Choose where each piece hangs.
OpenVGal has favoured automatic placement so far: drop your folders in and a hung gallery comes back in seconds. The trade-off is that the builder decides which image goes on which wall. Sequencing gives that decision back to you, using nothing but your file names.
It is not the ideal tool. It takes a few rounds of renaming and rebuilding, and a proper placement editor will replace it. Until then, it is a reliable way to get every piece where you want it.
How numbering works
Start a file name with a number from 1 to 999 followed by an underscore, and
that number sets the image’s place in its folder’s sequence.
001_dusk.jpg,002_harbour.jpg,003_nets.jpgare placed in that order.1_dusk.jpgand001_dusk.jpgmean the same thing. Leading zeros only help your files sort neatly on your own computer.- Four digits are not a sequence number, so
2024_dusk.jpgis treated as an ordinary name. - Images without a number are placed after the numbered ones, in name order.
The number is not part of the title. 001_dusk.jpg hangs as dusk.
Each folder is a room with its own sequence, so numbering can start again at
001 in every folder. When a folder needs more than one room, the lowest
numbers go in the first room.
After you add your folders, the builder reports what it recognized for each room:
- Sequence recognized
- Every image in the room has a number. The order is fully yours.
- Partially recognized
- Some images have no number, or share one. The notice lists them by name.
- No notice
- No image in the room is numbered. The builder places them in its usual order.
Why the numbers are not a path
The sequence is the order the builder hangs images in, not the order a visitor
walks past them. To keep the walls balanced, each image goes on whichever wall
has the most free space at that point. So 001, 002 and 003 usually end up
on different walls rather than side by side.
What matters is that the result is fixed: the same files, numbers and style always give the same layout. That is what makes the procedure below work.
Number every file
In each folder, give every image a number. The order you choose is only a starting point, so don’t spend long on it. Then add the folders to the builder and check that every room shows sequence recognized.
Preview and take notes
Pick your style, build, and open Preview. In the preview only, each title shows its number, so you can see which number landed where. Walk each room and write down each position and the number hanging there.
Decide the swaps
Compare where each piece is with where you want it. Write each change as a swap.
For example, you notice 003_nets hangs where you want 033_lighthouse.
After that swap, only the lighthouse is in its final position. The nets move to the lighthouse’s old spot, which may not be where you want them, so they need a swap of their own. Follow the same pattern for every piece that is out of place, and keep a table of each piece’s current number and its final number:
- 033 → 003
- lighthouse: to the spot where the nets hang now.
- 003 → 017
- nets: to the spot where the boats hang now.
- 017 → 033
- boats: to the lighthouse's old spot.
Rename
Rename every file in your table to its final number: 033_lighthouse.jpg
becomes 003_lighthouse.jpg, 003_nets.jpg becomes 017_nets.jpg, and so on.
The titles stay the same. Only the numbers change.
Build again
Remove the old folders from the builder, add the renamed ones, and build with the same style. Each piece now hangs in the spot you picked. Preview once more to confirm.
A swap moves exactly two pieces when they have a similar shape. Swap a wide landscape with a narrow portrait and the wall space changes, which can move some of the pieces placed after them. If that happens, take notes again and repeat steps 3 to 5. It settles in a round or two.
Tips
- Change the style and the room shapes change too, so any notes you took no longer apply. Choose the style first, then sequence.
- Number in steps of ten (
010,020,030) to leave space for pieces you add later without renaming the rest. - Keep your list of swaps. If you rebuild later from the same folders, the same names give the same layout.