Express Digital Darkroom convert PS custom template?

<p>I am a graphics designer turned photographer giving Express Digital Darkroom a try. Most of the reason I was attracted to this software was the ability to create my own photo graphics and borders for events. Last year I used a Sony Snaplab kiosk and there was a Photoshop plug-in to convert all my PSD templates into borders for the printer. This year I have gone the laptop/printer route with a Shinko 2145, and I cannot get my templates into ED!</p>

<p>Is there a tutorial, instructions, plug-in, ANYTHING that will allow custom templates to be added to ED?</p>

<p>Many of the sites that sell templates say they're ED ready, and others say they're not and the user has to convert them. But no where can I find instructions for doing so.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>PS: I joined the Yahoo ED group, awaiting approval, if there's an answer either here or over there that addresses this.</p>

<p>I've been using Express Digital Darkroom for a few years; the custom templates capability is fantastic. Express Digital doesn't directly support Photoshop PSD files, but if you are familiar with the concept of layers in Photoshop, you'll have no problems with Express Digital Darkroom.<br>

First, I recommend you save each of the layers in your PhotoShop templates as a separate PNG image. You can pull them back together and control them in Darkroom.<br>

In Darkroom, go to the Setup tab at the bottom, then select Products and Services from the menu options at the left of the screen. Under Products and Services, you'll see "Templates". You can choose to start from scratch, or simply modify an existing template to suit your needs (and save it as a new template).<br>

When you've created or opened the base template you'd like to work with, and set the sizes in "Border Properties", you can add each of the elements (layers) by clicking "Add Graphic". Browse to the PNG file for the element, and add it to your border. You can control layer levels, and many, MANY other properties of each layer.<br>

Please let me know if you have more questions. Express Digital is good about keeping the Yahoo! forum user's list up to date, so your request should be addressed within a day or so.</p>

 

<p>Thank you, I will let you know if this works for me: it's exactly how I design and save digital scrapbook kits for the user to download and assemble on their layouts. When I used Add Template, it didn't recongnize my PNG files, so I will try the Add Graphics route instead.</p>

<p>Oh, that worked beautifully! I now have some custom templates in EDD ready for my next event. Thank you! It was incredibly easy, and a big relief.</p>

<p>In fact, it was even easier than your instructions because I had the transparent hole in the PNG flattened version, so I had to just load it as a new graphic and place the photo layer in the Send to Back position. No saving individual layers and importing the extra graphics one at a time. I could leave the dates off to make updating them easier, and do it in layers, so both options are great to know.</p>

<p>Now the tedious work of getting them all into EDD, because I have a lot! Thanks again</p>

<p>Emma - greatl; I'm glad it worked for you. As I mentioned earlier, templates are a very powerful capability within Darkroom. Sounds like you have considerable experience using templates in PhotoShop, so it should be pretty easy (again, anyone who understands PhotoShops 'layers' can easily adapt to Darkroom). <br>

A couple of fun (and profitable) tips to try in Darkroom:<br>

1) You mentioned leaving off the dates and doing them in layers; the easiest way I've found to do this is to use the "add text' function. When the box displays, select the "Insert Special Text" drop-down, then select a date format. The date will automatically be updated to reflect the current date. You can customize the font, and many font properties, to suit your needs. Special text is an extremely powerful feature; you can use it to automatically generate several customized texts (for example, the current date, or the customer name, or automatically inserting the event name onto every image).<br>

2) Another very powerful feature, especially within custom text and graphics, is the ability to allow you to change the text or graphic color outside of border workshop. For example, let's say you're shooting a corporate holiday party. If you've made the text color changeable (double-click on text color within the object's properties box, and select "Allow the user to change...." at the bottom of the screen. Now you can change the text or graphics (say, for example, a box frame around the image) to match the color of the dress, or any other color in the image!<br>

3) You can choose to make any object (text, graphic, photo) "floating", which allows you to move the object freely around the template, or "fixed", which locks it into position on the template. Don't want the event name to cover the bottom of a particularly beautiful gown? Just move the event name text object to another location on the image.<br>

Those are just a few off the top of my head, and you'll find many more in the Yahoo! forum. There are also several training videos on Express Digital's website at <a href="http://www.darkroomsoftware.com/support_training.html">http://www.darkroomsoftware.com/support_training.html</a>.<br>

Enjoy! </p>

<p>Could you help esplain creating bakedrops for ED?<br>

Mark</p>

<p>Mark,<br>

Do you want to create digital backgrounds (i.e., for greenscreen functions, where you are replacing a background with another image), or do you need to create digital templates and borders? To create a border (or template), use the Border Workshop tab in the Darkroom software application. Let me know whcih functions you need help with.<br>

Jerry</p>