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User Manual - Timestone Software

1. currently ilabl List of names from _ Details mode Completed pack Preview of the preview also subject s image called the print queue Creating packs overview Packs are created by choosing an subject s entry in the list then the pack layout and optionally design from the layouts available The subject s image is placed into the pack along with any other graphic objects and text defined by the templates being used NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 118 Alternatively you can create packs by folder There are various tools provided to make pack generation progressively more automated There are effectively four ways to create a print queue e Look ata sheet of paper which tells you who ordered what and create the packs manually by selecting subject names one by one then clicking the desired pack layout name for each subject e Ifa whole grade or group requires the same pack you can select a folder then click the desired pack layout name this will create one pack for each subject name listed in the folder e Import a text file which identifies each subject and what they have ordered e Scan barcodes which identify each subject and what they have ordered More information about these options is available later in this chapter under the heading Creating Packs beginning on page 122 Packs shortcut keys and pack sets Your production may run across several different pap
2. To re size the object with the mouse click one of the handles and drag it in the desired direction To move the object click and drag inside the selected object The object moves as you drag the mouse Sizing and positioning objects with the toolbar Exact size and position for an object can be specified using the Object Dimensions toolbar Choose the object you wish to edit then click the value you want to adjust Pressing the Tab key switches to the next entry area Once all the required changes have been made click Apply Note that the measurement units can be changed by clicking the Units drop down E E 122 see il 72540 552 Figure 22 The Object Dimensions toolbar Offset E cf NeoPack File Edit Orientation Mode Help Den a hh i e e Linch offset gt 0 00 E 0 00 size AY 700 sof 500 Figure 23 An Image Object after re sizing NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 104 As discussed earlier in this chapter you can place more than one image hole into a template For more detail on constructing a multi hole Item Pack check earlier in this chapter Placing and using graphic objects Several graphic objects can be placed into a NeoPack Professional template There are several steps when importing these objects Placing a graphic object Create a new template either a Layout or a Design Set the page size to match the template you re designing Click the Place Graphic Obj
3. Once all the options have been set choose OK Set the outout path To print the job to Bitmap files choose File Print Choose the range to print see later Because the result of this print operation is a file you must choose an output path Either enter the output path or click Browse A File Browse dialog opens Choose the folder you want to use then choose OK Choose OK to print the bitmap files Pat If Sequential number has been selected as the for use option you will be able to enter the first sequential number to use Enter the starting number in the Next sequential number entry box NeoPack Professional Chapter 14 Printing Page 135 Browse for Folder Path to print file to D Almages Pinted Bitmap ETS Bitmap file Setup Esa Data D EY DesktopFolderDE Print what EE Images f All f Unprinted ony Selected only Fry Printed Output to file options Path D Images Printed Bitmap E Next sequential number i 4 03 Samples OR Cancel Cancel Printing to a standard Windows printer driver There are a number of options that can help automate your printing when using NeoPack Professional The main options are e Printer Properties configure printer specific options e Printer output options choose whether to output to a file or to the printer e Paper size selection paper size automation functions e Alignment and cut marks how the printe
4. Timest software User Manual Updated for Version 1 3 SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT IMPORTANT READ CAREFULLY This 1s a legal agreement between you either an individual or a single entity and Timestone Software By keeping this package and using the software you are accepting the terms and are bound by the terms of this license If you do not wish to enter into this agreement please promptly return all copies of the Software User Manuals and Hardlock devices to Timestone Software for a full refund This User Guide and the software programs it describes are protected by copyright trade secret and trademark law By accepting this license you have the right to use them subject to the terms and conditions of this license agreement Definitions and Interpretation Software means the Program modules enabled and authorised for use for your installation Hardlock device means the hardware device used to enable the Software to function e Scope of Agreement Timestone Software hereby grants you the original purchaser personal non exclusive license to use the User Guide and the Software subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement Grant of License You may use the Software on a maximum of one computer that you own or operate at a single physical location You may transfer the Software from one computer to another provided that you do not use or permit the usage of the Software on more than one computer or c
5. Installation Page 15 License Server Timestone Software s Neo applications are protected from unauthorised use by a license server The license server runs as a Windows NT service and is installed as a component of the installer It consists of several components e A hardlock or dongle that is connected to the Server PC s Parallel port e The License server installed only to the server PC e The License Manager which is installed to the Server or can be used on a workstation connected to the network e Several support files Understanding the License Server When a Neo application is licensed from Timestone Software we issue your site with a hardlock or dongle This hardlock contains a unique Key code that is specific to your installation Without the hardlock it is not possible to use the Neo application It is possible to purchase single or multi user licenses for Neo applications When the license is issued it is added to the license server You are then able to use the number of applications you have licenses for When a Neo application is started it asks the License Server if there is a license available to use If there is the application will launch and use a license If there are insufficient licenses available for that application an error message will be given and the program will quit You will not be able to launch the application until a license becomes available either by adding more licenses or
6. Page 58 Apple LUT Gamma 1 3 Set the image sharpening Images can be sharpened as they are imported NeoPack Professional uses an un sharp mask algorithm allowing good quality sharpening Sharpen Kernel Strength 100 The setting range is Kernel 3 5 or 7 Strength 10 600 Generally the larger the kernel size the stronger the sharpening effect Likewise the higher the strength the stronger the sharpness The higher the kernel value the longer it will take to apply the sharpening effect There is no correct sharpness value the ideal values will depend on how sharp the original hi res images are You should try importing a sample image with different sharpening settings to find the correct value for any given batch of images It goes without saying that too much sharpening can result in harsh and unpleasant images a Whenever you apply a correction such as image sharpening you will increase the time taken to print the image at the eventual output phase If your scanner or scanning software supports image sharpening you may want to use these controls rather than applying sharpening with NeoPack Professional Once all the settings have been made choose OK You are returned to the Import dialog Choose the files to import There are two ways to choose the images to import to a NeoPack Professional job file e Import images using a mask e Import selected images Import images using a mask If yo
7. The selected layout 1s selected and the cursor advances to the design box NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 123 Add pack layout item Figure 34 Pack layout created Choose the design If a pack item is required type the shortcut key in the item box and press Enter The design with that shortcut key is selected and the cursor returns to the search box ready for the next pack layout item Figure 35 Item included in pack Barcode reader assisted entry Pack order entry can be greatly accelerated if information can be read with barcode readers This entry method relies on several pieces of information being available as a barcode e The subject s ID e The Packs required e The Designs required Typically this information is available if your lab uses pre printed shoot cards or order bags with an ID number and order information embedded in barcodes When entering the order information scan the ID barcode then the order information The packs required are automatically generated The procedure to follow is virtually identical to the previous procedure NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 124 LAURISTON COLLEGE Jon Abblett Grade 8A MEDI MEAN MEAN Figure 36 Sample shoot card Choose the Field to search You can quickly locate the subject by typing the name or other identifying text into the Search entry box Choose the
8. To correct an image click it then choose the color you want to adjust Enter an amount or use the Up Arrow or Down Arrow keys to adjust the value Color NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 4 Details mode Choose Mode Details to enter Details mode You will see a number of folders and name details Details are usually imported from a text file or manually entered from order bags Click All in the folder list to view all the names attached to this job MOLE 01 200 dikes igen APOLO 26000 onl EE TILT 052000 1903000 Jia dra apr 1063000 hac hedar ich iG AO Click the next to the folder to expand all the groups for this job Click each of the groups under the folder to see the names belonging to that folder group El NeoComposite C Program File Edit Subjects Mode Help e Staff Entering Global details The templates used in this example use several images of the school its logo and some text to form the final pages These details are attached at the Details screen The area below the Folder list contains various fields and their values Fields can contain either text or graphic images In this example there are 3 graphic fields that contain images of the school the logo image and two fields that contain the school name and year NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 5 Value SchoolPicl ete
9. You should consult Chapter 8 Details mode for further information Once the data has been imported it will either be broadly matched i e requiring some adjustments or there will be no matching at all NeoPack Professional Chapter 10 Match mode Page 73 Matching from Shoot cards or order bags When matching from shoot cards or order bags you are entering the shoot order to match the imported images which are also in shoot order Whether you use shoot cards with a barcode or type the name the procedure is fundamentally the same Using the Match tools The Match interface is divided into several sections The Look up section lets you search for names and match them to the current image Lookup via Fields for subjects name First we Last Birthdate k Position The Find section lets you find a particular image number or name mth T fiteck Gang Danmak Alison e Slack Bary Bann Bera Pad able Pie ina The Match toolbar lets you adjust the positions and jog the images and names in a match bd eo Move Move Slide Slide Difference between Move and Slide The difference between the Move and Slide tools is that Move will move the image currently under the cursor whereas the Slide tool will always slide the matched names assuming there are unlocked images in the table For example in this row if we slide or move the match up by a couple of images the result is very simila
10. iaro Lii MOL i aT 2m dl EA DO 101235 AA A VAT A Allocated fields Name details Defining the fields The fields displayed in these panes are program defaults These may be changed just for this job file or you can create new settings which will then become the defaults for future job files see Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional for information on modifying these settings There are three different types of fields NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 40 e File fields e Folder fields e Subject fields File fields File fields are objects that are common to all the groups involved in the current job for example School name or school logo To add a default File field choose File Options then choose the Default tab Now click the Details Fields Edit button The Data Fields dialog is shown Choose the File Fields tab and choose Add A new line is added to the list of fields Enter the name of the new field you want to use then choose OK Folder Fields Folder fields are objects that are allocated to a particular folder or a parent folder of a sub folder Useful fields include the campus name for a school campus or a year s mascot To add a default Folder field choose File Options then choose the Default tab Now click the Details Fields gt Edit button The Data Fields dialog is shown Choose the Folder Fields tab and choose Add A new line is added to t
11. is shown Either fix the problem and choose Retry to AN pana na vali A retry the job or Abort to abort the current operation 3 Fix the problem and try again Bew Loree NeoPack Other import sources NeoPack Professional also allows images to be imported from several other image sources The import panel can be hidden after starting the import by choosing Hide Any eligible images will continue to be imported until importing is paused or the source unchecked Setting up the import In Images mode from the Images menu choose the Import from Hot Source option The Setup dialog is displayed As with importing from disk hot source images can be rotated and flipped on import These options are discussed earlier in this manual Images From Hot Source Setup E After import Rotate 9 g0 O 180 270 Miro D Yertical Horizontal Apply LUT none A Cancel Correcting images on import NeoPack Professional allows image corrections to be applied as images are imported For example if you know that a particular source of images needs to be brightened the correction can be applied to those images as they are imported Choose the LUT that you need from the Apply LUT drop down For information on making a LUT please see Chapter 15 Calibration amp Color Management Importing from the Windows clipboard If your have an application or scanner that can place the images into the Windows clipbo
12. screen NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 2 Change the number of images displayed You can control the number of images displayed using the Images button Click the button then pull the grid that opens to select the number of images you want Click the mouse and the screen re draws for the selected number of images Cropping Images Switch to Single Image mode then click the image displayed Note that 1t highlights darker grey Switch to Image Crop mode by clicking the Crop button in the toolbar Note that several lines now appear over the portrait image These lines indicate 2 aspect ratios 2 3 and 4 5 NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 3 Click the image and drag the mouse whilst still holding down the mouse button The image will move on screen You can also hold the Ctrl down then the Arrow keys to crop the image R SeoConposite CA Progran gt Pet DopfSosle gal HS ol 153 e 0 wel o To reset the position of the image click the Reset crop button in the Crop sidebar Now hold the Shift key down on the keyboard and move the mouse up and down in a vertical direction You will see the portrait image zoom up and down as you drag the mouse You can also hold the Ctrl key down then press the Page Up and Page Dn keys to zoom the image Color correction You can correct the color density and contrast of an image using the Color Controls sidebar
13. 1 layer lower Merging images defining an image hole The area in your design where the images you import are to appear 1s called a hole As mentioned before this area 1s defined by coloring the areas of the graphic a specific color In this example the area has been defined by pixels that are R 255 G 255 and B 255 After the graphic has been placed and positioned click the Image Object button The mouse pointer changes the Place Object pointer Click and drag the mouse over the template where you want the image to appear It is not important to be accurate at this point When the object is placed it will be sitting over the top of the background Figure 28 The Image Object placed over a Graphic Object NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 107 With the Image Object selected the handles are visible click the Send down 1 layer button The Image Object is moved down 1 layer and is now behind the transparent area of the Graphic Object Note in the picture below that it is possible to see the full design Figure 29 The Image Object placed behind the graphic object s transparent area When this design 1s applied to an image the two areas are merged Figure 30 The finished print Placing additional graphic objects As many graphic objects as you need can be placed into a template To add a further object repeat the above process ZA Note If a graphic object that is placed over
14. Collage C potsteps D HedMste With the 8 inch set Leaves F selected only the 8 inch layouts are displayed Queues When a pack is created in NeoPack Professional it is added to a queue ready to be printed You can create any number of queues to help separate your production workflows For example you might run 8 and 10 production Separating the packs into 8 and 10 sets allows the production to be printed more easily Description Default Pack Set Queues can also have a default pack set meaning that if you create an 8 queue selecting it can also automatically select the 8 gene Sel pack set NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 121 Creating a Queue To create a new printer queue choose Edit Queues the Queue list dialog opens Adding a new queue Click New a new entry is placed into the list Type the name for the queue Default Pack Sek none Description Once named click none and choose the pack set to use with this queue Once done choose OK The queue is available for selection Selecting a queue To select a queue click the Queue drop down and choose the queue to use from the list If a default pack set has been defined it is automatically selected New Remove OK Cancel with the queue Queue 10 Set Creating packs Packs are created in NeoPack Professional by choosing a name entry in the list a pack
15. Cut Marks The Cut Marks dialog is displayed Adding a punch Choose New A new line appears in the entry box Choose if you want a vertical or horizontal cut position Choose the position of the punch in the pack Choose the punch type If you want a cut mark to be hard check the Hard checkbox next to the punch position Otherwise the Cut mark type is always soft If you choose a soft cut mark but your printer doesn t support mid image punches the cut mark is ignored Adding additional cut marks If you need to add additional cut marks choose Add A new line is added to the Cut Marks table Make the required settings Once you have added all the cut marks necessary choose OK NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 97 Displaying cut marks You can display a cut mark by clicking the Cut Mark Cut along the button in the Display Options toolbar i Horizontal asis Vertical axis Any cut marks defined will be displayed The different cutmarks are displayed using different dash lines Remowe Notes Cut marks are not required for the start or end l of a layout By default cut mark information wil be relayed to the printer if supporked to print the layout az separate pages click the Hard option Cancel Soft cut mark I KO Hard cut mark Pack Item templates A Pack Item template is a group of graphic and text objects that must be placed into a Layout template to form
16. Details pane Create the template To create the code place a text object as described previously then enter the symbol followed by the Field name In the template you need to place the following codes e First to place the first name e Last to place the last name e Message to place the personal message Create the code Switch to the Template designer by choosing Mode Design Open or create a new template either a Pack layout or a Pack Item Click the Place Text object button and drag a text box onto the canvas template The Edit Text dialog opens Enter the following text Fret hew ener E t i a A E a r i b me A A ak Te wA a re A ea a hd F i i kL a A a a l na ie e a ES my E Y a 5 T x 3 e Choose OK The text is placed into the template Add an image hole in the design and any other objects you need Save the template and re start NeoPack Professional Using the W code Open a file that contains some imported images Now _ choose the template you have created Choose a Layout if First w Last necessary The image is placed into the hole in the template Es a M eee but no text is yet visible as none has been entered yet Note cl 3 essageo in the below example that the field values are empty NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 114 Click the image you wish to add the text to ensure it is selected No
17. Getting help from Technical SUpport si ccowiescccavssinsconcncedsent seis dawsebetexsadteadewsnsetveseddawiasctenwatindepdsentsewnvodddawevnedexmasteadentnaes 12 Hardware Pe GUI C Ile US siria 12 J Mstalhng Neo ack Professional iia 14 Installing the Adobe Acrobat Reader occccccccccononocconnnonnnonnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnns 15 EE AA 16 Understandins me LICense ely OT enea EE E E E E 16 oen a E lore a o aseo pitos 16 Configuring and testing the license Server occcccccccnonononononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnononnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnas 17 HA ITS OU WIC PPP O e atotertelae 18 Configuring workstations to TUM 45012256 cadvapiscansssnnnccancecagdoadsnaddeanaadamenncedencdadoassanedeanaaneadighandebependadgagannwdeipemnedaasbocdduaates 18 Backing up your license Server configuration cccccceeeecceeecceceeaeaaenseseseesseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaessaeesssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaasasenses 19 5 Understanding NeoPack Professional iia id etc 20 PS TANS PAPA o E E E O o E 20 MAYA A e NI O IN on III E AE 21 JAY AGG ab o A IA O UU PO e O OU EE 22 di A E PG UU E on e o iO o A 22 Produccion WOE OW reeeo oeer oE USE NEE O EEEE 24 Usma Neo Fac Protesionals IM lila arica 24 Usine toolbar ada 25 Resize WINdOWS neisiet e tddi 25 Opening closing and maximizing PANES ssssseseoeeeeeesssssssssssesetttterrrssssssssssssecttereererrsssssssssssseeeteersesssssss
18. Hole button again click and drag another Image Hole onto the layout canvas Again it is not important to be accurate After placing the second hole select it by clicking it with the mouse Step 5 Size and position the hole With this print we want the top left corner to be positioned at the top right corner of the 10x8 print This means that the 5x7 print origin is 8 0 Enter these values in the Offset values of the toolbar Now enter the width and height to the Size entry boxes The correct size is 7 5 Click Apply The second hole is positioned and sized as shown NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 92 8 _ 8 0 8x10 Print 5x7 Print Step 4 Place the second 5x7 hole After the 5x7 hole has been placed click the Image Hole button again click and drag another Image Hole onto the layout canvas Again it is not important to be accurate After placing the second hole select 1t by clicking 1t with the mouse Step 5 Size and position the hole With this print we want the top left corner to be positioned at the bottom left corner of the first 5x7 print This means that the second 5x7 print origin is 8 5 Enter these values in the Offset values of the toolbar Now enter the width and height to the Size entry boxes The correct size 1s 7 5 Click Apply The second hole is positioned and sized as shown 8x10 Print 5x7 Print 8 5 85 5x7 Print saving the Template After you have completed th
19. ManageMent oooonncnccccnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnos 139 ColorizEd IMAGES aiii 103 Compacting the job file 65 Copied NAMES ia i 49 A NS 50 A O ION 49 Correcting images while importing ooooccccnnccnnnonnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnos 63 Creating O A 120 a package print layQuUt ooooonnncnnncccnnnnn 91 NeoPack Professional Index DAER Seretan teenie eee See Packs templates cui cs See Templates Cropping MATES cuca alii 68 Custom groups ci 49 CUMAE ea 98 138 Data plok Held i n auaenaticentiaves 48 editing after importing ccccccccnoccnnnnnnnnnnnnns 49 ER POCNE o E tai 50 NAAA a tectum sae 44 fixed or delimitd ana 44 DADON GS vacas 43 miscellaneous fields oooocccnnncnnnnnm 48 SDOGI iaa iaa 46 SEA A 48 special TCI Scr shit cet iuiecenteteeehtlanentis 48 unigue identifiers ei Dias 46 updating existing ccccccccccoocnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnss 45 Deleting Ma CS a tdau wear eeaminae twaneceai a tan 65 HA Se ceed et teach eeualeioe acest hes etter hclatoek 50 Dacko eaten se ean ieee 128 Desin e enre See Templates Desten mode sees 9 24 81 A A Wontar tueated easnandees 85 86 hole punch display oooccccccccccnnooooo 85 ODU ONS ar E 86 PUEIS eaae A 85 scaling OPTIONS cccccconooocccnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnncnnnnnnnos 84 Details Mode cues ia 5 20 40 DIS PACO ciutat cade 13 a A O ei ested See Hardlock Editing A sonastectecesemaraaia 2 Editing images using ex
20. Multiple sheets You can have multiple sheets in Form Item Sheets mode and you can add and delete them as follows Menu option New Remove Printing sheets Print options for sheets are slightly different from print options for packs Some options are the same E de Berl Ti ee ben Beeman he such as printing to a bitmap file rather than to a SE tae hae a ae k printer fe soci Fabra ds Lk avira However when printing sheets you can also control which pages are printed and how many copies of each page by checking the appropriate boxes as shown at right NeoPack Professional Chapter 13 Form Item Sheets mode Page 131 Printing NeoPack Professional offers a wide variety of printing options You can choose to print to a standard Windows NT printer driver output bitmap files or print to a Timestone Print Job file Timestone Software has produced a number of Windows NT printer drivers for some of the more popular digital photographic printers and NeoPack Professional can take advantage of the special features built into these drivers If a printer driver isn t available for your printer you can output bitmap image files to submit to the printer using your normal printing software Printing to a Timestone Print Job file allows NeoPack Professional to participate in our Distributed Print Architecture This is a system than minimises the time your operators wait while a job is printed as well
21. See the next section for information regarding setting pack set shortcuts Shortcut keys can contain more than one character if required NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 119 ZA Tip Add the shortcut key to the description of each item for easier manual key entry Pack sets Pack layouts can be gathered together into sets which your operator can then select Only the layouts that belong to that set are displayed The Pack set dialog To define a pack set choose Edit Pack sets the Packs dialog opens The dialog allows you to define sets and then the pack layouts that belong to the set C i sets Defined pack sets Set iat ame The pack layouts that belong to the set Packs in et Set list Create a new Pack set fy Mew Remove To create a pack set click New a new entry is created in the list Type the name for this set Packs in get Add layouts to the Pack set After naming the set click Add A new entry is placed into the Packs in set list Choose the pack layout you want to include a Long Pack 1 none none a Long Pack 1 a Short Pack 2 810 3 8x12 4 313 Name the layout Type a description for the pack This 1s the description displayed on the pack layout buttons on the Form Packs screen Choose a shortcut key As previously mentioned shortcut keys are very important when automating the ord
22. TE open template file Open an existing template file The Place Object toolbar The Place Object toolbar allows you to place the various objects you wish to use in the template There are 5 objects that can be placed into a template Image Object Defines where the images you import in the main application will appear in the template Images appear behind on top of or inside other objects in a design Graphic Object Defines where various graphic elements will appear in the template Graphic objects created with this tool are static Graphic objects can be bitmap WMF or EMF type Text Object Defines where text will appear in the template Text can be static or contain a special variable codes Text automatically scales to fill the defined text box Barcode Object Defines where a barcode will appear in a Layout Note that the barcode object is not available when creating a sizeable pack item the item must be a fixed size item Labeled holder Places a box that will be replaced by an image e g a logo To place an object click the desired button click inside the template canvas area and drag the mouse The object will be placed into the template ready to be accurately sized and positioned laca MIE Y Place a labeled holder Place image hole object Place a graphic object Place a barcode object Place a text object The Object Layer toolbar Objects placed into a template can be positioned in layers making it possibl
