About the My Photo Calendars Software, How
to
Creating my Photo calendar online
Printing Your Custom Calendars
with Digilabs
Custom Printable Calendars
Creating my Personal Printable Calendar
Creating your
Printable Calendar - Information about images
What is the Digilabs Custom Printable Calendars?
The Digilabs custom printable calendars are calendars that you create on your
Personal Computer with your own images, texts, and events. After creating this
custom calendar, it then can either be printed on your home printer or on
our professional digital press, and can be used as a regular wall calendar.
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What is the calendar size
and how will I get it?
Calendars printed at Digilabs are printed in several different
sizes 12" x 18", 11x17 center bound, 11x17 top bound, 8.5x11 bound at the top, and CD size calendars
. We bind these printable calendars and send them to you. Production is only
2-3 business days for printing plus shipping time (2-Day and Overnight Available in the continental US). We use FedEx for US shipments and International
shipments. (PO BOX and APO addresses will be shipping USPS)
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I
am trying to create my printable calendars online but when
I click "Upload Image" nothing happens?
Try Disabling your Popup
Blocker as this is the most common solution to this problem. What are some ways that custom
printable Calendars can be used?
The Custom Printable Calendars can be used as a gift for a loved
one, something to share with family and friends on special events,
as a promotional device for a small business, a team-building
instrument for groups, a memorable present for graduation, or
even as a fund raising tool. Alternatively, it could just serve
as your regular calendar!
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What should I look for in a personal
calendar?
When considering a personal calendar, you should look for
the following elements:
* Level of customization – Can you
insert your own picture or pictures? Can you add your own text
messages? Can you place your personal events on the calendar?
Can you select to use your own holidays set?
* Level of design –can you choose one of many ready
calendars templates? Can you change the design of the
calendar? Can you add additional design elements to the
calendar on top of its original design?
* Output quality – how professional does the final output
look? What is the paper quality and weight? What is the printing
quality? Is it an Ink Jet output, a Laser/Copier output, or
a real offset quality?
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Can the Custom Printable
Calendars only be used at home?
The Custom Calendar is a great gift for parents, children
and friends, or just for personal use. However, they have many
uses outside the home:
As a promotional tool for your business – put yourself
on your customers calendar and your name will be seen everyday,
or just use it as a “Thanks You” gift. Team building –
for the little leaguers, the girls-scouts, the students in the
class, and the co-workers. Preserving Memories – for college
graduation, summer camp, or family-get-togethers.
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Will I need to be a graphic designer
to create my own Customized Printable Calendar?
Absolutely not! Our My Photo Calendars calendar creator software
comes with many design templates that were professionally pre-made
for your use. You can get a great custom calendar simply
by selecting one of our design templates and customizing its
content with your own personal information. If you feel creative,
you can always start changing the design template, adding your
own design touch. The level of change and design you choose to
take depends only on your creativity and preference; in any case
the result will be a customized calendar, a personalized
gift of the highest quality..
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What is the difference between the
My Photo Calendars desktop software and the Calendar Creator
Web Based solution?
As its name implies, My Photo Calendars creator Software is a
calendar software application. After installing the Calendar
software on your PC, you can work with it like any other software
application. You can save your work so you can return to it later,
and you can use a graphical user interface to create your own
personalized calendars. When done, you can either print
it on your home printer or send it to be printed in our professional
printing facility.
The Web Based Calendar creator solution in
a web based system. You do not need to install anything on your
PC. All you need is an active Internet connection. You interact
with the system using a point-and-click web user interface through
your web browser. When done, you send your custom calendar
to print in our professional printing facility.
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What are the advantages of using
the Calendar Software?
The My Photo Calendars calendar creator software gives you the
ultimate flexibility when creating your own custom calendar.
You can choose from many pre-designed calendars and customize
them to any degree. From inserting images and events to adding
new texts, changing fonts and colors, saving, and picking your
own design, the Calendar Software really allows the creator of
the custom calendar to have the freedom you need in creating
your own personalized calendar, thus enjoying the creation
of a personalized gift of the highest quality.
