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How to add basic borders and text watermarks to one or many photos using "FrameFun."
I needed to find a program that could add borders to more than one photo at a time (432 at the time, to be exact). Using a program like Adobe Photoshop just wasn't an option here. I found this little treasure after some searching around the internet. The program is called FrameFun, it is freeware (you don't have to buy it, it is free!) and the latest version as of this write-up was 2.0.0.7. This write-up will be made using version 2.0.0.7 as well. Here is the download link for this version: http://www.hochstrasser.org/wiki/fil...up-2.0.0.7.exe
Here is a screenshot of the program when it is opened up:
Alright, let's get started with one photo so you can see how this program works. This program does not resize pictures, so be sure and use the correct size picture from the start. I will be using a picture resized to 800x600 pixels for this tutorial. Here it is:
Here is the picture opened up in the program using the "Open" option under the "File" menu:
Now onto the good part. At the bottom of the program screen, as you can see, there are four different option panels. To add a basic border, you are going to be interested in the first two panels.
The first panel is to set the frame options. The "Inside" box will tell the program that you want the frame on the inside of the picture, thus keeping the same size. If this is unchecked, it will add a frame to the outside of the picture, which will acutally enlarge the picture by adding the frame on. This program allows you to set a relative border, which would be important when adding a frame to many pictures that are different pixel sizes. One options is the "Abs." option, or absolute size. This is a great option to use if all of your pictures are the same size, say 800x600 and don't want the dimensions to change, as it will give them a border of the same size on the inside. Select the "Abs." option and set it's value to "1." This is going to allow a 1 pixel gap between the edge of the picture and the actual border. I'm not sure why you cannot set it to zero, but I guess for now it is a compromise between saving hours of work and being 1 pixel shy of perfect. These two settings will keep the frame inside of the picture and make it small enough that it will hardly be noticed. The other option here is to leave the "Inside" option unchecked and to set the "Abs." value to how large you want the picture frame to be. If you set the value to "5" to make a 5 pixel wide frame, it will enlarge the picture by 5 pixels on each side creating an overall enlargement of 10 pixels per dimension. The picture will be enlarged a bit, but you will not have that 1 pixel gap. You will also need to select a color for your frame. The choice is yours.
If you choose the "Inside" option, you will need to continue on. If you choose to have the frame placed on the outside, you can click the "Apply" box to save your changes and save the picture here and be done, or move onto the batch processing part to see how to add this frame to multiple pictures and how to add a watermark. I will continue on with the "Inside" option so you can see how this will be done.
The second panel is to set the border options. First off, make sure the "Border" option is checked, and therefore enabled. Here you have three types of borders you can add, and the same to adjustment options as well. Let's pick a border size first, and then go through the types of borders. The "1/x" option will allow you to set a relative size border. This is important when adding a border to many pictures of different sizes as it will give them all the same size border relative to their size. Let's say for example, you use this option with a setting of "1/100." A picture sized at 800x600 will get a border 1/100 of it's size around it, as will a picture that is 1280x1024. Again, we are going to want the "Abs." option to set an absolute value border. I chose 5, so my picture(s) will all have a 5 pixel border around them. There is also a color option if you'd like a border a color besides black.
Hit the apply button and you can see the the result of your option choices. Here it should just be a black border around the edge of the inside of the picture )note the "Result" resolution is the same as the original).
**I made a copy of a picture and edited and saved it first to make sure it came out how I wanted it. Once I got it right, I knew I could proceed with no worries.**
From here, click "Accept" to save your changes and then you can save the picture using the Save option and be done:
Before I go onto the watermark section, I want to address the main point of using a program like this to add a border to multiple pictures at once. Once you have the settings you like, such as I did with the above ones, you can add that same border to a "batch" of pictures. To do this, you are going to use the "Batch Processing" option under the "File" menu. Make sure your border options are set beforehand, as this will allow you to not have to leave the "Batch Processing" screen.