23. Timestone Software Example Files directory and open the file PackPro Demo tnj The example file opens NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 1 Modes There are 6 modes of operation in NeoPack Professional e Details mode import and edit job name and other details information PE ReoPack Professional E Documents and Set Fis Edt Images Mode Help e Images mode import crop and color correct fe Pes Meira E the portrait images p Creole m Match FS Ex al 100 Forn Packs FF e Match mode match images to names Form Them Sheets Shilt F7 bee i l Design FS e Form Packs mode form the finished pages e Form Item Sheets mode create sheets with multiple subjects for proof sheets ID cards etc e Design mode create the templates to be used for the pages You 1l be in Images mode the first time you enter NeoPack Professional Switch between the modes by choosing the Mode menu then the mode you want or by using the shortcut keys F4 F8 pictured above Images mode Images mode is used to import and prepare images for use in NeoPack Professional pages There are several controls that let you change the number of images displayed on the screen at once Single Image mode Click the Single Image mode button The display changes to show one single image Multi Image mode Click the Multiple Image mode button The display changes to show multiple images on
24. a final job A Pack Item template will be fitted into the Pack Layout chosen meaning that it is possible that it will be cropped For example you might create a Pack Item template that can fit on either a 8x12 or 8x10 print When the 8x12 Layout is selected the entire design is placed onto the page When an 8x10 Layout is used the Pack Item is cropped top and bottom to fit into the shorter page A Pack Item Template can contain multiple Image Holes of different sizes and orientations Images are automatically scaled and rotated to fit into the holes placed in the design Pack Item templates can contain various graphic elements including bitmap images from image editing applications like Adobe Photoshop and WMF vector graphics created in applications like CorelDraw The templates also support image transparency meaning you can define a specific color in your design that goo u O a E will appear as transparent An Image W 99 9S BE s TR ISR 4 Hole placed behind a transparent area wed y ts ye nA r Pri E will show through the transparent area merging the two elements together In the example note that the same design has been placed into an 8x10 and 8x12 page The same design has been used Note also that the teddy bear appears on top of the image indicating that image transparency has been used NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 98 Creating a Pack Item template To create a new Pack
25. an 8 bit mask 8 bit masks are image files jpeg tiff bmp etc that you create in an image editing program that allows you to create image transparency in the finished prints These files NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 84 allow more complex transparency effects such as a soft edged blend or a semi transparent overlay You can apply an 8 bit mask to any graphic object placed in a template Object snap and grid settings There are a number of useful display and snap options available to make designing templates easier These options are available from the Display Snap toolbar The options include e Display or hide rulers e Display or hide hole punch positions e Display or hide the grid e Switch object snap on or off Em mli E Y nl Snap to grid Switch ruler display on off Display hole punch position Display grid Rulers Clicking the Switch ruler display button will display or hide the ruler Offset ll me E 1 3 Ruler display Hole punch display Templates can contain hole punch positions Clicking the Display hole punch position button toggles the punch position display NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 85 Punch position display Grid display A grid can be positioned over the template canvas making positioning objects easier Click the Display grid button to toggle the grid display offset 7 El size G 10 Apple a PELIS ie pea reader EA
26. are lost Importing name data It s recommended that you import the images before importing the corresponding data By doing this you can have NeoPack Professional match the data to the existing images and the work you need to do in Match mode is just checking and perhaps making a couple of adjustments rather than matching each image manually which can of course be quite time consuming Make sure you see the section titled Matching the Images The other time saver that can be achieved at the data import stage is that the required folders can be automatically created by the import process Ideally you ll end up with a separate folder for each class or group level This can all be done on import by following the correct setup options The file to be imported should be a text file whether delimited or fixed length Ideally each record should contain e First Name e Last Name e Group e ID optional A typical text file might contain records similar to this Amy y Batchelor Year 1 William Breowalee Year 7 TOM Caer gt Sar TS Amy Coady Year pe James Crpetotre ro Year lt 2 Catherine Hodge Year 7 Mandy Hooper Year 7 NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 43 Prepare the import process Open the job file you wish to import the data to or create a new job file via File New Make sure you re in Details mode by choosing Mode Details or pressing F4 on
27. area Figure 9 Images mode NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 56 Importing images Images you wish to use for group images need to be imported to the NeoPack Professional job file you re working on There are a number of operations that can be applied to images as they are imported Adjusting the Image Preview quality When an image is imported to the NeoPack Professional file the high resolution image 1s sub sampled for display purposes If you want a higher quality preview image you can adjust the size of the preview image created like this With a file open choose File Properties Choose the Bitmap sizes tab and enter the desired preview size in the Stored size of bitmap used for previewing entry box a Adjusting this amount will not change preview images already created You must re import the images to see the changed setting Import the images Once the various file options have been set you can import images to the job file With the job file open choose Images Import from disk The Images From Disk dialog is shown Configuring the import There are a number of options that are available to you when importing images e Choose the files to be imported e Specify a range of files to import e Rotate and flip images as they are imported e Apply a LUT correction e Apply image sharpening Set the import options NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 57 F
28. as ensuring there are enough prepared jobs ready to be printed by your high speed digital printer selecting the printer Before printing a job set the print options in the Printer Setup dialog Open this dialog by opening a job file you want to print then choosing File Print setup Print setup E Print To Choose the print method Timestone Print Job file Hame Sienna Lucht Mileca HSP Properties Bitmap file Setup Frinter options Print to file Separate pages don t batch Set the print options Set the paper size selection options F Individual file for each page Paper size selection Y Use default size Pick the best from defined sizes V Use custom paper sizes only f Cut to size Set the alignment and cut mark options J Align top left I Honour cut marke if defined Output filenames Set the filename output options Format pretie copies ext prefix NN ext ips for use ren NeoPack Professional Chapter 14 Printing Page 132 Choose the Print method There are three main options that can be used when printing from NeoPack Professional e Printing to a standard Windows printer e Printing to a bitmap file e Printing to a Timestone Print Job file Choose the method you want to print to Print to a Timestone Print Job file There are few options to set when printing to a Timestone Print Job file aside from the output path Choosing
29. be used un checking causes them to be ignored Align top left M Honour cut marks fif defined Print the pages Once all the various options have been set choose File Print The print dialog opens The images to be printed can be chosen using the Print what section Choosing Prints All Prints all the created packages Un printed only Prints any packages that haven t yet been printed Selected only Prints the range of prints currently selected in the printer queue If printing to a file or a bitmap printer driver specify the output path for the file The next sequence number can be specified 1f desired by entering a number in the Next sequential number box NeoPack Professional Chapter 14 Printing Page 138 Calibration amp Color Management rae Note Timestone Software s Neo family of products use the ICC color management system that Microsoft has built into Windows 2000 If you are using Windows 2000 you should use the ICM 2 color management system in preference to taking the steps described in previous versions of this manual ICC color management involves creating color profiles for every display or output device on your system and is considerably more sophisticated than the previous method However the calibration method of color management and the creation of LUTs Look Up Tables to achieve consistent color correction is still valid if you have not yet upgraded to Windows 2000 and both
30. by one of the users quits their running Neo application Installing the License Server When installing the Neo application choose the License Server component The License Server service will be installed It is not necessary to install the License Server on any machine other than the one that will host the hardlock You will be required to re start the PC Do so NeoPack Professional Chapter 4 License Server Page 16 Once the PC has been re started you will notice several things e Anew control panel License Server has been added to the Windows Control Panel e Anew service Timestone License Server has been added to the Services list e Anew program License Manager has been added to the Start Timestone Software menu Configuring and testing the license server The hardlock can be connected to the parallel port of any machine on the local area network This machine doesn t have to have a Neo application installed to act as a hardlock server but the workstations that do have Neo applications installed must be able to see the machine that has the hardlock Hardlock and License Server installation First make sure the hardlock is plugged into the hardlock server s parallel port Run the Neo application installer and make sure that the License Server and Support Files components are chosen It is not necessary to choose the Neo application component if this machine will not run the application Allow the installer
31. chapter g di Sy ae Using a Barcode object ins Barcode objects can only be placed into a Layout style template This is because a barcode must have a specific size and characters per inch in order to be ha Kera Anu y n PANA Provident Schaal Wald 1200 NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 94 correctly read Only a Layout template can offer these specific size requirements To place a barcode into your Layout template click the Barcode Object button in the toolbar Click and drag where you want the barcode to appear The Edit Barcode dialog appears Specify the barcode type by choosing from the x Barcode type drop down list The types available codes include i Text to encode EE e Code 39 Characters inch EN Extended Code 39 Bar color m e Code 128 Now enter the text to code This is the information entered for each image that needs a barcode You can either enter some fixed text or use a variable code For example you may have defined a field ID that will contain the ID information for each image Entering the text ID as the Text to encode will cause the ID information entered to be placed into the barcode Enter the Characters inch required by your reader ZA You will need to determine which settings work for particular your reader This is particularly true for the characters per inch setting You can set the color used for the barcode This is especi
32. choosing Images Select crop amp scale image tool Note that all images displayed in the image table now show the enabled aspect ratios Cropping images Choose an image The image can be moved by Action Keyboard Mouse Image Correction palette Move an Hold the Control key Click and drag the Click inside the X value box image left and press the key mouse or Press lt Control gt lt X gt Decrease the value or press the Y key Move an Hold the Control key Click and drag the Click inside the X value box image right and press the key mouse or Press lt Control gt lt X gt Increase the value or press the M key Move an Hold the Control key Click and drag the Click inside the Y value box image up and press the A key mouse or Press lt Control gt lt Y gt Decrease the value or press the Y key Move an Hold the Control key Click and drag the Click inside the X value box image down and press the Y key mouse or Press lt Control gt lt Y gt Increase the value or press the M key Zooming images Choose an image The image can be zoomed by Action Keyboard Mouse Image Correction palette Make the Hold the Control key Hold Control key Click inside the S value box image larger and press the Page and turn the scroll or Press lt Control gt lt S gt Down key wheel or hold the Decrease the value or press Shift key down and the Y key move the mouse up Make the Hold the Control
33. discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of doing either NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 65 The editing process is much the same either way but there are a couple of subtle differences Image editing To edit an image you must be in Images mode and you must have one image selected If you have none or multiple selected the menu option will be unavailable Choose Images Edit image The application you specified in File Options will load with the high res version of the image loaded e If you imported the original high res images into the NeoPack Professional job file the file will appear as a tif file no matter what the original file format was The TIF format of course 1s an uncompressed format so you can make as many edits as you want and save as many times as you wish without degrading the image If you were to do this with a jpg image file 1t would degrade slightly each time you saved it e If you imported preview versions referencing the high res originals but not actually including them in the job file the original file will load whatever format that happened to be Thus if it s a jpg file bear in mind that each save will degrade the image slightly If you re likely to be saving the image more than a couple of times we recommend saving it as a TIF or 24 bit BMP file while editing If you do this don t forget to save it back to its original file type when you re finished as
34. features all the subjects in a particular job file NeoPack Professional gives you control over the following parameters of the export e Ifthe subjects in your job file are arranged into folders you can use these folder names to create directories for the export so that exported images are divided neatly into a directory structure Alternatively you can use the existing folder names in the filenames which are created during the export process e Subjects in a NeoPack Professional job file have fields associated with them names ID numbers etc and you can use any existing field in the filenames which are created during the export process e You can apply an LUT to the whole batch of images you are exporting e You can apply sharpening to the whole batch of images you are exporting NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 70 e You can resample each image in the whole batch to different size e and of course you can export in any of the most commonly used file formats JPG BMP PNG TIF TGA PCX or PCT To export images make sure you re in Image mode then choose Images Export The Export images dialog box appears all you can do here is specify a path and start the process Not much will happen however unless you first click the Setup button and specify how you want the filenames created during the export Images Export Setup J l x Filename format pre field post ext Jia Use
35. field to search on by clicking the Get subject via field drop down A list of the available fields is displayed Choose the field to search on You should use the same field that is coded on the shoot card or bag usually the ID number Get subject via field FirstName LastName Birthdate Position i ID Enter the search data Get subject via held search With the cursor in the Search box read the ID barcode The ID number is entered and the subject selected NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 125 Enter the layout After the subject has been selected the cursor will automatically advance to the layout entry box Read the barcode with the layout information the layout is selected Enter the design After the layout has been selected the cursor will automatically advance to the item entry box Read the barcode with the design information the item is selected and the cursor returns to the search box ready for the next pack Create the queue from an external text file If the order information is entered in a third party application it can be imported using a text file that contains the order information A text file that can be imported should contain e A field to search for the subject e The layout required e The item required e The quantity required In the example below the following data has been included LastName Firs
36. fields are set out as First Last Group Unique ID Image number Image filename You will notice that the names Amy Batchelor and Amy Coad both appear 3 times in the text file indicating that these subjects were each photographed 3 times In this case the unique identifier is the ID field 4 By specifying this field NeoPack Professional will import the multiple entries and place them only once into the Details Without this identifier names that appear multiple times in the imported file would appear incorrectly multiple times in the group details By specifying a unique field NeoPack Professional can identify which name entries are for the same subject Specity the unique field In the Setup dialog locate the Imported existing subject details panel This panel controls how data will be imported or merged NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 46 Unique field Specify which af any of the fields is unique from those available in the drop down This will vary according to the fields available in the file Unique field when importir Y have details 1 Last Birthdate Leave ext pe Position C Replace a ID f Only repade existing heids Matching the images If the data file being imported contains ID data you can match the names to images when importing the images You need to identify certain matching parameters for the match to occur correctly To enable matching on import ch
37. for use within NeoPack Professional Design the orientation versions Choose one of the orientations and place all the required objects in the template After all the objects have been placed switch to the other orientation by clicking the Switch Orientation button The completed template is replaced by a blank page Add all the components required by this new template Once you have completed both templates switch between the two by clicking the Switch Orientation button Save the file Once the design is completed assign a name for the template by choosing File Properties Save the file to your Templates directory then quit the program and restart 1t The new template will now be available to NeoPack Professional NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 110 Using the Pack Item Open a job file that contains or import some images that are both in portrait and landscape orientation Choose a portrait image then a print layout then the new template Note that the portrait image will be placed into the portrait orientation Pack Item Now choose the landscape image and do the same The landscape Pack Item 1s used Using text objects Text can be added to your templates as a fixed text message or as a variable code Variable codes use information entered for each imported image as the source for the text placed into the job Text can be formatted and stylised with font alignment and color style NeoPack Profess
38. from the queue by selecting them then pressing the Delete key or choosing Edit Delete A range of packs can be selected by either e Holding the Shift key down and clicking the first and last pack in the desired range or e Holding the Ctrl key down and clicking individual packs Print Queue Statistics Various statistics are available for a printer queue To view these statistics choose Queue isti isti Pack Total Unprinted Held Statistics The Statistics for that particular ETE oa momo a 8 205mm Half Pack 3 3 0 ONGUE AIG disp layed 205mm Extras 3 3 0 NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 128 Form Item Sheets mode NeoPack Professional s newest feature provides the ability to output sheets in other words pages with more than one subject These could serve as proof sheets say to send back to the school so they can verify that all the names and images match thus saving you from printing reprints at your own expense or other purposes such as ID cards or anything which serves the school club or group rather than the individual subject as purchaser Figure 37 Sample Sheet You ll notice that the above image shows four different subjects printed twice each Number of subjects is just one of the options you can control in Sheets mode To create sheets you need at least one fixed size Pack Item see Chapter 11 Design mode for more information about fixed size Pa
39. gern mea ala SchoolPic2 MT io dec ala SchoolLogo Ma Malal are SchoolWa Laureston College Year 2000 Graphic Details The graphic images are allocated by double clicking the Value entry The Graphic Value dialog opens To allocate an image choose Select file a File Open dialog opens Navigate to Program Files Timestone Software Sample Images and choose the file SchoolPic1 jpg The image loads to the dialog Choose OK to complete the allocation process Any reference in a template to the field SchoolPic1 will use the image SchoolB1cl Jg Takeri le CP ger File eto Sat eS ards ha Dick on iha drag on peck Coki hed mana panne rk alk OLE Text Details To enter a text detail click in the field Value then type the text for that field STUUR oe et Tn J School ame Laureston Col Year 2000 Match mode Match mode is used to match the images to names The exact process you will use usually varies on your lab s current procedures There are two ways of matching images to names e Import pre matched data e Match the images using your shoot list data If you have a third party matching application you can import the pre matched data and match it to the data on import NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 6 Matching names Usually you will use the matching mode to match the names and images by searching for the last name or reading a barcoded card with an embedded ID number The ex
40. key Hold Control key Click inside the S value box image smaller and press the Page and turn the scroll or Press lt Control gt lt S gt Up key wheel or Increase the value or press Hold Shift key NS down and move the mouse down NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 68 Moving images outside the image area It 1s possible to move the images outside the image area This might cause white borders in the finished packages If you move an image too far indicators will appear to let you know that the image has been moved too far The effect of this 1s that you will have unwanted white space around the image when you form packs for printing Out of image area indicators Zooming and jogging in practice Adjusting the size and position of images for the various print sizes to be printed 1s a most important task If many images are to be adjusted 1t is important to perform the task as quickly and accurately as possible In practice some operators will prefer to use the keyboard to make these adjustments others will prefer to use the mouse and keyboard Using the mouse and keyboard e Select the image to be corrected e Hold the Control key down and use the scroll wheel to zoom the image e Release the Control key click and drag the mouse to adjust the image position e Click the next image and repeat the operation e When you need to see the next screen of images turn the scroll wheel Z
41. matching information in the Main program for each image It is also possible to import the text data from an external source as long as the data has been pre matched to each image For the following example make sure that you can see the 4 main NeoPack Professional panes as shown below Pack add view pane Images pane Details pane Queue pane Creating and using codes An code is simply a text object that starts with the character You can define any O code you like As long as a matching Field in the Main application has some information entered that text will be placed into the final print In the following example we will create a simple page that places an image along with their first and last name and a personal message onto a page Define the Details fields As previously discussed in Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional you can define various fields to use as an code You should define the fields you will commonly use as a program default so all the files you create contain these fields NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 113 If you haven t yet defined any default fields you can add them to the current file by choosing Edit Fields The Data Fields dialog is displayed Add the fields you wish to use as described in Chapter 6 For this example create the fields e First eo Last eo Message Choose OK The fields you have defined will appear in the Fields column of the
42. ne bo pasos sha LA Magra Benim gag a ie OU E _ le oo eee ce Figure 39 Sheet page dialog The items listed at left are the items you have previously defined or were installed with NeoPack Professional When you select one a preview appears beneath the list At this point you can specify e portrait or landscape printing e arrange subjects across or down the page e multiple instances of a subject on the same page e multiple instances of a subject on separate pages e exclude particular subjects e g folder or shoot card matches e automatically calculate page size or set an explicit size e margins and gaps NeoPack Professional Chapter 13 Form Item Sheets mode Page 130 Click the Finish button and a preview of your sheet is rendered on the screen Of course the sheet may be several pages long and you may wish to scroll through the various pages You can do this by clicking the navigation buttons under the preview You can make changes to the settings by choosing Edit Subjects to include or Edit Templates and you can also modify the sort order by choosing Edit Settings or by using the equivalent toolbar buttons Menu option Subjects to include Templates Settings Saving sheets There s no need to save sheets they re saved automatically when you exit NeoPack Professional and will be there again when you next open the job file
43. obviously a female or have too many bags to match to too few images This usually happens if images are missing or the shoot order is somehow incorrect If you notice that you are incorrectly matching return to the last known correctly matched image usually a slate Lock a match If you can locate a match that you know is correct you can lock the match When you lock an image any matches before the match will stay unaltered oe if you Move or Slide You can lock an image by choosing the image to lock then choose Edit Lock unlock match or type Ctrl L or click the Lock unlock button in the toolbar The image will be locked to the current match NeoPack Professional Chapter 10 Match mode Page 76 The Lock bar indicating the match is locked Adjusting a match You might find that your raw match has a number of errors In the following example the film scanner has scanned a number of extra images and a slate that isn t included in the match Each of these problem images has been matched to a subject meaning that the match will be wrong from this point on NeoPack Professional lets you adjust the match using a Move and Slide of the names and images If you move an image you move the current image up or down while the names stay put If you slide the names you slide all the names up and down while the images stay put Pak Note The names and images are both really just sequential lists irrespective o
44. procedures If you re planning to have multiple users using NeoPack Professional in a networked environment you 11 need to look at Chapter 4 License Server for info on how the license system works and where to put that hardlock dongle we sent you Getting more help More help is available for NeoPack Professional from the following places Related documents such as our Color Management Guide and the Bitmap Compare Utility Guide Help pages from our WWW site http www timestone com au Technical support as noted at the end of this chapter Pre installation requirements You will need to following resources and information before you start installing NeoPack Professional NeoPack Professional software installation CD Rom NeoPack Professional software User Manual you re reading it Hardware protection device a hardlock or dongle Unlock code supplied by Timestone Software Your computer complies with the hardware and software specifications as outlined in Chapter 3 Installing NeoPack Professional Learning NeoPack Professional Included on the NeoPack Professional CD Rom are contained the following resources NeoPack Professional Chapter 2 Before you Begin Page 11 e Installation files e NeoPack Professional User Manual the document you are currently reading Getting help from Technical Support We offer many different methods of support However we strongly encourage you to use e m
