New to digital scrapbooking, here is an interesting and helpful guide from ehow.com about various digiscrap terminologies.
LAYOUT
Perhaps the most used term, this describes the arrangement of photos, journaling, and embellishments that make up your completed page. In other words, your completed page.
JOURNALING
This is the Who, What, When, Where, and Why of your photos and, I think, the most important element of your layouts after your photos. It adds more artistic color with this memory preservation tool.
TITLE
As it sounds, this is the bold headline proclaiming what your page is about.
DESIGNER
The kit designers have mastered the art of pushing pixels to create a wondrous variety of Page Kit collections, papers, alphas, embellishments galore, as well as tools like styles, actions, and brushes.
FILE TYPES
There are a few important file types to be aware of when scrapping digitally.
* First and foremost is .jpeg or .jpg, pronounced as "jay-peg". This is by far the most common file type that your photos will be in when you open them in your editing program. Any image editing program can open this file type and it is acceptable for posting at online galleries and websites. Almost all of your digital papers and backgrounds will be of this file type, as well. Pixels not present will be rendered in white, there is no transparency.
* Next is .png, pronounced as "ping". This is a special type of file in that if there are no pixels present, that area will remain transparent. This is the format almost all high quality embellishments and alphas will be in, to allow them to be layered within your layouts.
* A file type specific to the Adobe products is .psd. This file type preserves the layers you've created allowing them to continue to be edited from their saved state. This is not yet a universal file type and some editing programs cannot open it.
* Finally, the file type .zip is a very important one to know. When you purchase or download any of these digital products they are typically quite large multiple files (each paper, embellishment, etc. is a separate file.) The .zip format allows you to "package" these multiple little files into one .zip file. It also reduces the size a bit to save space. When you receive the files, however, they need to be "unzipped", so you'll need to have WinZip, Stuffit or a similar program available to unpack the files you receive.
PAGE KITS/EMBELLISHMENTS/ALPHA SETS
The "kits" that are sold by today's digital designers are made up of many elements typically including: 7 or more papers, at least one alpha set, and a plethora of embellishments. Embellishments can range from digital decorative doo-dads like swirls and doodles, to digital staples, stitching, eyelets and brads, and even photo-realistic elements that have been scanned which can include flowers, tags, strings, cords, keys and more. Some are created completely digitally to be semi-realistic while some are created to be more artsy and even cartoonish, depending on the designer's style and the mood of the particular collection. An alpha set is a stylized decorative set of letters, numbers and/or symbols where each letter is its own separate .png file and can be placed into your layouts. These are great for titling, headlines and decorative accents. Embellishments are typically .png with transparent backgrounds suitable for layering, while papers are typically .jpg. The photo shows a sample of a mini page kit with embellishments and an alpha set.
PIXELS/DPI/PPI
These are a measurement of digital increments, usually expressed as a number per inch represented by dpi (dots per inch) or ppi (pixels per inch). Although technically not exactly the same, for the purposes of digital scrapping, they are interchangeable. A high quality kit or element will be created at 300 dpi to allow for flexibility in resizing as well as fantastic printed results. To view a photo or layout on the web only 72 dpi is necessary for a crisp display.
LAYER(S)
When paper scrapping, your pages include many layers: the page itself or background, the decorative papers, the photos, the stickers or other embellishments, and your journaling. Digitally speaking, each layout you create also has independent layers within it, much the same as your paper page. The layer on the "bottom" of the stack is your background, then your papers, photos, embellishments, etc. Like your paper layout, each layer is then independently editable without affecting the other layers. Unlike paper scrapping, switching out a background or lower level layer is much easier to do with a few mouse clicks rather than having to tear apart a complete or nearly complete page.
TEMPLATES
Typically a layered .psd file or .png file set that defines a layout of shapes and forms for the page. Layers can then be linked to your photos and elements for a myriad of design options with a quick and polished outcome.
OPACITY
This setting makes a layer more or less transparent on a scale of 0-100%, with 100 being solid. Each layer can have its own opacity setting. Look at how the flower in these layouts has had its opacity changed.
BLENDING MODE
This is another layer setting that dictates how a layer behaves in reaction to the layers below it. Each layer can be set at its own mode. Photoshop Elements has 22 different blend modes, plus the normal setting.
FILTERS
These are another sort of action available to give more artistic effects to your photos and other layers. These can include blurring, painterly brushstrokes or even rendering photos as charcoal sketches.
ACTIONS/EFFECTS
Creating complex styles and effects for your layers can be daunting as so many things can be applied to each layer. Actions or effects are simply a "recorded" series of steps that when applied to your layer(s) creates a complex result quickly. Many are included in your editing programs, others can be purchased as add-ons from places like those above or Atomic Cupcake. Some cool actions include: crumpling, frayed fabric, and foam stamping.
OVERLAY
This is a patterned layer that is simply a pattern or textural black/white and transparent .png design that can be "laid over" another layer to make it appear patterned or textured. A "tangible" example is that of a transparency laid over a piece of paper, whatever is on the transparency becomes part of the paper underneath. Digitally, the overlay can get the opacity, blend mode, or style treatments explained above, or multiple overlays can be layered together for an infinite variety of effects. In the photo is the overlay, the paper, then the combined effect.
More terms and facts here.
No words can describe how great it is to have a baby. That is why we rely on the web most of the time to search for unique wordings that we can put on a Baby Shower Invitation.
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