Let’s renumber some images!!!

Select a Source Path, and a Destination Path.

Place a memory card with images in the reader.

Type in a customer name.

Click "Open Batch". (If you are renumbering a portrait session from one card you don’t need to open a batch, just click the start button and your images will be retrieved and renumbered).

Click "Start"

You can watch as the images move to the computer. They are moving to a Temp folder that Gold created on the destination drive you selected.

When the Import Process is completed you can add another card of images, or you can "Close" the batch. When you Close the batch the images you copied to the Temp folder will be renumbered in Date/Time order and placed in the customer folder you created. You don’t have to copy the images

to the computer in any particular order. Gold will sort all the images in a "Batch". If you have images from a second camera or photographer, open a new batch, import the images, and close the batch. Don’t open and close the batch with each memory card of images. Think of the batches as separators for each camera or photographer. Each batch will be sorted in Date/Time order.

If you should accidentally close the renumbering module before you close the batch you will have to delete the copied images that are in the Temp folder and start again. No harm is done to the images on your cards. They are only "Copied" to the computer.

If you should close the renumbering module before entering all of your images, when you reopen the renumbering module and continue the renumbering process for that order, you will be told a folder exists for the name you have chosen. You can continue to add images to that folder by starting at a new number. If images exist in a folder you have chosen, the last image number will appear next to the "Image Folder" designation. Start the new batch with the next highest number.

NOTE: The Gold Renumbering System has been designed to renumber new images directly from memory cards. While you may try and renumber images that are already on your computer, we found that once images have been manipulated in any way, it can interfere with the Date/Time sorting feature. Use your existing images as they are and begin using Gold to renumber your new images.

If you would like to test the Gold Renumbering System with an existing image folder on your hard drive, DO NOT make the Source and Destination Folders the same. Create a new folder for the renumbered images, then delete the original image folder.

Some photographers like to add the customer names to their images. If you take the time to learn how Gold can help you with your image ordering, you will find that the smallest file name for an image is the best method. If you use Gold from beginning to end with your image viewing and ordering, your images will be kept in your clients own folder, you can create orders that will continue to use the clients name, and the finished order will return from the lab as an individual order for that client.

The Gold Batch Transfer Module handles-jpg, tiff, nef, crw, raf, and dcr formats. The proprietary formats for the individual cameras will not allow viewing of images in Gold- only Batch Transfer and Renumbering.

PSezRename

Use this simple renaming tool to remove unnecessary characters from file names. To begin with you should not be naming your images with long names. Even though it is tempting, you should not name your images with your clients names: jack and jill 12345.jpg.  Don't think because the computer let's you do it is is the correct thing to do. Long file names cause a variety of problems at the lab in the digital printers. Even if your lab accepts these file names now, don't be suppressed if they give you your order back one day and tell you to re-do it. Many labs are "stuck" accepting incorrectly named images because they don't want to offend you. In time they will stop caring and you will be stuck having to re-name all your images. So...don't start off down the wrong path. But...if you already have these incorrectly named images lurking in your hard drives...this little renaming tool will fix them in seconds. There is another reason to have short name with only image numbers. We have a fantastic tool in our programs called "Find".  You can type in any image number and it will appear in the screen and also appear in any category of the Image Organizer you have open. This is a great time saver for image selecting, but it won't work if you have long file names.

1.  Open an image directory/folder

2. Type a ? in the second open box in the Advanced Section.

3. "Click" the letters you want to remove from the new file names. In the example above we checked the "DSC" characters. You can see the "F" still appears in the "New File Name" column below. If we clicked on the "F" it would not appear in the file name.

The PSezRename tool is very powerful. If you are using images from scans, your images may have long complicated file names. You can use the 3rd box to actually add characters to the end of file names. If you need to work with these kinds of files, contact us and we will instruct you as to the best way to handle your situation.

Preview/Compare Screens

You may toggle between the one, two and three screen views by clicking on the "Preview" icon found on the toolbar.