45. this is the only version of the file that NeoPack Professional will recognise Back in NeoPack Professional you ll see the following message Editing image when finished click on Continue Clicking the Continue button is NeoPack Professional s signal to create and display a new preview image based on the original you ve just modified You should notice a change in the preview image as soon as you click that Continue button Changing the number of images displayed You can control the number of images displayed on screen using the image pane controls These are located at the bottom of the image preview pane Image set controls Choose the number of images you wish to display using the controls e Choosing Single Image changes the image display to a single image e Choosing Multiple Images changes the image display to the image table O El WA Qe Lock display Multiple images Number of images NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 66 ana Clicking the Number of images button the third one of the four pops up a sizeable grid Moving the mouse increases or decreases the number of images displayed in the image table The grid will reflect whatever is currently displayed and you can increase or decrease this by holding down the left mouse button and moving the mouse Wha
46. to each name in the Subjects tab in Details mode A copied name will have a in the sidebar indicates this Gubyects name is a copy N Fm Lea Bits Postion D Cata a of the original Aden Michal 153 rra Gale rnareia arroz 176 X AA Brin 191 NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 49 Editing copied names If you edit a copied name in either of the folders home or attached the changes will be reflected for both the original folder and the copy To edit the entry choose the name and field to be changed then type the new information The changes will flow through any other instances of the name in other folders Deleting names If you choose to delete a name click the name in the list then press Delete on the keyboard Confirmation will be requested When deleting a name from a folder you delete it for that folder only If you want to permanently delete a name choose All in the folder list then locate the name in the name list Press Delete confirmation of the operation is requested When a name is deleted from All it will be completely removed from any other folders Exporting Details Details can be exported to a text file for use in other applications To export the details open the job file you wish to export then choose Subjects Export to text file The Text file to export details dialog opens Text file to export details a xj File name export 01 Save as
47. to re start the PC as required License Server configuration Open the Windows Control Panel Locate the License Server icon and double click it The License Server control panel opens Enter the computer name for the hardlock server and press Test The License Server will then check to confirm the presence of the hardlock on the PC If the hardlock is correctly detected the control panel will report OK If an error is displayed confirm the following e Check you have entered the computer s name correctly e The hardlock is connected to the PC s Parallel port e The parallel port is functioning correctly e Both the License Server and Support Files components have been installed If an error is still given contact Timestone Software or your distributor for support License Server Setup m Serer Computer Name ajax a E l Ero OF OR Cancel NeoPack Professional Chapter 4 License Server Page 17 Enabling your licenses When you purchase a Neo application you will receive a number of user licenses Timestone Software will supply a number of enable codes that will add licenses to the license server These files are supplied either as an e mail to your system administrator or on a CD Rom The enable codes are shipped to you separate from the hardlock for security reasons Adding the licenses to the license server Ensure that the hardlock and server software has been ins
48. to set consult your printer s documentation NeoPack Professional Chapter 14 Printing Page 133 Print To Timestone Print Job file Name Sienna Lucht Mileca HSP Froperties C Bitmap file Setup Print to a bitmap file NeoPack Professional can output bitmap files directly by choosing Bitmap file as the Print to option Once selected the Setup button becomes active Click it to set the various options ZA Note When printing to bitmap files any hard cut marks set in a template will be honored and a number of files will be created for the split pack Set the output resolution and format Choose the output resolution by clicking the DPI drop down You can choose from a variety of output file types by clicking the Format drop down and selecting the desired format Set color correction Choose an output LUT from those available by clicking the Apply LUT drop down and choosing from the list For more information on creating LUTs see Chapter 15 Calibration amp Color Management Set the sharpness You can apply a sharpness correction by checking the Sharpen checkbox Choose the Kernel size and strength ZA Generally you should leave the Kernel at 3 You will have to test the sharpness strength for your system Print Bitmap Setup DPI 00 Y Format JPEG Apply LUT none Dl Sharpen Kernel Strength 160 Cancel Set the filename option There are a number of file naming options when
49. type Text Files txt Cancel Setup Press Setup to edit text export parameters ts Figure 7 Text file to export dialog Of course you ll want to specify exactly what you re exporting and you can do so by clicking the Setup button In the resulting dialog box you can specify exactly which fields you wish to export as well as how you want the export file delimited and whether you want duplicate names exported By default the export file will be comma delimited and will not contain duplicate names but you can change these settings here NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 50 Setup subject details text file exp xj Type C Fixed 2 Delimited C byTAB by Field map Field Field 1 FirstName 2 LastMame 3 2 Her Remove For subjects matched to more than one image Export a line for the main image only 7 Exporta line for each image main will be last OF Cancel Figure 8 Text file export setup When you ve specified the fields to be exported by clicking the New button then selecting field names from the drop down list as shown click the OK button This will return you to the Text file to export details dialog box where you can enter a filename and a location for the export file if you haven t already done so Allocating details to Folders As previously discussed it is possible to enter special details to the whole file or to individual folders in a
50. warrants that the media on which the Software is recorded and the User Guide provided with it are free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use for a period of 90 days from the date of your original purchase Except for the limited warranty described above the Software is sold as is and you are assuming the entire risk as to its quality and performance It is your responsibility to verify the results obtained from the use of the Software Limitation of Remedies If during the 90 day limited warranty period you discover physical defects in the User Guide or in the Media on which the Software was recorded Timestone Software will replace them as no charge to you This is your sole remedy IN NO EVENT WILL TIMESTONE SOFTWARE BE LIABLE TO ANY PERSON FOR ANY DIRECT INDIRECT SPECIAL INCIDENTAL CONSEQUENTIAL OR SIMILAR DAMAGES EVEN IF TIMESTONE SOFTWARE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES Table of Contents 1 QuickStart NeoPack Professional stato colita tortitas 1 Sample les E E A vacate A A N E A E EAN ETEN E E N l Getting to know NeoPack Professional ici arcilla l PC enan E AA A NA A EEE E A E TT 5 A R T EEE AE EEE DUE E AEE BOE EE EEEE E A E E E E AAE EE 6 ROEE TACKS S AEEA EE E E E EAE TEATE EE TTEA 8 Olen ICSC CUS MMM o II o 9 Desi Moderar S Dilo 9 Ts Br AAA ts E E 11 EO SAID DELIE T MAA N EEE E oo gn o PR OE TE E E 11 Pre installation TEQUES MENS ia 11 E arta ee AAA er ee yer er er ee ere 1
51. 230 of bitap 115057 dl pring T keepgagnsiar gumta O00 EB Showed sae of birra ved io peer sini box 512 AB NeoPack Professional Chapter 7 Job files Page 38 NeoPack Professional jobs consist of a series of portrait images laid out with the subject s name under each portrait In order for the names to be placed with the image the name and group data needs to be entered This is done in Details mode along with forming the structure of all the groups and allocating other important details such as the school name year and the likes It is important to get the structure of the subject groups correct in Details mode as many of the various pieces of information are determined by the position of a group in the structure For example your templates might place the school type Junior School Senior School into the centre board Classes that belong to the senior school need to be nested under the Senior School folder and junior school classes under the Junior School folder NeoPack Professional Chapter 7 Job files Page 39 Details mode Entering Details mode After starting the program create or open a NeoPack Professional file by choosing File New or File Open Now choose Mode Details or press F4 on the keyboard The Details screen 1s divided into 3 major sections e Folders e Name details e code data Folders EN Fee CT E E E 2 Chat Loar Tipe ol Folders gt Aros hd
52. A Note that the control panels associated with scrolling mice often allow the scroll wheel to move a certain number of lines per click You should set it to suit your needs If the scroll wheel is set to 1 line the image table is moved 1 row per click If it is set to 3 lines the image table is moved by 3 rows per click Using the keyboard e Select the first image by pressing the Home key e Choose the image to be adjusted with the Arrow keys e Hold the Control key down and use the Arrow keys to move the image e Hold the Control key down and use the Page Up or Page Down keys to zoom the image e Use the Arrow keys to choose the next image to be edited e Use the Page Up or Page Down keys to see the next or previous page of images NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 69 Adjusting the image color density and contrast Image color density and contrast can be changed using the image density controls The HS l 100 Crop Scale corrections can be applied across a group of e in images or individually It all depends whether E H you have one image selected or multiple o Crop Scale m Eaj Color The Image correction palette can be operated e a oS Color correctio with the mouse by clicking in the desired field o aarti ion then using the spin controls next to each field mel 0 to increment the values If you want to reset Sl 0 values to zero th
53. Default Aspect Ratios Aspect ratios can be stored as a program default or added to an image collection New files will automatically contain the default aspect ratios which can then be added to Any aspect ratios that you add to an individual file via Edit Aspect ratios are available only to that file Program default Aspect Ratios From the File menu choose Options The Options dialog is displayed Choose the Default tab Baraa Deak Lira Patha These e be dayal abres that are aiciagried Lo red cala der You may adi ihan o pos ben fhor ars sar Aa Agnect wace Eri lai from he Diets Fendt Edi lapor hora Vike MC ec Choose Aspect ratios Edit The Aspect ratio editor is displayed Any Aspect ratios defined here are available each time a new NeoPack Professional file is created Defining Aspect Ratios Choose Edit Aspect Ratios the Aspect Ratio definition dialog is displayed NeoPack Professional Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional Page 28 Aspect Ratios Description Width Height Color On i Preview guide on off Aspect preview colour Aspect ratio height Remove Aspect ratio width Aspect ratio name Figure 2 The Aspect Ratio dialog Create a new Aspect Ratio e Choose New from the Aspect Ratio dialog A new Aspect Ratio is added to the list e Click inside the Description field and type the description of the Aspect you are defining Frer err e Cl
54. Files Timestone Software License Server e Back up the file TsLServer lct NeoPack Professional Chapter 4 License Server Page 19 Understanding NeoPack Professional NeoPack Professional is a comprehensive production environment for creating package prints or service items like magazine covers sports trader cards etc It has several different modes of operation that focus on the various production tasks required to create the pages These modes are e Details import edit and allocate various attributes to the job names e Images mode import crop and color correct images e Match match images to names e Form Pages create the finished packs e Design create the templates for use with the finished pages The use of the various modes lets you spread the production tasks amongst your staff Staff used to using spreadsheets and handling data prepare the name data in Details mode Your skilled graphic designers create the templates in Adobe Photoshop then compile the elements into a NeoPack Professional template Your lab production staff handle the images and finally compile and print the jobs Because NeoPack Professional divides the production tasks into distinct categories the workflow is clearly divided into 3 main tasks e Creating the templates e Creating the job files importing or entering the name data and allocating referenced objects such as the logo e Importing and preparing images creating th
55. Item Template switch to Template Design mode by choosing Mode Design The Template Designer is shown Choose File New then choose Pack Item from the selection A blank Pack Item template 1s created Set the Pack ltem size As a Pack Item is placed into a layout to create the final print size it doesn t have a fixed size or aspect ratio Even so it is useful to allocate a page size for a Pack Item to make it easier to create the design in the first place Set the page size by clicking on the background page Note that the page handles become active and the Size entry area becomes active Now enter the page size you wish to use then Apply The page size changes Note that unlike a Layout Template you need not specify the page units The Units drop down 1s fixed to abstract as the measurement units E NeoPack File Edit Orientation Mode Help oe 6655 80 4 Offset Size a 12 00 10 4 00 Apply Figure 19 Selected background page with handles Preparing and using graphic images There are several steps involved when creating and placing graphic objects e Designing the graphic object in an image editor e Placing the graphic into a NeoPack Professional template e Define any transparent areas in the graphic There are a number of important things you need to keep in mind when designing graphic images for use in a template Bitmap or Vector There are two quite distinct types of graphic images that can be u
56. Note that many of the options are initially dimmed and unavailable New Template Design 4 E xj Pack Layout defines the position of On anous elements ina pack including holes C re ate a new Te m plate for pack items and images text barcodes Pack Items Switch to Design mode by choosing Mode Pack items are optional and appear in pack item holes A on a pack layout They also define varous elemets Design or pressing F8 on your keyboard Choose File New The New Template Design Pr Sizeable item that has an abstract size fl and ls scaled to fit within the pack item dialog opens hole on the layout For now click Pack Layout to create a new o finches or mm and will be printed at that pack layout alze in the pack item hole on the layout The Template Designer The designer is divided into several main areas e The main toolbar e The dimensions and units toolbar e The design canvas area Depending whether you are creating a layout or a design some of the buttons in the toolbar may not be available for use The main toolbar The Dimensions and units toolbar The Design canvas area NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 82 The designer toolbars There are a number of toolbars that allow you to set various options when designing templates The File toolbar The file toolbar gives you quick access to the y normal File menu options E Lar Fi Create a new template file S SET
57. R C 1 Grid display Grid snapping Placing objects is made much easier with grid snapping Once enabled objects will snap to the template grid Setting Design options The grid display can be configured by choosing File Designer options while in Design mode The gridline spacing and sub divisions can be set for both a Layout and Item template Choosing Automatic spacing will set an automatic setting If you want specific settings un check Automatic spacing and enter the values you want NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 86 Designer Options Grid Layouts Automatic spacing D Gridline every i Inches Subdivisions E Designa ltems tt Automatic spacing D Units Gridline every il Subdivisions cares mw The Template Orientation toolbar When designing graphic backgrounds for use within NeoPack Professional you can create both Portrait and Landscape versions of the same template This is to ensure that the templates you design are suitable for both portrait and landscape images imported When designing the different orientations you must of course have background graphics that been designed for the portrait and landscape images In the below example a landscape image has been placed into a design created for a portrait image Note how the image 1s impossible to crop correctly for this design Using the Template Orientation toolbar you can create
58. a Laurezton College ear 2000 y Text entered for fields Images Any images that are used in a composite page are imported from the hard disk The images can come from a film scanner digital camera or any other quality source If special numbers such as the shoot number are embedded in the file name NeoPack Professional can retain this information for use when matching the images to names When an image is imported a sub sampled version is created and stored in the job file This means images are displayed and handled very quickly Once imported images can be corrected for color density and contrast as well as being zoomed and cropped Images can be viewed individually or as a group on screen NeoPack Professional Chapter 5 Understanding NeoPack Professional Page 21 Matching Composite pages rely on images being matched to an subject s record in a database allowing placing the name and other information with the portrait Matching is the process of joining all the images from the school which are hopefully in shoot order to the names entered in the database Your lab will most likely have a process that gathers this information and NeoPack Professional has many tools that let you continue to use or enhance the process Fundamentally on photography day you will have some method of creating a shoot list This list is the order in which each student was photographed and how many times Back in th
59. a 95 Detimias Hole PURCIES seinenicatiiccipsiotic cir ion noes 97 Pack Pe iiss rapa FACS A a dae my eeduatind va een aaa E 98 Crea ino Pack Te tans Ceti LAS AAA PP a Vance baiaa a aan 99 Prepatino ANG AIS INS eraphie MISE Seisei a eee aes aes as acetates olas 99 Placime objects 1m the Pack Item template aia 102 Pacina ang usine crap CC S arain Sapsauaientiadds thvasnesaa neds tunsiandaatedive aciatundbaldis ueantesaterdtemiads 105 AU TNA KS cut dd tool 108 Portrait and landscape templates e caoud sessed E hac teessansdeea bea cieeaanatesetetaiaes 109 UST te OB Suda a T tan E T AT dah E TE A EA T A A 111 Fixed andy aoe o Oo eee a EN O A 111 Creatine Vara ble texte 113 Creatine andes SO COG ta tdi tada 113 EIDE ROET erate te eee re ee E E ee ee ea eee ee 115 12 FORME PACKS Modena EA EE Esti 118 A On AC A E 118 CTC Aine ACK S O Ve dido 118 Packs Sbor ut keys ande DACK SEIS autita als als 119 A O TEA ee ND ere ARCS Non OR NDI pe PAT Ni Oe nd eo NO EEE eR ERE I eee nT EIA a 121 CLA PAS NE A A A A EEE 122 QUEUE control and Status IO il 127 SOLO CNC pan quiso dd loa 127 Removing Packs Moma QUEUE do aa 128 PUA GMCS Catt MOS A A A A 128 15 Form Item Sheets mode iii A A A A eure ties 129 A O A ceaeat ents 131 O A O A O O 131 PP EN 131 A O 132 Sel e 61 m6 0190511 0 5001011 0105 sesruro 132 Choosethe Pratmethdd sessirnar nilo iisi 133 Printing O a standard WINAMP as 136 Automatic paper SIZE Selec CLON a a 137 Al enment and COMAS ce
60. a ogi setting IMport OPTIONS occccccccccnononicnnnnnnnnos 57 sharpening while importing 59 64 A a sarin E 34 38 SOM Od TE Sana os 54 SOU al 36 Page 141 Sra O ica dano 31 Ta E ends E E ET E 38 transpare cesson e 54 whitespace around iii 69 ZOOMMMG oei anes eniieiwuieadid atts 68 69 mages MOUS sicidinnsa adidas 2 21 56 aport Ops alocada 35 61 Importing a queue occccccccnnononccnnnnnnns See Packs Importing data See Data importing Importing images See Images importing dex tl oia 61 Indexed vs Sequential images occcccccccnonncc 37 TASCA AION dicos 14 Integration with other Neo applications 24 A teen aed femcertit Bee hcaseateh 34 ClOS IMG aldea 65 COMPACHN ass 65 CEC ALM Me Weoo 34 O A lant ateracs 65 SZC EA E semuaicnte 65 Keyboard shortcuts See Shortcut keys Labeled holders o ooo 53 115 116 Landscape v portrait templates 87 WAV AAA cates amici 106 EA See Pack Layouts License Server Dickinson 19 COMES ici 18 configuring and testing ooooccccnncccnnonnnnnns 17 instali E a nadernet 16 Last Enor Ii Orense 19 ST PE PAE E E AEE AE E 18 UNA SES CAI a nd 16 Where to mmstall cdas 16 Licenses AS A aE 18 A NE 18 A gain e 16 multiple US aiaa i 16 sino NOUS E ca E EET 16 LOLOS taras See Labeled holders LookUp Tables ceniris See LUTs CUT a O 63 Masks filename when importing Imag
61. ad the pio sd eh Pod rage den reus eed thee cach parta dea rar o de O pora Pata rage alte anger foe y CG eee yar Merce T yaka M Hios Apply LUT s g fra 3 Sergi o tm Disadvantages Job file must always exist in the same location relative to the path of the original hi res images Path of original hi res images must be listed in File Options Paths Images in order for NeoPack Professional to find them when it needs them to output packs or export Large job file and the original hi res images now become duplicates that take up disk space If the images you are importing need to be rotated or flipped choose the rotation here If you import images by preview only choosing an option here will cause slightly longer print times as the original hi res images will be rotated or flipped at print time the originals are in fact never modified any corrections happen only to the output itself If you desire the shortest possible print times you should ensure images are in the correct orientation before importing After import Rotate f 9 C g0 180 270 Mirror Set the image LUT Vertical Horizontal Images can be corrected using the built in LUT editor Choose the LUT you want to use from those defined in the drop down list For information on making a LUT see Chapter 15 Calibration amp Color Management NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode
62. ail as your primary support mechanism Telephone support Telephone support is available by calling Timestone Software during our business hours These hours are 9 00 AM 5 00 PM Australian Eastern time The telephone numbers is Voice 61 3 9570 9899 Fax support You can fax us with questions or queries Please address your fax queries to Technical Support The fax number is Fax 61 3 9570 9855 E mail and WWW support There are support pages that include links to the newest versions of the software as well as user documentation and Frequently Asked Questions Our WWW and e mail contacts are WWW http www timestone com au E mail supportOtimestone com au Hardware requirements The following hardware requirements are required as a minimum configuration to run NeoPack Professional You should always attempt to exceed these requirements If you have a choice in areas in which you can afford to exceed these requirements do so in the following order e Memory e CPU class Pentium II Pentium III e CPU Speed e Hard disk speed Ultra Ultra Wide RAID e Other Minimum requirements e Intel Pentium II processor at 350 Mhz NeoPack Professional Chapter 2 Before you Begin Page 12 e 100 Mhz system motherboard Bx class e 128MbRAM e 4Mb Video card 1024 x 768 24 bit see note e 9Gb Hard Disk see note e 10 100 Ethernet card e 33 6k Modem e High quality Sony Apple 17 color mon
63. aire Fi anki Enzinger ES Wear 12 Aaron Nelson Matk Alice Voyages i cl Year Y Adam Jackson Amelia Ellicitt vse Year Adam Scarlett Angus Hewitt n Year 3 Adam Phillips Anthony Hahn Junior School Adele Beasley Bradley Knight Adele Mears Damien Oliver Aimee Thomas Daniel Lade David Phillipson Ainsleigh Skeels Alana Enzinger Figure 6 Folders after importing data then after editing the folder structure Home folders and copied names Sometimes you will want to copy an subject from one folder to another to create custom groups For example you might want to add a class teacher from the staff folder to their class Do this by locating the name of the subject you wish to copy then hold down the Ctrl key Now with the key still pressed drag and drop the subject s name to the new folder Note that while you do this the mouse pointer will show a indicating a copy operation Once copied the person is a member of both groups and so can appear in both Setting a home folder When a name is imported or first entered to Details the folder in which it exists is automatically set as the Home folder If a name is copied to a different folder it exists in both folders You can change an subject s home folder by choosing it in the new home folder then choosing Subjects Set home folder Identifying a copied entry You can tell if a name in a group is the original or a copy by inspecting the side bar next
64. ally useful 1f you are printing to a CRT based printer These printers tend to bleed if solid black is used making the barcodes very difficult to read Set the color by clicking the Bar color drop down Choose the color you want or click More colors The standard Windows color picker is displayed Set the color as desired You may need to test the printed barcode to determine the optimum setting for example you may need to set the luminosity to a higher value than zero to avoid bleeding with CRT based printers After setting all the required parameters choose OK The barcode object is placed into the Layout g In the template example at right note the use of e normal text codes as well as the barcode object that uses an EID code First Last a e Provident School Using and defining Hole Punches Valid 12100 NeoPack Professional offers extensive support for hole punches your printer might support There are two broad types of printers that are supported e Roll to roll printers with either mid image or end start of image punches e Cut sheet printers without any punching system NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 95 For printers that support hole punches you can define a number of cut mark positions within a pack With our Windows NT Printer Drivers the cut mark information is sent to the printer with the page being printed If your printer doesn t support mid image punching but has start or
65. ample file has been pre matched with the exception of a few images Find image 30 by scrolling through the images Click the image and note the Match bar appears to its left To the left of the images 1s the Match sidebar At the top of the sidebar is the Lookup via Fields Click the for subjects drop down and select Last from the list This means that you will be searching for the last name from the list of names You could use the ID field to search for and use a barcode reader to automate the matching process Lookup via Fields for subjects w name First Last Birthdate Position ID f k With Last selected as the search criteria find the Match image with entry box and click in subject Now type t and a list of last names beginning with t are displayed You can continue to type the last name you re looking for to refine the list or use the arrow keys to select the required name Select the name Thomas Nicholas and press the Enter key The current image is matched to Nicholas Thomas name and the Match bar advances to the next image NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 7 Lookup via Fields for subjects Last for folders Match image with Match image with Stays r subject I Thomas Elouise Thomas Bethan Thomas Nicholas folder subject holder Other matching procedures There are many other matchin
66. an quickly locate the subject by typing the IBA name or other identifying text into the Search via field entry box Choose the field to search on by clicking the Get subject via field drop down A TBE list of the available fields is displayed Choose Birthdate the field to search on Typically you should use i a a unique field like an ID number Enter the query Once the field has been selected click inside the Search entry box As you type a list of matching fields is displayed As you type more details a more accurate selection is given Either select the correct entry from the list when it appears or complete typing the field Queue default Subjects Get subject Get subject Queue Ej Set via held search f 1392 a via field Subjects Abblett Jon 1D 11707 search ere Weis Roary IO 11316 Add p Asle Sam 0 11318 layout design design As more of the field is the more accurate typed the list displayed rig bhem iin Of ee Once the field has been selected press Enter the perce a e subject is selected in the list The chosen subject is then see selected and the portrait displayed E Choose the layout gt Ensure that the option Add pack is checked After the ie ura subject has been selected the cursor is automatically placed into the layout entry box Type the shortcut key of the layout required then press Enter
