iView Media Pro 3 User Manual

Windows
Macintosh

®

®

User Manual

Instructions for
installing and using
your software.

Copyright & Trademark Notice

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052-6399 U.S.A.

To find out more about iView MediaPro, please visit:
http://www.iview-multimedia.com

Certain photographs used in this manual
have been provided courtesy Alamy.
Online at: www.alamy.com

Manual version: MediaPro 3.1 (Windows, Mac) | July, 2006

2 I VI EW M EDIAP RO U SE R MA NU AL

Table of Contents

Installation and setup 4

Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

System requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Plug-ins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Language support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Software updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Web resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

iView MediaPro basics 7

How iView MediaPro works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Cataloging strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Creating catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Filtering imports by media type . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Import from Files/Folders. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Import from Spotlight Query . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 13

Import via drag-and-drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Import from desktop contextual menu . . . . . 13

Import from iPhoto, Photoshop Album . . . . . 14

Import from catalog file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Import from camera (Windows XP). . . . . . . . . 16

Import from camera (Mac OS X). . . . . . . . . . . .17

Import from disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Import from URL (Internet) . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 20

Import from Folder Watching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Catalog information, protection . . . . . . . . . . . 22

MediaPro Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Vocabulary Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

The MediaPro workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Viewing files in catalogs 32

Thumbnails & Previews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

List View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Thumbnail View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Improving thumbnail quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Media View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Playback and Playlist Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Customizing the MediaPro workspace . . . . . 44

Media metadata 48

Info Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Annotating your media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Metadata vocabularies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Custom metadata fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Sync annotations (embed metadata) . . . . . .58

Extract metadata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Color profile management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Voice annotations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Reviewing and marking media 63

Rating media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Labeling media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Light Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Organizing catalogs 71

Moving media in catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Organize Panel - Catalog Fields index . . . . . .72

Organize Panel - Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

File (batch) renaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Organizing original files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Organize Panel - Catalog Folders . . . . . . . . . .83

Finding and sorting media 85

Searching catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Find command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Filtering and sorting by metadata . . . . . . . . . . 86

Filtering by sets and folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Filtering by multiple terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Slide Shows 91

Slide show basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Slide show controller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Slide show options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

Save slide show as QuickTime movie . . . . . . 95

Adding a soundtrack to slide shows . . . . . . .96

Export features 97

HTML Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Send Email. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

Text Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

XML Data File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

Contact Sheets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

File conversions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

Backup/CD-ROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

Helper applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

iView Catalog Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Automate tasks and workflow 121

Scripting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Option sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

Image editing 125

Editing features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

Version control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134

Printing 135

Print options and tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138

Print templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

PDF Maker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

Appendix

A: Keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

B: Supported file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145

C: Annotation mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147

D: Camera Raw formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149

E: Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150

End-User License Agreement 152

3

Installing and setting up iView MediaPro

Welcome

Installation

Welcome to iView MediaPro, the fast and easy

Installation

way to view, organize and present the growing
number of images, movies, sounds, fonts and
other media files on your disks.

MediaPro helps you get organized. Whether
you are a student, journalist, multimedia enthu­siast or creative professional, it’s important to be
able to organize and browse your images, movies,
documents and other files in an application that’s
easy to set up and use.

MediaPro works by creating catalogs, consist­ing of thumbnails and descriptions of all your
media files. Store your images with digital cam­era information, captions, labels and annotations
— then search and browse the catalog, even if
your original files are misplaced or offline.

You can batch process your media files, includ­ing renaming, image editing, manage color pro­files, print contact sheets, change file formats and

Step 1: Windows CD - This menu appears when you
insert the iView MediaPro CD. Choose Install iView
MediaPro. If this menu does not appear your PC may not
support autostart. In this case, open the CD and run the
installer program named install_iview_mediapro.exe. This
will create an application shortcut icon and a shortcut
to the iView web site on the desktop.

create slide shows.

Step 1: Mac CD - Insert the iView MediaPro CD.

Installation

Windows: When you insert the iView MediaPro

Double-click on the Install MediaPro 3 icon. Follow the
instructions.

CD, an install menu appears. Choose Install iView
MediaPro and follow the instructions.

If this menu does not appear, your PC may not
support autostart. In this case, open the CD and run

Step 2

install_iview_mediapro.exe.

Mac: Insert the iView MediaPro CD. Double-click
on the Install MediaPro 3 icon and follow the instruc-

: If you did not enter your license during the
installation wizard, then launch MediaPro and go to the
License menu and select Enter License.

tions. If you have an existing copy of MediaPro,
remove it from your Applications folder and rename
the folder or place it on removable media volume
before installing the new version.

Entering your license key

After you have installed iView MediaPro, launch
the application. Go to the License menu and enter
your name, organization and the license number
from the inside back cover of the manual.

If you purchased a digital download version

4 I VI EW M EDIAP RO U SE R MA NU AL

Step 3: Enter the license number from the inside back

cover of the manual, or the one that was emailed to you.

of iView MediaPro online, then enter the license
number that was emailed to you. If you have lost
your license key, please contact support at:
http://www.iview-multimedia.com/support/

Plug-ins

The installation will create a Plug-ins folder con­taining files that are important to the application’s
functionality. Knowing the location of this folder
is important so that you can customize or install
additional functionality, such as HTML themes,
print templates, importers and scripts.

Windows: The user-defined Plug-ins folder is

located in one of two locations:

• C:\Documents and Settings\username\Appli­cation Data\iView\Plug-ins

• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Appli­cation Data\iView\Plug-ins
On some Windows operating systems the

Application Data folder may be hidden.

To display hidden folders on Windows XP:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.

2. Click Appearance and Themes, and then click
Folder Options.

3. On the View tab, under Hidden files and folders,
click Show hidden files and folders.

Hidden files and folders will appear dimmed to
indicate they are not typical items. If you know the
name of a hidden file or folder, you can search for it.

When installing custom HTML themes, print
templates, vocabularies, scripts or importers, place
them inside the user-defined plug-ins folder, and
not the application Plug-ins folder. This way, you
will not lose your custom settings when upgrad­ing to future versions of MediaPro.

Mac: In previous versions, there was a Plug-ins
folder inside the MediaPro application folder. This
folder has now been split between built-in plug­ins, which are located inside the application pack­age, and user-installed plug-ins, which can be in
any of the three locations

• ~User/Library/Application Support/iView/
Plug-ins

• /Library/Application Support/iView/Plug-ins

• Network/Library/Application Support/iView/
Plug-ins
When installing custom HTML themes, print

templates, vocabularies, scripts or importers, place
them inside the user-defined Plug-ins folder, and
not the application package. This way, you will
not lose your custom settings when upgrading
to future versions of MediaPro.

System requirements

This section lists the minimum system require­ments, with the recommended ones in parenthe­ses. It is important to have the most recent version
of QuickTime. This will improve iView MediaPro’s
performance and functionality.

Windows

• Pentium III 500 MHz processor or equivalent
(Pentium 4)

• 128 MB of RAM (256 MB)

• 1024 x 768 display with 16-bit color

• 20 MB of hard disk space for installation
(200 MB of free disk space ideal)

• Windows XP (XP SP2)

• QuickTime 6.4 or higher

• Internet Explorer 5.5 (6.x)

• DirectX 9.0 for Windows Media format support

• Adobe Reader 7.0 for PDF file support

Macintosh

• PowerPC or newer, such as iMac G3, G4;
MediaPro supports Intel-based Macs.

• Mac OS X (10.3.9)

• QuickTime 6.4 (7.x)

• Monitor set to Millions of Colors

• 13 MB of hard disk space for installation

Language support

MediaPro can be viewed in: English (US), French,

German, Italian and Japanese. By default, MediaPro

uses the language of the operating system or
remembers the last language used. See figures
on the next page for information about how to
change the language used by iView MediaPro.

Installation

Installation 5

Web resources

You can access additional resources for learning
iView MediaPro on the iView web site. Tutori­als, customer support, forums and application

Installation

updates are available online. To go to the web
site at: www.iview-multimedia.com

Software updates

Windows: You can check for updates to iView

MediaPro by selecting Check for Updates in the
Help menu. If an update is available, a link will be
provided for you to download it. Mac: Check for
Updates is located in iView MediaPro application
menu › About iView MediaPro dialog.

Adding media importers

Any QuickTime-based media importer can be
used by MediaPro: simply download and install
the importer. Additional importers can be down­loaded from 3rd-party sources on the Internet.

Example: To catalog Windows Media files (.wma,
.wmv) on Macs, download and install the Flip4Mac
QuickTime plug-in at: http://www.flip4mac.com/

Scripting

MediaPro is scriptable and can be easily integrated
with 3rd-party applications or database systems to
perform workflow automation.

Windows: MediaPro supports Visual Basic Script
and JavaScript automation on Windows. Once you
create scripts, you can attach them to the appli­cation for access through the Scripts menu. For
instructions on creating scripts, refer to the script­ing documentation included with iView (see Docu-
mentation folder).

Mac: MediaPro supports AppleScript, and the
scripts are attachable to the application (acces­sible via the AppleScript menu). To get started
with scripting MediaPro, look at the application’s
dictionary, and refer to the AppleScript examples
included (see Documentation folder). Test your
existing scripts to ensure proper functionality
before using them. For additional information on
scripting with MediaPro, see page 121.

Mac OS X: To change languages, select the MediaPro
icon and choose Get Info from the File menu. Choose
Languages in the drop-down menu. MediaPro will default
to the operating system language. If you want MediaPro
to run in a different language, uncheck all languages
except the one you want.

Windows: Choosing MediaPro’s language is the first
step in the installation process on Windows. To changes
languages, install MediaPro again, while selecting an
alternate language from this drop-down menu.

6 I VI EW M EDIAP RO U SE R MA NU AL

iView MediaPro basics

iView MediaPro Catalog

IMPORT

Camera

Media Card Folders/Discs

JPEG

• File properties

• EXIF digital camera metadata

• IPTC/XMP metadata

• QuickTime metadata

• A voice (audio) annotation

• Custom (user-defined) metadata

• ICC color profile; color sample

• Color label; Star rating

METADATA

Each item will be assigned either:

• An embedded thumbnail created by
a digital camera or software program

• A thumbnail created by MediaPro

• A generic media icon

THUMBNAILS

If this option is turned on, MediaPro
will create and store a large JPEG
image that canbe displayed in Media
View, Slide Shows and Light Table.

FULL SCREEN MEDIA PREVIEW

The location of the original file on a
local or removable storage media.

PATH

Synchronize: For each file, the metadata information can be

edited in the MediaPro catalog. To export these changes and
write the information back into the file, use the Sync Annotations
command in the Action menu.

What’s inside each
iView MediaPro catalog

A catalog does not store the
actual media files. When each
media item is imported into a
catalog, MediaPro extracts and
stores information about the
file (shown at right).

MediaPro Basics

How MediaPro works

MediaPro stores information about your media
files in catalogs. A catalog is a searchable and
organizable visual database that contains:

• Information about each file relevant to the
media type (attributes).

• Tags (also called annotations or metadata)
that help you organize and classify media.

• A thumbnail of each media file.

• A full screen preview of each media file (if this
option is turned on).

