1. About PBD

Pixopolis Book Designer (PBD) is a set of actions with Javascript code for Adobe Photoshop® that enables you to design photo books in a quick and efficient manner.

This manual describes version 2 of PBD and all other versions 2.x that might appear later to fix potential bugs.

2. System requirements

Note: if you are using Windows Vista or Win 7 you must first right-click on the Photoshop icon and select Run as administrator before you run the installation script (as described below). You only need to run as administrator during the installation process.

This manual and distribution is intended for Adobe Photoshop CS3, CS4, or CS5. It doesn't matter whether you are using Mac OS X, Windows XP, Vista or Win 7. You need to have a certain amount of Photoshop experience since the whole point of PBD is that all of the Photoshop commands are available at any time during the layout process.

After ordering PBD, you should have a zip file with the current version. Make sure the zip file is unpacked before you proceed.  We will refer to this folder as your PBD folder. Your PBD folder should contain a small number of jsx files and look something like the screendump on the right.

The rest of the installation takes place from within Photoshop.

3. Launching the install program

Unlike previous versions of PBD, everything related to installation is handled by one script: install.jsx

You will be presented with the following screen:

3.1 Uninstalling previous versions

Before you install this version of PBD you may want to uninstall previous versions. You are not required to do this, it is only for cosmetic reasons: your Bridge menu will not have two menu options to add images and there will be fewer scripts in Photoshop’s File > Scripts menu.

3.2 Getting the activation code

For security reasons you first need to register your copy of PBD in order to obtain an activation code: simply email me the characters (use copy & paste) and I will reply with your activation code as soon as I can. You can click on Stop and re-run the script later when you receive your activation code.

If you move to a new machine or update Photoshop, you need to register again to obtain a new activation code. It doesn’t cost anything and I will be happy to help you.

Once you have received your activation code you can continue with the installation by clicking on the Install button.

You will be asked to enter your activation code, as shown on the left.

After a few seconds, and if everything goes well, the window below should appear.

If there are any error messages, please review them and contact me if you don’t understand them. If you can, include a screen dump or tell me exactly what the error message was. You can run install.jsx as many times as you want.

If all goes well, the install program copied all the scripts to Photoshop’s script folder. It also generated an action file for your system and stored it in your PBD folder.

Before you load the action file you need to restart both Photoshop and Bridge. When you start Bridge again, it may ask you if you want to activate the scripts - answer “Yes”.

You can then load the action file, either by double clicking it, or, if that doesn’t work, go to the Actions Palette, open its fly-out menu, choose Load Actions and navigate to the action file. Finally, choose Button mode in the same fly-out menu and you should have a set of colorful buttons like at the top of this document.

Congratulations, you have now successfully installed PBD - now let's start using it!

5. Book pages

A book is produced one page spread at a time.  Pixopolis prints books in many different formats (Square, Hardcover, etc) and there are functions to create blank page spreads and covers for each type of book.  Later in this document we comment on the different books and what to consider in terms of design.  You can of course also start with your own blank document, for instance a 10x15 cm 300 dpi thank-you card.

Bear in mind that when pages are submitted to Pixopolis for printing, the first left page is not used, neither is the last right page. If you use Pixopolis' pixGEN (and we recommend that you do) you will be able to load your pages into pixGEN and see the book before you order it.

Create a blank page spread by clicking on New page. PBD will generate a blank page for the book that you have specified in your Preference setting (more on Preference settings later). To simplify the layout process I would recommend that you work in fullscreen mode: tap the F-button until the window frames disappear.  In fullscreen mode it is considerably easier to handle the control points that Photoshop places around objects when they are being transformed.

On a blank page spread, guidelines are used to show where the gutter is as well as the bleed allowance.  In practice, the outermost 35 pixels may be cropped so please take care in not placing something “interesting” along or beyond the outer guidelines. Rather, let the pictures bleed off the page in a fairly monotone color.

For book covers the guidelines illustrate the thickness of the spine which is determined by the number of pages.  Certain book covers do not have spines and some books have a fixed spine size. In either case, it is probably best to design the cover last, after all the pages are finished.

Now start Bridge and select the images you want to appear on the page.  Right-click and choose Add image(s) to book and the images should appear on the blank page.  (If you do not have this menu, first look in Bridge's preferences under Startup Scripts and make sure BookDesigner-Add is checked. If it is, and it is still not working, please contact me.)

You can import all images that Photoshop understands: JPEG, GIF, Photoshop's own PSD files, etc.  But I would recommend that you only import finished and flattened files since PBD isn't suitable for, e.g., RAW conversion or black-and-white conversions, even if it is possible.  Spending too much time working on the individual images will be lost work if you must re-design the page from scratch.

When images appear on the blank page they are converted to smart objects, a recent feature introduced in Photoshop CS2. Smart objects enables you to shrink and enlarge images back and forth without quality loss.  Even if the page is saved and later loaded, your images have not lost any quality.

Before we proceed with the layout functions we need to mention color spaces.  In PBD all templates are in the sRGB color space.  Your images may be stored in another color space, for instance the larger Adobe RGB. Depending on your Photoshop settings you may or may not get conversion questions when importing files from Bridge.  Refer to the Photoshop menu Edit>Color Settings... but make sure this conversion keeps you in sRGB.

At the moment, the print quality of Pixopolis' books is a bit better when pages are converted to the CMYK-profile FOGRA 27. But to reduce any confusion I recommend that you save all your pages in sRGB and then later, when the book is finished, convert them to FOGRA 27 using the CMYKify command.  The PBD FAQ describes this in more detail. This way you have two copies of the book: one in sRGB (for the screen) and one in FOGRA 27 (for Pixopolis).

