Create a Custom Product Image Template with dynamic recoloring

When you set up a DecoNetwork store, you can quickly populate it with a selection of products from DecoNetwork's product catalogs - a database of over 16,000 products from 18 of the world's leading wholesale suppliers. Catalog products consist of an extensive amount of data, including full product descriptions and details from the supplier, accurate sizes, and product views that can be represented in each available product color.

If, however, the catalogs do not contain the products that you want to offer for sale, DecoNetwork gives you the flexibility to create your own custom products. This article explains how you can create product templates to represent the views of your product, such as front, back, and side views. These templates are designed to be dynamically recolored, eliminating the need to produce an image in each color the product is available in, thus saving you time.

Prerequisites

• You must have access to a graphics application, such as PhotoShop or Corel PHOTO-PAINT
• You must have high-resolution product view images that are a minimum of 600px by 600px

To create a dynamic product template:

1. Open the image in your graphics application.
2. Crop the image, leaving about 15px - 20px from the image extents.
3. Make the canvas size a square that is a minimum of 600 pixels by 600 pixels, with a transparent fill.
4. Remove the solid image background.
5. Cut out part of the product that will not be recolored and paste it on a new layer. (For example, a shirt may have a label, collar, or buttons that are a consistent color in all color variants of the product).
6. If the product has more than one colored area that can be changed, separate them into different layers.
7. Convert the recolorable parts of the image to black and white. The image must be as close to 50% gray as possible. To make the image 50% gray:
   1. Create a rectangle filled with 50% gray (RGBA 128, 128, 128) to use as a reference block.
   2. Select the layer(s) that will be re-colored.
   3. Convert the layer(s) to black and white.

      Note: If you convert the image to black and white by using grayscale mode, you will need to set the image mode back to RGB color mode prior to saving the file.

      If you are using PhotoShop, select Image > Mode > RGB Color.

      If you are using Corel PHOTO-PAINT, select Image > Convert to > RGB color (24 bit).

   4. Compare the gray in the product with the gray in the reference block.
   5. If the gray of the product does not closely match the gray of the reference block, adjust the color channels so that the product gray more closely matches the reference block gray.
   6. Delete the reference block.
8. Name the image layers:
   
   1. Name the layer that should be recolored: color_1.
      • If the product has multiple color layers, name them: color_1, color_2... etc consecutively.
   2. Give layers that should not be recolored any descriptive name, e.g. “label”, "collar" or “details”.

   It is important that you follow this naming convention so that the system can recognize which areas of the product are recolorable.

9. Save the image as a PSD file.
   

   Click the image to enlarge.

To import the product template into DecoNetwork:

1. Log into your DecoNetwork Website.
2. Browse to Admin > Products.

   

   

3. Press Add Product, then select Add Custom Product.
   

   The main work area contains the settings for configuring the identifier information for the new custom product:

   • Product Group - select a product group from the dropdown menu. Product groups allow you to set default behaviors for groups of products. They save you from having to configure common settings for products individually.
   • Product Name - give your product a name.
   • Product Code - if you use a code to store and record your product, enter it here.
   • Number of colors is the number of color areas that can be changed on the product.
4. Enter the product identifier information.
5. Click Save.

   Once the basic product identifier information is entered, the next task will be to configure views of the product that appear in the online store and in the Designer.

6. Select a product view option:
   
7. Select Your own custom template.
8. Click Next.
9. Click on Browse... or Choose File (depending on your browser).
   
10. Find and select the PSD file you created and click Open in the File Upload dialog.
11. Click Upload in the Upload Template PSD File popup.
12. Click on the Select color button.
    
13. Set a default color for the product.

    You can select from pre-defined generic colors, manufacturer-defined colors, or define your own custom color by clicking on the Define new color button.

    
14. Click OK.
15. Enter a name for the product view.
    
16. Optionally, add decoration areas.

    See the section, "To add a decoration area", in the help article, "Product Decoration Area", for instructions on how to add decoration areas.

17. Click OK.

    You can now continue with configuring the product, including configuring additional views. See the help articles under Product Management in the menu at the left of this page for more information about configuring a product.