Shutterfly Spine Question..Help!

[echogirl]

Ok I'm about to lose my marbles. I have uploaded the spine for my photobook to shutterfly about 10 times and each time the image that I see is not the image I've uploaded.
I used one of Katie's book templates. Added a paper to it. (Little shore chocolate color) Written text. Flattened it. It looks perfect. Save it as a jpg. Then I've uploaded it. Using their uploader and iPhoto. Each time it opens, it looks nothing like my jpg and instead looks like a pale creme spine. I am 100% positive I'm not uploading the same jpg (I've named them consecutively...I'm up to BenSpine10!)
Can the spine color be changed or is it a pale color? Has this happened to anyone else?

[dugarner]

No, you should be able to put anything you want on the spine. When you say you're uploading it, are you uploading to your pictures, or is it after you've dragged the jpg onto the spine in the editing mode? Is there a yellow triangle with an exclamation point inside the spine when you're dropping it in?

[echogirl]

It's the wierdest thing. It's the uploaded photo that looks pale and pinky creme even though in photoshop and iphoto it looks completely normal.
I even put it directly on top of a 12x 12 little shore paper, flattened it, saved it (Ben Spine11! now the whole paper looks pinky creme.

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by echogirl

It's the wierdest thing. It's the uploaded photo that looks pale and pinky creme even though in photoshop and iphoto it looks completely normal.
I even put it directly on top of a 12x 12 little shore paper, flattened it, saved it (Ben Spine11! now the whole paper looks pinky creme.

So it looks completely normal when you flatten it and save it in PS. Then you upload it to your photo album, before you put it in your photo book, and the jpeg you've uploaded looks creme-colored? Or does it look creme when you've added it to your photobook and dragged it onto the spine?

[echogirl]

Normal: On my Screen, saved in photoshop, in folder (reopened to make sure), moved to iphoto,

Then I upload to shutterfly..wierd pinky creme color. No triangles. It looks this way in both photobook and the last import folder.

I think I'm going to shut down restart everything and try again. (BenSpine12!) LOL! Thanks for the support Sarah!

[mungerre]

the color could be off if you forgot to turn off vivid pics -

[echogirl]

No, it's not a vivid pics thingy ..although I wish it was!!

[dugarner]

That is really, really strange. I have never had that problem. If it still doesn't work, can you email me the spine at sarah_m_garner@yahoo.com and I will try to upload it to my account. Restarting may help . . . though this is truly bizarre!

[deanie]

I have had this problem too. Make sure vivid pics is turned off for that particular item. Make sure the crop marks are all the way out and the spine area is highlighted when you try to load it. It's been a while since I did my last book, but I was just as frustrated as you are!!

[annaaspnes]

I've had this problem Doris. I had a few book printed at Christmas and the spines do not match up with the cover in spite of using the same paper. I emailed product development about this in January and have recently followed up. Still awaiting feedback.

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by deanie

I have had this problem too. Make sure vivid pics is turned off for that particular item. Make sure the crop marks are all the way out and the spine area is highlighted when you try to load it. It's been a while since I did my last book, but I was just as frustrated as you are!!

I was doing a book on a coupon deadline a couple of years ago and had that crop mark problem---I kept uploading pages and it looked all blown-up. I called customer service and it took 2 hours to get me to a person who 1) didn't think I was crazy, and 2) could help me. They really need to get that in their help desk knowledge base and in a prominent place on the website! I was under the impression Doris's document was actually uploading incorrectly. I hope everything gets handled for you, Anna, and Doris, I hope you come up with a solution!

[echogirl]

Ok guys you saved me from thinking I was completely insane. (I admit I am partly crazy .)
I went back and completely redid the spine as a 12x 12 lo, using a white background and the same chocolate little shores paper for just the spine dimensions (BenSpine 12!!) reloaded it and it worked.
I'm not sure why it did for the twelfth time maybe the white background provide a contrast..I don't know but it finally worked.
Thank you ever so much for all the handholding through this. This place has just the best people!

[Dawneephay]

Well I was having the same problem with my spine! It was a wierd color....I tried everything and then I came and read this forum. I tried what Doris did by creating a layout with a white background and added my spine...I uploaded it and the color is fine now. Must be like she said, a contrast thing...THANKS for the help in this FORUM!!!

[LoriS]

WOW!!! Such a simple thing... i can imagine how crazy you were getting! Glad you figured it out!!!!!!!!

