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Level 1

0 points

Urgent help needed with iPhoto/pdf preview for book order - mysterious pixelated areas show on PDF but not in iPhoto

Hello. I ordered an iPhoto book last week to give to my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. Tonight, I just checked on the order status and found that my book is cancelled. I received no notification about it, and all I could do was fill out the online form, so customer service will get back to me on Monday via email (if I'm lucky...). There is no telephone number for me to call about this. I decided I'd best do some searching to try to figure out what had happened.

I had thought that the preview I saw in iPhoto was the preview of the book. I found out I was wrong. So I created a PDF preview of the book and found some craziness that I don't understand. In iPhoto (and any other program, i.e. PhotoShop), my photos are fine. They are mostly TIFF format and high resolution with a few high res JPEGs. However, when I view the PDF, there is a band of black and white pixelation about 1/2-inch across the bottom of some pages - not all. The photos in that area are messed up in that band zone. The other photos are totally unaffected. This affects both TIFF and JPEG photos, and both black and white and color.

Has anyone else had this problem, and what was your solution? I would be extremely grateful to anyone for advice or information about this! The anniversary party is less than a week away and I'm beyond my limit of stress right now...

iBook, Mac OS X (10.6.7), 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Posted on May 6, 2011 10:22 PM

Best reply

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Posted on May 6, 2011 10:51 PM

How did you preview - the correct way is using this method - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1040 - and save the resulting PDF for reference - the delivered book will match it.

This affects both TIFF and JPEG photos, and both black and white and color.

What color profile are your photos? If they are not RGB (preferable sRGB) they will not work

http://www.apple.com/support/photoservices/preparation_tips/

What image settings should I use when preparing my images for printing?

Although iPhoto and Aperture accept other file formats, your images should be in JPEG/JPG file format for the best results when ordering photo products using iPhoto or Aperture. You can use an image editor to convert your image file into this common file format. Also, the image should be in RGB mode, not CMYK. There is no maximum size limit for image files, however larger files can take longer to transfer, and there is a greater chance the image might be corrupted during the transfer process. There is no benefit to submitting larger file sizes.

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61 replies

Jun 8, 2011 9:20 PM in response to henry griffin

I have the same problem, but if I change to Picture Book from XL to large, it renders correctly. I haven't tried. to change themes.

bjui

Level 1

4 points

Jun 9, 2011 1:41 AM in response to JupiterB

Same problem here. Picture Book in XL does not work correctly. Changing to large solves the problem, costs less money but is not what i want. 😠

Jun 11, 2011 1:07 AM in response to JupiterB

Hi,

I have experienced the same issue on a photo book I'm creating for a 50th birthday. Shame really as I will now miss the deadline. I must admit trying to track down numbers or places to contact Apple is a bit of a challenge.

I only noticed the problem when Apple cancelled my order. I have had a look at preview and sure enough I get the same photo corruption you have on almost all the pictures in my photo-book.

We experimented this morning and tried another theme and previewed it. It appears to be better and I see no corruption on the preview but I need to go back and rework all the photos on the new album theme as their placing in the new theme is less than optimum. Something I will have to have a look at later today. Guess my sister will have to wait for her photo book!

I'll post you more details on how I worked around the issue and post it here. BUT it still doesn't explain why it is happening does it. Haven't had a chance to look through all the replies here, I will try to do that later too.

Cheers

Jun 11, 2011 2:05 AM in response to Hawkspeed6

Just had a quick look at the offending theme for me; it is Photo Essay (XL).

Tried changing to Warercolor (XL) and it appeared to preview OK.

BUT....I still need to rework all the photographs to the new theme so I will let you know how it previews once I've had a fiddle with the photos (i.e. rescaled, positioned etc). Fingers crossed the output will be perfect when previewed. Hope so as most of the time invested in photo books is photo positioning.

In my experience I have found iPhoto 11 to be a worse app than iPhoto 9. IMHO I would recommend if you are on vers 9, stay there. They never really addressed my concerns about Keywords and not photo book corruptions. Come on Apple...live up to your reputation!

Apple (Development) do not seem to care much about addressing core issues that are reported by their customers. They need to get these glitches fixed and stop providing long winded workarounds.

JupiterB Author

Level 1

0 points

Jun 15, 2011 5:25 AM in response to Hawkspeed6

I'm so sorry to read that other people are encountering this same problem. For me, changing the theme did not work - of course I did not have the time to try out all the different themes so perhaps that was the issue. However, I shouldn't have to try out the themes because they all should work!

This entire experience was a nightmare and has completely turned me off the Apple brand. Not only did I waste money upgrading software that doesn't work, I couldn't get help from Apple with it (and I still can't - I cannot locate anyone at Apple to help me figure out the pixelation).