• The location (path) of the original file on a
hard drive, CD-ROM, or other kind of volume.
You can create as many catalogs as you want, it

just depends on how you want to organize your
media. For example, you can have a catalog for

MediaPro Basics 7

2005_Assignments

2005_Master_Catalog.ivc

2005_Best_All_Portfolio.ivc

2005_Best_Cars_Portfolio.ivc

02_Feb_2005

01_Jan_2005

03_Mar_2005

05022005_Chevy_Job314_01.jpg
05022005_Chevy_Job314_02.jpg

Job314_05022005_ChevyTahoe

Job315_FordF150_Cat.ivc

Job314_ChevyTahoe_Cat.ivc

02_Feb_2005_Catalog.ivc

12032005_Ford_Job315_001.jpg

Job315_12032005_FordF150

12032005_Ford_Job315_002.jpg

2005_Assignments

2005_Master_Catalog.ivc

2005_Best_All_Portfolio.ivc

2005_Best_Cars_Portfolio.ivc

02_Feb_2005

01_Jan_2005

03_Mar_2005

05022005_Chevy_Job314_01.jpg
05022005_Chevy_Job314_02.jpg

Job314_05022005_ChevyTahoe

Job315_FordF150_Cat.ivc

Job314_ChevyTahoe_Cat.ivc

02_Feb_2005_Catalog.ivc

12032005_Ford_Job315_001.jpg

Job315_12032005_FordF150

12032005_Ford_Job315_002.jpg

2005 Car Photography

•Car_Photo_Portfolio.ivc

•2005_Stock_Media.ivc

•PDF_Car_Photo_Research.ivc

0205_Job316_MazdaMX5

0205_Job316_MazdaMX5

0205_Job315_FordF150

0205_Job314_ChevyTahoe

050205_Mazda_Job316_01.CR2

Job316_MazdaMX5_ToStock.ivc

Job316_MazdaMX5_Tiff.ivc
Job316_MazdaMX5_ToPrint.ivc

Job316_MazdaMX5_Raw.ivc

050205_Mazda_Job316_03.CR2
050205_Mazda_Job316_04.CR2

050205_Mazda_Job316_02.CR2

each media type: photos, videos and music. Or
you could create one catalog of all your media.
Each catalog can contain up to 128,000 files.

Understanding catalogs

When you add files to a catalog, MediaPro stores
a thumbnail of each file, as well as information
about the file and its location on your disk.

MediaPro Basics

8 I VI EW M EDIAP RO U SE R MA NU AL

This way you can search and organize iView
MediaPro catalogs, even when your original files
are not present. For example, they may be stored
on a CD-ROM that is not in the computer. But you
can still view thumbnails of those files and infor­mation about the media in the catalog.

Because media files are not embedded in the
catalog, iView MediaPro will need access to media
files in order to display them in larger sizes, such
as Media View, Light Table and Slide Shows.

If you delete a media file on the desktop or a
disk, it cannot be recovered through a MediaPro
catalog. A catalog only contains information
about the file, not the file itself.

Adding files to an iView MediaPro catalog does
not move or modify the original media.

Cataloging strategies

A common question in digital asset management
is: “Should I put all my media into one big catalog;
or into several smaller catalogs?”

The number of catalogs that you create will
vary depending upon your workflow and the
types of media being tracked in catalogs.

iView MediaPro catalogs are designed to con­tain up to 128,000 media items. It is possible that
a single catalog will be sufficient for your needs.
That being said, grouping files into separate cata­logs creates a higher level of organization, and can
help you have a higher degree of success quickly
finding the appropriate media.

There are many strategies for grouping items in

MediaPro 3 Catalog Icon
on the Desktop

Example A

Date ProjectSubject

Catalogs stored hierarchically by subject, date and
project. The catalogs are stored in proximity to
the media files.

Example B

File Type Process

Catalogs organized by file type and process in the
workflow. Process catalogs work particularly well
for workgroup workflow.

catalogs, but anything that is logical and fits well

0205_Job315_FordF150_Catalog.ivc
0205_Job316_MazdaMX5_Catalog.ivc

0205_Job314_ChevyTahoe_Catalog.ivc

0105_Job313_WSJ_CPowell_Catalog.ivc

0105_Job312_EW_JStewart_Catalog.ivc

0105_Job311_CBS_Fall_Catalog.ivc

0205_Feb_Catalog.ivc

0105_Jan_Catalog.ivc

•2005_Best_All_Portfolio.ivc

2005_Index_Catalogs

2005_Assignment_Catalogs

•2005_Master_Catalog.ivc

•2005_Best_Cars_Portfolio.ivc

2005_Assignments

2005_Master_Catalog.ivc

2005_Best_All_Portfolio.ivc

2005_Best_Cars_Portfolio.ivc

02_Feb_2005

01_Jan_2005

03_Mar_2005

05022005_Chevy_Job314_01.jpg
05022005_Chevy_Job314_02.jpg

Job314_05022005_ChevyTahoe

Job315_FordF150_Cat.ivc

Job314_ChevyTahoe_Cat.ivc

02_Feb_2005_Catalog.ivc

12032005_Ford_Job315_001.jpg

Job315_12032005_FordF150

12032005_Ford_Job315_002.jpg

2005 Car Photography

•Car_Photo_Portfolio.ivc

•2005_Stock_Media.ivc

•PDF_Car_Photo_Research.ivc

0205_Job316_MazdaMX5

0205_Job316_MazdaMX5

0205_Job315_FordF150

0205_Job314_ChevyTahoe

050205_Mazda_Job316_01.CR2

Job316_MazdaMX5_ToStock.ivc

Job316_MazdaMX5_Tiff.ivc
Job316_MazdaMX5_ToPrint.ivc

Job316_MazdaMX5_Raw.ivc

050205_Mazda_Job316_03.CR2
050205_Mazda_Job316_04.CR2

050205_Mazda_Job316_02.CR2

into your specific workflow needs is acceptable.
Here are some ways to organize your catalogs:

By Project: In Example A (previous page), each
assignment has a dedicated catalog. This will facil­itate easily working with files dedicated to a client
or project. It also is good method for supporting
short-term deadlines and goals.

Chronology: Creating an additional set of
date-based catalogs is a good monthly habit. It
will help you build a searchable archive as you go,
instead of doing it all at once.

Annual and monthly chronological catalogs
are simple to create using MediaPro’s Import Items
From Catalog File function (File menu). Simply cre­ate a catalog for a particular time frame (month)
and import each job or project catalog from that
time frame. This ensures that all metadata, groups,
sets and user-defined fields are imported into the
new date catalog.

By Subject: Any logical subjects that aren’t
likely to overlap are a good way to divide your
media into multiple catalogs.

For example, you may store your images by
high-level subjects that describe the types of your
photo assignments: travel, fashion, portraits, etc.

Alternatively, each time you create a catalog,
you might mark files that you think should be­long in a “Best Of” collection. Creating a catalog
dedicated to building a portfolio or best media
of the year is a good practice as well.

By Process/Task: Sometimes there are clearly
definable states for files in a workflow. Separating
items by their state or task in your workflow can
help direct users to the media item at the correct
stage in the workflow.

For example, if photographers want to track
files through a raw workflow, they might create
catalogs for the original raw files, client selections,
processed TIFFs, color corrected images and those
that have been touched up (see Example B on pre-
vious page).

By File Type: You may wish to group files into
catalogs based on file type, such a music, movies,

Search this catalog or

Example C

this folder of catalogs

Project catalogs are named chronologically
to maintain proper order on the desktop and
are stored in a single folder for cross-catalog
searchability.

fonts, illustrations or PDFs.

For example, you may want to create a catalog
of all your fonts, creating a searchable inventory
of typefaces available for your design projects.

Searchability: MediaPro has a special search
criteria that enables searching across all catalogs
in a particular folder (Find menu).

Thus, if you store all your job catalogs in a de­fined folder (see Example C above), files will be easy
to locate. Higher level chronological catalogs will
also be good for locating media files.

MediaPro Basics 9

MediaPro Basics

Click the Cancel icon to stop an import at any time.

Click this icon to show/hide the progress indicator panel.

MediaPro Basics

Getting Started: Check one of these options to let
iView MediaPro create your first catalog for you.

Getting started

The first time you launch iView MediaPro, a Getting
Started dialog appears to help you get acquaint-

ed with MediaPro features and to assist you with
import options for creating new catalogs.

Let iView MediaPro create your first catalog for

you, by checking one of the three options: Import

from a folder you choose, Import Pictures/Movies
folders (see page 13), Import iPhoto library (see

page 14).

If you want to access this dialog later, it can be
found in the Help menu on Windows, and in the
MediaPro application menu on the Mac.

Creating catalogs

There are several ways to import or add media to
a MediaPro catalog. These methods are explained
on the following pages. One basic method is to
create a catalog from a folder you choose.

1. Launch application: Double-click the iView

MediaPro icon to start the application. An
empty catalog will appear.

2. Add media files: In the File menu, select

Import Items from Files and Folders. This will
bring up a dialog where you navigate to and
choose a folder or file to import into your

catalog. This can also be done by checking

Import from a folder you choose in the Getting
Started dialog.

3. Progress indicator (Mac): While your media
is being imported, MediaPro will temporarily
display a progress indicator panel. Depend­ing on the import type, you may see several
progress bars. To stop an import, click on the

Cancel icon next to the progress bar (see figure
above). To hide or show the progress indicator

panel, click this icon located in the lower
right corner of the catalog window.

4. View and organize your media.

5. Save catalog.

Before importing media

There are a few options that you may wish to set
before creating your catalog. These options help
you save time and improve the quality and ac­curacy of your imports.

Define thumbnail creation options

On import, each media item is assigned a thumb­nail image. This image visually represents the
media item and is stored in the catalog. Depend­ing on your preferences and the media type,
MediaPro will assign each media item either:

• An embedded thumbnail created by a
digital camera or software program. Some
applications, such as Photoshop, embed a
thumbnail into the media file. Digital cameras
do this as well. These thumbnails are typically
low quality. During import, MediaPro extracts
and assigns that embedded thumbnail if the
Use built-in thumbnails box is checked (see
Edit menu › Thumbnails & Preferences).

10 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

• A thumbnail created by MediaPro: Turning
Use built-in thumbnails option off will instruct
MediaPro to create new thumbnails, which
are generally higher in quality, at the cost of a
slower import process. For the highest quality
thumbnails, iView recommends this option.

• A generic media icon: Some non-image files,
such as audio files, will have a generic media
icon assigned as a thumbnail.

4. Choose the size of previews to be created
(Options: 800, 1024 and 1280 pixels).

5. Choose the JPEG compression quality to be
applied to the preview images.

6. Click the OK button. Import your media items
and save your catalog.

Please be aware that the file size of catalogs
with full screen previews will be considerably
larger than catalogs with only thumbnails.

MediaPro Basics

Define thumbnail size

Before creating a catalog, you need to define how
MediaPro creates thumbnails: at a fixed size or at
a variable size that matches the active display size
set in Thumbnail View.

1. Create a new catalog.

2.

In the Edit menu, select the Thumbnails &

Previews option.

3.

Choose the size of thumbnails to be created
(Options: 160, 320, 480, 640 pixels). If you
choose Variable size, MediaPro create thumb-
nails matching the thumbnail size defined in
the Thumbnail View of the active catalog.

4. Choose the JPEG compression quality to be
applied to the thumbnails.

5. Click the OK button. Import your media items
and save your catalog.

Media previews

These previews are large JPEG proxy images that
will be displayed in Media View, Slide Show and
Light Table regardless of whether or not original
media files are available for display.

Media previews are particularly useful if the
majority of your media is stored on offline stor­age volumes, such as CD or DVD. These previews
are also useful for distributing catalogs without
having to include the original media files.

