Anyone else having problems with FF ver 4?

I'm runing it under bootcamp on my MacBookPro, and I can't get my layout to export properly in either Jpg or PSD mode.

When I submitted an "issue" to Lumapix, it took them two days to respond, and then another day to tell me that it's been submitted as a bug!

Just need to know if it's me, or if the program really is just that buggy.

Well, I use PC, and it hangs some times -- so I always make sure and save regularly. I haven't had problems with exporting though.

Leann:

Is it ver 4?
Are you exporting as a JPG? or PSD?

Does your layout begin with a single page, or a dbl page spread?

I'm using the new version (4) the "extreme" one, starting out with one double page spread and clicking "add page" in the pages menu. Occasionally I'll clone a page, but usually just add a fresh one.

I export as JPG usually, but occasionally I've exported as PSD in order to tweak the image more accurately in PhotoShop.

Leann

thanks Leann,

I think my issues on jpg export are due to having a 10x10 opening page... and then double page (20x10) spreads after that -- but finishing with a 10 page spread. I'll try making first and last pages into double spreads and see if that helps.

I try to use the "export all pages" dialog, and go get some lunch, only to come back and find it fubared somehow.

Edit: You know you can right click on an image in the "create" pane -- when its on the page in FF -- and edit the image via PhotoShop right then?

Hmmm... yeah, I wonder if that would cause the problem -- I do my first and last pages on one spread and then split them manually afterwards, exporting everything in one batch.

Do you do a lot of your albums 10x10 then? I did my sample albums up as 12x12 because I figured that if brides see the 12x12 size they'll *want* that.

Want to get together for lunch some time and chat?

Leann

i just started using v4 yesterday.

the new interface is different, so i'm learning that. it is more dynamic than the previous version.

i tried to use it just before it was out of beta and it crashed a few times, so i waited to try again. the book i'm doing now is a small guest book, and i have learned to SAVE AFTER I WORK ON EACH PAGE (in any version), and if there's lot to a page, save more often.

when i have a problem, i call rather than email. i think they are working the bugs out, and i have gotten good (not great) response through email when i do have a crash. i gotta cut them a break for a little while as this is a HUGE change and releasing a new version, i expect bugs.

saved a page to psd - worked fine.
i'm on a pc.

you know i love this program, so it's hard for me to be really objective.

Robin... I love version 3 of the program... I've designed over 100 books with it!
I got ver 4 for the save as PSD feature since they are making the "Upload to Pro-lab" option go away.

Unfortunately, I now see why Adobe has been soooooo slow to release CS3 for sale-- even for public beta on Photoshop CS3.. Adobe wants to avoid a PR disaster from an extremely buggy Program.

Lumapix has dropped a few pegs -- ok, a lot of pegs -- down on my board due to the buggy-ness of this software. Combine that with their lack of support for my new Mac, and I'm

I was hoping to give the software rave reviews after this run... we'll have to see how they handle this! I've also noticed that no-one at LP looks at their user forums very often. Issues raised there can go weeks or months without comments.

Right now, while I type, I'm running a batch save as PSD on a book that has all pages at the same dimensions. We'll see how that goes.

Leann... Just give me a call! Love to get together and chat! If we meet on the NE side of Indy, we might even be able to get KC or a few others along.

i hear ya.

give them a call. i think they are really working hard to get the program up to speed.
i don't use their forums, either. i think that as more people use the program it will become more useful. sometimes it's not a matter of growing 'too fast', it's a matter of growing, and they need the feedback to know what needs to be fixed.

Just FYI about what is happening:

If I batch export the entire book as a PSD, it errors out on about the 9th spread, with "Out of memory"
EDIT: I can manually save each page -- one at a time, and it works, but is time consuming.

Either way, it has saved a blank .png file, and a real .psd file. but the thumbnails on the PSD look as if it only saved the red channel info. Open the file in PS and it looks ok, right size, etc.

However, if I've got an image set as canvas background, and lowered the opacity on it, then it puts the checkerboard (the pattern behind the image to show that it's opaqued out) on the image itself.

I'll be sending them an email, since my day is full of meetings. If they can respond quickly, great. If not, then I may be swithing to InDesign sooner rather than later, and spending this weekend re-designing a 100 page/2 vol set.

GOT YOU GUYS COVERED.
i spoke to lumapix today...

go to lumpix.com and RE-INSTALL the new version again. you will need to MANUALLY download the new version AGAIN. v4 does not automatically grab new stuff, yet. the fix was corrected for this problem within the laxt few days, so try this now. it will overwrite you v4 with the fix. this should repair the problem.

i got lots of info from my conversation, but i asked about this for you.

a few tips:
DO NOT change file names once you start to build an album
do not move files once you start to build an album
if you move something, and HAVEN'T changed the file name, to reconnect :
tools>reconnect images>specify new location
if you changed file nemes, you are out of luck

album company templates are coming, they were overlooked, and no one seemed to mention it. my phone call institued an urgent patch request, and the templates will be available soon!


working on a discount to those going to osp west - can't promise anything, yet, but i'm working on it.

