Prepare files for the standard Picture choice personalization
Cliparts are a set of pre-made images that buyers can select to print on the product as they wish. They are required when creating custom options in the Picture choice type. In this article, we will walk you through the process of preparing clipart files for the standard Picture choice personalization with just a few easy steps. If your files are in accordance with the standard, the product's mockup preview will display the image in the correct position and size as specified on the design, and the product the customer receives is correct according to the original purpose of the design.
A. Picture choice principles
B. Assets preparation
Please refer to this article to understand the necessary steps, names, and fields used for campaign personalization.
Understanding how Picture choice works will give us the flexibility to execute each different type of design. If we have a Custom Option of Picture choice type implemented on Layer A, the system will consider the size of this Layer as the base and apply the following rules:
Always set the top position to coincide with the top position of Layer A.
If the width of the Picture choice is greater than that of Layer A, then the Picture choice size will be automatically adjusted by the system so the width of the Picture choice is exactly the same as that of Layer A. Meanwhile, the height will be adjusted in accordance with the aspect ratio.
If the width of the Picture choice is smaller than that of Layer A, the size of the Picture choice will stay the same and the Picture choice position is centered with Layer A.
The height of the Picture choice in the cases above will be fully displayed even if it is greater than the height of Layer A.
By understanding how the Picture choice works, we can prepare the assets for the Picture choice according to the following steps:
Place all layers in Photoshop.
Adjust the size, position and rotation angle of the layers accordingly.
Put all the layer options in one Group, called Group A and duplicate Group A, named Group B.
Merge (Rasterize / Merge) Group B into a layer using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + E. The purpose is to determine the total size of the layer group.
Then create a Rectangle Box layer which is large enough to surround the total size. For example, after aligning layers properly and rasterize / merge to have total size of 236 × 294px, we should create 1 Rectangle Box with size 240 × 300px to be able to cover the total size.
Create 4 more small layers aligning with the 4 corners of the Rectangle Box. Each layer is 1 × 1 px, white #fff, adjust the opacity to 10%, then group these 4 layers as 1 layer and call it Safe Edge.
Select a default layer from Group A (for example select the Hair_02 layer), duplicate this Hair_02 layer and send it out of Group A. Then merge the Safe Edge layer and the Hair_02 layer into one. So you have the default layer for this custom option.
Then, you can delete Group B.
Next, select the Rectangle Box and Group A layers, bring them into a Smart Object by selecting Rectangle Box and Group A layers. Then, right-click and choose Convert to Smart Object.
Then double click on the Smart Object just created to open this Smart Object on another artboard.
At the Smart Object artboard, delete the Rectangle Box layer.
You can then start exporting each layer to a .png file (with Ctrl + Shift + S keys) in order to keep the size of the Rectangle Box safe. Now you have the correct layers for this Custom option.
After exporting the file, you can go back to the design artboard, and delete the created Smart Object layer. Then continue with other similar customization options from step 1.
PrintBase's FAQs
Create new campaigns with PrintBase & ShopBase
Create a Personalized campaign with PrintBase & ShopBase
Set up cliparts for your PrintBase & ShopBase campaigns
Set up conditional logic for your PrintBase & ShopBase campaigns
Understand Printbase's trademark policy
Campaign management with PrintBase
In this section
A. Picture choice principles
B. Assets preparation
A. Picture choice principles
Please refer to this article to understand the necessary steps, names, and fields used for campaign personalization.
Understanding how Picture choice works will give us the flexibility to execute each different type of design. If we have a Custom Option of Picture choice type implemented on Layer A, the system will consider the size of this Layer as the base and apply the following rules:
Always set the top position to coincide with the top position of Layer A.
If the width of the Picture choice is greater than that of Layer A, then the Picture choice size will be automatically adjusted by the system so the width of the Picture choice is exactly the same as that of Layer A. Meanwhile, the height will be adjusted in accordance with the aspect ratio.
If the width of the Picture choice is smaller than that of Layer A, the size of the Picture choice will stay the same and the Picture choice position is centered with Layer A.
The height of the Picture choice in the cases above will be fully displayed even if it is greater than the height of Layer A.
B. Assets preparation
By understanding how the Picture choice works, we can prepare the assets for the Picture choice according to the following steps:
Place all layers in Photoshop.
Adjust the size, position and rotation angle of the layers accordingly.
Put all the layer options in one Group, called Group A and duplicate Group A, named Group B.
Merge (Rasterize / Merge) Group B into a layer using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + E. The purpose is to determine the total size of the layer group.
Then create a Rectangle Box layer which is large enough to surround the total size. For example, after aligning layers properly and rasterize / merge to have total size of 236 × 294px, we should create 1 Rectangle Box with size 240 × 300px to be able to cover the total size.
Create 4 more small layers aligning with the 4 corners of the Rectangle Box. Each layer is 1 × 1 px, white #fff, adjust the opacity to 10%, then group these 4 layers as 1 layer and call it Safe Edge.
Select a default layer from Group A (for example select the Hair_02 layer), duplicate this Hair_02 layer and send it out of Group A. Then merge the Safe Edge layer and the Hair_02 layer into one. So you have the default layer for this custom option.
Then, you can delete Group B.
Next, select the Rectangle Box and Group A layers, bring them into a Smart Object by selecting Rectangle Box and Group A layers. Then, right-click and choose Convert to Smart Object.
Then double click on the Smart Object just created to open this Smart Object on another artboard.
At the Smart Object artboard, delete the Rectangle Box layer.
You can then start exporting each layer to a .png file (with Ctrl + Shift + S keys) in order to keep the size of the Rectangle Box safe. Now you have the correct layers for this Custom option.
After exporting the file, you can go back to the design artboard, and delete the created Smart Object layer. Then continue with other similar customization options from step 1.
Related articles
PrintBase's FAQs
Create new campaigns with PrintBase & ShopBase
Create a Personalized campaign with PrintBase & ShopBase
Set up cliparts for your PrintBase & ShopBase campaigns
Set up conditional logic for your PrintBase & ShopBase campaigns
Understand Printbase's trademark policy
Campaign management with PrintBase
Updated on: 23/08/2022
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