What Software for Layout?

[simid]

Hello,

First off, I am not a graphic designer. I currently own Microsoft Publisher and Adobe PhotoShop CS.

I don't know how well I can explain what I am trying to accomplish, but I will give it a try...

I have a sheet of paper that has 12 images already printed on it. The images are laid out in a symetrical fashion. I need to print text over each image. The text will be the same in all 12 places. I could create a type of template and put the text down 12 times, but since I will be changing the text on a regular basis, I would like to have a way that I could just enter it once and it would create the 12-up for me. I have found a way to do this in Publisher, but I wonder if there is a way to have better control of where the text is printed.

I would welcome your input.

Thank you,
David

[defjoe]

Publisher...grrrrrr.

a designers most HATED program. Should be wiped out.

that being said. best bet is to get a layout program such as InDesign or Quark.

[simid]

Thank you for the reply. I tried Publisher because it came with my Office software. Thanks for letting me know that there are better alternatives out there. I will look into the programs that you mentioned. I wonder if Adobe has a pre-sales line? I would like to find out if InDesign will be able to do what it to.

[keith1]

I've never used Publisher but is it really that much of a pain to type once and then copy and paste it 11 more times? As far as printing it in the right place how about making some copies of your original one and test printing it out on those first so you can adjust the position.

[morea]

not only a designers most hated program - but also a printers!

If you plan to send this project to an actual print house to be produced, many will not accept a publisher document. Defjoe is right about Quark and InDesign being the industry standard at this point.

While you can enter text in Photoshop, it never seems to come out as crisp as it should when printed. You could TRY it and print it on your personal printer to see if the quality is good enough for what you need.

If you will be printing the document in house on a laser or inkjet printer you could probably use Publisher to place the photos and text, but since I have never used publisher, I can't really tell you how to go about doing it.

Good luck!

[LavaMan]

You could use illustrator. Measure the orientation of the pictures and draw guides to match them. Type the text in the 12 locations you want and print. Then whenever you want to change the text just use the find/change option under the type menu. This would work for a short blurb of text but not a paragraph.

If you wanted more control. You could do a master page layer in Quark, type it in once / edit it each time you wanted it changed and Quark will multi it up for you. Quark aint really my forte so I cant give you any more light on that option.

(Should mention that because your running the paper twice there may be 1/16" difference between the text and the photos so you may need to nudge it around a bit to get the text centered.)

Hope this helps a bit.

[simid]

Wow, this is a very active message board! I appreceiate your comments.

The reason that I would like to automate the process and not cut and paste is because I will be changing the text on a regular basis.

I have used a business card template in Publisher where you create one card and it prints multiple cards on one page. That is essentially what I would like to do, but have control of the layout.

I will be printing on a 12.5" X 19" page on an Epson R1800 inkjet printer.

Thank you!

[simid]

I downloaded the 30 day trial of InDesign from Adobe. I haven't found a way to to it yet, but it looks like there is a learning curve.

[keith1]

I don't think there is anyway to type in some info and have it update all the text boxes on the same page. If you had a paragraph that was the same for 12 pages then all you'd have to do is close your eyes and just reach out your hands and touch me, hold me close don't ever let me go, more than words.....wha wha.. oh sorry i was lost in a thought there.. all you have to do is update the master page and apply the master to the other pages.

[Kool]

Actually Indesign won't do what you want. I would suggest Corel Draw since you are not a designer per se and you are printing it out on your own printer. It like publisher will allow you to create a single image and then print it out 12 up. It's a whole lot cheaper too.

I find it interesting that Publisher which is universally considered a piece of junk software and Corel Draw which is just barely considered a real design program by the mainstream design community both have a real print preview and compositing features while the much more expensive ID & Quark don't.

[Broacher]

>>I find it interesting that Publisher which is universally considered a piece of junk software and Corel Draw which is just barely considered a real design program by the mainstream design community both have a real print preview and compositing features while the much more expensive ID & Quark don't.<<

I'm glad you said it. But to me, a Corel user since v.1, I cringe at seeing Draw in the same sentence with... well, that Microsoft thing. But I would echo your advice to check out Corel for this person. At least they would be in the postscript ballpark. Corel doesn't deserve all the neg rep it has in the design community (IMHO), but it does deserve the neg rep for all the garbage files that printers crings at coming from amateur users. It's so inexpensive (even a six year old version would work for this stuff and would be practically free if you can find it), and yet so feature rich-- it's incredibly easy to create files that'll never handle well, if at all. But then, how many people read the manuals anymore, eh?

12 up? Sounds like a cheapie business card layout. Cutting it close for paper grip, and it better not bleed. If it's merely text overprints, heck, you could use Word's label function and get the same thing. Probably even an Avery template to match the print (or edit to match) right in the box. Assuming it's a one colour overprint.

[cbscreative]

I also would go with Corel on this one. You can output to AI or PDF for the printer, but here is an easy solution to the problem. Create one master image, text, and everything else. Next use Edit and Clone. Keep making as many Clones as needed. The difference here is when you change the original, all the clones will change with it, which is a lot better than a mere Copy.

My Graphic Design site (www.cbscreative.com)

[simid]

I downloaded a free trial of Corel. I will see if I can make it work. If so, I will purchase it.

Thank you for your help!

[benjo]

Okay I'm surprised no one mentioned this. You can create one text box and step and repeat it to fill your page. It's the same things a 12up or whatever you use in Corel but much more powerful as you can specify all your details.

Step and repeat it's a miracle worker. Oh and both InDesign and Quark have it. =)

[Kool]

Corel also has step and repeat, but you wouldn't need it in this case. You can just go to print preview, which is a real print preview and actually shows your images not just a white square with a red box in it. Then tell it to print it out 12 up with gutter and all spacing options. http://home.comcast.net/~rnick9/koolsmiley.gif

[benjo]

Oh! WOW! Go Corel!

Yea but we use real professional design software. No print previews, no font WYSIWYG no options. ;)

[Kool]

LOL@ Benjo http://home.comcast.net/~rnick9/koolsmiley.gif

[Ghastly]

You can build actions in Illustrator to satisfy all your step 'n' repeatin needs :D
simply make a new action, press record and perform any procedures that you wish to do repeatedly in one fell swoop and press stop.
now you have a little macro (made up of all the other sub actions) that will perform all them procedures with one click of the play button. You can also nest actions within others and if you want to change any paramaters such as: I want it to move 90mm instead of 85mm...press record again, click on the corresponding sub-action, delete it and perform it again under the new settings.

[Broacher]

A simple step and repeat for AI? Edit your keystrokes so that 'Object/Transform/Transform Again is assigned a memorable shortcut (I use Ctrl-Alt-R).

Then, Alt-drag your object and do the shortcut as many times as necessary. Violas. Most of the time though I prefer blending an object to it's copy. That way you can use Blend Options to set how many copies you want in between.

[simid]

I appreciate all of the input.

I downloaded a trial version of Corel and it seems to work as Kool described. It's all in the print preview. Once the 12-up specs are entered, you can save it as a print style.

Now I have to purchase the program. I have a registed version on PhotoShop, so it looks like they will let me pay the upgrade price instead of full price.

Thanks again!