Add-ons (uImage/uChart) Workshops

This practice will introduce the three types of Photoshop templates, and how to start a design from scratch then use it within the InDesign template.

Audience: New users, using the uCreate Plug-in for InDesign to create variable data templates for personalization or customization.

Learning Prerequisite: Basic Adobe Photoshop and InDesign knowledge.

Practice Takeaway: How to build a simple Photoshop uImage template document and use that with the uImage function in uCreate.

Learning Materials: TBD

Learning Objectives:

• Explore XMPie Marketplace for ideas and to review design concepts.
• When is using uImage better than using InDesign (and vice versa). 
• Create a simple photoshop design.
  • Setup the text and tag the design.   
  • Use layer styles to apply special effects to the text. 
  • Explain how bounding boxes affect copy fitting within uImage templates.
• Discuss the different types of document packages.
• Discuss how and when to use Actions and other export options.
• Export a "Regular" document package (PSD-dpkg).
• Use the PSD-dpkg with the uCreate uImage function.  

uImage templates can support their own dynamic images (uImage images), which also provides the ability to use images as fonts (image fonts templates). uImage templates can use layers with single letters (separated letters templates) and can apply different types of fitting along. Using Actions allows, allows even more flexiblity uImage templates. This practice explores more uImage options and template types.

Audience: Template designers and other variable data production designers.

Required Software: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign and XMPie uCreate (preferably the latest versions).

Learning Prerequisite: Basic Adobe Photoshop and InDesign knowledge. Must have completed Practice 23.

Practice Takeaway: How to build other types Photoshop uImage templates.

Learning Materials: TBD

Learning Objectives:

• Discuss using the different types of templates. 
  • Build or work with a seperated letters template. 
  • Work with an image font template
  • Show how to modify an image font template
• Discuss or use the other options available for templates. 
  • Optimization
  • Photoshop Actions (vs scripts)
  • Using Illustrator (if applicable)

This practice session creates a dynamic table with numeric information to display as a pie, bar or line chart for each recipient. Based on the data, this task requires two data sources (recipient and the related chart data for all recipients) to use with uCreate and the Rule Editor. If the rules are more complex, creating the logic may require uPlan.

Audience: Template designers and other variable data production designers.

Required Software: Adobe InDesign and XMPie uCreate (preferably the latest versions).

Learning Prerequisite: Basic Adobe InDesign knowledge. Must have completed Practice 1 and 3.

Practice Takeaway: How to build a pie or bar dynamic chart for print designs.

Learning Materials: TBD

Learning Objectives:

• Dynamic Tables:
  • Understand the layout of data needed for dynamic tables
  • Generate a Table Content Object by linking to a second data table using the Rule Editor. 
  • Place the Table Content Object to create a dynamic InDesign table.
  • Discuss mold rows, Auto Flow, and suppress empty tables.
• Dynamic Charts:
  • Place the Table Content Object into a graphic box to create a dynamic chart.
  • Use the uChart interface to configure the chart. 
  • Review the records and make changes to the chart(s) as needed.