Righty.. So we've added pictures into a project file and added caption boxes, we've named and saved the project file merrowlink.cbcx and we're ready to share this comic book with a friend on the forum or a friend over at flickr.com.
I'm not sure what the options are available in the trial version, I've spoken to someone who has it and they say that the publishing isn't available, i think the trial version just allows you to create them and play around with the basic tools. Which is why this would of been left out on a test version of the program.
So we want to publish our comic book. Open up Comic Book Creator and select existing comic book, from here load your project file, mine is merrowlink.cbcx.
Now i must point out at this stage, it's vital you haven't altered the location or name of the images that you used in the previous project. Otherwise you will get a window or box that looks like this.
See pic #11
You will get the error, [Panel Media Missing] File not found:
The original path name and destination is displayed. If you plan on renaming your photos or editing them, do so before publishing any of your work, I speak from experience. There really is nothing worse than publishing a good comic book to be on the last page and have a missing image due to an alteration.
It's a problem that can easily be solved, simply select your browsing folder and find the image you want to use. It maybe that you have a better image to start out, in which case, simply reselect that image and drag and drop it into the window as before.
I always think that before selecting to publish. You should go through each page and proof read them, does the picture look right? Are the words easy to read and understand? Is there any last changes you want to make?
In this instance there isn't. So we'll go ahead and publish this comic for viewing. Go to File and scroll down to Publish or Press the F4 Hotkey.
See pic#12.
By publishing this project folder, it means the program will compact it into one specific document or groups of images. Merging the layers of caption boxes into the design you setout in the program. You will be given some publishing options.
See Pic#13
Selecting PDF merges this project into one file PDF available for viewing from Adobe Reader. I originally started out using Pdf but unfortunately I got alot of complaints from people saying their browser crashed while loading the file. It's nothing to do with the actual software, it's more to do with the readers browser not accepting or transferring the filetype.
Because of this. I've found it easier to publish my comics using Jpeg images for each comic book page. The jpeg filetype is very universal. This means that your viewers or potential readers won't have to have adobe to read your comics, they could use virtually any image browser on the net or on their home pc to view them. Jpeg is one of the easiest accessable files on the net. So it's ease of use means you don't have any complications when it comes to feedback.
I'm going to go ahead and select the Jpeg Option. Which is fourth down on the menu. This means that your program will publish and compact a jpeg image for each comic book page within this story. I should get two images which equal two pages.. all together the four images that I edited.
See pic#14
With this option you get to choose the location where your pages will end up. Usually a default file that will appear in your documents named My Comic Books. I've selected to save them to my desktop. Once you click on OK the program will publish your pages.
See pic #15.
Once this is completed, depending on the amount of pages you have to publish it might take a few minutes in this case because it was only two pages it didnt take so long to do. You should get an OK message confirming publishing.
Now you will have two pages on your desktop. Merrowlink -001 and merrowlink 002. These are simply compacted Jpeg images. You then need to upload these to a folder, either at Flickr.com or Photobucket so that people can read them. That pretty much covers the how to. If your not sure on any other tools on Comic Book Creator please do ask. You can always check out their video tutorials on the comicbook creator website. Seen here:
Comic Book Creator
With this program you simply don't have to be a tech wizz at image manipulation and because everything is just drag and drop from the images to the caption boxes to the Speech and thought bubbles your focus is on having fun and creating fun comic book stories.
Merrowlink - Page01
Merrowlink-Page02
Similarly with those two final Jpegs you could upload them in the dio's section at Joe Dios
Merrowlink #1
Merrowlink#2
I hope this helps you to take your action figure stories to the next level, I know it did with me. Comments welcome.