User manual DIGITAL ARTS & SCIENCES IMAGEAXS PRO 4.1 FOR MACINTOSH

ImageAXS for Macintosh User's Guide Caere Corporation 100 Cooper Court Los Gatos, California 95032-7603 USA www.caere.com Caere GmbH Innere Wiener Strasse 5 81667 München, Germany Caere UK Information Centre Caere UK Information Centre 3 Catherine Place Westminster, London SWIE 6DX Caere France 72, rue Baratte-Cholet 94100 Saint-Maur, France Please Note In order to use this application, you should know how to work in the Macintosh environment. Please refer to Macintosh documentation if you have questions about how to use menu commands, dialog boxes, scroll bars, and so on. ImageAXS and ImageAXS Professional for Macintosh Version 4.1 Copyright© 1999 by Caere Corporation. All rights reserved. The Caere logo and Caere are registered trademarks of Caere Corporation. ImageAXS, ImageAXS Professional, and e-ZCard are registered trademarks of Digital Arts & Sciences. QuickTimeTM and the QuickTime logo are trademarks used under license. QuickTime is registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. 800-1330-030A ii Table of Contents Welcome About ImageAXS and ImageAXS Professional....... 1 About This User's Guide....... 1 Chapter 1 What Is ImageAXS? What Is ImageAXS?....... 3 Key Concepts and Terms....... 4 Getting Help and Technical Support....... 7 Chapter 2 Getting Started System Requirements....... 8 Installing ImageAXS....... 9 Starting ImageAXS....... 11 Where Do I Go From Here?....... 12 Chapter 3 Viewing Collections Opening and Closing Collections....... 13 Viewing Collections....... 15 Thumbnails View....... 19 Text List View....... 22 Changing Text List View Options....... 24 Displaying Slide Shows....... 26 iii Chapter 4 Viewing Records and Source Files Selecting Records....... 28 Viewing Info Sheets....... 30 Viewing Source Files....... 34 Viewing Images....... 36 Playing Movies, Animated GIFs, or Sounds....... 40 Viewing 3D Files....... 41 Changing Source File View Options....... 41 Chapter 5 Creating a New Collection Creating a New Collection....... 43 Choosing a Collection Format (Professional Version Only)....... 44 Editing Collection Formats (Professional Version Only)....... 46 Chapter 6 Adding Your Files to a Collection Overview: Adding Files to a Collection....... 50 Acquiring Individual Files....... 52 Acquiring All Files in a Folder....... 53 Acquiring From Digital Cameras or Scanners....... 54 Acquiring from Adobe Photoshop....... 56 Acquiring from Other Sources....... 58 Changing Options for Acquiring Files....... 59 Chapter 7 Entering Field Data How Do I Use Data Fields?....... 61 Entering Data in an Individual Record....... 62 Copying Data to Other Records (Standard Version Only)....... 63 Entering Data in Multiple Records (Professional Version Only)....... 65 Importing a Text Data File....... 66 iv Chapter 8 Using Keywords to Describe Files How Do I Use Keywords?....... 74 Viewing and Managing Keywords....... 75 Creating Keyword Families (Professional Version Only)....... 79 Importing Keywords From a Text File....... 81 Adding Keywords to Data Records....... 83 Chapter 9 Creating Portfolios Within Collections What Is a Portfolio?....... 86 Creating a Portfolio....... 87 Saving and Renaming Portfolios....... 88 Managing Portfolios....... 89 Managing Records in a Portfolio....... 91 Chapter 10 Searching and Sorting Collections How Do I Search a Collection or Portfolio?....... 94 Keyword Searches....... 94 Searches Based on Field Data and Other Characteristics....... 96 Using And/Or in Complex Searches....... 98 Sorting Collections and Portfolios....... 100 v Chapter 11 Managing Records and Source Files Creating New Records....... 102 Copying Records (Professional Version Only)....... 103 Deleting Records....... 106 Updating Records....... 107 Managing Source Files....... 109 Editing Source Files....... 110 Selecting an Alternate Editing Application....... 111 Moving Source Files....... 111 Copying Source Files....... 112 Renaming a Source File....... 113 Deleting Source Files....... 114 Chapter 12 Creating Web Pages (Professional version only) Creating Web Pages in ImageAXS....... 116 Choosing Page Types....... 119 Thumbnails Page Options....... 121 Full View Page Options....... 124 Adding Headers and Footers to Web Pages....... 126 Editing ImageAXS Web Page Templates....... 128 Chapter 13 Creating e-ZCards (Professional version only) What Is an e-ZCard?....... 132 Creating an e-ZCard....... 133 Image Options....... 135 Caption and Title Options....... 137 Text Descriptions of e-ZCards....... 139 vi Chapter 14 Exporting Data to Other Formats Exporting Data Records....... 140 Exporting to a Text File (Standard Version Only)....... 140 Exporting to a Character-Delimited Text File (Professional Version Only)....... 142 Exporting to a CSV Text File (Professional Version Only)....... 145 Exporting to Other Versions of ImageAXS....... 146 Chapter 15 Printing Printing ImageAXS Collections and Records....... 148 Chapter 16 Scripting and Recording Scripting and Recording in ImageAXS....... 151 vii viii 1 Welcome Welcome to ImageAXS, and thank you for using our software! About ImageAXS and ImageAXS Professional ImageAXS is an easy-to-use visual database that creates thumbnail snapshots of your images (and other media) and keeps track of where the media are stored. ImageAXS Professional has all the features of ImageAXS, as well as more powerful, professional-level capabilities, such as the ability to create HTML pages and standalone image viewers. About This User's Guide This User 's Guide is designed to be used with both ImageAXS and ImageAXS Professional. All references to ImageAXS apply to both products unless otherwise noted. For example, certain features are only available with ImageAXS Professional. These features, and other differences, are noted by the phrase Professional version only. Note For best results when viewing and printing this User's Guide, it is strongly recommended that you use Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or later. 