Creating Print Templates

1. How print templates become printout pages
2. Basic information on templates
3. Designing a template in Zoner Draw 4
4. Generating an icon.bmp (thumbnail) file
5. Composing a details.ini file
6. Positioning and testing a template

1. How Print Templates Become Printout Pages

Zoner Photo Studio offers an ideal solution for printing photographs: it offers both ordinary printing and a tremendous variety of printouts formatted using templates. Despite their name, these need not be sent immediately to a printer, and can even be exported to a PDF file.

There are two basic ways to print in Zoner Media Explorer 5:

1. Printing a single photo from the Editor; during such printing, you can visually set the photo's size and its placement on the page.
2. Printing one or more photos from the Explorer. This type of printing formats the printout pages using templates. Zoner Photo Studio comes with over hundreds of templates - for simply printing photo lists with photos, for printing onto photo paper, for simple photo albums, and for themed printouts.

Preparing a Printout:

1. Every time you start the program's printing wizard (i.e. use the Print and Export... command in the Publish menu), the program goes through the contents of the Publish folder on your hard drive, prepares a list of template categories, and displays them in a drop-down list.

2. In the step following this, you select a template. Up to four text fields, depending on the characteristics of the selected template type are shown in the wizard below the template thumbnails. The texts entered here are fed into the printout page(s) during the next step. The first two text fields are for text related to a whole printout page; the remaining two are for texts related to the individual photos on the page. These fields accept both ordinary text and variables that are replaced with the real text or number they represent. You can hand-type variables or use the arrow to the right of a field to enter them. The possible variables are:
   
   

   For whole pages (header and footer):
   Page number	{PAGE}		Current time	{TIME}
   Number of pages	{PAGES}		Current date	{DATE}
   For individual files (photos):
   File Information:			EXIF Information:
   Image number	{IMGNR}		Image width	{W}
   Time	{TIME}		Image height	{H}
   Date	{DATE}		Color depth, in BPP	{BPP}
   File name	{NAME}		Size of image's data	{IS}
   File extension	{EXT}		Compression used	{C}
   The path to the file	{PATH}		Date picture was taken	{PT}
   File type	{FT}		Flash used?	{FLASH}
   File size	{FS}		Exposure time	{ET}
   Time created	{TC}		F number	{F}
   Time last modified	{TM}		Focus length	{FL}
   Time last accessed	{TA}		ISO	{ISO}
   			Author	{A}
   			Title	{T}
   			Keywords	{K}
   			Description	{D}
   			Audio note	{AUD}

3. Next, pictures are placed in their placeholders, which are marked on templates as rectangles. You can fill in the pages by hand, i.e. by dragging photos one by one to their places, or automatically. When pictures are placed automatically, as many pages are created as are needed to print out all selected images.
   You can rotate images on the page by 90 and use one of three methods, trim, fit, and stretch, for fitting them into the placeholders - see the illustration below.
   
   

4. In the final step, you can send the printout to a printer, export it to PDF format, open it in the Editor for more detailed edits, or save it as a file with the ZPT extension.

The basic set of templates supplied with Zoner Photo Studio is sufficient for most  needs, but Zoner Photo Studio's open architecture also allows you to edit existing templates or create entirely new ones.

2. Basic Information on Templates

All templates are located in the Publish folder, which you can find beneath the folder where Zoner Photo Studio was installed.

There are two ways that templates can be stored. The first is to store them in ZPT archives. This is in fact a .zip archive with its extension altered to prevent accidental changes. ZPT archives are the standard method for distributing templates.

However, they can also be stored in folders with the ZPT extension.

Every template contains the following three files:

• details.ini - a text file defining the template's properties,
• icon.bmp - a thumbnail of the template,
• xxxxxxx.zmf - the custom template itself - a Zoner Draw file.

Creating a new template is a 5-step process:

1. Create a graphic document with the text and photo layout in Zoner Draw 4 or 5.
2. Generate an icon.bmp thumbnail file.
3. Compose a details.ini definitions file.
4. Place the template in the Publish folder as a ZPT folder or archive.
5. Test the template in Zoner Photo Studio.

The following description assumes that you are well-acquainted with work in Zoner Draw .

