EVENT Photo Retailer SOFTWARE

Chiizu Professional Photo Retailergraphy Software Solutions

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Examples

Photo Retailer

Lets set up Photo Retailer for basic 8x10 printing.

There are four sample templates for this one. Custom templates are created using software from Chiizu called "Photo Layout", but for this example they have been created for you:

To download the sample templates, Click Here

  • Combo.plt

  • Multi.plt

  • Simple Landscape.plt

  • Simple Portrait.plt

Start up Photo Retailer Retailer and follow these steps.

  1. Open the setting menu by right clicking the center of the screen and selecting "Settings->Configure Settings". There is no password by default, so simple click "OK" without typing a password.

  2. Add a print size (Click the first "Add" button in the "Output Print Folders, Sizes and Naming" group of the settings window)

    1. Name the print. E.g. "8x10"
    2. Select the print size from the drop down. This must match the aspect ratio of at least one of your templates. E.g. 8x10
    3. Select the print hot folder. This is where the rendered images will be placed for the Chiizu Image Printer software to pick it up if someone orders a print of this size. E.g."C:\ChiizuSample\8x10 Print"

  3. Add input folder (click the "Add" button in the "Input Image Folders and Templates" group of the settings window)

    1. Enter a display name. E.g. "Santa Photo Retailers"
    2. Select an input folder. This is the folder where your Photo Retailer images can be found. E.g. "C:\ChiizuSample\Santa Photo Retailers"
    3. Associate a template.

      1. Click "Add", locate the .plt file (Combo.plt)

    4. Repeat step 3 for the three other sample templates (Multi.plt, Simple Landscape.plt, Simple Portrait.plt)
    5. Check the box next to the "8x10" print size in the "Associated Output Prints" group.

  4. Create a package. (Click the "Add" button in the "Print Prices and Packages" group of the settings window)

    1. Give the package a name. E.g. "Single 8x10"
    2. Give the package a price. E.g. 10.00
    3. Now add an 8x10 print size to this package. Click the "8x10" print in the left hand list and click "Add to package". The 8x10 print size will now be listed in the right hand list as part of this package. To begin with, we are creating a simple package with just one print in it. Note that if you named your print size something other than 8x10 in step 3.1 then this name will appear rather than "8x10".
    4. Click OK.

  5. Un-tick the checkbox "Use print order cart". This option will mean that the rendered images will be sent directly to the print hot folder. Since we have not yet set up multi print packages, this is a good option.

  6. Close the main settings window

So we are now at the main selling screen. If there are images in your source folder, they should be listed down the left hand side from the newest image to the oldest image. New images will appear at the top of the list real-time as they are added to the source folder from your camera.

Down the right hand side of the main window, we should see the four templates we added. Clicking on a template on the right hand side will bring it into the main window. We can then drag and drop images from the left hand side into the place holders.

Once you have dropped an image into a place holder, you can click on the image as it lies in the template to be presented with options for editing that image. You can click and drag and of the four resize points located at each corner of the image to resize the image. You can also click and drag on the the center of the image to position it in the place holder. Also, you will notice that on the right hand size of the window advanced image editing functionality will become available.

Once you have dropped images into all of the place holders, you can click the "Print Now" button at the top center of the window. A progress bar is breifly displayed while rendering the final image and then you are done. If you look in the output we chose in set 2.3 above (C:\ChiizuSample\8x10 Print) you will see the JPEG output. This JPEG output would be picked up by the Chiizu Image Printer software and sent immediately to the printer to produce the correct print size.

A quick note about the provided sample templates. There are two basic 8x10 templates that hold just one full size image - one portrait and one landscape. There are also two combo templates that look very similar. The only difference is that one of them allows you to drop a different image into each of the four place holders, whereas the other one will place the same image into each place holder. Try it and it will be obvious what is happening here.

Now add Landscape and Portrait templates that allow us to sell 5x7 prints.

  1. Use Photo Retailershop or a similar image editing application to create a background image. For our example, we will be creating a full page 5x7 print, so none of our background will be showing in the final results, but we need to create it none the less. The background image's aspect ratio must match the print size that you wish to sell. The resolution of the background image determines the resolution of the final result, so it must be sufficient for good quality. We have provided sample backgrounds 5x7L.jpg and 5x7P.jpg so you can skip the Photo Retailershop step if you wish. You will notice in the sample images the green text "Drop image here". This just makes life simpler for the operator Photo Retailer Retailer so they know where to drag the image to. This will not be seen in the final result.

  2. Now open Photo Layout.

    1. From the file menu, click "Open Album". Choose the "Picture Layout Template" option from the "Files of Type" drop down. Now locate the sample template "Simple Landscape.plt"
    2. Again from the file menu, select "Create New Template". Choose "No, discard the active layout" if prompted. This will open the "modify template properties" window.

      1. Type a name for the template. In this example, enter "5x7 Landscape"

      2. In the "Images for Template" group at the bottom of the window press the "select" button for the Background image.

        1. Locate the background file that you created in Photo Retailershop (or the sample provided "5x7L.jpg")

        2. Note that if the file selector window is only showing "PNG" files, you have incorrectly selected the "Overlay". You need to press cancel and select the "Background"

      3. You will now see your background image appear in the main window.

      4. We now need to create a place holder where images can be dropped. In this example, we want it to be the entire image.

        1. As you move your mouse over the template in the main window, it will turn into a cross hair icon. Left click somewhere near the top left corner of the background image. While holding down the left button, move your mouse cursor to the bottom right of the background. You will see a rectangle outlined over the background. Don't worry about being too accurate as we can adjust that in the next step.

