Agree, a single vendor is limiting, but perhaps more companies will come on board if the system is open. I can imagine Blurb may enjoy an exclusive period initially. I'd like to see MyPublisher represented.

I am very loyal to my current lab of my choice....this could be an issue.

Blurb / Lightroom's book module integration shows clearly that the other companies need to show interest and commitment and, hopefully, this will develop in the future.

Don't forget that Aperture had to start with Apple's photobook service before opening to other vendors.

Rgds, Gilles.

You need to understand also that Blurb has the advantage to be international and to fit perfectly in Lightroom's typical customer profile (advanced amateur and pro).

Rgds, Gilles.

I can understand the partnership with Blurb for total integration. I just won't use this part.

What I don't understand is why, if you chose PDF option, you still have only Blurb Book Sizes.

That makes the PDF unusable with other companies.

This module should have a customizable size option.

Another point : I didn't manage to create my own page layouts.

Is this something that can be done?

If not, will it be available for the release version of LR4?

I am so disapointed with the Book option - and I was so looking forward to this!

It is important to be able to do:

1. Page settings - to comply with any Book service or as I do, print it myself.

2. Page layout on the fly - move images freely around, rotate, crop, put them over each other and set layer and blending

options.

3. Soft Proofing on a page basis.

I have tried or looked at a lot of different Book services - they all have this amateurish locked layout, and most have no color management. It looks like Adobe has taken a poor workflow and improved it sligthly - Not the usual high professional level they are known for!

What I do know, is export to Photoshop as smart objects and do the layout and soft proofing there, before going back to Lightroom to print - not very smart or convenient.

Looks like i have to continue doing this except for the soft proofing.

If only!

I have been looking forward to this feature since the inception of LR ... doing a book/album layout referencing the original RAW files and not having to work with InDesign and derivative files seems to a be a no-brainer next step with LR (not that I don't like ID, but it is overkill for many photo book needs) ...

I am really hoping that the Book Module being tied soley to Blurb is just a beginning point and not the end goal. I use as many as seven different book printers including flush mount wedding albums. I do not relish the thought that, for me, the Book Module will be rendered useless until the vendors I use get around to creating their own plugin to support this feature. Even though Blurb may have asissted the LR team in development of this module I am puzzled by the limitation ... be assured I have nothing against Blurb or any negative opinions of their products or services ... unfortunately, Blurb cannot handle my book publishing needs ... not even in a small way. As it stands, the ability to export a book to PDF is useless for anything other than proofing the book as you are locked into Blurb's templates and page sizes.

Limiting the book fulfilment to a single vendor seems akin to the Print Module only being supported for a single brand or model of printer ... or the Web Module limited to creating web galleries for only one browser. The Book Module needs to be vendor independent ... If I wanted to limit my options for book printing, I could always use Aperture 3.

Ideally, the Book Module would allow the user to enter in a page dimension, bleed/trim parameters ... allow the creation of User designed templates (similar to the custom Print Module layouts) and then allow the user to export a PDF ... or the individual pages as jpeg files (not all print houses accept PDF files) ...

i totally agree!

Blurp is not my choice and i just would like to see an updated sdk where vendors could develop new book configuration!

I have also looked for this feature in Lightroom. For the last two years I have been exporting my files to Apple Aperture and they have incorporated several bookmakers that provide extensions to create books within Aperture and then have them sent to the bookmaker. I have ended up using GraphiStudio which is located in Italy and although they are generally more expensive than the other studios (LuLu and Blurb) their work is absolutely beautiful. One thing I like about their production technology is that they use a continuous feed for the book which means you can have a centerfold with one continuous photo across the two pages.

I used LuLu for a calendar to see what their quality level is and was disapointed in their color output. I have not used any other boodmaker.

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. :-)

The big problem to me isn't that it's just blurb, it's that a) you can't customize the page sizes and b) even if you could, you can't export into any useful format for uploading to a pro print lab (like jpg.)

Ideally the book module would be less third party vendor centric and more similar to the print module (like a print module on steroids) where you can easily change page sizes and export to jpgs. almost ALL album vendors use the same specs (i.e 10x10, 8x8  with a .25 bleed) so as long as you could export to jpg you'd be able to use ANY album vendor or pro lab that makes albums.

LR_Kevin, thank you for your response, that's a really good news for me! You ouh ouh, always get hope with Adobe Team!

Seriously, I was hoping a book feature so much, just a blurb feature was so disapointing for pro photographers. Now I just can't wait to see the template creation feature in action!

Seriously... do you really expect a reply to that kind of question ?

Sorry LR_Kevin I must have missed your post before I originally added my 2 cents to this thread.. I still think there are two separate issues, one is being able to customize the templates and the other is being able to export to jpgs and NOT be limited to PDF. Why not have BOTH options, (both options are available even  in the slideshow module where it is arguably much less essential!) I don't understand the reasoning why it must be either or.

Professional pro print labs use an ordering system called ROES where jpgs are the only file type that can be used to print albums. Most professional photographers are very loyal to their labs as it takes painstaking research and trial and error to find a lab whose products you love and who match your monitor (even calibrated there are huge differences across labs).

If the album module is restricted to using labs or vendors who publish their own templates AND who have to change their entire ordering system to accept PDFs im it is much less immediately  useful to a wide number of users. 

While I've seen the template customization issue addressed here and in other threads, I haven't yet seen anyone at adobe address the export to jpg issue.

We do not export to JPEG because you cannot get good text results from a rasterized file unless it's insanely high resolution. JPEG files are only acceptable for books that have no text (unless you don't care about having jaggy text).

I've never understood why book printers would not accept PDF files unless they don't expect any of their customers to include text in their books.

LR_Kevin wrote:

 

We do not export to JPEG because you cannot get good text results from a rasterized file unless it's insanely high resolution. JPEG files are only acceptable for books that have no text (unless you don't care about having jaggy text).

 

I've never understood why book printers would not accept PDF files unless they don't expect any of their customers to include text in their books.

I've sent photos containing text from PS's text tool as JPEGs for printing many times (including my holiday cards this year) and I've never had a problem with the quality of the text.  The anti-alias setting in PS solves this quite effectively, and I'd encourage you to adopt this approach for those that need it for books sent to JPEG files.