Adobe Photoshop

Step A: Page Size

1) Start by determining the size of the document you need to create. View the Product Catalog and review paper-type and binding options to determine the trim size of the book you'll be creating. Click on the product to get all the products information. There you will see sizes listed. You will need to enter in the size listed under “PDF Upload Dimensions” when creating your Photoshop page detailed in the following steps:
2) In Photoshop click “File” -> “New”
3) Name the page if desired
4) Set the size to inches using the blue arrow
5) Enter in width from “PDF Upload Dimensions”
6) Enter in height from “PDF Upload Dimensions”
7) Set the resolution to 300 pixels/inch (300dpi)
8) Set color mode to sRGB or RGB
9) Click “OK” and the page will open
10) Once the page opens in Photoshop click the hot keys "command + r" to reveal the rulers
11) When the rulers appear, click on top of the ruler. Holding the click, drag into the page to pull in the guide. This will be bright blue and is simply a visual guide.
12) Drag the guide to .25" in from the side, then drop by releasing the click
13) Repeat for all 4 sides to establish your guides at .25” in on all sides. View the cropping and bleed page to learn more about trim, cropping and bleed.
14) Once guides are established you will need to extent the background of the image all the way to the edge of the page, however keep all vital content that you do not want trimmed within the .25" visual guides.
15) Prepare pages for the left and right facing pages. With every book on Viovio, page 1 will be a right facing page, with the exception of the Seamless Layflat. If you are creating the book with the intention of the pagination flowing as spreads, then make sure you create page 1 as a leading page or an introduction page - begin pages that will flow as spreads at page 2.
16) Create all pages - We suggest saving the original PSD file for every page.

From here you have 2 options to proceed

Option 1

Saving your project as JPG’s, Build book on Viovio

Step B: Saving pages as JPG's''

1) Save all of your pages as jpg’s: click “File” -> click “Save As” -> select folder where saved file will go and title the page -> for “Format” select JPG -> click “Save” -> under Image Options make sure “Maximum” is selected and it’s scrolled all the way to “large file” -> click “OK”
2) Once all files are saved we suggest that you either zip the file or using ftp to upload your images to a gallery Creating a Gallery Screencast
3) Once the gallery is uploaded you can then lay the images onto pages using the Book Designer Book Designer screencast Or you can use the Book Machine

OR

you can continue with Option 2 and create a complete print ready PDF, then upload it to the PDF Wizard. Special thanks to Stephen Linhart for his excellent help establishing these step by step instructions.

Option 2

Saving your Project as a Print Ready PDF using Acrobat Pro

Step B: Save Individual Pdf Pages

1) Click hot keys “command + r” to clear the rulers.
2) Click “File” -> “Save As” menu to save as Photoshop PDF (choose Photoshop PDF in the Format pop-up in the Save dialog)
3) You have a lot of control of the details of how a PDF is saved. The first step is the settings in the Save dialog itself.
4) Layers should be on
5) Embed Profile should be on: All the image layers will be collapsed into a single image layer. But text and vector objects will be preserved.
6) Next you'll get the PDF settings dialog (this is after the Save dialog and before the file is actually saved).
7) Create a preset with Compatibility set to Acrobat 6 (PDF 1.5),
8) Preserve Photoshop Editing Capabilities OFF,
9) Compression set to Maximum quality JPEG, and
10) Convert 16-bit to 8-bit
11) All security settings should be off
12) Down-sampling should be to 300dpi
13) Save
14) Once all files are saved place them into their own folder.

Optional Step for speeding things up using a Droplet if desired
Because you need to do Step B for each page, and each time you make a change, it helps to have a Photoshop Droplet to do it for you.
1) First make a New Action using the Actions palette from the Windows menu
2) Record all the parts of Step B (from conversion to sRGB to saving as PDF) as an Action that saves the file in place, but with the .pdf extension.
3) Then use “File” -> “Automate” -> “Create Droplet” to make a Droplet that executes the Action you just made.

When you have all your Photoshop files ready, select them all and drag them onto the Droplet. This will open Photoshop and save each file as a PDF.

Once all files are saved place them into their own folder.

Step C: Combine All The Pdf Pages Into A Single Document

1) Launch Acrobat Pro
2) Select “File” -> “Combine” -> “Merge Files into a Single PDF” You'll want a Single PDF, NOT a PDF Portfolio
3) In the Combine Files Dialog, click the “Add Files” button and add all your PDF pages. (You can do this in a single step by using shift-click to select all the files at once in the File Open Dialog)
4) Use the Options button to turn all the Options on and set the File Size to the largest size
5) When you click the “Combine Files” button it will create a file called Binder.pdf in the folder where your PDF files are Binder.pdf is the first complete file of your book with all the inside pages

Step D: Prepare Your PDF

1) First you want use Acrobat to save your Binder.pdf as Postscript. You do this in Acrobat Pro using “File” -> “Save As”.
2) Set the file name to something descriptive.
3) Set the Format to Postscript.
4) Set the Postscript Settings to the Default for Device Independent.
5) Now save your file next to Binder.pdf. It's important to use a new name, not 'Binder' so you don't write over Binder.pdf when you turn your .ps file back to a .pdf.
6) Now open Acrobat Distiller.
7) You'll want a preset for using this website. You make this using “Settings” -> “Edit Adobe PDF Settings”
8) In the “General” Tab, set Compatibility to “Acrobat 6 (PDF 1.5).”
9) In the “Images” tab set Down-sampling to “300dpi” so you don't reduce the quality of your images.
10) Set the Compression to “JPEG” and the
11) Set the Quality to “Maximum.”
12) In the Fonts tab Embed All Fonts, but you can Subset when the percentage of characters used is under 100% because this will include each font only once, so you won't get multiple subsets of the same font.
13) In the Color tab you want Settings File to be “None”, and Color Management to Leave Colors Unchanged and Preserve Rendering Intent. This will get you the best color rendering. You don't need any of the settings in the Advanced or Standards tabs.
14) Now Save this preset with a new name and then drag your .ps file onto Acrobat Distiller. This will create a new PDF that will be in your folder next to your .ps file.
15) To check that this file is ready, open it in Acrobat and use the “Advanced” -> “Preflight tool”.
16) In the Preflight dialog, select “Digital printing (color)” and Analyze the file. If you see a green check mark and the words 'No Problems Found' your file is ready.

Step E: Making Your Cover

For best results, your cover should be a separate file.
1) The covers should be saved out as 300 dpi sRGB JPEG files. All covers are subject to scaling or repositioning (depending on binding type), therefore all covers are rasterized to a common RGB jpeg format prior to printing.
2) For a professional look, avoid spine text in your images. The software accurately places spine text, and adjusts based on the binding type (hardcovers have wider spines for example). You can enter the spine text in Step 2 / The Cover Step.

View screencast for help using Step 2 / The Cover Step

Step F: Upload

You have 3 options for uploading your Print Ready PDF to Viovio.
Standard PDF Wizard For help review: Standard PDF Wizard screencast
FTP For help review: FTP help page
Or you can click here to see how to upload via DropBox