XMPie Training

EDU Tutorial - Part 7 -

Image font uImage effects

Document version: v1
Software version: v9.1
Published date: September 2017
Notices
© 2017 XMPie®, A Xerox Company. All rights reserved.
U.S. Patent 6948115, 7406194, 7548338, 7757169 and pending patents. JP Patent 4406364B and pending patents.
For information, contact XMPie Inc.
485 Lexington Avenue
10th. Floor
New York, NY 10017
More information can be found at www.xmpie.com
XMPie provides this publication "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. This publication may contain
technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, the
publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from
the use of the information contained herein. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be
incorporated in new editions of the publication. XMPie may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the
program(s) described in this publication at any time.
XMPie, the XMPIE logo, PersonalEffect, uChart, uCreate, uDirect, uEdit, uImage, uPlan, uProduce, uStore, StoreFlow, Circle, ADOR,
XLIM, RURL, Hosted e-Media Express Edition, and the slogan "one to one in one" are trademarks or registered trademarks of
XMPie, A Xerox Company, and may not be used without permission. No part of these materials may be used or reproduced in
any form, or by any means, without the express written consent of XMPie. To request permission to use these materials, please
contact [email protected].
XEROX® and XEROX FreeFlow®, FreeFlow Output Manager® and FreeFlow Process Manager® are trademarks of Xerox Corporation
in the United States and/or other countries.
Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects are
trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Microsoft Office, Microsoft
Excel and Microsoft Access are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Mac OS is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
ComponentArt is a trademark of ComponentArt Inc.
Other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.
Contents
About this tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Target audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Document structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Reference materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Module 1:
Introduction and overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Unzip and review the contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Confirm the image size needed for the InDesign document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Open the sample Photoshop file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Customer requirements / tutorial objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Tutorial tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Module 2:
Placing the smart objects in Photoshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Adding the smart objects to the Photoshop file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Tagging the layers for uImage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Save your document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Module 3:
Exporting a Document Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Exporting the XMPie DPKG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Where to now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Review and extra exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Review questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Additional exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Exercise 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

XMPie Training XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects 3
About this tutorial
Congratulations on your selection of XMPie uCreate Print for your Variable Data Print (VDP) needs.
The XMPie EDU Tutorial is a series of tutorials that together will provide a thorough introduction to VDP
techniques using Adobe InDesign and XMPie uCreate Print.
The EDU Tutorial is divided into different sections to enable you to quickly jump forward or backward to
find help to learn different aspects of the product functionality:
zz Part 1 - Project planning, preparation and gathering
|| Understanding the project
|| Checking the available data
|| Checking the available image and text file assets
|| Planning what content objects are needed to achieve the desired outcome
zz Part 2 - Basic VPD job
|| Linking to your data source
|| Placing Text and Graphic Content objects into the InDesign document
|| Managing text copy fitting and dynamic graphic fitting
|| Creating your first VDP output
zz Part 3 - Using rules and logic
|| Introduction to the Rule editor
|| Functions and how to use them
|| Creating rule or logic
zz Part 4 - Introducing more content object types
|| Creating and using Visibility, Style and Text File content objects
zz Part 5 - Barcodes
|| Creating and using print barcodes
zz Part 6 - uImage regular font effects
|| Creating a font-based uImage template with Adobe Photoshop
|| Creating a uImage Document Package
|| Optimization techniques
zz Part 7 - uImage image font effects
|| Creating an image-font-based uImage template with Adobe Photoshop
|| Creating a uImage Document Package
|| Optimization techniques
zz Part 8 - Using the uImage package in uCreate Print
|| Linking InDesign and uCreate Print to the uImage package
zz Part 9 - Table Content objects and uChart
|| Linking to secondary data sources
|| Table Content objects
|| Adding uChart to the document
zz Part 10 - Working with uProduce
|| Creating Campaign- and Document-packages
|| Uploading packages to the uProduce Dashboard
|| Processing the document on the server
|| Working with Circle