There are also 2 "Light Tables" for viewing groups of images. The Image Organizer is still functional in the Light Tables.

The Compare Screen is our unique 2 image comparison system. Images move to the right side of the view screen by clicking the thumbnail. If you like the image, move it to the left screen by double clicking the image. Click the next thumbnail, it moves to the right screen. If you like it more than the image in the left screen, double click it, it will move to the left screen. If you want to keep the image on the left side, click another thumbnail and the image in the right screen disappears. It sounds more confusing than it really is. Try it and you will see how easy it is to use.

Once you have made your final choice, click the image you like and click the size button in the image ordering list. Click the size button to add quantities or use the drop down list or you can even type in the quantity. You can enter quantities for as many sizes as you like and when you are finished click "Order" at the top of the list to place the order. You can then select another image, order you quantities, and do this with as many images as you like before going to the crop screen to crop the images. You don't have to order and crop each image individually if you are in any one of the main screen views. You can crop all of your images at one time after you are finished ordering your images.

Simply put. How do I get an image into the left screen, you may ask….double click the image on the right.

Your clients can finally compare two images side by side to make their choices!

Light Tables

In addition to the 3 view screens described above, Gold has 2 Light Tables that allow you to view groups of images. In the Light Tables you can Double Click any image and it will appear in full screen view. You can also leave the screen in "Full Screen Mode" and use the arrow keys to scroll through images.

Creating a New Order

"When you click "File" you will see three options, Open Images, Open Order and Open ONLY Ordered.

"Open Images" allows you to view a directory of images without creating an order.  While viewing images, if you should either order an individual print or create an album page, the "Create New Order" screen will appear and prompt you to enter an order name and number.

"Open Order" allows you to open an order in progress.

"Open ONLY Ordered". You may choose to open only the images that have been ordered, and apply color correction and retouching. This feature is very helpful for those who are doing their own color correction, and do not wish to stop and color correct each image during the ordering process. This feature will only work if the check the Options/Copy Images To Order Folder option.

You will find that Gold has features that are very different from any other image ordering program on the market today. Gold allows you to create an order - STOP the order process, and go back later and continue or revise the order. You can create an invoice for you client, continue with your image manipulation in your favorite programs, (Photoshop, etc) and then go back and finish the order creation for the lab.

Let’s start a new order now, and we will get back to the opening of a previously created order later.

File Naming Conventions
As you can see on the order screen above, we have a list of characters NOT to use when naming any types of files, folders, images, etc.  Commas and Periods are the worst enemies of the computer. Keep file names short and simple. Jones K  -NOT Jones, K.

Order Naming Information
Name your event. Use the client’s name or whatever else you wish. Each order will be assigned a number to start with. Your first order will be "Smith_00001", your second order of Smith will be "Smith_00002", and so on, depending the starting number of course. This way you don’t have to worry about trying to keep track of additional orders placed by the same clients. If you don’t designate a location, Gold will create a folder named "Gold Orders" in your "C" drive. You may change this to any drive you wish. The dialog box to change the location of Gold Orders Folder has been moved to the Preferences Screen. Click on "View/Preferences" and you will find the Gold Orders location.

Opening/Selecting Images

Click  "Open", and all the images in the directory will begin to appear in the thumbnail bar in Gold.

You can open a single image by clicking that image and it will open in the thumb bar.

You can select a group of images by selecting a first image and holding the "Shift" key while selecting the last image of the group you wish to open.

You can select random images by holding the "Ctrl" key and selecting images. After making your selections, click "Open".

The cropping and rotation data are stored in the "Crop Data" file that is automatically created the first time you rotate, crop or color correct an image. The file is placed in the original image directory. If you are selecting images from a CD, you cannot create a file back on the CD.

A crop, rotation and color correction data file will be created and will be placed in your order folder and will go to the lab along with your images. The data will be applied at time of processing. Keep in mind that all of your color correction, rotation and cropping instructions will not be retained in your original image directory for later use, since the data cannot be written back to the CD. This may not be a major concern if you are only ordering one or two images, but we suggest you do not work with large quantities of images in your orders since you will not be able to retain your data.

