Aperture 2 - Book design

So far, after a couple of days of playing around with Aperture 2 Trial, it appears that, FOR ME, the only advantage Aperture has over iPhoto (with PhotoShop as editor) is that you have much more control over Book design.
I like the Art Collection theme. I like that you can change a photo box's aspect ratio. I like that you can change the size of a photo box ans still have it centred on a page. That's it - just these three options make me happy about Book design in Aperture 2. Now, if only I could migrate one of these books to iPhoto, I'd be really happy.

Another thing that Aperture books do well is allow you to caption the images. It takes a bit of work, but the results are very satisfying.

Similar Messages

Use Aperture Book Create, however print elsewhere

Hi,
I love the aperture book design and am wanting to use this for my business however dont want to have to print with apple.
1) Can the design book template ive created be used elsewhere? (wedding album printers)?
2) If so, if they arent using aperture and say a [PC] are they able to print my book/album design?
Appreciate the help

cinta281008 wrote:
Hi,
I love the aperture book design and am wanting to use this for my business however dont want to have to print with apple.
1) Can the design book template ive created be used elsewhere? (wedding album printers)?
2) If so, if they arent using aperture and say a [PC] are they able to print my book/album design?
yes.
use the "Print" book feature and at the Print window that pops up select "PDF" any printer should be able to print it.
victor

Why is there an "Aperture Book Printing and Design" section?

What is the point in having "Aperture Book Printing and Design" separate from 'everything else'?? Why? It something most people don't use anyway isn't it?

http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1076
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Regards
TD

Icc profiles for aperture book printing...

Do the Aperture Book Printing folks provide icc profiles so I can soft-proof the images beforehand?

