# The Photo Book

## Selecting the Photo Book Product

Various sizes and types of photo book are available.

Please select the required photo book format on the welcome screen.

You can choose to either use the Photo Book Assistant, or create the photo book manually without any assistance from the Photo Book Assistant.

## Choosing to use the Photo Book Assistant

The Photo Book Assistant is perfect for sorting through your images for you and quickly putting together a photo book. Once the Assistant is finished you may want to add your own text and change some details to suit your own tastes.

By using the Assistant you do not have to start with a blank photo book. It will choose from your photos for you and full each page with its selections. The Assistant will also work out how many pages your photo book will need from your layout preference and number of selected images.

Later on, you can change all pages automatically generated by the Assistant, change or completely redesign your photo book, and even add pages (you need to add 8 pages each time).

If you prefer to create your photo book manually you can disable the auto start of the Assistant in “Options” (See the Chapter "Program Options"). This skips the Photo Book Assistant and takes you straight to manual photo book editing screen.

You can launch the Photo Book Wizard at any time via the drop-down menu in the photo book editor.

For more details of working with the Photo Book Assistant, see the Chapter "Photo Book Assistant".

If you are designing a completely new photo book manually, you will see an "empty" photo book with a standard layout. Alternatively, you can open a photo book you saved previously to go on working on it.

## Photo Book Page Layouts

### Photo book object browser

A photo book is made up of a front and back cover, the first and last double page spreads and the other double pages that make up the main content.

#### The Cover

The cover is made up of the front and back pages of the photo book.

Faux leather or linen covers are not printed; you can only select the material colour. Printed covers (picture hardcover and picture softcover) are only printed on the outside, as this is the only side you can see later. (The insides are covered by the first and last pages.) Printed cover have a barcode on the back page, this is necessary for production and photo book delivery. You cannot remove or edit the barcode.

The spine of the book contains a text box where you can enter the title of the book; preferably the same title as on the front page.
This text box is not available for photo booklets as they do not have a spine.

#### Content pages

Content pages are displayed and edited as double page spreads in the workspace as they form a visual unit when opened.

Half of the double page spread for the first and last pages is left empty as it is used as the inside page of the binder.
This restriction also applies for technical reasons to booklets which do not have a glued binder.

A photo book page can contain a background, a layout, images, and text boxes.

## Photo Book Window Elements

### Selecting Photobook Objects

The photo book object browser comprises three tabs for the main categories:
"Images", "Layout" and "Design".

These main categories are subdivided into farther tabs.

"Design" tab
This takes you to backgrounds, themes and clipart.

"Layout"
This takes you to page layouts and image masks.

"Images" tab
This takes you to image stored locally (on your hard disc / your storage media), or on your Internet photo community web pages.

Start by selecting a background for your current photo book page by using your mouse to drag the background to the required page. Double clicking the thumbnail for a background applies it to the double page spread. Alternatively, you can use the buttons at the bottom of the object browser. The drop-down menu (right click on the background thumbnail) also gives you the option of applying the current background to all right or left pages, and to all double page spreads in your photo book.

You can use similar functions to apply layouts as for backgrounds.

Use the mouse to drag images to the layout frame in the layout, or to an empty page.

Tip: If you drag an image to an empty space (where there is no layout frame), the editor automatically generates a layout frame to match the image. If you start by deleting all the layout frames adding to the photo book pages by default, you can freely drag your images onto the photo book pages where you can then position them.

Clipart is simply dragged onto the workspace (not into a layout frame).
You can change the position, size and rotation of a clipart.

You can use the mouse to drag a passepartout onto a layout frame for an image. This makes part of the image transparent and applies a new external shape to the image.

### The Storyboard

All of the double page spreads in the photo book, including the cover, are displayed as thumbnails in the storyboard for navigation purposes and to give you a better overview.

The scroll boxes below the storyboard move the thumbnails right and left.
Clicking a thumbnail opens the corresponding page in the workspace.

You can change the page order by clicking the thumbnail for the page in question, holding down the left mouse button, and dragging the thumbnail to the required position in the storyboard.

### The Photo Book Editor Object

The object toolbar contains the most important tools or commands, which you can apply to an object selected in the product editor, or which let you insert a new object. Pay attention to the tool tips.

The tools are listed and described in the chapter "Object Toolbar".

All the functions/tools that you can apply to the selected object are additionally accessible via the drop-down menu which appears when you right click the editor or the selected object.

### The Photo Book Editor Workspace

This displays the photo book page currently selected in the storyboard for editing.

Just like in a painting program or word processor, you can use the templates in the object browser to create your photo book. In the object browser you can select a background for each photo book page (see the Chapter "Working with Backgrounds"), define a layout, and of course add images and texts.

Images and texts always occupy a square area (layout frame) of the book; you can move or scale this area. You can click any layout frame with the mouse to change it.
You can select multiple areas by dragging a frame round them with the mouse.

(See the chapter "Working with Layouts".)

### The Photo Book Editor Product Toolbar

The product toolbar contains the most important tools or commands that you can apply to the photo book. See the Chapter "The Product Toolbar".