Designing music CD cover - do I need Photoshop after all?

[EscapeNote]

I’m just wrapping up recording an album of music, purchased Affinity Photo perhaps too hastily for the artwork.  I don’t want to only create images for upload to streaming services; I also need to do full 4 panel layout of CD jacket.  Most duplication houses provide templates for this, compatible with Photoshop, Quark, Coreldraw, etc.  I like the way Affinity is laid out, would like to do the project with it, but I also want to be able to work with a template that is optimized to the task.  All my net searches about this yeild mostly a few other people wanting to do the same thing with Affinity and getting very little actionable assistance.  So now I’m thinking I should have looked more thoroughly before I leaped... I need to just bite the bullet and buy Photoshop, right?

[Gabe]

Hi @EscapeNote,

Welcome to the forums. 

You did not mention what problem you've got with the template. If you attach it or explain the issue, we might be able to help. 

Thanks,

Gabe. 

[toltec]

3 hours ago, EscapeNote said:

I’m just wrapping up recording an album of music, purchased Affinity Photo perhaps too hastily for the artwork.  I don’t want to only create images for upload to streaming services; I also need to do full 4 panel layout of CD jacket.  Most duplication houses provide templates for this, compatible with Photoshop, Quark, Coreldraw, etc.  I like the way Affinity is laid out, would like to do the project with it, but I also want to be able to work with a template that is optimized to the task.  All my net searches about this yeild mostly a few other people wanting to do the same thing with Affinity and getting very little actionable assistance.  So now I’m thinking I should have looked more thoroughly before I leaped... I need to just bite the bullet and buy Photoshop, right?

To be honest, that would be a better job for Affinity Designer and Artboards.

Designer would be the perfect program for the job but you could use Photo which is just as good as Photoshop. Don't waste your money on Photoshop, Designer is far cheaper.

A CD jacket

If you get in trouble, I'm sure anyone here would knock up a quick template for you, or show you how.

[Dazmondo77]

Just use the PDF templates that should be on your CD manufactures website they should just load straight into designer all to size - I find it so easy in designer and the majority of my work is this kind of stuff - one thing I have noticed is that most cd repro houses always require CMYK artwork in their guidelines, but a few templates I have downloaded from some companies have their templates setup RGB so always check once you have the PDF open in designer.

[Fixx]

You should be able to open Photoshop templates in Affinity Photo just fine. You can also produce print ready PDFs (with vector shapes and embedded fonts) with AP. Mostly I would worry about how to handle bleeds but I suppose that is also built in to PS template.

[firstdefence]

Here are some 4 panel CD jackets I use.

• 4 Panel CD Folder Roll Fold.pdf
• 4 Panel CD Folder Double Parallel Style.pdf
• 4 Panel CD Accordion Folder.pdf
• 4 Panel CD Gatefold Cover (8 pages).pdf
• 4 Panel CD Gatefold Folder.pdf
• CD Traycard (Inlay).pdf
• CD Traycard Inside with tray position.pdf

 

[EscapeNote]

Hey, thank you ALL for the thoughtful, helpful replies!  I'm going to purchase Designer this eve and then revisit this thread to re-read in a couple of days when my schedule clears again.  Am definitely feeling better about investing time and $ into the program now, looking forward to learning more.  Thanks much for the templates and suggestions; I'll post back after I get a little deeper in.  Cheers!