4 XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects XMPie Training
Target audience
This tutorial is designed to provide basic information, step-by-step instructions, and sample materials for
self-learning. Should you require more visual assistance, there are accompanying videos available at
http://campus.xmpie.com/s/uCreatePrint.
At the end of this Tutorial, there are review questions, and suggested exercises to build on the skills
outlined in the tutorial.
The content is designed for customers who have bought XMPie uDirect or PersonalEffect and wish to
learn how to use XMPie's uImage product to create personalized image templates for use together with
uCreate Print and VDP production.
It is expected that the reader will already have a basic working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. If not, it
is recommended to first complete some basic Photoshop training for example, courses with Adobe:
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/tutorials.html or a 3rd party organization such as Lynda.com:
https://www.lynda.com/InDesign-training-tutorials/233-0.html

Document structure
This tutorial uses the following icons to draw your attention to special key items to help you identify the
information you are looking for when completing the tutorial.

Additional information and notes

This is an example of additional information and notes.

NOTE: Special attention and warning

This is an example of special attention and warning.

Sections of the tutorial which require hands on action will be highlighted with the following icon.

Step by step instructions

This is an example of step by step instructions.

Reference materials
zz uImage User Guide (Access via the help menu on the uCreate Print panel).
zz uCreate Print User Guide (Access via the help menu on the uCreate Print panel).
zz uCreate Print Tutorial videos (Access at http://campus.xmpie.com/s/uCreatePrint)

Prerequisites
This tutorial assumes that you:
zz Are familiar with Photoshop CC,
zz have Adobe Photoshop CC2015 or CC2017 installed (trial version is acceptable),
zz have XMPie uCreate Print installed. (uImage is installed as part of uCreate Print), and
zz uImage license must be installed. (It is not possible to use uImage Trial for image font effects.)

XMPie Training XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects 5
Module 1:
Introduction and overview
In this module, we download and unzip the tutorial resource files. We will investigate the provided files,
and get ready to start work in Photoshop. This overview will also describe what we want to achieve in
this sample tutorial.

Duration
About 5 minutes

Objectives
After completing this module, you will be able to:
zz Download and unzip the provided sample Photoshop file,
zz Download and install the sample font,
zz Check the required image size and resample if needed, and
zz Understand the expected outcome of the tutorial.

Procedure
Unzip and review the contents

Step by step instructions

Unzip the resources package. You should see the following files:

6 XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects XMPie Training
 In addition to this PDF tutorial, the files include a main Photoshop template and a folder of
image letter assets.

Additional information and notes

In order to create an image font effect with uImage, you need to create images
for each letter character that you expect to need. For example, the provided
assets for this tutorial include the letters a to z and the hyphen (minus sign) and
apostrophe characters.

Additional information and notes

Non a to z characters need to be named by the Unicode value of the character.

For example, the apostrophe character is 0027 in Unicode.

Confirm the image size needed for the InDesign document

To ensure the best image production performance, it is recommended to create your uImage templates
at the right size and resolution.

Step by step instructions

In the previous tutorials

of this series, we have
been working with the
EDU Postcard Template
InDesign file.
Open the document
and use the Selection
tool to identify the
width and height of
the image we want to
replace with uImage.

Open the sample Photoshop file

Step by step instructions

Open the graduation-image-font.psd Photoshop file.

Click and hold the document size information

to view full details of the image size and
resolution.

XMPie Training XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects 7
 Additional information and notes

For this example, the image size is almost the same and there is no need to
resample the Photoshop file, but you should bare this in mind for your future
uImage templates.

Customer requirements / tutorial objectives

Our customer - EDU University - want the mail piece to cut through the mailbox clutter. Students will
receive a lot of material from different universities at around the same time, so they want their postcard
to have some visual interest and hopefully be remembered/recalled by students.
In order to do this, we are suggesting to include a personalized Image effect created with uImage

The effect we will create is to add

the student's firstname into the
image as if it was formed by the
mortarboards thrown in the air.

Tutorial tasks
zz Placing and positioning the smart objects in Photoshop (page x).
zz Renaming the smart object layers (page x).
zz Exporting the XMPie Document package (page x).

8 XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects XMPie Training
Module 2:
Placing the smart objects in
Photoshop
Duration
About 10 minutes.

Objectives
After completing this module, you will be able to:
zz Use point text in Photoshop to create a tagged layer, and
zz Experiment with Photoshop blending effects to create a more realistic effect.

