The COUTURE BOOK Blog

How to create a preview link from your Aperture 3.0 design?

Rafael Loureiro! — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:44:59 GMT

After getting started with the book design process on Aperture 3.0, probably the biggest question I hear is "How do I create a preview to share with my customers before ordering?".

Unfortunately the bad news is Aperture doesn't have a direct way to generate a preview link to send to your customers, but the good news is we DO have one!

With our free online preview, we generate a slide-show of your book design, and a link to that design you can forward on to your clients. That way you can share a preview of your preliminary or finished book layout before ordering the hard copy. This lets you communicate with your customers, as well as keep a record of exactly which design was approved (you can generate different preview links for each iteration of your design).

Here's how to combine your Aperture design with our free online preview:

First, pull up your book project in Aperture, and then hit the "Print" button on the upper right

When the print dialog box comes up, there should be a button on the lower left that says “PDF”
Click on that link and set this option to “Save PDF as Jpg in folder”. This should automatically start the export process

Once Aperture finishes exporting the images, you’ll see a “gear” icon spinning on your upper status bar. That tells you that your machine is working on converting the Jpgs

After it finishes, you’ll get a cryptic new window that pops up that says "copy finder items”. What this actually means is "where do you want your new Jpgs saved". Just pick the location you’d like to save your layouts at, and this will save your exported jpgs

After that, it's easy! Just upload those newly minted Jpgs to your COUTURE BOOK account, and you can order your FREE digital preview.

Hopefully that doesn't sound too complex, and I promise that once you get the hang of it, it’s really easy!

Let me know if you run into any snags, or if you have any questions.

-Dave

Check out the AMAZING woven-leather book by Pepper Nix!!

Rafael Loureiro! — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:26:12 GMT

OMG, when I saw this book go out, I knew it was going to be something special!

This book was created and shot by Pepper Nix, an amazing photographer out of Utah (www.PepperNix.com). I've known her for years, and she has been putting together some beautiful books for a long time, but this one really took the cake. I just love the way Pepper used the printed end-sheets with a leather cover. It gives a very contemporary feel to a fine-art style of book. Of course adding in the slipcase also just gave the book a beautiful polished, finished feel.

Make sure you head over to Pepper's blog to see more images of the book, and view more of Pepper's work: Pepper's Blog

Thanks for sharing Pep!!

Design books with the Aperture Plug-In!

Rafael Loureiro! — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:10:24 GMT

If you haven't seen it yet, you gotta check out our new Aperture 3.0 plug-in: http://www.CoutureBook.com/Aperture

We love Apple's new Aperture for the book design option. It's just so easy to use, and once you create your first book each book afterward just gets easier and easier. Aperture can save custom templates as you create them, making that next book that much faster to design. Even if you use another program for your image editing, the design piece of Aperture makes it worth your while to check it out. Here's the link to download the trial version: Aperture

Once you have installed Aperture and our plug-in, here's how to get started with a book design for COUTURE BOOK, and how export it to us when done:

First, select the image you want to use (highlight the images at the bottom or hold "Command A" to select all of them). Then click on the "New" link at the top, and select book.

Second, this should open a new window with all of the book options available.

Third, in the "Book Type" drop down window, you can choose COUTURE BOOK.

Fourth, once you have book picked, you can then pick the size of book you want to design, and name your project.

After that, you'll go through and design your book layouts. Keep in mind that the provided templates can all be adjusted and you can even make and save your own templates for future COUTURE BOOK project.

Lastly, when your book design is completed, just hit the "Send Book" link in the upper right to send the book to COUTURE BOOK. This will then connect you to COUTURE BOOK, and will walk you through the ordering process. You'll be able to pick out your book style and all of the options associated with that style.

If you do choose a book with a designed cover layout or cover image, we'll follow up after you place your order with instructions on how to upload the cover image(s) separately.

Hope you like the new plug-in, and please let us know if you have any questions comments on it.

Happy Designing!!

-Dave

COUTURE BOOK at SWPP in London

Rodrigo Coelho — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:01:03 GMT

Say "Guten Tag!" to our Munich-based EU representatives Philipp and Ramona, who had a great time showing our latest collections last week at the SWPP Convention in London.

Back from New Orleans and Pictage PartnerCon

Rafael Loureiro! — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:45:32 GMT

Wow, what an amazing show!

So many good speakers, and it was so great meeting everyone out there, seeing old friends, and catching up... And of course New Orleans itself is FANTASTIC!

We even have a nice video shot by our friend Jaci Clark: www.jaciclark.com showing our books.

We also launched our first show special, which was a great success. Make sure you keep your eyes out for us at future shows, and don't forget to ask us about the new show specials.

Hope to see everyone again soon, and looking forward to New Orleans again next year!

Heading to New Orleans next week for the Pictage Partner Conference!

Rafael Loureiro! — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:30:54 GMT

Look out New Orleans!!

Next week we'll be in New Orleans for the Pictage Partner Conference, from November 3rd through the 5th - http://pro.pictage.com/community/ppc/neworleans/

Even if you aren't a Pictage Member, this would be a great show to attend, and they only have a couple of last spots left.

We're bringing a bunch of new books, and we'll have a great show special available to everyone we meet there, so make sure you swing by and say hello!

Hope to see you next week!!

COUTURE BOOK is coming to the Dallas/Ft. Worth PUG meeting next week

Rafael Loureiro! — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:55:32 GMT

If you're in the DFW area and want to check out some of our books, come on down to the PUG meeting next week: http://dallaspug.wordpress.com/

Kristin Greenlee, http://www.kristingreenlee.com, has been gracious enough to have invited us out to show our books, and talk about book design and binding. The meeting is open to everyone, so even if you aren't a Pictage member, you can still come out and hang out with all of us.

The meeting is on October 8th, starting at 6:45pm, and here's the location:
McAlister’s Deli

100 N. Kimball Ave., Ste. 109
Southlake TX 76092
store phone: 817-310-5570

http://www.mcalistersdeli.com/locations/zipcode.asp

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Hope to see you there!