dScope Kindergartens Module

The workflow screen can be viewed in different ways depending on the stage of the process you are currently involved in. The process supports all three of the common business models used in kindergarten and child photography:

In the Pre-Paid model, customers order and pay prior to the shoot. This model has traditionally been used in schools photography and is now becoming more common in kindergartens.

In the Order From Proofs model, the customers are given proof sheets and order forms and can place orders after viewing the proof sheets.

In the On Consignment model, the customers are given the final product and are asked to either purchase the product or return it.

There are a number of fundamental differences between Kindergarten and Schools photography that require a very different software solution. Three prime differences that have driven the design of the kindergarten module are:

• There is generally very little or no data available from kindergartens prior to the shoot. In some cases a list of children's names may be available, but it is rare to find the structured student/class lists that are generally available from schools.
• The age of the children involved and the kindergarten environment mean that it is difficult to shoot tethered. The shots are almost always captured to card and then transferred to the computer later.
• The structure of the classes is much less rigid and there are often different children on the premises on different days. This means that any class may have a number of group shots and a particular child will only be in one of those group shots.

For each class you photograph you can create up to five different package offerings and up to three different Special Presentation offerings. Each of these eight offerings can have up to three different pages in them. Depending on the requirements of the shoot, you can create a wide range of different offerings that cover all price points and all design types, or you can keep the offerings as simple as you like.

Note that it is very important the the paper width used for all prints offered (including groups and composites) is the same, otherwise the printing process will involve a very large number of paper changes.

These two screens are used to define exactly what products you are going to offer to the customers, either on a prepaid or on a consignment basis.

Using the package template screen you can define up to 5 package based offerings, each of which can have up to three different pages in them. The same page can be used in any number of offerings, and each offering is given a name and a price.

Once a series of pages have been selected and grouped into offerings, the whole product set can be saved as a template that can be reused at any time.

The presentation template screen is used to perform a similar role with Special presentations. You can choose a series of special presentations and group them into offerings. Again, a particular series of presentations and the way they are grouped into offerings can be saved as a template for reuse.

The group image is displayed on the screen and the operator clicks on each child starting on the bottom left and moving through the rows to the top left. dScope creates a starting image for each child by cutting a sample out of the group image. It is possible to use all three group images in this process.

By the end of the process there is a record for each child that was captured in a group image.

If there is a child that was not captured in any group image, the details of this child can be added in later during the matching process. If no group images are available, the matching process can create a new record for each child during the matching process.

It is now possible to collect all the individual shots into separate sets for each child. This matching screen shows the next individual image on the left and the children with records in the system on the left. to match an incoming individual image it is simply dragged and dropped on the matching child on the right. If the incoming image does not match any of the children already in the system, the a new record for that child can be created at this stage and a new set will be created and included on the right.

• If the next incoming image is difficult to match, it can be skipped. Skipped images are simply moved to the end of the list so that they will come up for matching again later when the groupings will be clearer.
• If the incoming image is bad for any reason it can be deleted from the system and not matched into any set.
• If an image is matched incorrectly, it can be copied out of the set and placed back in the list of images remaining to be matched and then matched to the correct set.
• Where the original matching image is not good, or not the most representative view, any of the other images in the set can be made the matching image for that set.
• If a new set is created mistakenly for a child that already had a matching set, the images in one of the sets can be copied out and rematched into the correct set.
• If there are too many images for any child, those in the set can be reviewed and the worst of the images deleted.
• In complex shoots, it is possible to match incoming images to more than one class at a time.
• The number of matching images shown on the screen can be changed to get the largest image as possible for each child being matched while still keeping all the matching children on the screen at once.

The Review Images screen allows the operator to scroll through all the children in the system and review both the data and the images that are held for that child. This screen has a number of functions used to create higher quality products.

The order of the images in the set can be controlled. This is very important because the first image is the one always used in packages. If you are using special presentations, the product may include a number of images. i.e. the first three images may be involved.

The Group Image screen can be used to create many different formats of group image to meet the needs of the shoot. If the children's names have been entered, the name list beneath the group will be automatically generated by dScope. You can play with backgrounds, page sizes, all fonts, font sizes and colours, either text or image headings, school emblems and extra pieces of text.

If you are working in the Order From Proofs model, the system will produce all the proofs required in a single step. The proofs created take into consideration the number of images stored for each child and will arrange the proof sheet to display the images to the best affect. If the child was in one of the group images, then the appropriate group image will be included in the proof. If there was no group for that child, the proof sheet will be created without a group image and will be formatted appropriately.

The proof sheets can be branded with you company logo and contact details and you can choose any background image or colour for the best results.

Some small samples of formatted proof sheets are shown below.

If there is a need, you can also build complex composite images of the children within a group. There is a full screen full of options you can set for composites. You can repeatedly make settings changes and then review the result until you get exactly the image that is required.

The system will build multiple page composites, keep teachers in separate lines, adjust the positioning to balance pages and place highlight lines and drop shadows on images.