ArcSoft PhotoBase Quick Start Guide INTRODUCTION Welcome to ArcSoft PhotoBaseTM, the ultimate multimedia organizer that lets you store, manage and access important image, audio, video and even document files. Mastering PhotoBase is easy! Simply create albums of your files and enter information in the customizable Information Fields. Then, choose from a wide variety of activities: · · · · · · · · · Find files easily with the powerful Sort and keyword Search functions Drag-and-drop files within an album or into other albums Organize your hard drive by creating catalogs of all your multimedia files Create self-running slide shows of images to present or give to others Send video postcards with background images, video and audio Archive and share important files by copying and/or moving entire albums to floppy disks, CDs and other removable media Make an HTML page of photos instantly with the Make Web Album feature Launch third-party programs from Photobase by dragging and dropping the appropriate files into the "Hotlink" bar Print thumbnail albums in different sizes with frames, borders and descriptions This Quick Start Guide shows you how easy it is to get started in PhotoBase! It contains a "Getting Acquainted" section to show the basics in PhotoBase, as well as a section on "Using PhotoBase" to take you through key activities and projects. You will find step-by-step instructions, tips and notes throughout this guide. In addition to this Quick Start Guide, you can learn more about PhotoBase by using the program's online Help (located in the Help menu). Online Help provides easy-to-find information on specific features and commands, and is most helpful when printed out. For important notices about PhotoBase, please review the ReadMe documentation located in the PhotoBase directory. System Requirements: · Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 or 2000 · VGA monitor w/16-bit color (or better) display · CD-ROM drive for installation · 30 MB hard disk space · Pentium recommended or equivalent processor · 16 MB RAM (32 MB recommended) · CD-ROM drive for installation · Mouse Supports: · Popular multimedia formats including BMP, TIF, JPG, GIF, PCD, PCX, TGA, FlashPix, AVI and WAV · TWAIN-compliant devices · CD-Recorder or CD-Rewriteable drives · ArcSoft Zipshot and other video capture devices or cards · Video for Windows-compliant devices · Sound cards GETTING ACQUAINTED Important Terms · Left and Right Clicking - Throughout this guide, you'll be asked to use both the left and right mouse buttons. In general, "click" means "click once on the left mouse button". "Right-click" means "click once on the right mouse button". "Double-click" means " click twice on the left mouse button". 1 · · Album Thumbnails - Thumbnails are small visual representations of actual files. Right-click on a thumbnail to view file properties (the location and size of a file, and the date it was created). By deleting a file or moving it to a new location, the existing thumbnail will no longer be linked to that file. Therefore, you would need to create a new thumbnail for the new file location. Likewise, if you double click on a thumbnail to open an image on a floppy, without the floppy in the drive, you will not be able to access the image. Shift/Control Keys - Use these keys to make more than one selection at a time. To select multiple sequential thumbnails in an album, click on the first thumbnail, hold down the Shift key, then click on the last thumbnail. To select multiple non-sequential thumbnails in an album, click on one of the thumbnails, hold down the Control key, then click on all other thumbnails. The Basics This section shows you the basics of using an album in PhotoBase. Follow these steps in order while referring to Fig. 1. Title Bar Album Title Menu Menu Bar Tool Bar Album Thumbnails Scroll Bar Label Names "Hotlink" Bar Information Fields Status Bar Fig. 1 PhotoBase Application Window 1. Open a new album There are two ways to open a new empty album. You can either start PhotoBase, which automatically defaults to opening a new album. Or, if you are already in PhotoBase you can click on the Album Title Menu and select the album titled [New]. 2. Add files to the album PhotoBase represents the following files as thumbnails in the album: BMP, TIF, JPG, GIF, PCD, PCX, TGA, FlashPix, AVI and WAV. In addition, you can include documents, spreadsheets and other files in an album to create a "storyboard" of related files. a. Click the Add Tool from the Tool Bar. The Add to Album dialog box will appear. Note: The default Files of Type category is "All Image Files". This automatically displays image file types such as BMP, TIF and JPG. Similarly, the default Look In directory is "Photos", which displays sample PhotoBase images. b. Add one image by clicking on one of the sample PhotoBase files. Click Open. c. Click the Add Tool again. 2 d. Add several images by holding down your Shift or Control key while clicking on different files. Click Open. e. Click the Add Tool again. f. Add non-image files by changing the Files of Type category to "All File Types". This allows files other than images (e.g. DOC, TXT, XLS, HTML, MPEG) to be inserted in your album. Select one or more of these files, then click Open. Note: PhotoBase supports standard variations of the following image file formats: BMP, JPG, GIF, PCD, PCX, TGA and FlashPix. However if one of your images does not open, it may be an uncommon variation that PhotoBase does not support. If this is the case, try opening the file with the software that created it. Save the file in a common file format. 3. Add images to the album using a TWAIN device If you do not have a digital camera, scanner or other TWAIN device, you may skip to the next step. a. Click the Acquire Tool from the Tool Bar. The Select Source dialog box will appear, listing all TWAIN devices installed on your system. b. Click the device you want to use. Click Select. A TWAIN interface with acquiring options specific to your device will appear. (For instructions on acquiring, consult the manual that came with your TWAIN device.) c. Acquired images will automatically be added to your current album. 4. Save the album Always remember to save your changes! Click the Save Tool from the Tool Bar to save your current album. For learning purposes, name the album you just created TEST, then click OK. 5. Open an existing album To view and open other available albums, click on the Album Title Menu. For learning purposes, select the sample album titled PHOTOS. Your screen should look similar to the one pictured in Fig. 1 (although you may have more rows of thumbnails depending on the resolution setting of your monitor). 