LumaPix FotoFusion Tips and Tricks

[boscobel]

These directions are great, Sarah!

 

Now what may be a silly question - how can I make the background something other then white? I did a search in help, but am still confused...

[Sarah]

Click on the canvas background. See the box that pops up? Notice that if you hover over the square over the top it highlights either "Image", "Border", or "Shadow". To change the canvas background click on "image" then under "background fill" you can type in the RGB codes for the color you want, or click on the little white square (white is always the default) and it brings up a color bar.

 

Let me know if that doesn't work.

[boscobel]

Sarah, I got it to work and honestly, I am not even sure what I did! I tried the way that you said though and it didn't happen, but since I got it to work, I am not going to worry about it until I am home and trying to do it again. I will post what I did too, for anyone else who uses this thread as a learning device.

[Helen_S81]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morgan UPDATE- both looked good. Although 300dpi is considered ideal, lower dpi images can still work. I set my biggest dimension (width or length) to 2000 pixels and see what my dpi ends up being. I have made even 12x12 photobooks and the resolution was good. For the 11x14 collage, I made a 5.5 x 7 page at the highest resoltion I could. The collage poster printed nicely. I am happy to see the essentials program I bought can do everything I need so far. I had a hard time deciding to spend $40 for the program & now I use it all the time. Everyone's christmas presents were made with lumapix. I have definitly gotten my money's worth. The other thing I've noticed essentials won't do is allow you to make a margin to keep the pictures from getting tucked in the cracks of the book. I just have to make sure not to put pictures too close to the edge. The better versions of the program will draw a red line their for you. You can get the line with essentials, but you have to remove it before exporting. Thanks Sarah for getting my hooked on lumapix! I'm going to take some pictures & post my recent projects this weekend. I have a box full of them to take home for Christmas.

I hope you don't mind answering a couple of questions for me. BTW I find myself thinking of ideas for pages to create whilst I'm doing other things! This can become addicting

I downloaded LumaPix and I've been playing around creating a few pages.

1. Do I need to allow a margin when I create a page? Say (for example) the size of the book in Snapfish is 12x12 should an allowance be made for a margin? Of approximately how much? Should the margin be the same for all size of books? Or do different manufacturers have different margins?

2. If I have a picture that is rectangle and would like it to be oval, can I do this with Lumapix or should I do it before in another program? (I do have the full Adobe suite but find it too intimidating, but I can get Katie to edit pictures for me if necessary).

Thank you for your help and inspirational ideas!

[raisinblur]

Just started playing around with Lumapix recently (trial version) and it seems like a great piece of software. Can't wait to start designing our photobook with it. But I too was wondering about what margin to allow on each page, if I plan to upload it snapfish? (I was also considering My Publisher, since I've read good reviews on that.) It might be better to err on the side of having a thinner margin (1/8"?), and allowing part of the edge to be cut off, as opposed to having a margin show. It may also depend on how many pages you have in your book. Any advice on this?

 

Also, I read a great detailed review for Lumapix Fotofusion here: Gorgeous Photo Layouts with LumaPix's FotoFusion v4 - Thoughts Media Forums

 

But I'm totally confused about what he says about PPI/DPI with the Essentials version. I tried to google this topic, but got even more confused. All I want to know is, if I just get the Essentials version, will I be able to print a good quality 12x12 photobook? The article says I will only get 166ppi on a 12x12 print which doesn't seem so great. But I've also read other articles that say ppi doesn't matter. Please help... I don't want to shell out $120 for the Enhanced version.

[Alyssa]

hey guys! i downloaded lumapix photovision 4.3 - i played with it over the weekend and love it so i decided to buy the scrapbooking version.

 

i just tried to 'output' my files to JPG and i am getting low resolution - does anyone know what the highest resolution you can save is in this version?

[rodent]

what size is your page? when i had the basic version, i couldn't do a 12x12 page at 300dpi. i did 200 or 250 instead & it printed great.

 

I think the max was 2000px for the longest length.

 

for the next version up, you can not make something over 19x13. I wanted to make a 10x20 collage. so i will probably make it 1/2 the size but at the higest resolution I can.