67. ard NeoPack Professional can import these images directly Choose Images Import from hot source The Import from hot source dialog opens Make sure Clipboard is checked and Pause importing is unchecked Any images that appear in the Windows clipboard will be inserted to the currently open file The images are inserted according to the options set in the Options panel as previously discussed NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 63 Importing from Kinetic bitmap devices Some other imaging applications use this method as an image interchange If your device is compatible images will be inserted automatically according to the settings made in the Options panel If you re not sure if your device is compatible check with Timestone Software Images From Hot Source Images From Hot Source Sune 3 Last Image Clipboard Kinetic bitmap devices Images Images will not import unless Setup the source provides an image number i i Hide Pause importing Hide Pause importing Hide Last Image I Clipboard Rmomcioctacmecneccaneones T Kinetic bitmap devices Setup Note The current file has indexed i Figure 10 The Images from hot source panel Figure 11 Import panel with indexed images Editing images while importing As mentioned earlier it is possible to have certain operations performed on images while they are being imported You can t zoom or crop while impo
68. ast eligible file has been processed or the import process is paused or stopped Pausing the import If you wish to pause the images as they are imported check Pause import The image import is paused until the checkbox is unchecked What If they re not the right images If you notice immediately that you ve started to import the wrong images you can always Stop the import and then manually delete the images by selecting them with the mouse use the Shift key to select a range or the Alt key to select additional images one at a time and then choosing Edit Delete Using referenced import job files Once images have been referenced imported to the job file the original hi res images are not required until the jobs are printed or exported to the hard disk It is now possible to edit images with an image editor directly from NeoPack Professional when using referenced images but if you can live without this facility the inherently smaller TNJ file NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 62 can be sent anywhere without the source images for image color correction cropping and pack creation Only when the time comes to edit the original hi res images which of course may never be necessary or print or export the job is it critical that the TNJ file is returned to its original location Missing image files If the original image files are not available when attempting to edit print or export the images an error
69. at allows you to specify information that belongs to a number of groups as well as information for an individual group In the below example Year 10A is a member of the Year 10 folder which is a member of the Senior School folder Clicking on the Senior School folder reveals that the field SchoolType is available In the case of the Senior School folder click in SchoolType and enter the name that will appear in the template When the job is run NeoPack Professional will place Senior School into the template for all the Senior School groups To enter the information click the folder and then the Value for the field you need Type the data a Junior School lSchowlee Seno Sokoa sal Multi line Value entries Field values can contain a carriage return allowing a single value to be spread over several lines This is done by entering a special code in the Value field To enter a carriage return type the first line then either e Press lt Control gt lt Enter gt e Press the Numeric Keypad lt Enter gt key Inserted Carriage return The symbol is placed into the text School ame PrincioalPic NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 52 Labeled Holders NeoPack Professional templates can include referenced images that are placed into the final design These referenced images are created in Design mode for either the entire file or individual folders This is es
70. ates that you design contain an image hole where the imported NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 109 images will appear and this hole must also be in a portrait or landscape orientation When the imported image orientation matches the hole orientation you will see a pleasant result However 1f you try to place a landscape image into a template designed for a portrait one you will see the image cropped badly The solution to this is to design both portrait and landscape versions of the Pack Item within a single template When you choose an image the correct version of the template is automatically selected ensuring the best possible result for your job AA ATA e a y r i Er 7 E gt All f i 3 ME T 1 Nil ill vell uig Ih Preparing the graphic images In your image or vector editor create the necessary images for both the portrait and landscape versions of the Pack Item templates Save the various components to the hard disk Creating a Landscape and Portrait version Open NeoPack Professional and switch to the Template Designer Create a new file and choose to create a new Pack Item Click the Create og Portrait Landscape button in the toolbar Note that the Switch Orientation buttons become available Click each of the Switch Orientation buttons and o0 Of note that the page orientation changes Each of these different orientations can contain a complete set of images text and codes
71. ber licenses e The number of licensed users If you have more licenses to add do so until you are finished Configuring workstations to run Once the license server is installed and licenses added each of the workstations of the LAN need to be configured When the Neo application was installed the License Server NeoPack Professional Chapter 4 License Server Page 18 setup control panel was also installed On each workstation that will use a Neo application license open the Windows Control Panel and start the License Server setup control panel Enter the computer name of the PC that 1s hosting the hardlock and press Test If the computer is found over the network and its License Server is running correctly OK will be displayed in the Last Error area If an error is displayed ensure that e The license server PC is switched on and the License Server is configured and running e Itis connected to the network e The workstation you are configuring can browse the network and see the License server PC Close the control panel The Neo application will now be able to launch as long as a valid license is found on the License Server Backing up your license server configuration If you want to back up your license server configuration there is a single file to archive This file 1s found in the License Server sub directory of the main installation directory Usually this will mean a directory path of C Program
72. bject 1s now available for use in a NeoPack Professional template Value SchoolPict ASchoolPict pg SchoolPice MachoalPice jpg SchoolLogo AschoolLogo png SchoolN ame Laureston College Year 000 NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 55 Images mode Image Corrections palette Once imported images can be zoomed cropped and adjusted for color density or image contrast These operations are carried out in Image mode After starting NeoPack Professional create or open a job file by choosing File New or File Open Now choose Mode Image If you ve created a new job file you ll need to import images that you want to use with NeoPack Professional The Import process creates a smaller versions of the high res images used when creating the job packs The Import process offers several options to give you the maximum control over the way you d like to work These options are detailed in the next few pages As a rule you should import images before importing the data that accompanies them Either way Image mode allows you to crop color correct or sharpen imported images The Image screen is divided into 2 major areas e Corrections palette e Image preview area FS enl nmpos e E Prison Ples lonestone Estres Piles Connie ere in Fm Edt lnages Mode Help P Copbcale m El 100 4 wef o re 0 p Coe m Hse 0 eaf 0 mef 05 9 32 Pa Image preview
73. both portrait and landscape versions of the same design within a single template file NeoPack Professional will automatically select the correct orientation for a portrait or landscape image when selected More detailed information about using the template orientations is given later in this chapter Sy En En DU Switch to the Portrait version Switch to the Landscape version Create a Portrait and Landscape version template NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 87 The Object Dimensions toolbar Objects placed into a template can be positioned and sized exactly using the Objects Dimensions toolbar To set the size and position of an object select 1t then enter the desired values to the toolbar Once done click the Apply button to set the values The Offset values set the position of an object s top left corner Offset 7 U A 0 Size Bi 4 0 E Apply Set the template Set the object Offset Set the object size measurement units Creating Templates When creating your templates you must first make sure that you have all the elements that are required by the design The template designer has no built in graphic creation tools Instead it places images you have created in other design tools such as CorelDraw or Adobe Photoshop Create a Pack Layout template A Pack Layout template is a single print size or a group of print sizes that will form a package To create a new Pack Layout Template s
74. ced in front of or behind one another Placing and using Image Hole objects The images that you import appear in holes that you place into a NeoPack Professional template You can place as many holes into a template as you need Holes can be different sizes and orientations NeoPack Professional automatically scales and rotates the image as each individual hole requires To create a single image hole click the Place Image Hole button The cursor changes to the Place Object cursor Position the mouse over the area on the page where you want the hole to appear Click and drag a box over the page It is not important to be accurate at this point The Image hole properties dialog is displayed Set an Item design hole As previously mentioned there are several different options available when placing an image hole The control allows you to create complex packs allowing you to create jobs that previously would require several separate units to be ordered to complete When an image hole is placed onto a page layout by default it will be overlayed with an Item design if one is selected You can explicitly set this by ensuring the option Item design or normal image if no design selected is set CI xi Fill holder with f tem design or normal image if no design selected Image without item design Tas black amp white as sepie colorzed Cancel Set an image hole An image hole is an area in a layout where an
75. ck Items We ve supplied the one you see above which is called id From the Mode menu choose Form Item Sheets Then from the Edit menu choose New You are now presented with a dialog box called Subjects to include which should offer you the existing folders from Details mode Check the checkbox of the desired folder notice that the description field acquires the name of the folder If you want to give the sheet a more descriptive name now is the time to do it NeoPack Professional Chapter 13 Form Item Sheets mode Page 129 AAA Fakir Checked Fok SeisctectFokdes Lobe em Jaa E Alen Piah Ea 11464 E Bemat Ceri Er LI E leed Brad 00 11577 E Colin Pish Ds 11045 ja Barry Soba ED 15 a sh 2 ma oo Figure 38 Subjects to include dialog When you click a folder in the Folders pane the Checked folders pane will default to a listing of all subjects in that folder with each subject checked for inclusion on the sheet you re about to produce You can uncheck any that you don t want included you have an opportunity to do this later so it doesn t matter if you don t do anything with the names at this point Click the Next button to move to the Subjects to Include dialog age Flore Hebar a gt C foa 5 apuria pr Dre Tape prer Pa fT Leita owen Ps page Page dre hipiai Fir E si lt lt E hjsi calle Piece deae 7 Epic
76. cular print job there may be a number of different page sizes required by the printer queue Pack A might require a page size of 8 x 20 5 whilst Pack B might need 8 x 11 5 Printing these packages on a single page size is wasteful of paper NeoPack Professional can automatically choose from the available paper sizes from most Windows printer drivers or automatically generate the exact paper size when using a Timestone Software Windows printer driver Timestone Software printer drivers automatically control the photographic printer to create the exact paper size required Use default size When selected the paper size chosen in the Printer Properties dialog will be used Pick the best from defined sizes Choose File Print setup The Print setup dialog is shown Enable best paper size selection by choosing Pick best paper size from the Printer options section With this option enabled NeoPack Professional will check all the available paper sizes and chooses the closest match for the page currently being printed This check is performed for each job meaning that a queue can contain different size prints the best paper size will be selected for each page being printed Use custom paper sizes only Most print sizes NeoPack Professional is required to create are not standard A4 Letter sizes Printer drivers that support the specifying of custom paper sizes allow you to design sizes that are exactly correct for NeoPack Professional pri
77. d A usual E E E E 56 aporna E a ts 57 Hopon Ce Imas CS A E A a O II A 57 COMMUTING hen toni eiii ici EE 57 Choose the Tiesto INN ON a a 59 Spec the Made NONE Ud ear 61 Usine reterencedampod obte Sua 62 Utierimport sucia caca 63 Editino mazes while IAPOTIA SA A iia 64 ACA MATES id io aii 64 Dels e tats Daneman Susann ratte Sencar 65 Closin amp and COMPANIES A A A A A A it 65 Correcti e editins and displa MS MS a 65 Haase ed UDE ORO POr nO OS 66 Cha erne the mumber ol images displayed in 66 ELENA ES a de led ed tel a da do ol de do dd 67 Zooms and JO SSI 1M PTA rre ini dr anida 69 Adjustine the image Color density and CONTA asii ii iia 70 EXPO IMA SA os 70 ines AAA o an ostaseveuieseeees 72 Uone MACI MOd A T2 Matec hine OVeIVIoW ir a a a ees a cco oct no unde eae EE seaceeawss 73 Matchine tro Sado Cards OF order aC Ss es a a ae E aa 74 Match ie UNAS CS la dd dada 75 COPING WIM SOS ud did 76 A O A A 77 AS Mode einn a ccuseuanau san ceosee pucawenseusewotccesenssseeaesceconsssbendevenececusenuenueeaens 81 Understandine layouts andes at ada os 81 Usime the template des Est tds 82 Croa A roo O A eee wadaas 82 The Template Des one E aeaa AE E N E A E E AT R 82 a A a a E a Oe meaner na 83 REAL Templates sea E A A E Did 88 Ercatesa Pack Layout template nanen uenee lateness aa a alee SAR Daas a oly 88 Savine NE Template ii ole 93 singe eraphics and text with layout templates ia n dt ld 94 Usime and detras Hole Punches di E a E
78. d board to folder 8B TLAN A IO IEC EIA CI Cc NeoPack Professional Chapter 10 Match mode Page 78 Move the match effect on locked matches If you have locked a match and need to slide or move the match the result may be a blank image is inserted to the match table perhaps an image is missing In the figure below note that the first board has been locked and a new board must be matched and locked First board matched and locked Second board to be matched Move the match Click the board to be matched It is currently matched to a name Choose Edit Move up from selected or type Ctrl Shift lt Right Arrow gt or click the Move up button The current name is moved up leaving a blank name You can now match the Board to the 8C folder Move the match up Match the board to 8C Shift the match unlocked table We have realise that one of the matches here 1s incorrect Image 48 has been matched to the subject Helen Karakinos But let s say Helen Karakinos is actually image 50 To repair the match click on image 48 and choose Edit Move up from selected or press Ctrl lt Right Arrow gt or press the Move up button in the toolbar twice Note that the names move up leaving several images un named NeoPack Professional Chapter 10 Match mode Page 79 With the incorrectly matched images now revealed you can now match the missing subject and board Shift the match l
79. d image is aligned and if cut marks are on or off Set the printer properties After selecting the printer to use you can configure the various printer properties by choosing Properties from the Print setup dialog The options displayed here are dependent on your printer s driver software and you should consult the driver software documentation for further information when setting these options Windows printer Mame ES iennaLucht Mileca HSP i Properties Set the output options There are a number of options to choose from when printing to a Windows NT printer e Print to file creates a Windows PRN file for later use e Individual file for each page for use only when using Zenographics SuperPrint bitmap driver e Separate pages don t batch when printing a multi page document printing won t start until the whole job has been prepared By choosing Separate pages each page is sent individually to the printer This means each page will begin printing as soon as it is ready When printing this way it is possible for jobs to be mixed together if a number of people are printing to the printer at one time NeoPack Professional Chapter 14 Printing Page 136 Printer options T Print to file T Separate pages don t batch T Individual file for each page Automatic paper size selection NeoPack Professional can automatically choose the most appropriate page size for an image being printed Within a parti
80. d size of bitmap used for printing Ck iginal sl f adustto 600 desired setting in the Stored size of bitmap used ee ola for previewing g Stored size of bitmap used for prevewing adjust to Plz KB NeoPack Professional Chapter 7 Job files Page 34 Image importing types There are two ways images can be imported into a job file e Importing the complete image data e Importing the image preview only Importing the complete image data When importing the image data completely not only is the on screen preview image stored in the job file but the high resolution image is also copied and stored as well The benefit of this is that the original image files are no longer required as the job file has all the required information to create and print jobs However importing images in this way results in very large job files as well as taking longer to import the images Import the preview only When importing the preview only the original image data is sampled and a preview image stored in the job file This allows you to create all the jobs but you cannot print them without the original high resolution images Importing images this way results in a much smaller job file as well as shorter import times than importing the whole image data Original image file location If you import the preview only you need to make sure the original image files are available to NeoPack Professional when you output jobs or ima
81. do ai oia 138 Pinea e S eao si deccuadssatowbenensa awa la wie dineduee sabato A Seeaeehas bor sowke denen ET 138 15 Calibracion amp Color Manacor id iii 139 Copyright O 2000 2001 Timestone Corporation QuickStart NeoPack Professional This guide is a quick start for those wanting to become quickly acquainted with NeoPack Professional This guide assumes that the application has been successfully installed and that you are familiar with Microsoft Windows applications Sample files The NeoPack Professional installer places several sample files and images into the Program Files Timestone Software directory These directories are Program Files Timestone Software Example Files contains a sample NeoPack Professional job file Program Files Timestone Software Sample Images contains sample images required by the sample job file and the tutorial Program Files Timestone Software Templates Professional contains sample templates A Note The file does not include the original high resolution images and so you will not be able to print any pages from the example file The example file is intended only to give a quick overview of NeoPack Professional s features Getting to know NeoPack Professional Open the sample file Start NeoPack Professional by choosing Start gt Program Files gt Timestone Software gt NeoPack Professional NeoPack Professional launches Choose File Open then navigate to the Program Files
82. e lab the shoot list is matched to the digital images in the matching process NeoPack Professional s matching process 1s highly visual and so 1s easily understood by your operators If you import images first followed by the names that go with them it s possible to match automatically so that all you need to do in Match mode is check that everything 1s OK Templates NeoPack Professional uses templates extensively to form packs Your graphic design staff create the templates that contain references to graphic and text objects such as a logo and other images During the production process these elements are added to the database for the job When a template that calls for the elements 1s used NeoPack Professional automatically fetches the graphic or text and places 1t automatically into the design This means that creating Ricca TEE the pages is a simple r a a e a Eeoa i Pdra Perga i fo ee Sel ee iria rra Pr L matter of choosing the groups to use the sort order and template to use NeoPack Professional templates are a powerful combination of graphic text and various replaceable objects The templates are created with the integrated template editor by placing and NeoPack Professional Chapter 5 Understanding NeoPack Professional Page 22 positioning the various elements The template editor itself has no creation tools meaning that it must be used in conjunction with an image edi
83. e a 70 COLON A A 103 NeoPack Professional Index contrast adjusting asiG 3 caries toniaanrevatiaceiaks 70 correcting while importing 57 64 CHOP iia 68 CdS iane 27 editing while importing cooooooccnnnnnncnnnnno 64 editing with an external application 65 EX POM o 70 PVC S1Z Cees atadas 38 PET ALMOS Old s 38 NOE eea at cctalsieieedioteunt 82 89 91 maso Mole 82 91 POr ODUONS aa 61 IMPOR Orde ii iS 6l IMPOLIAS bic 21 34 57 61 Importing a range Of ceeeeeeeeeeeeeees 59 60 importing from hot Source eee 63 importing from Kinetic bitmap devices 64 importing from the Windows clipboard 63 importing in reverse OrdeT oooonnncnnccnnnnmm 62 importing labeled objects 53 importing using a MaSk oooonnnnnnnccccnn 59 TCV NC ches A ECO 37 inserting ON IMPONE oooccccnnnccnnnnnnncnnnnnnnnos 62 64 A A 69 labeled holders cositas 53 loca OnO rra tas 31 35 A A erste aiadie ctesieuieadee Mewes 53 METONO aN 107 SS A ii iba 36 63 N MS ti 37 38 pausing during IMPOTT oooooncnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnns 62 pre defined locations Of ccccccccnoommmm 35 PSI ade 34 NS PA ace eset es ee cee ee 62 replacing ON IMPOTE cccccocoocccnnnnnnnnnnnnninnnnnss 62 TOOL AIECIO Nena di 32 36 rotating while importing cccccn 58 64 A 67 Selecting to IMPOTt oooooccccnnccccnnnnnoncnnnnnnnnos 61 SOD a a 103 sequen ld aiii d
84. e a checkmark next to its name in the View menu Resizing a pane using the mouse can also open or close a pane Each pane has a minimum size if you use the mouse to resize a pane past its minimum size it will close It is possible to open a closed pane by grabbing the closed pane edge and dragging to open it shortcut keys There are many shortcut keys that allow quick selection of program options These shortcuts are either indicated within a menu selection or within the palette being used For example if you wish to adjust the image contrast press and hold the Control key then the C key The value in the Contrast adjustment is highlighted ready for use Hx o a Palette shortcut indicated Menu shortcut indicated within within the palette the menu selection Image Queue Ip w mages Shift w Dueve Shikt4 F6 w Pack add view Shift Ctri F6 NeoPack Professional Chapter 5 Understanding NeoPack Professional Page 26 Configuring NeoPack Professional Setting the Program defaults There are a number of program defaults that need to be set to ensure NeoPack Professional is most useful to you Things such as the location of various files default fields need to be set for your lab Open the Options dialog by choosing File Options Dptions Sti lt k General Default LUTs Paths Units Wien size Imperial inch Size when viewing pages is Metric mm width a79 height 279 Image editing ap
85. e composite pages and printing Details NeoPack Professional uses an integrated Details editor to import group name and other job specific information Groups are divided into a series of folders that contain the name and other information required for each subject in a group Fields are easily defined and customised to match your production needs and fall into several categories e File fields information for the entire job such as school name logo etc e Folder fields information for a specific group like the class mascot etc NeoPack Professional Chapter 5 Understanding NeoPack Professional Page 20 e Subject fields information for an subject like name ID etc Fields can contain either text or graphic information letting you attach things like a logo image to a field For example you might define a File field Schoo1Name and another SchoolLogo Your production staff enter the school name then attach the graphic file for the logo When the pages are formed if a template references the SchoolLogo or SchoolName fields the text and graphic logo are automatically placed into the finished page This makes the production workflow very quick as your lab staff don t have to attach specific graphic objects for each page or job they create Value ASchoolPic jpg SchoolPic SchoolPic MT stare m eee aa Graphic images attached to fields SchoolLogo Pd gate Salann gre School
86. e font Choose the text you wish to format then choose the font from the drop down dialog Set the style Choose the text you wish to format then choose the font style from the available styles Set the alignment Choose the text you wish to format then choose the alignment Controlling the text size By default text will scale to fill the box you draw on the template This ensures that any text that appears in a text box will never be clipped because it is too big As you enter more text the font size will reduce automatically Pree ale Ser o Mr Pattee Sle Sere ines Here is some text Te ces ER Add another line and the text automatically Relative font size You can control the relative size of the text using the Relative scaling control If you want some text to be bigger than the rest wafla select it then click the Up or Down buttons in the Relative size entry box NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 112 PT CON Here is a line of text second line that is bigger And a herd that ton aliar Ce em Creating variable text NeoPack Professional templates feature special codes that allow you to customise every job printed For example you might be printing a series of photographs that has a person s name and a personal message The process of automatically replacing the text is controlled by placing the special code into your template design then entering the
87. e imported regardless of whether a file is indexed or sequentially numbered the original filename is imported along with the image data This information can be viewed once images have been imported by choosing Image Show tags With this option enabled the original filename is displayed next to the image number S The Image Tag image_9 The Image Number aj Image numbering Once you know what numbering system you use and before any images are imported to the new NeoPack Professional file choose File Properties The file properties dialog is displayed Choose 1f the images to be imported are sequential or indexed It is possible to change the file properties from sequential to indexed and vice versa However if an indexed file is changed to a sequential one the unique index numbers are lost and so cannot be switched back successfully Specify the image file size When importing the complete image data to a job file it is possible to adjust the size of the image as it is imported This is useful if the image files are larger than they need to be This option only has an effect if you import the complete image data if you import the preview image only the option is ignored Once the new file has been created but before importing any images choose File Properties Then choose the Bitmap sizes tab from the properties dialog Enter the desired file size in the Adjust to entry box Geri Bitmap sizes Sheed
88. e imported data in various ways In order to update existing information you need to specify a unique field that NeoPack Professional will use to identify the record to update You would want to use an absolutely unique field such as an ID number to match on Choose the unique field by choosing from the Unique field drop down Now choose how the data 1s to be updated from the list available When NeoPack Professional finds a record that it can update it can Option Description Leave existing details The record will not be updated with the new data in any way Always replace existing A matching record will be replaced completely with the new details data If the new data contains a blank field for a record the old record s field will be replaced with the new blank field Replace existing details A matching record will be updated with the new data only if it is only if blank empty Update existing details A matching record will be updated with the new data If the new data contains a blank field the old record s field will retain its current information Imported existing subject details Find the same subject if it already exists using this held Unique field none don t search When importing details for subjects that already have details set C Leave existing details C Replace all existing details f Only replace existing fields if blank Update existing field
