Some usage examples
Example 1 - A baby photographer printing with a minilab
A customer runs a minilab business which is equipped with a digital minilab. She employs a photographer who takes photos of newly born babies at the surrounding hospitals with a digital camera. From these images she produces baby announcement cards. The parents also have a choice of layouts and designs.
She uses OutPost. She has designed all the templates with the in-built template designer. At each run, she brings the images into the application from the camera's memory card. For each image she enters in the baby's details and selects the appropriate pack(s) according to the order. When ready, she then prints all the packs as JPEG files at 300dpi to the appropriate hotfolder where her digital minilab finds and prints them.
Example 2 - A school photography company that prints their own work
A school photography company offers composite group photos and individual portrait packages. On photography day each student hands the operator an identification card which are kept in order on a spike.
This customer uses NeoPack/Professional and NeoComposite
Pre-photography, the student data is imported into a job file using NeoPack/Professional. From this data the student identification cards are printed and distributed to the students. After photography day the images are brought into the job file. The images now need to be matched to the students. The identification cards are processed in order by scanning a barcode on each one which identifies the student and matches to the image. Any inconsistencies are easily fixed. Order information is also scanned for each student or manually entered. Packages are printed with NeoPack/Professional.
In NeoComposite, the same job file is opened. Any data corrections and image editing that were performed in NeoPack/Professional are present. Various templates have been created. Each template describes where the image, names (including alignment, color, font etc) and other elements appear on the page. To prepare the pages for printing, each class is selected along with a template - everything is properly formatted ready for printing.
Example 3 - Youth sports photography
A company specializes in junior sports photography and provides trader cards. The kids are photographed digitally and their details are collected on photography day.
This customer uses NeoPack/Pro and CapturePost.
Prior to photography day, enough identification cards are printed using NeoPack/Pro to cover the number of people expected to be photographed. Each card is uniquely identified with a barcoded number and provides space for them to write in their details - name, position, statistics etc.
On photography day, each person is handed a card which they complete with their details. This card is handed to the operator, the barcode is scanned and a picture is taken using CapturePost. This makes a new entry in the job's database and links the photo with it. The day progresses until everyone has been photographed.
Back in the lab, the details for everyone is entered. Using NeoPack/Pro each identification card is scanned which brings up the person's entry in the database after which the details to be filled in.
To prepare the required pages for printing, it is a matter of selecting the appropriate templates.
Example 4 - Independent laboratory
A printing lab provides printing services to independent photographers. The photographers use digital cameras. The lab is able to print numerous digital products, including composites, traditional groups, packages and other items such as bookmarks. The lab does relatively little work to prepare the products that require printing - almost all of the work is done by the photographers.
The photographers are equipped with PackBuilder and CapturePost.
Using PackBuilder they import subject details and print barcoded identification cards which are distributed prior to photography. These cards include barcode representations of the available packages.
On photography day, each person hands their card to the operator. Using CapturePost, the operator scans the barcode identifying them and their details appear on the screen. The barcode identifying which package has been ordered, if any, is also scanned. One or more photos are taken and are linked to the person's details.
Back at the office, using PackBuilder, the photographer can look through and enter further orders and printout statistic and financial information. They can view, crop and color correct any images. They can even export the images for school year book production. The finished file is then sent to the lab.
The lab opens completed files and automatically forms whatever requires printing according to the order information in the file. They use NeoPack/Pro to form the portrait packs, NeoComposite for the composite groups and NeoGroup for the traditional group. Any extra items such as bookmarks, ID cards, certificates are produced using NeoPack/Pro.
