Architecture overview
Photo Retailer is very flexible and can be used for many different kinds of photography retailing.
It's designed to be easy to use once it's set up and training an operator should only take a few minutes.
To configure it, you need to understand several basic concepts:
| 1. | Input folders are folders on a computer into which new photos of your subject are deposited. These become available for insertion into the Templates. |
| 2. | Templates contain a background and foreground. Photos are inserted in between these images. The Templates files are created using Chiizu Photo Layout. Templates created for Retailer can contain multiple templates within one PLT file (Photo Layout Template). Each of these Templates within a single file should be similar in appearance, but represent different aspect ratios for printing. |
| 3. | When input files are merged into templates, they are "printed" into Output Print Folders as JPG files. These can then be sent to a printer using Chiizu Photo Printer or some other hotfolder printing solution. Each print size requires a corresponding Output Print Folder to be created. |
| 4. | Pricing is set using "Print Prices and Packages". Prices can be set for individual print sizes, ie: 1 4x6 is $4, or for multiple print packages, ie: 2 4x6 + 1 5x7 = $15. Packages must be organized from cheapest to most expensive in order to match correctly. |
That's essentially it. You define your input folders (photos you take) and print output folders (for the final photos that will be printed) and then associate templates with the input folders.
Configuration example
You may have 2 input folders. One for a roaming photographer and one for a small studio that is set up onsite at a corporate party for example. The studio utilizes a greenscreen background and will be used to create fantasy photos with several themed backgrounds and borders and and the roaming photographer shots simply need to have a border applied.
You then set up Photo Workflow to take images off the roaming photographers camera when it's plugged in and place them into one folder (Roaming Photographer) and use the camera manufacturer's software to move shots taken with the tethered studio camera and place them into another input folder (Fantasy Photos).
You then associate the correct templates with each input folder. The backgrounds on the templates for the roaming photographer will be plain white (they are never seen as there is no transparency), but the fantasy photo templates will need a creative background as the greenscreen will be made transparent by Photo Retailer.
Be sure to set up output print folders and make sure they are enabled for each input folder/template combination.
Lastly you will need to set up some prices for the output print sizes.
So in short, you need to create input folders, output print folders, Templates and associate these together along with print pricing. Once it's all in place, you can start selling!
Opening the settings
To open the settings window, right click the main template window background area and a menu will pop-up.
If there is a password set, enter it here. If there is no password, just click OK. You can also change (or add) a password from here.
Settings Dialog
The settings dialog is designed to allow you to manage all the settings from one place in the application.
