CD Card Sleeve in Affinity Design

[thebridge]

Hello, I am creating a CD Card Sleeve.  Originally, I was in Photo but read it might make sense to do this in Design.  Is that right?  I have the 90 trial and am happy to upgrade if I don't get the features with the free trial. 

I have the following:  a pdf of the card board sleeve -- see attachment.  a photoshop template of the cd card sleeve that I found on Youtube--this could not be attached. 

I have a couple photos  for front and back plus a thumbnail.  I will be adding some text as well.

Just curious if there are any videos that might help.  I found the following on Youtube which is where I found the templates : DIY how to design and make a cd cardsleve - easy to do (PART 4).

When I create new, it asks for a preset or template.  I chose preset CD booklet cover and changed to 5.0 in instead of 4.75.  Then I placed the photoshop template file in there and it seems much bigger than the CD booklet cover.  Am I supposed to just add the photoshop template and not choose a preset?  I have a few other questions like saving the font and such.  My client wants either Engraver or Avenir Bold.  Anyway to upload these or is there an alternative?  I will use Verdana if that is the best substitute.  Other questions include Convert all artwork to 4 Color CMYK process.

Thanks for any support.  

~Doug

I-cardBoard_sleeve.pdf

[v_kyr]

3 hours ago, thebridge said:

Originally, I was in Photo but read it might make sense to do this in Design.  Is that right?

Designer not necessarily, it can also be equally done in Photo. You may already have noted in the video you named, that the guy there used Adobe Photoshop (like Affinity Photo) and not Adobe Illustrator (like Affinity Designer).

3 hours ago, thebridge said:

I have the following:  a pdf of the card board sleeve -- see attachment.  a photoshop template of the cd card sleeve that I found on Youtube--this could not be attached.
...
When I create new, it asks for a preset or template.  I chose preset CD booklet cover and changed to 5.0 in instead of 4.75.  Then I placed the photoshop template file in there and it seems much bigger than the CD booklet cover.  Am I supposed to just add the photoshop template and not choose a preset? ...

Yes, just use that "4 CD Cardsleeve.psd" template file and open it in Designer or Photo then, instead of using the "Affinity new > CD booklet cover" preset. - Or here's are corresponding Affinity Designer and Photo format files of that PSD-template you can use/open instead.

• 4 CD Cardsleeve.afdesign (RGB/8 color space)
• 4 CD Cardsleeve.afphoto  (RGB/8 color space)

The Photoshop template is a double side (front & back side) CD template, aka 2 x 5" in width. In contrast the Affinity CD booklet cover is just one simple square 4.75" template (only one side, front) template, thus the size differences between those.

 

Quote

I have a few other questions like saving the font and such.  My client wants either Engraver or Avenir Bold.  Anyway to upload these or is there an alternative?  I will use Verdana if that is the best substitute.  Other questions include Convert all artwork to 4 Color CMYK process.

Just install or use the Engraver or Avenir Bold fonts onto your OS system, in case you don't have those already installed. The Affinity apps do reuse the fonts you've installed on your operating system (OS). - When you export your ready made 4 CD Cardsleeve (let's say as PDF for print), just let the PDF generation export embed the fonts into the PDF (set that embed fonts option for the Affinity PDF export then).

For 4 Color CMYK process just setup the Affinity 4 CD Cardsleeve templates to use the CMYK color space instead of RGB. - Or use these accordingly setup Affinity templates here ...

• 4 CD Cardsleeve-CMYK.afdesign
• 4 CD Cardsleeve-CMYK.afphoto

... the rest, as template usage etc. should be straight forward if you followed that Youtube video.

 

[myclay]

You need to get knowledge about how the printer works on which it gets printed, what kind of paper (size) it gets fed.
In the mentioned tutorial, the tutorial maker assumes that A4 paper is used in the printer and therefore uses an A4 preset.

