I'm using GIMP, and after seeing this post a couple of days ago, I decided to attempt templates. I'd never used any type of template before. After some experimentation, I found that PSD templates work really well for me. (Those PNG templates are really NOT user-friendly for GIMP.)
I use PNG and PSD but have saved the TIFF and Page in case I ever use a program that support them. If space becomes an issue it would be the TIFF and Page that I delete. I have a bunch of files that only came in PSD and TIFF and I only use the TIFF for a quick view of the template.
.page files are awesome! They are all that I use. They are used by SBC4 or Artisan (by Panstoria) software. Janet Scott, a designer who sells through this site, is now making her templates in .page format. I have found many designers who are now providing .page files. There are two big groups on FB who mostly use .page files, so it is worthwhile for any designer I think! Good luck to all!!!
Actually, on a mac, PSDs do in fact have a preview, but only if you view it in a view that supports it, like column view (my preferred method, which debuted in mac os x in 2001), or cover flow (which was based on how iTunes did music later on, and got thrown into os x, I mean, macos later in the game). Usually when I'm looking for stuff and I don't want to waste time or memory I use column view. If I'm looking for something specific to throw in a LO, like a ribbon, cover flow is very useful in this regard, but it does eat a lot of processing power to use it (my mac is pretty good by today's standards, it's a mid 2012 mbp with lots of ram, but when things get toasty, trust me I know exactly right where that dual core i7 processor is located!).
on a note of what template format I prefer? I tend to use PSDs, since they oftentimes have styles attached to them (like a stroke in a photo frame, like seen in a lot of DFD templates), or a lot of them have style shadows attached to them to where I can insert whatever element, and then copy that layer style from the placeholder element onto the element then tweak the shadows to my liking after I duplicated the file.
Jennifer, a layout template is basically a layered file full of solid-colored placeholder shapes...it shows you where to put pictures and elements, and you can choose to either use the layers that are there as placeholders (hiding them once you've used their location to place an element of the same type above them), or you can clip papers from the kit to them. Most will also have places to clip photos to them. Here's an example of one I released on my blog recently:
I created it mostly using the custom shape tool, using the built-in rectangle and some leaf shapes I downloaded from Shapes4Free plus a Polaroid frame shape, journaling block shape, and ribbon shape that I made, then added the title letters using the text tool (since they're separate colours, they're on separate layers) and applied shadow styles to each layer. Once I was satisfied with the layout and shadowing, I rasterized the layers (keeping the shadows as layer styles) and saved it as PSD so that it could be zipped up and put on the website for people to download. While I could include a layered TIFF in the download, as it's the format I personally prefer, I usually don't because PSD is THE interchangeable format for layered graphics--not all programs that handle TIFF handle layered TIFFs, but they DO open layered PSDs correctly. Anyone who wants TIFF can easily convert them over (I use a quick action I wrote to do it for me--saves an open file as TIFF and then closes it all with one convenient click).
As for how someone has used that template, you can see that Bina Greene simply clipped papers to the leaves for hers, skipped the title and ribbon, and moved her journaling to be written on the Polaroids. I've linked the page in her gallery to the image below. (And she posted a link to the layout less than 7 hours after I'd posted in my freebie thread that it was on my blog! That means she saw the post, went to the blog, downloaded it, chose photos and papers, scrapped her layout, and uploaded it within that timeframe... I love it when I can inspire someone that quickly!)
wow! Thanks so much! I am still just figuring out the digital world...would love to use anything other than PSE it is just too overwhelming for me and I seem to create better with layered templates
There are people who design entire kits with PSE, Jennifer. It's not a huge deal. I prefer Photoshop because I already had it for working on my photography, and after learning what I have in PS, PSE's menu system is weird and I can't do some of the really neat things that I have gotten used to...so I stick with Photoshop. *shrug* It's all in what you're comfortable with.
It's weird. Some people are so used to PSE, like my friend Gretchen, it's all they use for their digi-scrapbooking. Her husband has mentioned the possibility of going to full-blown photoshop many times, including the CC version they have now, but she clings to the PSE version because its' what she knows how to navigate and use faster. I'm like you in that way Holly, that I'm used to regular photoshop. I've been using photoshop since I was a teenager using version 3 (which came out in 1996) in OS 9 on an older mac, and I got quite proficient at it by the time my family upgraded it to photoshop 7 in 2001. I used photoshop 7 for years to do my photo editing on the iMac g4 my dad gave me when I graduated high school. So, on that premise, I've always been accustomed to regular photoshop. Once I got this MBP, CC wasn't a huge jump for me learning-curve wise. But I see all the time where designers use PSE out of personal preference, and have most of their tutorials set up for people who by default use PSE to digi-scrap. I've tried to use the mymemories software (I believe they use PNG templates? correct me if I'm wrong though?) and I'm just confused looking at it interface-wise. Artisan is a non-starter for me though since that requires usage of windows (no mac version).
I love using PSD, and love using png files, they have been very useful to me in my work. I use PSE,
Gimp (very seldomly) Pixlr and PicMonkey online for quick fixes.
I also design fashion and home decor, so even tho I do not generally convert anything to TIFF files,
I actually do convert when making my fashion prints, as they are much clearer, and print better on fabric.
I'm using GIMP, and after seeing this post a couple of days ago, I decided to attempt templates. I'd never used any type of template before. After some experimentation, I found that PSD templates work really well for me. (Those PNG templates are really NOT user-friendly for GIMP.)