Thanks Robin. You Rock!

However, I need to move files from one computer to the other. I design on my MacBook when I'm out and about. I get the book done, and want to export it, then I move the work file over to my desktop machine, and recconect the images. Sometimes I rename the files. Especially when I want to spin off and do a book for a vendor. I put my logo or website on some of the pages for the vendors. Brides get the unlogoed version.

GRRRRRR.

I downloaded & installed on top of old version (didn't want to lose any data it had hiding somewhere I don't know about).

Opened my job and started a batch high-res export.

Now I get the out of memory error on page 7 instead of page 9.

My copy of V4 is saying various pictures couldn't be found... even though they were there two seconds earlier when I designed the page! It doesn't seem to have any effect when I try to re-connect the images either, although it doesn't cause errors when I export.

I just installed the newest updated version today by downloading and installing manually btw.

Leann

P.S. Here's the new Valentines postcard I did up quickly today in V4:

Postczrd: Awwwwwwww!

FotoFusion: Try closing then opening the software again...

as soon as i got home, i downloaded the version 4, and re-installed it. it is smokin'!!

i rendered the album i was workin gon as jpg's and psd's. it's only 11 spreads.

make sure you install it when it's closed, and then re-open it all. infact, re-start your computer. it's a pc thing.

i hope this works for you. if you still have trouble, post it up, and if you can, call them. i tried to explain your issue, but i may not be telling them the right thing.

when i talked to them today, they were very interested in problems that people are having. when you email them, please keep this in mind....
they want you to love the software.
it is a new version, so there may be a bug or two. and they may not have the fix, yet.

y'all know i'm big on customer service, and i'm going to stick my neck out here because i LOVE this product, and v4 is amazing...

I agree with everything you said...

Except I switched to a Mac this year. And I want to get back to one OS on my laptop. Hard drive space on these little computers is too precious to waste on a second OS.

Update:

I spent about 40 minutes on the phone today with a nice gent from LumaPix support.

We discussed a LOT of stuff that either doesn't work correctly, isn't active, or was changed in Ver 4, that make the current build of ver 4 not usable in my workflow.

The following issues are not helping, and are making my workflow expand in time:

1. No Mass export of album pages in PSD format
2. Mass export of double page spreads in JPG format only gives half the page
3. No import allowed of presets created in Ver 3... gotta go rebuild everything I had already done.
4. No copying of work file from computer to computer... they've got this set up for a single PC
5. Still PC only!

IMO: This new version (#4) is still very much in beta-test version, and they should not be charging for it yet.

I've designed out a 64 page (32 spread) first volume for a recent wedding using verion four. I've spent about two hours farting around trying to batch export it. When I called tech support, I was told that batch export only works on small jobs. But, due to the way file renaming, and having different versions works... this is risky.

So I'll be spending tonight babysitting an export... one page at a time.

Did I love version 3? YES! but the pro-lab upload is going away. That allowed me to upload the job file to my pro-lab and have them be able to color correct each image individually.

Did I waste my $$ on Ver 4 -- You bet I did. A month or two from now they should have a good product. But I cannot reccomend it to anyone until they fix some major issues.

So, what's the latest on this one? Have the bugs been fixed? Is anyone else having trouble with this?

I'm thinking about purchasing this product, but don't want to if it causes so many problems.

They have fixed most of the bugs. It should be fine for normal applications. Exporting to psd is going to be a problem anyway - it exports layers - but doesn't use layer styles.

Yep. The software is mostly bug free. Exporting to PSD makes three layers per image on the page... one for the image, one for the stroke and one for the shadow.

Now, if only they would number the layers to match the image number used in the layout.

If you are on PC, I highly reccomend FotoFusion. Read through their tutorials, and give yourself a day or two to get used to the software. A few things will seem backwards compared to working in photoshop -- but the software is really intuitive.

The greatest thing about FF is the drag and drop and "free transform" on the images. Note: each image on the page has two "handles" in each corner. The blue handle resizes the frame the image is in (and keeps the image size scaling with the frame.

The yellow handle resizes the image inside of the box (changes crop factor) -- but you push the yellow handle in toward the center of the image to zoom in -- pull out to zoom out.

Thanks to both of you for your help. I'm glad they've improved the product. I'm looking forward to purchasing and using it!

i suffered through the bugs and it's rollin' great now -

they seem to release updates regularly, so make sure you stay up to date.