First let's talk about picture file formats. Since the online version of PlanoGraphics works in your web browser your product pictures need to be in one of the file formats that web browsers support. There are 4 file formats supported by modern web browsers now days (as 2020):
File Formats
First let's talk about picture file formats. Since the online version of PlanoGraphics works in your web browser your product pictures need to be in one of the file formats that web browsers support. There are 4 file formats supported by modern web browsers now days (as 2020):
- JPG: good for large pictures that need to be compressed to a small file size.
- PNG: this is the recommended file format for PlanoGraphics Online because it offers the right mix color fidelity, compression and allows for transparent backgrounds.
- GIF: This format is not recommended due to its limited color fidelity.
- SVG: If you plan to use artwork or drawing of your products instead of actual pictures then this is the format to use.
Product Positioning
Next let's talk about positioning. For best results products should be photographed with the following attributes:
- The angle of the shot should be straight on with little depth or perspective.
- The product should be centered in the shot
- The background should be white or a neutral uniform color
- Lighting should be uniformed and defused. Best results are obtained with the use of soft box lighting, or a light box or light tent.
Cropping
Pictures need to be cropped right up to the edges of the products to insure an accurate to scale rendering of your products.
Removing the Background / Transparent Backgrounds
Different picture editing software use different approaches to removing the background. This example explains how to remove the background using Affinity Photo.
Some products with non square shapes look best in your planograms when the background is transparent. For example the product you see in the screenshot below would always render with a white background if the background is not removed to be rendered transparent. This may not be a problem if you always plan to have a white background in your planogram but as soon as you want a non-white background, or you stack products on top of each other the white background around the neck and lid would and the bottom would be visible, greatly reducing the quality of your planogram. So we want to remove the background so that it will be rendered transparent.
Transparency is only supported with the PNG files format so the following steps will only work when you save your picture in that format.