Abstract: A pallet assembly for use in simultaneously printing multiple articles of manufacture. The assembly includes a pallet having a support surface, a carrier mountable onto the pallet and conforming with the pallet surface features (e.g., individual article of manufacture platforms) such that individual articles of manufacture may be place on the support surface(s) of the pallet yet the carrier substantially covers the remaining areas of the top surface of the pallet to protect the pallet from unintentional application of ink by the printer. The carrier also includes supports which allow a carrier loaded with articles of manufacture to be lifted off of the pallet and carried away for further processing. The assembly may also include a positioner which is mountable over the carrier on the pallet. The positioner operates as a jig for aligning each of the articles of manufacture in proper position on the support surface of the pallet.

Abstract: System and method for automated scheduling and creation of gang shells specifying gangs of individual jobs for production to be created and produced in the future. Individual jobs and related production parameters and order information are retained electronically in a database of pending jobs awaiting production. Based on production capacity at the production facility and the production parameters of the individual pending jobs in the database, a plurality of gang shells having defined production parameters, but not having specific individual jobs associated therewith, are defined and used for scheduling equipment and personnel at the production facility during a work shift or other desired period of time. The specific individual jobs for a gang are selected from the database relatively shortly prior to the gang's scheduled production time.

Abstract: Computer-implemented product design creation system and method for quickly developing a product design having desirable component elements. Multiple candidate product designs are simultaneously displayed for review. Controls are provided allowing a reviewer to enter a preference level for individual component elements of each of the displayed designs. A new set of candidate designs is created based on the entered preference levels. The new candidate designs are displayed for further review and further preference level selection.

Abstract: A computerized system, method, and computer-readable media implementing a method for determining a weight of a product, and optionally its shipping weight and postage are described. A product having a variable shape in two dimensions wherein the shape is defined in the two dimensions by a set of cutlines is manufactured from a product blank of known weight. The weight of the product is determined from the number of pixels in a scaled image of the cutlines, the image having the same aspect ratio as the product blank. The weight of the product blank and the ratio of the pixels corresponding to product surface area relative to the total number of pixels in the image are used to calculated the actual weight of the product.

Abstract: A hat pallet for use in a printer which prints an image onto a hat of the type having a cap and a brim attached thereto includes a bottom plate and a top plate mountable in a closed position over the bottom plate. The bottom plate includes a printing plate and a brim support fixedly mounted thereon. The top plate has an opening exposing at least a portion of the printing plate when the top plate is in the closed position. The brim support is positioned relative to the printing plate such that when the hat is mounted in the pallet with the top plate in the closed position, a portion of the cap on which the image is to be printed is supported on the printing plate and exposed through the opening of the top plate and the underside of the brim of the hat is supported by the brim support.

Abstract: Versions of user-selected content images are automatically created, sized, and positioned within a template such that all versions are simultaneously displayed without overlapping in a defined acceptable image area of the template. Creating the content image versions may include creating a frame image for the content image. A predefined anchor point associated with the acceptable image area is used to control the location of the image versions within the image area.

Abstract: A design image is transformed into a projection design image comprising the design image as it will appear when projected onto a physical 3-dimensional (3-D) curved object. In an embodiment, pixels of the design image are mapped into corresponding mapped pixels in a projection design image according to how the design image will appear in a flattened image of the design projected or printed onto the object having 3-dimension curves. The projection design image may be combined with a product image of the object having 3-dimension curves to generate a customized product image of the object having 3-dimension curves incorporating the design image. The customized product image is displayed to a user when customizing a product with a design to ensure that the user understands how the physical product will appear when the design is printed or projected onto the physical product.

Abstract: Computer-implemented product design creation system and method for quickly developing a product design having desirable component elements. Multiple candidate product designs are simultaneously displayed for review. Controls are provided allowing a reviewer to enter a preference level for individual component elements of each of the displayed designs. A new set of candidate designs is created based on the entered preference levels. The new candidate designs are displayed for further review and further preference level selection.

Abstract: A target-alignment-and-drop control for an electronic document editing tool which ensures that objects are inserted only in valid drop target areas and are aligned according to predetermined alignment rules.

Abstract: Automated electronic document design systems and methods for appropriately sizing and positioning uploaded user images into predefined image areas in a product design being created in a Web environment. For an image that is not to be cropped when incorporated into the design, the image is sized to fit within the selected image area and positioned in the image area according to a predefined anchor location The aspect ratio of the original image is maintained. For an image that is available for cropping when incorporated into the design, the image is sized and cropped to create a version of the image that fills the image container.

