How to build a standard group (class) composite

Modified on Tue, 20 Feb at 11:15 AM





To make a standard class composite, including the teacher at the front of the grid, first ensure that your Index is set up correctly. 


On the Index tab, select the homeroom teachers and assign them a number in the Priority category.
Portraits with a higher priority will appear in front of lower ranked or no-ranked portrait.  


In this example, the teachers have been ranked "2" - the students don't have a priority.



Next, assure that the teachers' portraits are included in the same category as their students.
In this example, we will be making portraits divided by the category of teacher. On the Index tab, the filter can be set to show the category of Teacher then point to an individual listing (in this case "English"). We can see that the teacher's portrait appears with her students, so we know that her portrait will appear with the kids. If her portrait didn't show up, it needs to be reassigned to the same category as her class.



Building the layout

On the Editor's Layout tab, start by adding a composite frame to an empty canvas.


The Composite frame once added, you can now set the query to tell the composite frame which portraits to display.


In this example, the composites will be divided into individual homerooms, so the index category of Teacher is chosen,  followed by Intelli-flow.
Intelli-flow tells the composite frame to make one page per item in the Category. In this case, there are three teachers listed, so there will be three pages created, one for each classroom group.


The Composite frame can now preview an arrangement. It will show the maximum number of portraits that the query can produce. In this case, the classroom with the largest number of students determines the number of preview portraits in the layout, in a best-fit arrangement.


If you need a custom arrangement, use the Grid Settings and Grid Alignment options.


Adding a Title

To add a title to the page, add a tag text frame.


New elements added to the canvas may overlap the composite frame, causing it to display a warning. This is because the portraits automatically move away from elements on the canvas that block them, and may result in all the portraits no longer fitting in the available area. This can easily be fixed - resizing and/or repositioning the element that is blocking the composite frame:


or if you don't want to resize or reposition the new element, click on the FIX button, which will cause the composite frame to change the arrangement of rows and columns, or turn off occlusion under the General layout options:






Select the tag text frame to add Index information into it. You can also type directly into the Tag Text Generator box to add text that is not related to the Index.
In this example the category of "Teacher" and "Grade" has been added, separated by a dash.


Specify what composite frame to use as the source of the tag text. Since we only have one composite frame on the canvas, only one choice is listed under the Tag Source dropdown.
Note that each composite frame can be custom-named at the top of the left-side Editor options.


Customizing the portrait template

Optionally change the appearance of the portrait & labels by choosing a Portrait Template option.
In this example, a Demo template has been selected, but you can customize your own arrangement, or just use the simple Stock template.


Generating the Composite Set

After your layout choices have been made, click on the Generate Composite Set button to produce your pages.


The Composite Set tab will display the results:


Further customization

Each page can be customized on the Page tab - for instance, add a background color on a per-page basis.


Your layout can include custom images - drag and drop a jpg texture on the canvas background:


And use shapes, text frames and logos/clipart to embellish your layout - be as simple or elaborate as you want.


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