As it was stated by the person that came up with the idea of some small picture albums the words “digital” and “miniature” were combined to create the word Migital. The end result is a small album with 16 pictures created from a single sheet of 8.5 x11 inch paper. The pictures can be printed on a sheet of card stock or even better on a single piece of photo paper that allows printing on both sides. If you purchase print stock be careful because most photo paper that I have seen is only designed for one sided printing.
While any program that allows you to place multiple picture on a sheet will work the one I chose to work with is Paint. The instructions are rather long and that is partly because I have tried to write it for a person who has little or no knowledge of using paint. The following is a description of how to set up a page format that will allow 8 pictures to be printed on each side of a 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. I would like for you to understand how to do this on your own. At least understand the principle of how it is done. There is a lot of instruction so I am willing to send you the templates. I do not know how well a Bitmap will send in a e-mail but am willing to try. Send an e-mail request for a “Migital Format” to dpeace4307@aol.com. Be sure to specify what operating system you are using.
1. Open “Paint”. If you do not have it immediately available, press the windows key on your keyboard or left click the start icon on your screen. Left click “All Programs”, find and left click “Accessories”. In the list of programs “Paint” will be listed. Double left click it to open the program. If your computer shows a box that says “search programs and files” just above the windows symbol type “paint” into that and your computer will find the program for you. Just click on it and it will open.
2. I highly recommend that the first thing you do after opening the program is to save the untouched file to a name you will remember, AS A BITMAP format. The default in paint is JPEG and it will cause problems at a later time if it is saved in that format. To save it as a BITMAP, left click “File”, then “Save As”. When the drop down box appears there will be two slots that appear at the bottom. One is asking for the name of the file you want to save, if you do not give it a name it will save as Untitled followed by a sequential number if you save more than once. I changed the name to Image 1, 2, 3, etc. The other is asking for the file format, and it is the one you need to change. Left click at the end of the box and it will give you several choices, choose “Bitmap.” Save as “Image 0” because you will not likely use again.
3. Since eventually the image that you are going to create will be a composite of eight pictures that will be printed on one side of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper the logical thing to do is to work in inches. However the paint program in Win 7 does not allow that so inches have to be converted to pixels. I selected 2000 pixels to equal 10 inches. Therefore an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper will be 1700 x 2200 in size stated as pixels.
4. The layout of the page will two pictures in each row with four rows down the page, thus there will be 8 pictures on the page when you are done. I have set this up to print each picture with a 50 pixel border on each side, left, right, top and bottom. Most printers will only print to within a ¼” of the edge of the paper. I will cease to use the inch measurement here and use only pixels. Remember that one inch is 200 pixels, a half inch is 100 pixels, etc. It would be lot of calculation to determine the exact location of each picture on the page if you figured the location of each of the 8 pictures. It is fortunate that the exact location of only the FIRST picture has to be figured. The other 7 pictures are simple copies of the first one. Each picture will occupy 1/8 of the total space on the sheet, 1/2 of the width of the sheet and 1/4 the height of the sheet. The width of each picture, including the 50 pixel border on each side is 1700 pixels divided by 2 which equals 850 pixels. The height of each picture including a 50 pixel border on each side is 2200 pixel divided by 4 which is 550 pixel. So each picture is 850 x 550 pixel, including the borders of 50 pixels (1/4”) on each side. The actual PRINTED picture will be 750 x 450. This is the setup for the first step in paint.
5 When you are in the paint program in the upper left corner there are the words “Home” and “View', select “Home”. In the working area that is displayed there will be three very small squares boxes along the side and bottom. One is at the middle of the right side, another is at the middle of the bottom side and the third is at the lower right corner. I don't know the official name of them but I call them handles because they can be grabbed and used to adjust the size of the working area. Place your cursor on the handle on the right side and it will change to a double ended arrow. With the double ended arrow move the side till it is 750 pixels wide. The size of working area is indicated at the bottom of the window about three inches from the left side. It is right beside a small box with an arrow on two sides. (To the extreme left at the bottom the location of the cursor in pixels will be indicated.) This is the area that the first picture with no borders will occupy. The borders will be added in a later step. I would advise that you save frequently. Each time I saved the image I saved as the name plus the next number, ie, Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, etc. Then when I fouled up, and I did several times I could go back to the last image that was right and throw the goofs away. Be sure to save as a bit map. Just to see why also save some as Jpegs and see the difference in the colored images. See colored images below.
