Photo album editing and design

 

Album editing and design

From the main screen you can edit and design the album pages by filling in pages and setting their location on the page, selecting backgrounds, setting frames, masks or effects on the photos, adding clip-arts, adding texts, adding/removing pages or changing the pages order. You can rotate the photos you are using, fill, crop and arrange images on the album pages. You can work in more details by zoom into the album page or by changing the working space size, and you can use the advanced design mode for “fine tuning” your album design. In the menu section you can find a short summary of all the available operations. The screen is composed of the following parts:

  1. Working space (center) – the page you are now editing including Page & General design buttons.
  2. Toolbox (left) – contain tools for editing and design.
  3. Pages (bottom) – small samples of the album pages.
  4. Photos (right) – the photos already in the album and those which are not filled in yet.
  5. General buttons (top) – managing buttons like ‘New’, ‘Open’ and ‘Order’ buttons.

General Buttons

The general buttons on the top of the screen are:

  • New – Opens the New album wizard to create a new photo album order;
  • Open Opens the Open album screen. Use it to open, delete or rename an photo album order;
  • Order – Opens the Order wizard to complete the album order;
  • Prices – Displays the prices list information;
  • Site – Opens the print shop web site;
  • Help – Displays this help file.

Pictures buttons

The buttons located above the pictures pane are :

  • Add pictures - Opens the new album wizard to add new pictures;
  • Remove pictures -Remove selected pictures;
  • Rotate image left - This option will rotate the image to the left;
  • Rotate image right - This option will rotate the image to the right;
  • Sort album images – This buttons opens a small submenu enables the user to sort images by name, by using , by pixel size and to sort in ascending order or descending order.
  • Show album images– This buttons opens a small submenu enables the user to display all images, display used images only or display not used images only.When pointing with the mouse on one of these buttons, a caption with an explanation appears (as below):

Note : all these actions will be applied on pictures located in the pictures pane only.

Under the buttons there is a picture pane appears as the following:

On the left side of each picture there is a number showing the occurrence of the picture in the specific album. Pictures that have no number besides are still not being used in the album (you can also verify the number of pictures that currently being used by looking at the slider below where it’s written: ‘used xx images out of yy’).

Dragging the slider to the right side , increases the pictures size within the pane so they will be sorted in one column instead of two (as appears below).

Changing working space

To change the size of the screen parts, you can move the 3 splitters on the working space edges. Double click on the Left splitter will hide the Toolbox, double click on the Right splitter will hide the Photos, and double click on the bottom splitter will hide the Pages. Another double click on a splitter will unhide the hidden section.

Flipping Through Pages

Editing is usually done on the page displayed in the center of the screen, except for few operations that change all the pages in the album at the same time. To change or view a page, click on the required page sample in the pages list on the bottom of the screen. To flip between the pages you can click on the flipping buttons (previous, next, first, last) on the Page & General design buttons panel. When pointing the mouse on the written text , a box will be opened with the following information : Minimum pages, maximum pages, basic price and additional price.

Rotate photos

If a photo in the photo album list is rotated you can rotate it to the correct direction by right-clicking on the photo and selecting 'Rotate right' (or 'Rotate left'). You may also select the image on the page and use the (‘Rotate a bit to the left’) button or (‘Rotate a bit to the right’) button on the Page & General design buttons panel.

All four options of rotating are also available if you select a picture then right click and then select the rotate option. Then a sub menu appears with the following options : Right, Left, a bit to the right , a bit to the left.

It is recommended to rotate the photos before starting to fill them in the album.

It is also possible to rotate a picture using the 'rotation icon' appears above the top edge of the picture (in the center).

If you select this point and rotate the picture to the left/right the yellow note

and that information on 'Rotate' is changing dynamically according to the direction.

Fill, Crop and Arrange Photos

Filling in photos is done by dragging the photos from the list of photos to the page. Releasing the mouse when the cursor is over an empty placeholder will fill the placeholder with the dragged photo. Releasing the mouse when the cursor is over an empty space on the page will add the photo in the place the mouse was released. Photos that are filled in the album are marked with a special sign (see left photo below). Right-clicking on a filled in photo will display the list of pages where the photo is placed.

By default, the photos are cropped to fit the space of the placeholder; it is recommended to drag portrait photos to portrait placeholders and landscape photos to landscape placeholders so the photo will not be cropped (or to minimize the crop). Also, you may select the photo and click on the ('Fit') button on the Page & General design buttons panel. This will make the photo appear without cropping inside the placeholder area but usually this will also make it appear smaller. To return to the default, click on the ('Fill') button on the Page & General design buttons. You may select the way the photo will be cropped by double-clicking on a photo and dragging the cropping frame until you reach the optimal result. If you want to crop the photo even more, you can make the cropping frame smaller by clicking on one of its borders and dragging to the required size.

If you want to change the picture location, size or number (on the page) you can use the pre-defined page layouts or change the layout manually. To use pre-defined page layouts click on Page / Cover layout toolbox, select the preferred number of pictures from the list menu at the bottom of the list and drag the required layout to the working space. Note: when you design the cover, the first or the last pages, the pre-defined page layouts are different from those displayed for standard inner pages.