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What are the advantages of using
the web based solution?
The user who chooses to use the calendar creator web-based solution
can do so without downloading the calendar software onto his/her
computer. The entire application can be accessed and used from
any computer that can go online making it a fantastic tool for
collaborative efforts where all of the creative team or content
is not in one location. Because of “bandwidth” restrictions,
the calendar creator web based solution is simpler and less intricate.
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What do I need in order to create
a Custom Printable Calendars?
In order to create the Custom Calendar you will need a computer
with an Internet connection. Once you have that, you can chose
between the web-based and download versions of our program, and
using your own personal digital images and dates you will be
able to set up and produce your own professional looking Personal
Calendar.
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Can I print at home using Calendar
Software?
You most definitely can. However, if you are using our free trial
calendar software you may only print up to 2 test pages. To enable
full printing you must purchase the key to the calendar software.
Moreover, using the digital press available at Digilabs will
guarantee a much more professional and inexpensive solution.
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Is cost another reason to use
Digilabs printing services?
There are three reasons to use Digilabs printing solutions:
* Hassle free printing and binding process!
* Highest Professional printing quality!
* Lower cost then home printing
Cost of Calendar printing at home
(The calculation is based on 13 full page color photos + colored
calendar pages):
| Ink |
~15% of ink cartridge per calendar |
~$8 |
| Paper |
13 pages of premium glossy thick double sided photo paper |
~$12 |
| Waste |
~25% repeat prints (paper double feeding, ink run out,
etc.) |
~$5 |
| Binding |
Professional calendar binding (at Kinko’s or alike)
|
~$4 |
| Total |
|
~$25-30 |
Digilabs |
Our pricing for 1-15 calendars
(18x12) |
$19.95 |
Time
|
Hassling with the printer through a lengthy printing
process, double feeding, ink run out, pages re-ordering
for double sided printing, binding, and more |
1-2 hours |
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If I choose to print at Digilabs,
what printers are used to print my Custom Printable Calendars?
We use the Kodak Nex-press to print your customized calendar.
The Kodak Nex-press uses digital offset press technology that delivers
enhanced image quality.
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What is your turnaround time
for my Custom Printable Calendars?
In most cases, your calendar will be printed within 2-3 business
days. In some cases, especially as we get closer to the holidays,
it might take an extra day or two. Your calendar will be shipped
out the same day it was printed. Actual shipping time will vary
based on your selected shipping method.
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What is so special about your
printers?
Endless opportunities are now available to the patrons of Digilabs
thanks to the groundbreaking technology offered by the digital
printing equipment of the hp Indigo press. Through our services,
customers are not only able to exercise innovative applications
which were previously unavailable with conventional presses (such
as professional customized printing in short runs), but can also
do so relatively inexpensively.
The high-tech printing technology used by Digilabs
offers our clientele affordable short-run printing while guaranteeing
high quality performance and customize print. Through the usage
of advanced digital solutions, Digilabs is able to meet the needs
of its clients by allowing complete personalization of individual
print jobs--making each piece unique and custom-made, yet professional
and economical.
Since costs of traditional methods of printing hardly depended
on job size, but rather on standard setup expenses (time, film/plate
creation etc.) producing a low numbered short-run was previously
very pricey and impracticable for an individual or a company.
However, as a result of its flexible and efficient characteristics,
this digital press now allows our customers to produce as few
as one print, in a very high quality and for a reasonable price.
The technological advantages provided to our
customers and us by the digital press could be explained by the
usage of liquid ink, the manner in which the ink is applied to
the paper, and by the high dpi (dots per inch--the usual measure
of printed image quality on paper) capabilities of the presses.
Using liquid ink for printed images is very helpful to the creation
of images of high resolution and brilliant color. The unique
electronic printing process used by Indigo is a combination of
high performance digital imaging technology and liquid ink offset
printing quality, promising to present beautiful and professional
results every time. While the Indigo press first uses a “plate” to
carry the image, it then employs an offset printing technique
to get that representation from the plate and onto the paper.