Filter imports by media type

Import options control what media files are added
to a catalog. Most import options are conditional
to the type of import (From Folders, Camera, etc.)

However, there is a global option to limit import­ing just those files that belong to a certain media
type. To define a media type filter, select Catalog
Importers in the File menu. Check the box for each
media group you want to allow MediaPro to import
or ignore in future catalogs.

For example, when Importing from Files/Folders,
you might turn on only the Images option in order
to import images such as JPEG, TIFFs, etc. and skip
all other files in the same folder.

If you are not familiar with what types of media
files belong to each group, you can check the box
for a particular media group to see a comprehen­sive list of all media types supported.

To create a catalog with media previews:

1. Create a new catalog.

2.

In the Edit menu, select Thumbnails & Previews.

3.

Check the Create full screen previews box. This

will enable the creation of Media Previews.

Catalog Importers: Use to filter media types on import.
Press the Set as Default button to set the media types
filter for future catalog imports.

MediaPro Basics 11

Supported file formats

MediaPro can catalog more than 100 media file for­mats. MediaPro’s capacity to import certain file types
is dependent on having the most current version
of Apple’s QuickTime installed on your computer.
QuickTime can be downloaded for free online at:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/

There are variations of file format support be-

MediaPro Basics

tween the Windows and Mac platforms. For a com-

plete list of supported formats, see page 145.

Cataloging unsupported formats

MediaPro allows you to add basic cataloging
support for other media file types by modifying
the Custom importer list. Thumbnail and media
rendering of these files is not supported. Instead,
these files will be represented by a generic icon
corresponding to the file type group.

Video DTP Image

To add a file type to the Custom importer list

1. Locate the user-defined Plug-ins › Importers

folder. Open the Custom file with a text editor.

2.

Add your custom formats to the list. For ex­ample, to add FileMaker file support, write:
FMP3|6|FileMaker Pro
The first four characters are the file type. The
next is the Media ID, which are listed at the
top of the list. If you choose the wrong ID,
MediaPro will not catalog the file. The remain­ing segment is the name of the program. You
must follow the exact format in order for the
new file importer to work properly.

3.

Save the text file and launch MediaPro.

Finding file types

On Windows, the file type is always the same as
the file extension, with spaces appended to make
up four characters.

On the Mac, finding the file type is more com­plicated. In Mac OS X, there is no utility in the oper­ating system that can identify file types. However,

Import Items from Files/Folders

there is a shareware utility that can assist you, XRay.
Drag-and-drop the file on the to the XRay window
as directed by the application. Under the Show pull-
down menu, select Type, Creator and Extension. This
will display the file type information.

Import items from Files/Folders

1. Open your catalog or create a new one.

2. Choose a file or folder

from Files/Folders in the File menu. Navigate
to and select a file, group of files or a folder of
media to import into your catalog. Files and
folders can be located anywhere: on your hard
drive, media cards, removable storage media
or a local area network hard drive.

3. Define Import Criteria

range of imported media based on file-related
criteria, such as filename, file size, or the date
last used. For example, to only import files
smaller than 1 MB, choose to enable the Size
option as: “Size is less than 1 MB.” Checking
the Flat folder search option will constrain
folder imports to only the folder level selected
and ignore all sub-folders.

4. Import: Click the Choose button and MediaPro
will import all files and folders selected.

: Select Import Items

: These filters limit the

12 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Add files through drag-and-drop: Files are added to a

catalog in the exact position of the cursor highlight, the
long bar that is separating the two items above.

Import items via drag-and-drop

You can drag-and-drop any file, folder, hard disk,
CD, or volume onto an open MediaPro catalog
to add media. You can also drop files onto the
MediaPro icon or shortcut icon. In either case,
your media files will appear in a catalog.

You can also drag-and-drop a folder that con­tains some files already cataloged and a few new
files. MediaPro will skip files already cataloged and
add only the new files to the catalog.

Import items from Pictures/Movies folders

In the Getting Started dialog, check Import Pic­tures/Movies Folders. MediaPro will automatically

find the Pictures and Movies folders for the active
operating system user and import all media into
a new catalog.

MediaPro will ignore media in folders dedicat­ed to certain applications such as Apple’s iPhoto.
This importing feature only works on the Mac OS X
and Windows XP operating systems.

Import items from Spotlight Query

MediaPro can now import items from your com­puter using Mac OS X’s advanced search technol­ogy called Spotlight.

When you search via Spotlight, you’re accessing
a comprehensive, constantly updated index that
sees all the metadata inside supported files on
your hard drive, including the kind of content, the
author, edit history, format, size and much more.

Most documents, including Microsoft Word

MediaPro Basics

Import from Spotlight Query

documents, Adobe PDF documents, MP3 audio
files and digital camera images, already contain
rich metadata. And because Spotlight indexes
contents of the file as well, your search results
include what appears inside a file or document,
not just its title.

To use this function, choose Import Items from
Spotlight Query. Type a word or phrase to search for
and MediaPro will import all related media files. You
can also type a Spotlight Query, using special Spot­light syntax, to specify complex search criteria.

By default, Spotlight imports are appended
to the open catalog. Checking the Add results in
new catalog will place all imported items in a new
catalog.

Import items from desktop contextual menu

The MediaPro Contextual Menu plug-in is a sys­tem level plug-in that allows you to add items to
a MediaPro catalog simply by selecting a menu
item directly from the computer’s desktop. Simply
right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click) on a file or folder and
select iView MediaPro Import from the contextual
menu. Items will be added to the open catalog or
a new catalog, if one is not currently open.

This plug-in is automatically installed with the
application.

MediaPro Basics 13

Import items from iPhoto

Mac: In the Getting Started dialog, check Import

iPhoto Library. MediaPro will automatically find
the iPhoto library for the active operating system
user, launch iPhoto in the background and import
all original photos into a new catalog. This feature
only works with versions 2, 4, 5 and 6 of iPhoto.

The new catalog contains references to your

MediaPro Basics

photo files that are still inside the iPhoto library
folders. If you wish to move these files out of the
iPhoto library, you can select all the images in the
catalog and select Transfer to Folder in the Action
menu. Choose Move files, reset paths, delete originals.

Annotation mapping for iPhoto import

iPhoto MediaPro

Filename Filename

Title Title

Keyword Keyword

Checkmark (keyword) Does not map at this time

Star Ratings* Do not map at this time

Albums Catalog Sets

Smart Albums* Catalog Sets

Comments

Date Event Date

Date (modified in iPhoto) Event Date

* iPhoto 4, 5

Description (Caption)

This will move your original images to a folder of
your choice, sets the paths to the new location and
delete the images from your iPhoto library.

To free up additional hard drive space, you could
delete all the proxy images (thumbnails) created
by iPhoto. To do this, simply trash the iPhoto Library

Annotation mapping for Adobe Photoshop Album or
Photoshop Elements import

Album/Elements MediaPro

Caption Description (Caption)

Tags Do not map at this time

folder from the Pictures folder. Make sure you do
this after you have transferred all original images
to a new location on your hard drive. Or you could
leave the original images where they are and have
media in both iPhoto and iView MediaPro.

The new MediaPro catalog will also contains your
iPhoto albums as MediaPro Catalog Sets (in the Orga-
nize Panel). Your catalog also contains any metadata
(such as EXIF digital camera data, comments or key­words) that were assigned to your images in iPhoto.
The chart above details how iPhoto annotations
map to iView MediaPro annotation fields.

actively being used by Adobe Photoshop Album
or Elements. To use this script:

1. Create a catalog or open an existing catalog.

2.

Select From a Photoshop Album-Elements cata-

log file in the Scripts › Import menu.

3.

Navigate to and select your Album/Elements

catalog that you want to import.

The other two scripts, Import from the active

Adobe Photoshop Album catalog and Import from
the active Adobe Photoshop Elements catalog, will

automatically import the active catalog being used
by either program. To use these scripts:

Import from Adobe Photoshop
Album and Photoshop Elements

Windows: In the Scripts › Import menu, there

are three scripts that will import the media from
Adobe Photoshop Elements or Photoshop Album
catalogs into a iView MediaPro catalog.

The first script Import from a Photoshop Album-
Elements catalog file will import media items from
any Photoshop Elements or Photoshop Album
catalog with the file extension .PSA. Album and Ele­ments allow the creation of multiple catalogs. You
can use this script to import a catalog that is not

1. Create a catalog or open an existing catalog.

2.

Select From the active Photoshop Album catalog
or From the active Photoshop Elements catalog
in the Scripts › Import menu.

3.

MediaPro will automatically find the Album
or Elements catalog for the active user, and
import all images into a MediaPro catalog. In
the rare case that MediaPro cannot find the
catalog, it will ask you to locate it. Typically,
catalogs are stored at:

• C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Applica­tion Data\Adobe\Catalogs\

14 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

On some Windows operating systems the Ap­plication Data folder may be hidden. See page 5
for instructions on showing hidden folders.

These import scripts work with Photoshop
Album 1, 2 and 3 and Photoshop Elements 4.

Your new MediaPro catalog will contain metadata
such as EXIF digital camera data and Descriptions
that were assigned to your images in Album or Ele­ments. Any tags, keywords or additional metadata
will not be imported.

MediaPro Basics

Import from catalog file

iView MediaPro can combine the contents of one
catalog with the contents of another. The Import
Items From Catalog File command (File menu) ap­pends a selected catalog to the currently open
catalog.

How to merge catalogs

1. Open an existing catalog.

2.

Choose Import Items From Catalog File from
the File menu.

3.

Navigate to and select a catalog created by

an iView product (including previous versions
of MediaPro, or iView Media or MediaLE). This
function will not work with catalogs created
by other programs.

4. New media items will be appended to the

end of the existing catalog. Each item’s related
annotations, label and thumbnail are added
as well. Catalog Sets are now merged into the
open catalog.

If the open catalog already contains files that
are part of the selection of files that are being
merged, MediaPro will ignore these files and will
not replicate them.

Merging catalogs using drag-and-drop

An alternative way to add items from one catalog
to another is using the drag-and-drop method.

To do this, open two catalogs. Select one ore
more items, and drag them from one catalog to
the other. Unlike Import From Catalog File, where
files are appended to the bottom of the catalog,

Import from Catalog File: Navigate to and choose an iView MediaPro catalog file on the desktop.

dropped files are added at the specific position
in the catalog defined by your cursor placement
(applies to List and Thumbnail Views).

If you drag-and-drop items into a catalog that is
currently in Media View, then the dropped items
will appear at the end of the catalog.

Using drag-and-drop does not remove a file
from a catalog and add it to another. This function
copies a media item’s reference from one catalog
to another. As such, each item’s related annota­tions, label and thumbnail are added.

If you hold down the Ctrl key (Mac: Cmd key)
while dragging-and-dropping, MediaPro will re­move a file from a catalog and add it to another.

If the open catalog already contains files that
are part of the selection of files that are being
dragged-and-dropped, MediaPro will ignore
these files and will not replicate them.

Matching thumbnail size when merging

If the item’s thumbnail in an older catalog is
smaller than the catalog being appended, then
the thumbnail will have to be rebuilt to match the
new size.

For example, an older catalog might have 128
pixels thumbnails. The new catalog it is being
merged into has 320 pixel thumbnails, then the
previous thumbnails will appear smaller. To fix
this, select the appended files and choose Rebuild
Item in the Action menu.

MediaPro Basics 15

Import from a digital camera

Windows XP instructions

Click the folder icon to choose a destination folder on
the desktop where downloaded images will be placed.