3. Designing a Template in Zoner Draw 4 or 5

You should definitely use this blank document. This is because it contains 9 layers that are applied when generating printouts. If the layers' names and order are changed, the template will not work.

The individual layers' contents and meanings are:

Basic layers:

1. Frame Background - this layer contains the background and frame for the whole template.
2. Photo Placeholders - this layer contains placeholders for images. It may only contain rectangles. The rectangles may be rotated to any desired angle, and can have any desired properties (fill, outline, etc.). They will not, however, appear in the resulting printout, because they will be replaced by images. The order in which rectangles are drawn in the document will affect the order of the images on the printout.
3. Frame Foreground - contains the frame foreground.

Text layers:

4. Photo Titles - usually and mainly contains filenames, and its objects are most often connected to the third text field. The layer must contain only blank text frames with paragraph text. The alignment and font you set for the frames will be used in printouts. These must be set in Zoner Draw with the Edit tool active, i.e. for the whole text object. Just as in the case of layer 2, the order in which the objects are drawn determines the order in which they will be generated on the printed page.
5. Photo Descriptions - usually and mainly contains photo descriptions. The same principles apply for the text objects placed here as apply for those in layer 4. These objects are "fed" by the fourth text field.
6. Header - contains nothing but a single, blank frame with paragraph or artistic text. The font and alignment set for the frame will be used in the template. Note that this text can be placed on a curve. This layer is filled with information from the first text field.
7. Footer - Just as with layer 6, it contains a sole text frame. It receives information from the second text field.

Supplementary layers:

8. Foreground - contains foreground objects that are added into the resulting printout. This layer can contain anything that you might wish to use to supplement the template's look, but that you cannot place on layer 1 because it would be hidden by objects on higher layers.
9. Preview Placeholders - an informational layer, which will not be included in the resulting printout. It is used for placing numbers that indicate the order of images and rectangles, as set by the placeholders in layer 2. This layer can also include rectangles (which should match the placement of the real placeholders), with no fill and with a color that contrasts with the other objects in the template - the default templates use red.

Important Rules for Designing Templates:

• The document must contain at least one placeholder on layer 2.
• The document must contain only one page.
• The document's master page must remain blank.
• The document may not contain any layers but the mentioned nine.
• The layers' order may not be changed.
• If the template does not contain texts, it must still contain all of the text layers (Title, Description, Header and Footer), which must in this case remain blank.
• The number of objects in layers 2, 4, 5 and 8 must correspond - there must be the same numbers of rectangles, photo titles, and photo descriptions. The exception to this rule is template with no photo titles or descriptions.
• The objects on layers 2, 4, 5 and 8 must have the correct order, which defines how images and corresponding page texts are drawn. The drawing order is given by the order in which you insert objects - image #1 will be by definition the first rectangle inserted on layer 2; the first texts inserted on layers 4 and 5 will "belong" to it.
• The placeholders on layer 2 precisely set the image's placement. If, for example, you apply mirroring to the placeholder, the inserted photo will be mirrored as well.
• To set text parameters (font, style, alignment) on layers 4 and 5, Photo Descriptions and Photo Titles, you need to use Zoner Draw 4's Edit tool and set them for each text object as a whole. Setting these properties in Shape mode will not ensure proper formatting for the texts.
• Objects drawn with the Table tool may not be used in the templates.

Recommendations and Supplementary Information for Template Design:

• Layers 1, 3, and 8 will be placed on the master page in the resulting printout, in order to save memory and increase speed. Therefore, they will not be editable when a printout based on the template is opened in the Editor.
• The texts that you leave in the text fields will always be replaced by what is entered in the Print and Export wizard when the template is used. However, texts placed here are useful for illustrative purposes (i.e. for text like "Description goes here.")
• Leave all of the layers visible, unlocked, and printable.
• We recommend that you carefully consider the orientation and ratio of sides for the placeholders on layer 2. The templates supplied with Zoner Photo Studio most frequently use a ratio of 4:3, which is typical for digital photography. Classical photos tend to have the ratio 3:2.
• The template's format need not be Letter or A4. You can also use the billboard printing feature to create, for example, large posters.
• When designing your template, don't forget that not all printers print all the way out to the edge of the page. The templates supplied with Zoner Zoner Photo Studio assume non-printing regions of about 0.6 in. (1.5 cm) on the bottom and 0.2 in. (.5 cm) on the remaining sides of each page.
• When selecting a font to use, remember that when your template is used on another computer, any non-standard fonts you use may not be available there. The following fonts are "safe," i.e. they are contained in all versions of Windows: Arial, Comic Sans MS, Courier New, Impact, Lucida Console, Tahoma, Times New Roman and Verdana.
• In order to ease further edits in the Editor, we recommend that you not use the Group command on texts. Grouping is fine, however, for clip art and other objects that the user is unlikely to change in the Editor.