Do not place your Image Directories in a folder too many levels below the drive location. Do not place any folders on the Desktop or in My Documents. Try and limit your image directories and your output folders to 2-3 levels below the drive location. If you have a problem opening an order you created this could be the cause. Too many levels of folders.

Images Appear

There they are. Thumbnails are appearing one at a time. You must wait for all the thumbnails in the file to open before you may select one. You can click on any thumbnail in the series. You do not have to click thumbnails in order. This is very helpful when you are trying to narrow down your choices. Click any images until the two or three you like best are on the view screen.

You can batch select images in the Thumbnail control bar and rotate them. Gold uses the same image selection conventions as windows.

Hold the Control Key and the left mouse key down at the same time and click images. Then rotate them all at once.

Click a first image in a series, then, hold the shift key and the left mouse key down at once, and click the last image of your selection. All the images will be selected for rotation.

You can order images from the thumbnails. Select all the thumbnails and order 1 4x5 of each for proofing. All the ordered images will appear in the cropping module. With the new Auto Advance feature in the cropping module you can crop 300 images in 15 minutes!!!

We should mention at this time that you can’t DELETE images from Gold. Using the DELETE key only moves an image out of the view screen and Thumb Bar, and moves it to a DELETES folder that is created automatically inside the master image directory for your images. You can always move them back to the main images directory if need be.

Combining Image Directories (folders)

When you select an image directory, your files will appear in the big box. You cannot select images from multiple directories. If you have images in different folders, you must combine them into one directory/folder to use all of the images in Gold.

Before combining image folders, be sure the images all have different names or they will overwrite and delete themselves.

You can combine images from different image folders while working on an order.  Go to Windows Explorer, move the images you need into the main image folder you are working with. When you return to Gold, right click a thumbnail and click the "refresh" button.

Function Menu

Right click an image in the large view pane. This box appears. (At various time we make subtle changes to some of the menus. some features are removed, or moved or new ones added. If you can't find something that was there before, click around for it. If you still can't find it, contact us.)

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To set up the link to Photoshop
Go to the View/Preferences screen. (we have a video in the library about how to link to Photoshop)

You may choose to retouch an image while you are currently within the order process. We suggest you retouch your images after you create your order, and do so with the images in the Order Folder, if you have that option checked off. But, you can use this feature if you like. As you will read later in the Color Correction Section, you can retouch an image in the order folder and it will automatically apply the retouching to duplicate B&W and Sepia images.
 

Find

You can also select an individual image by using "Find". Type an image number into this box and the image will appear in the view screen.

A client may decide to place an order at a later date. They call you and give you an image number. You don’t have to "thumb" through the image file to find the image. Just use Find. This is a great feature for event photographers. You may have a list of image numbers and sizes from your Bride or Corporate Planner. You can Find each image and use the ordering system to create your order. Be sure to remind your lab to print the "file names" of your images on the back or front of your finished prints.

With the addition of the new feature that allows you to open selected images, and you can do that from images on a CD, in the "Open Images" browse box, you may decide to make your selections that way.  Please be aware- you cannot select images from multiple CDs and include them in one order. We are working on that concept and we will inform you when it is ready.

Using Gold ourselves everyday in the studio, we realized that by combining "Find" with the Quick Order module we could retrieve images and order them immediately.

Proof Book Ordering Tools

1. Be sure you are using a Config file from your lab that contains the new Proof Book capabilities.

2. Open an image directory/folder. Move the images you want to use in the proof book, to the Image Organizer. Be sure you have selected the Proof Book category.

You can add the images to the Organizer in any order, and you can move them around on the Organizer to place them in the order you like.

3. When you have the images organized, cropped and color corrected (if you do your own color correcting), select all of your images-in the Organizer Bar. 

Select one image and click the CTRL and the "A"  key, or right click the thumbnails and "Select All".