This method begins when ink is smeared on the plate and the image
is transferred onto a rubber
“blanket,” which will then carry the image onto the
paper as the final product. In conventional presses, each individual
plate is only able to hold a single image for the duration of
an entire run.
Therefore, in order to generate a new piece,
an additional plate must also be created. However, in digital
presses, such as the Indigo press, the plate can be changed during
the actual run, so that custom and personalized printing become
possible. The superior and premium printing choices that Digilabs
is able to provide to its customers is related to the high dpi
and press technology.
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What is dpi, image size, and
why is it important?
When sending a job to be printed, whether at home or at a professional
printer, it is important to remember that the quality of the
printed image will always be only as good as the quality of the
images used in the creation process.
Generally, a computer monitor will present
an image using a screen resolution of approximately 72-96 dots-per-inch
(dpi). That is, any inch on the screen is divided into 72 dots
vertically and 72 dots horizontally, and those dots, also known
as Pixels, generate the presentation for this inch on the screen.
Printing on paper, however, requires a higher
dots-per-inch resolution to achieve photo quality output. The
quality will depend on the image resolution as well as an array
of other factors, such as the color range that can be applied
to a dot by the printer, the printer technology (Inkjet, Toner,
Ink), and the paper quality. Typically the DPI of a printable
image should be at least 150 (DPI), 200 DPI will be better, and
a 300 DPI image will insure the high quality of the printed output.
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How do I figure out what is the dpi
of the image?
The Image size in measured in pixels. The quality of the printed
output is measured in dots-per-inch. For simplicity, lets treat
a pixel as a dot. In other words, the quality of the printed
output will be measured by the number of pixels/dots we can print
per inch. The more dots the printer can access the higher the
quality of the picture can be. So if an image is 600 pixels per
side, and it is printed at 600 dots-per-inch (DPI), it will print
out as an image 1 inch wide and high. If we would like to enlarge
that image to be 2 inches the DPI will drop to 300, and if the
image will be enlarged to 6 inch the DPI will drop to 100.
If you divide the number of pixels of an image
by the DPI you seek the printable image to be (typically 150-300)
the result will be the appropriate size of that image.
Pixels / DPI= Size of image (in Inches)
For example: If image size is 1,280 x 1,024 pixels and you want
to the printed output to be of 200 DPI quality, divide the pixels
(1,280 x 1,024) by the DPI you seek (200). That will result in
a 6.40 x 5.12 inch image with 200 DPI quality on the printed
output, or 4.27 x 3.41 inch 300 DPI image (1,280:300=4.27 inch.
1,024:300=3.41 inch)
To calculate the image print DPI, you divide
the image size in pixels with the image size in inch (as will
appear on paper) .
DPI = Pixels / Size of image (in Inches)
For example, a 640 x 480 pixel image displayed as an 8 7/8 x
6 2/3 inch image has a 72 dpi resolution. When printed at this
size, this image will suffer from low quality, as it has a 72
dots-per-inch resolution. If this image would be used to print
a 2.1 x 1.6 inch image (representing a 300 dots-per-inch resolution),
its quality will be excellent.
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What is the “right”
dpi?
You can get photo quality results when using as few as 150-200
dots-per-inch (dpi) images. The basic rule to keep in mind is
that in order to maintain image quality, the number of pixels
in the image bitmap file must increase as the size of the printed
picture increases. Otherwise, individual pixels will become larger
in the print and the picture will get a jagged and grainy texture.
Important to note:
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What are the suggested
guidelines for image quality?
Below are a few rules of thumb to use when using images for print:
- Start with the largest images you can get
out of your digital camera or scanner.
- The original image as
viewed on screen in 72 dpi should be 2 to 4 times bigger than
its size on paper.
- Try to maintain a resolution of not less
than 150 dots-per-inch for the image. (In our program you can
tell the dpi of your image by right-clicking a picture and
going to ‘picture
setting’).
- Don’t overshoot! Most people will not
be able to see the difference without searching for it.