I was also told my an Apple representative in the photo services department that because of all my troubles, he had upgraded my shipping to one-day. On the day it was scheduled to ship, I was thrilled until I checked the FedEx record and found out that it was shipping two-day expedited (which I had paid extra for in my order) and not the one-day shipping the Apple person had promised in an email. I tried to work with FedEx and Apple to get the book delivered to a local FedEx station so I could pick it up in time for the anniversary party, but FedEx told me only Apple could authorize a change in shipping before pickup and I couldn't get anyone at Apple to help me. So, we didn't get the book in time for the anniversary. To add insult to injury, the Apple representative (Mr. Jody - avoid dealing with him and do not believe anything he says!) said he had no clue I wanted one-day shipping or he would have changed it. I wrote back that I had email exchanges between us where I stated I wanted one day shipping and where he replied that he had changed my shipping to one-day. He never replied after that. *sigh*

Apple does have a very good user community, as evidenced by this board and by the lovely people who responded and tried to help me figure out the iPhoto issues. But, Apple the actual company has horrible customer service and I can't trust any of their employees nor can I get help with their product. This is the exact opposite of what I had expected of Apple, but I guess they with selling so many iPods and iPhones they no longer need to care about their iMac and software users. I am utterly disappointed and won't buy or recommend Apple again.

Jun 15, 2011 6:04 AM in response to JupiterB

Hi there,

Re-submitted my order for the photo-book (Watercolor theme) on Sunday and this time the preview was good and the order accepted. I understand the book will be shipped today. So my cloud had a silver lining....😉

I would still like Apple support to address the glitch in themes.

Cheers.

Jul 7, 2011 2:29 AM in response to JupiterB

Hi there

I have the same problem with the first Book "Fotoalbum" that comes in the list first.

This book in XL doesn't work. on the I Mac i see the Problem of the original post.

On the Mac Book Pro the system crashed everytime after 3 Pictures

A reload of the I Life 11 and a new account doesnt help.

If i export the pîctures in a another library ,i can generat PDF in L for t^his book,baut not in XL.

Most others Books work with XL !

The support could not help.

Some time before we could command XL books with "Photalbum" without proof of the Pdf without problems.

Somethin has changed.

Greetings

Peter

Jul 7, 2011 10:53 AM in response to peterfromherisau

I fixed my problem by redoing the book in Aperture. It wasn't the solution I wanted, but the book turned out great.

The theme in Aperture wasn't quite the same as the iPhoto one, but at least I got the XL size I wanted.

Douglas

bensik

Level 1

8 points

Jul 8, 2011 7:08 PM in response to henry griffin

I am baffled and confused!! I literally did an X Large 64 page book about a month and half ago and had no issues. I come back this past week and do 28 page X Large book , it uploads fine and then six days later I get an email from Apple and it is reported that there is a corrupted file... find the error and reorder. So I do the review book scenario they request and BINGO! all but two photos are corrupted.

I do a " re-theme" this time to Large format. No problema!!

Apple what's happinin'? You are killing me. I am on deadline and you have always been there for me!!

COL 😟

MadisonP

Level 5

4,832 points

Jul 8, 2011 11:16 PM in response to bensik

Apple what's happinin'?

Just other users here, not Apple. If you want Apple you can contact them.

The example of the OP looks like a rendering issue (or a corrupt image file).

Troubleshooting:

1.) Reset the PRAM and then test: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/26871.html

2.) Safe Boot the computer, and then attempt to order:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455.

--- If this works, restart your computer as normal once complete.

Hope that helps.

Jul 10, 2011 6:39 AM in response to JupiterB

I am having the same problem with my 2-100 page books Large size and Family Album theme. I can save the books as a pdf to a cd with no lines but I can't preview as Apple suggests or Buy Book because then the lines appear. I took the computer in authorized repair center and they ran all sorts of tests and cleaning and came up with nothing. When I try to preview the book, iphoto crashes. I have also gotten kernal of panic warnings- that is why I took it in. I made a duplicate of the book and deleted the pages with the lines and tried to preview. iphoto still crashed. All I want are my books printed but I can't get any help from Apple. There has to be a way to use my saved pdf files without the lines to buy the books.

MadisonP

Level 5

4,832 points

Jul 10, 2011 9:54 AM in response to questioninmonroe

Did you try the steps I suggested?

Troubleshooting:

1.) Reset the PRAM and then test: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/26871.html

2.) Safe Boot the computer, and then attempt to order:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455.

--- If this works, restart your computer as normal once complete.

bensik

Level 1

8 points

Jul 11, 2011 9:56 AM in response to MadisonP

Madison,

Many thanks to you. Totally spaced out the PRAM route. It appears to have worked. Book was accepted in the order ad the PDF preview looked fine so I think I am good to go.

I appreciate your input very much after many arduous hours putting this particuklar book together I was not real excited about having to redesign one through Blurb or Booksmart.

ultimo2

Level 1

0 points

Jul 11, 2011 10:05 AM in response to Old Toad

Not correct, unfortunately. I had similar problems with corrupted files ordering XL-books, but found that it was caused by this: The project was started in Iphoto 09 and completed in Iphoto 11. I had to create a new project all made in 11, and then: success!🙂

Jul 12, 2011 1:44 AM in response to MadisonP

Hello Madison

i did all of the written solutions.

I didnt work.

Peter from Switzerland

Urgent help needed with iPhoto/pdf preview for book order - mysterious pixelated areas show on PDF but not in iPhoto