4. In the order column, select the Proof Book size you want. Click Order.

5. Open the Services menu.

6. Enter any additional instructions based on your lab's requirements.

7. Open the Album Designer. Select a cover for your Proof book from your labs supplied selections, or make your own cover. Be sure to make the cover the same size as the Proof Book format your selected.

8. Drag in your image, fill in the text, select a background color if applicable, add the cover to the Album View columns.

9. You can review your Additional Services details in the process order screen and make changes before sending you order to the lab.

10. When you are finished, create a CD , or send your order by FTP.  Before clicking the Process Order button, select "This is a Proof Order" option and your images will be resized down for faster FTP transfer and smaller CD space required.

Black &  White, Sepia, and Duplicate Image

At the bottom of the Color Correction Bar, you will find this set of buttons. The first button, "Add Color", will create a duplicate color image on the thumb bar, of the image you've selected. Clicking the Black and White or any of the Sepia Buttons will also create duplicate images, those being create in Black and White or Sepia. You will read more about our color correction system later, but we should point out that you will need to create your own Sepia 2 and 3 colors of your choice in the View/Color Preferences Screen.

You will find the Color Correction Tool option in the View Menu, or you can click the small "triangle" in the upper right corner of the operation screen.

Print Ordering

There are 2 methods of ordering prints in Gold.

1 - Quick Order

Select an image in the View Screen, or a Thumbnail, click the "size" button in the Quick Order Column and you will see a quantity appear in the box to the right. Each time you "click" the size, the quantity will increase. You can use the drop down and select the quantity, or you can type in any quantity you like. After selecting your sizes and quantities, click "Order" and your prints will be ordered.

If a "size" has a number in (), such as Wallets(8), that means if you select the quantity of 1- you will be ordering 8 wallets.

In the process order screen you will see "1" in the ordered column. You will receive 8 wallets in your order.

To see more sizes, providing you lab offers more sizes, right click the size buttons and drag the size bar up.
 

2 - "Package Ordering".

Gold allows you to store multiple package combinations. A package is created by entering the quantity and size you wish to include in the package into the Quick Order Screen. Hover the cursor over one of the "Package" Buttons and right click. The "Package Setup Menu" appears.

Click on "Store Package Contents". After creating a package, click the Clear Contents Button and you can create another package.

Now when you click on the button for the package you created, you will see the quantities and sizes for that package appear in the "Quick Order Screen". You can click the same package multiple times and the quantities will be accumulated. You can also click another package and the quantities will be accumulated.

Click "Order", and the total quantities and sizes for that image will be ordered. You may modify the quantity of prints being ordered by making the changes to the quantities and sizes prior to clicking the "Order" Button.

This is a very flexible system. It allows you to order multiple packages, modify the quantities, add quantities, remove quantities before you actually create the order for that image. Try it and you will see how versatile a system it is

If the "Auto Order" Button is checked, the package will be ordered when you click on the package name.

If the "Auto Advance" Button is checked, when you click on an image and order a package, Gold will advance to the next image

You may change the name of the package by clicking on "Enter Pack Name". You may enter up to five characters and click "OK".

If you are a Sports or other Event Photographer, try this. Open a group of images from your event. Assuming you have an order list and each image in the thumbnail bar will be receiving a package, click the Auto Order and Order Advance boxes. Now click your first thumbnail. Look at you order form and click the package that applies to the first thumbnail. You will find that after that Package has been ordered, the "focus" will move to the next thumbnail. All you have to do is click the next package button that applies to the next thumbnail and it will be ordered. You can continue this process as fast as you can read the orders and click the Package Button. When you're finished with the ordering process, you can move to the Cropping Screen and with the Auto Advance Feature enabled, you can crop up to 300 images in fifteen minutes.

Cropping Ordered Prints

If you have ordered prints you will see the images ordered in the Image Name box. As you can see, the crop frame is full size. You can adjust the default size of the cropping box by moving the slider "Crop Zoom" , or hold the "Shift Key" and drag the crop box.  You can also use the "Ctrl" and "Alt" keys to adjust the crop box. They all work at different speeds. Try them and see which one serves you best.

