Using our image editor for entries, you often want to place a new object so it looks like its behind another. If you added both images yourself, it’s a snap — just adjust the stack order.

But what if one of the objects is actually part of the background image itself? Not quite so easy, but actually RasterJam masters do it all the time. Here’s how:

Good luck!

If you have other topics you’d like to see explained in moving pictures, let us know!

Hopefully this isn’t too risqué for you people, I’m going out on a bit of a limb. But this picture is so priceless I couldn’t resist.

So here we have a cool RasterJam caption contest. You can add banners, speech bubbles, pictures, whatevah! Look at the entries, and if you’re inspired, try making your own (hit the ‘make an entry link’ below). You’ll find it’s easy and a blast to do.

Have fun and keep it clean, kids!

These babies are so cute, but what are they saying/thinking/doing/smoking? It’s caption contest time! Click the image below to see the entries so far. Hit ‘make an entry’ to create your own masterpiece, right in the comfort of your very own browser. Oh and don’t forget to vote for your favorites!

RasterJam makes it super fun and easy to create entries & contests that go way beyond typical forum/comments based contests. Give it a shot.

Put a contest like this on your blog or webpage! Your picture, your readers - a fun, free and easy way to build content and linkbacks. Learn more about hosting your own contest today.

Here’s a great new contest. The background is just perfect because there is plenty of space to work in the middle, but you also have all the people to work with. Click on the picture to see the entries we have so far. Why don’t you make an entry and see how easy it is? Click the “make an entry” button and give it a shot!

We’re working on a sweet new feature — the ability to host a rasterjam contest on your very own web page. Here’s a little sneak preview for you of what the viewer control looks like.

Just a prototype, but you get the idea. We’re trying to make it easy to share out contests. Got feedback? Share in the comments.

RasterJam is powered by mix-in images — images that can be positioned over the background image to create a fun effect. But the library is limited - every day sees new images uploaded, but there may be something you want that’s not there. If you can, upload it yourself from the entry form.

If you don’t have the skillz, you can request someone else to do it for you.

The comments for this post will be a place for people to request image uploads from others in the community.

We’ve got some great entries in the “Wrong place at the wrong time” jam. Swapping heads is easy to do and often times really funny. So I thought i’d call out a couple good examples.

These pictures are pulled from the entries (but are cropped and zoomed in a bit).

The original:

Some examples:

woops i guess that last one is something else entirely….

I hit one more issue with the acts_as_fulltext_indexed plug-in. It results in a subtle data-loss bug so I think it’s worth calling out. It strikes specifically when you have multiple models using acts_as_fulltext.

What happens is that the list of fields to be indexed is kept in a class variable (not per model). Each subsequent model that registers with acts_as_fulltext ends up overwriting the one global field list with its list of fields, resulting in a last-one-wins situation.

Why data-loss? When you save an instance of the previous model, it will try to generate a new string (’tokens’) for the index from the wrong field list, resulting in an empty string. So the fulltext table entry for this AR instance is cleared out — effectively making it disappear from the search index. Ouch!

The load order for the model classes is not fixed in stone, so this bug will manifest itself differently at different times, making it sneaky and nasty.

The fix

The fix is to make it append new fields names instead of over-writing them. In acts_as_fulltext_indexed.rb, around line 29:

was:

becomes:

This is something of a hack. A more correct approach to fixing this would be to store the indexed field list on a per-model basis. But since our indexed field list is short and has all unique field names, I didn’t take the extra time to figure that out. Exercise for the reader!

Anyway I hope calling out this bug helps someone.

There are a lot of good free image resources on the web. Here are my very top recommendations:

Databases:

• morguefile.com - huge database of high quality images
• Wikimedia Commons gallery - images uploaded for wikipedia etc. Enlessly interesting to browse the latest images. Huge volume.

Search:

• Creative Commons search - watch out, it’s easy to wander off into non-free resources.
• Flickr search - Flickr is great to promote this license. Watch out, it’s easy to wander off into non-free resources.

Lists of links:

• Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources - Wikipedia article listing tons of annotated links
• Springfield township library - Library link with more annotated links

Reminder, there is a distinction between the license for use of the image, versus the “right of privacy” for any depicted in the image.

What are your favorites sources? Leave a comment and share!

As you’re looking through entries, you’ll probably get the spark of inspiration. So how do you make your own entry? It’s easy!

In the upper of each contest page, click “Create an entry”. You can start with the original contest background image, or someone else’s entry. Let’s start with the original.

Next you’ll go to the entry page. It is split into three areas: The ImageBank, the ToolBar and the Canvas. You drag pictures from the ImageBank onto the Canvas, then adjust them with the Toolbar. Easy!

The ImageBank

It all starts with the ImageBank. This is where you find images (or speech bubbles etc) to add the canvas.

The ImageBank is a library of images available for you to use. They are tagged with keywords, so you can search. Just drag and drop to add an image to the canvas. Rinse and repeat if you’d like more. Besides searching, you can also browse by submitter, keywords and randomly. On the upload tab, you can add your own images to the ImageBank. A future blog post will go into details on that.

Once you chosen your image and have dragged it to the canvas, you select it by clicking on it. When selected, you’ll see a yellow frame. Click and drag to move it around. Using the tools on the corner of the frame, you can rotate and resize the item. If you decide the picture isn’t working for you, delete it with ‘x’ in the corner.

With the Toolbar you can do a variety of more advanced manipulations on the currently selected image, which we’ll talk about in future posts. Our primary goal is to keep it dead simple for basic stuff like flipping the image, or adjusting the font.

Once you’re satisified with your work, hit “Submit entry!” and your entry will be added to the contest where the world can view, rate and comment on your entry.

Start with any contest and give it a try. If you have any feedback at all, let us know!