In order to manually change a picture location you can drag it (by left clicking on the picture, moving the mouse and releasing it in the new location). You can locate a picture so that it partially hides another picture or partially out of the page border to create a more 'interesting' designs. To change the size of the picture click on the picture border and drag the mouse to the required direction. You can keep the original picture proportions by pressing the shift key while dragging.

In order to apply a small rotation on a picture, right-click the picture and select 'Rotate | A bit to the right' (or 'a bit to the left').

In order to flip a picture, right-click the picture and select Flip | ‘Horizontally’ or ‘Vertically’.

You can use the following editing tools to arrange the pictures (and texts) relatively on the page:

Align pictures to a another picture location: first select the picture you want the other pictures to be aligned to, then select the other pictures (click them with the Ctrl key pressed), and then right-click on one of the pictures and select the required item under the 'Align' menu (left / right / center / top / bottom / middle alignment).

Make same size: first select the picture that its size will set the size for the other pictures, and then select the other pictures (click them with the Ctrl key pressed), and then right-click on one of the pictures and select the required item under the 'Same size' menu (height / width / both sizes).

Evenly space pictures: select the pictures you want to space, right-click on one of the pictures and select the required item under the 'Spacing' menu (no spacing / equal spacing, horizontally or vertically).

Center in page: select the picture/s you want to center in the page, right-click on one of the pictures and select the required item under the 'Center in page' menu (center vertically or horizontally).

Change the order of pictures sticking-in one another: select the picture you want to change, right-click it and select the required item under the 'Ordering' menu (bring to front / send to back / bring forwards, send backwards).

You can cancel the last operation of dragging, resizing or filling in a picture by selecting 'Edit | Undo' from the main menu. To delete a picture from the page, select it and press the Delete key.

In order to see properties on a specific image do right click and select the last option properties. The pop up window contains details on the name , pixel width and height , frame , effects , crop etc…

Editing near the edge of the page (Safe area)

In some albums you will see a dotted line (see example below) near the edge of the page: It means that the area between the dotted line and the edge of the page might be either cut or folded (according to the specific albums). Therefore, it is recommended to refrain from locating important elements in this area (also called 'safe area').

Text Design and Location

To edit a text, double-click on the text box in the page and enter the new text in the text editing dialog that will appear. In addition to the standard text options you can also select (‘Automatic font size’) which will allow you to change the size of the text by changing the size of the text box. By clicking on the ‘Preview’ button you can preview the text changes without closing the text editing dialog. When you finish editing the text, click on 'OK'.

To add texts where there is no text box, right-click on an empty space on the page and select 'Add text' or click on the ('Add text') button on the Page & General design buttons panel and then click on the page. The text editing dialog will appear, and after you enter the text and click on 'OK' the text will be added to the page in the location where you clicked the mouse. You may change the size and location of the text box by dragging it, in the same way you change the size and location of pictures.

Backgrounds

In order to change the background for the current page select 'Backgrounds' on the toolbox, select the preferred backgrounds group from the drop-list at the bottom of the list and drag the background you want to use to the working space. Dragging the background to the ‘Left side background’ area will apply the background to the left page (when working in double-page view) and accordingly to the right page and to both pages. If you want to set a solid color background that does not appear in the Solid colors group, select the ‘Custom color’ from the backgrounds group, select the background area (Left, Right or Double page) and define the color using the tools of the Select color window that will open up.

In order to have a similar design for the album pages you can copy a page background from one page to another: right-click on the background you want to copy and select 'Copy background'. Move to the page you want to change, right-click again on an empty space and select 'Paste background'. To change the background for all the pages in the album select 'Paste background on all pages' instead of 'Paste background'.

If you want to have a solid white background right-click on the background and select 'Reset'.

Advanced options for backgrounds

1. You can select one of the photos in the album to be used as a background. To do that, drag the photo to the page and release the mouse when the cursor is over one of the page borders. Releasing the mouse over the right border will set the picture as a background for the right page (and accordingly left page). Releasing the mouse over the top or bottom border will set the picture as a background for the double page. Alternatively, you can select a picture on the page, right-click it and select ‘Image size | Set as page background'.

2. You can assign a level of opacity to the background picture by clicking with the right mouse on the background and selecting the 'Set Opacity' option – it will open the Opacity tool. The opacity is changed by dragging the slider to the required opacity level. You may also set a tint for the background by selecting the 'Color' button near the slider. The result will be displayed immediately on the page (before clicking on the 'Close' button) but it may take a few seconds to refresh. When you reach the result you like best click on the 'Close' button.

3. You can use the Crop tool to crop the background image. Right -click on the background image and Select ‘Crop image’ to open the crop dialog.

4. You can flip a background by right clicking on a background and selecting Flip | horizontally (or vertically).

Frames

Frames are graphic elements that surround a photo, much like 'real' photo frames. To apply a frame on a photo, select ‘Frames' from the toolbox and drag the required frame to the photo.

