Designer's Workflow - Please comment - and post your process tips

[jgannon]

For what it's worth I find the following workflow is providing repeatable, predictable results with BookMaker (I happen to be on a mac - not sure it matters in regards to workflow). I also happen to be a graphic designer and likely use additional software not everyone has...

? I design the books in spreads with Adobe InDesign using the dimensions of the particular style.
? I set my color settings in InDesign to view in RGB and preview with Adobe 1998
? I export pages as PDF with High Quality Print settings. I set the "output" setting to "convert to destination" and use "Adobe 1998" profile setting and select "include destination profile"
? I then open the file in Acrobat
? I then export all the individual pages from Acrobat as PNG image format. PNG settings I set to embed profile, use rgb colorspace and output at 300 pixels/inch. NOTES: One could also export as jpeg images but I've found the PNG gives me better res for some reason... also, 300 px might be overkill and the MyPublisher suggested setting of 180 px could likely suffice but I'd rather err on a higher res... Also, images generally tend to be a very manageable size - generally 100k to 3 mb for 11 x 8.5 books
? I then make sure my page images are in my "Pictures" folder as this is a default location where Bookmaker looks for photos
? I establish the proper book style in BookMaker to be "Just Photos"
? I then import all the individual pages into BookMaker
? I now view pages using the "All pages" mode
? I set the layout of ALL pages to be one image only
? For the cover I select one of the layout choices with type that will overlay the full bleed imported cover image
? I select the type boxes and just type a blank space so the software thinks there is text in place
? I set BookMaker to "hide guidelines" so the type box outlines aren't visible
? Still in "all pages" view mode I drag my png images to their proper page... NOTE: I've tried "autobuild" with limited success... I tend to spend more time cleaning up the pages after autobuild than it takes to manually drag the proper image to it's respective page...
? Book is now complete
? I do use the online share feature to preview the book - one of the nicer features of BookMaker
? In terms of final cost MyPublisher is not as affordable as first appears as shipping is very expensive. They charge by the book... so watch out if comparing costs...

[mypublisher]

Cool -- thanks for sharing your workflow!

Here are a couple things to consider:

The only usable image format in BookMaker is JPEG. In the case of the Mac, other formats (TIFF, PNG, etc) are converted automatically. On the PC side, only JPEG images can be acquired -- other formats will have to converted using a third party image editor.

Also, in terms of file size / resolution, 300dpi (at the size of the image mold on the page) is the maximum resolution -- 200dpi is the minimum. Thankfully, as long as the images meet (or exceed) the specs, BookMaker will size each image according to the size that's chosen via the page layout settings in BookMaker.

Beyond that, I wouldn't change a thing.

[fvillain]

Hi,

thanks for your workflow. I have been doing photobooks before in InDesign and my workflow is roughly the same. It is the first time I am using BookMaker though, and I have some problems figuring out what should be the bleed dimensions for a 15"x11.5" deluxe book.

I know the dimensions are:
Cover Dimensions: 15 inches wide by 11.5 inches high
Page Dimensions: 14.25 inches wide by 11.125 inches high
And the optimal picture size: 4275x3338 pixels (which is the same page dimensions at 300dpi)

What I cannot figure out is the bleed for the inside, binding, top and bottom.
Usually when I design my spreads in InDesign to make sure my double pages are perfectly aligned in the middle of the book (binding) I need to make sure I setup the exact binding bleed (gutter), but I cannot find this information here.

What kind of bleed size do you use in InDesign?
Can anyone help me regarding those bleed sizes?

One tip from me: I export my pages individually as PDF pages in full quality no compression. Then using an action, I open them in Photoshop in 1200dpi, then resize them to 300dpi and save as JPEG high quality. I found this technique enables me to do all the layouting/scaling in InDesign without having to worry about scaling my pictures in Photoshop first. And the result is as good (if not better?!?) as if I did the scaling before hand in Photoshop. Much more flexible I think...