Once you click on this option, the "Batch Processing" screen appears. This is what it looks like:
To select multiple files, click on the blank area labeled "Souce Files." This will bring up a window for you to select your pictures. You cannot select a folder unforunately, so just open up the folder and select them all. Alternately, go through the folder and select the pictures you want to add a border too. I personally copy all of the pictures I want to edit to a "New Folder" on the desktop so I don't have to worry about going through all of them later to pick out the ones I want. In my case, it is a folder with all of my pictures that were resized in a few clicks using a program called PIXresizer, another great program. Here I have them all selected:
Here we are back at the "Batch Processing" screen with all of our pictures selected.
Now onto the options available to us. "Apply Action" is set to "(Current Setting Only)." This is going to add our previously selected options to all of the selected pictures. This is why they need to be set ahead of time. The next option is "Target Directory." This is where your edited pictures will be saved to (EDIT: I've just noticed as well you must type in the directory. Clicking on a folder in the list will not select it for some reason. Seems I need to e-mail the program creator with some suggestions, lol). "Target Format" is set to "Original" by default which means it will save them in the same format the original pictures are in. You do have the option though of changing them to a .bmp, .jpg, or a .png file. For most purposes, leaving it set to "Original" will be just fine. Once you have the settings set, click "OK" and watch the magic happen! In the directory you chose, there should be all of your selected pictures with a border around them! Easier than going through 25, 50, or even 500 pictures in Photoshop, huh!?
Now onto the last part which simply adds on to the above, whether you are editing one picture or many, or can be used just to add a watermark to one or many pictures without a border (just don't use the frame or border options). Adding a watermark. Check the "Watermark" option to enable it and then click on the settings button, which in this program, is the set of ellipses in a box.
There are two different types of watermarks you can add in this program, the basic text watermark or an actual image. If you want to use a text watermark, check the "Text Watermark" box and type in your watermark. The settings box next to it will allow you change the font type, size, color, etc... If you want to use an image, most often a logo, check the "Image Watermark" box and click on the settings box to locate your image. I will be using a text watermark for this tutorial. I also chose to place the watermark in the lower right corner of the picture using the "Placement" options. Here it is typed in, and then I clicked "Preview" to see what it looks like.
Note time. If you have a border around your picture, you will notice the watermark is partly covered up by the border since it is set at 0 pixels from the edge of the picture. If you aren't using a border, you won't have this problem as there won't be anything to cover it up. To correct this problem, you are going to use the "Padding" option. If you have your border set to "Abs. 5," go ahead and change this setting to 10. This will give the watermark a 10 pixel "pad" from the edges of the picture and move it out of the border. If you select preview again, you should notice the watermark has moved up out of the border and is now completely visible! Some may wonder, why not just change the color of the text to say, white. Your watermark will still be in the border area and will take away the clean look of it. Your choice of course. The "Orientation" option will rotate the watermark "x" amount of degrees. Use this to angle your watermark or to make it go vertical instead of horizontal. The "Transparency" option will allow you to "fade" your watermark by up to a value of 255. This would be a good option while using an image watermark so you can still see the actual picture through the image watermark. You shouldn't need the "Solid Mask" option when using this program.
Once you have the watermark where and how you want it, click "OK" to accept the watermark. This will take you back to the main screen with a watermark set for your picture(s). Click "Apply" to accept all changes.
Now that you have all of your options selected (Frame, Border, and Watermark), you can either save this one picture or apply it to multiple using the "Batch Processing" option discussed earlier.
Here is the final picture (800x600) with a 1 pixel "Inside" border and a watermark (note at the very edge of the picture, you can see 1 pixel of the actual picture, therefore the gap):
Here is the final picture (810x610 with no gap) with a frame and watermark:
While this may seem like a lot of instruction for something as simple as adding a border or a watermark, the ability to know how to set the correct options and apply the same settings to hundreds of pictures with a few click will save you A LOT of time. Take the couple of minutes it takes to set the options in this program and click a few buttons to add everything to hundreds of pictures versus taking a couple of minutes to do the same to one picture in an editing program! If you currently add borders and watermarks to multiple photos using editing programs, you know exactly what I am talking about! I have shown you the basics of the two different options available to you. Be brave and experiment a little bit! There is a shadow option that I did not go over for example. If you are using a copy of your picture (which I always recommend when editing/experimenting for the first time), you won't have anything to worry about if you do something you don't like!
Enjoy!
Written by Tyler Clegg (roushtage2) for Meguiar's Online Forums. If you find any errors, please let me know so that I can get them fixed! Thanks!