Depending on the USB transfer settings of your
camera, there are two ways to import images from
digital cameras.

Some digital cameras support a standard called
Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP). Refer to your digital
camera’s documentation to find out if it supports

MediaPro Basics

PTP and how to properly define PTP settings for
the camera.

A. Using Picture Transfer Protocol

If your camera supports PTP:

1. Plug your camera into your computer.

2.

When the dialog for your camera appears,

click the Cancel button.

3. Launch iView MediaPro

and open an ex-

Import Items from Camera

isting catalog, or create a new catalog, into
which to import the new images. Select Im-
port Items From Camera in the File menu.

Download settings

4. Choose a Source: In the Source drop-down

menu, select the camera or media card you
want to import media from.

5. Choose a Destination folder: Click the Desti-

nation folder icon. In the dialog, choose or cre-

ate a folder to place files that are downloaded
from your camera.

Import Items from Camera: Options panel

Options

6. Place in: Download folder will place down-

loaded files in the destination folder. Today’s
folder will place downloaded files in a folder
named after today’s date in the destination
folder. Original folder hierarchy will place
downloaded files in copy of the folder direc­tory hierarchy on the camera hard drive in the
destination folder.

7. Rename: Enter a text string (such as the date

or subject) in this field, and MediaPro will
rename all downloaded files with sequential
numbers following this string. Leave this field
blank to maintain the existing filenames.

16 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

8. Actions: Skip files with same name prevents

you from writing over existing files with the
same name. Set file creation date to capture
date sets the image file’s creation date to
match the date you took the picture (Capture
Date). This is useful because some applications,
as well as the operating system, cannot read
the Capture Date. This way your media will be
better organized on the desktop. Delete origi-
nals after downloading delete originals files
off your camera’s media card after they have
been downloaded to the destination folder.

9. Annotate: Choose a metadata template from
this drop-down menu to apply a group of pre-

defined annotations to all downloaded files. If
there are no templates available, you can cre­ate one by selecting New Metadata Template.
Clicking the text button next to the menu will
display the template content and some addi­tional options for applying metadata.

10. Download: Once options have been set, click
the Download button. MediaPro will import
each image into the open catalog after it has
been downloaded from the camera to the
destination folder you defined. After import
is complete, dismount the camera from the
desktop (eject), then you can safely unplug your
camera.

B. Without Picture Transfer Protocol
These instructions also apply to digital media
card readers that do not support PTP:

1. Plug your camera into your computer,
using a USB or serial connection. Or insert
your digital media card (Compact Flash card,
Memory Stick, etc.) into your card reader.

2.

When the Device Action dialog appears, choose
Copy pictures to a folder on my computer using
Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard.

3.

Follow the directions of the Camera Wizard
to locate an existing folder or to create a new
folder for your pictures. On the last screen of
the Wizard, choose Nothing. I’m finished work-
ing with these pictures.

4. Launch iView MediaPro and open an ex­isting catalog, or create a new catalog, into
which to import the new images. Select Im-
port From Files/Folders in the File menu. Navi­gate to and select the folder on your desktop
where your images were placed with the
Camera Wizard.

5. Import images: iView MediaPro will import
each image into an existing catalog, or a new
catalog that you created.

Mac OS X: Image Capture preferences dialog.

Import from a digital camera

Mac OS X instructions

The OS X Image Capture application allows Mac
users to automatically download images when
a camera is attached to the computer. MediaPro
has integrated this functionality to make catalog­ing images during download from your camera as
easy as possible.

1. Launch the Image Capture appli-
cation. It is located in the OS X
Applications folder.

2. Set Image Capture preferences:
OS 10.2

- Open the Image Capture Prefer-

ences. Choose Other in Camera Preferences

pop-up menu. Navigate to and choose iView
MediaPro. Quit the Image Capture application.

OS 10.3, 10.4

- In the Image Capture General
panel, navigate to and choose iView MediaPro
in the When a camera is connected, open pop-
up menu.

3.

Plug your camera into your computer. From
this point, whenever you plug a camera into
your computer, Image Capture will launch
MediaPro. To import images, select Import
Items From Camera in the File menu.

Download settings

4. Choose a Source: In the Source drop-down
menu, select the camera or media card you
want to import media from.

5. Choose a Destination folder: Click the Desti-
nation folder icon. In the dialog, choose or cre-

ate a folder to place files that are downloaded
from your camera.

MediaPro Basics

MediaPro Basics 17

Click the folder icon to choose a destination folder on
the desktop where downloaded images will be placed.

Options

6. Place in: Download folder will place down-
loaded files in the destination folder. Today’s
folder will place downloaded files in a folder
named after today’s date in the destination
folder.

7. Rename: Enter a text string (such as the date
or subject) in this field, and MediaPro will

MediaPro Basics

rename all downloaded files with sequential
numbers following this string. Leave this field
blank to maintain the existing filenames.

8. Actions: Skip files with same name prevents
you from writing over existing files with the
same name. Lock downloaded files turns on
the desktop’s Lock status for all downloaded
files. Set file creation date to capture date sets

The Import from Camera dialog shows thumbnail
previews of all images to be downloaded.

the image file’s creation date to match the
date you took the picture (Capture Date). This
is useful because some applications, as well as
the operating system, cannot read the Cap­ture Date. This way your media will be better
organized on the desktop. Delete originals after
downloading delete originals files off your
camera’s media card after they have been
downloaded to the destination folder.

9. Annotate: Choose a metadata template from
this drop-down menu to apply a group of pre­defined annotations to all downloaded files. If
there are no templates available, you can cre­ate one by selecting New Metadata Template.
Clicking the text button next to the menu will
display the template content and some addi­tional options for applying metadata.

10. Download: Once options have been set, click

Annotate on import:

Choose a metadata
template from this
drop-down menu to
apply a group of pre­defined annotations
to all downloaded
files. If there are no
templates available,
you can create one
by selecting New
Metadata Template.

the Download button. MediaPro will import
each image into the open catalog after it has
been downloaded from the camera to the
destination folder you defined. After import
is complete, dismount the camera from the
desktop (eject), then you can safely unplug your
camera.

18 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Import from disk

Download settings

1. Open your catalog or create a new one.

2. Choose a Source disk

down menu, select the disk you want to
import media from. MediaPro will import
media from removable storage media such as
CD or DVD.

3. Choose a Destination folder

Destination folder icon. In the dialog, choose
or create a folder for files that are downloaded
from the disk.

4. Optional - Filter media types: To constrain
an import to only image file formats, click on
the Media Importers button and check only
the Images box. This will prevent non-image
files from being imported into the catalog.
Imports can be filtered by any of eight differ­ent media file type groups.

Options

5. Place in: Download folder will place down-
loaded files in the destination folder. Today’s
folder will place downloaded files in a folder
named after today’s date in the destination
folder. Original folder hierarchy will place
downloaded files in copy of the folder direc­tory hierarchy on the web server in the desti­nation folder.

6. Rename: Enter a text string (such as the date
or subject) in this field, and MediaPro will
rename all downloaded files with sequential
numbers following this string. Leave this field
blank to maintain the existing filenames.

7. Actions: Skip files with same name prevents
you from writing over existing files with the
same name. Lock downloaded files turns on the
desktop’s Lock status for all downloaded files.
Delete originals after downloading move origi­nals files to the recycle bin (trash) after they
have been downloaded to the destination
folder. This option will only work on rewritable
storage media.

8. Annotate: Choose a metadata template from

: In the Source drop-

: Click the

MediaPro Basics

Import Items from Disk: Example of downloading
media from a CD-ROM. To constrain this import to only
image file formats, click on the Media Importers button
and check only the Images box. This will prevent non­image media files from being imported into the catalog.

Import Items from Disk: Options panel.

this drop-down menu to apply a group of pre­defined annotations to all downloaded files. If
there are no templates available, you can cre­ate one by selecting New Metadata Template.
Clicking the text button next to the menu will
display the template content and some addi­tional options for applying metadata.

9. Download: Click the Download button and
MediaPro will download all files from the disk,
and store it in the destination you defined.

MediaPro Basics 19

Import from the Internet

Download settings

1. Open your catalog or create a new one.

2. Choose a Destination folder

tination folder icon. In the dialog, choose or
create a folder for files that are downloaded
from the Internet.

3. Enter URL: Enter a web address in the text

MediaPro Basics

field at the top of the dialog. It must be a com­pletely formed URL, such as:
http://www.photo.com/img1.jpg

4. cURL syntax: MediaPro now support cURL
commands for downloading files from the
Internet. cURL is a special syntax for transfer­ring files online (see example figure right). To
learn more about cURL, see the official site at:
http://curl.haxx.se/

Options

5. Place in: Download folder will place down-
loaded files in the destination folder. Today’s
folder will place downloaded files in a folder
named after today’s date in the destination
folder. Original folder hierarchy will place
downloaded files in copy of the folder direc­tory hierarchy on the web server in the desti­nation folder.

6. Rename: Enter a text string (such as the date
or subject) in this field, and MediaPro will
rename all downloaded files with sequential
numbers following this string. Leave this field
blank to maintain the existing filenames.

7. Actions: Skip files with same name prevents
you from writing over existing files with the
same name. Lock downloaded files turns on the
desktop’s Lock status for all downloaded files.

8. Annotate: Choose a metadata template from
this drop-down menu to apply a group of pre­defined annotations to all downloaded files. If
there are no templates available, you can cre­ate one by selecting New Metadata Template.
Clicking the text button next to the menu will
display the template content and some addi­tional options for applying metadata.

9. Download: Click the Download button and

: Click the Des-

Import from URL: Example of using cURL syntax to
download a range of sequentially numbered files.

Import from URL: Options panel

Place in: Choose Original folder hierarchy to download

items to folders matching the web directory structure.

MediaPro will download all files from the
Internet, and store it in the destination you
defined. MediaPro will also store the file’s web
address in the Source URL annotation field.

Drag-and-drop option: You can also drag-and­drop files from a web browser onto your catalog.
This will launch the Download from URL dialog.

20 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Catalog Folders: Click the Organize toolbar button to show/hide the Catalog Folders panel (Window menu).

To expand
all folders,
Alt+Click (Mac:
Option+Click)
on the volume
arrow.

Green folders
indicate auto­update is on.

Blue arrows
indicate
that new,
uncataloged
images are
in this folder.
Select Update
Folder Now to
import these
new items.

Import with folder watching

MediaPro offers advanced folder watching to
monitor all folders on a hard drive and local net­work which contain cataloged media. When new
media appears in a watched folder, it can be man­ually or automatically imported to the catalog.

This is useful for a workflow in which:

• Images are being batch scanned and saved to
a particular folder.

• A folder action is automatically downloading
images off other computers or the Internet.

• Several users are contributing images to a
shared network folder.

To turn on folder watching

1. Show Organize Panel by clicking the Orga-

nize toolbar button, or choose Window ›
Display › Organize Panel. This will reveal the
Catalog Folders panel (see figure above).

2. To enable folder watching

from the catalog Folder Watching menu
— either Update Folders: Every minute or Every
5 minutes.

, select an option

Folder Watching menu

Green indicates Folder Watching is on

Click the dot next to any folder to
show only items in that folder in the
media viewing area.

Individual folder menu : Reveal this
menu by right-clicking (Mac: Option­Clicking on the folder name.

3. Update folder

: MediaPro will alert you when
new images have been added to any folder
by showing by a blue arrow on the folder icon.
To import these new images directly to your
catalog, select Update Folder Now from the
individual folder’s drop-down menu.

