(1) I
already have pictures of products in a file on my computer. What do
I do now?
(2) I
have a scanner but don’t know how to use it to make files for
my pictures.
(3) I need
to know how to use my scanner with Adobe Image ready.
(4) I
need to know how to use my scanner with PhotoImpact.
(5) Scanning
Tips
Upload
Your Picture
So, you already have pictures in your computer ready
to upload and put into your store? Follow this very simple procedure
to put your product image into your store.
1) First, go to your store Administration page and
click on Add a Product
2) Then, click browse. A window will take you to the programs on your
hard drive.
3) Find the folder or drive where you saved your images and click
on it.
4) Find the file which has the image that you want to put in your
store and left click on it. The file name should end with .JPG, .JPEG
or .GIF. These are image files.
5) Click Open. The StoreBuilder program enters the name of the file
into the space provided on the Upload picture page and waits for you
to click ‘upload the file’.
6) Click upload the file. StoreBuilder will load the image into your
directory and automatically create a thumbnail of the image. NOTE:
You cannot have any duplicate file names for your images on Sundancemall.com.
If you upload an image file that is already in your store directory,
the second file will be renamed. The reason for this is if you need
to delete a product you will also delete the picture of the product
and if you used the same name for another product it will lose it’s
picture when you delete the first product.
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Putting
Pictures on Your Computer
o, you have a scanner or digital camera
and you are ready to take pictures of your products? You need to have
some kind of image or graphics program installed on your computer
(we recommend Adobe Image Ready or PhotoImpact). If you are using
a digital camera you will need to refer to the manual it came with
in order to learn how to use it. If you are using a scanner, follow
these step by step instructions.
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Adobe
Image Ready
Adobe ImageReady was made to prepare images for the
internet. One of the most important functions ImageReady performs
is an image optimizer which reduces the file size of your images and
makes the images load in a fraction of the time it would normally
take. If you use Adobe ImageReady it will be a great benefit to you
to learn as much as you can about the program. Your store will benefit
greatly from your knowledge.
1) Place the product or picture you wish to scan
on the scanner. (for
a tip about scanning 3 dimensional items, click here.)
2) Open Adobe Image Ready.
3) Click ‘File’ on the top toolbar.
4) Click ‘Import’ from the drop down box
5) Click ‘Twain’ from the box that appears to the right.
The scanner will scan the image.
6) When your picture appears, you will want to bring the frame closer
to the product. To do this, place your cursor on the frame that you
see around your image until you see the sizing arrows appear. Hold
down the left mouse button, drag the frame line right up to the edge
of the product. Repeat this with the other three sides of the frame.
7) Click ‘Final’ scan and the scanner will once again scan
the image. This time it will only scan the area that you have framed.
8) With the scanning complete, You may now need to close the scanner
window depending on the scanner program you are using. Do not close
the whole image program, just close the scanner window.
9) Now you can prepare the picture for your store. Click ‘Image’
on the top toolbar.
>10) Click ‘Image Size’ from the dropdown box which appears.
11) In the window that appears you will want the height and width
of your image to read 360 pixels or less. A number larger then 360
can be changed by replacing that number with the number 360. Make
sure the box which says ‘Constrain Proportions' is checked and
that the quality is ‘Smooth’. Click OK.
12) Look at your image. At the top of the image there are two tabs.
Click the one that says ‘Optimized’.
13) On the far right hand side of the screen there is a box that reads
‘optimize’ choose JPEG and medium settings.
14) Slide the arrow bar to read 50% and checkmark the ‘optimized’
box. Do NOT check the ‘progressive’ box! Our StoreBuilder
will not use progressive images.
15) Go to your top toolbar and click ‘file’.
16) Click on ‘Save Optimized’ from the dropdown box.
17) A new box pops up and prompts you to save your finished image.
Now you will make a folder to save your finished image.
18) Click the yellow folder button on the right and then type a name
for your folder right over where it says ‘NEW FOLDER’. This
will be where you will store all your images. You are now ready to
take your next picture or put your picture into your store! Each time
you scan and prepare another picture, you WILL get faster and faster
at putting products into your store!
TIP: ADOBE IMAGE READY has a great time-saving feature called BATCH
PROCESSING. By using what they call ‘Droplets’ you can optimize
all of your images at one time. To do this click the ‘Help’
button then click on Help topics. Click on ‘Index’ and type
the word ‘Batch’ in the box. Two batch topics will come
up. If you read both of these topics, you will be able to learn this
easy process.
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PhotoImpact
For Your Store
PhotoImpact has become very popular in the development
of web graphics. It has some excellent features such as frame and
button making tools that will put frames around your photos or even
make awesome buttons out of your photos. It will also optimize photos
for your store so that images load faster for your visitors. This
program is a little more difficult to learn since there is more involved
with it. You will want to go to your PhotoImpact help files or your
PhotoImpact manual to learn how to use this program.
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Scanning
Tips
TIP #1
We have found a great trick for scanning smaller 3-dimensional items.
By making a simple box to fit your flat bed scanner surface, you
can scan 3-dimensional items such as jewelry, beadwork, small pottery
and other items that will fit on the face of your scanner. We have
found that you can save a lot of time by scanning instead of taking
photos with a camera or even a digital camera. Here’s how:
You will need to get a piece of black foam core board from a local
office supply. Measure your glass surface on your flatbed scanner.
Use a razor knife or other sharp tool to make a box that fits the
scanner glass top area. Make sure the box fits the scanner surface
well, since it must keep outside light out of the scanning area.
If it does not keep outside light away from the scanning area then
your photos will not be very good. If you do not get a perfect fit,
you can try scanning in a dark room or throwing a cloth over the
box to block out any outside light. You can make boxes of several
different heights to accommodate different sized items. Three inches
high is a good height to start with.
TIP #2
Another trick to increase the speed with which you scan items is
to put several items on the scanner bed to scan all at once. This
way you can use the cropping tool in your image program and simply
crop each item one at a time without having to stop and scan each
item individually. The way you do this is by scanning several items
at once then choosing one of the items to crop then do another scan
(final scan) of that item. Now move to cropping the next item in
your group of pictures and do a final scan. Continue this process
until you have cropped all of the pictures in your image. You do
not need to remove the group of items from the scanner when you
do your final scan of each item. The scanner will simply do each
scan based on the area that you have specified in the cropping of
each picture.
Tip #3
SO… You have an item that is too big for your scanner bed and
you want it to put in your store? Take that 35mm camera from the closet
and take a picture of your item. When you get the film developed simply
scan the picture of your item. Your photo will generate the best scanning
picture if your film is processed with a glossy finish.
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