So, I’ve seen a few previews for people writing books that look official, and I’ve been thinking about joining in on the fun. (The Iron Blockade, Podracing Worlds, and some adventure I can’t find about doing errands for a Hutt) I know that there are also quite a few which have been already created as well.

Now, I know that the artwork is out there, that isn’t hard to get, but what about formatting and putting the pages together? I saw a powerpoint template, but I can’t imagine that’s the preferred medium. (Or is it?) Programs like Word or Google Docs don’t seem to allow backgrounds, so I’d rather not use them. I did some stuff with MS Paint, but that has a ton of issues that make it a poor choice. (Most notably, text is converted into uneditable pixels.) So... yeah.

Well, if yo have the money (or moral ambiguity), the most common programs for doing this sort of stuff is the Adobe creative Suite. This includes, Photoshop, Illustrator. InDesign, etc. Those are the programs I use along with most pros. However, again, it isn't cheap. Lots of people use Google Docs and GIMP and other free options and produce great results, but it will require a higher degree of skill to pull off professional looking material.

BTW, if you have access to Word as part of the Office Suite, then you might already have access to Publisher which is Microsofts layout program. It's pretty basic compared to InDesign, but it will produce the results you are looking for (notably, having backgrounds).

Word allows backgrounds. I don't know about google docs, but I would be surprised if it didn't as well.

There's a cool utility that's small but growing called gmbinder - while not specifically adapted to FFG Star wars (yet!) it could be with the right skills. Seems like it just needs a blank background page from the Compiled resources thread and the style guide . Genesys is actually done so the hacking could be minimal for the right person.

PowerPoint actually works pretty well for this since most of the layout tools are snap-to-fit. I've not tried published a PowerPoint presentation as a .pdf, so I can't speak to how that would work.

17 hours ago, Otakuon said:

Well, if yo have the money (or moral ambiguity), the most common programs for doing this sort of stuff is the Adobe creative Suite. This includes, Photoshop, Illustrator. InDesign, etc. Those are the programs I use along with most pros. However, again, it isn't cheap. Lots of people use Google Docs and GIMP and other free options and produce great results, but it will require a higher degree of skill to pull off professional looking material.

BTW, if you have access to Word as part of the Office Suite, then you might already have access to Publisher which is Microsofts layout program. It's pretty basic compared to InDesign, but it will produce the results you are looking for (notably, having backgrounds).

Yeah, I work with Adobe all the time. I’m still using CS4 myself.

To compile the various elements into a document/book, I really just go with Word. With a very few minor exceptions, it does the job quite well.

1 minute ago, Nytwyng said:

To compile the various elements into a document/book, I really just go with Word. With a very few minor exceptions, it does the job quite well.

Mine's Adobe InDesign. It's specifically designed for page and document layout, including books, even pagination for printing.

I’ve made some Mac OS Pages templates for all three series, they’re available in the resources thread.

On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 5:28 PM, Yaccarus said:

some adventure I can’t find about doing errands for a Hutt

I saw a powerpoint template, but I can’t imagine that’s the preferred medium. (Or is it?) yeah.

I think you are referencing me with those comments. Regarding PowerPoint, I created two different templates ( here and here ) that I personally find really easy to manipulate and use, but I spend a bunch of time working in PPT for my job so I have a lot of familiarity with it. Whilst it's not specifically created for page/book design, I find it EXTREMELY easy to move text and picture, add backgrounds and stat-blocks, etc., as it's mostly drag-and-drop and easy to reformat.

I would be very open to using Adobe products but wouldn't use them enough to justify the costs (and, whilst this isn't a value judgement on anyone else and ties directly into personally experiences, I don't agree with piracy) and between PowerPoint being nice and versatile and getting it through work, it's a no-brainer for me.

27 minutes ago, DangerShine Designs said:

I think you are referencing me with those comments. Regarding PowerPoint, I created two different templates ( here and here ) that I personally find really easy to manipulate and use, but I spend a bunch of time working in PPT for my job so I have a lot of familiarity with it. Whilst it's not specifically created for page/book design, I find it EXTREMELY easy to move text and picture, add backgrounds and stat-blocks, etc., as it's mostly drag-and-drop and easy to reformat.