4. Auto-update takes folder watching to the next
level by automatically importing from selected
folders when new images are added. To enable
this feature, select Switch Auto-Update On in the
menu of the individual folder that you want to
be auto-updated. When new images are added
to that folder or any sub-folder, MediaPro will
automatically import those images into to your
catalog. New images will be added to the end
of the catalog. Auto-update folders are shown
in green. Select Switch Auto-Update Off to turn
off the auto-update feature, but maintain folder
watching.

5. To turn off catalog-wide folder watching,
select Never from the catalog Folder Watching
menu.

For more information, see page 83.

MediaPro Basics

MediaPro Basics 21

MediaPro Basics

Catalog Info dialog (File menu).

Catalog Finder: Locate and preview catalogs.

Finding catalogs

The Catalog Finder lets you to quickly locate and
preview all iView catalogs on a storage volume
(hard drive, CD, DVD, etc.). This function is located
in the Open Recent sub-menu of the File menu.

1. Select a storage volume from the pop-up
menu, and MediaPro will locate all catalogs on
that volume.

2.

Click the Find button to refresh the search.

3.

Click a catalog name in the search results list

to preview the found catalog.

4. Click Open to launch the catalog.

Catalog information

The Catalog Info dialog (File menu) contains infor-
mation about your catalog, as well as giving you a
place to make comments about the catalog. The
Comments field can be exported with HTML web
galleries.

Protecting catalogs
Once you have created a catalog, you might want
to prevent others from viewing or accessing it. To
set password protection for a catalog:

1. Select Catalog Info from the File menu.

2.

Click the Set Password button. This button is

only available if you have saved your catalog.

3.

Type the password. Then save the catalog.

4. When opening the catalog in the future, you
will be asked to provide the password before
you can view the catalog’s contents. MediaPro
does not provide a way to recover catalog
passwords.

5. To remove password protection, click the Set
Password button and delete the password in

the field. Then save your catalog, and pass­word protection will be removed.

MediaPro catalogs does not use strong encryp­tion for password protection. For additional levels
of security, try these options below.

22 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Other options for protecting catalogs

Set read-only attribute (Windows): On the

MediaPro Basics

Set read-only attribute in the File Properties dialog.

desktop, select your catalog file and select Prop-
erties in the File menu. In the dialog, check the
box Read-only under the Attributes section. This
will prevent the file being altered. In the Advanced

Attributes section, select Encrypt contents to secure
data to increase protection.

You can also increase your catalog file’s security
by setting user permissions for the catalog in the
Security panel of this dialog. This would prevent
other users from opening the catalog.

Set file lock properties (Mac): On the desktop,
select your catalog file and select Get Info in the
File menu. In the dialog, check the box Locked. This
will prevent the file being altered.

While this option doesn’t prevent you or oth­ers from altering catalogs (all you have to do is
uncheck the box to unlock the catalog), it can serve
as a useful reminder to prevent saving over a cata­log that you do not want changed.

You can also increase security by setting user
permissions for the catalog in the Ownership &
Permissions section of this dialog. This would pre­vent other users from opening the catalog.

Set file lock status in the File Info dialog.

You can also increase security by setting user
permissions for the catalog in the Ownership &
Permissions section of this dialog. This would prevent
other users from opening the catalog.

Encryption: Keep your catalogs and media on
an encrypted disk image, such as one made by
PGPdisk, which is available on both platforms.

MediaPro Basics 23

iView MediaPro preferences

Additional setup options can be defined in the
Preferences dialog box by choosing Preferences
under Edit menu (Windows) or the iView MediaPro
application menu (Mac).

General

At Startup: Select whether you want to open a

MediaPro Basics

new catalog, open the last catalog you used or do
nothing every time you launch the application.
Double-Click: Select how MediaPro interprets
double-clicking on a media item in a catalog.
Alt+double-click (Mac: Option+double-click) will
always launch the selected media file with its cre­ator application.
Options: Display a useful description under the
toolbar buttons; Sort media based on natural
numerical order (i.e. 1,2,3..., 10,11); show warning
dialogs appear when batching items or when re­moving items from a catalog or set; and Auto-save
catalogs on timed schedule.
Field Names: Define which field names to use for
describing IPTC annotations: IPTC Core names,
those names used in iView MediaPro 2 or names
used in Adobe Photoshop CS (see pg 147).
Dimensions: Define the unit of measure: pixels,
inches, centimeters, points or picas.
Resolution: Change the default resolution from
Pixels/Inch to Pixels/cm (centimeter).
Date: Change the display of the date in various
fields. Options include:

• Long: Friday, April 16, 2004

• Short: 4/16/04

• Abbreviated: Fri, Apr 16, 2004
Inspector Key: Place your cursor over any media
item or Organize Panel term and press the key
defined here to get more information.

General preferences dialog.

Example of Inspector key in action.

Labels

Color labels provide a method of a visual identi­fication and classification of media files in your
catalogs. The Labels & Colors preference enables
you to globally customize the colors and names
of labels. For more on labels, see page 64.

24 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Customize the color and names of labels.

Media Rendering

Images Panel

Note: The Use built-in thumbnails preference has
moved to the Thumbnails & Previews function
(Edit menu). For more info, see page 34.

Rendering: This pop-up menu gives you three
options for the way MediaPro resamples images
to display them at various sizes: Nearest Neighbor

(faster but less precise), Bilinear (a medium-quality
method) and Bicubic (slower, but better quality).

Color match: Turning this option on enables

color profile matching in all views. If an image has
an embedded ICC color profile, MediaPro uses it
to create thumbnails and display images. Other­wise, MediaPro uses default document profiles
chosen in the system’s control panel.

Use alpha channel: Alpha channels are grayscale
images used to hide/show certain portions of an
image. In Adobe Photoshop, masks are stored in
alpha channels. Turning this option on enables
MediaPro to render thumbnails and media
images using the alpha channel as a mask.

Skip images...: Allows you to place a limit on the
size of images that the application will display in
Media View and Slide Show mode. If an image is
over the limit defined, MediaPro will not render it.
This option will accelerate importing large images
when viewed in Media View. Available range: 1 to
100 megabytes.

Transparency: Choose the background color
used for transparent spaces in various image file
types, such as GIF and Adobe Photoshop.

Light Table warnings: You may want to adjust
the sensitivity of exposure warnings in the Light
Table. Click the up or down arrows to adjust the
under and over exposure values that trigger red
and blue onscreen warnings.

Raw panel

Rendering: Most Raw image files may contain a
large preview that is suitable for viewing and ren­ders much faster than decoding the raw data. If
you check Use embedded preview, this will speed
up import and media rendering of Raw files.

MediaPro Basics

Preferences: Media Rendering › Images panel

Preferences: Media Rendering › Raw panel

Otherwise, MediaPro will need to decode the
Raw data in order to display the Raw files. On Win­dows and Mac platforms, MediaPro can decode
and display Canon, Nikon and Kodak Raw files.

On the Mac, there are two rendering engines
to choose from, when you have MediaPro set to
decode and display Raw image data.

You can choose between the camera Manufac-
turer engine or the Apple engine. You must have
Mac OS 10.4.2 or greater to enable the Apple
decoding engine. By selecting Manufacturer, you
can decode and display Canon, Nikon and Kodak
Raw files. By choosing the Apple engine, you can
decode and display Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Sony,
Olympus and Adobe DNG Raw files.

In most cases, the Apple rendering engine is
much faster at the decoding and displaying Raw
files. In the future, the Apple engine may support

MediaPro Basics 25

MediaPro Basics

Preferences: Media Rendering › Fonts panel

other Raw formats. For list of supported cameras
that create Raw files, visit this page:
www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/cameras.html

Photo CD Size: Kodak Photo CDs contain imag­es with a variety of dimensions and file sizes. This
option tells MediaPro which size to catalog: Small,
Normal or Large options. Smaller sizes will import
much faster into MediaPro.

DCR Look profile: The Look profile pop-up menu
adjusts the color tone of Kodak DCR images when
rendered by MediaPro.

For more information on MediaPro’s support of
Raw formats, see Appendix D, page 149.

Fonts Panel

Media View: Fonts can be displayed as a standard
character set, a full character set, or as sample text

that you define. The Font Size option only applies
to TrueType fonts. Bitmap fonts are displayed at
the size defined by the font. These options also
apply to the display of fonts in Slide Shows.

If you change the font display preference for
Media View while your catalog is currently dis­playing Media View, you will have to switch to
Thumbnail View and go back to Media View in
order for the new preferences to be displayed.

Thumbnail View: Thumbnails of fonts can be
displayed as the font name or as two characters
of sample text that you define. If you change this
option after importing fonts into a catalog, you
will need to select all thumbnails, and choose
Rebuild Item in the Action menu in order to have

Define Helpers in Preferences › Helper Applications.

iView MediaPro recreate the font thumbnail with
the new settings. Thumbnail View settings also
apply to List View.

Helper applications

When browsing or viewing files in a MediaPro
catalog, it’s likely that you may want to act upon
a file in some way outside of the feature set that
MediaPro provides – such as file editing or com­pression. To assist you, there is a function called
Open With Helper Application.

Helpers are defined in Preferences › Helper Appli-
cations. This panel will let you choose media edi­tors, utilities or viewers so that you may quickly
access them via the pull-down menu in the ap­plication toolbar or through a contextual menu.

To add a Helper: Go to the Helper Applications
dialog and click the Add button. Navigate to the
application through the desktop and select it.
When first launched, iView MediaPro will auto­matically scan your computer for Helpers, but you
may want to add or remove some later.

Accessing Helper Applications: After selecting
an item, you can execute an Open With command
two ways: In the toolbar’s icon pull-down menu
(top), or through a contextual menu. Right-click
(Mac: Ctrl-Click) to access a contextual menu.

The possibilities are limitless for using Helper
applications in your workflow. For more informa-

tion on using Helper apps, see page 115.

26 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Choose a
vocabulary

Choose a field
to view or add
terms

Constrain
editing to
defined terms:

This option locks
the addition
of terms to a
particular field
outside of the
Vocabulary
Editor. To lock the
entire vocabulary,
you must check
this box for
every field in a
vocabulary.

Reveal
vocabulary files
on the desktop.

Add/remove a
vocabulary

Double-click to
edit any term

Add/remove
terms from a
field.

MediaPro Basics

Vocabulary Editor

In MediaPro, a vocabulary is a set of annotations.
When you annotate a media item in the Info or
Organize panel, there is a list of available anno­tation terms that appear as a drop-down list. A
vocabulary, then, is a collection of all those lists of
known terms for each field. For example, one list
for keywords, one list for people, etc.

The Vocabulary Editor enables you to edit this
list; to set up annotation terms that are associated
with each other; create multiple sets of annota­tions (vocabularies) for different purposes and
also lock the vocabulary so that only annotation
terms in a vocabulary can be used.

The Vocabulary Editor can be found in Edit › Pref­erences (Windows) or iView MediaPro application
menu › Preferences (Mac OS X).

Editing a vocabulary

Choose the vocabulary you want to edit from the
top drop-down menu. For most users, one vocab­ulary will be all you need to use., so Default will be

the only option in this menu.

Choose the annotation field that you want to
edit using the Field drop-down menu. Use the
plus and minus buttons at the bottom of the win­dow to add or remove an annotation term.

This way you can build up a list of annotation
terms you know that you may use. You can also
remove entries that may be mistakes or you can
double-click a term to correct any mistake.

