Ultra Entertainment Artwork Setup : Frequently Asked Questions
In order to process your CD or Print order you must have artwork set up properly for the print specifications. In a nutshell this means all of your design/pictures/text/artwork needs to be 'sized' corrected to fit the templates, account for all of the bleed, cut & safety lines and must be at a high enough resolution to print well.
Artwork set up and preparation can be one of the most difficult steps in getting your CD/Print project ready to go. We are here to help!
We have created the following list of our most frequently asked questions. Please skim thru these if you are having any struggles with setting up your artwork. Remember that your artwork must be set up properly before you upload to ensure that you do not incur extra costs. It is our goal to save you money!
- OK, I’m ready to get my project started! Do I have to design the art myself?
- No, you don’t. We have a professional team of designers ready to help you make your ideas into reality! We have extremely affordable design rates so contact one of our sales representatives today if you require assistance. However, if you want to save some time and money, it is recommended you get the artwork setup before-hand.
- So I’ve decided to get the artwork setup myself. Where do I begin?
- The first step is to download our templates that are available on our website. These are very important to use because not only do they assist you in the placement of artwork and text, they are also setup in a way that ensures your final product is printed and produced as accurately as possible. Here is a link to our template options - http://www.ultraentertainment.com/cd-services/templates.aspx
- I see your templates are in .zip format. What is that? How do I download?
- .zip files are actually “digital packages” that contain multiple smaller files. (.Zip files are really handy in case you want to send multiple files at once, because it reduces the overall size and results in faster upload and download times.)
To access you will need to download the template and save it to your computer’s desktop. Then, simply double-click the .zip file, on your desktop, and your computer should automatically open the .zip file using a special “expander” program and will let you pull the individual template files out of there. If you don’t have a .zip expander program, you can download a free trial version here: http://download.cnet.com/WinZip/3000-2250_4-10003164.html
- Why can’t I just use other templates I have from other companies’ websites?
- Some people choose to use other templates because they may have already used them before in similar projects and are thus more familiar with them. However, some templates may be slightly different measurements than ours and can result in artwork that is sized incorrectly, which may delay the production of your project. That is why we strongly recommend using our templates. This ensures that you hit it right the first time and saves you time and money!
- Now I have your template files. How do I use them?
- We recommend using Adobe Photoshop to open the .psd (PhotoShop Document) files, or Adobe Illustrator to use the .eps , .ai, or.pdf files. Most people use Photoshop. (Illustrator is used for more complex, “logo-oriented” art.) You can download a free 30-day trial version of Photoshop here: http://tryit.adobe.com/us/cs4/photoshopcs4/c/?sdid=ETLKY&
- I have never used Photoshop before and I am on a tight schedule. Can I design my project using a more familiar design program?
- Yes. We understand Photoshop can appear a bit intimidating to people that haven’t had much experience with it, especially when time constraints are involved. Many people enlist friends or family members that are familiar with Photoshop to create their artwork for them. However, if you don’t know anybody that is familiar with Photoshop and you are under a tight deadline, you can use any program you wish to create your project. We just need your artwork to be setup and saved within our specifications to ensure the final product is completed within your deadline, and so it will meet or exceed your expectations when it arrives to you. More often than not, when you use other programs, you might not be able to create and save the artwork in our suggested specifications. You may need to enlist our services if you do not know how to use Photoshop.
- I’ve decided to create my art in Photoshop, but I’m not familiar with how it works. How do I get started?
- Photoshop is a terrific program to use for all sorts of design projects and has an endless wealth of features. For a basic cd design, however, you don’t necessarily need to know everything there is to know, nor is it practical to try to learn everything in one sitting. These next few steps will outline a simple , easy-to-follow tutorial in getting started. For this tutorial, let’s open the template file from the UE website called “Insert 2 panel Template”. This particular template is what is most commonly used for a basic single front cover of a cd:
- First, open the .psd template file that you downloaded from our website. .Psd is the standard file format for all Photoshop documents, and is the easiest to use when working in Photoshop.
