Integrate the best components. This is Creative PhotoCloud is all about.
A bunch of highly sophisticated, carefully selected components integrated into a complete system to build a perfect retail photo store. The highest level of integration, having all the bits and pieces needed to operate a photolab together, makes a Creative PhotoCloud store the most successful, most effective business in photo finishing today. While all software components are certainly among the very bests of their classes, the real power of Creative PhotoCloud is the completeness of the solution. Because this is why your job to operate a store is the easiest, therefore the most effective.
Master Database
Located in The Cloud, CPC Master Database holds all product definitions, allowing all CPC partners – wherever are they located – to access any product CPC defines, instantly. And accessing a product means making it instantly available to design and order for the customers and ensuring the easiest-possible local, or remote production.
Master Database product definitions include:
- design descriptions, scripts (interpreted by the client programs)
- production instructions (interpreted by the image generator and print management modules)
- imagery
- media data
- printer information/assignements
- list of consumables needed
- list of options/accessories
Cloud Workflow Manager
Except those orders created and produced locally in the store, all orders flow through CPC’s cloud based workflow manager module. This program determines where a certain order should be sent for production:
- online (remote) orders for local (in-store) production
- remote orders for central lab production
- local (in-store) orders for central lab production
Local Server Unit
Running on a dedicated local computer, the Local Server Unit makes it possible to run the store lighning fast and undisturbed even if the Internet connection is slow or broken. The Local Server communicates with the Cloud in the background, when it’s the most effective, hiding all bottlenecks of the Net hidden from the store operations.
All orders, created on the local kiosks are sent to the Local Server and Local Server will forward it either to the local Lab Manager or to a remote lab (via the Cloud) for production.
Local Server makes it also sure to receive all software or product info updates and to install them without any intervention or production break needed.
CPC Kiosk System
The CPC Kiosk Client program runs on a dedicated 21,5” touch screen terminal PC configuration, with integrated media reader and receipt printer units. The specially configured MS Windows ® 8.1 Embedded operating system and a fully closed application software ensures absolute safety for the operation: the system is secured from malwares sourced from customers’ media; safe from inteded or unintended harmful actions of customers, and also ensured the smooth installation of all updates, new releases.
The CPC Kiosk can load customers’ photos from USB source, various types of memory cards directly, and, very importantly, from Android, iOS and Windows Phone mobile systems.
Client Programs
Both the Kiosk and the Home Client program are basically the same – obviously, one optimised for touch screen, other for mouse/keyboard operation. But the result is that customers meet the very same user interface, same logic regardless if they create their artwork in the store or at home – even allowing to finish a work in the store, when assistance would be needed, or at home, if the design takes more time than originally thought in front of the kiosk.
The Clients provide one interface for the design of all products – making therefore introducing new products very simple.
One interface, however, does not mean compromises: you find functions in standard print ordering, at photobook creation, design of high valued decorations, which can only be found in the most expensive dedicated softwares. Or not even there.
General characteristics of the Client programs is to help extremely fast, automated (wizards) generation of products, but simultaneously allow building artworks with meticulous care.
Licenced Contents
Coming soon – soon we will launch a new feature for Creative PhotoCloud… where professional photographers of graphic artists can upload (and price) their images, making them available for use to any Creative PhotoCloud customer.
Then your clinets may use exceptional imagery to create their greeting cards, photobooks, special gifts or unique wall decorations, in combination with their own photos.
More value for the customers – more income for the CPC partners, and for the licenc owners, obviously.
CPC Lab Manager
CPC Lab Manager is the program the operator works with: it displays the headline and the details of the incoming orders (both from local kiosks of remote client), allows ‚last minute’ modifications, corrections on the images, and sends the printjob to the suitable printer.
Lab Manager assigns automatically the proper printer (minilab) to the product, when it finds a supported machine (like for instance Epson SureLabs, LFPs or Noritsu minilabs) connected to the system. Using these printers the production can be almost fully automatic – for any other minilab Lab Manager’s ‚Neutral Output’ can be used.
Besides full management of production, the Lab Manager provides the interface for all store settings. Thanks to the high level of the system’s integration, however, do not expect thousands of complicated parameters to finetune to let your lab working. Select the products you want to sell; define their pricing schemes and select what options you would like to show – you’ll hardly face any more challenging task to set up your store.
Supported set of Photo Printers
Creative PhotoCloud prefers local, in-store production – this allows instant or one hour delivery even for very complex creative products, which is a significant competitive advantage. To make local production really effective (making store owners possible to run a lab with minimal headcount) we control the production devices as much directly as possible – reading out media information and printing status fom, sending printing sizes, settings, color management information directly to the printer. To make the best out of this integrated system we suggest to use therefore the Epson SureLab or Noritsu’s dry lab series and Epson LFP’s for use in CPC labs.
Other minilab/printer types are not directly controlled, they can be used via their standard interface programs.
Full set of supplies and accessories
Creative PhotoCloud is not just a pack of software modules – it is a complete business environment for local photolabs.
Supplies and accessories are crucial elements of CPC. Providing ALL parts, needed to produce all of the products defined in CPC Master Database, makes the very fast local, in-store production possible – therefore, the entire operation really effective.
Do not think only about inks and minilab papers – we have the special papers and covers for quick photobooks, binders for calendars, stretching bars, matched exactly to the product sizes for canvasses, raws and cutters for gifts and so on.
Sure you can source all of them wherever you want. But your CPC reseller offers you all of them, exactly in the size and chouice you need, and everything you need. An other aspect, how to be really effective.
Central Lab support
Producing locally, in your store has lots of advantages, but can not always be the solution. You might not want to invest into the machinery needed to create products like large layflat- or custom cover photobooks, wallpapers or certain gift items, but you still want to sell them.
CPC’s central lab support provides an absolutely transparent solution for this. Use your Lab Manager program to set the production site of a product from ‘local’ to any of the available central labs and change the delivery time to 3-5 days from the standard few hours. All orders for such products will then be automatically directed to the central lab, irrelevant whether they were created on a kiosk in the store or on a home client of a customer. The store operator is notified about the receipt of such an order – so can invoce the customer, for instance, but does not have any further tasks to complete in order to sell even the most complex photo product.