Hi Guys...

I'm designing a matted album for a client and haven't done one in YEARS... Back in the day I would design the album using generic templates in studiomaster that matched the openings Leather Craftsmen uses and then convert it into a print order by hand... now i'm on a mac and i'm not sure where to start... i could design it like a digital book but it would take WAY too long to get sizes right, etc... are there any cheap/free programs out there to do basic designs like this?

thank you so much!
Sean

if you use zook book, they have some templates you can download. they're $100 but they give you a $100 credit towards your next album.

Thank you Corey, unfortunately my customer is set on leather craftsmen... i know zook does very similar albums but i need to stick with LC... i'm digging out two old PCs i have for parts in hopes that studiomaster might be on one of them.

your work is great btw! ...just a heads up, there's a spelling error on your 'about us' (cable vs. capable)

thanks
Sean

Labprints has a great matted album design program. It is $149, not sure what cheap really is to you. I use it all the time since about 1/2 of our customers still order matted albums. It is really simple to use and has all of the LC mat choices in it.

I use Art Leather's Montage program. I use only the matts that are available for Leather Craftsmen. Unfortunately, AL has not seen fit to upgrade the sofware to work with OS X so it must be run on a Mac that has OS 9 (Classic) installed. That eliminates my newer Intel Macs.

Rick

opps, thanks for the heads up.

Check out Photojunction. You can download a full version 30 day trial. I just did that for a random matted album that I needed to design.

What's a matted album?



hahah

Send it to la-vie.

Thank you very much for the ideas, i really appreciate all the input! i went ahead and just designed it in photoshop... i finished it in three hours... i figured by the time i downloaded and figured out a new program for just ONE album i could have been done already in photoshop.

but wow... in pricing it out, matted albums are expensive! the last time i did them i was working for someone else and didn't need to know pricing... i'll be firmer with my flush albums only policy! )

thanks again!