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Books in Aperture #1
GD Rothenberg's picture
by GD Rothenberg
February 20, 2016 - 6:22pm

I just got a warning when printing my most recent book that books will no longer be supported by end of March, 2016.  They recommend switching to Photos for book construction.  Does anyone have any other viable solutions?  I’ve looked through several independent sites like Presto, Blurb and Shutterfly but find the customization options too complex.  I just want similar high quality to the Apple produced product.  I don’t know the parameters that Apple’s book publisher even uses so can’t comparison shop.  Any suggestions?

GD Rothenberg

Thomas Emmerich's picture
by Thomas Emmerich
February 22, 2016 - 1:45am

I tried Blurb, Lightroom book module and Mpix.com. None of them satisfy me as much as Aperture’s book module. It just feels like a comfortable old pair of shoes.

I made my last two books using Apple Photos. While it isn’t customizable like Aperture was, the books themselves are seemingly exactly the same as Aperture’s. Since I’m currently using Lightroom for most photos, I just created a special Photos library (non-system library) for printing books. I export from LR into this special Photos library just for books.

Maybe someday Photos will get more customizable books. Crossing fingers. 

Thomas

jcraig's picture
by jcraig
March 6, 2016 - 3:22pm

MyPublisher, who actually printed Aperture books (to different specs) is what I landed on. And, though they seem a little late for their February target, they are promising InDesign template printing from PDF very soon. AND books are usually on sale for half price. Yes, their software is awkward, but copy/paste from an Aperture book fixes some of that. The paper is a little heavier so I would advise sticking to lay-flat, avoid the extra heavy pages or glossy. They've done some great stuff for me.

jcraig

Shep's picture
by Shep
March 29, 2016 - 10:45pm

How about continuing to create books in Aperture (while we still can, using El Capitan or earlier). Then, in Aperture, use File/Print Book, save the whole book as a PDF or JPEG, and paste the individual pages into MyPublisher or into a Photos book. Would this work in these apps?

Would the resolution be good enough? The jpeg’s my Aperture book created are only about 1MB (but maybe that’s all that’s sent to Apple for publishing the books anyway?). The PDF’s weren’t as useful as only page 1 seems to be pasted, so perhaps one may have to separate out the individual pages from the multipage pdf. 

“InDesign template printing from PDF”. Can you explain that for me? Does this mean one can paste a pdf into the whole page of a MyPublisher book as I discuss here?

Thanks for any help. I too rely very much on Aperture books, which I like very much.

Tony

jcraig's picture
by jcraig
March 29, 2016 - 10:43pm

Oops, I made my reply a posting (should be below)

jcraig

jcraig's picture
by jcraig
March 29, 2016 - 10:42pm

I submitted a “tip” on this but I think I need to revise it, need to hear from the boss first. 

There are a couple of paths (I've done this) but none involve using the Aperture PDF except to get out info.

1- Open a new book file in MyPublisher and duplicate your Aperture book page by page. Text formatting is transferrable via copy/paste so that works out well. The App will directly access the same images easily from Aperture. 

2- MyPublisher is beginning to accept PDF files generated in InDesign, Photoshop or Illustrator. They have just posted their first template for InDesign. My suggestion there to make the transition easier – I'm doing this on a larger image book, is to use File Juicer to get the parts out of the Aperture PDF. This means reformatting text but that's better than starting from scratch. Also Aperture PDFs place images into a ginormous jpeg per page if there is more than one image on it. That can be used because the pages will be the same size anyway. I just happen to be used to InDesign and like it for future books.

Tips: paper is a little heavier so books tend to not stay open as easily - lay-flat pages solve this / avoid heavier pages / avoid glossy pages / positioning is less exact but you get used to it / first order is second book free / after that the sale offers roll in weekly.

Good luck - with the fantastic lay-flat pages and nice cover options, and constant sales, the MyPublisher option is an improvement. The jacket for the nice HB versions is much stronger & tougher than Aperture's, but it's glossy  - not quite as classy looking to me. My only complaint. Also, if not familiar with ID, MyPublisher app can be easily managed - just a little frustrating as far as critical alignment. I actually duplicate the page size on screen and check with a ruler – they gotta do something about that.

 

jcraig

Shep's picture
by Shep
March 29, 2016 - 10:57pm

Thanks, JCraig! 

I understand that you propose to take Aperture page pdf’s and separate them into their component photos and text? Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I want to avoid. My Aperture pages are elaborately, individually, formatted and adjusted. (Some have 1 photo, some have 6, always readjusted from the default templates, some have text, some have captions, etc.) The last thing I want to do is to have to regenerate the design of each and every page in MyPublisher. If I have to learn how to do that, I might just as well make the whole book in MP. My early efforts in MP showed that it was not easy to fiddle with photo size and position.

I am expert at making books in Aperture and was seeking to be able to keep using that hard-learned skill! 