Next you click the size of the image in the "Ordered" box. As you can see the "crop squares icon" appears in the "Group Format" size box. One of the unique features of the Gold Cropping System is that you only have to crop one size per "Group Format". Crop a 5x7, and the wallets and 3.5x5 are cropped. Crop an 8x10 and the 4x5, 16x20, and 20x24 are cropped. 11x14 has its own crop. You will see the corresponding sizes turn bold red.

Gold allows you total custom cropping control. You can also crop each image as an 8x10, 5x7, and an 11x14, for example, and each image is custom cropped.

Double Click the image size in the "ORDERED" column. The crop box appears in the image crop box. Click each size in the "ORDERED" box and crop your images. If you have a variety of sizes ordered in one crop group, you only need to crop the image once for each group.

As you can see in the sample below, when you click the 11x14 in the "ORDERED" box, the 11x14 box turns beige. Click the 11x14 button above the beige box and the correct aspect ratio cropping box appears. Move the box and the Crop Zoom slider until you achieve the correct crop for your image.

Double click the image, and the image is cropped. You can also click the "C" key or the "Space Bar" to crop your images. If you don't like the crop, double click the image again, or click the "C" key or the Space Bar" to remove the crop.

If Auto Advance is checked, you will see the sizes in the images ordered box advance automatically as you complete the cropping of the previous image. It will crop all the sizes in one order and then move to the next image.

Here are a few additional features of the Gold Cropping system:

You can crop images before you create an order. Click an image and it will appear in the crop box. Click any size in the Group Format box and the correct crop box for that size group will appear on your image. Crop your image by moving or adjusting the crop box, and double click image and the cropped image is saved. You can crop all of the sizes in the Group Format box and the cropped images will be saved for viewing later. You can only view cropped images in the crop module, they won’t appear cropped in the image ordering module.

If you need a different crop of one image. Create a new image with the Add Color feature in the color Correction Bar.

You will notice 3 options at the bottom of the image name box. You can view all the images in your directory and crop them for use in the Gold Viewer, or you can view the Ordered Images, or images on the Image Organizer.

Here is a great idea for using Auto Advance, custom cropped Proofing. With the ability to "select" all, or a portion of images, from the thumbnail bar, you can select your images and now order one size for all of them. Just think of it, you can select all the images in your image folder, order 1 4x5 of each, and they will appear in the cropping screen ready to be cropped. We have tested the system. We have been able to custom crop 300 images in about 15 minutes.

We have discussed this concept with the labs and here is what you do to send a "Proof Order":

When you create a new order you must use a customer name. After the name place an underscore_ and the word Proofs. Your order should look like this:

Jones_proofs

Proofs orders cannot contain any other additional sizes in the order.
Proofs are one size, they can be any quantity, but only one size.

Album prints are cropped in the album pages, individual ordered prints are cropped in the Digital Cropping System. Cropping images in either part of the program will not carry over to the other.

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Template Designer

The Template Designer feature is the most versatile tool you will ever find in any image ordering program. While it is commonly called our "Album Template Designer", it is much more than that.

This module allows you to create orders for images in a variety of ways. Of course you can use it as an Album Design Program, which we will discuss in greater detail further on, but you can also use it to create Units, Composite and Wall Folio ordering templates.

Templates are very easy to make as you will see in the following instructions.
 

The Template Designer
1- click the Album Designer icon (the butterfly)

The Green Paint Can will appear. That is the Template Designer icon.

Click the icon and the Template Designer will open.

 

2- you will see 4 "Node Objects". A node is a "technical term" for an image opening or image box.

3-Background Node: a background node is exactly what it sounds like. It is the background layer of your template. We supply some sample backgrounds.

Let me stop here and explain, we DON'T use layers, as you would think of them if you were using Photoshop. But we do use similar terminology.

4- Mask Node: a mask node is what you use for "effects". Feathered Edges on your image is an effect. You can do some very creative things to your images with masks. We supply some standard masks, or you can create others in Photoshop.