Please note that monitors provide fairly accurate color when the images are saved in an sRGB color space, however, presses are not as reliable...
Well, Mike, thanks for sharing the info here.
At one point, in Mark's email to you, as mentioned above in his email from Apple, I have to say I am a little surprised about his statement re: monitors provide fairly accurate... when the images saved in an sRGB colour space...
It is very tricky statement where it depends on how we define the term "fairly accurate" in monitors. What we don't know if Mark meant by when monitor has been "properly" set up as profiled and calibrated with high-grade calibration hardware. Unless IF the monitor has been proper profiled and calibrated, then his statement would be correct. But IF not profiled or calibrated at all, I am afraid that his statement is incorrect.
Now these days with newer monitors and newer Apple laptops with better monitor technology, it is still need to be properly profiled and calibrated. It just depends on individual's preference, desire and the purpose of such project whatever someone is working on. While majority of Aperture users' are probably mostly professional photographers or those who are into photography savvy, then colour-managed workflow is a norm. For me, it IS absolute A MUST colour-managed workflow.
Although, I do a heavy post-production workflow on MacPro where I always have my monitors calibrated. I don't typically calibrate my laptop, though. Because sometimes I forgot to turn off the automatic ambient light in System Preference in Display section. It is a little inconvenience in that case. Unless if I am being away on photographic trips far from Canada abroad, then it is a different story. But not always bring my calibration device with me. Too inconvenience to haul it around at the airports etc. So colour-managed workflow is a must with MacPro in my studio.
However, other individuals have their own preference, comfort zone and the purpose of such project. Perhaps their workflow set up differently than yours or mine, that is ok.
But in that email you received from someone at Apple didn't make it clear about that statement about 'fairly accuracy'.
Then something else is something else actually--when Apple guy said presses are not always.... Again, that is why it is important that you get monitor properly profiled and calibrated. Once it is done properly, then it is all good. But remember, you need to re-calibrate monitor once a week or every two weeks or once month. In order to get pretty close to printed output, always a good idea to soft proof. If needed to make slightly conservative adjustments to your satisfaction or level of expectation, the output would be fairly close to what it is appeared in monitor. When I mean "fairly close" in comparing the output to what you are seeing in monitor with these post-production images used in that output, in fairness, I would estimate fairly close in terms of anywhere in range between 92 to 95 percent - that is very fair conservative perspective on how close in the output vs monitor. It is truly, really, truly rare to get the output 100% as obvious and precise as you are seeing in monitor. If that is the case, and if that is true FOR that person achieved this, this probably means takes that person many years to perfect his/her colour-managed workflow for that matter. Never has been that pretty close, but I'd be shocked if I see mine aced right on spot. I'd be lying to you if I get all output perfect as appeared in my monitors. If I did, that would be incorrect statement.
It seems a lot of factors and things to do and things need to require in a thoroughly colour-managed workflow production, it is how it is done. But this can also means save money, effort and time if done properly right from the beginning.
In fairness, I would really wish that guy from Apple should have said a little more obvious and precise with his definition of fairly accuracy with monitors. It doesn't says what kind of monitors he refers to. Low quality, cheap monitors deliver good results? Lot of factors need to be looked at for consideration for yourself.
Of course, as you can tell that colour management topic is pretty heavy, highly technical and everything in deep thinking with world of colours. It takes years for an individual (both pros and non-pro individuals) finally understand what it is all about. Again, technologies evolve rapid for the better in many cases for new monitors, commercial print equips, advanced ink technology, advanced paper production technology... That goes on effortless endless, actually.
Hope some of thoughtfu perspective and experience be of some interest, and it is obvious that this discussion probably will attract some more excitement discussion, the more the better. So that every other Aperture users who have the similar issues, they'll definitely want to come to here... And learn and share.
I also use Blurb too. They are getting better than it was once a couple years ago when Blurb first started. As they add more variety of book sizes, types of paper stock and things like that. This also give someone some flexibility in choosing workflow production using Blurb software or online bookmaking or using PDF to Book service for those who are advanced users that use InDesign layout design app. In that case of PDF to Book, the advanced users would need to download Blurb's preset plug-in to put in InDesign in order to export the PDF output to meet and integrate into Blurb's Preflight Checklist at the time of upload. I use PDF to Book service with InDesign, etc. It is fairly self explanatory and easy to follow steps. Also slightly off topic, but when making Blurb book, to get most out of their product and service with Blurb, in that case, they came up with brilliant resource called Colour Resource Centre designed for making more beautiful books. In that resource centre, it is easy to read and follow.
I would think this probably shed some insights and understanding the basics of colour management, the whole thing all about this, that and the other all together.
I would also want other high-powered hard-core Aperture users share their experience with Aperture Book printing service. I'd be happy to share my experience about making Aperture Book vs. Blurb Book through PDF to Book service. However, I would think the export to PDF from Aperture probably has it's own different setting or slightly different configuration inside the PDF engine on Mac for Blurb book. There has been some discussion about wanting a Aperture Plug In for Blurb Book. blurb has been quiet on it, I take that they probably will not develop a special plug-in for Aperture Users. Sorry if it is a little off topic. But somehow someone in the discussion mention Blurb. so...
Anyhow, hope that helps.

Aperture book quality - worse than before?

Hello everyone,
My photo studio has been using Aperture for 8 months now and we are very happy with it. We love the organization, web output, etc. We also LOVE the book design layouts, but the quality of the book printing has been degrading over that past few months.
The first books we printed with Apple (around Nov/Dec 2006) were great, then about 3 months ago, we noticed the labels on the hardcover books went down in qulaity (almost like they were just using a color laser printer), and today we received five books in the mail and the quality is terrible. Also, two of the books have the "Made on a Mac" page in the back (like iPhoto).
It seemed to me (since I have had books printed by both Aperture & iPhoto) that the older Aperture books were of higher quality than the iPhoto books. Now, it seems as though they are one-in-the-same and our studio cannot have this lower quality book - it is not up to our standards.
I would gladly use another manufacturer, but every other design software out there for each respective company is terrible and takes three times as long for us to design a single book. I LOVE the integration of the books in Aperture and it makes our timeline two weeks shorter with our clients and that is what sets us apart from other studios in this town.
Has anyone else had these problems or noticed the change/degridation in the quality of the books?
Thanks!

C'mon Apple,
There is no way you don't know that the quality of your "sticker" covers is horrible. Maybe when you first launched your book service, but it has now been years. I just received three books, and all three have tacky, peeling front stickers.
Please give us an alternative, even if it costs more, that allows us to show our work with pride. After spending thousands and thousands on computers, software, cameras, lenses, etc., the cover of the books drags that first impression into the ground.
Thanks!