1 About This User's Guide 2 Welcome Chapter 1 What Is ImageAXS? Chapter Topics What Is ImageAXS? Key Concepts and Terms Getting Help and Technical Support What Is ImageAXS? ImageAXS lets you create visual databases to organize and manage the files on your computer -- especially image, movie, sound, and 3D files. The database files it creates (called collections) combine text information with thumbnail images of the original files, so you can see what you're describing, even if the files are on a CD-ROM, an Iomega Zip disk, or a networked drive that isn't currently connected to your computer. ImageAXS offers several ways for you to view, search, and organize your collections. You can use ImageAXS to organize your files from scratch, or by importing information to expand on a database you've already created. The Professional version of ImageAXS provides you with a variety of ways to share your multimedia files with others, including Web pages and mini-brochures (called e-ZCards) that can be opened without the help of any other program and are small enough to send by e-mail. 3 Key Concepts and Terms Key Concepts and Terms The basic elements of how ImageAXS works are defined briefly below. Becoming familiar with these terms will help you learn the program more quickly. Source Files A source file is any file on your computer (or a separate disk or storage device) that is catalogued in ImageAXS. The file is referred to as a source file because it is the source for the data record created by ImageAXS. Acquiring Acquiring is the act of making an ImageAXS data record for a source file. To use ImageAXS to manage the files in a particular folder, for example, you would acquire all of the files in that folder (see Chapter 6, "Adding Your Files to a Collection"). Collections Collections are the documents created by ImageAXS. A collection contains a data record for each source file that you acquire (as well as blank records, if you create any). With ImageAXS, you can create and maintain as many different collections as you want. With ImageAXS Professional, you can also open more than one collection at a time. Note Although the records in ImageAXS collections describe your source files, they do not contain the files themselves. You can move or delete the collection without affecting the source files, and vice versa. 4 Chapter 1 Key Concepts and Terms In the Finder, ImageAXS collections are represented by two files: one with a ".db" extension (containing text information), and the other with a ".blob" extension (containing thumbnail images). ImageAXS cannot open a collection unless both of these files are in the same folder. (To remind you to keep them together, the ".db" and ".blob" file icons are two halves of an open notebook.) Portfolios Portfolios are subsets of collections -- for example, a collection of family photos might include separate portfolios for your children, your parents, and so on. Placing records in a portfolio does not remove them from a collection, and any record in a collection may belong to several different portfolios. You can create a portfolio automatically by searching a collection, or manually by making a personal selection of records (for example, your favorite photos or best works of 3D art). Records An ImageAXS data record contains information about a source file. A thumbnail image of the file and some basic data (such as the file size, and when it was created) are included in the record when you acquire the source file. You can add to each record by entering data in text fields and attaching keywords. Thumbnails A thumbnail is a smaller version (in both actual size and disk space required) of an image. When you acquire an image, movie, or 3D file, ImageAXS includes a thumbnail version of the file in the data record. What Is ImageAXS? 5 Key Concepts and Terms Keywords Keywords are terms you choose that describe one or more source files in a collection. They may describe the literal content of a file (such as objects in a photo, or events in a video clip) or its subjective aspects (for example, adjectives like beautiful or intense). Keywords are powerful search tools. If you add keywords extensively across a collection, you'll be able to find almost unlimited combinations of records instantly based on keyword searches. ImageAXS Professional lets you organize keywords into hierarchies (or families) so that one keyword may contain several related keywords. For example, the keyword "United States" might have child keywords for each of the 50 states; attaching a keyword for one of the states (such as "California") to a data record would attach the "United States" keyword as well. Views Views are different ways to display information about a collection and its records. ImageAXS offers four views. Two of these views let you see all of the records in a collection: · · The Thumbnails View displays thumbnail images for each record in a collection. The Text List View displays the text field data (in a rowand-column table format) for each record in a collection. The other two views let you see information about individual records that you select: · · The Info Sheet View displays the thumbnail, text data, and keywords associated with a source file. The Source File View displays image or 3D files, or plays movie, sound, or animated GIF files. 