You can store the Background and Mask Folders wherever you like on your computer (not on the desktop or in my documents). Put them directly on a drive. We automatically save them to the C drive for you.

Use the browse buttons to connect to the Mask and Background folders.

5- Text Properties- in order to apply text to images you first have to create text boxes that contain the font style, size, and other text attributes. You can create a variety of text boxes and save them. When you are creating a template, simply drag a text "node" to the template and select the "style" want to have appear on the finished page.

We will explain more about Text Nodes later in the video tutorial.

6- Borders - This tool has so many options I can't even begin to describe what it can do. You can create simple solid borders, similar to "strokes". Or you can get creative and create borders that look like picture frames.

You can put a border on an "image node", or a "text node", NOT on a "mask node".

More details later when we create a video tutorial.

Assuming you have created a few text nodes, and borders, and you have linked to the Masks and Backgrounds...we are ready to make templates.

Download our sample sets of Backgrounds and Masks: click here

7- Page Layout- at the top of the tools column you can create page size and save them. Remember, these are "composite" pages. They will become a single print with multiple images and text on them.

Enter a size, 12x12 for example. You will be creating a 12x12 print. Save it by clicking the + button. Delete the page layout by clicking the X.

8- New Page- if you start a page and you don't like what you created, just click the "New Page" and start over. 

9- Grid Lines- if you want to use grid lines to position your Nodes, check the Grid Lines box. Select the grid size in the box to the right.

10- Node Size- This feature is very flexible.

A- you can type in a specific size for your Node in the X / Y boxes to the right of the Node Size box.

B- you can "drag" a Mask, Image, or Text Node to the page, then drag a side, or corner of the node, to the size you like.

C- you can save any "size" of a node that you create.  Once saved, you can recall any size.

11- Reduced Opacity- You can change the opacity at the time you create the template, or you can change it when you create the actual page in the "Album Designer".

Let's make a Template!!!

1- select a page size

2- drag an image node to the page.

3- drag it to a size you like

4- let's duplicate that node. Right click on the node and drag it to another position on the page.

5- you can move nodes to any position on the page at any time.

6- add a Mask node. Drag it to size. The usual method for using Masks would be to create an image "Node" then drag the Mask into, or over, the image node... NOT SO HERE. We have created a single Image/Mask Node. One Node/One action. Some of you might ask, why bother with a standard image node then? We could make "Mask Nodes" with straight edges just like an image node.

Answer: it takes the program longer to process mask nodes. And it creates a larger data file. So...use image nodes when you can and mask nodes when you need them

7- add a text node.

8- save the template.

9- Wait!!!  Where will the templates be saved too?

10- on the left side of the screen you see a column. That column displays the templates when you are creating albums.

So...create a folder in Windows. Name it Gold Templates, or whatever you will remember.

11- back in Gold click on the button at the top of the column that says "Templates". Browse to the template folder you created. It will be empty, but when you save your first template it will be placed in the folder.

You can select any folder to save templates. This is just an example if you are just beginning to use our program.

Panorama Pages

Making a Panorama Page is very easy. Create the page, 12x24 for example, and simply put the word "Panorama" in the name of the template. 12x24_panorama for example. The program reads the word Panorama and knows to make the picture into a panorama and it will span both columns of the Album Viewer.
 

Let's make an album!!!

We are going to assume you have watched the videos we have on line for our previous versions of Gold ProLab and Gold Deluxe.

If you haven't watched them we suggest you do. Even though some of the functions have changed in the Album Designer, the basic functionality of opening image directories and creating orders, and sending them to the lab hasn't changed. The same for creating individual print orders.

1- open an image directory

2- click the Template Tool Box icon (the paint can) to close the Template Designer.

3- drag a template to the center box.

4- drag an image to a node opening. We suggest you drop the background image in first if you are using an image in the background.

In most cases you will probably be adjusting the opacity of your background image.

After dragging the image into the background, adjust the opacity.

You can change the color of a Background ONLY with templates you create in the Template Designer.

