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Q: What is Photogize?
A: Photogize is a distributed photo print order management system that enables labs to:
A basic system consists of:
- Photogize Lab - a Windows application that you install in your lab
- WebServices - an Internet server hosted by Graphx
- PhotoCentral - a complete consumer online photo gallery service that includes viewing, editing, sharing, printing and archiving or photos and albums
- RasterPlus - a high performance print manager for printing orders to your digital minilab or photo printer
Q: How easy is it to install and operate Photogize?
A: To install and configure Photogize, you need to know how to:
- Install Windows PC application software
- Connect your PC to the internet
- Connect your PC to your digital minilab or photo printer via SCSI or TCP/IP
Daily use of Photogize requires that an operator that possesses Microsoft Windows knowledge and can operate standard Windows business applications, as a word processor or spreadsheet application.
For more information on installing, configuring, and using Photogize, please see our Getting Started with Photogize guide.
Q: What are the minimum system requirements for Photogize?
A: In general, you need:
- A Windows PC to run Lab and/or RasterPlus
- A high speed (Cable/DSL/T1/T3) connection to the Internet
- A supported minilab or photo printer
You can run Photogize Lab and RasterPlus on one PC or on separate PCs. These PCs should meet the following minimum specifications:
Windows XP Operating System
Pentium 4 processor
512 MB of internal memory
80 GB hard disk space
CDRW drive
Ethernet network card
USB interface
17" or larger display with 24-bit color
For more information, please see our Getting Started with Photogize guide.
Q: How does Photogize differ from its competitors?
A: Three things make Photogize unique - the company, the architecture, and the business model.
The Company
Phtotogize was developed by Graphx, Inc., a market-leading developer of distributed photo printing software and services. In short, we are a software company with considerable expertise in the digital photo space - we are NOT a dot com.
The Architecture
Photogize is standards-based and highly scalable. This translates to rock-solid reliability, unmatched uptime, and superior QOS. The architecture is open - third party developers have created extensions to Photogize with our XConnect API and Channel Developers Toolkit. This means more and more commercial opportunities for photo retailers. And Photogize is built on the award-winning RasterPlus print engine which features the widest range of minilab and photo printer compatiblity and the richest feature set in the industry.
The Business Model
We are a software company that sells software and services - that is how we make money. There are no click fees or transactions fees with the core Photogize system*
* Please note that third party developers may use other commercial models with their add-on products and Channels.
Q: What is a Photogize Channel?
A: A Photogize Channel is the combination of Web application or PC application and a Photogize WebServices account. A Channel lets clients upload digital photos and place print orders which are fulfilled by a photo retailer that subscribes to the Channel.
Q: Photogize looks good for my consumer business, but how do I support my commercial customers?
A: You can provide a dedicated PhotoCentral Channel to a single commercial customer, with unique products and pricing just for that customer. Or you can dedicate a single PhotoCentral Channel to a group of customers. Additional PhotoCentral Channels are only $195 per year plus actual upload capacity used by those customers. Labs should also review our services designed for commercial/professional photographers including Photogize Events and Photogize Postup. Our PrintWizard service is also used by labs to support commercial customers needing proof prints quickly
Q: Can I create local orders in Lab?
A: Yes, photos that stored on local or networked drives, digital media cards, or CDs can be dragged and dropped into an order in Photogize Lab. You can then select Products and quantities, prejudge the photos, print order forms, and print the order to your digital minilab or photo printer. You can even upload the photos to WebServices and have an email automatically sent to a client that allows them to create a print order using these photos. Photogize Lab only uploads sampled versions of the photos; the high resolution photos stay in your system.
Q: How fast can customers send image data?
A: The time it takes to send photos is principally dependent on the upload speed of the client's Internet connection and the size of the files. Most cable and DSL connections have high download speeds but slower upload speeds. The typical cable/DSL customer can upload at about 1MB per minute. This amounts to about one two megapixel digital photo per minute.
Q: How do I get paid for my orders?