Abstract: Computer-implemented electronic document design systems and methods allowing a user to integrate user-specific location maps into custom printed products. During the creation of an electronic design of a product intended for subsequent printing, user-provided location information is received by a server computer and used to generate a user map suitable for high quality printing. Lower resolution display and thumbnail versions of the map suitable for displaying to the user of the client system are generated. The display version is sent to the client system for review and editing by the user. The user map, the display map, and the thumbnail are stored at the server for possible future use. The maps are created and stored with the same height to width ratio as the map area in the electronic product design into which the map will be placed. The user is provided with a cropping tool to allow the user to select the portion of the map to be incorporated into the electronic product design.

Abstract: Methods and systems for automatically creating a frame image for a content image are presented, and include retaining in electronic storage one or more master frame component images, automatically cropping at least one of the master frame component images to create a plurality of frame component images including at least a plurality of cropped versions of the master frame component images, and automatically assembling the frame component images into a frame on a display such that the frame appears as a frame image for the content image when the frame component images and content image are displayed together.

Abstract: Method, system and computer code for generating and displaying an image of a custom product to a customer who is in the process of ordering a different product. The image is generated automatically without a customer request and incorporates information earlier provided by the customer. When possible, the custom product is presented with design features that are similar to the design features of the different product being ordered. Edit capability is provided to allow the user to make changes to the custom product, if desired.

Abstract: Versions of user-selected content images are automatically created, sized, and positioned within a template such that all versions are simultaneously displayed without overlapping in a defined acceptable image area of the template. Creating the content image versions may include creating a frame image for the content image. A predefined anchor point associated with the acceptable image area is used to control the location of the image versions within the image area.

Abstract: Computer-implemented systems and methods for automatically creating a second customized product design incorporating information from a first customized product design. Information from a first custom product design is automatically combined with additional automatically selected content to create a new custom product to be promoted to the customer. When possible, information known about the customer, such as the customer's geographic location or business interests, is used to select the additional content for incorporation into the design.

Abstract: A hat pallet for use in a printer which prints an image onto a hat of the type having a cap and a bill attached thereto includes a bottom plate and a top plate mountable in a closed position over the bottom plate. The bottom plate includes a printing plate and a bill support fixedly mounted thereon. The top plate has an opening exposing at least a portion of the printing plate when the top plate is in the closed position. The bill support is positioned relative to the printing plate such that when the hat is mounted in the pallet with the top plate in the closed position, a portion of the cap on which the image is to be printed is supported on the printing plate and exposed through the opening of the top plate and the underside of the bill of the hat is supported by the bill support.

Abstract: Electronic document design systems and methods allowing a user engaged in customizing an electronic product to re-crop product images in a manner that is compatible with the product layout. Upon selection of an image area in the product design, the user can choose to re-crop the image currently displayed in the image area or to select and crop a different image to be used in the selected image area. A cropping indicator that can be resized and repositioned is provided to the user. The cropping indicator is automatically sized to have and retain the same height to width ratio as the selected image area. Upon completion of any resizing or repositioning operation, the selected image area of the electronic product is updated to reflect the cropping changes made by the user.

Abstract: Method, system, and computer code for preparing markup language documents containing multi-line text elements for WYSIWYG printing. The document is rendered in a prepress server system by a duplicate of the browser that was used to prepare the document in the client system. User-imposed line breaks are identified by reviewing text elements for break characters. Browser-imposed line breaks are identified by comparing spatial location information from the browser for each sequential pair of characters in a text element. The collective line break information is used to ensure that the line breaks viewed by the user are maintained when the document is converted to a prepress system.

Abstract: Techniques for generated variable density mono-color under-print layer(s) for printing underneath an image on a substrate to improve the appearance of the printed image.

Abstract: A design image is combined with a product image to create a composite image to illustrate the result of printing the design image onto the product. To create the composite image, the opacity of each pixel in the design image is set according to the brightness value of the pixel such that completely dark pixels are opaque, completely white pixels are transparent, and pixels having intermediate brightness values are assigned intermediate opacity values based on the brightness of the pixel. The design image pixels and the corresponding product image pixel are blended according to the opacity values of the design image pixels to create the composite image.