Set up annotation associations

For a field that can contain more than one anno­tation term per field (Keywords, Categories, People,
Scenes and Subject Codes) you can save time by
associating multiple annotation terms. This way
when you enter one of the terms you have the
option of applying all the associated annotation
terms at the same time.

Enter all the annotations, separated by a comma,
in the terms section of the Vocabulary Editor. You
will get a message asking if you wish to treat this
as one annotation or multiple annotations when

MediaPro Basics 27

this entry is used to annotate a media item (see
figure left). An example of this would be a stock
photographer who wants to use many keywords
in an image so that it can be found easily. For a
photographer who regularly shoots landscapes
it might be worth setting up the associations sea,
blue, water, and landscape. When sea is entered as

Add terms: Click the plus (+) sign in the lower left corner

MediaPro Basics

to add a term. Terms can be a set of comma separated
words. This way, when you apply a term containing four
words, MediaPro will split them into four keywords. This
makes add multiple keywords faster.

a keyword, you can optionally apply all four key­words at the same time (see figure left).

Terms descriptions

You can enter a description of an annotation term
or group of associated annotations in the Vocabu­lary Editor. When you select a term in the Info or
Organize Panel, this description will appear to the

Entering terms: In the Info Panel, double-click to add
keyword. Begin typing the term, and MediaPro’s auto­complete function will automatically type the nearest
available term in the vocabulary.

right of the annotation in grey. This is useful when
the actual annotation that is to be entered may
need clarification.

For example, scientific Latin names could be
described by their modern language equivalent.
Another example is an annotation term which
could contain a code instead of readable text. The
IPTC Scene Codes are number strings that repre­sent specific types of scene. For example, 010100
is the code for a Headshot. You could enter all the
codes as terms and use the Terms description as a

Separate keywords: When you are done entering a
string of terms, press the Return or Enter key. MediaPro
will automatically split multiple terms in separate
keywords. This is handy if you cut and paste a comma
separated string of terms into one field. MediaPro
automatically converts the string into single keywords.

readable explanation of that code.

Create multiple vocabularies

The majority of MediaPro users will only need to
use one vocabulary. Default is the vocabulary that
is created when MediaPro is first launched.

MediaPro can have multiple vocabularies.
This is useful if you have many different uses for
MediaPro. You might regularly take photos for cli­ents in the fashion industry, stock travel agencies
and also take personal photos.

You could create a vocabulary called Personal
and this would contain, among other annotations,
the names of your family and friends in your pho­tos. You can choose this vocabulary when anno-

Term descriptions: When you select a term in the Info or
Organize Panel, the term description will appear to the
right of the annotation in grey.

tating personal photos and switch to another
vocabulary for the photos for your clients. This
way by switching between the two vocabularies

28 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

you will be see annotation terms appropriate to
the catalog at hand.

A vocabulary may contain a very large number
of terms, taken a long time to create or may need
to be backed up or copied from one computer
to another.

Each vocabulary is created in a separate folder.
The name of the folder is the name of the vocabu­lary. You can show the location of these folders
using desktop icon in the upper right corner. So
to back up the Default vocabulary, click this but-
ton and make a copy of the Default folder on the
desktop.

Locking a vocabulary

By choosing the Constrain editing to defined terms
means that only terms in that annotation field in a
vocabulary can be used to annotate media items.
When this option is selected, you cannot enter
annotations in any part of MediaPro (such as the
Info or Organize Panels) other than the Vocabu­lary Editor.

To lock an entire vocabulary, you must check
Constrain editing to defined terms for every anno­tation field.

An example of when this might prove useful is
if a photographer hires an assistant to help enter
annotations. By requiring the assistant to choose
from existing annotation terms the photographer
ensures the annotations will match existing ones
and would result in a much more accurately
annotated catalog.

A locked vocabulary is also called a controlled
vocabulary. According to David Riecks, an expert
on metadata vocabularies, a controlled vocabu­lary makes a database easier to search.

“Since we have many different ways of describ­ing concepts, drawing all of these terms togeth­er under a single word or phrase in a database
makes searching the database more efficient as
it eliminates guess work,” says Riecks. “However,
arriving at this efficiency requires consistency on
the part of the individual indexing the database
and the use of pre-determined terms.”

To learn more about controlled vocabularies,
see David Riecks’ web site:
http://www.controlledvocabulary.com/

MediaPro Basics

MediaPro Basics 29

The iView MediaPro workspace

Catalog Name

Click diamond to

MediaPro Basics

Info and Organize
Panels: Click to hide/

show panels

invert sort order

Drag bar to
adjust width
of panel.

Drag bar to
adjust height
of panel.

Info Panel

Metadata templates menu Add/Remove field terms

Header bar (contextual to view)

Media Viewing Area

Catalog Information bar

Organize Panel

ToolbarView Tabs

Show/Hide progress

indicator panel

Pull corner to enlarge

Search Box

Rotate

Zoom

Size Menu

30 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Use this menu
to show/hide
fields in the
Info Panel.

Drag bar to
adjust height
of panel.

Use this menu
to show/hide
fields in the
Organize
Panel’s Catalog
Field index.

Turn Folder
Watching On
or Off.

Toolbar functions

State navigation lets your step back and

forward between your catalog selections in
the Organize Panel.

Show All Items restores the view of a catalog
to show all items. Available after search, sort
and organize functions.

Media Info/Organize Panels - click either of
these buttons to show or hide the Media Info
and Organize Panels.

Open With launches the selected media items
with a Helper application that can view, edit or
mail media files.

Show Media File reveals the location of
the selected media items on the desktop or
mounted storage volume.

Move to Recycle Bin removes the selected
items from the catalog and moves the original
files to the Recycle Bin (Trash on Mac).

Send Email will convert and attach selected
media items, then add them as an attachment
to a new email in a designated email client.

Voice Annotation allows you to record, listen,
remove or import audio annotations attached
to media items.

Assign Label will assign one of nine color
labels to the selected media items. Also
provides the option to remove a label.

Rate media will assign one of five star ratings
to the selected media items. Also provides the
option to remove a star rating.

View Options will display a palette that
controls which fields are displayed, as well as
the font and colors for each view.

Sort will reorder items in your catalog by
more than 25 criteria such as color label, file
name, capture date and dimensions.

Play Media contains options to play a movie,
animation or sound. The spacebar will start/
stop the playback of media, as well.

Light Table - select up to four images then
click this icon to launch the full screen viewing
and comparison tool.

Slide Show launches a presentation in a full
screen slide show, beginning with the selected
media item.

Image Editor shows a palette to crop or
resize photos, as well as adjust color, tone or
sharpness and make other enhancements.

Print displays options for printing lists,
contact sheets and single images from your
catalog.

Rotation sets the viewing angle of an item in
all views. This does not change the rotation of
the original file.

Zoom increases or reduces the size of
thumbnails and media in all views (List,
Thumbnail and Media).

Search Box: Type the word or words in this
field and press the Return or Enter key. Results
are presented in the active catalog view.

MediaPro Basics

Header bar

List View

Thumbnail View

Media View

Click field label to sort media by that field.

Displays the path (location) of the selected item

Use Pager tool to flip through alternate frames or pagesPath of selected item

Media properties

MediaPro Basics 31

Viewing files in catalogs

The MediaPro interface displays information in
three different views: List, Thumbnail and Media.
To switch views, click the appropriate tab.

All three views offer features that resemble the

way you work with your files in the desktop:

• To find a file, type the first letters of its name.

• To change a file name, click the name, wait a
moment, and then start typing.

• To use functions in the contextual menu,
right-click a media item’s thumbnail

Viewing Media

(Mac: Ctrl-click), or anywhere inside the iView
MediaPro window.

• To rearrange items, drag them to where you
want them and drop them. You can drag
single items or multiple selections.

• To copy or move items to another catalog,
drag them from one catalog to the other.

• To move the original files, drag the relevant
catalog items to a folder or to the desktop.
This will move the file from its current loca­tion to the desktop.

• To copy files from the catalog to the desktop,
hold the Ctrl key (Mac: Option key) while
dragging them to the desktop.

• To launch items with another drag-and-drop
application, drag them onto the application
shortcut (Mac: alias).

• To invert the order of media any catalog view,
click the invert button ( ) in the upper left
corner of the media viewing area.

View tabs in Mac OS X. Use Command-1, 2, and 3
respectively to change view. On Windows XP use Ctrl-1,
2, and 3 respectively to change view.

Contextual menu:
Right-click to get
quick access to
many of MediaPro’s
functions (Mac: Ctrl­click). This menu will
help you minimize
cursor movement.
The contextual
menu has the same
functions in all views.

Hide Toolbar: To increase the size of the media viewing area, use the Hide/Show Toolbar option in the Window menu.

32 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Making selections

To batch items, you must begin by making a selec­tion of more than one item. There are several ways
to select a group of items:

1. Selection commands: Choose Edit › Select All,
Deselect All or Invert Selection.

2. A continuous block of items

item and, holding down the Shift key, select the
last item for your selection.

3. A selection of non-adjacent items

down the Ctrl key (Mac: Cmd key) while select­ing individual items.

4. A selection of non-adjacent blocks:
For example, to select items 1-10 and 20-30:
click 1, Shift-click 10, Ctrl-click 20 (Mac: Cmd­click), Shift-click 30.

5. Expanding a selection: Select an item or
block of items and expand the selection by
pressing the Shift key and one of the arrow
keys. The left and right arrows increase the
selection by one item; the up and down arrows
increase the selection by a row of items.

6. Selection scripts (Scripts › Select): Landscape
will select all items in the catalog that are
horizontal. Portrait will select all items that are
vertical. Square will select all items that are
perfectly square items.

7. Selecting based on criteria: To select items
that match a particular attribute (Capture

Date, File Type, Label) or annotation (Event,
Location, Categories, Keyword, etc.), click on

dot next to a field term in the Organize Panel’s
Catalog Fields index and the corresponding
items appear in the active view. This will hide
all images that do not match that annotation
or attribute. Once the appropriate images are
showing in the active view, choose Edit › Select
All. Now you are ready to perform a batch
process. An alternative option is to choose
Select Media Items from the individual field
drop-down menu (see figure). This will select
all items associated with that attribute in the
active view.

: Select the first

: Hold

Individual field term
menus offer the

option to select images
associated with that field
in the active view.

Viewing Media

Click the dot next to

any field term and the

corresponding items

will appear in the

active view.

Viewing Media 33

Thumbnails & Previews

iView MediaPro 3 introduces a new catalog op­tions feature in the Edit menu called Thumbnails
& Previews.

In this dialog, you can define the thumbnail
preferences as well as choose to create and store
media previews, images that are displayed in
Media View, Slide Shows and Light Table mode
regardless of whether or not original media files
are not available for display.

Thumbnail options

Viewing Media

Before creating a catalog, you need to define how
MediaPro creates thumbnails: at a fixed size or at
a variable size that will match the display size of
Thumbnail View.

Set Thumbnail Size

1. Create a new catalog.

2. In the Edit menu, select the Thumbnails &

Previews option.

3. Choose the size of thumbnails to be created

(Options: 160, 320, 480, 640 pixels). If you
choose Variable size, MediaPro will match the
thumbnail size defined in the Thumbnail View
of the active catalog.

4. Choose the JPEG compression quality to be

applied to the thumbnails.

5. Click the OK button. Import your media items

and save your catalog.

Use built-in thumbnails: Some applications, such
as Adobe Photoshop, embed a thumbnail into the
media file. Digital cameras do this as well. These
thumbnails are typically low quality.

