JPEG --> DVD case cover

[vanquish42]

Hello,

I have a jpeg that I would like to use as a DVD case cover. I don't want to stretch the jpeg over both the front and the back of the case; I want to have the complete jpeg on the front, the complete jpeg on the back, and the title of the media in between the two, i.e. on the spine.

I had heard of coverXP -- which allows a user to do exactly what I described above -- and tried it: I imported the jpeg, designed the cover, and printed. I didn't tamper with the size settings in coverXP and simply selected the preset for my cover. However, the cover printed too small in length and too tall in width.

Is there a way to print the cover with the correct dimensions, or is there any other free program or method that can perform the task?

[hech54]

Google "Multicoverprint" - It's a great program and simple to use.
EDIT....it doesn't design covers...it just prints them....sorry.

[hech54]

I use something like this:
http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/5867/template1mm.jpg
....in a program like Microsoft Image Composer...create my cover over top of this template....save it as a jpeg or bitmap then print it with Multicoverprint.

[zoobie]

the problem with printing stuff is that the resolution used for the net is a far cry from what's needed to print to paper. 200-300dpi should be good

[Denvers Dawgs]

You could download GIMP (freeware program like Photoshop) and then download a PSD template off the net made specifically for dvd covers

[lordsmurf]

Measure your case with a ruler. That's the only way to be sure it will fit.
Make your own template in image software (I use Photoshop).
All cases are a tad different, by a few millimeters in most cases.

200-600dpi is all you need.
200dpi is more than enough, except for certain sizes/faces of fonts. Those need 600. I rarely come across (or use) those fonts.

Forget all this template non-sense. Professionals and serious folks don't rely on templates, they measure themselves.

[AlanHK]

I just measured the case.

Front 130x182 mm.
Spine 13 mm
(May vary, measure your own cases.)

In Photoshop, make a document 130+13 +130 = 273 mm high by 182 mm wide.
(I was using landscape mode, if you prefer portrait, use 182 high by 273 wide.)
Set resolution at 300 dpi.

Make three layers for convenience, draw boxes of the appropriate size and drop images into them, overlay with text. Takes about 10 minutes. Print, cut to size, done.

[lordsmurf]

In Photoshop, just drag in guides to mark your spine area.

[vanquish42]

I made a cover using the template hech54 provided, which looked great on the computer. However, when it printed, it was the same size as the one pritned with coverXP - too small in width. I tried printing it with Adobe Reader, Microsoft Office Picture Manager, and Windows Photo Gallery, MultiCover Print (which printed the cover even smaller than the others) but the results were the same.

Could it be my printer or printer settings? The printer is an HP Officejet all in one and the paper is A4 210 x 297mm.

Now that the above mentioned software also printed the cover too small, I doubt that the problem was with coverXP - after all, the program is made to print covers.

Any fixes?

[AlanHK]

Could it be my printer or printer settings? The printer is an HP Officejet all in one and the paper is A4 210 x 297mm.

Could be printer settings. For instance, you have A4 paper. Perhaps the template is for US Letter. Some printer drivers will helpfully resize to fit if you have a different paper size. Try turning that off it it is, or changing the template to A4 paper if it's Letter.

[vanquish42]

Could it be my printer or printer settings? The printer is an HP Officejet all in one and the paper is A4 210 x 297mm.

Could be printer settings. For instance, you have A4 paper. Perhaps the template is for US Letter. Some printer drivers will helpfully resize to fit if you have a different paper size. Try turning that off it it is, or changing the template to A4 paper if it's Letter.

I changed the paper setting to A4 and printed the cover. It wasn't too small, but it was too big and wouldn't fit properly in the case.

[Denvers Dawgs]

This is not that hard of a project. What program are you using to create this cover? The cover should be 5 1/8 inches for the front and back and 5/8 of an inch for the spine. Or 3240 x 2176 pixels with the guide lines marked at 5 1/8 and 5 5/8 + a line for the spine

[gadgetguy]

This is my MSWord template for single DVD case covers.
http://ericbt.home.comcast.net/DVD_Cover.dot

[lordsmurf]

Word should be banned from doing anything other than typing. I cringe and want to strangle people when they submit stuff to me dumped into Word. I'd rather have it in Notepad or as a normal JPEG (a high-res one, at that, not a weenie cell phone camera image).

[AlanHK]

This is not that hard of a project. What program are you using to create this cover? The cover should be 5 1/8 inches for the front and back and 5/8 of an inch for the spine. Or 3240 x 2176 pixels with the guide lines marked at 5 1/8 and 5 5/8 + a line for the spine

"Pixels" don't mean anything unless you specify the DPI.

[hech54]

I'm in Germany too. I use A4 paper with Multicoverprint and an HP 5740 printer....works perfectly...I don't get it.

[thecoalman]

"Pixels" don't mean anything unless you specify the DPI.

That's not exactly true either and i tend to look at it differently. The pixel size of an image is the true size, anything else is resampled version whether it's through software or the printer. DPI is only relative to the printed size, otherwise it means nothing. e.g. a 600DPI image like this one:



Is no different than this one which is 72DPI.



The DPI only sets the deafault printing size, for example if you import these into a MS word document the 600DPI image will now be much smaller because Word will scale the image according to the DPI.

