creating children's books or comics with calibre ?

kii · 01-31-2011, 12:26 PM

my question would apply to childrens book creation
or even comic book creation,

where there is no actual text on the page - the whole page being one that includes the illustration and text as one image file, so its pre designed already as a finished layout on a page

Can i import png image files into calibre , one image per page, and make an epub book with it ?

if not what image files can i import to make a picture book ? jpegs ? import the png into a word document, then into calibre, page by page and construct a book ?

there's probably a simple answer but im a non techie artist

i dont have adobe idesign, so no point in suggestiing i use that. I have a vector programe that can export in a number of formats , gif, jpegs, png for example

thanks for any advice - cheers

user_none · 01-31-2011, 12:38 PM

jpeg and png are both supported.

Comic input is also supported. name the files sequentially with a leading 0. e.g. 01.png, 02.png put it all in a zip file and rename the extension to .cbz.

You will need to play with the comic input settings a bit. I believe it turns all images to black and white by default.

There are other options but that should be the easiest.

kii · 01-31-2011, 07:14 PM

thanks user-none. So all png files have to be zipped and made into .cbz files ?

All images into black and white is not acceptable.
I need color images for the ipad and iphone.

user_none · 01-31-2011, 07:28 PM

Black and white can be disabled. It's a comic input option. CBZ using comic input is your easiest solution because it takes care of formatting for your the specific device and has a lot of options for turning it to look good on an ebook reader.

However, you can create a simple html file with image tags and import that into calibre. Calibre will take the html file and referenced images and create a .zip file with everything. You can then create an EPUB from that. This option will give you more manual control over the final result.

I still recommend using the comic input by putting all of the images in a zip file with the extension renamed to .cbz. Then tweaking the comic input options to your liking.

Ezra009 · 04-12-2011, 02:37 PM

Hi, I wanted to join in on this thread even though it's a couple of months ago..
I've been looking for pretty much the same information, meaning how do I create an eBook from a set of already designed pages that include full-spread illustrations with the text pasted on top of them. I tried exporting to epub format via InDesign but the pages did not appear correctly on the iBook.

I thought I'd try to export to PDF and convert the PDF in Calibre into epub, maybe that would lock the book's design in place.

Or is the method described in your thread, i.e. name the files sequentially, zip them together and then bring into Calibre still the best way to create a book like this and still be able to sell it on the iBookstore?

Manichean · 04-12-2011, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ezra009

I thought I'd try to export to PDF and convert the PDF in Calibre into epub, maybe that would lock the book's design in place.

Or is the method described in your thread, i.e. name the files sequentially, zip them together and then bring into Calibre still the best way to create a book like this and still be able to sell it on the iBookstore?

I don't know about selling the book, but PDF is generally a very difficult format to work with. I'd go the ZIP way.

Ezra009 · 04-12-2011, 05:55 PM

Thanks Manichean! I'm glad that there's some way to address this. So far all I've seen as far as making books for the iPad was only references to text books, some with images inside of them, but none directly dealing with children books or similar mediums, which is strange because that's one of the iPad and the other new e-readers' major strengths..

Manichean · 04-13-2011, 02:51 AM

Let me ask you this, though: Why embed the text into the images? You lose all advantages an ebook might have that way, namely, reflowable and resizable text.

Ezra009 · 04-13-2011, 09:16 AM

The only reason is that my book consists of all full-page illustrations, and the text has to be located on a specific place on top of the illustration or else it won't be legible, so basically I have to have the page locked in place. The resizable text sounds like it could mess this up, unless I don't really understand how that works.

theducks · 04-13-2011, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ezra009

The only reason is that my book consists of all full-page illustrations, and the text has to be located on a specific place on top of the illustration or else it won't be legible, so basically I have to have the page locked in place. The resizable text sounds like it could mess this up, unless I don't really understand how that works.

I believe you have it correct.
Pinning down rescale-able text across many devices is a

experience.

