Nero CoverDesigner is a Windows program for designing and printing the printed parts of a disc package. These include booklets, inlays, disc labels and similar inserts for CD, DVD and Blu-ray cases. It belongs to Nero’s burning software and can be opened on its own or from other Nero applications, such as the Make Covers and Labels command in Nero Video.
Choosing a case format
Every project starts in the New Document window. On the left you pick the packaging type: a standard jewel case, DVD and DVD slim cases, Blu-ray and Blu-ray slim cases, multi-disc boxes, maxi and slim packs, mini CDs, or square and rectangular business-card discs. The type decides which elements Nero CoverDesigner creates, such as a booklet, a rear inlay and up to four disc labels.
On the right, templates are grouped by content: audio, data, mixed audio and data, or video. A document can also start from one picture used as the background for every element. Change Template later swaps the design while keeping the entered text and track details. You can also save your own layouts as templates.
Working on the cover layout
Each element opens on its own tab, with the printable area shown unshaded and a bleed margin around it. A grid and guidelines with snapping help line objects up.
Nero CoverDesigner offers lines, rectangles and ellipses. It also offers single-line artistic text, which you can bend along an arc or convert to curves. Other objects include multi-line text boxes and pictures inserted from files. Separate windows set exact position, size and rotation, align objects, and edit outline, fill and font. Pictures can be adjusted for brightness and contrast or run through filters such as emboss and posterize. Backgrounds use a color fill or an image stretched or cropped to the frame. You can apply one background change to all elements.
Track lists and disc data
The Document Data window holds a tree of discs and their contents: audio tracks with titles, artists and playing times, files and folders for data discs, or video chapters. Dynamic objects placed on the layout read from this data. A track list prints numbered titles with durations, and a directory object lists file names, paths and sizes. Fields show values such as album title, artist, year, total playing time or the print date. When you launch Nero CoverDesigner from another Nero program, it fills in the data with the disc information where possible. This makes the track list match the burned compilation.
Paper stocks and printing
Each element is assigned a paper stock, which describes where the element sits on a sheet of pre-cut label or insert paper. Predefined stocks follow manufacturers’ layouts. For other paper, you create a user-defined stock by entering the sheet size and placing items such as a disc with its outer and inner radius.
The print dialog selects which elements to print and how many copies, plain paper instead of the stock, and crop marks. If output lands slightly off, a calibration sheet measures the printer offset. This offset is then stored as a correction.
LightScribe and Labelflash discs
For drives with direct disc labeling, Nero CoverDesigner can burn the design onto the disc surface itself. A LightScribe document is printed on the label side with adjustable contrast and copy count. Labelflash printing can mark the label side, the data side or both.
Finished projects are saved as a CoverDesigner document. The cover can also be exported as cover art into a Nero AAC audio file, and artwork from such a file can be imported to start a new cover.
