Working with Images:

Creating Borders, Backgrounds and Watermarks

To take full advantage of PrintRipper™, you’ll want to use borders, green screen backgrounds, and watermarks of your choice to create your own custom prints or digital output. This is the time to fire-up your favorite image editing software and begin creating your own unique imagery.

This portion of the PrintRipper™ Guide will not cover basic usage of various image editing programs but rather assume that you have the basic knowledge of your preferred. For the sake of clarity, we will be explaining each example as it would pertain to Adobe Photoshop™.

File Formats

PNG Format: PrintRipper™ uses 24-bit .PNG files with transparency for borders and watermarks.

JPG Format: PrintRipper™ accepts only .JPG files for photo processing (photos you take) and accepts .JPG files for Chroma Key background images. JPG files are also used in areas where PrintRipper allows you to load your own photos for precision editing (Chroma Key sample image, Color Adjust sample image).

In summary, PrintRipper uses the following formats for these areas:

Borders, Landscape and Portrait: 24-bit PNG with transparency.
Chroma Key, Landscape and Portrait Backgrounds: JPG format.
Chroma Key, Example Image: JPG format.
Watermarks, Landscape and Portrait: 24-bit PNG with transparency.
Color Adjustment, Example Image: JPG format.

Why use separate landscape and portrait versions of Borders, Chroma Key, and Watermarks?
PrintRipper™ reads your photo’s EXIF orientation data, meaning that if you are using an EXIF-aware camera, PrintRipper™ will choose the proper Border, Chroma Key Background, and Watermark orientations based on the photo’s EXIF data.

Creating Your Borders

Start by creating a blank, transparent document in your favorite image editor, making it– this is very important–the same size (in inches) as your desired output. You do not need to create this document in any specific resolution, though it is recommended that you try to match your printer’s output resolution for best results.

Create your border with a transparent background and save as a 24-bit PNG. If your image editor has a “Save for Web” option, this will be your easiest route to create this PNG file.

Repeat this process to create both landscape and portrait versions of your border.