affinity publisher Japanese Netsuke Catalog

[fromatoz]

Hi,

I took all the pictures, edited them (not with Affinity Photo) and created a super simple catalog (with Affinity Publisher V1+2), which also got printed (for private purpose only, with additional pages like imprint, foreword, introduction etc). It was easy and a joy to use Publisher. Thank you, people from Serif.

Online version:

https://mount-sushi.com/netsuke/gallery/index.html

PS: I'm not a professional photographer, and these sculptures are really small ...

Edited January 31, 2023 by fromatoz

[markw]

I love Netsuke myself and I think you photographed them beautifully as well as the layout of the catalog😎
I'm no good with the German language so could you tell us any more about them? Are they all from one collection or from different collections? Are you fortunate enough to own any of these?

[fromatoz]

Oh, what a surprize! Thank you, markw, for your kind reply. When you follow the blue dot on the top of the linked page, you'll see what I wrote - also very simple - about Netsuke and the collection. Copy & paste the text into DeepL, the king of AI-translation (so far). 😄

And yeah, I'm fortunate to own the whole collection. My wife's family has deep roots in Japan, and I for myself lived 20 years in Japan ...

How did you know about Netsuke? Are you a collector?

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by fromatoz

[Andreas Scherer]

Can you tell about the print service you used for this nice work? It surely deserves high-quality paper, even for a single copy.

Well done!

[fromatoz]

Hallo Andreas,

Thanks for the compliment!

The catalog - quite a few copies - was printed by Druckmanufaktur (in Urdorf, close to Zurich where I Iive). And yeah, high-quality paper, nice bookbinding, cover and everything. 

Basically, in Publisher I just exported every single page as a PDF with the appropriate settings. It all worked like a charm. That's why I feel kind of greatful for the app.

[markw]

6 hours ago, fromatoz said:

And yeah, I'm fortunate to own the whole collection. My wife's family has deep roots in Japan, and I for myself lived 20 years in Japan ...
How did you know about Netsuke? Are you a collector?

Sadly no, I’m not a collector but am very envious of those of you who have managed to be!
While it may not have been your primary intent, thank you for sharing your wonderful collection with us!
The artistic and craft skills of old Japan have always fascinated me. And though by no means extensive, I also have a soft spot for Japanese folk tales and myths and it’s always interesting to find a character from myth or story represented in Netsuke form!
Though life’s paths unfortunately have not so far led me to experience Japan in person, maybe one day… Never say never!

[v_kyr]

They look good! - Though I have one suggestion for an improvement of the gallery handling, keep track of the clicked image position from the gallery (aka remember where one was position wise on the page) when the slideshow image preview is used, so that it the slideshow is closed you can jumps again to the last index.html gallery possition from where the slideshow was initiated and not always again just to top of the index.html file.

[fromatoz]

Thanks for your advice, v_kyr, very much appreciated.

I'm aware of the issue with the gallery. If I only knew how to fix it ... Messed around with the code and messed it up. 🥲

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, fromatoz said:

Thanks for your advice, v_kyr, very much appreciated.

I'm aware of the issue with the gallery. If I only knew how to fix it ... Messed around with the code and messed it up. 🥲

Make use of possible setup thumb image hrefs for each entry of the index page (jg). - And of course always twiddle/test around first with things on a local copy on your local system.

[fromatoz]

Thanks, I'll try to create a new gallery which resolves the issue. BTW I think it would be a great addition if Affinity Publisher was able to export a book as a gallery as well (pages > slides). Just an idea ...

[v_kyr]

4 hours ago, fromatoz said:

Thanks, I'll try to create a new gallery which resolves the issue. BTW I think it would be a great addition if Affinity Publisher was able to export a book as a gallery as well (pages > slides). Just an idea ...

Yes, there is still plenty of room left for Publisher enhancements. Let's see, who knows what the future will bring here as additional output format generation features.

[setgo]

Stumbled upon this randomly and wanted to say these are really wonderful! Really gorgeous sculptures and photographs.

[henryanthony]

Lovely collection. I never knew about these and looked it up. Fascinating and masterfully carved. The design of the catalog and photography really do justice to the collection and emphasizes the beauty of the carvings. Well done!

But, LOL I have to admit I thought this was going to be about the initialD manga girlfriend - Natsuki. 😄

I recently watched the movie and it was pretty good!

[fromatoz]

henryanthony

Haha, Netsuke and Natsuki - so funny! That's how we learn about many things in life. Now I've learned about a manga I didn't know it existed ... Thank you! 笑