Album DS Italian version

Many thanks to our friend Maurizio Caringi from Italy ;) , he did corrections to the italian language file for Album DS and we are pleased now to be able to offer you a way better Album DS italian version.

Just download the file ( right click and select Save link As)  http://www.albumds.org/updates/Languages/italian.txt and copy it into your Languages folder of Album DS.

Languages folder of Album DS

Molte grazie al nostro amico Maurizio Caringi da Italia;), ha fatto le correzioni al file di lingua italiana per Album DS e ora siamo lieti di poter offrire una versione migliore dell’Album DS.

No Comments

Alejandro Fresno, January 25th 2010 | Tags: , ,
Posted in News

Update 6.2.1. only for Pc

This update is only for Pc users and only if your meassurement units are in inches, the update will correct the saving of your preferences at the Start window and retrieve the selected for each new start of Album DS.

Please close Album DS and start the AlbumDSInstaller application from inside the Installer folder of Album DS, then click at Check for updates, select the option Main – Version_620 and click at Install.

Updating Album DS to version 6.2.1

IMPORTANT: If you have still not installed version 6.2.0 you may directly install this version but please remember to install also the languages folder as requested in the 6.2.0 install, more info at http://albumds.org/blog/?p=77

No Comments

Alejandro Fresno, January 25th 2010 | Tags: ,
Posted in News

Is masking not working properly ?

After applying a mask, are you getting the inverse area masked ? ( Like in this sample)

Masking the inverse area

This has an easy solution ;) Just open any document or create a new one in Photoshop

Changing Photoshop's Quick mask options

And double click at the Quick Mask tool in the Tools bar ( where the red arrow points above).  You will get the Quick mask options window, make sure to select Color indicates = Masked areas and accept.

Changing Photoshop's Quick mask options

Now you can apply the mask correctly ( sometimes you will need to delete the incorrect mask first in the layers palette).

Correctly applied mask with Album DS

No Comments

Alejandro Fresno, January 21st 2010 | Tags: ,
Posted in Learning

Is my Album DS correctly installed ?

In this post I will try to explain how to know if Album DS is correctly installed in order to run it properly. Being a tool for Photoshop, the Album DS installation is in some ways more delicate than other programs because all files are single standard graphic files located in specific folders.

A common structure of an installed Album DS will look similar to this image:

Album DS folders structure

As you can see there is one main Album DS folder which contains the application, help files and some preferences and setting files. Also you can see the subfolders Action, Backgrounds, Cliparts, Frames, Installer, Languages, Main, Masks, Predefined, Sample, Styles and Templates.

Many of this folders have subfolder for organizing the different add ons, this folders are the ones you can see at the folders controls in Album DS templates tab or backgrounds tab ( for sample), like in this image:

Album DS subfolders for organizing add ons

One of the most important folders in the Album DS structure is the Installer subfolder, this subfolder contains the application AlbumDSInstaller which is used to install and update the application. This tool MUST be located in this subfolder of Album DS because it needs to read the specific location of the other folders in order to know what is installed and what not.

Album DS Installer applicationThe Temp folder you can see at the above image stores the files downloaded from our server in zip format, DO NOT DELETE this folder as it will be used for reinstalling the components without having to download all the files again.

Once you have the application installed it is VERY IMPORTANT to make a backup into a DVD from the following

- For PC, the executable setup file you have downloaded

- For PC and Mac, the whole Album DS folder. Regarding that this folder is larger than 1 DVD you may split it in 2 parts, one with all files except the Installer folder and another with only the Installer folder ( which includes the Temp subfolder with all zips).

If you have any questions please contact support.

No Comments

Alejandro Fresno, January 19th 2010 | Tags: ,
Posted in Learning

Updating to version 6.2

Here you will find details for updating Album DS to version 6.2. Please remember that you need a current support contract in order to update Album DS, you may renew this contract at our website www.albumds.com if needed.

Improvements and changes in this version are:

- Multilingual version, the application is now available in english, spanish, german, french, italian, portuguese and dutch for Pc and Macintosh. Please select your language at the start screen ( Pc) or at Preferences ( Mac)

- Better and stronger error handling

- Live help for Album DS options in a separate window. Please select Help – Live help.


    Please check first your current version at start of Album DS or in the About window, to update to this version you need to be running version 6.0 or better, if this is not the case please do so first with the instructions in previous emails or contact support in order to get new instructions.

    If your version is 6.0 or better ( except if you already have version 6.2.0 ), follow this steps:

    • Save the file http://www.albumds.org/updates/Languages.zip into your Album DS folder and uncompress it, you will get a new subfolder called Languages in the Album DS folder. This Languages folder contains a series of text files for each language.
      Save languages file to Album DS folderNew Languages folder after extracting the zip file
    • Start AlbumDSInstaller in the Installer folder, click at “Check for updates” and select the option Main – Version_620 ( Pc or Mac), then click at Install. Start Album DS and check your preferences.
      Using AlbumDSInstaller to download the new executable


    If you need more help please contact support.