        2. Once you let go of the left mouse button, you will see values appear in the "Current Rectangle Coordinates" group of the "Create New Template". We can now fine tune these to move the place holder to exactly cover the whole background. Click in the "Left,top" textbox, and type "0,0". Now click in the "Bottom, right" text box and enter the co-ordinates of the bottom right corner. For our example background 5x7L.jpg, this value will be 2100,1500. You can get these values from Photo Retailershop when you created your background. You will now see that the placeholder rectangle moves exactly over the whole image.

        3. We now need to click the "Add" button in the "Photo Retailer Place Holders" group of the "modify template properties" window. This is an important step that is often forgotten by users. You will see the item "Photo Retailer 1" appear in the place holder list. In more complicated templates, we can add more than one place holder.

      5. Click the "Hide" button on the "modify template properties" window to move it out of the way.

    3. We now must add this new template to the Album. Click "Add to Album" on the little floating window that is named "Layout Properties". You should see a thumbnail version of your template appear in the Album window at the bottom of the application next to the thumbnail of the 8x10.
    4. Now we are done. All we have to do is save the template.

      1. From the file menu, click "Save album"

  3. Now repeat the whole process to add a portrait oriented 5x7 template to the "Simple Portrait.plt" template file. You can use the sample 5x7P.jpg as a background.

Now since we already added the "Simple Landscape.plt" and "Simple Portrait.plt" templates to Photo Retailer, we do not have to add them again. If you had Chiizu Event Picture Retailer open while you edited the templates, you will need to close it and re-open it so it reloads the templates.

All we need to do now is add the 5x7 product to Photo Retailer and configure packages and sizes

  1. Open the settings menu and add the 5x7 print size in the same way we added the 8x10 print size in step 2 of the first example.

  2. Click on the "Santa Photo Retailers" input folder and click "Edit"

    1. Tick the checkbox for "5x7" in the "Associated output prints"

  3. Now create a new package for 5x7 prints. Click "Add" in the "Print Prices and Packages" group of the main settings window.

    1. Name the package "5x7 Single"
    2. Give the package a price. E.g. 5.00
    3. Select the 5x7 print size in the "Output print folders" group and click the "Add to package" button.
    4. Click Ok.

Now we are able to sell 5x7 prints. Exit out of all the settings windows and click one of the templates we added 5x7 layouts to. Notice the drop down at the top left of the screen that lists the print sizes. If 5x7 is not selected, choose 5x7. You will see the aspect ratio of the template change to a 5x7. Now drop in images as before and press the print button. You will see the final results as JPEGs in the 5x7 output folder you selected  in step 1 above when creating a 5x7 product.

Note that for the multi and combo templates, we did not create 5x7 layouts, so 5x7 will not be an option in the drop down if you are using one of these templates. You can use Picture Layout to create 5x7 layouts of these if you so wish.

Now lets set up Photo Retailer Retailer to sell multi print packages. So far we simply print each image straight away after creating it. In our example, we were selling 8x10's for $10 and 5x7 for $5. We may now want to offer customers a deal where by if they purchase both an 8x10 and a 5x7 we only charge $12.

  1. Open the settings menu.

  2. Click the "Add" button in the "Print prices and packages"

    1. Enter a package name. E.g. "5x7 & 8x10 Combo"
    2. Enter the price. E.g. 12.00
    3. Click on the 8x10 print size in the "Output print folders" list.
    4. Click on the "Add to package" button.
    5. Now click on the 5x7 print size in the "Output print folders" list.
    6. Click on the "Add to package" button.
    7. We now have both an 8x10 and a 5x7 in the package.
    8. When calculating packages, the ordering in the list is very important. The application starts looking for packages at the top of the list and works its way down. This means that the package we created containing both a 5x7 and an 8x10 must come higher in the list than the two existing packages that contain a single 5x7 or a single 8x10. Click on the "5x7 & 8x10 combo" in the "Print Prices and Packages" list and click the "Move Up" button until it is at the top of the list.
    9. Click the "OK" button to close the menu.

  3. Now comes the important part, because so far, we have sent images straight to the printer as soon as we created them. If we are to make packages, we must hold back from printing until we know all the products they will purchase. This is accomplished by ticking the "Use print order cart" checkbox on the main settings screen.

  4. Click "OK" to close the main settings window.

  5. You will notice the "Print Now" button has changed into the "Add to order button".

  6. Click on on of the templates and choose 5x7 from the drop down.

  7. Drop an image into the place holder.

  8. Click the "Add to order button". You will a thumbnail appear in the "Order Contents" area below the source images. You will also see the total calculated as $5.00 - the price for a single 5x7.

  9. Now choose another template and choose 8x10 from the drop down.

  10. Drop an image into the place holder.

  11. Click the "Add to order button". Another thumbnail will appear in the "Order Contents" area, and you will see the price calculated as $12.00 - the price of our 5x7 & 8x10 combo. If the combo is not detected, then you may have the ordering of your packages wrong in the settings menu. Revise step 2.7

  12. Click the place order button.

  13. The output images are sent to their respective printing folders.