• Pro overlay images of teardrop greeneries, Moravian stars, starbursts, lawn inflatables, bows, and enhanced lit wreaths.
• Catalog Editor to curate your own catalog of Pro and custom overlays to better match your product offerings.
• Catalog import/export commands to share curated catalogs between devices running iPadOS 18.
• Improved entry of custom overlay attributes.
• Scaling multiplier to adjust the size of overlays in scenes.
• Nano bulbs, the smallest bulb yet.
• User option to place the Scene Editor's menu panel on the right or left side of the screen.
• User option to add overlays to a scene without requiring a Scaling Guide.
• User option to reset in-app tips to a specific version of the app (or disable all tips).
• Object Group H, which is hidden in all three lighting packages.
  Use Group H when you want to temporarily hide an object until you figure out which package works best for it.
• Permanently enabled the version 1.0 Options setting whereby newly added overlays copy the attributes of the selected overlay, or copy from the Scaling Guide if nothing is selected.
• Bulb Brightness slider now controls the brightness of bulbs on Pro overlays as well as bulbs on strands.
• Updated Pro sample scenes with the new Pro 3.0 overlays.
• Bug fixes and optimizations.
• Official support for iPadOS 16, 17, and 18.

The Pro Overlay Catalog contains wreaths of size 24", 30", 36" and 48".

Each size has five variations: unlit, warm white, white, red, and multicolor (i.e., red, green, blue, yellow) bulbs.

Pro 3.0 wreaths have larger bulbs than the prior version to more closely match the size of bulbs in strands.

Yes. Bows come in four widths: 12", 15", 18", and 24". The app understands these bows fit wreaths double their size, namely 24", 30", 36" and 48" wreaths respectively.

Each size of bow has five variations: red, red with gold trim, gold, silver, and one specialty bow.

In addition to wreaths and bows, Jolly Lights Pro 3.0 contains 36" and 48" teardrop greeneries; 14" Moravian stars; 12", 18", and 24" starbursts; and five lawn inflatables.

1. Tap Change Mode in the Scene Editor, then select Overlay to enter Overlay Mode.

2. Tap Add Overlay.

3. If this will be the first overlay in the scene, set up your Scaling Guide, then repeat the prior two steps.

4. The Add Overlay popover lists overlays contained within a given catalog, such as Pro Overlay Catalog. Tap on the name of the selected catalog if you want to view a different catalog.

5. The Add Overlay popover uses three selection criteria to help you locate the desired overlay in the catalog: Object Type, Bulb Color, and (Fits) Wreath Size.

For now, tap on the word Any in all three rows so everything in the catalog is displayed in the list of overlays at the bottom of the popover.

6. Scroll through the list until you find the type of wreath you want (for example, a 30" wreath with warm white bulbs). Tap on that wreath, and the popover will disappear.

7. The selected wreath (i.e., 30" with warm white bulbs) will appear in your scene at the correct size (based on your Scaling Guide). Position the wreath in your scene.

To add a bow matching your 30" wreath:

1. Tap Change Mode in the Scene Editor, then select Overlay to enter Overlay Mode.

2. Tap the wreath on which the bow will be placed.

3. With the targeted wreath selected, tap Add Overlay to have the new bow mimic the wreath's attributes (instead of the Scaling Guide).

4. Use the selection criteria to quickly find the matching bow:
First, tap Bow in the Object Type row.
Then, tap the word Any in the Bulb Color row.
Then, tap 30" in the (Fits) Wreath Size row.

5. If you're viewing the Pro Overlay Catalog, you should see five 15" bows in the overlay list at the bottom of the popover. Tap one of these bows, and the popover will disappear.

6. A new bow will appear in your scene with attributes matching the targeted wreath (i.e., scale, rotation, sunlight, scene depth). Position the new 15" bow on your 30" wreath.

When adding an overlay to a scene you can set its Scaling Multiplier. Most often, you'll want to use a Scaling Multiplier of 1.0x so the new overlay matches its listed size in the overlay catalog.

However, if you're placing a lawn inflatable on the front lawn, you'll want a larger multiplier due to perspective projection.

For instance, if the distance to the inflatable will be half the distance to the home's front door (and its associated Scaling Guide), use a multiplier of 2.0x (i.e., 1.0 / 0.5 = 2.0) to double the size of the inflatable because it's much closer to the scene's viewer than the front door.

The Scaling Multiplier can also be used to increase or decrease the size of an overlay already in the scene by a specific amount. Simply tap Switch Overlay, choose a Scaling Multiplier other than 1.0x, then pick the same overlay in the Overlay Picker's list of overlays.