Starson17 · 04-13-2011, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ezra009

my book consists of all full-page illustrations, and the text has to be located on a specific place on top of the illustration or else it won't be legible

As soon as you start resizing images that have text, you have to be concerned about legibility of the text. "Full page" images for display on small screen devices require some method of dealing with this. There are very few cases where I think .pdf makes any sense, but this is one of them. I'm not saying don't use .cbz, .html or .epub, but in the end, all have the same issue of displaying the image with enough resolution to read the text.

Ezra009 · 04-13-2011, 11:17 AM

thanks for the comments!
so Starson17, do you mean that I should leave it as a PDF and post it like that on the iBookstore (if that's possible) or rather bring the PDF into Calibre and convert there?
I would guess that if it's a PDF, even converting in to epub in Calibre, the text can't go anywhere because it's part of the image at that point.
I don't know how the big publishers do this for their children's books, maybe they use html or other programming methods that I just don't know.

Starson17 · 04-13-2011, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ezra009

thanks for the comments!
so Starson17, do you mean that I should leave it as a PDF and post it like that on the iBookstore (if that's possible) or rather bring the PDF into Calibre and convert there?

I just meant that leaving it as a pdf is a reasonable option without any conversion. Usually pdf formats are denigrated here, as it is a terrible ebook format.

As far as conversion goes, no matter what format you select, you are either going to keep the image unchanged (and hope that the reader has a large screen or zoom capability), or you are going to resize the image, with the possible loss of text legibility in the resizing process. For non-text images, resizing is normal and isn't likely to significantly reduce the ability to read the book.

Quote:

I would guess that if it's a PDF, even converting in to epub in Calibre, the text can't go anywhere because it's part of the image at that point.

Conversion of an image-only pdf with image-text doesn't usually work very well. If it's something like a comic-pdf, I usually leave it in that form.

Ezra009 · 04-13-2011, 12:18 PM

I agree, I don't know why the PDF is considered so bad. As far as I'm concerned it's a great format, it allows me to keep my design and the page flow, and I think that if I size the text large enough and the images are clear enough, it's still going to be clear on a smaller screen. But as far as I know, if I want to sell it on iBookstore, or anywhere else for that matter, I have to have it as an epub or mobi file. I wish I was wrong about this..

itimpi · 04-13-2011, 12:28 PM

PDF is a bad format for text based books as it does not allow for text reflow and thus the ability for the user to adjust things like font size and margins to suit their own personal preferences. For image based books (comics) this is less of an issue as it is the image handling that is now important.

For conversion PDF is also is a bad format as it uses absolute positioning techniques to place both text and images on the pages. This means it reproduces exactly the look the originator intended, but is hard to reverse-engineer back to a format that can support text flow etc.

PDF is fine as a format for which the output is optimised for a device whose screen size is known in advance as then it can be tuned to fit that screen size. If the screen resolution is not known in advance then how well it will perform on the target device tends to eb a function of the software on that device and its ability to resize PDF output.

The advantage of ePub as a format is that even for image files it tends to support a level of resizing of images to fit screens as it is internally a HTML based format. However even here you will get best results for images if the output is generated for a known screen size.

01-31-2011, 12:26 PM	#1
kii Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: none	creating children's books or comics with calibre ? my question would apply to childrens book creation or even comic book creation, where there is no actual text on the page - the whole page being one that includes the illustration and text as one image file, so its pre designed already as a finished layout on a page Can i import png image files into calibre , one image per page, and make an epub book with it ? if not what image files can i import to make a picture book ? jpegs ? import the png into a word document, then into calibre, page by page and construct a book ? there's probably a simple answer but im a non techie artist i dont have adobe idesign, so no point in suggestiing i use that. I have a vector programe that can export in a number of formats , gif, jpegs, png for example thanks for any advice - cheers

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01-31-2011, 12:38 PM	#2
user_none Sigil & calibre developer Posts: 2,488 Karma: 1063785 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Florida, USA Device: Nook STR	jpeg and png are both supported. Comic input is also supported. name the files sequentially with a leading 0. e.g. 01.png, 02.png put it all in a zip file and rename the extension to .cbz. You will need to play with the comic input settings a bit. I believe it turns all images to black and white by default. There are other options but that should be the easiest.