- Now you should see a square shape with red, yellow, and blue lines. This is the 2 panel template. The red lines are what we call the “safety area” – the space where all your important text and photos should be. The yellow line is the edge of the insert, where it gets cut. Finally, the blue line is our outer edge “bleed” – your art needs to extend all the way to this blue line. If it stops directly at the edge of the yellow cut line, chances are likely that the cutting and printing process may waver and your art will be mis-aligned. With the design extending all the way to the blue bleed line, you will have a properly aligned final product.
- Before doing anything, we need to make sure your document is 300 dpi, and in CMYK mode. To do this, click on the “image” dropdown menu, then “image size”. Change the dpi to 300, then click ok and close. Now go back to the “image” drop down menu, and this time click on “image mode”. Change it to CMYK, click ok, and close. These are two very simple, yet very critical steps in making sure your artwork turns out the way you want it to look in the final product.
- Why 300 dpi? if you have your document saved as anything lower, your artwork will appear blocky and blurry, and text may be difficult to read. You can save in a higher resolution, but we do not recommend going much higher than 300 because that will increase the file size and it will take longer to save and upload.
- Why/what is CMYK? Why can’t I work in RGB? CMYK is the standard color mode (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK) for most designs that are going to be printed, since most printers (including Ultra Entertainment’s) operate in CMYK mode. Many people prefer to work in RGB (Red Green Blue) mode because it allows the use of very bright, rich colors. However, those colors cannot be reproduced accurately in the printing process. RGB is best used for web-based designs, and anything that is strictly in a digital format that will not be printed. Now, back to our tutorial!
- Next, go to Window>Layers, and you’ll see that window pop up to the side. A “layer” is a Photoshop feature that is used to organize your design. You can create one layer for the background, another one on top of that for a foreground, another one on top of that for text, and so on. You can turn them on and off, adjust transparency, etc. This is a great way to create beautiful designs and keep artwork organized.
- For this particular template file, you’ll see in the layers window a layer that says something along the lines of “artwork goes here”. It should be below the guideline layer. Let’s start by highlighting that lower artwork layer, then going over to the “toolbar” on the left hand side. Now, click on the button with the picture of the paint bucket. This is basically a tool that fills an entire area with a solid space of color. On the bottom of the toolbar, you should see 2 squares, with one overlapping another. These are your color selections. Double click on the front square and a color selection window should pop up. Just click any dark color in the spectrum and ok it. Now you have your background color selected!
- Now, with your paint bucket tool and “fill color” selected, and your “art goes here” layer highlighted, simply click in the white area of the template and the whole area should fill with your color. This is your background.
- Next, you’ll need to create a new layer for text. To do this, go to the “layers” drop-down menu which is in the row of words on the top area of Photoshop. Go down and select “new layer” and click ok. Now you should have a new layer appear in the “layers” toolbar, below the template layer but above your first background color layer. This will be your text.
- Now go to the toolbar on the left hand side, the same area where you selected your paint bucket tool. However, this time you’re going to click on the button with the uppercase letter A on it. This is the type tool. Go down to those color boxes on the bottom and double click on the top one. Select a color that is different than your background. In this case, just choose white or something close to white. Click ok and close that window, and click your type cursor in the template. Now you should see a blinking line, and go ahead and type something out, making sure it does not go beyond the red safety area. You can alter the size, font, color, etc by opening up the “type” window, which you can open up in the “window” drop down menu. However, for this short lesson, just make sure your type is a bright color against the background, big enough to read, and within the safety area.
Almost done…
- Now you have a basic front cover, and we are ready to save it and upload to your Ultra Entertainment dropbox! There should be a solid background color, text, and the template guidelines. The layers window should show 3 layers, with the guidelines on top. Before saving, however, it is important that you have the guidelines layer turned off.
- Now that you have your template layer turned off, and your other 2 layers visible, go to File>save as, and save as a .psd file, with layers turned ON. This is also an important step so when the design gets to us, we are able to work with all the different elements of your design independently in case corrections need to be made.
- Voila! You have just created a design in Photoshop. With these simple steps as a starting point, you can create an entire Ultra Entertainment project that will look great and match almost exactly to what you see on the computer screen. Also, with this beginner’s introduction to Photoshop finished, you can use your new-found knowledge of the program to explore all the exciting features that are available to use.
We hope this has covered some basic questions you may have encountered during the design process. If you still need assistance, please feel free to contact us and we will assist you in any way we can. Thank you!