During import, MediaPro extracts and displays
that embedded thumbnail if the box is checked.
Turning this option off will instruct MediaPro to

Choosing this option will enable MediaPro to display full
screen previews in Media View, Slide Shows and Light
Table mode, regardless of whether or not original media
files are available for display.

create its own thumbnails, which are generally
higher in quality, at the cost of a slower import
process. If you wish to improve the quality of the
thumbnails at any time, choose Rebuild Item in the

Action menu. See page 39, for more information
improving the quality of thumbnails.

Media Previews

iView MediaPro enables you to view each item in
your catalog by dynamically opening the original
file and displaying it in Media View, Slide Shows
and Light Table mode.

In MediaPro 3, you also have the option of cre­ating media previews – large JPEG proxy images
that will be displayed in Media View, Slide Shows
and Light Table mode regardless of whether or not
original media files are not available for display.

Media Previews are particularly useful if the

Previews in Media View: In the Header bar, iView MediaPro displays the file name, the word “(Preview)”, and the
preview dimensions, instead of the path.

34 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

majority of your media is stored on offline stor­age volumes, such as CD or DVD. These previews
are also useful for distributing catalogs without
having to include the original media files.

Create a catalog with Media Previews:

1. Create a new catalog.

2.

In the Edit menu, select Thumbnails & Previews.

3.

Check the Create full screen previews box. This

will enable the creation of Media Previews.

4. Choose the size of previews to be created
(Options: 800, 1024 and 1280 pixels).

5. Choose the JPEG compression quality to be
applied to the preview images.

6. Click the OK button. Import your media items
and save your catalog.

Catalog file size

The effect of the size and quality of Media Previews
on the file size of MediaPro catalogs.

Without Media Previews

• 1,000 media items

• Storing thumbnails at 320 pixels

• Catalog file size: 32MB

With Media Previews

• 1,000 media items

• Preview size: 800 px | Quality: Normal

• Catalog file size: 65MB

With Media Previews

• 1,000 media items

• Preview size: 1280 px | Quality: Best

• Catalog file size: 348MB

Viewing Media

Create Media Previews for older catalogs:
1-6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 of previous in-

structions.

7. Choose Select All in the Edit menu or select
the items that you wish to create Media Pre­views for.

8. Choose Rebuild Item in the Action menu.

MediaPro will need to be able to access the
original media files in order to create and store
Media Previews. As such, if your media is stored on
a CD, DVD or removable storage volume, you will
need to insert or attach that respective volume
before rebuilding items.

Setting a default for a new catalogs

If you want your settings to apply to all new cata­logs created by MediaPro, click the Save as Default
button in the lower left corner of the Thumbnails
& Previews dialog.

Media Previews and catalog file size

Please be aware that the file size of catalogs with
Media Previews can be considerably larger than
catalogs with only thumbnails.

The size and compression quality of media
previews will also greatly impact the file size of
MediaPro catalogs (see figure).

Because MediaPro needs to render the entire
image in order to create a full screen preview, this
can slow down the import process.

The time taken to catalog media will vary based
on your computer’s operating system and overall
speed. It will also vary depending on the size of
the original media file.

Viewing Media 35

List View: Click the List tab to choose this view.

Sort list by criteria:

Click a field name in
the Header bar to sort
the list by that field.

Size menu: Change
the icons in List View
to small or large
(shown left).

To change fields

Viewing Media

displayed, select Show
View Options in the

Window menu or click
the toolbar icon.

List View

In this view of a catalog, your media appear in
a list of small icons beside information fields of
your choice, such as file name, size, type, duration,
etc. To change the fields displayed, use the View
Options palette in the Window menu.

To sort the list according to a field, click the cor­responding field label in the Header bar above the
list area. Notice that some information is depen­dent on the file type. For example, the Duration
field applies only to movies and sounds.

To change the size of thumbnails in this view,
use the Size menu and select Small or Large.

To rename a file, click its name and start typing,
the same way as you would do on the desktop.
MediaPro will not rename the item if the original
file is offline, locked or set to read-only. Similarly,
to edit annotations, click the field and start typing
in the space provided.

By default, the width and height fields are dis­played in pixels. You can change the unit of mea­sure in the Dimensions setting of the Preferences
dialog.

Though the icons are small, movies and music
will play in List View. Simply select a file and press
the spacebar. You can also change views while the
file is playing.

Header bar: To rearrange the order of header fields,
click and drag the field name to a new location.

To resize the width of each column, click and drag the
dividers in the Header bar.

Move media: Click the file’s icon, then drag it to any
location. A line will mark the new placement.

Rename media: Click the name and start typing, the
same way you would do on the desktop. Similarly,
annotations can be also be directly edited in List View.

36 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Thumbnail View: Click the Thumbnail tab to choose to this view

Header bar: The path

for the location of the
file and a media-related
description will appear
in the header. For
unmounted files, this
text is colored red.

Size menu: Choose the
size of thumbnail to be
displayed. Regardless
of the size chosen,
MediaPro will always
create thumbnails
based on the settings
in Edit › Thumbnails &
Previews.

Movie thumbnails have
a small video icon to
help differentiate them
from still images.

Viewing Media

Thumbnail View

This view displays the catalog as a table of thumb­nails in adjustable sizes. When you select an item
in the table, the Header bar (see figure above) pres-
ents data about the item.

Whether the file is available or not, the path
name for the location of the file and a media-relat­ed description will appear in the Header. When a
file is not available, the Header text is colored red.

To change the position of items in the catalog,
select one or more items and drag them to the
desired location. Or, after you made your selection,
choose any of the Move Items options in the View
menu. If you choose the Move to Location option, a
special mouse cursor appears, indicating that you
can now choose the destination by clicking some­where in the catalog (you can scroll if you wish). To
cancel this mode, press the Escape (Esc) key.

Thumbnail size: To define the display size of your
thumbnails, choose the size you want from the Size
menu in the far right side of the Header bar.

If an imported image appears much smaller
than the thumbnail box containing it, MediaPro

has read an existing thumbnail rather than create
its own (this is common with digital camera files).
If you want MediaPro to create its own thumb­nails for every file imported, make sure Use Built-in

Thumbnails is not checked in the Edit › Thumbnails
& Previews dialog.

If MediaPro creates its own thumbnail, the size
of the thumbnail is defined in the Edit › Thumbnails
& Previews dialog.

Altering thumbnails: If a thumbnail of an
animation or movie file is black or not what you
want, select the item and play it to a frame you
like. Then pause the playback and choose Rebuild
Item from the Action menu.

For multi-page or multi-layer files, switch to
Media View and use the Pager tool to advance to
the page or layer you want to be the thumbnail.
Then choose Rebuild Item from the Action menu.
When you return to Thumbnail View, the thumb­nail is updated to the new layer or page.

To update the thumbnail of a media file that has
been modified since it was cataloged, select the item
and choose Rebuild Item from the Action menu.

Viewing Media 37

Rotating thumbnails

A

Some images will not appear in the proper orienta­tion when imported into MediaPro. This is often the
case with portrait (vertical) film images that have
been scanned, or portrait images taken with digital
cameras that do not record the camera’s Orienta-
tion in the EXIF metadata.

Most newer digital cameras record the orienta­tion in the EXIF metadata. MediaPro respects this
image orientation and automatically rotates the
image thumbnail accordingly during the import
process.

Viewing Media

For those files that need to be rotated, MediaPro
offers three methods of rotating your files to the
proper viewing orientation.

1. Rotating thumbnails or “soft rotation”:

A soft rotation means that the viewing angle of an

Soft rotation: Some images will not appear in the proper

orientation when imported into MediaPro (A). To correct
this, select your images in Thumbnail View, then click
the appropriate Rotate button in the far right side of the
Header bar (B). Each click will rotate the image 90 degrees.
This sets the viewing angle of an item in all views and
does not change the rotation of the original file.

item is rotated, but not the file itself. To soft rotate
an item, select the thumbnail and use the Rotate
buttons in the far right side of the Header bar (see
figure). Each rotation represents 90 degrees. A soft

B

Rotate 90° clockwiseHeader bar

rotation applies to how MediaPro will display the
file in all views (List, Thumbnail, Media View, Light
Table mode and Slide Shows) and how it will export
the media, such as file conversions and Web galler­ies. However, if you open the file with an external
application, such as Photoshop, the media may
appear with its original orientation.

2. Lossless JPEG rotation

: Lossless rotation
means that the original image is rotated and saved
without a recompression of the JPEG image data.
Using this method will prevent images from get­ting more JPEG compression artifacts. MediaPro’s
JPEG Rotate command (Action menu) will per­form lossless rotations of 90, -90 and 180 degrees.
Before applying a batch lossless JPEG rotation, be
sure that all images selected are JPEGs and need
the same orientation correction. All original anno­tations are maintained with this function.

MediaPro’s new Default lossless JPEG rotation
function rotates JPEGs based on their soft rotation
state. Using this option will save you alot of time
because you are able to perform several different
rotations at the same time.

3. Precision rotation

: The Rotate tool in Media-
Pro’s Image Editor is used to adjust the angle of
images in increments as small as 1/10th of a degree.
To rotate an image 90 degrees clockwise, just type
90 into the Angle field. To rotate counter clockwise,
place a negative sign (-) in front of the number in
the Angle field. When you are done, click the Save
button in the Image Editor palette. Depending on
your options (particularly format), some metadata
might be lost when saving the file.

See page 129 for instructions on how to rotate files

with the Image Editor.

38 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Improving thumbnail quality

Some applications, such as Adobe Photoshop,
embed a small, low-quality thumbnail into the
media file. Digital cameras do this as well. During
import, MediaPro renders that pre-existing “built­in” thumbnail and stores it in the catalog file. Main­taining this default setting makes importing fast,
but it also makes low-quality thumbnails.

To improve the thumbnail quality, set MediaPro
to render its own thumbnails on import. Alterna­tively, you can rebuild thumbnails individually.
These thumbnails will be superior in quality and
take up much less catalog space than the built-in
thumbnails.

Rebuild thumbnails on import: One option is
to have MediaPro render new thumbnails during
the import process. This is achieved by leaving the

Use Built-in Thumbnails option unchecked in the
Edit › Thumbnails & Previews dialog (see pg. 34).

Keeping this option off will instruct MediaPro to
create a thumbnail for each media item. However,
this will slow down the import process, because
MediaPro needs to render the entire image to cre­ate a thumbnail.

Rebuilding thumbnails individually: If you
have an existing catalog that was created with
built-in thumbnails, then select the thumbnails
and choose Rebuild Item in the Action menu to
have MediaPro recreate all media thumbnails.
This function is also accessible from the contex­tual menu.

Changing thumbnail size: The display size
of thumbnails can be changed in the Size menu,
located in the far right side of the Header bar.

Should you increase the thumbnail size beyond
the size of thumbnails stored in the catalog (as may
be the case if you are using built-in thumbnails), you
need to perform a Rebuild Item command on all the
files in the catalog to render the thumbnails at sizes
up to 640 pixels.

Digital camera files: Digital cameras, regardless
of manufacturer, are notorious for creating poor
quality thumbnails in image files. They appear pix­elated and fuzzy. Using MediaPro’s Rebuild Item

Rebuilding digital camera thumbnails

A B

A. Built-in thumbnail from digital camera = pixelated
B. Thumbnail created by MediaPro = smooth

A B

A. Built-in thumbnail = 3:2 ratio, black bars, pixelated
B. Rebuilt by MediaPro = smooth, no black bars

A B

Movie file thumbnails: If a thumbnail of an animation

or movie file is black or not what you want (A), select
the item and play the file to a frame you like. Then pause
the playback and choose Rebuild Item from the Action
menu (B).

command will significantly improve the quality
of the item’s thumbnail.

