I have created my first Aperture photo book and it's 120+ pages with lots of text and captions (too late to start over). I want to print it with Blurb or another third party printer, but can't figure out how to do this. I have searched forums and contacted Blurb and Apple and I get a different answer every time. Could someone walk me through the steps? I'm a beginner. I read a post about downloading PDF to folder as JPG, but didn't really understand how that would work. I'm trying. Thanks!
This can be a very sticky situation … seeking a printer after you design the book. Different vendors require different margins, trims, bleeds and actual page dimensions … if these variables are beyond the scope of the vendor you want to use, it may not be easy to rectify the situation without investing considerable effort.
For example, I have two book printers I deal with the most. For a 10 inch x 10 inch album, one printer requires my pages be exactly 10x10 … though in the finished book, the actual trimmed page size 9 7/8 inches due to the flush mount trimming … the other printer wants me to submit pages that are exactly 10.2 inches square … resulting in a 10 inch trimmed final result … don’t get me started on the other sizes ..
Regardless of which vendor you use, you’ll have to deliver your book in a format and layout they can reproduce on their system … which ideally, you need to do that before you start the design phase of the book.
Blurb has instructions on their site on going from a PDF to a book. See http://www.blurb.com/pdf_to_book
That said, I’ve seen/read mixed reviews of Blurb’s quality. One other option may be Mpix. Also, Graphic Studio has a plug-in for Aperture and it appears they do 10x10.
I’ll give you my personal workflow but I must say that without monitor calibration it is problematic to expect any semblance of what you see on the monitor to be printed. Unless your third party printer specifically says they will import from Aperture, “fogedaboudit”. After you have completed editing your selects, export them as full sized JPEGs to a desktop folder. Then import that folder into your printer’s template and work from there. I usually use Photobook.ca (I’m in Canada) because of their great paper stock but even then I often have to adjust the prints for brightness as they don’t give an ICC profile.
Ken Sky