Modifying existing book designs - page sizes etc

Hi,
I was playing with the book feature of Aperture recently and decided I wanted to print it on my home printer (r1900). I found out that there was no way to actually adjust the page size in the design to fit properly aligned on A4 paper as the book design is locked to letter size paper.
I tried creating a custom book - you could define the page size and margins in that, but it lacked all the frames and backdrops that existed in the Snapshots design. So, I started playing....
Using some information provided on the good Mr Boyer's site re the Aperture book plist file locations and their content, I was able to identify the string in my custom book that specified the page size. Great, thinks I - I'll just change the corresponding string in the Snapshots book plist file and all will be good.
Not so fast, grasshopper! There is no corresponding string in the Snapshots plist file. After some careful reading and comparing of file structures, I came to the conclusion that if I added the pagesize string to the Snapshots plist, it should cause the book to become A4 size. Working on a copy of the Snapshot book folder with plist and other files, I added the <pagesize> string for A4 and saved the plist file within the entire folder renamed to A4 Snapshot Large.
It worked - an additional book design now appears in Large Books, called A4 Snaphots Large (yes, I know the Large is redundant but anyway...).
But here's the wrinkle - there are still framesizes and margin offsets that were configured for letter size paper, so it's not perfect. Has anybody done something similar and knows what other settings to adjust in which plist file?
If anybody's interested, I'm happy to provide specific detail of the string, but I'm being hassled to go make some plunger coffee for my wife on account of it being Fathers Day (not my job to critique THAT logic...).
Regards,
Calx

Hi
It sounds as if you know your way around Aperture ...
I'm making a book and am intensely frustrated. There are 2 things that I want to do and cannot find the way to do them.
First I want to resize some of the boxes on the standard pages and it won't let me do it. The instruction manual says: As you work on a book, you may need to adjust the layout of individual pages. For example, you may discover that one image in a group should appear slightly larger. You can move and resize the boxes that hold images on individual pages, making minor layout adjustments when a master page design doesn’t quite suffice. You can also create your own master pages to create custom books.
Wonderful! But it doesn't tell you how.
The only boxes I seem to be able to resize are those that I add with the 'Add photo box' command but these appear with a different mount and I can't see how to change the mounts so they match all the standard ones.
Can you please help?
Thanks

Apple Book design printed by Album Epoca ( another Printer)

I have designed a wedding album using Aperture and now want to send it to Album Epoca for printing. The album size is 9X13. Album Epoca needs the pages sent to them as laid out in Aperture and as a jpeg. How do I do this? Can I save the book as a jpeg? How do I ensure that the pages are not saved individually as 9X13 pages. What do I do to ensure that when i have a 18X13 spread that it is saved that way. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

I should be able to do that! I mean this is an Apple program right?
Welcome to the weird and quirky world of book design in Aperture where conventions don't necessarily apply... Copy/paste is touch and go, multi-selects don't work etc. It's as though this section of the app was developped somewhere else.
Making a duplicate image with the right attributes is the way to go in your case. You can also create a new master page and apply it to existing pages. The re-apply master command is useful in that case and yes, you CAN select multiple pages and apply this as a batch - go figure

Fonts in Aperture Books

Hi,
I have been struggling with this issue for over a year.
I have several books almost complete in Aperture.
I would like to make some small typographic adjustments to the text in a few books.
Aperture however will not accept this. Any adjusments made using the typographic options in the font
browser will not 'fix' in the book design. Any time the program opens a new window or any operation
the changes are reverted back to a basic font.
I am using professional purchased fonts and still no luck.
I have noticed that the recent version of iphoto now does have this capacity although it has very few pictuire layout options
and is not a 'professional' layout tool - in my opinion.
I have twice submitted this to Apple and waited for several software updates but still no change.
I have used some workarounds like laying out a page in photoshop and then importing, but this
is not the whole answer.
Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this and had some experience of working around the problem.
thanks,
k

You have to put the cursor somewhere on the border of the text box and then right-click. There, you'll get the options for justifying the text. Put the cursor where you would re-size the box, and then right-click.