Tony

jcraig's picture
by jcraig
March 30, 2016 - 1:46am

Actually it gets pretty easy to move everything over - and as I said, text formatting does copy/paste over (I always start with blank pages). Positioning, you're right, very awkward. My first book I used a ruler on screen after sizing it appropriately. The second I found a little app that lets me put guide-lines on screen overlapping anything I'm working on. I preferred the ruler. Not pretty, that's why my future is with InDesign. That being said, the results in MP app were very good - just had to drink a lot of wine to get over it. Hey, we do what we gotta do – the changing digital world doesn't always cooperate. On this page: http://jamescraigphotography.com/free-stuff–links.html – I give away digital versions of the two books I did in Aperture (there two smaller ones) and then moved to MP – the advantage to that being I could reduce the size of the Aperture PDF, remove blank pages n Preview and load them for iPads. If you start in MP – no PDFOUCH

jcraig

bjurasz's picture
by bjurasz
March 31, 2016 - 3:35pm

What you want to do is design your book in Aperture, and then “print PDF pages to JPGs”.  This will be an option when you go to print your book, under Print to PDF automator options.  You then get a folder of JPG images, one per book page, that you put into any book ordering software you want.

I’ve done this numerous times when ordering books from McKenna Pro or Asuaka Book.  The only issue is the standard print PDF Pages to JPGs does 200 dpi (wtf Apple???) so you want to modify that automator action to spit out 300dpi instead.

Having said that, I don’t do this much anymore.  These days we’re either using Shutterfly or Asuka Book.  The wife designs the Shutterfly books for our family photos.  And I use Asuka Book anytime someone is paying me for photography and a high quality album, and then I use their Asuka BookMaker software (which is very excellent).

Bill Jurasz
Austin Texas

Shep's picture
by Shep
April 9, 2016 - 4:24am

Dear bjurasz, YES, that’s what I want to do. 

But when in Aperture I use “File/Print Book”, I get a ”print” dialog box, which includes “PDF” as a box in lower left. The drop-down includes “Save PDF” but has nothing about Print to JPG. I can find no such option. 

Can you suggest how I can increase the resolution of the saved  book as you seem to be able to do?

Or perhaps the Aperture pdf is already good enough for a 13x10 page size. A 100 page XL hardback book is about 388MB, so that is surely is enough. 

Thanks for your advice.

Tony

bjurasz's picture
by bjurasz
April 11, 2016 - 4:02am

Go Library/PDF Services and you will likely find the existing print to PDF you are talking about. Open that, and you want to edit it and save to a new file name, like “Save PDF to JPEG-300dpi.workflow”. You’ll want to resize to 300dpi, assign the color profile you want, etc. But its pretty easy. If you would rather, I can email you my workflow file. More info here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1456558?tstart=0 Can probably find more on google with a bit more work.

Screen shot of my work flow here:

 

[url=https://flic.kr/p/G83XHJ][img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1611/263340… by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/]Bill Jurasz[/url], on Flickr

Bill Jurasz
Austin Texas

katy's picture
by katy
April 5, 2016 - 3:09pm

Has anyone tried Presto photos? I just emailed them. they claim they can print any book from aperture; and for less money. 

picturesonpages's picture
by picturesonpages
April 16, 2016 - 6:00am

Late to the party here, but I use Prestophoto all the time.  The quality is great, the pricing is great, and their customer service is unparalleled.  I do all of my books in Aperture and then upload them to the Presto site and the books are flawless.

Hope that helps! :)

Lisa

katy's picture
by katy
April 16, 2016 - 2:21pm

Hi Lisa,

I ordered a book from presto and am waiting to receive it. Do you have any cropping issues with your books? when i went to order the book on presto the have that pink crop line guide and it made me worried my images would effected. I ordered the extra large size and the customer support people said it shouldn’t be an issue. Also, did you get a dust jacket? i wanted to order one but they said it was in a faux suede material????thx so much for the info

 

picturesonpages's picture
by picturesonpages
April 21, 2016 - 5:30am

Katy, 

Sorry it took me a while to respond.  The crop lines always stress me out a little, but so far, as long as I follow them, it works out well.   I never get the dust jacket mainly because I end up wrecking it.  I always opt for the image wrap, which I love!   I’ve ordered dozens of books from Presto and have always loved the result.

Lisa

katy's picture
by katy
April 20, 2016 - 4:28pm

i received my book from presto, its great. they really are the answer to this big mess. the customer service at presto (live chat) is GREAT. they really want to help you and do help. 

picturesonpages's picture
by picturesonpages
April 21, 2016 - 5:32am

That is awesome!   I’m glad to hear that.  I’ve been using them for 5 years now.  Have yet to be disappointed.

Lisa

picturesonpages's picture
by picturesonpages
April 21, 2016 - 5:29am

Whoops, posted this incorrectly.  Will repost as a response.  

“Katy, 

Sorry it took me a while to respond.  The crop lines always stress me out a little, but so far, as long as I follow them, it works out well.   I never get the dust jacket mainly because I end up wrecking it.  I always opt for the image wrap, which I love!   I’ve ordered dozens of books from Presto and have always loved the result.  ”

Lisa

katy's picture
by katy
April 21, 2016 - 12:50pm

yes, i really am a fan. ordered 2 more books yesterday, i just need to get used to allowing a little extra space for cropping when i create the books in aperture. and they are so much cheaper. wish i knew about them long ago

Jack's picture
by Jack
November 14, 2016 - 7:23am

I ordered a 13”x10” Imagewrap Hardcover Photo Book, Lustre 200 Photo Paper from Presto.  I found photos to be dark as compared to the PDF generated by Apeture.  It’s like the photo had ‘shadow’ turn way down.  I suspect this has something to do with their CMYK conversion.  When I compare books I ordered from Apple to the PDF, I find the printed photos to not have this problem.  I tried printing with a the color profile “U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2” but I receive an error before all pages print to the PDF.

Has anyone else had this experience or are doing anything special when creating the PDF?

Jack

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