Aurora Print Craft AND Print Craft 2 OR Print Craft 2?

[ToyotaDiesel]

I'm looking at the Aurora catalog, and I can't seem to make out if one would want both Print Craft and Print Craft 2, or if you get Print Craft 2, do you not need the first one? It looks like the graphics in 2 are better...but that's just judging by the thumbnails.

Anyone here have any input?

[ToyotaDiesel]

Nevermind. Just saw in the Fellers fall catalog there is now a Print Craft Suite that is all of the Print Craft versions combined.

[Fred Weiss]

Have you considered our Plotter Art™ Seamless Texture Tiles (http://www.allcompu.com/) as a possible, better suited, more useful, and much better value option? You get more images, more variations of each image, and most importantly, you will never find yourself delivering pixelated images because the originals aren't large enough for the sizes you are printing.

[ToyotaDiesel]

Thanks Fred. Actually, I had not looked at it yet. I'm just going through the catalogs I have on hand.

[Fred Weiss]

Those printed catalogs add significantly to the price you pay.

Monster Wrap Fills from Aurora is a list of $445 for 250 images. Plotter Art™ Tiles are $295 list for 600 images (2 volumes available) of equal to superior quality.

My opinion is that you are looking at the wrong product anyway if you are looking at Printcraft Suite. Seamless tiles are an inherently superior way to provide yourself with top quality backgrounds and fills.

[ToyotaDiesel]

Thanks, Fred. I'll check out that product, but I am confused by what you're saying though. Printcraft by Aurora is seamless tiles. How would that be the wrong product? Are you thinking of say the Wrap Experts pre-designed textures?

I really appreciate your input. That's why I'm here; to learn from those with experience. I just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly.

[Fred Weiss]

Thanks, Fred. I'll check out that product, but I am confused by what you're saying though. Printcraft by Aurora is seamless tiles. How would that be the wrong product? Are you thinking of say the Wrap Experts pre-designed textures?

I really appreciate your input. That's why I'm here; to learn from those with experience. I just want to make sure I'm understanding you correctly.

Yes you are confused. PrintCraft Suite is composed of fills and digital creations that were sold separately as


PrintCraft (6 CDs)
PrintCraft II (8 CDs)
Sign Blanks (5 CDs)

None of the content was seamless tiles. All of the content was background fills that are not tileable. Aurora has released two sets of seamless tiles to date. They are:


Monster Wrap Fills
Master Tile Fills

You can view the listing by clicking HERE (http://www.auroragraphics.net/printfillssoftware.html). It makes the difference totally clear.

I can state as a former reseller for Aurora Graphics that there are three primary areas of dissatisfaction you will encounter with the PrintCraft Suite which our customers complained to us about.


No printed user guides
Images not sufficiently large to handle today's demand for larger sizes. A typical image is 15" x 48" at 72 PPI.
Non transferable EULA


In addition, with their tileable images, they often include a highlight/shadow treatment that has been overlaid on their tile and cannot be easily removed. This serves the purpose of making the individual tile look very good but also becomes a problem when you start tiling with it because it sets up a very obvious repeat pattern in your finished fill. Our approach is to supply our customers with this highlight tile as a separate image which can then be overlaid and stretched over a group of tiles to end up as a single shadow/highlight that looks far better.

[ToyotaDiesel]

Fred, you definitely made me go back and look at my Aurora catalog with a fine tooth comb. You are right. The way they layout the thumbnails made me believe they were tileable, but they indeed are fills.

Thanks for the tip on the Plotter Art. I'll check that out.

[Fred Weiss]

There is currently a $100 off special (http://www.allcompu.com/store2/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=43) on both the tile collections is purchased together as a value bundle.