Fizara Album Designer User Guide
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FIZARA ALBUM DESIGNER USER GUIDE GETTING STARTED SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Windows OS: Windows XP and above, 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended), 400 MB free disk space. Mac OS: Intel Platform. 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended), 400 MB free disk space, MacOS Leopard (OSX 10.5) and above. INSTALLING Windows Users Double-click the file FizaraAlbumDesigner_Installer.exe to install Fizara Album Designer. After installation, Fizara Album Designer will be added to your “Programs” menu. Mac Users Double-click the file FizaraAlbumDesigner.zip to extract the Fizara Album Designer application. After un-archiving the file, you can drag the app to your desired location (usually your Applications folder), and delete the FizaraAlbumDesigner.zip file. QUICK OVERVIEW MAIN WINDOW Upon launching Fizara Album Designer, you will arrive at the main screen. The welcome page is in the center with access to helpful links like an FAQ, User Guide, Pricing, and Special Offers. At the top left, you will find a list of the types of products you can create. The product list on the left is where you can start one of your fully-customizable projects: Select the type of product you want to create by clicking on the appropriate button on the left. Each one of the buttons leads to a project start page from which you manage your projects. HOME PAGE The home button loads the application home page. From the home page you can also access important up-to-date resources and information about your projects and new offers on the right-hand menu. Most importantly, this menu includes: My Cart which opens up a web browser and takes you to the shopping cart at Fizara.com to pay for and finalize orders you have uploaded but never ordered. PROJECTS Once you have selected a project type to work on, the main area will switch to a projects view. We use the word project to describe a product you plan to create. You can have album projects, photo book projects, Gallery Wrap projects, and so on. The project area on the right shows all projects that were created and saved in the system. The buttons on the left of the project area allows you to perform the desired task on the selected project. WORKING WITH PROJECTS The project area on the rigth shows all projects that were created and saved in the system. The buttons on the left of the project area allows you to perform the desired task on the selected project. Use “Create New” to start a new project. Use “Open” to open the selected project. You can also double-click the project to open it. Use “Import” to import a previously exported project file. Use Export to export a project to a file. You can use it to backup your projects or to move a project from one computer to another. Use Delete to delete the selected project. CREATING A NEW PROJECT To create a new project, start by selecting the project type from the Fizara project buttons (on the left) and clicking the “Create New” button. This will open the new project wizard. The wizard steps might vary based on the project type. Follow the wizard steps to create a new project. Following is the new album wizard screen: EXPORTING AND IMPORTING Projects are managed and saved in the application database. You can Export a projects as a stand-alone package for backup purposes. You can later import those packages back into the application. To export a package, select a project and click on the export button and follow the export wizard. The package will be saved on your hard drive as a .dlp file. To import a package, click the Import button, and follow the Import Package wizard. COMMON TOOLS APPLICATION/PROJECT WINDOW The project window will vary between the projects, based on the specific project needs. However, the all project windows will follow the same layout. PROJECTS TOOLBAR The project toolbar allows you to cycle between the different available projects types (albums, photo books, gallery wraps, etc.). When a project is open, the project tool bar will collapse to use less screen space. When clicked or when the mouse hovers over it, it will open to its normal size. You can go back to your open project by using the “Open Projects” tray located on the bottom left corner of the program window or the project menu link located in the top menu bar. IMAGE TRAY The image tray holds the image assets you plan to use in your project. Use the tools on the left of the tray to perform the following tasks: Add individual images to the image tray Add a folder of images to the tray Hide the images used in the project Remove all images from the tray To use images for you project, simply click on the image, drag it to the desired location, and drop it over that location. If you move the mouse over an image and leave it there for a while, a zoomed version of the image will open. Use the rotate arrows on this view to rotate the image if needed. ADDING OBJECTS Use one of the following cursors • Select objects - used to select items on the page, drag them, or resize them. • Add picture frame - allows you to add an empty picture frame on the page. Click the mouse and drag it while holding the left mouse button pressed to mark its location. • Add/ edit caption - allows you to add a text box Click the mouse and drag it while holding the left mouse button pressed to mark its location. • Insert a new page – allows you to add 2 pages to your album. IMAGE TOOLBAR Once an image that has been dragged-and-dropped into the project is selected, the Image Task Specific Toolbar appears above the project (also accessed by right-clicking the photo). This toolbar offers several options to manage those images. Most of those options are also available by right-clicking the image or form the menu commands. This toolbar offers the following commands: Alignment - When two images are selected at the same time (by holding the Shift key and clicking both images one after the other) then their alignment can be changed with the alignment tool. The images will align with THE FIRST IMAGE SLELCTED as the reference point • Align Left- moves second selected image horizontally so that the left side aligns with the left side of the first selected image. • Align Right- moves second selected image horizontally so that the right side aligns with the right side of the first selected image. • Align Horizontal Center- moves second selected image horizontally so that the center of its width is lined up with the width center of the first selected image. • Align Top- moves second selected image vertically so that the top aligns with the top of the first selected image. • Align Bottom- moves second selected image vertically so that the bottom aligns with the bottom of the first selected image. • Align Vertical Center- moves second selected image vertically so that the center of its height aligns with the height center of the first selected image. NOTE: alignment can cause pictures to overlap, depending on their positions. Center Image • Center on Page - moves selected image to vertical and horizontal center of page • Center Horizontally on Page- moves selected image horizontally so that its horizontal center matches with the horizontal center of the page • Center Vertically on Page- moves selected image vertically so that its vertical center matches with the vertical center of the page Order - Control the order (layers) of objects on the page • Bring Forward- brings photo one level more in front • Send to Front- sends photo all the way in front of the other photos • Bring Backwards- brings the photo one level behind • Send to Back- sends the photo behind the other photos Rotate image • Rotate Clockwise- rotates the photo clockwise 90 • Rotate Counter-Clockwise- rotates the photo counterclockwise 90 • Cancel Rotations- returns photo to original position Add Drop Shadow - inserts a shadow behind the photo Zoom Image • Zoom In- zooms in the photo within the image box • Zoom Out- zooms out the photo within the image box Fit Frame to Image - fits the image box so that it shows the entire image Apply color filter to the image • Remove Filter- removes all filters from the image • B&W Filter- applies a black and white filter to the image • Sepia Filter- applies a sepia filter to the image Image Fading - increases the transparency of the image selected Perfectly Clear Image Enhancement - Automatically enhance the image color, skin tone and sharpness. ADDITIONAL TOOLS The following image is a selected image in an photo album project. The gray rectangles around the image are the selection points. You can resize any graphic object by selecting it, and placing the mouse on one of the object selection points until the curser becomes a resizing tool. NOTE: Pictures may also be resized, and they will retain their original width/height proportion regardless of how large or small they appear on screen On image rotation tools allow you to rotate the image within the frame. You can rotate clock-wise, counter clock-wise or free rotation. Selecting the central area of an image, allows you to move the image inside the image frame. When combined with the zoom feature (accessible from the image tool bar or rolling the mouse wheel). You can zoom the image and place it in the frame, cropping it to your needs. The swap image tool allows you to swap locations of two images.