A: Photogize does not process any order transactions. It simply delivers the transaction information to you to process as you see fit. You can define business rules governing credit card transactions so that you either 1) never require credit cards, 2) always require credit cards, or 3) only require credit cards for ship orders. If a credit card is required for a transaction, the credit card information is downloaded by Lab along with the rest of the order information. It is your responsibility to process the credit card transaction. Photogize supports Authorize.net as an internet gateway, if you wish to process credit cards with your order. You will need an account with Authorize.net. Contact sales@graphx.com for details
Q: Are credit card transactions secure?
A: All order information, including credit card data, is transferred from any Photogize client to WebServices via a highly-secure SLL connection. And all order data is harvested with Photogize Lab over an SSL connection.
Q: Can customers share order albums?
A: Yes.
Q: How does a customer know if their images have adequate resolution?
A: If a photo is to be printed on a Product smaller than an 8x10, Photogize checks to make sure that the photo will print at at least 150dpi. If a photo is to be printed on a Product that is equal to or larger than 8x10, Photogize checks to make sure that the photo will print at at least 128dpi.
The Photogize print order service includes the use of a graphical "quality bar" indicator to provide the customer with an indication of print quality for each photo, for each print size.
Q: I don't have a website yet, what do I do?
A: Contact us and we'll put you in contact with web designers/hosting services that have experience with creating photo retailer sites and connecting them to Photogize.
Q: How long are photos stored on our servers?
A: Once you've harvested an order, the order and photos stay on your local PC until you delete them. The order and photos stay on our system for thirty days. After 30 days customers using the PhotoCentral service have the option of storing their photos for a charge of five cents per photo for one year. This transaction is between the consumer and Photogize/Graphx. As a retailer you can purchase storage credits in bulk provide longer storage to your best customers.
Q: If I delete a customer order in Lab, can I retrieve it again or is it lost?
A: Order and photos stay on our system for thirty days. You can reharvest orders and photos anytime during this time period.
Q: What is the Greeting Card Channel?
A: The Greeting Card Channel is an online photo greeting card compositing system. The Channel features "Online Compositing" that delivers benefits to both you and your customer.
Your customer benefits from the the enjoyment and satisfaction of creating a customized, and personalized greeting card. The customer also assumes responsibility for the the design and content of the card including responsibility for any typos.
You benefit from the increased workflow in your store because your staff is freed from the time required to capture customer greeting card information--- you simply print the result.
Q: How do I get started?
A: Make sure that you meet the minimum system requirements. Then all you need to do is purchase the Photogize Starter System.
Q: I already own RasterPlus, do I still need to buy the Photogize Starter System or a separate copy of RasterPlus?
A: Photogize ONLY works with RasterPlus v 5.0 and above. Furthermore, RasterPlus is licensed for specific devices - you must own a RasterPlus license for the device to which you wish to print in order to use it with Photogize. For example, if you have RasterPlus for a Polaroid color film recorder, and you wish to print to a Noritsu minilab, you will need to purchase the Photogize Starter System or a separate copy of RasterPlus for Noritus minilabs.
Q: What is a GBM?
A: The standard starter webservice plan includes 1GBM of upload capacity. This means your customers can upload up to 1 Gigabyte of data per month of photos as part of your annual WebServices plan. Graphx offers webservice plans starting at 1GB per month and ranging to 150 GB per month.
Q: What happens when customers send me more than 1GBM of photos in a month?
A: You will ALWAYS get your orders and photos. We will bill you for any overage at the end of each quarter.
- Overage for 1&2 GB webservice plans is $40 (per GB)
- Overage for 5GB webservice plan is $32 (per GB)
- Overage for 10 GB webservice plan is $26 (per GB)
- Overage for webservice plans over 15GB is $24 (per GB)
Overage fees are prorated down to 1/10 of a Gigabyte. (For example: if you are in a 1 GB plan and January your customers upload 1.2 GB of data, the overage fee for January would be would be $8.00)
Q: Is there a lease option?
A: Yes, click here for more information.
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