---------------------------

To get the correct size for your project as suggested by LS first find the dimensions you need, scale the image in inches(or metric) and set the DPI at 200 to 300. When you go to print it should print the correct size assuming your printer is set to scale images according to their DPI.

[gadgetguy]

Word should be banned from doing anything other than typing. I cringe and want to strangle people when they submit stuff to me dumped into Word. I'd rather have it in Notepad or as a normal JPEG (a high-res one, at that, not a weenie cell phone camera image).

Opinion noted. It works for me to print out the right size. I agree that it's a lousy program to create a cover in, but Word easily allows you to paste the images in the correct size for the three fields of the cover and nearly every Windows user has it on their PC.

[lordsmurf]

My problem with Word is that it scales images badly, and can quickly pixellate an image to uselessness.

[thecoalman]

My problem with Word is that it scales images badly, and can quickly pixellate an image to uselessness.

I haven't used it for scaling so I don't know the affects but if you set the image dimensions/dpi before importing using it for a template shouldn't have any affect on the image because its not being scaled.

[gadgetguy]

True, but as with all things video, if you properly prepare your assets, it works fine. As I understand the main concern here is to get the finished cover to print out the right size and this template has never failed for me in that regard.

[AlanHK]

"Pixels" don't mean anything unless you specify the DPI.

That's not exactly true either and i tend to look at it differently.

Why isn't it true?

The pixel size of an image is the true size

And this is completely meaningless.

A "pixel" is dimensionless.

The question here is how to make an image print at a specified size.
Pixels/dpi = inches.

The DPI only sets the deafault printing size,

Yes. We want to print it, not put it on a HTML page.

[thecoalman]

"Pixels" don't mean anything unless you specify the DPI.

That's not exactly true either and i tend to look at it differently.

Why isn't it true?

Well the next time someone asks me for a 600DPI image because they want to print a poster it I'll send them a 200x150px 600DPI image, that should work perfectly right? The point I'm trying to make that maybe you might understand but someone else might not understand is simply setting the DPI doesn't accomplish anything when you trying to scale an image unless it's used in conjunction with resmapling it. i.e the pixel dimesions will change too.

[Denvers Dawgs]

This is not that hard of a project. What program are you using to create this cover? The cover should be 5 1/8 inches for the front and back and 5/8 of an inch for the spine. Or 3240 x 2176 pixels with the guide lines marked at 5 1/8 and 5 5/8 + a line for the spine

"Pixels" don't mean anything unless you specify the DPI.

My bad, that's for 300DPI

[AlanHK]

"Pixels" don't mean anything unless you specify the DPI.

That's not exactly true either and i tend to look at it differently.

Why isn't it true?

Well the next time someone asks me for a 600DPI image because they want to print a poster it I'll send them a 200x150px 600DPI image, that should work perfectly right? The point I'm trying to make that maybe you might understand but someone else might not understand is simply setting the DPI doesn't accomplish anything when you trying to scale an image unless it's used in conjunction with resmapling it. i.e the pixel dimesions will change too.

The point here is that they are making an implicit assumption about the final size.
Since you know or can make a good guess of the size of a "poster", obviously 200 pixels @ 600 dpi = 1/3 inch would not be what they wanted.

But in the general case, yes, you have no clue how big to make the file (in pixels) if asked for a "600 dpi" file.

There are three parameters:
Physical size
dpi
pixels.
Any two of these need to be specified. If you just have one, you can only guess, and may be wrong.

[lordsmurf]

dpi only controls the printed page size.
The resolution determines the clarity of the original digital image.

These do affect one another. And there is a point of diminishing returns, as coalman has shown once (football image) and described again (200px for a poster). On a related note, this is why megapixels are a marketing myth after about 3MP (other items, such as glass and cropping and desired print size, determine quality more than pixels).

Without the pixels specified -- on the original source file -- you'll never get a good print. Your screen understands pixels. When discussing DVD covers, you can certainly tell a novice artist what pixel dimensions to use. The print size will output properly in image/layout software (not some piece of crap like Word or whatever). I use Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe InDesign CS3. I work in points, picas and inches, I don't often mess with resolution in layout, instead setting 200-600dpi as the output. But I could just as easily set a pixel dimension and get the same output, when working in Photoshop.

It's best to understand everything, not harp on just resolution, or just dpi. Both are flawed ways of thinking.

[thecoalman]

These do affect one another. And there is a point of diminishing returns, as coalman has shown once (football image) and described again (200px for a poster). On a related note, this is why megapixels are a marketing myth after about 3MP (other items, such as glass and cropping and desired print size, determine quality more than pixels).

Yes an I often get frustrated when someone should know the difference, the football image for example is cropped from Canon 8mp DSLR shot, the default output is 72 DPI and the local newspaper told my Sister -in-law that it wasn't sufficient for printing when she submitted a 8mp image because it was 72dpi.

[lordsmurf]

That newspaper must have some real dumbass photographers. In the future, name drop the camera/model, if it's a DSLR, in the submission e-mail. Better yet, just press-ready the photo (200-250dpi, 9" on longest side, cropped and color-corrected). Also submit a B&W version, if you're not sure, as you don't want some lazy idiot to scale color to B&W without grayscale/de-saturation corrections.

Of course, then you run into a problem at those rags, where the image is too much for their puny e-mail accounts. The "massive" 4MB image will crash their server.