I'm not sure what your definitely of "insanely high" resolution is, but most photographers use photoshop templates that contain text (holiday cards, albums, birth announcements) and routinely export them to jpg at level 10 (this is what labs recommend) with no issue whatsoever.  I don't know if the text boxes in LR are somehow fundamentally different than those of photoshop text however and more prone to pixelation?

As far as tools to convert PSDs to jpg, of course they exist, the point is that it's a workflow killer. And, if what you are saying is that the book module is incapable of rendering unpixelated text to jpg, wouldn't that still be the case if we had to export to PDF and then export to jpg? Or would flowing through PDF somehow prevent this?

Kevin is making a valid point about text rendering. To very accurately render fine typographic details in anything other than very large display type you require a resolution in excess of 600 dpi. Thinking way back to when I worried about prepress details I seem to remember the 1200 dpi figure being the standard for line art, which is basically what 'black' type is. I've been very happy with the printed quality of MyPublisher books, and though they don't expose it, I believe they're using a PDF workflow behind the scenes. As many of you have said here, you are happy with vendors that use jpg - but I don't think there's any disputing that pdf is the superior format.

I'll be pushing MyPublisher to openly provide a pdf publishing option so I can make my own templates and make books in LR4. I agree with SojiOkita's point that being able to selectively show/hide/prioritize templates is important.

Everything Butch said - exactly!

Thanks LR_Kevin for the information and all the good work - custom templates, even for blurb users will be much appreciated.

LR_Kevin wrote: We evaluated all the major book publishers before deciding on Blurb for Lightroom 4. We're open to including other publishers in the future, but decided to concentrate on just one for LR4 so we could deliver the best experience we could.

@LR_Kevin : I am the owner of COUTURE BOOK, and we were one of 4 companies chosen by Apple to do a plug in to the book module for Aperture. (Blurb was not one of them). These were professional solutions Apple sought out. We ARE interested in being one of the publishers in LR, so please put us on this list, or please forward this interest to the appropriate party. We already have an export plugin for LR, which has been out since version 2. Much appreciated.

Victoria Bampton a écrit:

 

SojiOkita wrote:

 

I've got two questions about the custom sizes and layouts...

1) For custom page sizes, it's clear, but I'm not sure for layouts... it will also possible to have custom ones in LR4 final release?

2) Will it be possible to create thes sizes & layouts without the use of another (paying) software?

 

1.  Yes, see here: http://forums.adobe.com/message/4129447#4129447  "

You will be able to create your own templates at any size you like, so a printer could publish a set of templates sized perfectly for them. You would install the templates, print your book to PDF, and upload the PDF file to the vendor directly.  I'm working on documentation for template creation, but it needs a little more smoothing out before releasing it to the wild. :-)"

Thanks for your answer.

I've read this post, but I also read (elsewhere) that you would need to use Adobe Illustrator to make your templates...

Which would make this solution not usable for most Lightroom users.

This is to explain the "without the use of another (paying) software" of my question.

Amazing, Kevin: thanks!

So there will be the need to use another software only for the templates?

WIll it be possible to do it with free software?

It has to be a solution that anyone can use...

In my own opinion, making your own templates is the most important function of a book editing software.

For now I make my photobooks with the Print module & the custom package.
I only miss the ability to add text and multipage support.

It's very easy to make your own templates and use them.

You can define borders, align photos etc... etc...

I hope that the solution will be as easy as easy to use sa the custom package in the Print module...

(In the Book module, I didn't even find a way to add a border around a photo... maybe it's hidden somewhere)

I was waiting so much for this book module... now I'm waiting so much for the solution to make custom page sizes & templates...

Assuming the underlying output is PDF, would that include InDesign then Victoria?

I'm comfortable in both. Without knowing what exactly the templates will allow, I can imagine scenarios where one or the other of the apps would have advantages. If it's pdf based, we can use which ever one makes more sense for the creative objective. I like that and it should broaden the number of users who have one or the other.

Soji,

Assuming the template creation process relies on basic containers within those applications, you would be able to make use of the 30-day free download with either app. If you are using all the features, both applications have steep learning curves but if you have a particular custom size in mind with a small set of layout permutations you should be able to accomplish that within the 30-day trial period.

Of course, that doesn't address the situation where you want to constantly create new custom templates, but again for many LR users it might be all they need  to work with a book publisher not supported in LR4. In addition I expect LR users will share templates they've created for as-yet-unsupported publishers who have a PDF printing path.

I hope that offers a little ray of hope for the short term. All of this depends on how the template structure is defined.

::Michael

The book module seems to be limited to Blurb. How about adding the same additional features to the print module such as the caption, guides, text boxes that use any font on your computer, the ability to add a background or graphics with the opacity slider and finally the ability to rotate the cells to any angle on the page and to add any border to the individual photos on the page. I begged for this in LR2 and I pleaded for this in LR 3 so that I could create any size page /spread with any design, save it out to a JPEG and send it off to any lab and print any style book.

You were so close with LR 3. You didn't need to create a new module that is only useful to those who print Blurb books. You just needed to improve the print module. Now that you have created the the book module it does not seem to be a far stretch to add those options to the print module. I'm not going to beg this time. However I'm going to be enticed to upgrade without the improvements to the print module that are long overdue.

To LR_Kevin, I add my thanks as well.  I agree that there are 2 separate issues.  Blurb exclusivity and custom templates.  I understand wanting to work with one printer initially with an expectation of more companies being added at a later date.  I happen to be a Blurb user and find their service excellent but I do not think that any company should have a long term exclusive relationship.

I am really pleased to hear that the ability to create custom templates is being worked on.  I have used the workaround of creating a template in the Print Module and printing to JPG but it is certainly not an acceptable long term solution.

Keep up the good work Adobe.

I also ordered this Swatch Kit from Blurb a few months ago and I totally agree: it's very basic quality, even for the "pro" papers.
I'm not going to order any book to Blurb if they don't offer options for better paper & finish quality.

May be it's a exclusive licensing issue / contract between Adobe and Blurb, then it would not help much to ask for the integration of other companies (would like to see http://www.saal-digital.de/ within LR4).

Ordered a first book with LR4 to check blurbs quality. It was at least quite tricky to find out what exactly I will get delivered when selecting the different options.

Album Epoca is really interested to be added in the LR4 module for book or album export, hoping that also other professional labs will ask to open this useful module for all professional photographer. Adobe will raise his professional users in this way, getting a good feedback from the comunity. We would be glad to receive further contact from Adobe about this option.

Emiliano

Tech Support

Album Epoca