Fan-Out and Composites in Editorial allow users to define asset requirements for their post-production teams. Through variant creation and composite images, studios are able to maintain exact requirements through similar structures they are used to in our Ecom module, but applied to the flexibility offered in Editorial Workflows.
Fan-Out
Presets tell Creative Force what specifications the final assets require. For example, a Deliverable may have only one final select, but the campaign actually requires two different output dimensions for that one select (e.g., a 4x5 and a 1x1 version).
The Fan-Out step defines which post-production step the variant assets should be created during. When fan-out is enabled, Creative Force creates the new files with respect to the specifications defined in the preset.
📝 Note: When at least one Preset has been assigned to a Deliverable, setting a fan-out step becomes mandatory within the Workflow. However, the fan-out step can be defined in the Workflow even before a preset is assigned.
Enabe Fan-Out
To enable fan-out, click the three-dot menu next to any post-production step in the Workflow, then select 'Enable Fan-out.'
Once fan-out has been enabled for a specific Workflow step, you will see an icon next to it where an arrow branches into two.
Composites
Enabling composites gives a user the option to send multiple images through to the post-production step. These images can then be used by retouchers to create composite images by combining elements from multiple assets into a single output.
Enable Composites
Collation can be enabled in both the internal and external post-production steps. To enable, simply click the three-dot menu next to the desired Workflow step, then select 'Enable Compositing.' Conversely, once it has been enabled, you can select it again to 'Disable Compositing.'
When Compositing is enabled, you will see a small icon next to the step where two arrows merge into one.
When both Compositing and Fan-Out are enabled for the same step, you will see an icon next to it where two arrows cross paths.
📝 Note: The compositing step must be set before or at the same step as is designated for the fan-out step.
Main File
After Compositing has been enabled in a Workflow, and there are assets associated with the Deliverable, you will be able to set a main file out of the available assets.
This means the retouchers will know this is the base file to be returned, and the additional assets are the supporting files.
The Main File can be set from the asset preview thumbnails in the Workflow screen:
As well as when viewing assets in the Pre-Selection tab, in both the main and full-screen asset views:
In Hue
To learn more about how the retoucher handles Fan-Out & Composites within Hue, please see our dedicated article on the subject at the link below.
