Render image formula field requires upload field

Render image formula field requires upload field



I used instructions on this page to render uploaded images in views, and it works, but why do we have to display the upload field in the view for the formula field to work? Or am I missing something?

To me this is just bloating/breaking views' tables with useless loooooooong file names.

Is there a workaround for this besides an HTML view?

TIA.