I use PNG and PSD but have saved the TIFF and Page in case I ever use a program that support them. If space becomes an issue it would be the TIFF and Page that I delete. I have a bunch of files that only came in PSD and TIFF and I only use the TIFF for a quick view of the template.
.page files are awesome! They are all that I use. They are used by SBC4 or Artisan (by Panstoria) software. Janet Scott, a designer who sells through this site, is now making her templates in .page format. I have found many designers who are now providing .page files. There are two big groups on FB who mostly use .page files, so it is worthwhile for any designer I think! Good luck to all!!!
I prefer psd files cause I use both Paint Shop Pro X6 and Photoshop - opening a tif file in PSP will make it an merged image so its psd for me
Do you know where this group is located online, I would like to see if they could convert mine. Thanks
This may be off topic but can someone tell me how you create the template layout using the .png or .tiff file?
Actually, on a mac, PSDs do in fact have a preview, but only if you view it in a view that supports it, like column view (my preferred method, which debuted in mac os x in 2001), or cover flow (which was based on how iTunes did music later on, and got thrown into os x, I mean, macos later in the game). Usually when I'm looking for stuff and I don't want to waste time or memory I use column view. If I'm looking for something specific to throw in a LO, like a ribbon, cover flow is very useful in this regard, but it does eat a lot of processing power to use it (my mac is pretty good by today's standards, it's a mid 2012 mbp with lots of ram, but when things get toasty, trust me I know exactly right where that dual core i7 processor is located!).
on a note of what template format I prefer? I tend to use PSDs, since they oftentimes have styles attached to them (like a stroke in a photo frame, like seen in a lot of DFD templates), or a lot of them have style shadows attached to them to where I can insert whatever element, and then copy that layer style from the placeholder element onto the element then tweak the shadows to my liking after I duplicated the file.
Jennifer, a layout template is basically a layered file full of solid-colored placeholder shapes...it shows you where to put pictures and elements, and you can choose to either use the layers that are there as placeholders (hiding them once you've used their location to place an element of the same type above them), or you can clip papers from the kit to them. Most will also have places to clip photos to them. Here's an example of one I released on my blog recently:
I created it mostly using the custom shape tool, using the built-in rectangle and some leaf shapes I downloaded from Shapes4Free plus a Polaroid frame shape, journaling block shape, and ribbon shape that I made, then added the title letters using the text tool (since they're separate colours, they're on separate layers) and applied shadow styles to each layer. Once I was satisfied with the layout and shadowing, I rasterized the layers (keeping the shadows as layer styles) and saved it as PSD so that it could be zipped up and put on the website for people to download. While I could include a layered TIFF in the download, as it's the format I personally prefer, I usually don't because PSD is THE interchangeable format for layered graphics--not all programs that handle TIFF handle layered TIFFs, but they DO open layered PSDs correctly. Anyone who wants TIFF can easily convert them over (I use a quick action I wrote to do it for me--saves an open file as TIFF and then closes it all with one convenient click).
As for how someone has used that template, you can see that Bina Greene simply clipped papers to the leaves for hers, skipped the title and ribbon, and moved her journaling to be written on the Polaroids. I've linked the page in her gallery to the image below. (And she posted a link to the layout less than 7 hours after I'd posted in my freebie thread that it was on my blog! That means she saw the post, went to the blog, downloaded it, chose photos and papers, scrapped her layout, and uploaded it within that timeframe... I love it when I can inspire someone that quickly!)
wow! Thanks so much! I am still just figuring out the digital world...would love to use anything other than PSE it is just too overwhelming for me and I seem to create better with layered templates
There are people who design entire kits with PSE, Jennifer. It's not a huge deal. I prefer Photoshop because I already had it for working on my photography, and after learning what I have in PS, PSE's menu system is weird and I can't do some of the really neat things that I have gotten used to...so I stick with Photoshop. *shrug* It's all in what you're comfortable with.
It's weird. Some people are so used to PSE, like my friend Gretchen, it's all they use for their digi-scrapbooking. Her husband has mentioned the possibility of going to full-blown photoshop many times, including the CC version they have now, but she clings to the PSE version because its' what she knows how to navigate and use faster. I'm like you in that way Holly, that I'm used to regular photoshop. I've been using photoshop since I was a teenager using version 3 (which came out in 1996) in OS 9 on an older mac, and I got quite proficient at it by the time my family upgraded it to photoshop 7 in 2001. I used photoshop 7 for years to do my photo editing on the iMac g4 my dad gave me when I graduated high school. So, on that premise, I've always been accustomed to regular photoshop. Once I got this MBP, CC wasn't a huge jump for me learning-curve wise. But I see all the time where designers use PSE out of personal preference, and have most of their tutorials set up for people who by default use PSE to digi-scrap. I've tried to use the mymemories software (I believe they use PNG templates? correct me if I'm wrong though?) and I'm just confused looking at it interface-wise. Artisan is a non-starter for me though since that requires usage of windows (no mac version).
I prefer .psd. I am a PSE user...I even used to be a paid designer and it's the only software I've ever used, mostly due to price...
I always love to have png files.
I love using PSD, and love using png files, they have been very useful to me in my work. I use PSE,
Gimp (very seldomly) Pixlr and PicMonkey online for quick fixes.
I also design fashion and home decor, so even tho I do not generally convert anything to TIFF files,
I actually do convert when making my fashion prints, as they are much clearer, and print better on fabric.
How does one go about converting to a .page file?
We have two threads discussing that topic Kim, here and here. Hope one of them helps!
Awesome! Thank you so much Marisa!
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