I needed to find a program that could add borders to more than one photo at a time (432 at the time, to be exact). Using a program like Adobe Photoshop just wasn't an option here. I found this little treasure after some searching around the internet. The program is called FrameFun, it is freeware (you don't have to buy it, it is free!) and the latest version as of this write-up was 2.0.0.7. This write-up will be made using version 2.0.0.7 as well. Here is the download link for this version: http://www.hochstrasser.org/wiki/fil...up-2.0.0.7.exe
Here is a screenshot of the program when it is opened up:
Alright, let's get started with one photo so you can see how this program works. This program does not resize pictures, so be sure and use the correct size picture from the start. I will be using a picture resized to 800x600 pixels for this tutorial. Here it is:
Here is the picture opened up in the program using the "Open" option under the "File" menu:
Now onto the good part. At the bottom of the program screen, as you can see, there are four different option panels. To add a basic border, you are going to be interested in the first two panels.
The first panel is to set the frame options. The "Inside" box will tell the program that you want the frame on the inside of the picture, thus keeping the same size. If this is unchecked, it will add a frame to the outside of the picture, which will acutally enlarge the picture by adding the frame on. This program allows you to set a relative border, which would be important when adding a frame to many pictures that are different pixel sizes. One options is the "Abs." option, or absolute size. This is a great option to use if all of your pictures are the same size, say 800x600 and don't want the dimensions to change, as it will give them a border of the same size on the inside. Select the "Abs." option and set it's value to "1." This is going to allow a 1 pixel gap between the edge of the picture and the actual border. I'm not sure why you cannot set it to zero, but I guess for now it is a compromise between saving hours of work and being 1 pixel shy of perfect. These two settings will keep the frame inside of the picture and make it small enough that it will hardly be noticed. The other option here is to leave the "Inside" option unchecked and to set the "Abs." value to how large you want the picture frame to be. If you set the value to "5" to make a 5 pixel wide frame, it will enlarge the picture by 5 pixels on each side creating an overall enlargement of 10 pixels per dimension. The picture will be enlarged a bit, but you will not have that 1 pixel gap. You will also need to select a color for your frame. The choice is yours.
If you choose the "Inside" option, you will need to continue on. If you choose to have the frame placed on the outside, you can click the "Apply" box to save your changes and save the picture here and be done, or move onto the batch processing part to see how to add this frame to multiple pictures and how to add a watermark. I will continue on with the "Inside" option so you can see how this will be done.
The second panel is to set the border options. First off, make sure the "Border" option is checked, and therefore enabled. Here you have three types of borders you can add, and the same to adjustment options as well. Let's pick a border size first, and then go through the types of borders. The "1/x" option will allow you to set a relative size border. This is important when adding a border to many pictures of different sizes as it will give them all the same size border relative to their size. Let's say for example, you use this option with a setting of "1/100." A picture sized at 800x600 will get a border 1/100 of it's size around it, as will a picture that is 1280x1024. Again, we are going to want the "Abs." option to set an absolute value border. I chose 5, so my picture(s) will all have a 5 pixel border around them. There is also a color option if you'd like a border a color besides black.
Hit the apply button and you can see the the result of your option choices. Here it should just be a black border around the edge of the inside of the picture )note the "Result" resolution is the same as the original).
**I made a copy of a picture and edited and saved it first to make sure it came out how I wanted it. Once I got it right, I knew I could proceed with no worries.**
From here, click "Accept" to save your changes and then you can save the picture using the Save option and be done:
Before I go onto the watermark section, I want to address the main point of using a program like this to add a border to multiple pictures at once. Once you have the settings you like, such as I did with the above ones, you can add that same border to a "batch" of pictures. To do this, you are going to use the "Batch Processing" option under the "File" menu. Make sure your border options are set beforehand, as this will allow you to not have to leave the "Batch Processing" screen.
Once you click on this option, the "Batch Processing" screen appears. This is what it looks like:
To select multiple files, click on the blank area labeled "Souce Files." This will bring up a window for you to select your pictures. You cannot select a folder unforunately, so just open up the folder and select them all. Alternately, go through the folder and select the pictures you want to add a border too. I personally copy all of the pictures I want to edit to a "New Folder" on the desktop so I don't have to worry about going through all of them later to pick out the ones I want. In my case, it is a folder with all of my pictures that were resized in a few clicks using a program called PIXresizer, another great program. Here I have them all selected:
Here we are back at the "Batch Processing" screen with all of our pictures selected.