6. This section is simpler to do than explain. Now you have a blank “canvas” into which a single picture will be placed. However when it is with 7 other identical picture areas plus the borders you will not be able to tell where to place the picture. Now is the time to create tic marks to align the pictures when the picture is pasted onto the white “canvas”. I call it canvas because I cannot think of a more appropriate word. In my Win 7 Paint program the “toolbox” is at the top of the window. There are several things there including, image, tools, brushes, colors, etc. Run your cursor over them and a box with a short description will appear. Select the pencil tool. The pencil will change the color of individual pixels or draw a line just like a lead pencil would do. The default color is black when the left mouse key is pushed and white when the right mouse button is pushed. Other colors can be selected using the cursor and either left or right clicking in the colors. Take the pencil and color (black is likely best) a single pixel at the extreme top left corner. Also color a pixel to the right and one below. This will creat a small tic mark in the corner. Then repeat that action for each of the other three corners. The less pixels that are colored the better for reasons that will be apparent later. To make it easier to see and work with, the view of the page can be enlarged by using the “Zoom Bar” which is located in the lower right corner of the window. It can make the view either larger or smaller without changing the actual size, just like a magnifying glass does. There are set increments from 12.5% to 800%. These four tic marks in the corners will be the alignment points for the corners of your first picture when you paste them in and subsequently for the other 7 pictures also. They will be covered by the picture and will disappear. At this point I selected a color from the color box and used the “paint bucket tool” and filled in the white area. I used bright red. Having a colored image with black tic marks made it easier to work with later. SAVE this image with a name, perhaps “Image 1”, because it will be used again shortly.
This is all that Image 1 will look like (it does have the corner tics)
7. All of this is to create one picture location WITHOUT A BORDER. Now a border can be put on the right side of the first picture AND a border on the left side of the second picture even though the second picture location does not exist yet. Place the cursor on the small square along the right border so the it becomes a double ended arrow and drag the side of the image to the right till it becomes 850 pixels wide. Select a different color, I used green, and fill in this new white area that was just created with the paint bucket . This coloring will save confusion later and will be eliminated towards the end. SAVE this new image with a new name, perhaps “Image 2”.
This is Image 2, it includes the borders of two picture locations
9.In the lower right corner is the “Zoom Bar” which will make the visible image larger or smaller. Zoom in so that the bar at the top that shows the area size shows at least 1600. This will likely be 50% on the zoom bar and it will display slightly over 3000. Grab the right handle and pull it to any amount over 1600, perhaps 1800 and some amount. Some spare room is need for work. Saving at this point is optional, but would not hurt. Zoom back to 100% and move the scroll bar so that the new area and a small part of the colored area is displayed on your screen. In the upper right hand corner is the clipboard with the option of Paste. Click the arrow under paint and select “Paste From”. Then find and select “Image 1” which was saved a bit ago. Image 1 will appear in the upper left corner. Note that the pasted image has a dashed line around it. Left click and hold to move the pasted image to the right. Align the tic marks that were made in the corner of the image next to the colored area. When the two images are in perfect alignment release the mouse. The final step to creating the first row with two picture locations is to reduce the image till it all shows on your screen. Grab the right handle and pull it back to exactly 1600 pixels. If a smaller size is accidentally set, click “Undo” and then do it again. Saving at this point is optional but not a bad idea. Call it Image 3.
This is Image 3 it is two picture locations with one right and one left borders
10 A border has been put between the pictures in the horizontal direction. Now a border needs to be put at the bottom of the first row and at the top of the second row. Each border is 50 pixels or 100 pixels combined for the two. When the magnification is at 100% there is enough room to grab the handle in the middle of the bottom and pull it downwards to exactly 550 pixels. Again fill the new area with a color using the paint bucket, I used yellow. This is a good place to add a tic mark to aid in the cutting of the page which will be done later. At the extreme right and extreme left end of the yellow border place a black tic mark at 500 pixels and another at 501 pixel. This is very easy if you enlarge the image to 500% and left click Image and left click grid. Later you will want to click off the grid as it can make some things hard to see. If you desire similar tic marks can be placed at the top and the bottom of the green border area at the 800 and the 801 pixels. These marks are for the folding which will be done later. I have used two marks so that they can be cut in half or folded in half. Save this as the next image in the numerical sequence or Image 4.
Image 4 with middle borders and two borders at the bottom with tic marks (they really are there)
11. Now is the time to create the full 8 picture areas. Grab the handle and drag the bottom of the image down to at least 1000 pixels, dragging it down as far as you can is good. Adjust the slide bar along the side so that only a part of the yellow shows. Paste Image 4 into paint similar to the pasting that was done in step 9. Click and drag the pasted image so that the tic marks are precisely aligned at the corner, then click off the image. It is not essential to save the image but again it is not a bad idea to save as Image 5.
This is Image 5 showing four picture locations (Image 6 is omitted as it only shows 6 picture locations)
12.There are four picture locations with borders. Repeat the pasting for the next two location with Image 4. Save this as Image 6. Then repeat one final time with Image 3. This will complete the 8 image locations. Save this as Image 7. More images have been saved than are really necessary but it is easier to save and recall them than it is to goof and start from the beginning.
Image 7 with interior borders, all tic marks really are there
13. Now that so much work has been done to create a image with various colors it is time to get rid of the color while saving all the black tic marks. Select the paint bucket and fill every colored area with white, which is actually no color. If the color selection is in default the left mouse button will fill with black and the right mouse button will fill with white. If you accidentally fill with black do not just fill with white. If you do you will lose the black corner tic marks. Instead click the undo and then fill the colored area with white.