For example, a Scaling Multiplier of 1.05x replaces the overlay with copy that's 5% larger. And, a multiplier of 0.8x replaces it with a copy that's 80% of the prior size (ie., 20% smaller).

Yes. Jolly Lights Pro 3.0 has a user option to disable the Scaling Guide requirement.

1. Tap Options in the app's Main Menu.

2. Tap the toggle switch to off for the option entitled Require a Scaling Guide to add overlays.

To work with scenes without a Scaling Guide, select an overlay in the scene before tapping Add Overlay so the new overlay mimics the attributes (i.e., scale, rotation, sunlight, scene depth) of the selected overlay.

If no overlay is selected, newly added overlays will be sized to fit 10% of the visible screen when no Scaling Guide is present.

The Catalog Editor lets you organize overlays into curated catalogs. We recommend creating a new catalog each year, then including just the overlays you'll use that holiday season.

Once created, you can select your curated catalog in the Scene Editor to view just your products when adding overlays to a scene. For instance, if you don't offer 24" blue starbursts to clients, there's no need to have the 24" blue starburst overlay in your curated catalog.

To build out your curated catalog, copy existing overlays from other catalogs (eg., Pro Overlay Catalog), then load your own product images from the Photos app to define custom overlays.

Curated catalogs can be shared with others via Import / Export commands on the New Catalog / Saved Catalogs screen in the app's Main Menu. In addition to USB drives, you can use AirDrop, email, and internet download to transfer exported catalogs between the Files app on different devices running iPadOS 18.

For your convenience, custom overlays you created using earlier versions of Jolly Lights Professional are automatically placed in a separate catalog when upgrading to version 3.0. You can decide which of these overlays to copy to your curated catalog.

1. Tap New Catalog / Saved Catalogs in the app's Main Menu.

2. Tap Select in the upper-right corner of the screen.

3. Tap on the catalog you'd like to export in the list of saved catalogs.

4. Tap Export at the bottom of the screen.

5. In the popover, choose a filename and destination for the exported catalog file. Then, tap Save in the upper-right corner of the popover.

In addition to USB drives, you can use AirDrop, email, and internet download to transfer the exported catalog file between the Files app on different devices.

Import and export requires iPadOS 18 because Apple didn't fix known bugs in earlier iOS versions.

1. Tap New Catalog / Saved Catalogs in the app's Main Menu.

2. Tap Import at the top of the screen.

3. In the popover, choose the catalog file to be imported.

4. After the catalog has been imported, tap Okay to exit the popover.

5. The imported catalog should now appear in the list of saved catalogs.

In addition to USB drives, you can use AirDrop, email, and internet download to transfer an exported catalog file between the Files app on different devices.

Import and export requires iPadOS 18 because Apple didn't fix known bugs in earlier iOS versions.

1. Tap New Catalog / Saved Catalogs in the app's Main Menu.

2. Tap the '+' button in the upper-right corner of the screen to add a new catalog.

3. Type the name of the new catalog, then press return to finalize its creation.

1. Tap New Catalog / Saved Catalogs in the app's Main Menu.

2. Tap on the catalog you'd like to edit in the list of saved catalogs.

3. The selected catalog will now appear in the Catalog Editor, ready to be edited.

To define a new custom overlay while editing a catalog:

1. Tap the '+' button in the upper-right corner of the screen.

2. In the popover, enter the overlay's attributes (eg., description, type, size).

3. Tap Switch Image to pick an image of your holiday decoration from your device's Photos Library.

4. Tap Done to exit the popover and save this newly defined overlay to the catalog being edited.

See the last two sections of this FAQ for tips on defining your custom overlay.

To copy existing overlays from another catalog while editing a catalog:

1. Tap the Copy Overlays From Catalog button in the upper-right corner of the screen.

2. In the Overlay Picker, tap the name of the selected catalog to copy from a different catalog.

3. Set the selection criteria of Object Type, Bulb Color, and (Fits) WreathSize to help find the overlays of interest in the selected catalog.

4. Tap on one or more of the listed overlays to select them, or tap Select All Matching Overlays to select them all.

5. Tap the Copy the selected overlays button to add the selected overlays to the catalog being edited.

Yes. Jolly Lights Pro 3.0 will extract information from the descriptive text to propose candidate attributes for the overlay. You can override these proposed values, if needed.

For best results, mimic the format of descriptions of Pro overlays to help the app choose meaningful attributes.

For example:
30" sequoia fir wreath, warm white bulbs
follows the pattern of:
marketing size, color and/or material, object type, bulb colors.
Type the inch " symbol or foot ' symbol when specifying sizes.

Yes. The size of custom overlays can be specified in terms of width or height.