6 Chapter 1 Getting Help and Technical Support Getting Help and Technical Support Balloon Help Virtually every menu item, button, and dialog box option in ImageAXS includes Balloon Help, which provides a brief explanation of what that item does. To see Balloon Help, click the Balloon Help button in any ImageAXS window or choose Show Balloons from the Help menu, then point at the item for which you want to see information. ImageAXS Help ImageAXS also includes extensive Apple Guide­based online help, with step-by-step instructions for accomplishing most of the tasks in the program. To open ImageAXS Help, click the Help button in any ImageAXS window or choose ImageAXS Help from the Help menu. ImageAXS Macintosh User's Guide Use this manual for an overview of how ImageAXS works, and to see screen illustrations of the elements and features of the program. Customer Support For technical support, sales or upgrade information, product news, or answers to frequently asked questions, visit the Caere website at http://www.caere.com. You can also reach Product Support by telephone; a list of numbers can be found in the Caere Product Support document on your ImageAXS CD. What Is ImageAXS? 7 Getting Help and Technical Support 8 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Getting Started Chapter Topics System Requirements Installing ImageAXS Starting ImageAXS Where Do I Go From Here? System Requirements To use ImageAXS, your Macintosh must have the following minimum characteristics: · · · · · A CD-ROM drive (for installation only) 68030 or faster processor (Power Macintosh recommended) System 7.5 or more recent operating system 10 MB of RAM available (more if you will be managing large files or collections) 20 MB of hard disk space available 9 Installing ImageAXS Installing ImageAXS You can install ImageAXS on your Macintosh in just a few minutes by following these instructions: 1. Insert the ImageAXS CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive. A window showing the contents of the CD-ROM appears on the desktop. (If this window does not appear, double-click the CD-ROM icon.) 2. Double-click the ImageAXS Installer icon in the disc contents window. The ImageAXS Installer window appears. 3. Click Continue. The ImageAXS ReadMe file appears. This file contains important information about ImageAXS. 4. 5. Read the ReadMe file, then click Continue. The ImageAXS license agreement window appears. Read the license agreement, then click Agree. The Easy Install dialog box appears. Note If you click Disagree, the installation process will be cancelled. The Easy Install option installs the ImageAXS application, a sample collection, various plug-ins and system extensions, folders containing AppleScripts and Web page templates, and a ReadMe document into a folder that you create later during the installation. In addition, the Easy Install option installs QuickTime 4.0 in the Extensions folder of the System Folder on your startup drive, replacing any older version of QuickTime you may have. (QuickTime will not be installed if you have a newer version on your system.) 10 Chapter 2 Installing ImageAXS 6. Click Install to begin the Easy Install, or choose Custom Install from the pop-up menu in the upper left corner of the dialog box to select installation options. If you chose Custom Install, select the custom installation options you want. When you are finished, click Install. A standard file dialog box appears, prompting you to choose where you want to install the files you selected. 7. 8. Choose a name and location for the folder containing your ImageAXS files. If you do not change the default settings, the installer creates a folder named ImageAXS on your startup disk. 9. Click Install to begin installing ImageAXS. A progress window appears as the ImageAXS files you selected are installed. Note To cancel the installation, press COMMAND-PERIOD (!-.) on your keyboard. In the dialog box that appears, click Reinstall to return to the Easy install window. Click Quit to close the installer application entirely. A dialog box appears when the ImageAXS installation is complete, prompting you to quit or install files again. 10. Click Quit. Use this same procedure to install optional files at a later time if you do not include them when you first install ImageAXS. Getting Started 11 Starting ImageAXS Starting ImageAXS To start ImageAXS, open the folder in the Finder where you installed the ImageAXS files, then double-click the ImageAXS application icon. If you are using ImageAXS for the first time, you will see an empty window with the ImageAXS menu bar at the top of the screen. (If you have used ImageAXS before, any collections that were open when you last closed the program will automatically open.) Opening a Collection To start working with ImageAXS, you must open a collection. If you have not created any collections (for example, if you are using ImageAXS for the first time), you can either create a new collection or open the sample collection. Opening and viewing the sample collection is a good way to learn the basic features of ImageAXS. To open the sample collection: 1. Choose Open Collection from the File menu (!-O). A dialog box appears, prompting you to select a collection to open. 2. 3. In the dialog box, locate the folder where you installed ImageAXS. Double-click the icon labeled Sample Collection.db. You can recognize collections by the ImageAXS file icon or the ".db" extension at the end of the file name. 12 Chapter 2