Creating a custom framing template

In the previous recipe, we saw how to use a framing template to speed up our comic creation time when each of our comics uses the same layout. Well, what if our desired panel setup isn't available in the Template library? No worries! We can create it and save it in the Template library to use in the future.

How to do it…

Let's create a custom frame template and add it to all the interior pages of our story file with this recipe:

1. Open a blank page that includes a Default border (inner) size margin.
2. Create a panel layout using the panel tools.
3. Go to Edit | Register Layer as Template Material.
4. In the Material property window, add a descriptive material name.
5. Under Location to save material, navigate to Manga material | Framing template and select it as the folder to save the new template.
6. Enter search tags.

   Tip

   Tag every material that you add to the materials library with a tag unique to you, such as custom or your name. This makes it easy to find the materials that you've created later. Just search for the tag that you've chosen. Personally, I use custom to tag all my new materials.

   
7. Click OK.
8. Go to File | New to start another new file.
9. Choose a page template to use that has Default border (inner) size in it.
10. Under the Canvas options, check the Template box.
11. Navigate to the custom framing template created earlier. Click on it to select it.
    
12. Click on OK.
13. Create a file with multiple pages.
14. Then click on OK to finish creating the file.
    

How it works…

First, we have to create our frames before we can save them as a framing template, which is why we opened a blank page to start our recipe. Having the default border gives us measurements for the center of each side of our page by looking at the crop markings.

Use the frame tools of your choice to mark the frames for the template. The easiest way for us to do this is by using the rectangle frame tool and drawing our squares.

We can also go to Layer | New Layer | Frame Border folder(C). This will create a frame with the dimensions of the default inner border. Then we can use the divide frame border tool to slice out our frames. The benefit of using this tool is that the borders of our panels will line up perfectly, with even gutters all around.

Registering the layer as a template material allows us to select our new framing template on new files. However, we have to save it in the Framing template folder, which is in Manga material, to make sure that it shows up when we create a new file. Only the materials in this folder will show up while we are creating files that use a template on all pages.

Tagging the material makes it easy to find later. We should always tag our new materials when we add them to the library, because it eliminates scrolling through all the materials to find what we need.

After we've saved the template as a material, we can apply it to any new file. All our interior pages will share the same framing template, which means that we save time by putting new frames in.

See also

• Creating and using cover templates