P: Ability to create custom book templates/sizes from scratch

What alternative tools are you using to produce books?

What happened to this idea?

Among the many serious bugs that Adobe managed to introduce not into the beta, but the final LR4.0 version all matters concerning SDK got down-prioritized in favour of arriving at LR4.1RC.

As their specification of book templates is so convoluted they consider this a matter of developers i.o. every customer.

I am angry.

As far as I am concerned, the book module is completely unusable without flexible templates. It is like the Print Module (ie incomplete). I have now abandoned the book module and use other tools. The proposal to use externally generated templates is a fudge and not a solution. If I want to adjust a template while producing a book I have to:
1.Go To an External App
2.Develop and Test a Template
3.Import it to Lightroom (assuming this procedure will be documented).
4.Test It Again.
5.Use It (and hope you do not need to fine tune)
6. Repeat as many times as are necessary.

Instead we should be able to tweak an existing image or text box or add an image or text box (not the existing fudge with the internal dimensions of a box).

Adobe should also provide a new text box called a "metadata" box, where we can specify a metadata field (or simply allow a text box have a default metadata field).

Anyway, other than the new processing engine (and soft proofing for some), Lightroom 4 to me is about glitz (ie glamour modules). How disappointing. I live in hope,,,,,,,,,,(but getting weaker all the time).

Still waiting ... but hold onto your hat ... it won't be a method to create a fluid custom page size within Lr ... you'll have to create your own templates in another app outside of Lr ... and you will have to do that for EVERY page size you use that isn't a standard Blurb book size ... you can read it here:

http://www.pixiq.com/article/kevin-ti...

Isn't that a well planned, well thought out and well executed method to simplify one's workflow?

Oh, and don't get me started on the fact you can't export pages or spreads as tiff or jpeg ... so if your vendor of choice doesn't accept PDF ... you have to take another step ... outside of Lr to convert the PDF to a file format that you can submit ...

When LR4 beta was out, the word was that LR4 final will contain the ability to define custom book templates.

What happened to this idea?

In my search for a solution to-day, rather than in 2 years time, I started to explore other current offerings, including Aperture, Booksmart, etc... but also other Adobe products. I discovered that InDesign 5.5 now has new (to me) Caption features. I have explored this feature and am pleased to finally see progress in the use of placing combined images and metadata professionally on printed (or electronic) output.

The new Caption functionality is a step forward, but looks like it is very much still first generation.

I have posted a feature request to the InDesign Forum, asking Adobe to make the Caption features within InDesign both usable and bullet proof, and then add the very same tool to all Adobe products (including Lightroom Print and Book modules) where images and metadata need to be formatted on a page, a screen, a book or for electronic output.

Here is the link to my request. http://forums.adobe.com/message/42232...

PS 1. There is a very good Adobe clip which describes the Caption feature (3 mins). I have a link to this referenced in the above feature request.
PS 2. The advantage of having the correct tools within Lightroom is that Capture and Print Sharpening should be applied correctly in your book, depending on image cell size and media type. Be careful if you are resizing images from Lightroom in other products (Photoshop or InDesign), as any changes to the final image resolution will wreck your sharpening decisions made in Lightroom.
PS 3. Handling and use of metadata should be standardised across the entire Adobe suite of products. There should be a cross product team empowered to get this critical toolset working in all products.

I am really disappointed that templates cannot be created or edited. I hope (but not optimistic) that this might improve before final product launch.

I am really disappointed that we now have (based on beta) an unusable book module (for me at least), a whole pile of effort on a new module...... yet basic features in the print module (such as ability to print my metatdata where I want to for Captions, titles, etc) is still crippled.

It's really sad to be that limited when the rest of the module works so well.
I hope there will be an easy way do quickly sketch out own templates, otherwise I don't really have use for the module.
I mean every serious photo-book-print allows own templates nowadays.