14. In the color box select the white color. Fill in all colored area with white, which is actually no color, with the “Fill Tool” or paint bucket. This will leave a white image with only the black tic marks where the picture needs to be placed and the tic marks showing where the sheet will be cut or folded in the middle.
15. So that you know where the pictures need to be placed it is advisable to number each picture space. Before you start numbering copy the template create a second template. You will need two templates to print the album. You will print on the front and back of a single piece of paper to produce a sixteen page Migital album. Use the “Alphabet Tool” to put the numbers in the correct places on the template. When laid out in this order the final album will be in order. The color here is strictly for visual location. (Actually the numbers could be put in before the color is removed, just remove it some time.)
Front Side (template 1)
Back Side (template 2)
16. Now that the two necessary templates are created it is time to put 16 pictures into the templates. The best thing to do is to open a new dedicated picture file that has COPIES of the pictures that you want in the album. Since there are 8 pictures on each page it is best to have the picture small. A size of 75 to 100 kilobytes is adequate. Since the picture size area has an aspect ratio of 0.6 it is desirable to crop any picture to that aspect. Crop a picture using any photo program like Picasso, or Kodak Photo, or whatever program you like. When you have the picture cropped to the shape you want save it as a copy and open it using paint. Check the attributes of the picture, and adjust them till the pictures height is 60 percent of the width. By rotating the picture as was done earlier the cropping can be done on the desired side.
17. If the width of the picture is more than approximately 450 to 500 pixels wide the size of the picture should be resized. One way to do that is in Paint. With the picture open in Paint in the “Home” view click “Resize” and adjust the percentages to result in a picture of the desired size. Remember that if you resize the width to a certain percent the height needs to be resized to that exact percent. For example if the original picture is 1675 pixels wide and 1005 pixels high it will need to be reduced to 28 percent to have a width of 475 pixels and the height will have to be reduced to 28 percent to keep an aspect ratio of 60 percent. A calculator is handy here and your computer has one which can be found by searching for calculator. Remember any small size will work as long as the ratios are correct. The size I mention is only an example that would work as would many others.
18. When all the pictures are cropped and resized to a small picture you are ready to put them into the template. I would suggest that the pictures be named with numbers 1 to 16 in the order that you want them to appear in the album. With the template open in paint click “Edit” then “Paste From” and select a picture from the dedicated picture file. Place the picture in the location that corresponds to the number on the picture. The pictures are apt to be larger than the space available, so simply grab the corner of the picture and adjust the size to fit the tic marks. As long as you do not accidentally click off the picture you can move it and/or adjust the size. Perfect placement over the tic marks will create a better final result. Be sure to save. Call one set of eight pictures Front and the second set Back, or something to which you will relate. Remember that this has become a single large picture with dimensions of 1700 x 2100 pixels and save this as a “Bitmap”.
19. When all 16 pictures are placed on the front template and the back template it is time to place them in a word processing document for printing. Open your word processing program. Set all four margins, top, bottom, left and right to 0.25 inch. I prefer Open Office word processing to do this for the simple reason that under “View” the text boundaries can be displayed.
20. In the word processing program open either the Front or Back. Click “Insert” then “Picture” then “From File” and select a picture. Adjust the picture in the word document so that it touches the 1/4” border. If you have the boundary displayed it is easy to see and adjust using the tic marks as guides. Since this was set up as an 8.5 x 11 inch picture MINUS the 1/4” border putting it in the word document with a 1/4” margin the border is restored. Save, this time as a word document. Again saving after each picture is put in may save on frustration. Repeat this till all 16 pictures have been put in the desired location.
21. Print the Front, turn the sheet over and print the Back. There are 8 pictures on the front and 8 pictures on the back. If you hold them up to a light the pictures should be in exactly the same location front and back.
22. Cut the sheet into 4 strips that are 2.75” x 8.5”. The tic marks that were put on the sheet in step 10 will help to guide the cut. A straight edge ruler and a sharp Exacto knife would work well for this, better than scissors and maybe better than a sliding paper cutter. Fold the four strips in half. Assemble the strips so that the sequence that you planned is laid out.
23.At this point you have a choice of how to do the final assembly. Some staplers have a throat that allows a staple to be put 4.5 inches from the edge. If you have one of these then you can staple exactly in the middle. Many staplers will only reach 4.375 inches or an eighth inch short of the middle. I bought a Swingline stapler in a flea market for $2.00 and a friend of mine ground a portion of the frame away so that it would staple to 4.5”. If you do not have one of those an alternative is to take a needle with a piece of yarn and sew it together with the yarn and tie it with a bow. I also bought a 1/16” hole punch at Hobby Lobby which makes an even neater hole for yarn or string.
A 3x5 file box will store many of these Migital Albums and they can be kept available to show your friends and neighbors. They would make great personal gifts to children and adults too. Make one of your vacation, or of your new house, or your building construction, some of your favorite flowers, or your children from birth to the present, and be sure to make ones of the individual grand children. The possibilities are only limited by the amount of imagination that you are willing to exercise. Have fun making them and bring some to the BGRCC meetings.
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