Font handling; when exporting, you can click on the More... button and decide how the fonts will be exported.
Exporting as curves is the securest way(since its vectorized) but editing the text with the text tool is not possible. Embedding the fonts can be of course done too.

here is an preview how the file looks like when I would want to print it at home onto an A4 Paper.

@v_kyr

out of curiosity, are those transparent pixels in your files meant as cut markers?

 

[v_kyr]

43 minutes ago, myclay said:

...here is an preview how the file looks like when I would want to print it at home onto an A4 Paper.

BTW, that's not the template itself shown there in your printer panel preview, it's instead just the information (what to take into account) from a printer service (or the like) how to setup for a 5" x 5" CD/DVD sleeve print then.

 

Quote

...out of curiosity, are those transparent pixels in your files meant as cut markers?

@myclay It's how Affinity opens and interprets/converts the initial "4 CD Cardsleeve.psd" template provided by the author of that Youtube video. AFAI can tell there aren't any cut markers in the initial PSD template.

[thebridge]

Just wanted to say thanks on the responses.  I learned something on Fonts.  Pretty simple process to add them.  Also, on how to embed the fonts. 

 

Just to follow up on the cut markers question and answer.  We can fill that area with color from the main photo right.  This will be cut anyway.  Is that right? The black part of the image is empty space.  Is that right? When we upload the templates, would you consider them a layer?  

 

My project has changed in that I am using different templates and they are using discmakers.com as the printer.  I have attached the templates.    I am getting clarity on printing directly on the CD.  

J100.pdf UD100.pdf

[v_kyr]

4 hours ago, thebridge said:

Just to follow up on the cut markers question and answer.  We can fill that area with color from the main photo right.  This will be cut anyway.  Is that right? The black part of the image is empty space.  Is that right? 

The transparent area (checkerboard pattern) is the area you place your images etc. in, that area forms the inner DVD sleeve. The black area is what will be thrown away in case of this PSD template.

Just look at a common music and/or movie DVD/CD box and it's inner sleeve, then it should be obvious.

 

Quote

When we upload the templates, would you consider them a layer?

Not sure what you mean with that here?

4 hours ago, thebridge said:

My project has changed in that I am using different templates and they are using discmakers.com as the printer.  I have attached the templates.

You can easily setup & recreate these in any Affinity tool.

[thebridge]

Thanks @v_kyr  I am having a hard time visualizing layers.  What I mean is when I bring in the psd template, I am assuming that is the lowest layer.  I have seen that I can place my cover image on that template.  Is that image the 2nd layer?    I see the template labeled as "Your artwork."  

So, if I bring in a .ps file which in my case is a cd cover template, do I bring that in and save as an affinity photo file? Once done, I have a in-destructive file I can work with? Part of my confusion is when bringing in a template that is an ap file, will that stay with all the work that I do and save for the printer.

Could we say the template is the canvas?

 

Thanks.

Edited April 16, 2021 by thebridge

[v_kyr]

7 hours ago, thebridge said:

What I mean is when I bring in the psd template, I am assuming that is the lowest layer.  I have seen that I can place my cover image on that template.  Is that image the 2nd layer?    I see the template labeled as "Your artwork." 

Well, you should take a look at the list of guides in "A Guide to Learning Affinity Software" and there then themes which explain and deal with layers. See also "About layers here" etc.

The layers panel shows you a stack view of all the layers in a document. The stack hierarchy is top to bottom, so when you place/create new objects they usually appear on top of the other existing layers, as far as you don't move and change their ordering inside the layers panel. You can also think of this as a stack of slides where you put one slide on top of the other to add new or additional things. You can see the effects of individual layers by switching them on and off (hide/unhide) them in the Layers panel.

The template defines a size of the canvas according to document settings, so to say the visable working/drawing area. When it's a loaded in bitmap photo/image it will be your background (bottom) layer. Every things you draw or place on that will appear initially on top as layers. - Take a look through the above referenced "Learning Guides" in order to get a better understanding of these things.