6. Add descriptive text To document important information about a file and make it easy to sort and search, add descriptive text to the Information Fields and customize the Label Names. See Fig. 1. a. Using the current album, click on any thumbnail. b. The default label names should read Title, Date and Description. To customize, click on Label Names from the Album Menu. Type "Today's Date" instead of "Date", then click OK. The album will show the change. c. In the Information Fields, enter up to 3 lines of descriptive text. d. Click the Save Tool to save your changes. 7. More Cool Features See online Help for information on how to use... · Delete - lets you delete files from the current album · Delete an Album - lets you delete the current album and its contents · Rename an Album - lets you give the current album a new name · Duplicate an Album - lets you make a copy of the current album while retaining its original · Capture - lets you capture still images, video and audio · Record Audio - lets you record audio WAV files that can be attached to image files · Album Properties - displays helpful information about the current album including: the name of the album, number of thumbnails, size of the album, total size of files in the album and a description. · File Properties - displays the image file location, image size (in pixels), file size (in bytes) and file date. 3 Now that you know the basics in PhotoBase, you are ready to start "Using PhotoBase"! USING PHOTOBASE Here you will be shown step-by-step instructions for accomplishing key tasks and projects in PhotoBase: · Find your file using the Sort and Search features · Archive your files by copying them to a different location · Create a Slide Show · Create a Web Album · Create a Video Postcard · Set up and use the Application "Hotlink" bar · Use the PhotoBase Image Editing Tools · Print your selected images or the entire album Find your file using the Sort and Search features Sort and Search offer you a variety of ways for locating files. · Sort organizes files in your current album by Name (of file), Type (of file format), Size (of file), Date (of file creation), Description (or the third Information Field) or Reverse order (of these sort options). 1. Open the album you want to organize. 2. Click Sort from the Edit Menu. Choose from the available sort options. 3. Click Exit. The album will automatically be sorted. · Search looks throughout selected albums for a particular file(s). It then moves your search results to another album. 1. Click Search from the Image Menu. A Search dialog box will appear. 2. Under "Search In", choose the album you want to search. To choose more than one album, hold down the control or shift key while making your selection. 3. Under "Store In", choose the album for storing your search results. 4. Under "Search For", type the keyword. 5. Under "Search Field", select where the keyword should appear. 6. Click Search. The search results will appear in the designated "Store In" album. 7. Click the Save Tool if you want to save the new album. Archive your files by copying them to a different location The "Copy Image(s) To" command lets you easily make backups of your files on floppy disk or removable media, without changing the thumbnails or original locations of the files. 1. Open the album containing the files you want to move. 2. Click once on the first thumbnail to select it. While holding down the shift key, click once on the last thumbnail. All thumbnails will be selected. (To select only certain images, use your control key instead of your shift key.) 3. Click Copy Image(s) To from the Image Menu. 4. Click the Browse button to specify where you want the files copied. 5. Click Copy to confirm. Note: In addition to the "Copy Image(s) To" command, there are other options for creating backups of your important files. The "Move Album" command moves (not copies) all files in the current album from their current locations to a new directory. This command also updates the thumbnails accordingly. The "Copy Album" command makes a copy of the current album and its thumbnails, while leaving files in their current locations. (For information on these commands, see online Help.) 4 Create a Slide Show Create and save a full-screen multimedia presentation of images with transitions, titles, and music or narration. Slide shows will run on any Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0 system. 1. Open the album containing the files you want to present in a slide show. 2. Click the Make Presentation Tool from the Tool Bar. Choose "Create a Slide Show". A "Wizard" will take you through the creation process. 1. Follow the instructions on selecting your images and adding audio. Click Next after each selection. Tip: To select more than one image for your slide show, hold down your control key while clicking different images. Note: When adding audio to your slide show, you will need to choose one of the following options: · Play Single Audio File - includes a selected WAV audio file and synchronizes the slide show to match the length of the audio. This is best for adding background music or narration that doesn't need to match exactly to any particular slide. · Play Attached Audio Files - includes any WAV files attached to images. · No Audio - ignores any attached audio files and includes only the pictures. See online Help for more information on the Audio feature. 4. Once you see the Select Destination window, specify where you want to save your slide show - either to a disk, blank writeable CD-ROM or another directory. 5. Click Finish. Your slide show will be saved to the specified location as an EXE file. Copies of the slide show contents (the image files) will also be created and saved to the same directory. Tip: PhotoBase will save one slide show and its contents per directory. Therefore, to create multiple slide shows, you should make separate directories for each show and name them accordingly. Tip: Add each slide show to your "Hotlink" bar for quick access to all your presentations. 6. To play the slide show locate the EXE file and double-click on it. The Slide Show dialog box will appear with the following options: · Auto-loops - plays the slide show in a continuou ...