Clipping Path Extraction in AEM DAM: A Custom Workflow Approach

Clipping paths are essential in image processing because they define areas of an image that should be visible while masking out the rest. It’s like cutting out an object with scissors so it can be placed on a new background without unwanted elements. In Adobe Photoshop, these paths are stored within the image’s “Photoshop” metadata and can be used to create precise cutouts for various applications.

In AEM DAM, having access to clipping paths allows teams to automate image workflows. Whether you’re delivering product images for an e-commerce website, designing marketing materials, or preparing assets for digital campaigns, clipping paths ensure clean, professional-looking visuals.

Visit Understanding Clipping Path: Importance and related metadata extraction for more details

Challenges Caused by Inconsistent Clipping Path Names

One of the biggest hurdles in managing clipping paths within AEM DAM is inconsistent naming conventions across assets. This inconsistency can come from several sources:

1. Legacy Assets with Outdated Naming Conventions

Many companies have thousands of older assets stored in AEM, often created before structured metadata standards were in place. Clipping paths in these assets might be named randomly or follow outdated conventions that no longer align with current workflows. As a result, finding and using the correct clipping path can become frustrating, especially when working with bulk images.

2. Multiple Agencies Contributing Assets with Different Standards

If your organization works with multiple creative agencies, chances are each one has its own way of naming and structuring files. Some agencies may use descriptive clipping path names like “Product-Cutout”, while others stick to generic names like “Path 1” or “ClippingPath”. Without a uniform standard, it becomes difficult to automate processes, leading to errors and manual corrections.

3. Business Process Changes Leading to Variations in Path Names

As businesses evolve, so do their design guidelines and workflows. A company that once used a simple clipping path system may later introduce new rules, such as separate paths for shadows, reflections, or different product views. Over time, this results in a mix of different naming conventions across assets, making it challenging to maintain consistency within AEM.

Why Accurate Clipping Path Metadata Is Crucial for Dynamic Media Workflows

Dynamic Media in AEM enables on-the-fly image transformations, allowing businesses to deliver optimized images across different channels without manually editing each one. However, for this automation to work effectively, AEM must have accurate clipping path metadata available.

When clipping path names are incorrect, Dynamic Media cannot apply the correct transformations. This means:

• Product images might not display correctly on e-commerce sites.
• Marketing creatives might require manual intervention, slowing down time-to-market.
• Automated workflows, like applying backgrounds or overlays dynamically, may fail due to incorrect path references.

By extracting and storing clipping path metadata properly, organizations can ensure that Dynamic Media can reliably embed and apply clipping paths using modifiers like pathEmbed and clipPathE. This not only saves time but also ensures consistency across all digital assets.

Why Clipping Paths Are Not Extracted Out-of-the-Box in AEM DAM

One of the biggest challenges when working with clipping paths in AEM DAM is that their metadata is not automatically extracted during asset ingestion. This happens because clipping path names are stored in Photoshop-specific metadata, not in the standard XMP headers that AEM reads by default.

As a result, even if an image contains a well-defined clipping path, AEM users cannot see or reference it within the asset’s metadata properties unless they manually inspect the file in Photoshop.

Building a Custom Workflow Process for Clipping Path Extraction

Step 1: Creating a Custom Workflow Process Step

The first step is to create a custom workflow process step that reads the Photoshop metadata and extracts the clipping path name.

• Read Photoshop metadata.
• Identify the clipping path name.
• Map it to a metadata property in AEM DAM.

	@Override
	public void execute(WorkItem workItem, WorkflowSession workflowSession, MetaDataMap args) {
	String payloadPath = WorkflowUtils.getPayloadPath(workItem);
	try {
	// Get the ResourceResolver from workflow session
	ResourceResolver resourceResolver = workflowSession.adaptTo(ResourceResolver.class);
	Resource assetResource = resourceResolver.getResource(payloadPath);
	if (assetResource == null) {
	LOG.error("Asset not found at: {}", payloadPath);
	return;
	}
	Asset asset = assetResource.adaptTo(Asset.class);
	if (asset == null) {
	LOG.error("Failed to adapt resource to asset: {}", payloadPath);
	return;
	}
	try (InputStream is = asset.getRendition("original").getStream()) {
	Metadata metadata = ImageMetadataReader.readMetadata(is);
	PhotoshopDirectory photoshopDir = metadata.getFirstDirectoryOfType(PhotoshopDirectory.class);
	if (photoshopDir != null) {
	String clippingPathName = photoshopDir.getDescription(PhotoshopDirectory.TAG_CLIPPING_PATH_NAME);
	if (clippingPathName != null) {
	Resource metadataRes = assetResource.getChild("jcr:content/metadata");
	ModifiableValueMap map = metadataRes.adaptTo(ModifiableValueMap.class);
	map.put(AEM_METADATA_PROPERTY, clippingPathName);
	LOG.info("Stored Clipping Path Name: {}", clippingPathName);
	} else {
	LOG.warn("No Clipping Path Name found in asset: {}", payloadPath);
	}
	}
	} catch (Exception e) {
	LOG.error("Error reading Photoshop metadata for asset: {}", payloadPath, e);
	}
	} catch (Exception e) {
	LOG.error("Unable to complete processing the Workflow Process step", e);
	}
	}

view raw ClippingPathExtractorProcess.java hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Complete code available here -> ClippingPathExtractorProcess

Step 2: Integrating with Asset Upload Workflow

Now that we have a custom extraction process, we need to integrate it into AEM’s DAM Update Asset workflow so it runs every time a new asset is uploaded.

Step 3: Using Extracted Clipping Path in Dynamic Media with Modifiers

Once we have successfully extracted and stored clipping path metadata in AEM, the next step is leveraging it in Dynamic Media for optimized image delivery. Dynamic Media offers powerful URL-based image modifications, allowing us to apply clipping paths dynamically without manually editing files.

There are two key modifiers in Dynamic Media that help us utilize clipping paths effectively:

1. pathEmbed Modifier

Embed paths data. Specifies whether Photoshop paths from the layer 0 source image file should be included in the response image.

Example Usage: https://example.scene7.com/is/image/myImage?pathEmbed=1

2. clipPathE Modifier: Applying Clipping Paths Dynamically in Scene7

The clipPathE modifier allows you to apply clipping paths dynamically. Scene7 processes the image on the fly, using the available clipping path information.

Example Usage

• Basic Image URL: https://example.scene7.com/is/image/myImage?pathEmbed=1

• Applying the Clipping Path Named “Outline”: https://example.scene7.com/is/image/myImage?pathEmbed=1&clipPathE=Outline

Example: Following 2 images have same object with different backgound. The second image is constructed using Clipping Path as https://example.scene7.com/is/image/myImage?pathEmbed=1&clipPathE=Outline&bgc=255,255,255