    No Comments

    Alejandro Fresno, January 19th 2010 | Tags: , ,
    Posted in News

    Aligning pictures and shapes

    A frequently asked question is … How do I align my pictures in the sheet ? Well, it’s very easy ;) As you remember the pictures are grouped to shapes and the shapes determine the size and position of the pictures, then we have to align the shape layers in order to get the pictures aligned.

    I’ll show you now how to align the shapes, here we have a sheet with some shape layers open in Photoshop

    Aligning shapes in Photoshop

    Now we have to select the shapes to align, please click at the first shape in the layers palette, then hold down the CTRL key and click at the other two ( you may also use Photoshop’s autoselect feature for the Move tool).

    Aligning shapes in Photoshop

    Once selected the layers please select Photoshop’s Move tool in the Tools bar, you will get an options bar just beneath Photoshop’s main menu ( if you can’t see it please select Window – Options at the menu). In this options bar you will see at the right part a serie of small icons for alignment

    Aligning shapes in Photoshop

    Click at the one for aligning left and you will get the 3 shape layers aligned to the left part

    Aligning shapes in Photoshop

    Of course you may select other alignment options like center, right, bottom, etc and you may also space the layers evenly between the first and last. No more need to place complicated guides to get perfectly aligned pictures :)

    No Comments

    Alejandro Fresno, January 13th 2010 | Tags: , ,
    Posted in Learning, Tips & Tricks

    Version 6.2

    Version 6.2 has been released, it includes:

    1. Multilanguage support
    2. Stronger error correction and handling
    3. Live help for each option

    The demo and full application have been updated for the new version, current users will receive an email with instructions on how update to the new version in a few days ( we are working on the easiest update method :) ).

    Remember, first year of updates and support is for free, if your support contract is out of date you may renew it for a low fee at our website www.albumds.com

    No Comments

    Alejandro Fresno, January 11th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
    Posted in News

    Album DS speaks more languages

    Album DS is available as a multilanguage application, for now you may use it in:

    • English
    • Spanish
    • French
    • Portuguese
    • Italian
    • German
    • Dutch

    but we will add more very soon. ;)

    Translators are welcome and we will be happy to make an agreement with you if you are interested in translating the application, it’s a very easy job that should not take more than a few hours of your time. Just edit one of the supplied language text files, they are located in the Languages folder and are plain txt files;  translate the part in the middle of both “:” signs and save the file with your language name.

    No Comments

    Alejandro Fresno, January 11th 2010 | Tags: ,
    Posted in News

    Album DS Backgrounds

    Backgrounds are the files stored in subfolders of the Backgrounds folder, you may create your own folder for your preferred or own backgrounds.

    The background files used in Album DS are of 2 types:

    - PSD files which contain a tiled background, a design to be placed repetitively in your document. The design is only placed once in the background PSD file included as pattern overlay and Photoshop will copy it as many times as needed when you double click at the thumbnail in PSD. This type of backgrounds can slightly be scaled using Photoshop Layer – Scale options. If you want to create your own tiled backgrounds please open one of the provided and replace the design with your own, then save using Photoshop’s saving features and create a 100×100 pixels thumbnail with the same name.

    Using tiled backgrounds in Album DS

    - JPG files, a picture, drawing or design large enough to fill your sheets or album pages. You only need to open the document in Photoshop and select the option Sheet – Save as background in Album DS, you have to select one of the subfolders of Backgrounds to save it and Album DS will automatically create the thumbnail.

    A JPG file for Album DS background

    Placing a background in your sheet or album page is easy, just select it at the Album DS window and double click the thumbnail ;)   Sometimes you may have other layers hidding it, in this case just drag the layer to the correct position in Photoshop’s layer palette.

    Remember, fi you change the color fill layer blending mode to HUE you may change the color of the background easily, to do so please double click the color fill layer in Photoshop’s layer palette, select your color and change the blending mode at the top of the palette to HUE.

    Changing background color

    No Comments

    Alejandro Fresno, January 11th 2010 | Tags: , , ,
    Posted in Learning

    Shapes with funny forms

    Did you know that you may use shapes that are not the standard rectangle ? Just select the RECTANGLE TOOL in Photoshop and select one of the custom shapes available in Photoshop, then draw it in your document and use Album DS to place the picture.

    Funny shape forms for pictures

    They are many shapes predesigned available in Internet, make a search for “Photoshop shapes” in your favorite search engine. Most of them are even for free ;)

    No Comments

    Alejandro Fresno, January 9th 2010 | Tags: ,
    Posted in Tips & Tricks
    « Older Posts