Pictures in Charts

Getting Pictures into Charts
Using the Object Menu to Put Pictures in Charts
Pictures Inside Boxes
Dragging and Dropping Pictures into Charts
Placing Pictures into Charts
Editing Picture Attributes

Borders, Corners, Shadows, Frames

Saving Default Attributes for Pictures

Pasting Images into Charts

Picture Size and Information
Picture Fundamentals

Multimedia Sidebar

Media Window

Getting Pictures into Charts

Before a chart is created, Reunion can be configured to include preferred pictures inside chart boxes. To do this...

  1. Select Charts > Descendant / Ancestor / Relative / etc.
  2. Check the Preferred pictures button.


    To learn more about creating charts, click here.

After a chart is created, there are several ways to put pictures into charts...

Using the Object Menu to Put Pictures in Charts

After a chart is created, perhaps the slickest way to put additional pictures (other than preferred pictures) into charts is to utilize the pictures that have already been added (or linked) to people in your family file. To do this, select a box (or boxes) in a chart and...

The first two Put Picture submenus contain a list of pictures that have already been added/linked to the person(s) records in the family view. Just choose an image and, presto, it appears in your chart or box.

As a shortcut, the same menu appears when holding down the Control key and clicking a box.

This table shows which pictures will appear in the Put Picture submenus:

Type of chart
Pictures appear in the Put Picture submenus for the...
Ancestor
clicked person.
the family section of the clicked person's Multimedia sidebar — if the clicked person is male.
Descendant
clicked person.
clicked person's spouse in the same box.
family of clicked person and spouse.

Relative

ancestors of source person: same as ancestor chart boxes.
descendants of source person: same as descendant chart boxes.
Fan
same as ancestor.
Timeline
same as ancestor.

Note: If the Put Picture menu item is disabled (gray) and the first item in the submenu is Locate Family File or Open Family File, click here.

Pictures Inside Boxes

Here are three ways to put pictures inside boxes in charts...

  1. Preferred pictures can automatically be included in all chart boxes by checking the Preferred pictures button as you're getting ready to create a chart (after selecting Charts > Descendant / Ancestor / Relative).
  2. After a chart is created you can put pictures directly into boxes by selecting a chart box and choosing a picture from the Object > Put Picture in Box submenu. This was explained above.
  3. Pictures sitting anywhere on a chart canvas can be dragged/dropped into a chart box. In fact, multiple pictures can be dragged into a single box. And pictures can be dragged out of a box, onto the chart's canvas.

Pictures in boxes do have some limitations: for example, unlike other pictures sitting on a chart canvas, you can't edit the corners, shadows, etc., of pictures inside boxes.

Aligning Pictures Inside Boxes

When a picture is in a box, it can be moved to different locations in the box by using the Object > Align Picture in Box submenu.

Samples of different alignments appear below.

Control-click any selected box to apply the Align Picture in Box feature to all selected boxes. If you Control-click a box that is not selected, only that box will be affected.

Resizing Pictures Inside Boxes

To change the size of pictures inside selected boxes, use the Object > Size Picture in Box submenu.

Different boxes can have different size pictures. If you want them all to be the same size, choose Object > Select > All Boxes before choosing the size in the Object > Size Picture in Box submenu.

Control-click any selected box to apply the Size Picture in Box feature to all selected boxes. If you Control-click a box that is not selected, only that box will be affected.

Framing Pictures Inside Boxes

Pictures inside boxes can be "framed" in one of thirteen ways...

To apply frames to pictures inside boxes, select one or more boxes in a chart and choose Object > Frame Picture in Box > [one of the four choices].

Control-click any selected box(es) to apply the Frame Picture in Box feature to all selected boxes. If you Control-click a box that is not selected, only that box will be affected.

Pictures with Transparent Backgrounds Inside Boxes

Note: This feature will only work with images that have transparency. Most, if not all, of your images will not have transparency and this option will have no effect.

Pictures with transparent backgrounds can be drawn inside of boxes in two different ways...

To draw images with transparency, select one or more boxes in a chart and check the option Object > Frame Picture in Box > Transparent background.

You will also have to select a frame of None or Rectangle for those boxes.

Control-click any selected box(es) to apply the Transparent background feature to all selected boxes. If you Control-click a box that is not selected, only that box will be affected.

Dragging and Dropping Pictures into Charts

This is as simple as it sounds. A complete list of drag and drop possibilities appear elsewhere, but here are four examples...

Placing Pictures into Charts

To place or import a picture file from disk into a chart, open the chart and choose File > Place Picture. In the file selection window that appears, navigate until you find the folder containing your picture file(s). To access photos in your iPhoto library, use the left side of the file-selection window and look for the MEDIA section. More detail about working with iPhoto appears here. (Note: this does not work with Apple's newer Photos app.)

If a picture file doesn't appear in the list, it may not have been saved in the correct file format.

Editing Picture Attributes

Note: the following information applies to pictures sitting on the chart canvas; not to pictures inside chart boxes.

Like other objects, pictures on charts can be layered, moved, deleted, duplicated, copied, and resized.

To change the attributes of a picture, select the picture (by clicking on it) and then use the tool panel buttons, shown and explained below.

Note: some of these buttons may not appear, depending on the attributes of the picture.

Picture Borders

A picture border is a rectangle that encloses a picture. You can select a border color and a border thickness. To specify no border, click the Border Depth button and choose None. See also Picture Frame below.

Picture Corners

To add decorative corners to a picture, click the Corner Style button and choose a corner style. You can choose a color for the corners using the Corner Color button. To specify no picture corners, click the Corner Style button and choose None.

Picture Shadows

The last set of buttons affects the picture shadow, which is wrapped around the bottom and right sides of a picture. You can select a shadow color and a shadow depth. If you don't want a shadow, click the Shadow Depth button and choose None.

Picture Frames

The Picture Frame is the shape of the picture's perimeter. Select a picture and use the Frame Style button. Its menu is shown below.

There are twelve different types of frames. A frame type of None means that the picture is presented "as is" with no alteration of its perimeter. Examples of the other frames are shown below.

You may also apply a color to picture frames, using the Frame Color button shown above. Applying a "white" color to oval picture frames help to avoid a "jaggy" appearance around ovalled pictures.

Note: Framed pictures require twice the memory of "normal" pictures and thus may impact the speed of chart editing.

Saving Default Attributes for Pictures

In the previous section, various picture attributes were explained (picture border, frame, shadow, corners, etc.). These attributes can be saved and applied to new pictures that are pasted or dragged/dropped into charts. Thus, if you edit a picture and are pleased with its look, new pictures will have the same look.

To save the attributes of any picture as the default set of attributes applied to new pictures...

  1. Click a picture.
  2. Set the attributes the way you like using the tool panel (as described above).
  3. Choose Object > Save Default Picture Attributes.

The Save Default Picture Attributes command also appears when Control-clicking a picture in a chart.

More information about defaults for charts appears here.