89. e layout you must save it in order to use it with NeoPack Professional There are several attributes that you can set for each template to help identify it when using the program Setting the Template Properties You can specify both the name and a special quick key for each template that you design The name you specify is the name that is displayed within the application for that template A quick key is a special key that when pressed will automatically apply the template For example if you specify the Quick Key A for the layout created previously when A is pressed in the Form Packs mode that layout will be applied to the currently selected image To set these attributes choose File Properties The Template Properties are shown Enter the name that you wish to display within the main application for this template and the Quick Key you want to use NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 93 Add Pack layou 10 Simple pack C 210 Design Properties Description i 0 Simple Pack Eep fa optional Cancel Simple pack If you don t set the template file properties the name displayed in the main program is the file name you use to save the template Save the Template Once the Properties have been set you can save the template to the hard disk The template must be saved into the directory defined earlier as the Template file path See Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack P
90. e the standard Windows Tian ie modifier keys to select the various file ranges These modifiers are filename e lt Shift gt click first then last OO BEDEN _ Cancel file in a range selects a block of files e lt CTRL gt click each file you wish to import selects the files to import individually Choose the range of files to and choose OK specify the image import order Open the Import Options panel by choosing Images Import options panel Note the status of the Incoming images section of the Import Options If the file currently open is indexed the options will be unavailable If the file currently open is sequential the options will be available Images Import Options Panel Ea Images Import Options Panel Ea M Pause importing I Follow imported images M Pause importing I Follow imported images GoM mages fon hes With sequentall numbered images Incoming images for files with sequentially numbered images D Reverse oder oend inset Henlece Reverse order Toend Inset Replace Unavailable Image options for an Image options available for a indexed file sequential file Images imported to a sequential file are numbered internally with a sequential number The images are imported in order according to the parameters set in the Import options panel dialog NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 61 Once images are imported to a sequential file they will have numbers al
91. e to make the various objects appear behind or in front of each other To change the layer order of an object select 1t then choose the desired layer order button You can also do this without using the toolbar see Changing the Layer Order later in this chapter NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 83 a Bring selected object up 1 layer Y Send selected object to the back Send selected object down 1 layer Bring selected object to the front The Scaling options toolbar When placing image objects into a template you can control how the graphic is scaled within the object box This is useful if you need to ensure that an image is completely displayed and is not distorted There are three scaling options available e Clip the image to fill the box maintain aspect ratio e Fit the whole image in the box maintain aspect ratio e Fill the image in the box distort the aspect ratio The options are set using the Scaling options toolbar Clip image to fill box a a S Distort image to fill box Fit image to box Changing the scaling option After placing a graphic object select it then click the appropriate scaling button in the Scaling options toolbar Choosing Scales the image Clip the image to fill the box maintain aspect ratio Li Fit the whole image in the box maintain aspect ratio Y a Fill the image in the box distort the aspect ratio Applying
92. eck Match with images as well and make the relevant settings Set the match parameters If the names in the text file being imported are listed in shoot order choose Match according to the order in the file When this option is enabled a 1 to 1 relationship is assumed to exist between the images and names in the list If each record contains an ID and image number choose Match according to the image id field There are 2 options image id is the image e Number when images are imported they are allocated an image number This number is either a sequential or indexed number Choose this option if the images are numbered in this fashion e Tag each image imported has an image tag the original file name If the match is referenced to the original file name use this tag Match with images as well Match according to the order in the file Match according to the image id field image id is the image number tag Importing the details Once all the settings have been made choose OK to dismiss the dialog Choose the file to import in the Text file to import details dialog then choose Open The details are imported Check this by expanding the folder tree in the leftmost pane A list of class groups should now be available under Folders click one to view the names in the group NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 47 Checking the match The procedure of matching images to names 1
93. ect button ae The mouse pointer turns to the Place Object pointer Click and drag the mouse in the template It 1s not important to be accurate at this point A File Open dialog is displayed Choose the file you wish to place and choose Open The file is read and the object appears in the template Now the Set Bitmap Mask dialog appears Click the color you ee pr wish to appear as transparent In this Pesach a rie a Boch cheney ena Dr Elsa pra case we will click the centre white area aca pe rie Semir lt EMMET of the Life Saver If you don t want to set a transparent area for the graphic O m press Cancel The graphic will still be o finm e tre oa ros E a placed but no transparent areas will be Eiza set If you make a mistake press Reset to reset the selected color Set Bf Haak Dick gn ihe era lo pack caiga Pos iae nal Clock on thee bir da pink codos lor irapa o rea Once the transparent area has been set you will see the transparent area indicated by the grid pattern NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 105 Figure 24 A placed graphic object Positioning and sizing an object Click the object Hold the CTRL key down if necessary if several objects have already been placed Either click and drag one of the handles or drag the object to scale and position of the object with the mouse If you need more accurate placement click the object then enter an absol
94. end of print punches or is a cut sheet printer you can use cut marks to split the packs being printed In this case you can define a position to split the long pack When the pack is printed it will be sent to the printer split into a number of separate images The result is either a punch at the beginning or end of each unit or each unit will be printed individually Punch and printer types There are several types of digital printer available today e Cut sheet feed e Long roll short length feed e Long roll long length feed A cut sheet feed printer typically has a maximum paper advance A good example is the Sienna FotoPrint range that typically has a maximum output size of 8x12 or 12x18 depending on the model A long roll short length feed printer is a roll to roll printer with easel mask Again these machines have a maximum possible paper advance A good example is the Kodak MultiPrinter that has a maximum print size of 12x18 A long roll long length feed printer is a roll to roll printer that has no maximum paper advance aside from the paper roll length This style of printer can create very long prints in theory as long as the installed paper roll A good example of this printer is the Gretag Mileca Cut sheet or punching printers Cut sheet printers typically don t have a hole punching system built in Instead they cut each individual print and process it immediately Punching printers are roll to roll style that
95. er entry process If a shortcut key 1s not defined you cannot automate the process Also most important is that a shortcut key for each set is unique If two templates Layout or Item have the same shortcut key neither will be selected if the shortcut key is pressed Shortcut keys can contain more that one character if required NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 120 Packs in set o E a ZA Tip Add the shortcut key to the description of each layout for easier manual key entry Long Pack 1 5 Long Pack 1 Add Remove Fla Choosing a pack set By default no pack set is selected and all the available Layout templates are displayed Add using pack set E one eee ek Add Pack layouts 10 Pack A designs Blue Metal A 10 Pack B Ni Bricks B By default None is selected 6x8 5 Bugs Z as the pack set and all 8 Long Pack 1 Collage C available layouts are displayed 8 Short Pack 2 Footsteps D 8x10 3 Hearts E 8x12 4 Leaves F Once pack sets have been defined they can be selected from Add using pack set None the Form Packs interface To select a different pack set click ee the Sets button and select the set to use When a pack set is selected the layouts available change to those defined in the set Add Pack layouts designs xX Pack A 1 Blue Metal A Pack B 2 Bricks B Pack C 3 Bugs Z Pack D 4
96. er widths or customer types One client may use Sports type images another may be corporate Each of these customer types will probably use completely different pack styles NeoPack Professional allows templates to be gathered together into pack sets allowing you to simplify the pack order entry Choose the Pack set and only those layouts relevant to this job are displayed Shortcut keys Shortcut keys are a key you define that when pressed will choose a Pack Layout or Design Shortcut keys are very important as they are used to automate the pack order process whatever entry method you use Pack shortcut keys can be defined in two places e Asa Template property e Asa Pack set property only for Pack layouts Setting a template property shortcut key A template property shortcut key is set within the template itself To define the shortcut key switch to Design mode and open the template Choose File Properties The Design Properties dialog opens Type a name for this design then the shortcut key to use SX Itis most important that the shortcut key you define is EMMA unique If there are two templates with the same Description HAA shortcut key defined no pack will be selected when Key 2 optional the shortcut key is pressed Cancel Shortcut keys can also be defined as a pack set property If you define a shortcut key as both a template and pack set property the pack set shortcut over rides the template defined shortcut
97. ere are two reset buttons one e Spin controls H6 0 E for the crop scale settings and another for the color settings as shown at right If you find it cumbersome using the mouse in this situation there are a number of shortcut keys available Action Keyboard shortcut Increase brightness Type lt Control gt lt l gt and press the As key The l value increases Decrease brightness Type lt Control gt lt l gt and press the Y key The I value decreases Increase contrast Type lt Control gt lt C gt and press the key The C value increases Decrease density Type lt Control gt lt C gt and press the Y key The C value decreases More red Type lt Control gt lt R gt and press the A key The R value increases More cyan Type lt Control gt lt R gt and press the Y key The R value decreases More green Type lt Control gt lt G gt and press the 4 key The G value increases More magenta Type lt Control gt lt G gt and press the Y key The G value decreases More blue Type lt Control gt lt B gt and press the A key The B value increases More yellow Type lt Control gt lt B gt and press the Y key The B value decreases Exporting images You can export images from NeoPack Professional and thus make them available to other applications or for other purposes for example you might need to supply the images to the printer who has been commissioned to publish a yearbook which
98. es 60 rans parche AA E 54 NeoPack Professional Index Match mode c ocooccnccnccnccnccnccnccnccncnnccncnnos 6 22 72 Matching adjusting a match oooonccnnncccnnnnnccnnnnnnnnnnnnno 1 data to images ON IMPOTt cccoooocccnnnnnnnnnnnnn 47 difference between move and slide 74 effect of moving on locked 79 COT sra ieee 76 A a 75 from shoot cards or order bags 74 IMACS ANG Dame Sasser TZ MOC Kata AMC n 76 mantal yansrneeran n a 73 miscellaneous items ccccooooooncccnnnnnnnnnnnnns 76 moving amp sliding data against images 74 A oar e O OT 73 raw data without images ooooccccnncccncnnnonnnos 48 the first Image csrecssenterbr 75 POOLS laa uea moet ah cereeGacenaaaeinetes 74 via camera Cs aa 73 Via shoot AA N 73 Meas tement UNIS cias 24 Mersing IMa ges exe Mean ce Nem auanivsekasenebes 107 Minimum trequirementS oooocccnnncncnnnnnionnnnnnnns 13 Minimum screen resolution oooooooccccno 25 Miscellaneous fields oocccocoommmms o 48 Missie image MeS ui 63 Mode Meat tas 2 Modest See Mode menu Moye and Slide ni isic See Matching Moving images in Match mode o ccccc 78 Multiple lines in fields ooooooccnnnnc 52 Mu liple shee in A 131 Name data deleting after IMportiMg oooocccncnnnccnnnnnn 50 EXPOLEMG aiiin neniaeandann et tanks 50 Held IMAP PUIG soens aE 44 Hed or de
99. etermines where the image you want to frame will appear inside the item To use an item you first select the pack layout then the item you wish to apply The image is placed into the item and into all the print sizes defined by the layout Pack items can be sizeable or fixed size and must be specified as one or the other when created Sizeable pack items will be scaled to fit within the hole on the layout Fixed size items exist to cater for things like barcodes which cannot be sizeable as a barcode relies on a certain number of lines per inch to be read correctly EE j Prints within a pack layout can be set to either include or ignore a Pack Item if it is selected This allows some complex i items to be created with very little effort Production workflow Usually the production workflow will happen in this order e Template preparation before the season selling period prepare the templates that you will use for the coming year s production e Pre production before photography import and prepare the data as much as possible This may include the production of shoot cards that help establish the shoot order on photography e Photography capturing the images and shoot order e Image scanning importing bring the images into the NeoPack Professional job file then correcting and cropping the images e Matching Match the images and names e Final data entry enter any final deta
100. f whether they are displayed in three rows of four or six rows of five etc It might help if you bear this in mind when moving images or names How the names and images move depends on what has been locked previously aS A RA Loge at j pl GY Fath manne Jaccabe Tana pies Mae Moving and sliding an unlocked table Moving or sliding the match has very different effects on the match table Think of the move as an overall bump that will bump things up or down Sliding will only slide the names up or down Clicking the Move Down button moves or bumps the match down exposing a blank NeoPack Professional Chapter 10 Match mode Page 77 O Moving the match down reveals a blank Clicking the Slide Down button moves the matched names down Sliding the match down slides the names table down Move the match When a match is moved all matches are shifted up or down The order of the match is not changed at all 1t is simply shifted up or down If a match has been locked this might mean an image becomes un matched or a blank image may be inserted to maintain the relative match In this example we need to move the names below the problem images down to meet the correct image Choose Edit Move up from selected or type Ctrl lt Right Arrow gt or click Move Up in the toolbar 3 times Note that the names are moved up from the selected point Match the expose
101. file This data is used when the template is filled in when finishing jobs The details are entered by choosing the file or folder then typing the data into the field Adding File details File details are a global property Things such as the school s name the year of photography or perhaps the school s logo are File details To allocate File details choose All in the folder tree listing Note that the fields available in the Field Value section change to match those defined for this file Choose the field you wish to name and enter the data Value echoolPic jpg SchoolPicl SchoolPice achoalPice pg SchoolLogo A5choolLogo pra School ame Laureston College Year 2000 NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 51 Adding Folder details Folder details can apply at several levels For example you might have a folder Senior School that contains all the senior groups You might want to use Senior School as a part of the final group image the board might read Providence High School Senior School Year 104 Rather than create a template that contains Senior School written as plain text you can include a special code that instructs NeoPack Professional to look for the text it should insert So your template could be used for the Junior School as well as the Senior School without changing it NeoPack Professional uses a searching mechanism th
102. g procedures and functions However the scope of this introduction is to give you a general overview of NeoPack Professional If you need more detailed information on matching please see Chapter 10 Matching images and names Form Packs mode Creating and printing the final NeoPack Professional jobs is done in Form Packs mode Here you can choose the names to print apply templates and actually print the jobs T bg PE INi tir nr ot Search tools a Layouts and ers Designs currently ona available List of names from Er A Details mode Completed pack Preview of the preview subject s image NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 8 Packs are created by choosing a subject s entry in the list then the pack layout and optionally design from those available The subject s image is placed into the pack along with any other graphic objects and text defined by the templates being used Various tools are provided to make pack generation progressively more automated Form Item Sheets mode Form Item Sheets mode can be used to create proof sheets or to satisfy any requirement for multiple subjects on a single page In this manual we ll use the example of ID cards Sheets use pre existing template pack items provided they re fixed size You have a tremendous amount of control over what is included on any given sheet such as e portrait or landscape printing e arrange subjects acr
103. ges The options are e Pre defined locations set as a program default e Remember the original image file location You should choose the method that suits your lab best Configuring pre defined locations for the image files The pre defined locations are set by choosing File Options and choose the Paths tab rsa Dais LUT Paka Imaga Files ajo Diarra Esta Ue E lo mbras Mao job Ira ble rare Mesa There are three types of pre defined locations available e Image Root directory e Same directory as job file e Sub directory from job file NeoPack Professional Chapter 7 Job files Page 35 Image Root directory Using an image root directory allows all images belonging to a job be stored under a single directory in its own folder For example you might set up a single image server named ImageServer This server has a drive shared as Data and all images are stored in folders under the images folder UNC naming allows this exact directory be specified from any workstation within the network without using drive letters This avoids configuration errors The UNC name for a shared directory is Server Share Path You may set your images up on this server as follows Images VJob1 Images Job2 Images VJob3 Only the root folder is required In this case The root folder is Images So the UNC name for the path would be ImageServer Data lmages Finally we need to specify the final
104. he list of fields Enter the name of the new field you want to use then choose OK NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 41 Subject Fields Subject fields are that details you want to define for each individual person in the group photographs Details such as the first and last names ID date of birth etc If you have data that includes information that you don t need to use in a group job it is still recommended that you import the data as it may be useful for other Neo jobs In this case you should define the extra fields such as Date of Birth ID Sport etc in addition to the NeoPack Professional essentials of First Name and Last Name When defining subject fields you can identify a field type by clicking the Special drop down and choosing from the types available The current selection includes Explanation The subject s entire name no discrimination of first last etc The first name mem OO To add a default Subject field choose File Options then choose the Default tab Now click the Details Fields gt Edit button The Data Fields dialog is shown Choose the Subject Fields tab and choose Add A new line is added to the list of fields Enter the name of the new field you want to use then choose OK Subject Finch Fieles Fi Fike Fans Creating a folder structure If you are importing name data the folder structure will be created for you from this data It is possible t
105. he set transparency click No mask ZA Make sure you design your logo graphics carefully Any area that is the same as the color you click will appear as transparent in your design Pay careful attention to the edges of the logo as grey edges around the logo can appear as a light halo on the finished page Don t save the logo file in JPG format as you might also see a halo due to the image compression Choose a lossless compression file type like PNG or similar Using a transparency mask More complex 8 bit masks allows more complex effects like soft edged blends etc To set the 8 bit mask click Mask file the Set Mask dialog opens Choose Load then find the transparency mask file and click Open The mask is loaded and displayed If you need to adjust the orientation of the mask choose from the rotate or flip options in the Set Mask dialog NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 54 CI CAPag s Flor inate aa Ckck os the b ra Eo pick pelar Pos esperara reek o LAURISTON a COLLEGE ME Lakin ee cr EE Torpe Hre Tonie kd LB Foia og Eai fey rre E ato po Idol ie borra py E Tec ira ore ig LR Tira ica re poe r LAURISTON oho OTE sl COLLEGE Once you are happy with the settings choose OK The dialog is dismissed and the graphic object now 1s named in the field value in Details mode tree view Allocate graphic objects in the same manner for Folders The graphic o
106. hic text and barcode objects To use a layout select an image then choose the layout You ll see the image appear in the layout with no further requirement to make another choice to print the job Pack Items A Pack Item is a graphic or text object that can be super imposed over an image When designing a pack item you place the various graphic or text objects as well as an image hole The hole determines where the image you want to frame will appear inside the design To use a Pack Item you first select the layout then the item you wish to apply The image is placed into the item and into all the print sizes defined by the layout NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 81 Pack items can be sizeable or fixed size and must be specified as one or the other when created Sizeable pack items will be scaled to fit within the hole on the layout Fixed size items exist to cater for things like barcodes which cannot be sizeable as a barcode relies on a certain number of lines per inch to be read correctly Image holes can be selected to use or not to use Pack Items In addition you can choose images to be black and white or sepia This allows great flexibility when creating your packs creating very complex jobs with a single mouse click Using the template designer The Template Designer is integrated with NeoPack Professional To use it start the program then choose Mode Design
107. ick inside the Width field and enter the width then Height to AA enter the height amount ARAS e Click the color swatch The color palette appears Choose the FFFFFF Pr color you wish the aspect ratio line to appear in the image TT preview e Click the On checkbox to display the aspect ratio in the cropping image preview If this is checked a line indicating this aspect ratio will appear in the image cropping window If this is not checked the aspect ratio will not appear Import existing Aspect Ratios Aspect Ratios can be imported from existing NeoPack Professional files Choose Import from File from the Default options tab An Open File dialog appears Locate the file that contains the Aspect Ratios choose it and click Open The Aspect Ratios are imported as a program default Change the list order The order Aspect Ratios is listed can be changed using the ordering arrows t 2 Displaying an Aspect Ratio Once the default Aspect Ratios have been defined any files created will contain these settings To display the aspect ratio indicators choose Crop Image mode by choosing Images Select crop amp scale image tool or clicking the Crop Image Tool button on the toolbar NeoPack Professional Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional Page 29 Aspect ratio indicator lines Default fields Various information fields are used in NeoPack Professional Certain of these fields are best set as program defa
108. ils such as logo information e Final production form and print the packs Integration with other Neo applications NeoPack Professional is a member of the Neo family of applications This means that it shares data with the other family members For example NeoPack Professional uses the same portrait images corrections cropping and subject details Once an image has been corrected in one of the applications the corrections flow through all the others Using NeoPack Professional s interface Once NeoPack Professional has been installed choose NeoPack Professional from the Start menu gt Program Files gt Timestone Software NeoPack Professional will start If you are asked for an unlock code or told that the software protection device is not present please review Chapter 3 Installing NeoPack Professional NeoPack Professional Chapter 5 Understanding NeoPack Professional Page 24 The NeoPack Professional main window is displayed lt A NeoPack Professional requires a minimum screen resolution of 800x600 E 24 bit color If your monitor is set to 640x480 you will not be able to use the application correctly You can adjust screen resolution via Windows Control Panel s Display option Using toolbars Each of the NeoPack Professional toolbars features tooltips and docking capabilities Toolbar docking You can tear away a toolbar from a docked position to create a floating toolbar This toolbar ca
109. image only will appear You can design a pack layout that has several prints then decide which will contain a design overlay Do this by choosing Image without item design as the selection when placing a hole you don t want the design to appear in NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 102 Ce hl Fill holder with tem design or normal image if no design selected ieee black amp white Tas sepia colorized Cancel Set a colorized image You can choose to make prints B W or tinted by selecting as black amp white or as sepia colorized This particular image in a layout will be as selected If you want a particular tint color choose as sepia colorized then slide the slider to select a color Once you have made your selection choose OK and the hole is placed into the template e OOO File Edit Orientation Mode Help Den a ese a Offset ebl Size E 1200 40 8 00 ena Figure 20 An Image Object positioned in a Layout Position and size the object All objects can be positioned and sized using the mouse or very accurately with the Object Dimensions entries on the toolbar Choose the object by clicking it Note it highlights by showing handles NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 103 ta NeoPack File Edit Orientation Mode Help Figure 21 A selected object Sizing and positioning objects with the mouse
110. ing images ON IMPOTt oooooocnnnnnnncnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnos 59 Page 143 mutilados 131 A E wena 131 ios 131 Shoot List data A raet re 46 Shortcut keys iti Images MODE iaa diia 26 in PACK modes 119 120 ON O S A RN 38 Size OL MIMNAS ES das 38 OL INE JOD TC aane tenstake linet sactat 65 Sizing amp positioning Objects eee 103 A A ee er ee eee ee 48 Snap O edo See Grid settings SOT CUM KS serso 96 SOM CASES ocean See Images soft edges Sorting he pint queUe sensns 127 Stored sizeof DItMapsS cid 34 Subject data COpicd NAMES aaa 49 CX POPS eea yet 50 Teld IMAP PINS inunda 44 fixed or delmiteduia diia 44 identifying copied names ooooooocncnnnncnnnnnnno 49 OPON eSa 43 in more than one folder cccccccc 49 A e E dead 12 A N O E E oacameeu isiawat nection 38 Technical Supporters e 12 T E a a neuanne 22 32 82 A 88 location OF lesion 33 orientation portrait v landscape 87 NeoPack Professional Index PEPSI e a tena 93 recognizing new files cccccconnommmo 33 Understand ini in s 22 Text files IMPO S aa creas 43 Text ODICCES cnica 83 94 111 Timestone CaptureP O aiii 73 INT 32 COMIPAC MING ue 65 NA rrr ree E rrr re 34 TO OLD AUS sich O 29 A tei uetaue bac tuiawe 29 file design MOdE eeraa 83 object CIMENSIONS nera ii 88 LA an haste hous 83 place ODE iio 83 SCALING OPTIONS ccccccononoccccnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnos 84 temp
