[GUI Plugin] Generate Cover

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by schaufel

The new ones stink - I liked the leather-looking ones on the old iBooks that came in all sorts of colors. I'd love to make something like that a default template.

@schaufel - try here ==>> [Custom Covers] Blanks, Templates . . .

Hopefully someone will drop by who will be able to address the other issues

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by schaufel

I would really love to use this plugin, but I have a request: an option to make a bar of color behind the text. I put a lot of fanfiction on my iPad, and I use fanart, screenshots, or panels from comics as the cover images. I like the entire picture to be the cover, nut just an inset, but just plain text gets lost in the image. I've attached a few images to show what I mean. The first one, I made myself in Photoshop, and the second image I found on DeviantArt for an alternative look.

Also, I'd like to use just a generic-looking cover for fanfics where I can't find an appropriate piece of fanart, but my Google-fu is failing me. Does anyone know where I can find any sort of images like the old iBooks' generic covers? The new ones stink - I liked the leather-looking ones on the old iBooks that came in all sorts of colors. I'd love to make something like that a default template.

Thanks!

Generate Cover allows you to define many cover templates (image, font, size and placement)

What might be broken (if I am using it correctly) is on the Fonts tab

Fill color works. The letters change when you use the color picker on the right. (Font was Maroon)

Background. and Border. I am assuming this is for the text box
Nuttin. happens when I change those (I tried black with a white border)

I expected this would have given me Maroon Letters on a Black field, surrounded by a white line

I can do this with a CSS

[schaufel]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@schaufel - try here ==>> [Custom Covers] Blanks, Templates . . .

Hopefully someone will drop by who will be able to address the other issues

BR

Ahhh! That's exactly the kind of thing I've been searching two nights for and kept failing to find. Thank you!

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by schaufel

Ahhh! That's exactly the kind of thing I've been searching two nights for and kept failing to find. Thank you!

@schaufel, also took me a while so find it, I made it a sticky at top of the main calibre forum.

BR

[MiniMouse]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@schaufel, also took me a while so find it, I made it a sticky at top of the main calibre forum.

BR

Cool
Thanks for making it a sticky

And maybe it could be linked in the first post here for everyone who is new to the Generate Cover Plugin??? There are a lot of covers, textures, tutorials and links to fonts by now in it from a lot of people. And if anyone loses the overview, all covers in [Custom Covers] Blanks, Templates - get them, share them, help to modify and create are linked there in the first post!


Mini

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by MiniMouse

[. . .]And maybe it could be linked in the first post here for. . .

done

BR

[saluli]

Trying to use templates on the custom text field, but it is not working as I want.
I have a custom column (#completed) with 2 possible values (In-Progress, Completed).

What I want to do is make the "In-Progress" value appear on the cover, but not the "Completed".

If I try to use contains(pattern, text if match, text if not match), it gives me error.

If I just use {#completed} it works, but doesn't solve my problem, because then the "Completed" value will end in the cover too.

Someone has suggestions on how to achieve this?

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by saluli

Trying to use templates on the custom text field, but it is not working as I want.
I have a custom column (#completed) with 2 possible values (In-Progress, Completed).

What I want to do is make the "In-Progress" value appear on the cover, but not the "Completed".
...
Someone has suggestions on how to achieve this?

This works for me:

{#completed:contains(In-Progress,In-Progress,)}

[saluli]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

This works for me:

{#completed:contains(In-Progress,In-Progress,)}

OMG, I was not putting the ":"... Now it works.

[KayLee]

Anybody know of a way to make and save two copies of a cover at once big one for tablets 768 by 1040 and a small one 600 by 800 for Nook e-reader?

[Tanjamuse]

I don't think you can have more than one cover for each book. But it would actually be a good idea. I have 3 different devices with very different resolutions.

[KayLee]

Originally Posted by Tanjamuse

I don't think you can have more than one cover for each book. But it would actually be a good idea. I have 3 different devices with very different resolutions.

Same! I have a iPad and a Nook and the resolutions being so much different makes it so that either the covers don't show up at all on Nook or that they have 2 inch white borders on all sides on iPad

[KayLee]

Also if anybody is still updating this plugin it would nice if custom text had more that one box so different words could be different sizes, fonts and colors. More options for color right now all your text has to be the same color which is very limiting. Lastly it would also be awesome to be able to drag and drop text anywhere you want it to be on the cover.

[Dyspeptica]

KiwiDude has done an amazing job with this plugin, But there are many requests which the plugin just cannot handle. It is not designed for that, nor is calibre set up to allow it.

Using the 'convert' program from the ImageMagick suite can give complete control over EVERY aspect of a cover image. But you build that image OUTSIDE calibre and import the finished image only when creating your book.

You can create different sized images for different e-readers (but they really should be named differently).

I set out how to do this at post #440 (Page 30). I posted previously about this on page 23. Under Linux, it can all be done by script. I use scripts to create upwards of 14,000 distinct book cover images, and calibre does the rest.

If anyone needs some help to do this, post here and I will attempt to help. Note that I do not run windows and I know nothing about using scripts in windows. The scripts I use will run under Linux, and should run in a command window under MAC OS, but I have no idea about bat files.

[eschwartz]

Imagemagick is used internally by calibre.

If you have some time, and this is important to you, why not try updating the plugin itself?