Referencing a uImage Document Package

Referencing a uImage document package (DPKG file) greatly simplifies the uImage workflow in uCreate Print. A uImage DPKG contains all the template information defined by the uImage designer in Photoshop (such as the template type; the action or script to be used to complete the effect; the Copy Fitting settings, etc.). These settings are automatically passed to the content object rule.

As a result, the uCreate Print designer is required to set only a few options in the uImage Settings dialog.

1. Define the uImage content object settings as described in the following table.

   Option	Description
   Template Package	The uImage document package you wish to use, to create images with embedded personalization. Choose one of the following: Click Browse to locate the full path to the uImage Package. Enter a relative path, to be appended to the default uImage templates folder (see Setting uImage Defaults). Once you select a DPKG, uCreate Print extracts its predefined settings.
   Template Type	Displays the type of template defined by this document package: Regular: a generic type of application. Any uImage template can be defined as a Regular template. Image Font: creates a personalized image that shows text using images. The alphabet is a set of images and each character is represented by a specific image. This specialized application makes it easy to create such effects, saving you the need to define how to separate the text to letters and map the letters to images. Separated Letters: creates a personalized image in which the personalized text is created using regular fonts. Each letter is placed in a separate text layer, so it can have a different design (a different location, size and color). This specialized application makes it easy to create such effects, saving you the need to define how to separate the text to letters.
   Template Document	The name of the uImage template included in this document package. This setting is automatically passed from the uImage document package.
   Data	Define the rules for calculating the values of the uImage tags or the personalized text in this uImage template. Each uImage tag or personalized text defined in the uImage template must have a matching rule in the uImage Settings dialog.
   uImage Tags (Regular Templates)	The names of the uImage tags defined in the template (this list is automatically passed by the document package). For each tag name, you are required to define a rule that calculates the tag value per-recipient. To define (or edit) the tag rule, double click the tag name in the uImage tags list or select the tag and click Customize. The Customize uImage Tag dialog is displayed, allowing you to define its rule using a Rule Editor.
   Personalized Text (Image Font & Separated Letters Templates)	The text to be personalized. The Personalized Text list may be defined by either combining two tags - “First Name” and “Last Name”; or defining the expression of a single tag: First Name and Last Name (two tags):  this commonly-personalized text is available as a predefined option when the DPKG is created. If there are enough uImage tags to display all characters, the recipient’s first name and last name are both displayed. Otherwise, only the first name is shown. If there are not enough uImage tags to display the first name, only initials are displayed. To define this tag rule, double click the tag name or select it and click Customize. Custom Rule (single tag):  this option is displayed when the DPKG sets the Personalized Text to Custom. Set this expression to one of the following: Select a data source field from the drop-down list. This automatically sets the tag value to the field value. OR Click Customize to define the rule for calculating this tag’s value. For instructions, see Defining Personalized Text.
   Advanced Settings	The properties of the personalized images.
   Output Format	Select the format of the uImage output files (JPG, EPS etc.) from the dropdown list. To define the format settings, click Properties. A format-specific Properties dialog is displayed, allowing you to define the desired settings. For details, see Output Format Properties for Document Packages.
   Output Folder	The folder in which the personalized images are stored. Choose one of the following: Click Browse to locate the full path to the uImage Output folder. Enter a relative path, to be appended to the default uImage Output folder (see Setting uImage Defaults).
   Output Filename Format	Defines the format of the uImage output filenames. A uImage output file is created for each recipient. Automatic: uImage automatically names each uImage output file using a sequence of incremented numbers. Identical images that share the same values receive the same file name. For example, automatic filenames can be as follows: 4751.jpg 4752.jpg Custom: customize the format of the uImage output file names. Click Customize… to open the uImage Output Filename Format dialog, and define a rule for the file name. For example, you can set a specific uImage tag (such as the recipient's name) to appear in uppercase. Skip Duplicates: setting the Output Filename Format to Customize enables you to optimize production by reusing a single image for all recipients who share the same data. To use this functionality, the Output Filename Format must reflect the values used in all uImage tags. That is, if two recipients' data create the same personalized image, the Output Filename Format will create the same filename for both recipients. This enables uImage to detect which personalized images are duplicates and optimize production by skipping them. Choose one of the following: Select this box to skip output filenames that have already been processed (this is the default setting). Clear this box to force uImage to generate images even though they already exist in the uImage output folder. When using Dynamic Print, it is recommended to optimize production speed, by selecting this box and setting the Output Filename Format to Automatic.

   Note: Skip Duplicates optimizes production by reusing the whole personalized image for different recipients. There are additional optimizations, which reuse variable sections of the personalized image. When using the document package workflow, these optimizations are supported for the JPG, EPS and PNG output formats.

2. Click OK to close the dialog.

   The uImage template properties are displayed in the New Content Object dialog.