Web Preview of Aperture Book

Is there any way to get a book designed in Aperture on to a web page that people can 'flick through' (i.e. use their mouse to turn the pages)?
I guess there is a way, but the question is what is the easiest way?
Can anyone recommend good javascript templates for the book display?

I do not know how to do it but a search on Google with Flip Book PDF will give you many links.
On the other hand, have you seen this page ? It is an excellent review of Aperture Large books
http://bergsmavisuals.com/blog/apple-aperture/books/aperture-3-extra-large-book- review/
and there is a preview of one of his books here:
http://matthewbergsma.com/weddings/bovenkamp/book/
Hope this will help.
I you find how to do it, I'll be really interested.

Wedding Photographers using Aperture to design wedding album

I have been using Aperture to design my leather wedding albums. This way I can email the bride a PDF layout for her approval before sending the book to "Graphistudio" to print.
If you are a wedding photographer and need to get the brides final approval on an album this can save you money on mistakes. I make them responsible for checking spelling and dates, pictures etc.
1: Make custom layout to Graphistudio's dimensions.
2: Layout book as normal
3: Print to PDF file - Then use "PDF Shrink" to get the file to about 2 - 3 megabytes in size so you can email. Send to bride to look over and approve.
4: When approved I print the book to JPG images and use Graphistudio's own software to layout the pages and upload.
It would be great to have a separate plug-in for designing wedding albums in Aperture for different companies.

billash3 wrote:
Aperture 1.5.
Ah. Using highlight & shadow adjustments can slow down Aperture 1.5's exporting five-fold.
Let me make sure I understand: if I'm only shooting JPGs, there's no RAW conversion, which means the time that's being consumed is due to the various adjustments Aperture's having to do?
Plus resizing if the output size is different form the original, and converting to another colour profile if the input and output profiles are different, and compressing the new JPEG. Apart from resizing, all those tasks should take hardly any time at all.
Also, would a third party DVD burning program for Mac improve the situation?
It's not going to make any difference at all.
Ian

When will Aperture books truly be "custom"

I have already designed a book in Aperture, and do like the creative possibilities.
However, when will we be able to change the page sizes, so that we can have PDFs printed elsewhere?
I would love to be able to go with 12 x 12, 8 x 8, portrait orientation, etc.
Any thoughts?

I totally agree with this thread, and I hope Apple realize that their current offer for books is good only for the iPhoto user (family, fun, amateur...) not for the Aperture users that need profesionally printed and good looking books.
As is now the only use I can give to the Aperture books are for giving a proof book to the bride/mother. For profesional looking books I have to take the pain of exporting and assembling a book externally and send it to Asukabook or Graphicstudio.
Apple needs to solve this matter as soon as possible, offering more sizes, more covers (quality ones), more page finishes (varnished, glossy...) AND more freedom for the templates.
I know all the above could take time to develop, but if they just allow us to freely choose the size of the pages, at least you can print a PDF and send to your prefered printing service.
Aperture is excellent, in my opinion better than Lightroom, and also will be much better in the future, but the book part needs a lot of improvement. If Lightroom (or another new tools) adds a really good book development and printing module, then Aperture will loose customers quickly (I will).
Regards,

Aperture book v Asuka book

Hi,
I've said similar to this recently in another thread, but I'd like to obtain some info from somebody who's used Asuka Books for a top end product, and who knows how to get the best from their layout template.
I have used the iPhoto and Aperture books and they are great, just as long as you want a good quality proof book to show a client as an interim update on their job. The final result needs to be higher res and spec, and this is what Asuka Books offer (so I've been told).
Both have a definate place in my workflow, but please can somebody just tell me some tips on preparing an Asuka layout in CS2 prior to placing the final order. Stuff like ....
- res (leave it at their dpi)?
- jpeg compression on the page (I assume highest)?
- tips on the best tweeks when importing the files to the layout
- etc
Aperture is perfect for me to edit down and prepare for the proof book, then produce the Asuka book. Sorry Adobe, Lightroom looks fine, it'll be a great way to spur Apple on to make Aperture better (in my opinion) - which suits me!
Thanks to anybody who can help,
Mark