Procedure
Adding the smart objects to the Photoshop file

Step by step instructions

From the File menu, select

Place Embedded...
Browse to the assets folder
and select one of the letter
images. (It does not matter
which letter image you
choose.)

Change the size, rotation and

position of the first letter.

XMPie Training XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects 9
 Repeat the steps to place
and position additional letter
images into the image. You
should be able to place 8
letters into the image.

NOTE: Special attention and warning

Do not copy and paste or duplicate an existing letter. You must place each letter
into the image separately using the File > Place Embedded menu.

Tagging the layers for uImage

Step by step instructions

Open the Layers panel from

the Window menu.
Double-click on the text part
of the layer name.
Rename the first layer <L1>
Repeat for the second layer
naming it <L2>
Repeat for each layer
increasing the sequence
number.

Additional information and notes

The layer name needs to start and end with the <> characters to be seen as a tag
by uImage. Each layer needs to be numbered sequentially from the first letter to
the last. The layer name can include a text prefix. I generally use L to represent
"letter".

When completed all layers

should be tagged and
numbered.

10 XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects XMPie Training
Save your document

Step by step instructions

Save your Photoshop file. If you wish to repeat the tutorial in future, you may want to use
Save As... so you can return to the original sample file.

XMPie Training XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects 11
Module 3:
Exporting a Document Package
Duration
About 5 minutes.

Objectives
After completing this module, you will be able to:
zz Export an XMPie Document Package (DPKG) for a Regular (font-based) uImage effect.

Procedure
Exporting the XMPie DPKG

Step by step instructions

From the Photoshop File

menu, select Automate, and
then select Export XMPie
DPKG...

Browse to choose a location to save your Document Package and enter a suitable name for
the package. By default the package name will be the Photoshop file name.

Set the Template Type to

Image Font.

Set the Personalization Text

to First and Last name.

12 XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects XMPie Training
 Additional information and notes

The Personalization Text field is allowing you to choose between pushing one
database field or two fields into the image.
Custom = 1 database field.
Firstname and lastname = 2 database fields.
While the option says firstname and lastname, you can later choose any
database fields to push into the image. For example, you could choose to use
firstname and company name in the image.

Additional information and notes

When you select the Firstname and Lastname option, uImage will evaluate the
number of letters in the two database fields and the number of smart object
layers in the Photoshop file and select to use:
1) If firstname and lastname will both fit in the image:

2) If only firstname will fit in the image:

3) If firstname will not fit, uImage will use the first and last initials:

Select how to align the text.

For this example, I will choose
left.

XMPie Training XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects 13
 Enter the Tag Prefix if you
used one when naming the
layers.
Enter the number of images or Tag layers you created.

Click Browse and select the

folder containing the asset
images.

Actions, scripts and

optimization are not required
for this example. Please refer
to the uImage User Guide for
more information on these
settings.

After setting the Tag prefix

and Number of tags, you
should see the tags listed in
the Additional Information
Area.

Additional information and notes

If you do not see uImage Tags listed in the Additional Information area, you have
not named the layers correctly with the <> characters, or you have not set the
correct Tag prefix or Number of Tags values.

Click Export to create your XMPie Document Package.

Where to now?
Now that you have created your Document package, it can be used to create personalized images with
uCreate Print or the XMPie uProduce server.
To learn how to use the package with uCreate Print, continue on to Tutorial 8.

14 XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects XMPie Training
Review and extra exercises
To consolidate your understanding of the topics covered in this tutorial, please answer the following
review questions, and complete the additional exercises:

Review questions
What is the main reason for using personalized images in a marketing campaign? (Page 8)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When should you choose the Custom Personalization Text option? (Page 13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Will an Image Font document Package include the necessary fonts? (Page 14) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What will happen if you have a database with a long name? (Page 13)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Where do you find the Export XMPie DPKG menu? (Page 12)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Additional exercises
Exercise 1
Think of an image concept where letters could not be created with a font. For example, pebbles on beach,
autumn leaves on grass, M&Ms or Jelly Beans candy spilt on a table...
Find a background image (beach, grass, table) and create your overlay letter images (snap some photos
or create the images manually in Photoshop) for all A-Z letters and repeat the tutorial using your images.

XMPie Training XMPie EDU Tutorial Part 7 - Image font uImage effects 15