The industry generally markets products, including bows, by their width. A few object types, such as teardrop greeneries and lawn inflatables, are marketed by height.

When defining your custom overlay with the Catalog Editor, select Marketing Width or Marketing Height for your specific object type.

Type the inch " symbol or foot ' symbol when specifying sizes.

Marketing Width refers to the size by which the product is marketed, which may differ somewhat from its actual size. For instance, bows marketed as 18" wide may vary between 17" to 20" wide.

The app uses marketing width and height to help group the overlays when listed in a catalog.

Physical Image Width specifies the physical width captured by an image, which may differ from the marketing width.

Example:

Take a bow that's marketed as 18" wide with the loops at the top of the bow actually measuring 18.5" across.

Let's say, the image of this bow is 300 pixels wide, and the bow's loops within the image span 290 pixels (i.e., 5 transparent pixels on both sides).

For best results, you should define this bow with a Marketing Width of 18", and set Physical Image Width to 19.1", where 19.1" was calculated as 18.5" / 290 * 300.

With these attributes, the app will list this bow with other 18" bows in its catalog, and scale this overlay's image so its loops span 18.5" when added to a scene.

Using your own images as overlays is a three phase process:

1. Prepare the image you'd like to use as an overlay; ultimately, saving the processed image in the Photos Library.

2. Use the Catalog Editor in Jolly Lights Pro 3.0 to load the processed image and define its Overlay Catalog attributes.

3. Use Add Overlay within Overlay Mode in the Scene Editor to add your custom overlay from its catalog to a scene.

This phase occurs outside of Jolly Lights Professional so use your preferred method of editing images based on the following general steps:

1. Confirm the object of interest looks nice in your source photograph. If it's blurred, rotated at an odd angle, too dark, or simply unappealing, consider a different source photo (or fix the issues before continuing).

2. Ensure the object of interest is large enough in your source photograph. If the object's resolution is too low (i.e., not enough pixels in the object), the object will appear fuzzy when enlarged in a Jolly Lights Pro scene.

3. Crop the photo so the object of interest takes up most of the cropped image.

4. Remove the background from the cropped image. See the next FAQ for tips on how to perform this task.

5. Trim (i.e., crop) excessive transparent borders from the processed image. Your custom overlay will be more difficult to use in a scene (i.e., pick and scale) if it's surrounded by a sea of transparency.

6. Save your processed image using the PNG file format, which supports transparency. Note: JPEG does NOT support transparency -- avoid the JPEG file format.

7. Jolly Lights Pro loads images from the Photos Library on your iPad. Ensure your processed image ends up in the Photos Library.

For example, you might:

• Snap your source photo with your iPad's camera, edit the photo with an iPad app, then save the edited photo to the Photos Library.
• Email the processed image to your iPad, then save the attachment to the Photos Library.
• Sync the processed image from your computer to your iPad's Photos Library via iTunes.
• Transfer the processed image from your iCloud account to the Photos Library.

Regardless of the method, you need to be able to view your processed image in the Photos app on your iPad.

This operation occurs outside of Jolly Lights Professional so use your preferred image editing software on your computer, iPad, or web browser.

Historically, high-end image editing software (e.g., Photoshop) was used to remove backgrounds from images, but specialized lower-cost apps have recently appeared in the App Store (as well as the web) to provide this service.

1. Search for "remove background" in the App Store.

2. Download a highly rated app for removing backgrounds from images.

3. Use the app to remove the background from your image. Crop your image, if needed.

4. Save the resulting image to the Photos Library.

For alternative techniques, including web-based solutions, search for "remove background from image" on the internet.

For Photoshop tutorials, search for "remove background photoshop" on the internet.

Generally speaking, cluttered backgrounds are more difficult to remove, as are backgrounds with little contrast from the object of interest.

Objects with complex fine-lined silhouettes, such as pine wreaths, are more difficult to separate from the background.

The Photos app likely saved a JPEG copy of your processed image in the Photos Library instead of your original image.

JPEG does NOT support transparency so the Photos app converted all transparent pixels in your image to a solid background color (typically, white).

To fix this, you need to modify a setting for the Photos app:

1. Launch the Settings app on your iPad.

2. Scroll down the left column in the Settings app until you find the row for the Photos app. Tap on Photos.

3. The current settings for the Photos app now appear on the right side of the screen. Scroll to the bottom of the right side of the screen.

4. Change the TRANSFER TO MAC OR PC setting from Automatic to Keep Originals.

5. Transfer your processed image (once again) from your computer to your iPad. This time the Photos app will store your image in its original format, including its transparent pixels.

6. Import this corrected image, which includes transparency, into Jolly Lights Pro.