Hi Mark,
I am the US rep for Asukabook, so my opinions may be biased (yes, I think they're the best available , but I will shoot you some straight information on the best ways to setup you files for an Asukabook.
1) Start with the asukabook blank photoshop templates and place or copy/paste your images into it. Do not ever change the resolution of the templates. It must stay at our exact specifications or they won't make it through the file checker program. When you place or copy/paste images to a PS page, the resolution will automatically be made to match the destination, so you don't really need to worry about this.
2) I, too, was hoping that the Aperture layouts would be flexible enough to allow for sizing the books for other companies, but unfortunately you can't - yet (are you listening Apple?). Professionals shouldn't be forced to order only iBooks.
3) JPG compression on the finished page should be at the highest possible quality setting (12 in PS)
4) If you are using PS CS2, you're in luck. Use the FILE: PLACE command and point to your finished images to bring them into your layout. By using the PLACE command, you bring the image in as a "smart object" which allows you to place with the sizing as much as you want. It doesn't rasterize the image until you finally flatten the layout or save it out as the final JPG. This maintains the best image quality throughout your design process.
6) Some people ask about using other programs to create layouts, and this is possible as long as the output size and resolution are EXACTLY the same as our templates. Page Gallery (from Yervant) is being updated to support the Asukabook page sizes - hopefully by March or April. Our own AutoAlbum software (from www.KubotaImageTools.com) also builds compatible pages that can be Placed using the technique I described above (except you place the entire finished layout that AutoAlbum creates, instead of single images)
Other album builder software packages are also being updated to work with Asukabooks directly.
With some hand tweaking, you could take your Aperture generated pages and place them into an Asukabook layout as well, although we haven't tested this thoroughly enough yet to provide specifics or a solid recommendation.
Hope that helps,
Kevin Kubota
Quad G5, Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

How do I use metadata text box in Aperture Book

When I hit the button for a text box, I get a text box. Likewise for a new photo box. What I really want is a metadata text box and when I hit that button nothing happens. I have tried it with a photo selected and on a blank page.
How do I use the metadata text box in Aperture books? BTW I am working on a small sized soft cover book.
Powerbook G4 1.5 Mac OS X (10.3.6)

Do you have a copy of Illustrator installed?
Then just begin at page 1, read it and practice what you read. Step by step.
If you don't understand parts of it, dive into the manual as well or ask a question in this forum. But mind that not everybody has a copy of the Classroom in a book. So you need to ask your questions precisely and post screenshots of your artwork.

Aperture book copyright question!

Hey...I was wondering if it would be allowed to make Aperture books and resell them....obviously if I do not own the copyright then I a cannot...but let's say I take a bunch of pics of my hometown and make a book and ask Apple for copies of this book...would I be allowed to sell it then?

Your images, your work, your creation -> your copyright. Aperture is just a tool and the printing service is just a service. If you write a novel using Microsoft Word, you still own the copyright and Microsoft has no rights over your work, no matter how many fancy fonts and formatting features you use. Aperture is no different.
I'm sure Apple would love you to sell as many copies as you can - especially if you are using their printing service. At worst, they sell more printing services to you as you buy more books. At best, your customers are so impressed that they use Aperture or iPhoto to print books themselves, and Apple sells lots more books.

TS3946 Aperture Book: images look fine in Aperture but not in PDF preview. OS 10.9, Aperture 3.4.5

Aperture 3.4.5, OS 10.9. When making a PDF prior to ordering a book, I note that images look fine within Aperture book module, but about 10 out of 100 images look terrible in the PDF. Shall I ignore this and go ahead and order the book?

Hi,
Strangely I'm now having exactly the same problem all of a sudden. I've been building the book for about a month now (I've made about 6 before without any trouble) and along the way have been producing a pdf of the book to see how it will look. Yesterday I noticed some of the images seemed to have lost colour when looking at the pdf version and then today, many pictures all of a sudden look exactly like the example you've supplied above.
I've tried shutting down my imac and restarting thinking it was a memory issue, have checked if I had any filters activated (which I don't and I haven't used filters in books before either), have tried repairing then rebuilding aperture, copying the book to a new library, new location, opening on a different mac and then printing again but none of this had any positive effect.
So from what I understand from your last post, the workaround you came up with was to revert to the original of each image that had the problem and then make the adjustments again?

Aperture 2 - Book design

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