If you want complete control over colors, contrast, etc, I recommend soft proofing your sRGB images before they are imported to ensure that the final FOGRA 27 conversion happens without surprises. Unless you are doing a book on Hawaii sunsets or similarly saturated images, soft proofing is probably overkill. There is however a tutorial on PBD’s homepage.

6. Actions

Now let us return to the actual design job!  The most important thing to do is to press V (Move Tool) and check the Auto Select Layer in the upper left corner. Photoshop will now automatically select the layer corresponding to the image you click on.  This makes it possible to drag images around.  Simply click on an image before you perform an operation on it.

For instance, if you would like to scale or rotate an image, you first click on it.  (You will see that the corresponding layer in the layers palette is selected.)  Now press Cmd-T (Ctrl-T in Windows) and control points will be laid out for rotating or scaling the image.  Remember to hold the shift key down to maintain the aspect ratio.  If the image you are scaling is much larger than the page, some of the control points will appear outside the page.  Press Cmd-0 (Ctrl-0 in Windows) to zoom out far enough. In these situations it is very useful to work in fullscreen mode.

At any time you can go back to Bridge, select a few more images and add them to your current page.

Another important feature of Photoshop is the ability to select several images. There are several ways to do this, they all assume you have the Move Tool active.

1. 1. Click on the first image. Then hold down the Shift key and click on the remaining images, or:
   

2. 2. Click on the first image’s layer in the layers palette. Then hold down Cmd (Ctrl on a PC) and click on the other layers, or:
   

3. 3. Use the mouse to drag a selection around the images you want to select. This works well if the images you want to select are already grouped together.
   

To de-select images, simply click somewhere in the background.

Now let us go through the actions in the Actions palette and see what they do.

by Kjell Post, info@pixbookdesign.com

7. 7.Importing files into pixGEN
   

There are two different ways to import your finished JPEG-files into pixGEN. If you have been careful and have your files numbered PagenL.jpg and PagenR.jpg (where n is the page number) you can use the following workflow to quickly import your files:

1. •Start pixGEN and click on the photobook in the middle to continue to the assistant.
   

2. •Choose book format, e.g., Hardcover. The design theme should be set to not use a design template.
   

3. •Press Continue.
   

4. •Press Continue again.
   

5. •You are now in the “select and arrange images'' section.
   

6. •Choose the folder where your pages (in JPEG-format) are stored. Select all Page*.jpg and transfer them over to the “chosen'' column.  Do not include the cover.
   

7. •Press Continue.
   

8. •Turn off page numbering (it won't look good with page bleeds).
   

9. •Press Process.
   

10. •Press Continue.
    

11. •Drag the cover image from the right column and drop it on the book surface.
    

12. •Preview the book to make sure everyting looks right.
    

13. •Finally order the book.
    

If you for some reason haven't numbered your pages correctly the above method will not work.  You can then manually insert the images into pixGEN:

1. •Start pixGEN and click on the photobook in the middle to continue to the assistant.
   

2. •Choose book format, e.g., Hardcover.
   

3. •Cancel the assistant.
   

4. •Choose the folder where your pages (in JPEG-format) are stored.
   

5. •Drag and drop the cover and all the pages, one by one.
   

Preview the book before ordering.

8. 8.Design advice for Pixopolis’ books
   

This section contains some practical advice on what to consider when working with the different types of book that Pixopolis provides. I would also recommend that you visit Pixopolis' homepage to read more about the book you intend to use.

8.1 Hardcover, Square and Pocket

The Hardover, Square and Pocket (horizontal/vertical) books are similar in design, apart from their measurements. These books look good with page bleeds since there is no gap in the middle. In particular, pages 8/9, 16/17, 24/25, etc, are especially suited to page bleeds - these pages spread well and the thread is visible.

Page spreads have a 35 pixel margin along the perimeter, as indicated by the guidelines. These margins may be cropped by the machine and care should be taken so no important details are placed there.

The spine's width depends on the number of pages in your book. It's a great idea to use one picture to wrap around the cover, avoiding the problem with positioning the join between a front and back picture.

Bear in mind that the outermost 188 pixels of the cover is wrapped around and not visible.

8.2 Light

The Light book is easy to work with since there is no real cover - the cover picture and the pages are simply stapled together. As with the previous books you need to remember that (roughly) the outermost 35 pixels around the pages will be cropped.  This goes for the cover as well. Since there is no spine you will be better off using one picture for the cover. Using two pictures for the cover is risky since the join may not end up exactly where the cover is folded.

8.3 Helix

The Helix book is spiral bound. Since there is a 15 mm gap between the left and right pages I would not advice the use of page bleeds where something “important'' is in the middle.

The guidelines for the middle of the page spread consists of two pairs of vertical lines wherein the holes are placed.

Similar to the other books, the outermost 35 pixels on each page will be cropped, as indicated by the guidelines.

The spine is 15 mm thick regardless of the number of pages. The outer part of the cover (16 mm) is folded around the edge and not visible.

8.4 Giant and Square XL

Giant and Square XL are books that use four chrome screws to clamp the pages together. Square XL can at the moment only be orderd through the German version of pixGEN and delivery time is slightly longer.

Detailed cover pictures should be avoided since the cover is plotted and not printed.

If full page bleeds are used, do not place text, faces, or anything “important'' in the middle.

The print shop adds the bit of white paper that disappears down in the gutter, as indicated by the picture on the right.

Parts of the cover are wrapped around the edge so that approximately 16 mm around the edges are not visible on the cover.

etc