What Can Slow Down Template-Based Printing?

The generation of printout pages, and thus the resulting print job, slows down considerably if the placeholder rectangles on layer 2 are rotated or have perspective applied to them, if transparency, soft shadows, or transparent shadows are used, if transparent GIFs are included, or if bitmaps with rotation or perspective are included. We therefore recommend that you use such effects and elements with caution. On the other hand, once you have decided to use one such effect, it does not matter if you use others, as the slowdown is caused by Zoner Photo Studio's using an alternative print method for these effects, not by the number and type of such effects.

4. Creating an icon.bmp (Thumbnail) File

Once the template itself is ready, a bitmap thumbnail based upon it must be created. This thumbnail is used in the wizard when displaying all of the templates in a selected category.

The thumbnail is stored in the file icon.bmp. The maximum size is 70 pixels, so dimensions of 70 x 54 are recommended for a Letter-sized template, and 70 x 50 for an A4-sized template.

To generate the thumbnails, export your template out of Zoner Draw to a bitmap using the Ctrl+Shift+E command. We recommend saving the whole template to a BMP file with the long side 1000 pixels long, and then resizing it (Ctrl+E) and sharpening it (Ctrl+6) in Zoner Photo Studio. This method will save you from having to hand-calculate the thumbnail dimensions, especially if you are using a paper size other than letter or A4.

The template designs count on objects not being placed all the way to the edge of the page - white strips will always remain around them. However, export to a bitmap will create an image where objects will run all the way out to the edge, i.e. without white borders, which is not always esthetically pleasing when they are viewed in the visual template list. For this reason, we recommend placing, on the lowest layer, a white, unoutlined rectangle with the same dimensions as the page. This object will set the dimensions of the bitmap to be exported.

5. Composing a details.ini File

Details.ini is a text file that you can create in, for example, Notepad. It contains the complete definition of the template - sorting into categories, assignment of texts, and other parameters. The file contains two sections: General and Text.

File Structure:

The Text section is not required. It can be left out entirely or in part, depending on what kinds of texts are or are not used in the template.

Example - the details.ini file and the corresponding text fields from the Index 2 x 5 template:

[General]
Category=01 - Catalogs - basic
Name=Index 2 x 5
File=index A 2x5.zmf
DefTrim=Fit

[Text]
Header=Title
HeaderValue=Title...
Footer=Page
FooterValue=p. {PAGE}/{PAGES}
Title=Path
Titlevalue={PATH}
Description=Description
DescriptionValue={IMGNR}. {NAME}.{EXT}\n{FS}\n{W}x{H}x{BPP}\n{IS}\nFlash:
{FLASH}\nExposure time: {ET}\nF number: {F}\nFocus length: {FL}\nISO: {ISO}

6. Positioning and Testing a Template

Place all three files used in the template in a folder whose name corresponds with the filename. Give the folder a ZPT extension. Move this folder into the Publish folder - see section 2. The Publish folder can contain templates both as folders and as ZPT archive files.

The template should appear in the Print and Export wizard, both in the defined category and in the "All" category. Test the template by filling it with photos. Check the names to make sure the order is right and that the texts fit the images.

If you ever test a template a second time after making changes to it, you should erase the auxiliary *.ini files that Zoner Photo Studio generates in the Publish folder. Otherwise, you will not see your changes.

Once a template is ready and tested, use a compression program to pack its folder into a ZIP file. Rename this file to [the file's name].zpt and place it in the Publish folder.

Would you like to share your template with other users of Zoner Photo Studio? The best templates we receive will be made available for downloading on the automatic updates page, along with a mention of the author's name and, if the offer wishes, her Web page. To share your templates this way, please write to minar@zoner.com.