The following table will sum the common image
sizes and their recommended printed size:
| Digital Camera Image Size |
Good Quality
(150 DPI) |
Better(200
DPI) |
Best Quality
(300 DPI) |
| (Pixels)
|
(Inch)
|
| Width |
Height |
Width |
Height |
Width |
Height |
Width |
Height |
| 1,280 |
|
8.53 |
6.83 |
6.40 |
5.12 |
4.27 |
3.41 |
| 1,600 |
1,200 |
10.67 |
8.00 |
8.00 |
6.00 |
5.33 |
4.00 |
| 2,260
|
1,440 |
15.07 |
9.60 |
11.30 |
7.20 |
7.53 |
4.80 |
| 2,560
|
1,920 |
17.07 |
12.80 |
12.80 |
9.60 |
8.53 |
6.40 |
| 3,072
|
2,048 |
20.48 |
13.65 |
15.36 |
10.24 |
10.24 |
6.83 |
What are the drawbacks
of too much dpi?
For printing, more dpi is better. However, too much information
will require more memory and time to print, as well as a larger
output file that will take much longer to upload. On the other
hand, in most cases, the difference in quality between a 200
dpi image and 400 dpi image will not be noticeable to the human
eye.
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What is image compression
and why should I care about it?
Images tend to be quite large in size. For example, a 4”x6”
image in a 300 DPI and 24 bit color will be more than 6 MB in
size. This requires large storage space and is very slow to transmit
on the network.
JPEG is a compression technique designed for
compressing images of natural, real-world scenes. It works well
on photographs, naturalistic artwork, and similar material. JPEG
is "lossy,"
meaning that the decompressed image is not quite the same as
the one with which you started. JPEG is designed to exploit known
limitations of the human eye, notably the fact that small color
changes are perceived less accurately than small changes in brightness.
Most changes in the image are invisible to the eye.
JPEG can achieve a 20:1 compression ratio without any visible
loss, and up to 50:1 ratio with small to moderate defects. That
is, the above 6 MB image can be compressed to a 300 KB image
with no visible change to the image.
Keep in mind that in most cases, you can achieve
great compression ratio without any visible differences to the
image.
In summation, if you are using reasonable quality
images and reasonable compression, your images are expected to
be of high quality when printed. If the images you start with
are either of low quality or too compressed, the final printed
results will be as good (or bad) as the images you used. However,
keep in mind that too much is not always better. A 4”x6” 300
DPI non-compressed image and a 200 DPI JPEG compressed images
will probably produce similar results. However, transferring
it to print over the network using a 56KBps modem will take approximately
18 minutes with a high DPI image that is noncompressed on oppose
to 25 seconds of a moderate DPI image that is slightly compressed.
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Is your software Mac compatible?
Yes we have a Mac version of My Photo Calendars Software
and Cards Software download
here.
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Where can I get a
User Guide for the software?
When downloading the software you will be automatically downloading
a PDF user guide, this guide includes all information and instructions
related to the software.
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I am not from the
USA; will your software work for me?
Absolutely. The software supports different types of paper US
and European standards the software also offers a large range
of holiday overlays from 20+ different counties and religions,
(American, Canadian, British, Brazil, German, Mexican, Spain,
Australian, French, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands,
New-Zealand, Russia, South-Africa, Spain, Switzerland, china,
Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and more) also you will be able
to easily change the language of the days and months. With the
ability to download it you can start creating your calendar today!
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What are the system requirements
I need for calendar software?
To download the calendar software, you will need: Windows 98
or higher. 30 MB of free disk space, 128 MB or RAM; 256 MB RAM
recommended. Internet connection.
For Mac 10.4 or later operating system is recommended
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Can I get the software on a CD?
Yes. You can download the software now or order the software
on a CD and we will ship it to you in three to five days. Check
out our software.
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Can I try out the software before
buying it?
Yes, the software is fully operational; the only limitation is
that you can only print sample pages and not the entire calendar
before buying the software.
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What is special about your calendar
software?
. Our software knows
to do only one thing: help you easily create and print, at home,
or in the office, your fully customized photo calendar. Our software is not a time management product neither will it
work with your Palm OS handheld organizer
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