Now onto the options available to us. "Apply Action" is set to "(Current Setting Only)." This is going to add our previously selected options to all of the selected pictures. This is why they need to be set ahead of time. The next option is "Target Directory." This is where your edited pictures will be saved to (EDIT: I've just noticed as well you must type in the directory. Clicking on a folder in the list will not select it for some reason. Seems I need to e-mail the program creator with some suggestions, lol). "Target Format" is set to "Original" by default which means it will save them in the same format the original pictures are in. You do have the option though of changing them to a .bmp, .jpg, or a .png file. For most purposes, leaving it set to "Original" will be just fine. Once you have the settings set, click "OK" and watch the magic happen! In the directory you chose, there should be all of your selected pictures with a border around them! Easier than going through 25, 50, or even 500 pictures in Photoshop, huh!?
Now onto the last part which simply adds on to the above, whether you are editing one picture or many, or can be used just to add a watermark to one or many pictures without a border (just don't use the frame or border options). Adding a watermark. Check the "Watermark" option to enable it and then click on the settings button, which in this program, is the set of ellipses in a box.
There are two different types of watermarks you can add in this program, the basic text watermark or an actual image. If you want to use a text watermark, check the "Text Watermark" box and type in your watermark. The settings box next to it will allow you change the font type, size, color, etc... If you want to use an image, most often a logo, check the "Image Watermark" box and click on the settings box to locate your image. I will be using a text watermark for this tutorial. I also chose to place the watermark in the lower right corner of the picture using the "Placement" options. Here it is typed in, and then I clicked "Preview" to see what it looks like.
Note time. If you have a border around your picture, you will notice the watermark is partly covered up by the border since it is set at 0 pixels from the edge of the picture. If you aren't using a border, you won't have this problem as there won't be anything to cover it up. To correct this problem, you are going to use the "Padding" option. If you have your border set to "Abs. 5," go ahead and change this setting to 10. This will give the watermark a 10 pixel "pad" from the edges of the picture and move it out of the border. If you select preview again, you should notice the watermark has moved up out of the border and is now completely visible! Some may wonder, why not just change the color of the text to say, white. Your watermark will still be in the border area and will take away the clean look of it. Your choice of course. The "Orientation" option will rotate the watermark "x" amount of degrees. Use this to angle your watermark or to make it go vertical instead of horizontal. The "Transparency" option will allow you to "fade" your watermark by up to a value of 255. This would be a good option while using an image watermark so you can still see the actual picture through the image watermark. You shouldn't need the "Solid Mask" option when using this program.
Once you have the watermark where and how you want it, click "OK" to accept the watermark. This will take you back to the main screen with a watermark set for your picture(s). Click "Apply" to accept all changes.
Now that you have all of your options selected (Frame, Border, and Watermark), you can either save this one picture or apply it to multiple using the "Batch Processing" option discussed earlier.
Here is the final picture (800x600) with a 1 pixel "Inside" border and a watermark (note at the very edge of the picture, you can see 1 pixel of the actual picture, therefore the gap):
Here is the final picture (810x610 with no gap) with a frame and watermark:
While this may seem like a lot of instruction for something as simple as adding a border or a watermark, the ability to know how to set the correct options and apply the same settings to hundreds of pictures with a few click will save you A LOT of time. Take the couple of minutes it takes to set the options in this program and click a few buttons to add everything to hundreds of pictures versus taking a couple of minutes to do the same to one picture in an editing program! If you currently add borders and watermarks to multiple photos using editing programs, you know exactly what I am talking about! I have shown you the basics of the two different options available to you. Be brave and experiment a little bit! There is a shadow option that I did not go over for example. If you are using a copy of your picture (which I always recommend when editing/experimenting for the first time), you won't have anything to worry about if you do something you don't like!
Enjoy!
Written by Tyler Clegg (roushtage2) for Meguiar's Online Forums. If you find any errors, please let me know so that I can get them fixed! Thanks!
thanks for sharing
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