I would be very open to using Adobe products but wouldn't use them enough to justify the costs (and, whilst this isn't a value judgement on anyone else and ties directly into personally experiences, I don't agree with piracy) and between PowerPoint being nice and versatile and getting it through work, it's a no-brainer for me.

Yeah, I did end up settling on Powerpoint. The only drawback is that I can’t get it on my school iPad, but that’s not the end of the world.

...and it turns out that Powerpoint automatically changes font size a ton, so it’s pretty much impossible to do anything.

14 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

...and it turns out that Powerpoint automatically changes font size a ton, so it’s pretty much impossible to do anything.

No, no, that's a "feature" - it's called "AutoFit" and you can turn it off (I believe I turned it off in my templates).

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/control-text-size-in-a-placeholder-by-using-autofit-902dc5e4-548e-4921-a347-6f98da75630f

15 minutes ago, Yaccarus said:

...and it turns out that Powerpoint automatically changes font size a ton, so it’s pretty much impossible to do anything.

and one other 'tip', the files can bloat as you add images so you should 'Compress Pictures" and resave with a new file name occasionally.

https://www.gcflearnfree.org/powerpoint2013/formatting-pictures/3/

I use GIMP for image manipulations, Word for writing out text and general layouts, then over to Publisher for final polish. Last step is to export as an Acrobat PDF to lock everything down. Graphics take a bit of time, but I spend most of my time writing in Word and setting up layouts.

1 hour ago, Quelthan said:

I use GIMP for image manipulations, Word for writing out text and general layouts, then over to Publisher for final polish. Last step is to export as an Acrobat PDF to lock everything down. Graphics take a bit of time, but I spend most of my time writing in Word and setting up layouts.

I evidently have Publisher via work, I will need to explore it as it feels similar enouth to PowerPoint on first blush for me to be able to make an easy transition.

Are there any Publisher templates already made that you know of?

No...I am horrible in that I usually don't look around the web for templates. I just work until I feel the pages look as close to whatever system I am emulating. It's like hard coding web pages with Wordpad rather than using a dedicated HTML editor. I enjoy it though.

Publisher as well (No Safe Haven from the Rancor Guys, was done in Publisher, as were all my Vehicle Cards, and Operational Costs), for all the layout.
(I imagine InDesign is a far better tool, and while I have it, I just cannot seem to find the energy to put into learning it when I know Publisher backwards)

PSP or Photoshop for image manipulation.

Publisher is not 'perfect' and it takes some crowbaring and kicking to get things to work, any professional who saw my work 'under the hood' would probably be sick, but the finished product looks good in my opinion.

However, if you want to really capture the look of an FFG product, you really need to use the right fonts, colours, and page layouts, and I dont believe the fonts are free.

MOST of the fonts are free. One in particular isn’t (blanking on the name, being on my phone...it’s the one used for book titles/types). I was able to find it cheap, though, and a single decent donation to mySWRPG covered the cost.

On 3/3/2018 at 11:52 AM, RebelDave said:

Publisher as well (No Safe Haven from the Rancor Guys, was done in Publisher, as were all my Vehicle Cards, and Operational Costs), for all the layout.
(I imagine InDesign is a far better tool, and while I have it, I just cannot seem to find the energy to put into learning it when I know Publisher backwards)

PSP or Photoshop for image manipulation.

Publisher is not 'perfect' and it takes some crowbaring and kicking to get things to work, any professional who saw my work 'under the hood' would probably be sick, but the finished product looks good in my opinion.

However, if you want to really capture the look of an FFG product, you really need to use the right fonts, colours, and page layouts, and I dont believe the fonts are free.

InDesign is definitely a far better tool. I've been using it for close to 15 years (starting with the Design Suite back on '03, and now using CS4). The User interface is very intuitive, and provides a huge number of options. I've used it for everything from comic page layouts, to package designs, to catalog layouts (including pre-press work, such as pagination for printing, and everything in between.