5- type text into the text box. If you don't type in any text, the box will not appear later on your page.

6- you can change images in the nodes if you like. Drag a new image in, and it will replace the existing one.

7- when you have completed the page, drag it to the "View Columns" to the right of the screen.

8- when you create your first page the "Order Information" screen will appear. Fill in a name for your order. The numbers are designated by your lab. Contact them about their requirements.

9- you can replace pages in the View Column with a new page you created. Create the new page and hold the Ctrl key while dragging the page over the one you want to replace.

10- you can insert a page to the left of an existing page by dragging the new page and holding the Shift key while dragging the new page into position.

11- right click a page and click delete to remove it.

12- you can change the images in an already created page.

Drag the page back to the center box. Drag a new image into the node of the picture you want to replace.

13- hover you mouse over an image in a page to see its file name.

14- you can move pages around in the View Columns. You can drag them up down or sideways in the columns.

15- click the View button at the top of the columns to view the designed album.

If you would like music to play during the "Slide Show" Gold of the designed album (Gold only), go to the Slide Show and select music. The selected music will play when you click the Green Arrow in the Album Viewer.

16- to crop images in the nodes- use the Q,W,E,A,S,D keys on your key board. E zooms the image out, Q back, the others move the image left and right and up and down. Play with them a few times and you will see how easy it is to crop images.

DO NOT zoom the image OUT so far that it begins to zoom back by itself. You will get a stretched image.

17- to color correct your images, click the View/Color Tools button in the menu bar.

You crop album images in the Album Designer, and individual images are cropped in the other side of the program. While the cropping is done individually, the color correction is carried through both sides. You only color correct an image once for album or individual prints.

18- you do not make templates for insert type album pages. We supply all major album company mat/templates for free. Visit our website. Go to Album Designer/Templates and review the albums offered.

You cannot make templates for insert type albums in the "Built In" template maker. The resolution of the templates is different. The program knows the difference, and will not create individual prints. You can make insert templates in Photoshop. Watch the video about Template Making

19- if you are a previous user of our programs and you have digital templates, you can use them in Gold without any problem. But, you can't modify them in anyway.

  The insert templates, Art Leather, Renaissance, for example, or for
Reversible Bound Albums, do not include a border.
        You are seeing an exact copy of what you will get back from the lab.

Ordering Multiple Size Digital Composite Page Albums (no other album design/creating program has this feature)

The process is so simple, I can describe it in one sentence.

20- in the Process Order Screen you will now find this new box, enter the quantity and size of the albums you wish to order.

That's it.

21- you can only order Multiple Sizes and Quantities with Digital Composite type pages, not insert (sit) pages.

23- you can only order album sizes that fall into the same "Aspect Ratios".  That means...12x12 can make any square size album.

10x14 can make a 5x7 and any other sizes that are available from your lab and album binder.

Note: Ideal Album Binder Co. www.idealbinder.com will make any size "Flush Bound" album you need.

Check with your lab before you order a size. Even though a size is listed here, your lab may not offer it.

24- you can create an order with one size album. Have it printed. If the parents want a duplicate, you can go back and change the size and re-process the order, and send it back for printing.

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General Information about the Album Designer

The insert templates do not include a border.
You are seeing an exact copy of what you will get back from the lab.

You crop individually ordered images in the crop screen in the main part of the program,
crop album images in the album designer with the keystrokes, as instructed previously.

Open the Image Organizer Bar - drag images from the lower thumb bar to the organizer - move them around on the organizer - Select an image or a group of images and move them to another location on the bar, and insert them into the new location. Need to see a bigger view of the thumbs- double click a thumb. Double click the thumb or the "Escape" key again to return to normal view. Using the Organizer Bar is optional....

Also double click a finished album page in the Album Page column. The images are enlarged for easy review.  Double click the thumb or the "Escape" key again to return to normal view. Pictures can be placed in any solid area - even the background of "render" (composite) templates. If you decide you don't want to continue creating the current template, drag a new template into the Designer and start over again.