The second selection from the list of frames is ‘solid color frame’ – it sets border with equal width around the photo. You can select the width and color of the border in the dialog that appears after you finish dragging:

To remove a frame from a picture, right-click it and select 'Remove frame’, or drag the ‘without frame’ item from the Frames toolbox (the first selection from the list of frames) to the picture. If you want to copy a frame from one picture to another right-click the picture with the frame you want to copy and select 'Copy'. Then right-click on the other picture and select 'Paste special | frame'.

You can cancel the last operation of a frame change by selecting 'Edit | Undo' from the main menu.

Masks

Masks determine which part of the photo will be displayed and how the photo will integrate with the background. To apply a mask on a photo, select 'Masks' from the toolbox and drag the required mask to the photo.

To remove a frame from a picture, right-click it and select 'Remove mask’, or drag the ‘without mask’ item from the Masks toolbox (the first selection from the list of masks).

If you want to copy a mask from one picture to another, right-click the picture with the mask you want to copy and select 'Copy'. Then right-click on the other picture and select 'Paste special | mask'.

You can cancel the last operation of a mask change by selecting 'Edit | Undo' from the main menu.

Effects

There is a special effect that you may use to dynamically set the picture coloring (or actually tinting) and the transparency level. To use it select the required photo, select ‘Special effects’ from the drop-down menu on the bottom of the list, and drag the 'Opacity' item to the picture. In the displayed opacity tool select the transparency level by changing the slider and the tint by clicking on the 'Color' button. Check the 'transparent' button to integrate the photo with the background. The result will be displayed immediately on the page (before clicking on the 'Close' button) but it may take a few seconds to refresh. When you reach the result you like best, click on the 'Close' button.

Another special effect you can use is the red eye removal. To use it select the required photo, select ‘Special effects’ from the drop-down menu on the bottom of the list, drag the 'red eye' item to the picture and the red eye removal wizard will be opened. In the first screen you should drag the square to the red-eyed face ‘zone’ (as in the screen below), then click on the next button.

In the next screen , you are requested either to accept the changes (by pressing the Accept button) or edit the picture by pressing the edit button.

If you press edit , then the following screen will appears .In this screen , you can edit the parameters manually and define for example how many colors to capture , or how many colors to change and more.

If you want to learn more about the functionality of a specific parameter, simply point your mouse to the slider and a yellow caption will pop up with more details. After committing all changes, press the accept button.

In the last screen you are only requested to press the save changes button so changes will be effected.

Both Opacity and red eye can be achieved also by right click on a selected picture , then select special effects and then choose opacity or red eye. (For red eye removal you could also select the option Fix red eye from the images menu.)

To remove an effect from a picture, right-click it and select 'Remove effect’ or drag the ‘Without color effect’ item from the Effects toolbox (the first selection from the list of effects).

If you want to copy an effect from one picture to another right-click the picture with the effect you want to copy and select 'Copy'. Then right-click on the other picture and select 'Paste special | effect'.

You can cancel the last operation of an effect change by selecting 'Edit | Undo' from the main menu.

Clip-arts

To add a clip-art select ‘Cliparts’ from the toolbox and drag the required clip-art to the page.

If you have your own clip-art file that you want to add to the page, select the 'Design | Clip-arts | add clip-art from file' item from the main menu, and select this clip-art file. When you click on 'OK' the clip-art will be added to the page. You can now drag the clip-art to locate it as you like.

Following file formats can be used as cliparts : PNG,BMP or JPG

You can flip a clip-art by right-clicking it and selecting 'Flip | horizontally' (or vertically).

You can copy and paste clip-arts from one page to another or in the same page. To do that, select a clip-art and right-click Copy, then right-click on the page background were you want the new clip-art to appear and select Paste.

Adding and Removing Pages

To add new pages to the album, select the page after which you want the new pages to be added and click on the ('Add page') button on the Page & General design buttons panel. A dialog will appear, displaying the pre-defined page layouts. Select the layout you want to use and click on the 'OK' button. The page will be added to the list of pages and you can start editing it.

Another option for adding a new page is by duplicating an existing page. Select the page you want to duplicate and click on the (‘Duplicate page') button on the Page & General design buttons panel or select the item 'Pages | Duplicate page' from the main menu.

To remove a page, select the page and click on the ('Remove page') button on the Page & General design buttons panel. To remove multiple pages at the same time hold the Ctrl key pressed and click on the required pages, and then click on the ('Remove page') button.

Change Page Order

To change the order of the pages, click on the page you want to change and then click on one of the 'Relocate page' buttons on the Page & General design buttons panel ( - Move page forward, or - Move page backward). You can click on the button a few times until the page is placed at the desired location.

Zoom

If you want to display the pages on the working space in more details, use the zoom options. Click on the ('Zoom in') button on the Page & General design buttons panel. The current page on the working space will increase by each click on the ‘zoom in’ button. The zooming level is kept when moving to other pages too. Use the page sliders to display the part of the page you want to see. To reduce the zooming level click on the ('Zoom out’) button. To set the zooming level to an exact level use the Zoom options under the View | Zoom menu. You can set the zoom level to one of the predefined values like ‘Page size’ which is the screen size; or to ‘100% (Print size)’ which is the exact print size; or to ‘Custom’ where you can see the current zoom value in percentage and to define a new zoom value.

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