01-31-2011, 07:14 PM	#3
kii Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: none	thanks user-none. So all png files have to be zipped and made into .cbz files ? All images into black and white is not acceptable. I need color images for the ipad and iphone.

01-31-2011, 07:28 PM	#4
user_none Sigil & calibre developer Posts: 2,488 Karma: 1063785 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Florida, USA Device: Nook STR	Black and white can be disabled. It's a comic input option. CBZ using comic input is your easiest solution because it takes care of formatting for your the specific device and has a lot of options for turning it to look good on an ebook reader. However, you can create a simple html file with image tags and import that into calibre. Calibre will take the html file and referenced images and create a .zip file with everything. You can then create an EPUB from that. This option will give you more manual control over the final result. I still recommend using the comic input by putting all of the images in a zip file with the extension renamed to .cbz. Then tweaking the comic input options to your liking.

04-12-2011, 02:37 PM	#5
Ezra009 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: New York, NY Device: none	Hi, I wanted to join in on this thread even though it's a couple of months ago.. I've been looking for pretty much the same information, meaning how do I create an eBook from a set of already designed pages that include full-spread illustrations with the text pasted on top of them. I tried exporting to epub format via InDesign but the pages did not appear correctly on the iBook. I thought I'd try to export to PDF and convert the PDF in Calibre into epub, maybe that would lock the book's design in place. Or is the method described in your thread, i.e. name the files sequentially, zip them together and then bring into Calibre still the best way to create a book like this and still be able to sell it on the iBookstore?

04-12-2011, 05:55 PM	#7
Ezra009 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: New York, NY Device: none	Thanks Manichean! I'm glad that there's some way to address this. So far all I've seen as far as making books for the iPad was only references to text books, some with images inside of them, but none directly dealing with children books or similar mediums, which is strange because that's one of the iPad and the other new e-readers' major strengths..

04-13-2011, 02:51 AM	#8
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	Let me ask you this, though: Why embed the text into the images? You lose all advantages an ebook might have that way, namely, reflowable and resizable text.

04-13-2011, 09:16 AM	#9
Ezra009 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: New York, NY Device: none	The only reason is that my book consists of all full-page illustrations, and the text has to be located on a specific place on top of the illustration or else it won't be legible, so basically I have to have the page locked in place. The resizable text sounds like it could mess this up, unless I don't really understand how that works.

04-13-2011, 11:17 AM	#12
Ezra009 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: New York, NY Device: none	thanks for the comments! so Starson17, do you mean that I should leave it as a PDF and post it like that on the iBookstore (if that's possible) or rather bring the PDF into Calibre and convert there? I would guess that if it's a PDF, even converting in to epub in Calibre, the text can't go anywhere because it's part of the image at that point. I don't know how the big publishers do this for their children's books, maybe they use html or other programming methods that I just don't know.

04-13-2011, 12:18 PM	#14
Ezra009 Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: New York, NY Device: none	I agree, I don't know why the PDF is considered so bad. As far as I'm concerned it's a great format, it allows me to keep my design and the page flow, and I think that if I size the text large enough and the images are clear enough, it's still going to be clear on a smaller screen. But as far as I know, if I want to sell it on iBookstore, or anywhere else for that matter, I have to have it as an epub or mobi file. I wish I was wrong about this..

04-13-2011, 12:28 PM	#15
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,552 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	PDF is a bad format for text based books as it does not allow for text reflow and thus the ability for the user to adjust things like font size and margins to suit their own personal preferences. For image based books (comics) this is less of an issue as it is the image handling that is now important. For conversion PDF is also is a bad format as it uses absolute positioning techniques to place both text and images on the pages. This means it reproduces exactly the look the originator intended, but is hard to reverse-engineer back to a format that can support text flow etc. PDF is fine as a format for which the output is optimised for a device whose screen size is known in advance as then it can be tuned to fit that screen size. If the screen resolution is not known in advance then how well it will perform on the target device tends to eb a function of the software on that device and its ability to resize PDF output. The advantage of ePub as a format is that even for image files it tends to support a level of resizing of images to fit screens as it is internally a HTML based format. However even here you will get best results for images if the output is generated for a known screen size.

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