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March 2008
Editors' Choice Photo Web Site RocketLife Reviewed by Angie Kibiloski
Most of you are probably familiar with Web sites that allow you to create an account, upload your photos, and order products with your photographs printed on them. The most recent addition to this theme, and one with many new and different features, is RocketLife, found at www.rocketlife.com. This Web site is easy to use, has top quality products, and innovative design technology.
The first thing you do when you visit RocketLife is download the 1MB RocketLife Engine, a small plug-in that controls your RocketLife experience. No account set up is required, so you can go straight into creating your photographic masterpiece. Simply upload the photos you wish to use for your current project, and you are ready to begin. The software will upload higher resolutions of the photos when you are ready to order, so initial uploading is fast and easy. Once you have uploaded all the images you want to work with, it is time to choose a product. You can choose from Prints, Enlargements, T-Shirts, Mugs, Photo Cards, Folding Note Cards, Puzzles, Mousepads, Annual Calendars, Monthly Calendars, Photo Books, Collage Prints, and Posters. As you click on each choice, you see one of the photos that you just uploaded, displayed on the product, and a little info about the product.
Next it is on to the Customize area. You can choose to start from a completely blank slate, or have the software Auto-Arrange your photos in a variety of ways, to be a starting point for your design. Either way is completely customizable. You can arrange your photos in a pleasing way, dragging and dropping them from a sidebar menu. Resize them, overlap them, change the border, brightness, tint, and transparency. I have one recommendation about editing your photos. With products like the mugs and puzzles, where your photo is not simply made into a print, but is transferred onto a surface, the photo seems to turn out darker than the original. So, if you have a photo that is a bit dark to begin with, like a night shot or a low lit restaurant, I would recommend using the Brightness feature to lighten your photo several degrees once you have arranged it, even if it looks fine on screen. You can also choose the background, which can be one of their extremely numerous artistic and colorful themes, or one of your own photos, possibly tinted to a nice sepia with a slight blurred effect. Some of the huge variety of background themes are Retro, Winter, Polka Dots, Leaves, Travel, Birthday, and Bright Paper. You can even put text into your image, using adjustable text boxes, colors, and a wide array of fonts. There are SO MANY ways to make your final product unique and pleasing.
(My puzzle) As you adjust your images, you can visit the Preview tab as many times as you like, to see what the final product will look like. Sometimes it is helpful to see the 3-D image, instead of just a flat graphic layout. Don't forget to Save your Project. This way, if you ever want to reorder the same design, or use that design for a different product, you will have it all ready to load from your hard drive. It will be found in the same folder as the software you downloaded at the beginning. And since RocketLife does not retain your photos on their Web site, this is the only way you can save your work. When you are satisfied with what you see in the preview, it is time to place your order. You choose size/dimensions/quantity, and your items are added to your cart. Now you have two options: go directly to your cart and proceed to pay and finish the order, or create more products. In a week or two (depending on your shipping choice), you will have a top quality product with your own unique photos and design scheme!
(My mug) RocketLife is a fast and easy way to create unique, personalized products that will impress your friends and family. A gorgeous photo book that you designed yourself would be a great Christmas present for your parents, or a puzzle for your youngsters, a collage poster of your rocker sweetheart's debut on stage, or a mug with your favorite gorgeous celebrity for you to drink out of every morning. With so many ways to make these products your own, Rocket Life is a must for creative people who like to have control over every aspect of their creations.
(My photo book) System Requirements
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