Workshop to learn how to produce templates for greetings cards and to produce some

[William Overington]

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/143781-why-are-there-no-templates-for-greeting-cards-in-publisher/

Here is the thread that I suggested in that thread.

William

 

[William Overington]

I presently know nothing about Affinity Publisher templates.

So, start up Affinity Publisher

Help

Affinity Publisher Help

Search for

template

Ah, a link for

Document templates

Quite a lot to read

So, it seems that our goal is to produce and share some template files each of which has a .aftemplate file extension.

How about a first try, to get started, of a one page template that has an image and some text below it.

The idea being that a user of the template can change the picture or the text, but that the picture included and the text are there so as to give an idea of what sort of result the template can produce.

So we need a picture, one without copyright issues, so I suppose make one myself.

So, while I do that, maybe someone reading this will post please and help get the workshop going.

William

 

 

[William Overington]

Ah, issues to resolve.

How large should the image be?

Does that matter if the image is just a placeholder image, or is it a constraint on for what the template can be used?

How many dots per inch does the image need to be?

Does that matter if the image is just a placeholder image, or is it a constraint on for what the template can be used?

William

 

 

 

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, William Overington said:

How large should the image be?

Does that matter if the image is just a placeholder image, or is it a constraint on for what the template can be used?

The dimensions of the image will clearly affect the layout, but how much that matters depends on how the template is going to be used.

1 hour ago, William Overington said:

How many dots per inch does the image need to be?

Does that matter if the image is just a placeholder image, or is it a constraint on for what the template can be used?

I can’t see why that would matter at all.

[William Overington]

2 hours ago, Alfred said:

The dimensions of the image will clearly affect the layout, but how much that matters depends on how the template is going to be used.

In what ways please?

2 hours ago, Alfred said:

I can’t see why that would matter at all.

I was wondering whether if the template is set up at 300 dots per inch, would an image used in the template need to be 300 dots per inch too.

So if the template is set up at 300 dots per inch and an image that is 96 dots per inch is placed upon it, what happens to that image if a whole of document image is exported from a document that has been produced by the use of the template?

Suppose that as a first template that we have a portrait format greetings card and that it has an image and below it a line of text with a message that says

Greetings

and that there is a white border around both the image and the text.

William

 

[JCarls]

Hello, I am the trouble-maker who complained about the total lack of standard greeting card templates in Affinity Publisher. My question was mainly focused on creating the proper four-page layout (a half sheet each) and then (most important) getting it to print properly with all pages oriented for folding. I've now figured it out, which sort of reinforces my astonishment that they did not include this in the software's presets.

There are two parts of this: 1) Creating a four-page template with the correct size and orientation and 2) Setting up and saving a printing profile to print the resulting document on a single two-sided sheet. Instruction are below, but before that:

• Regarding the question about DPI in images: If I only have a low resolution image that I need to use, I regularly make a practice of using photo software (even Paint will do it) to upsize a lower resolution image and then sharpening it with other software—not perfect but slightly better than stretching a badly fuzzy image. Lately however, I'm in love with a program called Gigapixel AI, which uses artificial intelligence to upsize images in a way that can be startling (even if miracles are not possible).
• Although Publisher has a "Bleed" setting, that would only apply to situation where you are trimming the card stock. If you want to "bleed" images to the edge of a card and your printer supports it, look for a "borderless" option, commonly used with pre-cut photographic paper. Set it to the lowest setting (least extension) and see what you get. 

PROCEDURE

Here is how to set up and print a folded card in either portrait or landscape layouts (dimensions are in inches and assume an 8-1/2 X 11 sheet, but metric will work the same after proper use of math). This is not a true step-by-step, but I'm assuming you can figure out how to save templates and profiles. Unfortunately, when you use File> Export as Template...  the active printing profile does not seem to be saved, so you have to remember to select your saved profile when you print:

Portrait - Setup

After creating a document with these settings, use File> Export as Templates... to create the template. Note: Publisher does not seem to have a default location for storing templates. You will need to 1) create a folder and save templates to that and then 2) tell Publisher to add that folder as a template folder. Otherwise, your saved templates may not show up in the interface.

Portrait - Printing

Printing a card format is the real trick, so selecting the correct settings is crucial (they are different, depending on the card orientation):

Landscape - Setup

 

Landscape - Printing

Notes: I have attached two templates that you can try out. They both have a dummy "logo" on the back "pages." Also, I uploaded an incorrect image but this forum interface does not seem to have a way to delete a file once it's uploaded [wait, it's a tiny, tiny garbage can 🙄]. "Card setup - landscape" should be ignored in favor of the corrected version.

 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by JCarls
Incorrect image still displaying.

[JCarls]

 Here are the two templates to try. card-letter-port.aftemplate

card-letter-lands.aftemplate