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raisinblur Just started playing around with Lumapix recently (trial version) and it seems like a great piece of software. Can't wait to start designing our photobook with it. But I too was wondering about what margin to allow on each page, if I plan to upload it snapfish? (I was also considering My Publisher, since I've read good reviews on that.) It might be better to err on the side of having a thinner margin (1/8"?), and allowing part of the edge to be cut off, as opposed to having a margin show. It may also depend on how many pages you have in your book. Any advice on this? Also, I read a great detailed review for Lumapix Fotofusion here: Gorgeous Photo Layouts with LumaPix's FotoFusion v4 - Thoughts Media Forums But I'm totally confused about what he says about PPI/DPI with the Essentials version. I tried to google this topic, but got even more confused. All I want to know is, if I just get the Essentials version, will I be able to print a good quality 12x12 photobook? The article says I will only get 166ppi on a 12x12 print which doesn't seem so great. But I've also read other articles that say ppi doesn't matter. Please help... I don't want to shell out $120 for the Enhanced version.

I made a 12x12 book with the essentials version. I never saw it in print because I made it for a friend. but she said it looked great.

I also make calendars that are about 11 x8.5. they looked great with the essentials max resolution.

300dpi is just a goal, but you can be below it & get great prints.

[rodent]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helen_S81 I hope you don't mind answering a couple of questions for me. BTW I find myself thinking of ideas for pages to create whilst I'm doing other things! This can become addicting I downloaded LumaPix and I've been playing around creating a few pages. 1. Do I need to allow a margin when I create a page? Say (for example) the size of the book in Snapfish is 12x12 should an allowance be made for a margin? Of approximately how much? Should the margin be the same for all size of books? Or do different manufacturers have different margins? 2. If I have a picture that is rectangle and would like it to be oval, can I do this with Lumapix or should I do it before in another program? (I do have the full Adobe suite but find it too intimidating, but I can get Katie to edit pictures for me if necessary). Thank you for your help and inspirational ideas!

some of the photobook companies have margin quidelines. so far i've only ordered from shutterfly & snapfish.

(BTW, have you already ordered the book from snapfish? shutterflys quality is a lot better)

I don't do a specific margin. i just don't put text near the edge. I usually aim for 1/2 inch around the edges, but sometimes I get as close as 1.4 inch. I did have some things get cropped in my last book. nothing bad. I need to see what margins I used there.

when i first made the books using lumapix, I allowed more space for the margin that was in the binding. it took more time so i stopped doing that.

I think there are oval frames. I haven't done it, but i'm pretty sure there is an option for making different shapes in lumpix.

[Helen_S81]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morgan some of the photobook companies have margin quidelines. so far i've only ordered from shutterfly & snapfish. (BTW, have you already ordered the book from snapfish? shutterflys quality is a lot better) I don't do a specific margin. i just don't put text near the edge. I usually aim for 1/2 inch around the edges, but sometimes I get as close as 1.4 inch. I did have some things get cropped in my last book. nothing bad. I need to see what margins I used there. when i first made the books using lumapix, I allowed more space for the margin that was in the binding. it took more time so i stopped doing that. I think there are oval frames. I haven't done it, but i'm pretty sure there is an option for making different shapes in lumpix.

Hi Morgan,

I ordered from Shutterfly. I designed and ordered a 11x8.5 book as a trial. I didn't put text too close to the margin but I did put a few people too close and they got cut in half or squished into the binding

So I went back and made changes, deleted some pages, added some more, and had three copies printed (Shutterfly again). I got them last week and they look great to me. I'm sure a professional could find lots of mistakes (even I can see some things that aren't quite right) but everyone whose seen the trial version was very impressed.

I didn't do any oval pictures because I couldn't figure out how to.

One thing I did do that was a mistake (and I only mention this for any future people reading this thread), when I went to order the trial 11x8.5 I got a message that said would I also like to order a 5x7 version, so I went ahead and did it. As soon as I received it I realised it was a mistake. It is not the same proportions so lots of pictures were cropped and I got some missing heads or feet etc. I really didn't mind because I looked on that whole first order as a trial as I really had no idea what to expect having never seen a photobook before.

Again thanks for all the help and advice because I never would have even thought about a photobook if it wasn't for this forum.