3. Click OK to close the dialog.

4. Select a graphic frame in your document.

5. In the Dynamic Content panel of uCreate Print, double-click the uImage graphic content object.
   The personalized image generated for the current recipient (using the Photoshop template) is displayed in the document.

6. Scroll through the data source records, to  how the uImage output file changes dynamically per-recipient.

   If the uImage output files have not been created in advance, but are created on-the-fly, browsing between the records may take some time.

Output Format Properties for Document Packages

The following table lists the available output formats and their options for Photoshop document packages.

Note: For Photoshop, the JPG, EPS and PNG output formats have an Optimization option that reuses variable sections of the image. This optimization can be used in addition to the "Skip Duplicates" optimization, which reuses the whole personalized image for all recipients who share the same data.

Photoshop Output Format	Option	Description
JPEG (*.JPG)	Optimization	Defines how to optimize the personalized image: Default: the default optimization of this template type: Regular: None Image font or separated letters: Automatic None: no optimization is applied. Custom: the personalized image is a specific area of the template, containing all the variable data. To use this setting, mark the variable area in the Photoshop template by drawing a rectangular path. Automatic: uImage automatically detects all variable areas in the template for each recipient, and these areas are used to create the personalized image. This option saves the most disk space. Note that this option cannot be used with templates that require one of the following scripts: Scripts that change the layer structure Scripts that use the uImage tag names and values to personalize the template. For a detailed description of the Optimize feature and for instructions on the required procedures in Photoshop and InDesign, see Optimizing uImage Performance.
	Quality	Sets the quality of the JPG file. Possible values: 1 -12 (the higher the value, the higher the quality). Default is 12.
Photoshop EPS (*.EPS)	Save vector data	If the image contains vector data, check this box to save these data. Default is checked.
	Optimization	Defines how to optimize the personalized image: Default: the default optimization of this template type: Regular: None Image font or separated letters: Automatic None: no optimization is applied. Custom: the personalized image is a specific area of the template, containing all the variable data. To use this setting, mark the variable area in the Photoshop template by drawing a rectangular path. Automatic: uImage automatically detects all variable areas in the template for each recipient, and these areas are used to create the personalized image. This option saves the most disk space. Note that this option cannot be used with templates that require one of the following scripts: Scripts that change the layer structure Scripts that use the uImage tag names and values to personalize the template.
	Encoding	Select the format in which the image data are saved. Possible values: BINARY ASCII JPEG — if you select JPEG encoding, choose one of the following quality settings: Low Medium High Maximum Default is BINARY.
PNG (*.PNG)	Optimization	Defines how to optimize the personalized image: Default: the default optimization of this template type: Regular: None Image font or separated letters: Automatic None: no optimization is applied. Custom: the personalized image is a specific area of the template, containing all the variable data. To use this setting, mark the variable area in the Photoshop template by drawing a rectangular path. Automatic - uImage automatically detects all variable areas in the template for each recipient, and these areas are used to create the personalized image. This option saves the most disk space. This option cannot be used with templates that require one of the following scripts: Scripts that change the layer structure Scripts that use the uImage tag names and values to personalize the template.
Photoshop PSD (*.PSD)	None

Defining Personalized Text

For templates whose type is Image font or separated letters, uCreate Print's uImage Settings dialog does not define uImage tags, but rather Personalized Text.

The Personalized Text property is set in Photoshop (in the uImage Settings section of the Export XMPie uImage Document Package dialog) to one of the following:

• First and Last Name: this is the most commonly personalized text, whose default rule is to use the values of the First Name and Last Name data source fields.

• Custom: this option is used to create personalized text based on any of the data source fields, such as the recipient’s title, city, club name etc.

The rule for calculating the Personalized Text value must be defined here, otherwise the uImage tags that serve as placeholders for this text will not be personalized during production.

Defining the Personalized Text Rule

Personalized Text Rules are defined using a Rule Editor, just like uImage tags rules and content object rules. A rule may include multiple data source fields and use conditional logic and data manipulation functions.

To define the Personalized Text Rule:

1. In the uImage Settings dialog, go to the Data section and set the Personalized Text list to the relevant data source field.

2. Click Customize...

   The Customize Personalized Text dialog is displayed.

3. In the Rule section, use the building blocks and operators to customize the rule of the Personalized Text, for example: change it to uppercase or lowercase. For instructions on using the Rule Editor, see the uCreate online Help.

4. To edit the rule as a QLingo Expression, click Edit QLingo.

5. In the Preview section, test the customized rule: browse through recipient records and  how the uImage tag's value (the string displayed in the text frame) changes for each recipient.

6. Click OK to save your changes.

7. Back in the uImage Settings dialog, click OK to save your changes.

8. Back in the New Content Object dialog (or Edit Content Object dialog), click OK to save your changes.

Continue your design work, using the uImage content object to tag the relevant graphic(s) in your document. When proofing or producing the document, the Personalized Text values will be calculated according to the customized rule.