[blkcow]

I just received my 365 Shutterfly book.....it is positively gorgeous....except for the spine!!!! It looked all centered when I uploaded.....but on the actual spine it is closer to the front cover than centered on the spine. I used Michelle Martin's Sierra paper for the cover,spine and back. On the spine, the texture of the linen looks HUGE compared to the back cover. Now...it's not enough to call and complain, but all the hours I put into this book, I would like it perfect.

Now another question.....I made my book 8X8.....can I order a 12X12 from the same project without losing any crispness??? I have all my photos there so I could just make a new 12X12 book...but just thought this might be easier since there is a 50% off until tomorrow!!

Thanks for the advice!!!

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by blkcow

On the spine, the texture of the linen looks HUGE compared to the back cover. Now...it's not enough to call and complain, but all the hours I put into this book, I would like it perfect.

Now another question.....I made my book 8X8.....can I order a 12X12 from the same project without losing any crispness??? I have all my photos there so I could just make a new 12X12 book...but just thought this might be easier since there is a 50% off until tomorrow!!

Thanks for the advice!!!

Pam, what happened was when you uploaded your spine (I'm assuming you did use the Shutterfly-provided spine templates), it got "cropped" (like the girls were talking about with the Vivid Pics problem). You needed to double-click on the image of the spine in the photo album (not the photo book), and drag the crop squares all the way out to the edges of the spine. This has happened to me before, but I caught it on preview. If you had text, that would explain why the text was off-center, if the crop of the spine was off.

I wouldn't go from 8X8 to 12X12, I think there would be a noticeable loss of quality. That's why I always create in 12X12 now, regardless of the size. Then you can print 8X8 without any trouble.

HTH!

[blkcow]

Sarah.....I elect you our own personal Shutterfly guru!!! I was pretty sure that would be the deal going from 8X8 to 12X12.

I did click on the custom crop.....but didn't grab the crop squares and pull it all the way out.....note to self for next time!! Arghhhh...why do they have to make it SO hard!!!

Thanks!!

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by blkcow

Sarah.....I elect you our own personal Shutterfly guru!!! I was pretty sure that would be the deal going from 8X8 to 12X12.

I did click on the custom crop.....but didn't grab the crop squares and pull it all the way out.....note to self for next time!! Arghhhh...why do they have to make it SO hard!!!

Thanks!!

Pam, I don't know why layouts do that when you upload them. When I first started doing books, I was working against a midnight deadline for a coupon, and every time I uploaded a layout, it had that weird stretched look. I called three times, sat on the phone for over an hour, before I finally talked to a tech who told me I needed to drag the crop borders all the way out. By this time it was something like 2 AM (when they had longer customer service hours), I was exhausted, and not a little ticked off at the software. Why does it do that, I asked? They said it was something wrong with the way I was creating my layout---not 3600X3600 or something like that. Piddly-poo, they don't know why their software does it. But now that I know what's going on, I always double-check every page, and especially the spine, which is the only place that will give you the resolution warning by putting the yellow warning triangle on it.

Someone else may have upsized from 8X8 to 12X12 and not have had a problem with it, but I personally wouldn't do it. And I was so adamant about not doing it that I actually re-did an 8X8 in about three hours---all 20 pages---in 12X12, saying bad words the whole time.

[blkcow]

You know.....I might have seen the yellow triangle...and thought to myself....."why are they worrying about this.....I know it's fine." So I ignored it!! Note to self....pay attention to the yellow triangle!!! LOL!

[amcmillian]

Aww man I wish I had found this thread or asked the question when I was putting my book together last week. I was having the same problem with my spine. Also happened with the first book I made last year. I was so frustrated that I just let the first one print with that funny color cause it just happened to be in the same color family as my spine. And this time I ended up choosing a shutterfly color spine (black and white writing). Since my book cover is grey, I figured it would look ok.

[kb7496]

I'm getting ready to print my first shutterfly book, so I'm subscribing to this thread so I won't forget all these tips! I'm scared to death I'm gonna screw something up.

[esther_a]

I had the same problem. In my case it was cropped wrong. I uploaded and inserted and double clicked and went round in circles for some time before I was able to fix it!

[2girlsandapoodle]

that happened to me with my shutterfly spine too - it was hugely enlarged. i didn't know about crop marks or anything - i recall it looking fine in the preview? i think. thanks to everyong in this thread for helpful solutions! i my latest book just shipped, and i gave up on the spine finally - i hope it turns out ok. i find their software and process for everything (other than ordering 4x6 prints!) very, very frustrating.