111. ional allows text information to be associated with images you import and to place this information into templates This allows each template design to be customised to include things like the subject s name personal messages etc Fixed and variable text There are two types of text that can be placed in a template e Fixed The text appears the same in each job e Variable The text changes for each image according to information entered for the image Variable text is defined using an symbol at the beginning of the text placed into the template When NeoPack Professional sees the symbol it looks to see if it has the necessary information for that image and uses it if it does If no information is available for the image the code is ignored Placing text objects Create a new template either a Layout or a Design Choose the Text Object tool iSi from the toolbar Click and drag over the template where you want the text to appear The text entry dialog opens Enter the text you want to appear in the template Times New Roman ey Hello from of us here rea we Figure 31 Text entry dialog box NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 111 Figure 32 Text placed into a template Times New Roman Font selection drop down Y Text scaling option Text size adjustment Text Style Text color Text alignment Figure 33 Text formatting toolbar Set th
112. ite version of the image e As sepia colorized creates a tinted version of the image Hue 7 30 5 s Item designs and image frames are discussed fully later in this manual If you choose Item design as the option here a frame will be placed over the image If you choose Image only the portrait image will be placed into the pack regardless of whether you choose a frame Choose the type of image you want then click OK Hole placed with Image without item design selected Hole placed with Item design selected Hole placed with Image as black amp white selected Hole placed with Image as sepia colorized selected Fae Edi Diiestton Mode Hee Fae Edt Deerestins Mode Halo Cm O ad E E OSA O Gm ADA e Le Pa bhi Se Ara a wet sf nu o MS pl 35 se a al a Figure 15 An Image Object positioned in a Layout Figure 16 A selected object Positioning and sizing the object All objects can be positioned and sized using the mouse or more accurately with the Object Dimensions entries on the toolbar Choose the object by clicking it Note that handles are displayed to confirm that the object is selected NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 90 Sizing and positioning objects with the mouse To re size the object with the mouse click one of the handles and drag it in the desired direction To move the object click and drag inside the selected object The object moves as you drag the mouse Sizing and pos
113. ith a reference to the high resolution image When importing images this way a smaller screen resolution version of the image is created for use on screen and all corrections are saved as instructions to be applied to the original hi res images when the jobs are printed If you accept the default import setting and reference the hi res originals rather than fully importing them NeoPack Professional can record the exact location of the files when they are imported or you can direct it to look for the files in specific locations on your hard disk or over the network Record the original import location If you import images using the Remember the actual path option there is no need to define any default paths See Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional for details Creating an Image directory In larger labs it is useful to set up a base image directory to store the image files There are several ways NeoPack Professional can locate the required image files e Image Root directory e Same directory as job file e Sub directory from job file NeoPack Professional Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional Page 31 Image Root directory Using an image root directory allows all images belonging to a job be stored under a single directory in its own folder For example you might set up a single image server named ImageServer This server has a drive shared as Data and all images are stored in folders under the Images folde
114. itioning objects with the toolbar Exact size and position for an object can be specified using the Object Dimensions toolbar Choose the object you wish to edit then click the value you want to adjust Pressing the Tab key switches to the next entry area Once all the required changes have been made click Apply Note that the measurement units can be changed by clicking the Units drop down Linch offset a MEE Ef 122 sie BY 735 40 5521 Aaa Figure 17 The Object Dimensions toolbar Fle Edi girien Hode He COM l a Mo d a l Cee Jm o E Figure 18 An Image Object after re sizing In the case that you want to create a layout that is a single 5x7 print in portrait orientation set the X and Y Offset to 0 0 and the Size to 5 7 The Image Hole object is placed in the top left corner and set to 5 wide and 7 high Create a package print layout By positioning more than one image hole onto the layout canvas you can create a package print template When this layout is selected in the main program the image 1s placed into each of the image holes automatically scaled and rotated to fit the hole To create the Pack Layout set the page size large enough so that all the required prints can be contained on the canvas as discussed earlier Place the first print size as previously Now place another Image Hole object Select 1t and set the offset value and size so that 1t 1s correctly positioned in the layout Con
115. itor e Windows NT 4 0 Service Pack 3 e Mouse with mouse wheel Microsoft Logitec Optional Extras e 6x 9cm Graphics Tablet with pressure sensitive stylus Wacom e CD R or DVD RAM drive for data backup Notes Video Card It is most important to use a high quality video card In particular you should use video cards that support monitor calibration in some manner Typically manufacturers such as ATI or Video Seven have such products Hard disk If you are using NeoPack Professional on a single workstation you should realise that very guickly you will use 9Gb of data storage just with the images you scan to create your packs If your requirements are low volume you could consider a single 9Gb hard disk and continually move images that are finished onto a CD Rom or DVD RAM disk However if you are producing just an average number of packages you will want to use a number of drives Fortunately hard disk drive costs are relatively low today NeoPack Professional Chapter 2 Before you Begin Page 13 Installing NeoPack Professional Open the CD ROM in Windows Explorer or My Computer and double click the file Install NeoPack Professional The installer screen appears The installation process may require a restart mid way through the process If the installer requests you to restart the PC please do so as the installation 1s not able to complete without the restart Choose Next to proceed Read the contents
116. kground images First choose a color that you will use to indicate transparency perhaps white or R 255 G 255 B 255 When designing the image make sure that only transparent areas use this color For example select the areas that are not to be transparent and use the Photoshop or similar Levels command to limit the maximum pixel value for these areas to say R 250 G 250 B 250 These areas will not be considered as transparent It is also important to carefully prepare the edges of the transparent areas in your design Many image editors use anti aliasing when placing selections Anti aliasing is a process that softens the edge of a selection making it blend well into the image However this anti aliasing means that the edges of your design can appear as a halo when used in NeoPack Professional Likewise a drop shadow effect that falls onto the transparent area will be seen as a halo When finishing off your designs check the edge of the transparent areas and clean up any anti aliased or other stylised areas 8 bit masks NeoPack Professional allows 8 bit transparency masks to be applied to graphic images placed into a template This allows creative effects like soft edged blends and transparent graphic objects all applied from a template You must first have the transparency mask image file available Use an image editor like Adobe Photoshop to create these masks Any graphic object placed into a NeoPack Professional temp
117. late can have an 8 bit transparency mask applied This allows attractive and complex graphic effects with all the convenience of NeoPack Professional templates Holes in Vector graphics A Vector graphic can contain an area that is a hole as a native part of the design NeoPack Professional will reflect the hole in the design allowing you to create transparent areas in a vector graphic as well as a bitmap How a hole is created in a vector depends on the drawing application you are using For example with CorelDraw draw two objects of different color and place them one on top of the other Choose Arrange Combine to combine the two objects One of the objects will form a hole in the other Consult your applications user manual for more detailed information regarding combining objects for this effect NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 101 Placing objects in the Pack ltem Template Pack Item Templates can contain Graphic Image Hole and Text objects within a single design A single template can also contain both portrait and landscape versions of the same design The correct orientation design for a portrait or landscape image 1s automatically selected when the template is chosen in the main application Objects are placed onto the template canvas by choosing the appropriate button from the Place object toolbar then clicking and dragging the mouse Objects are placed into stackable layers allowing them to be pla
118. late desidia dada 83 template Orientation ccccococonocccnnnnnnnnnnnnnno 87 Transparency maskKs oooocccccc 54 84 105 UNC naming of image locatiONS ccccccccnnonnocccnnnnnnos 32 36 Understanding layouts and designs ccccccccnncnoocccnnnnnnncnnnnnos 81 Units of measurement ooooonnncnnnncncnnnnnnnnnnnnnnos 2 Updating data eee See Data updating Using the template designer ooooonnccnnnccnonnncnnnns 82 NA A nema 111 113 Vector Craps cuerda 101 Vector v Bitmap graphics ccccccccnnommm 99 NICO CAOS oia 13 White space around images cccccccccncnnccnnnnnnns 69 W Ork NO Wy se seas os 24 Workstations CONNES O 18 Page 144
119. layout and then optionally a pack design NeoPack Professional creates the finished packs based on the templates selected It the templates call for graphic or text objects they are automatically placed into the finished page based on the data and graphic objects entered in Details mode Creating packs with NeoPack Professional can be achieved in several ways e Folder entry e Manual entry e Barcode reader assisted entry e Automated generation by importing data Folder entry Packs for a group of subjects can be created in quick time by selecting the Folder tab and placing a check box next to the appropriate folder then selecting the desired layout as shown CO Breer Eire Do HEEE E Lore Pai fh Cole ri IE 1045 ES Lora Peo 11 alo ra NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 122 Manual entry Packs can be created by choosing a name in the Subjects list then clicking a Pack layout name NeoPack Professional applies the layout to the image and presents a preview of it in the queue section bottom right of the screen If a pack item 1s required for this pack click it and it is placed onto the layout Pak Note If you want more than one pack for a particular subject use the Shift key If you simply click another layout you ll replace the previous one But if you hold down the Shift key while clicking the second pack will be added to the queue Choose the Field to search You c
120. limita cis 44 WMNPOLUING a a eeeenseuiae 43 NeoPack Professional under AN GING ad oca 20 Numbering VINA CCS E A E A A 38 Objects A TA PN ke OA ESET 102 positioning and sizing 90 103 106 Page 142 OFSET Valeo 92 93 OPONSE 27 Ordr en A sions 120 Orientation SWItCHINY cccoooooonnncnnnnnnnnnnnnno 110 Original image lesa 35 Other Neo applicati0DS occcccocoooooo 24 Park Hem sena iia 24 81 Park Layo US ui din 81 EMPL ES A ns dieses E 88 Packs Darc ode NUE ican inten a 124 choosing the dei Mina tai 124 choosing the layout ooooooooonnccnnnnnnns 123 CICAD O ocenie 118 122 creating a queue from an external text file126 default pack Sui 121 AAA en 128 eny Dy GUC V eua o cias 123 is AA sue cttexsiteuttaas 122 mass hole dad 82 IMporting a QUCUE sisir 126 manaa beny erea 123 PaK A en aiea vee eeu 119 120 QUEUE id voted sane 121 126 SES PURON ii 121 Pate Lavoro See Pack Layouts Page SIZ calor See Pack Layouts Templates Panes opening closing and maximizing 25 A E E 25 Paper IES aan See Printing PASSAT IMPON e 62 Placing PLAPNIC ODJEC Saa aid 105 A A 102 EXODUS anar 111 Portrait iMac ice aed See Images Portrait v landscape templates 87 109 Positioning and sizing Objects omooooo 90 Pre installation requirements cc0cceees 1 Pre MatChed Gata sintio 73 Preview IMAG CS usd 34 Print queues removing packs f
121. located from 1 to however many images are in the file 1 2 3 4 Various import options are available e Reverse order Imports images in reverse numeric order 999 first to 001 e To end Appends all new images to the end of existing images If Reverse order is selected images are appended before the first image if it exists e Insert Inserts imported files from the currently Po selected image only available if images have already been imported e Replace Imported files overwrite existing images from the one currently selected only available if images have already been imported Pak If Insert is selected as the import option images are inserted from the point of the image currently selected If you select a new image during the import the insertion position is retained If you want to specify a new insertion point for imported images pause the import by choosing Pause import the new insertion point then click Insert once again in the Import options panel The new insertion point is set Start the import Once all the various settings have been made choose Start You ll be able to see the images as they are imported while the Import Status section of the Images from Disk dialog will keep you informed of the progress Choosing Stop during the import process will stop the import after the current image The Import Options dialog can be hidden by choosing Hide The images will continue to be imported until the l
122. methods are now described in our separate Color Management Guide which should be available on the same CD ROM that this manual was on or you can download it from our website at http www timestone com au NeoPack Professional Chapter 15 Calibration Page 139 Index INTO taa 32 COMPACTS sisar oca 65 PROPCTUCS ais ale 34 CODES ater OO a avaliandeuseeetintes 116 8 bit transparency masks 54 84 101 108 Adding TACOS toral aa 64 layouts to a pack Set oooooocncccnnnnnnnnn 120 packs to a queue by importing queue MONO ia dai 126 packs to a queue manually 123 packs to a queue via barcodes 124 packs to a queue via folder 122 Adjusting image color density amp contrast 70 PONV TNC TNE iio 138 ANSDECU IRALOS E S 28 Canes Ordo 29 creatine NOW etarras 29 A cetera eats 28 ASTIN ate IN edeeateetdalinal 28 displaying indicators cccccccoonnccnnnnncnnnnnnno 29 IMPORTA a oa 29 Automatic paper size selection 137 Automating Order entry ooooocnncnnnnccnnnnnnnnn s 120 Background IMagesS cccccccccononccnnnnnnnnnnnnos 23 81 Barcode tario See Packs Barcode Objects asis 94 Bitmap SIZE Seernes 34 Bitmap v Vector graphics cccccccooommmm 99 Bink Elda iii 48 Camera Cards ie test adaieaieeeaunahecttee outa teaeera rei 73 Changing the layer Order ccccccccnnnomm 106 Color
123. n then be placed anywhere convenient on the screen To do this place the mouse pointer anywhere near the edge of the toolbar click and drag The toolbar will tear away Selecting a tool or operation mode You can choose different program functions and modes by choosing a toolbar button The current mode of operation is indicated by which button is pressed in in the main toolbar In the below example several buttons appear pressed in indicating that mode is currently active or that window is currently open The program is currently in Image preview mode This window is currently open Resizing pane windows The three main pane windows can be resized freely You can open a pane so it takes up the whole program space or close it completely to allow space for other operations y Passing the mouse over the edge of the three panes will change the cursor to the pane move cursor Click and drag the mouse the pane will resize as you drag Opening closing and maximizing panes Panes can be opened completely to take up all the available program space or closed completely Opening or closing panes Panes can be opened or closed by choosing the pane name from the View menu If the chosen pane is currently visible choosing it from the View menu will close it and vice versa If NeoPack Professional Chapter 5 Understanding NeoPack Professional Page 25 a pane is currently visible there will b
124. no longer available One result of this is that the file size will remain the same even if images are deleted from the file The deleted image space can be freed up by choosing File Close amp Compact This process may take a little time to perform and also requires some hard disk space at least as much as the new file s size Once done the file will only contain the essential image data and be as small as possible Hew Cirl h Open Ctrl O0 Close JES Edt View Images Quer It is recommended that a file is compacted after many images have been deleted or before being archived Close amp Compact Correcting editing and displaying images After the images have been imported you can correct them using NeoPack Professional s zoom crop color density and contrast controls You can also control how the images are displayed on screen while you perform these operations If you have specified an external image editor via File Options see Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional you can also open individual images in another application and perform edits such as taking out spots that may have been introduced in the scanning process or exist for any other reason You can do this whether you imported the original high res images into the NeoPack Professional job file or simply imported preview versions referencing the high res originals but not actually including them in the job file see Images importing for a
125. nts In this case it is not desirable to allow NeoPack Professional to automatically choose a standard paper size as it may not be exactly correct Choose Use custom paper sizes only NeoPack Professional will only consider custom paper sizes when automatically choosing the one to be used Cut to size When using a Timestone Software printer driver choosing Cut to size will automatically create and use exactly the correct paper size required by the job You don t need to define the paper size as NeoPack Professional works together with our printer driver to do this for you Paper size selection Use default size Pick the best from defined sizes V Use custom paper sizes only i Cutto size NeoPack Professional Chapter 14 Printing Page 137 Alignment and Cut marks You can choose to print the NeoPack Professional jobs onto a paper size larger than the job image In this case you can choose how the image will be aligned on the oversize page You can also enable or disable cut mark support Align You can control how the image is positioned on a page using the Align setting This is only useful if the page being used is larger than the image being printed Click the Align drop down and choose the image placement Honor cut marks If the templates you are using have cut marks defined you can choose to use or ignore these by checking or un checking Honor cut marks Checking this box causes the cut marks to
126. ny abstract objects or if image clarity is not particularly important use a smaller file size In general you can use the following guide as a good starting point to determine your quality requirements These recommendations assume a maximum print size of 8x12 300dp1 Background detail Use this file size Detail not important at all 2 4Mb Detail somewhat important 4 6Mb Detail important 6 8Mb Detail very important 10 20Mb requires testing Bitmap file format NeoPack Professional offers 1 bit transparency support to blend images This means that a single color in the bitmap image can be defined as transparent in a template For example you might design the areas that are to be transparent to be white R 255 G 255 B 255 Any pixels in the design that have this value will become transparent When saving the background image you must use a file format that does not change this value relationship For example JPEG format will distort the white pixels close to a darker area in the image resulting in flecks through the merged image Use either PNG format for compressed images or un compressed TIFF or TARGA images for your backgrounds Do not use JPEG format for background images NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 100 Transparent areas in the background The 1 bit transparency support means that you must carefully build in a color that will appear as transparent in your bac
127. o add move or delete folders once they have been created and you might do this to better mirror the structure of the school you re working on For example you might want to move all the junior school classes into a Junior School folder If you don t have data to import you can create folders and enter data manually NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 42 Creating new folders When creating folders you should first consider the school you are working on If there are several campuses involved you might want to add these campuses to your folder structure and nest the classes under the campus folder This becomes especially important if you are attaching a specific logo or using the campus name in your templates To create a new folder click the parent folder and choose Folders New A new folder is created ready to be named Type the folder name and press Enter Moving deleting or renaming folders Folders can be moved renamed or deleted To move a folder click and drag it to the place you wish to move To re name a folder click the folder and choose Folders Rename Type the new name To delete a folder choose the folder you want to delete then choose Edit Delete You are asked to confirm the deletion If you choose Yes the folder is deleted Pa If you delete a folder that contains names the names are not deleted but added to the Unallocated list Any folder details attached to the deleted folder
128. ocked table The above match now has the first and last image of the matched section locked This means that the first and last match will not be changed by moving or sliding the match In this case 1f you do move or slide the match 1t will introduce blank images somewhere in the table Click in the matched images and choose Edit Move up from selected or press Ctrl lt Right Arrow gt or press the Move up button in the toolbar Note that a matched blank is introduced and an image left un matched Die as NeoPack Professional Chapter 10 Match mode Page 80 Design mode NeoPack Professional uses templates to create all its jobs There are two different types of templates e Pack Layouts Defines prints or packs e Pack Item a design that is placed into a Pack Layout A NeoPack Professional job consists of a chosen image or images being placed into a Pack Layout The Pack Layout defines the print size or package ordered and so is essential to create a job A Pack Item is an optional item When a Pack Item is chosen the selected image is placed into the Pack Item design then the combined image is placed into the Pack Layout Understanding layouts and items It is important to understand the difference between Pack Layouts and Pack Items Pack Layouts A Pack layout is a single or collection of print sizes that forms a final print Layouts can contain simple print sizes alone as well as background images grap
129. of the ReadMe screen It contains timely information that may be S Welcome program will install NeoPack on your computer E Welcome to NeoPack Setup program This a Most Important The installation process may regire the PC to be restarted Please ensure no other programe are running before beginning Click Cancel to quit Setup and close any programs you have running Click Next to continue with the Setup program WARNING This program is protected by copyright law and international treaties Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this program or any portion of it may result in severe civil and criminal penalties and will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under law required for the installation Choose Next to proceed Choose the location for the program files to be installed to Unless you have a particular reason for changing the default path setting we recommend you leave it as is Choose Next to proceed Allow the program to create backup files for the installation Choose Next to proceed Choose the components to install If this machine is to house the hardlock install the License Server component Documentation and tutorial files are installed to the same directory as the program files Choose Next to proceed NeoPack Professional Chapter 3 Installation J Select Components In the options list below select the checkboxes for the options
130. omputer terminal at a time Copies You may not copy or duplicate the Software except as necessary solely for archival purposes program error verification or to replace defective storage media provided you keep the original and the copies You may not alter decompile or disassemble the Software o Transfers You may not sublicense lease or rent or lend the Software or transfer any of your rights under this Agreement You may transfer the Software together with any backup copies you have made Hardlock device and the User Guide on a permanent basis so long as you retain no copies the transferee agrees to be bound by the terms of this Agreement and Timestone Software has authorised the transfer by written confirmation Term The License granted in this agreement is effective until terminated You may terminate it at any time by destroying or returning to Timestone Software the Software and the User Guide together with all copies and returning to Timestone Software the Hardlock Device If you fail to comply with any term or condition of this Agreement this License will terminate and upon such termination you agree to destroy or return to Timestone Software the Software and the User Guide together with all copies and return to Timestone Software the Hardlock Device Termination of this license shall be in addition and not in lieu of any other remedies available to Timestone Software Limited Warranty Disclaimer Timestone Software
131. osition The text file being imported must contain fields to identify the subject and packs required Specify these fields in the Field positions entry boxes for example The queue is now ready to be imported Choose OK Locate the file to import then choose Open The queue is imported Importing Queue 3 i xj From File CADocuments and Settings jamesmac My Image 11999 Pack 8 Short Pack 2 Oe Queue control and status information As packages are created they are allocated a printer status The status of a particular package is indicated at the lower left of the pack preview Indicated by Add the pack or choose Queue Reprint selected packs Create or reprint a package Print a pack or pack Choose the File Print command range Hold a pack or pack range Choose Queue Hold selected packs Release a held pack or pack range sorting the print queue Packs displayed in the print queue can be sorted EEE by subject or folder If sorted by subject the sort Sar can be ascending or descending To sort the print a E o queue choose Queue Sort The following dialog box appears NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 127 The default setting 1s none but you can implement a 3 level sort The above example will sort the queue by last name in ascending order Removing packs from a queue Packs can be deleted
132. ositioning objects in a template Enabling snapping assists further by snapping the object to gridlines or other objects on the page As you size or move an object in the template it will snap from one gridline to another ensuring accurate size and position Create a single print size layout The images that you import appear in holes that you place into a NeoPack Professional template You can place as many holes into a template as you need Holes can be different sizes and orientations NeoPack Professional automatically scales and rotates the image as each individual hole requires To create a single image hole click the Place Image Hole button The cursor changes to the Place Object cursor Position the mouse over the area on the page where you want the hole to appear Click and drag a box over the page It is not important to be accurate at this point The Image Properties dialog is displayed SSS al Fill hole with tem design or normal image if na item selected f mage without item design Tas black amp white as sepia colorized ico 72 a an There are a number of options available when placing an image hole e Item design if a pack item is selected it will be placed into this hole NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 89 e Image a simple image will be placed into the hole regardless of whether an item has been selected e As black and white creates a black and wh
133. oss or down the page e multiple instances of a subject on the same page e multiple instances of a subject on separate pages e exclude particular subjects e g folder or shoot card matches e automatically calculate page size or set an explicit size e margins and gaps See Chapter 13 Form Item Sheets mode for further details Design Mode NeoPack Professional uses templates to create all its jobs There are two different types of template that can be used e Pack Layouts Defines prints or packs e Pack Item Defines a design that is placed into a Pack Layout NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 9 A NeoPack Professional job consists of a chosen image or images being placed into a Pack Layout The Pack Layout defines the print size or package ordered and so is essential to create a job Pack Items are optional When a Pack Item is chosen the selected image is placed into the Pack Item design then the combined image is placed into the Pack Layout See Chapter 11 Design mode for a full explanation of all the options available to you as a template designer NeoPack Professional Chapter 1 QuickStart Page 10 Before you Begin Scope and audience This manual covers both operation and technical aspects required to use NeoPack Professional The manual is divided into several chapters see the Table of Contents at the start for a broad summary Alternatively consult the Index for specific