Right click thumbs in the finished page columns - read the options - click stuff - it won't hurt anything. You can delete pages. It doesn't say, but you can also drag pages to any position in the columns.

The program knows the difference between pages that create individual cut prints and full size composite pages, so you don't have to worry about that yourself.

This is the key feature to using templates in Gold: if you were trying to use the templates you purchased to work in PS - you had to do the color corrections yourself. Now the lab can color correct your images and render them into the pages after they color correct them.

With the Gold Album Designer, you create an album and send the order to the lab just like you do with a regular Gold order. The lab will color correct your images and process the order in out PDP 5000 Process Controller. The PDP will combine the color corrected images with the templates and render finished prints.

More helpful hints...

Composite pages will be "rendered" as single pages. Insert Album prints will be individual sizes. You can add Composite pages to an Insert page album same order.  In fact, we created some of the insert pages as rendered pages where we felt it would be more cost effective for you to send a rendered page to the lab. This concept worked well for the page templates that used wallets size prints. You will get 1 - 8x10 or 10x12 with all the small prints rendered on the page. You cut it up and save some money!!!

If you look at the file extension of the templates you will see - SIT, RIT, FIT. DON'T concern yourselves with these extensions - they signal the program to create cut prints or full size templates - FIT's are the templates - SIT's are the insert album templates, and RIT are the full resolution composite templates.

If you decide to use one of your own templates that you created in Photoshop prior to using the new Gold Template Designer, the first time you open it in the album designer it will be converted to our formats - your original TIFF will be placed in a folder that will automatically be created inside the folder you are using for your templates. We don't change your original TIFF.

Templates created in Photoshop cannot have feathered edges. They will only work as they are,
you cannot change the background color, or add a text box in Gold.

Templates (from other sources)

The Gold Album Designer allows you total independence. While you may choose to use an album company's Digital Mat Templates - you don't have to use them in conjunction with any specific lab. Use any Digital Mat Templates of your choosing and with Gold, you can send the order to any lab, and binder of your choosing.

If you have templates you purchased elsewhere, you can convert them to work in Gold as long as the meet these criteria:

The templates must be 250 DPI. They have to be able to be saved as TIFFS. Save them to a folder, give the folder a name. Example: Square Templates

Open them in PS, save as a TIFF. Then go to: File/Open in Gold. Select Convert/Templates. Browse to the folder of TIFF templates. Open the Folder, the TIFFs will convert to our templates.

Be sure that the overlapping openings in the templates are different colors, not bright colors, use shades of greys. You will find more instructions about template making on our video.

About the V Pages... Download the V Pages and take a look at them. They are templates for album pages. They are "Generic". They will create prints for any albums that use individual size prints. The prints for the insert albums. BUT- the prints are actually printed on 8x10 and 10x10 paper. You make a few quick cuts and you have individual prints. The templates are laid out to give the "look" of album pages, but they don't look as fancy.

We have been asked why we didn't make the V Page layouts match the openings in the album pages. That would have required "ENORMOUS" expense and time on the part of the album companies. As far as we know the other company that has an album design program that uses that concept has only a few album companies mats available. If those album companies wish to make their layouts available to Gold users, we can accommodate the templates. You may also find it is not as easy at it looks to match 4 prints to 4 opening in a mat and tape it in straight and square. And... the single page of multiple images concept does not work well for reversible bound albums. Obviously, with the technology we have employed here we could have placed the images in the exact locations of the openings, if we chose to take that route. We feel our system is more versatile, flexible, and cost effective for you this way. You be the judge, and let us know what you think!!!

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Output Options

Go to the Process Orders and Images screen, click this icon: 

Above you see the Output Screen.

1- Album Pages

A- If you created an album, any type, insert or digital composite p ages, you use the Album Pages to output your order. Your order will be created in your "Lab Output Folder".

B- Inside the Lab Order Folder you will find an order folder titled Jones_000015_Album (customer name, order number, output option)


C- Inside the Album folder you will find a folder containing the actual rendered album pages. They are fi