family tree digital pages

[amdv_ginger]

I am thinking about putting together a heritage album or storybook, not sure which yet. In my vision I would love to have a pedigree chart for the beginning of a chapter so I can see the family line without all the clutter and then per child of a particular couple using family group sheet. Per family I would love to see a "tree" of sorts where one can add a name, their birth/death dates and a spot for a photo. The pages must also allow me to type in the information in fonts I like. Is there such a thing out there in digital land? thanks for you help.

[dmrdm]

Just an old thread I remembered:
http://www.scrappersguide.com/forums...ht=family+tree

[Wendy]

Must admit that I have tried many times to use scrapbooking pages for parts of my family tree ... but the page just gets too cluttered

Its OK if you just stick to child ... parents and grandparents but anything beyond that doesn't seem to work. The main problems is that in the 1800's and early 1900's people just had so many children.

Wendy

[JobaScraps]

I have been looking for family tree templates, Qp's or anything for awhile & have not found any for digiscrapping .That is not to say there might be some out there for sale. I even bought a tree for a 12x12 album but do not know how to scan it since this size is to large for my scanner. I know you can scan half at a time & then put together but have not attempted.I have come to the conclusion that I have to design my own trees. I designed one tree & boy was it alot of work.I don't know how to use lines etc . to connect the the different branch etc. At least not easily.

[mh1071]

I too am putting together a heritage album, but first a suggestion for JobaScraps. How handy are you with a camera? I have a scanner, but it is too time intensive for me. I have therefore photographed literally hundreds of old images and pieces of memorabilia. I lay them flat, in good light with no shadows or glare (outdoor shade is good, or indoors with nice window light), make sure my camera is in exactly the same plane (i.e. parallel and not on an angle to the image), shutter speed at least 1/60 if hand held (but I often use a tripod), ISO 100, no flash (so the aperture will be fairly wide open), and off I go. I'm sure you could do this with your 12 x 12 tree. A point-and-shoot would do just fine if you don't have an SLR. And stand on something if you cannot get it all in your frame. Or prop it somewhere, making sure to keep the camera at the same angle. Good luck!
As to my album, or book, I am really interested in knowing what others are doing. At the moment (subject to change as things progress), I have started with the main character, my mother Rhona. The book has chapters which progress in the same way as a folder structure. There's a chapter for Rhona's parents, another for Rhona and Charles (my father), another for Rhona's children (me and my brother), Rhona's friends. On we go with chapters for me and my husband (it all ties together because I am married to Rhona's best friend's nephew), my children, their spouses and children. Then back up to my brother and his wife, their children - you get the picture. Heavens knows how many chapters I will end up with. Lots of images, lots of memoir writing, lots of pages to design. But my style is fairly simple, and I will probably only do one "fancy" page per chapter. I have some design background which will help. I will progress in style chapter by chapter to create a flow, from the heritage look of 100+ years ago to a more modern colour scheme and design. And yes, I will somehow or other have mini family trees scattered through the book. I am always keeping my eyes open for ideas.

[JobaScraps]

Oh I sure hope you keep us updated on your progress.Are you printing at home? what kind of album then are you using? etc. etc. I'd love to hear more.
Thank you for the camera idea. I never thought of that.
I want to make family tree pages too but just don't have the skills to make the lines etc.

[mh1071]

Hello JobaScraps: First my own album - no, I won't print at home, as I want a professional looking book. I've had books printed before by Viovio, who are wonderful in many ways, but there are some issues, which I won't go into. So I will be careful who I choose. It won't be for two or three months.
But back to your lines problem. I don't know how you personally plan your layout, but what I am doing is this. For my mini trees, before each chapter (as appropriate), I am using a stylized tree as a background (you know, branches, leaves, trunk etc.!), and am making separate rectangles (each on it's own layer) which I am coloring, putting shadows on etc. I make one rectangle and press Ctrl while dragging out copies. Then in each rectangle I type the names and any details I want for the relatives in that particular mini tree. I clip (using Ctrl+G) the type to its rectangle, which enables me to resize and move around the completed rectangles to suit. I turn the grid on for the next step (View>Grid) which is to get them all sized and placed where I want. Only when I'm happy do I draw my lines to connect. I use a New Layer for this part which makes it easier to delete if I don't like it. I use the Brush tool, hard round 5 px (this could be less depending on one's taste), place my cursor and click down and hold onto the spot where I want my first line to start, then HOLDING DOWN THE SHIFT KEY I drag my cursor to the spot where I want my line to end before letting to. The Shift key constrains my line into being straight, in whatever direction I choose to drag it. Then I create another new layer and draw the next line, and so on until I am done. Only when I am happy with the lines do I select all the line layers and do a Merge Visible on them. If I make a mistake en route it is much easier to delete a layer than to go the Undo, undo, undo route.
Has this helped at all? If so I'm glad, and if not ..... maybe someone else has an idea for you. When all else fails I type something like "how to draw straight lines in Photoshop Elements" into the Google search box and see what it comes up with! Good luck. MH1071

[mh1071]

Hello JobaScraps: First my own album - no, I won't print at home, as I want a professional looking book. I've had books printed before by Viovio, who are wonderful in many ways, but there are some issues, which I won't go into. So I will be careful who I choose. It won't be for two or three months.
But back to your lines problem. I don't know how you personally plan your layout, but what I am doing is this. For my mini trees, before each chapter (as appropriate), I am using a stylized tree as a background (you know, branches, leaves, trunk etc.!), and am making separate rectangles (each on it's own layer) which I am coloring, putting shadows on etc. I make one rectangle and press Ctrl while dragging out copies. Then in each rectangle I type the names and any details I want for the relatives in that particular mini tree. I clip (using Ctrl+G) the type to its rectangle, which enables me to resize and move around the completed rectangles to suit. I turn the grid on for the next step (View>Grid) which is to get them all sized and placed where I want. Only when I'm happy do I draw my lines to connect. I use a New Layer for this part which makes it easier to delete if I don't like it. I use the Brush tool, hard round 5 px (this could be less depending on one's taste), place my cursor and click down and hold onto the spot where I want my first line to start, then HOLDING DOWN THE SHIFT KEY I drag my cursor to the spot where I want my line to end before letting to. The Shift key constrains my line into being straight, in whatever direction I choose to drag it. Then I create another new layer and draw the next line, and so on until I am done. Only when I am happy with the lines do I select all the line layers and do a Merge Visible on them. If I make a mistake en route it is much easier to delete a layer than to go the Undo, undo, undo route.
Has this helped at all? If so I'm glad, and if not ..... maybe someone else has an idea for you. When all else fails I type something like "how to draw straight lines in Photoshop Elements" into the Google search box and see what it comes up with! Good luck. MH1071

[JobaScraps]

Oh thank you so very much.Yes I can see the benefit of how you do it & the time saving techniques.I never thought of putting each line on a separate layer or using the brush tool .( I was trying to use the line tool.) Oh it seems so logical . Now that I have more skills learned from SG & your excellent suggestions I will try again to make family tree LO's. Heritage scrapping was the original purpose for me to start digiscrapping but I have gotten away from it .

[JobaScraps]

Oh my gosh I just made a 3 generation family tree LO using the suggestions as above & boy was it alott easier using the brush tool to make the lines each on a separate layer.Thank you mh1071. Thank you