134. p with it This is much easier if the file sizes being sent to the printer are a certain sweet size Files larger than this sweet size can cause the printer to pause while the large file is being sent For example the Gretag Mileca likes to have image files around 22Mb delivered to keep it busy If you send it a series of image files each 22Mb in size it will keep up easily If you send images that are 60Mb in size it takes longer to send the larger file to the printer In this case the Mileca will have finished printing the first print before the next is available and have to stop the paper transport The result is a white slug between the prints wasting paper You can use hard cut marks to separate long packs into chunks that are more manageable sizes For example you might design your packs to be a number of 10x8 units By defining a hard cut mark at the beginning of each unit the pack will be split into chunks that will keep the Mileca printing without stopping Defining Hole Punches Hole punches are defined in a Layout template You can define as many punch positions within a pack but the printer must be able to use the information for the pack to be finally punched or printed correctly This means that you must be mindful of the minimum punch distance or paper advance your printer supports Setting the punch position Decide where you need the punch to be positioned within the pack being designed Choose Edit
135. pecially useful if your template designs include a school logo you can include a labeled holder into the template that references the logo image which you specify here Creating a Labeled Holder To include labeled graphics into a template you must first create a special Graphic field to contain the images It is best to set these fields as a program default Choose File Options then choose the Default tab and click Data fields gt Edit The Data Fields dialog is displayed Choose the tab you wish to use either Folder or File See the earlier discussion about the difference between these fields We will use the example of a School s logo for this example Creating a File graphic field Choose the File tab then click Add A new line is inserted to the list of fields Type the name of the graphic field In this example type SchoolLogo Now click the Type drop down and choose Graphic from the list Choose OK The graphic field is now available SchoolLogo integer no ate graphic Adding a graphic to a graphic field Once the graphic field has been set as a program default choose File New to create a new file with this field or add it to the file by entering Details mode then choosing Edit Fields and adding the graphic as before You will see the new field in the list of available fields when All is chosen Value SchoolPict Ma choolPicl jpa SchoolPice AS choolPic jpg SchoolLogo School ame Laures
136. plication EXE hlename C Program Files4dobe Photoshop 5 0 Photosh Figure 1 Options dialog Measurement units From the Options panel choose the General tab Select your preferred measurement units then choose OK Image Editor NeoPack Professional allows editing of images via an external image editor such as Adobe Photoshop In the dialog shown above specify the image editor to use by either entering the path including the program EXE in the EXE filename field or clicking the Browse button locating and choosing the Image editor s EXE file and click Open The Image Editor is chosen NeoPack Professional Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional Page 27 ZA Tip Most program files are located in the Program Files folder For example the default location for Adobe Photoshop is C Program Files Adobe Photoshop Aspect ratios The aspect ratio of the image determines how tall and wide a portrait will be There are several common aspect ratios used in the photographic world but you may like to define some that are specific to your needs The aspect ratio here should match those you design for your Subject blocks For example 1f you design your portrait blocks to have a 4 5 aspect define this aspect here The cropping set here also follows through to other Neo applications For ease of production you should use a similar aspect ratio as your other Neo production such as the package prints etc
137. printing to bitmap files Once you choose Bitmap file as the Print to the Output filenames panel becomes active Files printed are named NeoPack Professional Chapter 14 Printing Page 134 Prefix Number Copies ext e Prefix each printed file will begin with the text entered e Number the main filename given to each printed file e Copies the number of copies requested in the print dialog e ext the filename extension Output filenames Format pretix copies ext prefix ext lino for use Image number Image tag 7 Sequential number n You can specify the main name used for the filename by clicking for use and selecting from the choices available The choices are Option Description Image No NeoPack Professional uses the image number either the sequential or indexed number to name the file If multiple packages are created a sequential number is appended for each pack with the same image number Original NeoPack Professional uses the special image tag if used when importing the image tag images to name the files If multiple packages are created a sequential number is appended for each pack with the same image number Sequential NeoPack Professional creates its own sequential number to name the files no Different packs from the same image are gathered together sequentially but will be named different one to the other
138. r UNC naming allows this exact directory be specified from any workstation within the network without using drive letters This avoids configuration errors The UNC name for a shared directory 1s Server Share Path You may set your images up on this server as follows Images VJob1 Images Job2 Images VJob3 Only the root folder is required In this case The root folder is Images So the UNC name for the path would be ImageServer Data Images Finally we need to specify the final search directory to find the source images Using the code NeoPack Professional adds the name of the TNJ file to the search path as the final part of the path statement In the above case each of the TNJ files would be named Job1 Job2 and Job3 So 1f the path 1s entered as ImageServer Data lmages and the file currently open is called Job2 NeoPack Professional will search for the original source images in IlmageServer Data lmages Job2 Same directory as job file If the path statement is entered as A NeoPack Professional will search for the source images in the same directory as the TNJ file Sub directory from job file Images can be stored in a sub directory of the folder that contains the job file For example if the job file is stored in a folder Images Job1 and the images belonging to that job in Images Job1 Source If the path statement is entered as Source NeoPack Professional will search for the so
139. r the names from the insertion point are moved up Now move the match Down note that the matched is not moved but the cursor does Try the same thing with Slide Down note that the matched names slide down unlike the Move NeoPack Professional Chapter 10 Match mode Page 74 EAS The result of a Move the cursor moves leaving the names behind Qs She result of a Slide the names slide down with the cursor Types of match You can match an image either to a folder indicating the start of a particular group e g Class 8A or to a subject i e a name The Folder match is useful to help identify where matches are correct and identify problem areas such as missing images etc Match the images Once the details have been imported or entered and principal photography has been completed you can start to enter the match data It is not necessary to have the images imported to do a preliminary match but both images and details must be present to finally match In this example we ll search on last name to enter the match If you are using a barcode reader you could just as easily search on ID and read the barcode to match Match the first image Generally the first image in a run is an identifying slate The slate usually indicates the beginning of a class Within a class there may also be other identifying slates Click the image you want to match note the highlight block be
140. rectory will be imported Specify a file range limit You can choose to import a range of images from the valid range For example if you want to import image 20 to 40 out of 100 valid image files you would enter 20 and 40 in the Limit from image no to image no boxes Image files 20 through 40 will be imported Once you have made all the settings choose OK The Images From Disk Masked dialog is dismissed Note that in the main Images From Disk dialog you will now see a list of the files that will be imported according to the entries made NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 60 Import From Disk Masked 3 Path D lmages Samples Kids Browse Filename format pre no width post ext me ME E eg Image3 pg Files to import Setup DO images S amples Kids udes jpg Ds images S amples kids SG ameB oy jpg Ds lmagez Samples Kids Horze jpg Dlmages S amples Kids T eddy jpg Dimages S amplez Eids Teddy jpg Ds images S amplez Kids Tinni jpg Hote Leave the no width field blank for filenames with no image numbers Limit from image no to image na OF Cancel ox EN a selected Import selected images Myou an Oe ero selected image files you can choose eki fan the files to import using the al E El selected dialog Click Selected loe The Import From Disk dialog opens a Choose the files you want to import Teddy2ipg You can us
141. rofessional for more details Choose File Save A Save File dialog is shown Navigate to the template directory give the file a name then choose Save The template is saved ZA You must quit and re start NeoPack Professional before you can use the new template This is because NeoPack Professional will only use the templates present in the template directory when it first starts Use the new template After you have saved the template and re started the program open a file that has some images You will see the new layout is now available for use Click an image then the layout button The image is placed into the pack Using graphics and text with layout templates NeoPack Professional layouts allow graphic objects such as a logo or background image text objects including fixed or variable text and barcode objects to be placed into the design Using these objects within a layout as opposed to a design allows a complex print layout of an absolute size to be designed Choosing an image then the complex layout results in a finished print layout complete with the graphic text and barcode objects By contrast a Pack Item template must be placed onto a Layout before a job is formed If you always use common complex layouts or want to use a barcode object you should design your Layout templates to include the various graphic objects ZA Information on placing and using graphic and text objects is included later in this
142. rom ooooncccnnnccnnonnnnnn s 128 SONU ore a a 127 SE E E EE 128 NeoPack Professional Index A rn a 127 PHU E Sa 132 alignment amp cut markKks oooonccncnnnccn 138 auto selection Of paper SIZ8 oooccccccccc 137 choosing the print method cccc 133 CUSTOM paper SIZES occcccccccnnnnnncnnnnnnnnnnnnnns 137 A A A O 138 CULO Ii 137 ON OVETSIZE PAPET ii ruin 138 output tlenaMes cuore 134 O IO 135 output resolution ns 134 output to separate pages oooooccncncnncnnnnnnns 136 pinter Proper ES esiin 136 selecting a pinot so ad 132 A N 131 toa bitmap Mlese 134 Oa JODE E 133 to a standard Windows printer driver 136 to a Win NT printer driver oooccccccccnnnc 133 Production workflow ccccccooooocoocconoconnnos 24 Program defaults rio os 21 A A 34 ONCU tallo rica 121 MUDIE eces 122 removing packs from oooooccncnnnnconononnnnns 128 selec iNo opc e ulead aacee dee 122 A tichbesuemataggtent 127 S an ees at 127 Quick KEYS update 26 Referenced IMages rid 62 Reverse order importing of images 62 A A IN l Saving A vei ticatuiedaaeanneiaion tanta 131 templale Sinai 94 Ji A ON 84 School logo See Labeled holders School name ocooccncnnccncnncnnccnccnicno See Fields file Screen resolution A A 29 Sepa IMAL ES o 103 Sequential Hie a 61 Sequential vs Indexed images occccccccncnnnm 37 Sharpen
143. rom the Images from disk dialog click the Setup button The Setup dialog opens Click Setup The Images From Disk Setup dialog opens The dialog is divided into 4 main areas that control the various options available to you If you accept the default options you ll be leaving the original images where they are and creating sub sampled preview equivalents for inclusion in the NeoPack Professional job file NeoPack Professional will remember the exact path of each original image file Any corrections made to the images in NeoPack Professional are stored in a database and applied to the originals only at the time of output whether in the process of forming packs or via exporting Import method Import preview only leave original hi res images where they are with actual path remembered default setting Import preview only leave original hi res images where they are with actual path discarded Import hi res images uncheck default setting Advantages Small job file thus making it possible to send it and work on it away from the hi res images Small job file original images can be moved after import and NeoPack Professional will still find them Job file is self contained it has everything it needs to output packs Set the image rotation flip megan From Lr clue E ipod pr ge res Dering cd airy ROO A Gina Fe ir fenia the actual paths od nach rage C ic
144. rting but you can sharpen rotate and color correct using a pre existing LUT while images are being imported During the import operation the editing operation is not as responsive as it would normally be and we recommend that you use the keyboard to perform the edits The image import can still be controlled even though you may have hidden the main image import dialog by choosing the Hide button Open the Import options panel by choosing Images Import options panel This small panel can be positioned on the screen so the image import can be paused or restarted Adding images Images can be added to a file or can over write existing images within a file Images are added by using the Images Import from Disk dialog The options available vary according to whether a file is indexed or sequentially numbered Add new files to the end of an existing file Choose Images Import options panel The Images Options Panel opens Choose To end as the Incoming images selection Specify the files to be imported as previously discussed Images will be appended to the end of the file Incoming images for sequentially numbered image files Reverse order t Toend leet enlace Insert or replace files within a file To add images somewhere in the middle of an existing file first choose the image where the new images are to be inserted or replaced then choose Images Import options panel The Images Options Panel is shown Note that
145. s NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 45 Import the name data Once you are happy with the settings choose OK to dismiss the Setup subject details text file import dialog Now confirm the text file has been selected and choose Open The data is imported Importing Shoot List data If you have the name data in shoot order you can import the names and match them to images later The data you are importing must contain additionally e A unique ID number for each subject e Either the image number each record matches or each record is in the correct shoot order As it is possible for a single subject to appear several times in a shoot order file you must have the unique ID number to identify subjects You will not be able to import the data successfully without this unique field Inspecting the data to import The data you wish to import might look similar to this AM vy Bat one Por Year el OOM ZY ge OO ZAS OO tam op Beteiie Lor gt nea TOON ZS POOL Og AMY 7 Dat ene Lom eam Tr OL Zor OO LAA OO pg YWiwiirem gy Brownlee Year a 002TA OOO Lea pg omy Carter dear di OO say OO 62 3 pa AM OOO weer Oda DOLLZ po TAMY Coad Year ey 00142 O00L2264 900 AMY Coad Lear LA OLLA pa James y CLESCOLaAaroO rear TT DUI PODLZAGO J PO Catherine Hodge Year y O0 LG OOLAZG TDG Mandy Hooper Year 7 001 TL O0L2Z2Z68 lt pg In this example the
146. s covered in Chapter 10 Matching images and names After the names have been imported and matched as well you can view the raw match by choosing Mode Match If you have not yet imported images you will see a display that indicates the image number that each name has been matched to ready for the images to be imported ar lee h L m Fale rr Jm e stent aif i amp y j 5 4 Li a f lt a la Al loo aa If images have already been imported you will see the images matched to the names a cm Abed Pe Hyri HH k J Special fields Certain fields are automatically recognised by NeoPack Professional when imported If a field contains e Blink e Slate e Miscellaneous They are specifically identified as a miscellaneous entry and marked as such NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 48 Editing the details and folders Often you will find that the data you import will not completely suit your needs for NeoPack Professional For example you might want to sort the folders created by the import into senior and junior school groups After the import has been completed you can add edit or move the folders to suit your needs You can add rename or move folders by clicking dragging and dropping them as you normally do in Windows Explorer Subjects 84 Folders Subjects E ml ge tr senna FirstName LastName Adam Scarlett T a i Cl
147. s made in the Options panel see the previous chapter You can add or modify these settings once the file has been created There are several settings that can be made specific to the job file Image import options NeoPack Professional needs to import the images you wish to use to a job file The import process creates the small on screen preview that is used when you are preforming all tasks within NeoPack Professional The preview image is stored using JPEG compression in the job file Creating a new NeoPack Professional file Start the NeoPack Professional application then choose File New or click the New Document button in the toolbar The New File dialog is displayed Choose the desired location give the file a name and choose Save The file is saved and an empty job file is displayed Specify the preview image size The size of the preview image can be changed from the Options menu The default size of 512k is usually sufficient for most operations but you might like to increase the size to improve the appearance of the preview The larger the image preview the larger the job file It is also possible that the program may slow if the preview image is set too high The preview size must be set for each file you create before images have been imported To change the preview size choose File Properties The Properties dialog is displayed General Bitmap sizes Choose the Bitmap sizes tab and make the Store
148. search directory to find the source images Using the code NeoPack Professional adds the name of the TNJ file to the search path as the final part of the path statement In the above case each of the TNJ files would be named Job1 Job2 and Job3 So 1f the path 1s entered as ImageServer Data lmages and the file currently open is called Job2 NeoPack Professional will search for the original source images in IlmageServer Data Ilmages Job2 Same directory as job file If the path statement is entered as AN NeoPack Professional will search for the images in the same directory as the TNJ file Sub directory from job file Images can be stored in a sub directory of the folder that contains the job file For example the job file is stored in a folder Images Job1 and the images belonging to that job in mages Job1 Source If the path statement is entered as Source NeoPack Professional will search for the source images in the Source subdirectory NeoPack EZ AN Cannot find bitmap image file film 17 70 bmp Retry Ignore Missing image files If the original image files are not available when printing or exporting the images an error is shown NeoPack Professional Chapter 7 Job files Page 36 Either fix the problem and choose Retry to retry the job or Abort to abort the current operation Image numbering indexed or sequential Many labs using large numbers of images have
149. sed in a NeoPack Professional template e Vector graphics from applications like CorelDraw e Bitmap images from applications like Adobe Photoshop The two types are completely different in both the way that they are created and also in the look of the final printed image A vector graphic is formed by drawing a series of lines then applying blocks of color to the objects drawn The result is a graphic that is well suited to many logos and other design elements but that has a cartoonish appearance when drawing real life images On the other hand a bitmap image can create realistic images for use in a template The big difference between a vector and bitmap graphic is that a vector is very small and quick to print whilst a bitmap can be very large and slower to print NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 99 In the example below the image on the right is using a bitmap image as the background whilst the one on the left is using vector style graphics The file size of the bitmap graphic used for the background was 20 4Mb whilst for the vector 1t was 2Mb Printing the bitmap background took 45 minutes whilst the vector style took 8 minutes Bitmap file size If you want to use a bitmap background you can optimise printing time by using the smallest background image possible If your background has a lot of very fine detail such as a fine texture you will need to use a larger file If the background has ma
150. sseeeeereeee 29 A E ATA E A TANTEA EE 26 6 Contisurmo NeoPack Professional ARRA 21 SENS DE PrO ranr de Taul S eE alates uasanatane shane deeasancd eeataneniceceataesehonntacsseeanatateniies 27 Measurement Uns laico llitos 21 Mi O a O e a a icenenrln nie net aN ine OMT eNrT ir nucle eu eer TC eoRamen re 2i ASPE TAG OS A E E E ES 28 Dert Aspect RIMOS ane E E Reus ou cull sit swladaaacautu nce etane sy 28 Dean nel Neer emer ere ire re eae cre a rors Neer ne Rene err een ne rte ee rere O eee seis Neer rc mere ere eter oer Y 30 Denning the Imas efile OCA OM acietem a uae aaah aan 31 Deine the Desira File Loc AE A aida 32 Monitors a upra nO AA E EE E 33 Tee A taaa aan aaa aa a a a 34 ase impor opon eee E A A A EN EE EEE 34 Creatine anew NCOP ACK T ro ess Onal TE siiin ida dencia e EE 34 SPECIE UNE Preview IA SS SO aaa 34 Image AMPOLUNS PES A a 35 Onsi al made Te Oca a eeaceonn A a teal andes aaa laenu ne ats 35 Inace numberiio Indexed Of sequen lud deidad 37 Mia numbers tas dis 38 SPCCILY the image lei toda dans 38 S Deri NT 40 Paterne Detatls modes anat adds 40 Ercatino di older SUC UUM rta a a 42 a E A era Tren Aer rese 43 TORS MOOG LAS ALA dai apio 46 Editino dhe details Ss OTe mee aR 49 Home folders and copied AMOS AS A A SA Ed bio 49 Exporuno Detalla ros cil tl cos 50 Allocatme detallito Folde ear ler a loo E 51 e os rots Wo Vo a Ces acer eee ener nn oer er erent dad its 53 Crcatino a Labeled Holde sarao NEE N 53 9a Images mMO
151. t integer na date fi dia 089 0 500 AA oa aj avs Joso 1 a 95 A 5001 9 5 Controlling Labeled holder scaling Images placed into a labeled holder can be scaled exactly as for a normally placed graphic Choose the scaling you want to use by choosing the appropriate scaling from the toolbar 00 E Distort image to fill box Clip image to fill box Fit image to box Using the labeled graphic Labeled holders are fetched from Details mode As discussed in the Details mode chapter you can allocate various special graphic and text details e File details fields that are common to every folder and subject in the job For example a logo that is common for every group in the current job e Folder details fields that are specific to a group or sub grouping For example each class may have a mascot picture to be included or a large school may be divided into Junior and Senior campuses NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 116 NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode In the following example we are allocating a school logo The logo is common to every group and so is a File detail Allocate the graphic by clicking All in the folder view The defined File fields are displayed Click the field and allocate the graphic object as described previously EE NeoPack Professional Ex Jobs Laureston Laureston_2001 Lic Enj File Edit Folders Subjec
152. tName ID Date of Birth Group Design Layout Quantity McAlister Sandra 11575 15 70 7817 64 a 1 1 Williams Amanda 11622 10 04 87 8A a 1 2 When importing Queue data the important fields are e ID e Design e Layout e Quantity rae Note As before it is important that the shortcut keys allocated to both the layout and design are unique If two templates are allocated the same shortcut nothing will be selected when that shortcut key 1s used Import the queue The information contained in the data file can be imported by choosing Queue Import text file the Text file to import queue dialog opens Choose Setup The Setup queue text file import dialog opens Fone OS Finofype Tes Fiss ty my Carcal Sad Press Shan lo echt beat pol pasion NeoPack Professional Chapter 12 Form Packs mode Page 126 Choose the Import Type Type The text file being imported can be in several formats The C Fixed most common format is comma delimited Select the type Delimited C by TAB 6 byf Specify the field positions Field positions from to field Subject field mime 3 Pack layout code ai a 7 You must also specify which field is being used to match ie age _ _ E In this case the ID field is being matched Click the M Nootcories fa Subject field to match on Subject field to match on drop down and choose the field from unknown the list FirstName j LastName Birthdate P
153. talled and successfully configured From the Start menu choose Timestone Software gt License Manager The License Manager will open ikci ad Coden Pay particular attention to any errors displayed in the Last Error section Before any configuration has been carried out 1t may display Missing empty license code table file This error will disappear once valid licenses have been installed If the error reads Hardlock is invalid or missing review the installation of the hardlock and License Server a If you need to open the Hardlock is invalid or missing License Server setup control panel click the iia Setup Est Setup button at the bottom of the License Manager The License Server setup control panel will open Choose the Codes tab If licenses have not yet been added this list will be empty Any previously entered license codes will be displayed in this list To add new licenses click the Add file button A File Open dialog is Locate the license code files that have been supplied to you and Mannan Pears Enea Hanger Y choose it in the list then Open After a brief pause the new license appears in the list of added licenses and are available for use fj WOT rar add y 10001 eak r n 1000 2000 MePa 1 5 le coo AE Each license in the list Fis of pa Teror Soften Lecerrie Codes ue will note e The name of the licenses application e The version num
154. ternal application oooo o 66 Enable monitor LUT checkbox 33 Exporting data See Data exporting Exporting images See Images exporting Fields O a 30 A eee one A 30 deno pee eee a ea Ree Ree eae aT 40 Page 140 Tolder eceiitateteneuaauss 41 la peled holder nodos 53 multiple nes Md 52 special atributs id 31 SUDICCE A aei 30 42 Pale PrOPELES esr 34 Filename format in an import image Mask oooncccccccn 60 when exporting IMAGES cccoooooccccnnnnncnnnnnnnos 70 Filenames OF Imag S ud 38 DS A a a teeeceenee 111 Folders EAE T A T E EA A A 43 49 dele ic toos 43 49 A atiectaeiws 49 MOVIN D sra 43 49 PEMA dae 43 49 A ulasoeds 42 Form Item Sheets mode oocooccnccnccccccncc 9 129 Form Packs mode ccseceeceeceeceeees 8 118 SA A de audane eatae 12 Grape 83 94 105 Crid Setn Senzi 85 86 89 Hard cat mA k S trio liiness 97 Harddisk Spacer ici 13 o kuesenuiina i 17 Hardware requirements ooooooncccnnnncnnnnnnnnnnns 12 AO 12 Hole PUNCHES nai 95 97 Hole od See Image holes Hot source IMPONE IOMA 63 ICC color management ooooccccnnnncnnnnnnnonnnns 139 maso holes ua rica aaan 89 102 EN A A E 38 Images addi e to atleti i 64 adjusting color brightness amp contrast 70 appending on IMPOTTt oocccccnnncnnniccnnnnnnnnnnnnnno 62 A 28 Dack OT OUNC ib 23 81 changing the number of images displayed 66 COlOr adjust cg
155. tever the grid displays when you release the mouse button will be what you end up with but of course you can change it at any time Or you can effect no change by pressing the ESC key before releasing the mouse button Correcting Images Once images have been imported to NeoPack Professional they can be corrected in various ways e Zoom e Jog x y movement e Color density and contrast corrections e Image editing via an external image editor There are many shortcuts available to achieve the various corrections as are there many different ways to change the size and number of images being displayed Selecting images It 1s fast and convenient to select and navigate through images in the image table First choose an image by clicking on 1t with the mouse oon Keyboards Show the next screen of images Show the next screen of images NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 67 Images can be moved and re sized to create the best cropping for various aspect ratio prints When in cropping mode NeoPack Professional displays any enabled aspect ratios Positioning should be adjusted so that images will appear pleasingly cropped at each of the different aspect ratios There are many different ways to zoom and crop images Zoom and crop values are displayed in the Image Corrections palette If the Image Corrections palette isn t currently open choose View Image Corrections Choose the image crop editing mode by
156. that you would like to have installed The disk space fields reflect the requirements of the options you have selected Jw NeoPack 1 1 3 17255 k Sample Templates 2176 k V Hardlock Device Driver 1071 k License Server 213k e Documentation 4931 k Disk Space Required 25433 k 7683317 k E Cancel Disk Space Remaining Page 14 e Select the name of the Program Manager group to add the icons to Choose Next to proceed e Once you re happy with all the settings choose Next to proceed or choose Back to change any of your settings Installing Current File Copying file CAWINNT 4 Systema2 Msstkprp dll e The program files are installed e Once all the files have been installed the Complete screen is shown Choose Finish to complete the installation Installing the Adobe Acrobat Reader If you want to view the application documentation you will need to have Adobe Acrobat installed If you don t have the software on your system use the installer on the CD Pak Note If you ve installed over the top of a demo version you Il find that the documentation on the CD is likely to be a much larger file than the one you downloaded Although the manual is the same the version on the CD has images saved at a higher resolution You won t notice much difference viewing the manual on screen but you will certainly notice a difference if you print it NeoPack Professional Chapter 3
157. the cursor in the Name entry area and type the field name a Fields are case sensitive If you define a field Name but place and code Oname in a template the text will not be correctly substituted NeoPack Professional Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional Page 30 Assigning special attributes A field can be assigned a special attribute that identifies it for special use within the program Attributes such as first last or whole name identify a particular field To assign a field attribute choose the field then click the Special drop down list for that field A list of available attributes is displayed E first name none whole name first name last name middle name birthdate unique field order field Figure 3 Assigning a Field Attribute There are several special fields that are built in to NeoPack Professional that are always identified as a special field For the Subject Fields these special fields are Field Name Identified as Identified as a subject s first name LastName Identified as a subject s last name WholeName Identified as the subject s whole name Defining the Image file location NeoPack Professional imports the images used for your production in two different ways The original high res image file can be imported to the job file meaning that the external files are no longer required by NeoPack Professional Alternately images can be imported w
158. the options Insert and Replace are available NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 64 Images that are imported with Insert selected will be added from the selected image Images imported with the Replace option selected will overwrite existing images from the selected image Incoming images for sequentially numbered image tiles Reverse order Deleting images To delete images select the image or images you wish to delete then press the Del key or choose Edit Delete A confirmation of the deletion is requested then the images are removed Choose OK the selected images are deleted Any groups that used deleted images will not be removed Bear in mind that if you have already matched images to names and this may have happened automatically if you have already imported the data the action of deleting an image may have created an unmatched name in Match mode and it s probably a good idea to check to see what effect the deletion has had You ll probably find you can resolve the problem by selecting Edit Remove matched object but you may need to Move and Slide Closing and compacting files Close a file by choosing File gt Close The current file 1s saved and closed There s no way to close a job file without saving it Images are stored in NeoPack Professional s database type file As images are deleted in the program they are not physically removed from the file although they are
159. the top a hole has the transparent color it will be merged is described above Be sure that for objects that you don t want to merge you choose Cancel at the Set Bitmap Mask dialog 8 bit masks NeoPack Professional allows 8 bit transparency masks to be applied to graphic images placed into a template This allows creative effects like soft edged blends and transparent graphic objects all applied from a template You must first have the transparency mask image file available Use an image editor like Adobe Photoshop to create these masks NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 108 Set an 8 bit mask for an image hole After an image hole has been placed onto the template canvas select 1t apply 8 bit mask button becomes available in the toolbar Click the button w and the apply mask dialog is displayed Choose Load a File Browse dialog appears Locate and open the mask file It is opened and a preview shown Click the Load button A File Open dialog opens Locate and choose the mask file Press Open A preview of the mask is shown You can flip or rotate the mask if required After you re happy with the settings choose OK A preview of the masked image is shown If you want to remove the mask file click the Reset button The mask is removed Choose OK Portrait and landscape templates The images that you use with NeoPack Professional may be in either portrait or landscape orientations The templ
160. this option will dim all other options except the Align option See later for information about the Align option Once chosen choose OK The Printer setup dialog is dismissed To print the job to a Timestone Print Job file choose File Print Choose the range to print see later Because the result of this print operation is a file you must choose an output path Either enter the output path or click Browse File Browse dialog opens Choose the folder you want to use then choose OK Choose OK to print the Print Job file Browse for Folder Path to print file to D Almages Printed obF iles ES Hey 3 Floppy A Printer Ela System C Timestone Print Job file Setup Esa Data D ia DesktopFolderDe Print what EE Images al Unprinted ony Selected only E Ea Printed Output to file options iy oE Path Browse Hest sequential number F aL samples Print to a Standard Windows NT printer driver You can use a standard Windows NT printer driver to print from NeoPack Professional There are a number of special features built into NeoPack Professional that automate paper size selection and a number of other options To choose a Windows NT printer choose Windows printer as the Print to option then choose the printer you wish to use by clicking the Printer drop down and selecting it from the list Set any printer specific options by choosing Properties For information on the options
161. tinue placing Image Holes until the pack layout 1s complete Creating a Package print layout an example We want to create a simple package print consisting of 1 x 10x8 print and 2 x 5x7 prints NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 91 8x10 Print 5x7 Print 5x7 Print Step 1 Set the Page size Create a new Layout Click the Page background Note that the Size values become available but not the Offset Set the page size to 15 10 to allow for all the required print sizes to be placed onto the canvas Step 2 Place the 10x8 hole Choose the Image Hole button then click and drag the mouse over the template canvas area Anew Image Hole object is placed onto the canvas It 1s not important to be accurate in the placement or sizing of the hole at this point Steo 3 Size and position the hole Select the image hole by clicking it Note that the object handles appear indicating it is selected and that the Object Dimensions entry boxes in the toolbar become available to edit The Offset values represent the top left corner of the object In this example we want the top left corner of the hole to be positioned in the absolute top left of the layout Enter the values 0 0 for the Offset Now enter the print size of 8 10 then click Apply The hole is positioned in the top left corner and sized to 8x10 0 0 8x10 Print Step 4 Place the first 5x7 hole After the 10x8 hole has been placed click the Image
162. to make directories C Prefix filename Postfix filename Bitmap format Type JPEG JPG Color f 24 bit B bit Size fe Game size To width x height of 100 x 100 pixels Apply LUT Sharpen inane A Kernel Strength 50 cos Figure 12 Export images setup dialog Shown above are the defaults which will create filenames using each subject s full name so you will end up with a bunch of files with names like Bradley Brad Jpg It s probably a lot better to have the class or grade level built into the filename like this SA Bradley Brad Jpg and to have the images sorted into grade levels anyway You can do all of this and more in the Images Export Setup dialog rae Note If you change the file format from the default of jpg make sure you change the extension in the Filename format area of the dialog to match This doesn t happen automatically and if you don t change it you may end up with BMP files that all have jpg extensions NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 71 Matching images and names A product created with NeoPack Professional generally consists of a portrait matched to a name But of course we re talking about multiple instances here which means multiple portraits matched to multiple names For this reason it is necessary to go through a matching process to match the names to the images This process is done in Match mode although it s possible that
163. ton College Tear 2000 Double click inside the Value for SchoolLogo The Open Graphic dialog is displayed Navigate through and find the graphic file you wish to import Import the graphic Graphics for labeled holders are imported in a similar way as normal images When the graphic is imported a smaller screen resolution image is generated for use on screen As NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 53 with normal portrait images there are several options you can set to allow NeoPack Professional to find the high resolution images for printing e Remember the actual path of the file remembers the original location e Discard the path use the file searching options discussed in Chapter 9 Images mode Load the graphic image Choose the import option you wish to use then choose Select file In the File dialog choose the image file the reference options then Open The graphic is displayed 4 xi 0 Ferae rana SSS Redes eatcn tanaal Re Fa bap hie open 06 Sneed ey on pr cea v le G Farsmba the scha psh o ha file C Daad e pih a sea for dt e drid ue he sesich pollo bos Mita e File Dior Pati rea Choosing the transparent area You can specify two types of mask that allow transparent areas in the logo Simple transparency mask If the logo has areas you would like to be transparent as a single color click it in the preview Note the hashed area indicating transparency To clear t
164. tor such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw There are 2 types of template e Layout the finished package layout e Item a graphic frame that can be superimposed on a print in a layout Page Layouts A Layout template determines the size position and content of each print in the completed package It contains a variety of graphic text and other NeoPack Professional specific objects that complete the finished design You can of course specify the size of the finished page You can also place several types of objects onto a page layout e Fixed text or graphics text or graphic images that will not change for the whole production such as a background image e Variable text or graphics text or graphic images that will change according to the job or subject logo special information like Class Captain or Position e NeoPack Professional specific objects objects that define things like the portrait position etc e Barcodes add bar coded information Page size Prints within the pack NeoPack Professional specitic nhiecte name Tyear Barcodes N Re order information 10 50 Pack B 4 50 _ Pack 4 50 NeoPack Professional Chapter 5 Understanding NeoPack Professional Page 23 Pack Items Pack Items are graphic or text objects that can be super imposed over images When creating a pack item you place the various graphic or text objects as well as a hole The hole d
165. ts Mode Help Subjects FirstName Lasth ame Birthdate Adelaide Palmer 18701 1987 Alex Baldwin 11570211987 Ales ss Mathews 720841987 Alexander Mace 15 08 1987 O Alexandra Di Paolo 24708 1988 Alen Semmens 20 06 1988 Allison Bennett 2311 1988 Field Alison Thomas 22 06 1998 schooFid A Amanda williams 1040441987 achoolPica si schoolPic2 pg Amy Face 570171988 SchoolLogo PAE Kaa aana pen Wilde A28 PAN a ureston College Anastasia Dietrich 5f12 M1987 mea A Anastasia Hepbum 13 02 1988 PrincipalPic Pe elle Anes kesa 27 04 1988 LabLoga a Andrew Shaw 7411 1988 Allocating the Logo Image for the SchoolLogo field Superimposes the logo over the portrait Page 117 Form Packs mode Creating and printing the final NeoPack Professional jobs is done in Form packs mode Here you can choose the names to print apply templates and actually print the jobs Form Packs interface When you re in Form packs mode the screen is divided into five panes e A list of names folders e A preview of the image e The available templates e The completed packs in the current queue e Search tools edd Pek T Aya Fa MIRES Anota Day 1D 11560 Log Pack if Buby bra ID VIBE Lodo Som ie tiha Search tools Esama RE I 11 20 Bihan Aks D 11555 Layouts and Items
166. tween the two images Click the image to match The first image is a slate indicating the beginning of class 8A We will match the slate to the 8A folder NeoPack Professional Chapter 10 Match mode Page 75 rae Note This preliminary match is only for convenience and assisting identifying problems in the match You should always start by matching slates to miscellaneous items like slates preferably matching to a folder Make sure that the Lookup via Fields for folders option top left just under the toolbar is set to name then click in the Match image with folder entry box and start typing the name of the group As you type the matching items are displayed Choose the correct item and press the Enter key The image is matched to that folder and the Match cursor advances to the next image Match the next image The next image belongs to Sandra McAlister In the for subjects drop down select Lastname as the Look up field or ID if you re using a barcode reader Start typing the last name Note that as you type more characters for the name the list of choices is refined Click on the desired name or highlight it and press Enter to match the name with the currently selected image the match is displayed and the Match bar advances to the next image Coping with errors You may find that the match gets out of synch sometimes You might notice that you are matching a male name to an image that is
167. u have a range of images to import NeoPack Professional can choose the images to import as well as identifying any important information embedded in the filename using the Import From Disk Masked dialog From the main Images from Disk dialog click Using mask The Import From Disk Masked dialog opens NeoPack Professional Chapter 9 Images mode Page 59 Choose the image directory Enter the path to the image files you want to import You can click the Browse button to open a Browse dialog Specify the file range to import NeoPack Professional can use a mask to select the files to import as well as identify important information embedded in a filename For example a set of files might be named Image 1 Image001 exp tif Image 2 Image002exp tif Image 3 Image003exp tif Imagexxxexp tif These filenames consist of a prefix the unique number then a postfix e prefix img e number 001 xxx 3 digits long e postfix exp e extension tif The important information can be imported along with the image data by specifying the location of the data within the filename In this case you would enter e Image as the pre entry e 3 as the no width entry exp as the post entry e tif as the ext entry With these settings made any files that don t conform to this filename mask will be ignored If the pre no width and post fields are left blank any eligible tif files found in the specified di
168. ults so that when you create a new job file it will inherit these default values and you won t have to spend time re configuring NeoPack Professional to work the way 1t did with your previous job file Cs Genea Detaut LUTs Paths There are the gaad vaus ha ane sesgned lo rey Geaa Mes ou may edit them w impor them hom an sitina Fle Once you re familiar with how these fields are used you can set the program defaults Adding default fields Choose File Options then choose the Default tab Detsis Fields Click the Details Fields Edit button The Data Eat inpotiomie Fields dialog is displayed Note there are three tabs Subject fields Folder fields and File fields contain information about each subject appearing as a name in the shoot list or data to be imported to match against images are objects that are allocated to a particular folder or a parent folder of a sub folder Useful fields include the campus name for a school campus or a year s mascot are objects that are common to all the groups involved in the current job Things like the school name school logo and the like are good examples of File fields The Subject Fields tab The Subjects Field tab contains fields that pertain to each subject appearing as a name ina row list Please see Chapter 8 Details Mode for more information Adding a new field Click Add A new line appears Click
169. urce images in the Source subdirectory Defining the Design File location Templates can be stored in various places within your local area The location of the templates must be defined before NeoPack Professional will see them ready for you to use NeoPack Professional Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional Page 32 Adding a Design file location Choose File Options then choose the Paths Design Files tab Now choose New A new line appears in the list box Enter the whole path for the location of the design files you want to use You can use UNC ComputerName ShareName or mapped drive letters as a valid path After entering a new path NeoPack Professional must be re started before 1t will recognise the new entries and so see any templates in the new location Garra Dietas LUT Pads Image Filer Design Files le je Monitor calibration If you wish to use the built in monitor calibration ensure Enable monitor LUT is checked If this option is enabled the monitor calibration wizard must be run See Chapter 15 Calibration amp Color Management for more information regarding monitor calibration NeoPack Professional Chapter 6 Configuring NeoPack Professional Page 33 Job files Job files are self contained files that contain the various bits of information used to create all the pages for a job When a file is created by choosing File New it inherits default setting
170. usually punch either the beginning or end of a print Once the roll of paper is processed the prints are cut by your lab s cutter into a stack of prints Additionally some printers are able to punch the paper within a single print You might be printing a series of packs that comprise 4 units per pack This style printer can place a punch at the beginning of each unit in a pack as well as at print start end Hard and soft cut marks NeoPack Professional supports 2 types of cut mark e Soft cut mark the pack will be punched by the printer at the defined position e Hard cut mark NeoPack Professional will split the pack into separate pages at the defined position In order to use soft cut marks you must use a Timestone Software printer driver with a printer that supports mid image punches NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 96 Any printer can use Hard cut marks Using Hard cut marks Hard cut marks are a very powerful tool and can be used in a variety of ways Firstly 1f you have a short advance printer you can define a series of hard cuts in a long pack This makes long packs easily printable by most of the digital printers available today Secondly you can tune your production into manageable chunks Digital high speed printers need large volumes of image data delivered in a continual stream in order to keep the printer busy Images sent to the printer need to be delivered fast enough to keep u
171. ute origin and size in the Object Dimensions toolbar then choose Apply The object is positioned and sized exactly Choosing objects in other layers When several objects are placed within a template you can cycle between objects using a keyboard modifier with the mouse For example 1f you want to select the background page that is completely covered with objects perhaps to adjust its size click any object on in the template That object is highlighted Now hold the CTRL key on the keyboard Note that the mouse pointer changes to the Object Cycle tool Click the object again and note that the object in the next layer below it is highlighted Figure 25 Cycling between layer objects Changing the layer order Objects can be positioned in front or behind each other The order of the objects can be changed with the Object Order toolbar The layer order of an object can be changed by selecting the object then choosing a layer order tool in the toolbar fl te Send object down 1 layer Y y N Send object to the back Send object down 1 layer Bring object to the front Place two Image Objects on the page making sure that they overlap each other NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 106 Figure 26 The selected object in the top layer Click the Send down 1 layer tool The selected object is sent down 1 layer and will now appear behind the other in the finished print Figure 27 The selected object
172. various systems of tracking the images This can mean that the image files that are imported can have a unique and important name or number embedded in their filename These uniquely named files are called indexed images Images that don t include such information in their filenames are imported in sequential order Sequential images When importing sequential images it is only important to retain the same image order as was on the original film In this case the image files should be named in shoot order i e 0001 9999 When NeoPack Professional imports them the order is retained Indexed images Many labs use cameras or film editors that can allocate unique numbers to a particular negative or image This number can then be used to record various data within other management systems in the lab For example the Lucht Shooter File records pack order color corrections and other essential information that is used to create the required prints When importing images to NeoPack Professional that have come from such a system it is possible to retain the essential index number and so create the packs in the same manner as would be normal in this workflow Sequential vs Indexed images The following screen shots show an indexed and sequentially numbered file Note the difference in image numbers Figure 5 A sequentially numbered image set NeoPack Professional Chapter 7 Job files Page 37 Image Tags When images ar
173. w click in the First value and enter a first name Press Enter The text will appear in the page preview Continue entering some text for the Last and Message fields Labeled holders When you design your templates you can place a Labeled holder to simplify your production workflow When creating the template you might want a logo graphic to appear in the final image Rather than re designing your templates to include each logo you can place a special box with a reference to the logo file When you are creating the work for a particular job you import the logo to the Details When the job is run the logo is positioned in the design as specified by the template Creating and positioning a labeled holder To place a labeled holder open the template you wish to use then choose the Labeled holder button in the toolbar al Click and drag the mouse in the template where you want the object to appear It is not necessary to be 100 accurate at this stage The Labeled holder dialog is shown abeled cer A Label tas choollogd Cancel NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 115 Entering the code Depending on how you create the jobs you will have defined some default fields in the Main mode in this example a field SchoolLogo has been created that will reference the logo file Labeled holders need to have the same code as the field in Main Choose OK and the labeled object is placed Jhex
174. witch to Design mode by choosing Mode Design The Template Designer is shown Choose File New then choose Pack Layout from the selection A blank template is created Set the page size The first step when designing a layout is to set the page size required for your layout If you are creating a single print size this is the size of that print If you are designing a package it is the size of the completed pack Set the page size by clicking on the background page Note that the page handles become active and the Size entry area becomes active First ensure that you have the correct units selected by clicking the units drop down Now enter the page size you wish to use then Apply The page size changes E NeoPack File Edit Layout Image Orientation Mode Help AA a e Elie E Offset E y Size Al 12 00 0 8 00 Apply 3 5 1 Figure 14 Selected background page with handles NeoPack Professional Chapter 11 Design mode Page 88 Placing objects The various objects used in a template are placed in a similar fashion e Choose the object to place by clicking the icon in the toolbar e Click and drag the object area onto the template canvas e Set the object options e Set the object size Using the Grid and Snapping The template designer has several useful options to help size and position objects in a template e Aruler e Grid e Grid snap The ruler and grid are visual aids for sizing and p
175. you can match manually using this information NeoPack Professional provides a facility to enlarge the lower quarter of the image where this information is likely to be thus making it easier to match each image against the corresponding data Simply select View Camera Cards and then follow the steps as per Matching manually below Matching via shoot cards If you have the name data before photography day you might create Shoot cards with barcodes printed on them Each subject is handed their card and as they are photographed the card is collected If the subject is photographed several times the card is marked with that number Back in the lab the shoot cards which are in shoot order are read with a barcode reader to insert them to the Match table Matching manually If you collect the shoot order from the order bags which are collected in shoot order and marked with the number of times a subject was photographed you can manually match Choose the image start typing the name and then select the name from the list As discussed in Chapter 8 Details mode name data can be imported and if match information i e an ID number is included in the data the names can be matched to images on import assuming you ve already imported the images There are two types of data you can import or enter e Name and group data no matching information e Name Data and match the shoot order has been captured at photography time
176. you won t need to do any matching because it will already have been done automatically when you imported the data assuming you imported the images first 1 e the images were already there This way all you need to use Match mode for is to check through the names and images to make sure that there are no inconsistencies Using Match mode To reach NeoPack Professional s Match screen choose Mode Match The Match screen is divided to several sections e The image match preview area e Look up tools e Search tools e Match toolbar A A Pies ier dee Sed ere Peers Pd ari ree e Fe A Fal Mes Bie Hip del ee gee mh muy Feth The Match toolbar mbh pel Look up tools A Search tools OA ti Image match preview area Figure 13 Match mode NeoPack Professional Chapter 10 Match mode Page 72 Matching overview The process of matching images and names can be done in several ways depending on your particular system and usual method of working Timestone CapturePost digital capture module If you use Timestone s CapturePost all the images will be pre matched before they reach the lab No matching 1s required aside from confirming the data Pre matched data You might have an external system that matches images and names This data can be imported and checked in the Match Matching via Camera cards If you have a system where ID numbers are super imposed onto the images
177. your keyboard Choose Subjects Import text file The Text file to import details dialog 1s displayed Locate and select the text file that contains the data The contents of the file being imported needs to be specified Choose Setup from the Text file to import details dialog the Setup subject details text file import dialog 1s shown pd a air LA Als a dl dd ad do cata ory hunde liki bi mma dea ah J np ihe repo etal he pepe a eis Bairi dl bint FP Li sail detal H E Piglia ai cr ce E rip opii eh biie dl lara Feel ruta kh A Fs rl sip do red 1 r r Puy r CE coe Specify the import type Choose whether the file being imported is a Fixed or Delimited file If you are importing a delimited file specify the delimiter either choose by tab or by and enter the delimiter character Type by tab Fixed Delimited f bu A Map the fields Specify which field matches your data You might have a file that has a number of records that look similar to Amy Batchelor Year 7 15568 260172 The fields in this record are Record Field Field Amy FirstName 1 Batchelor LastName 2 Year 7 Folder 3 15568 ID 4 260172 Date of Birth 5 Enter the relevant field number for each available field NeoPack Professional Chapter 8 Details mode Page 44 Field map Updating existing data If you have already imported some details 1t is possible to update th

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