Some digital cameras allow photographers to
shoot pictures with the 3:2 ratio. When the cam­era creates a thumbnail for this type of image, it
puts black bars above and below the image to
make the thumbnail size conform to the standard
4:3 ratio. To remove these bars and improve the
thumbnail quality, choose one or more images
and perform a Rebuild Item command.

The following pages cover methods of improv­ing thumbnail quality based on the program that
created the files.

Viewing Media

Viewing Media 39

A B

A B

A. Thumbnail created by Photoshop 7.0
B. Thumbnail rebuilt by iView MediaPro

Viewing Media

Adobe Photoshop

Covers v. 7, CS, CS2

Adobe’s image editing program, Photoshop,
embeds sharpened thumbnails it saves files. This
option is controlled in Photoshop’s Preferences: File

Handling dialog box. When Macintosh or Windows
Thumbnail is checked, Photoshop CS2 will create

thumbnails at 160 pixels. There are no options for
controlling the size of thumbnails.

If you have the Use built-in thumbnails option
checked, thumbnails for Photoshop files may
appear smaller than the thumbnail cell container.
When you rebuild it, the thumbnail size will match
the rest of your catalog.

In the event that a Photoshop file does not have
a built-in thumbnail, MediaPro will automatically
create its own at 320 pixels. The default thumbnail
size for Adobe Photoshop 7.0 files is 128 pixels; for

6.0 files it is 112 pixels.

A. Illustrator Bitmap PICT thumbnail - v. 6,7,8,9
B. Thumbnail in Illustrator on Mac OS X, PDF Compatible

Adobe Illustrator

Covers versions 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 , CS, CS2

Illustrator does not offer any options for modify­ing thumbnails in its native format (.ai). By default,
Illustrator CS2 makes Bitmap PICT thumbnails at
160 pixels.

With Illustrator 10 & CS on Mac OS X, however,
there are some important options. For the best cat­alogs, iView recommends that you should save files
with the Create PDF Compatible File option turned
on. This option makes the file you save a PDF file.
This option is in the Illustrator Options dialog box,
which appears when saving an Illustrator file using
the Save As command.

On Mac OS 10.2.x

: If you save Illustrator files
without this box checked, or as Illustrator EPS, you
will need to install the Ghostscript extension into
the MediaPro Importers folder, in order for iView
to catalog these file types. This extension can be
found on the download page of iView’s web site.
http://www.iview-multimedia.com/downloads/

Adobe ImageReady

Adobe’s optimization program, ImageReady,
does not embed thumbnails in optimized files.
MediaPro will automatically create its own thumb­nail for these files.

40 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Check Create PDF Compatible File for better thumbnails.

A B

A. FreeHand file preview
B. Thumbnail with Bitmap PICT preview
C. Generic Freehand file icon

Macromedia Freehand’s Preferences dialog.

C

Macromedia FreeHand

Covers v. 9.0, 10 and MX (11)

Macromedia’s illustration program, FreeHand, em­beds a small thumbnail when it saves files. These
thumbnails are 112x112 pixels, in the color Bit­map PICT format.

Some FreeHand files may have been saved
without a thumbnail or preview. As a result, these
Freehand files will have a generic icon.

However, FreeHand has Export Preferences that
will allow you to make sure a thumbnail is added.
You can find these options under Preferences in
the Edit menu (in the Application Menu on Mac).

To get the best thumbnails, iView recommends
checking the following options:

1. FreeHand file preview: When checked, Free­Hand documents are saved with a preview embed­ded. The default is a 112x112 JPEG thumbnail. You
can increase the width and height of this preview
to ensure a larger image to display in Media View.

2. Include Portfolio preview

: When checked,
FreeHand documents include a thumbnail bitmap
preview used by Extensis Portfolio for browsing.

iView MediaPro will use this preview for display
in Thumbnail View.

3: Checking the Bitmap PICT preview box may
cause a color shift and gradient banding to occur
on CMYK documents. The benefit of checking this
option is you are able to scale the size of your pre­view, which is valuable for very large documents.

MediaPro’s Rebuild Item command will not im-
prove the quality of these thumbnails. For more
information on these Export options, refer to the
FreeHand Help documentation.

Adobe InDesign

Covers v. 2.0, CS, CS2

Files created with Adobe’s page layout program,
InDesign CS2, will have thumbnails if you check the

Save Document Preview Image option in InDesign’s
Preferences › File Handling dialog.

This dialog also enables you to define the
size of preview images which are used to create
thumbnails in MediaPro. The size chosen here
limits the size of thumbnails that can be created
by MediaPro. Also, MediaPro will fully display this
preview in Media View.

In versions 2.0 and CS, InDesign files contain a
128x128 pixel, color Bitmap PICT thumbnail of the
first page of InDesign documents.

Choose a preview size for InDesign files in the
Preferences › File Handling dialog.

Viewing Media

Viewing Media 41

Media View: Click Media tab to choose to this view

The Zoom tools let you
to increase or reduce
the size of the image.

The Size menu
modifies the display of
the image in the Media
View window.

The Scroll bar in this
view scrolls the catalog,
not the image. If the
image is larger than

Viewing Media

your viewing area, your
mouse will turn into
a hand ( ) which can
move the image.

Histogram

Media View

This view displays media files at full size, one at a
time. Unlike other views, Media View is a real-time
presentation of the original media files on screen.
This means that MediaPro needs to have access to
the file. If the file is not accessible, you will get an
error message such as “File Not Found”.

In Media View, you can play animations, movies,
and sounds, or navigate inside a QTVR image in
this view. Use the onscreen QuickTime controls
to interact with movies, music and QTVR. You
can also flip through the pages of a PDF or view the
various layers of a Photoshop document using the
Pager tool that appears in the Header bar.

When an image doesn’t fit entirely inside the
window, the cursor changes to a hand. Use it to
drag the image around. Use the right arrow key
to advance to the next image. Use the left arrow
key to go to the previous image in the catalog.

You can use the Zoom buttons in the upper right
side of the Header Bar to zoom in and out. To adjust
the size of media display in this view, you can use
the Size menu. Options include: Actual Size, Scale to

Fit, Fit Width, Fit Height, Pin Larger Side, Pin Smaller
Side, Tile, and a selection of percentages.

Playback media: Use the onscreen QuickTime
controls to interact with movies, music and QTVR.

Pager Tool: When multi-layer or multi-page files are
presented in this view, the Pager tool will appear in the
Header bar, so that you may look at different layers or pages.

For large media files (above 30 megabytes), there
can be a slight delay before the media appears on
screen. The more powerful the computer, the less
likelihood there is of a delay.

To print a particular layer or page within a
composite file, go to the page or layer you wish
to print and select Rebuild Item from the Action
menu before printing. For movies and multi-page
items, MediaPro only prints the frame assigned as
an item’s thumbnail.

42 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Playback of media

MediaPro can play a wide variety of music, video
and multimedia files. They can be played in any
view, even slide shows.

To start playback, select the file you wish to play,
and press the Play icon in the toolbar. Or, you can
press the spacebar. To stop the playback, press the
toolbar’s Play icon or the spacebar.

In Media View, media files such as video, music,
Flash and QTVR are displayed with QuickTime con­trols. You can use these controls to regulate play­back and control volume. Or you can still use the
toolbar’s Play icon and the spacebar to start and
stop playback.

One unique feature of MediaPro is that you
can switch between List, Thumbnail and Media
view while playing a file, without altering play­back quality. Simply click the view tab to change
views.

If MediaPro cannot play your file, define a
media player application that is capable of play­ing the file and use it as a Helper Application. To

learn more about defining Helpers and launching
files with them, see page 115.

Playlist Mode

Playlist Mode enables you to play the files of a
catalog in a continuous sequence. This is feature
is turned off by default. To turn it on or off, select
Playlist Mode in the Play menu.

This feature is useful when you have a cata­log of MP3 files that you want to listen to, or a
sequence of video or still images that you want to
watch. MediaPro will continuously play the files in
your catalog in a loop until you tell it to stop.

To start a playlist, select the file you wish to begin
with, and press the Play icon in the toolbar. Or, you
can press the spacebar. To stop the playback, press
the toolbar’s Play icon or the spacebar.

Playlist Mode will also automatically advance
through a catalog of images, which is particu­larly useful in Media View. This feature simulates
a slide show, while allowing you to see infor­mation panels open alongside the images. You

Toolbar controls: Press the toolbar’s Play
icon to start or stop Playlist Mode, or to start
and stop media playback in any view.

Viewing Media

Playlist Mode: During playback, files being played are
highlighted with black corners.

Media View playback: You can use the onscreen
QuickTime controls to interact with movies, music,
Flash and QTVR files.

List View playback: Though the icons are small,
movies and music will play just fine in List View. Simply
select a file and press the spacebar to start or stop the
playback of any a file. You can also change views while
the file is playing by clicking any of the view tabs.

can adjust the delay (short, medium and long)
between images in Stills Pause section of the
Play menu.

When Playlist Mode is turned off, media can still
be played, however MediaPro will not advance to
the next media item upon playback completion
of a selected item.

Viewing Media 43

Customizing the MediaPro workspace

A good way to increase your efficiency and pro­ductivity with MediaPro is to customize the work­space and tailor it to your workflow needs.

Size menuZoom

Themes - View appearance

Each view of MediaPro (List, Thumbnail and Media)
can be customized by using the View Options pal-
ette. You can choose which metadata to display,
the background color, as well as the font, size, and
color of display text. The View Options palette can

Viewing Media

be accessed by choosing Window › Show View
Options or clicking on the View Options icon in
the toolbar.

In addition to the display, View Options also apply
to some export functions, such as printing, contact
sheets and the default HTML gallery theme.

Each view has its own options. For example,
changing the text and display options in List View
will not change the options in Media View. Visual
preferences for all three views can now be stored
as a theme, using the Save function of the View
Options toolbar icon.

Adjust font and color options

In the first section of the View Options palette:

• Font and Size: Use the drop-down menus to
select a font and preset point size.

• Background defines the background color of
the media viewing area.

• Text Foreground defines the color of text, field
labels and the media frame.

• Text Background defines the color bar that
appears behind text. To make this bar appear
transparent, make this color the same as the
background color in order.

Set display options: List View

• Frame media adds a one pixel border around
thumbnails. The color of this frame is defined
by the Text Foreground color option.

• Use generic icons will change a rendered icon
to a generic icon.

Set display options: Thumbnail View

• Field labels puts the name of the field next to
the displayed text of that field.

• Frame media adds a one pixel border around
thumbnails. The color of this frame is defined
by the Text Foreground color option.

• Center text aligns field text centered.

• Show scale displays the thumbnail size as a
percentage of the original media size.

• Aspect ratio adjusts the proportion of all
thumbnail containers. These options are valu­able for saving space in the media viewing
area, depending on the shape of most media
in your catalog (Normal [Square], 3:4 Land-
scape, 4:3 Portrait).

• Margin offers options for a stylized border around
all thumbnails. Blank adds a small amount of
white space around thumbnails; Shadow adds
a drop-shadow to thumbnails; Frame adds a re-
cessed frame around thumbnails.

Set display options: Media View

• Field labels puts the name of the field next to
the displayed text of that field.

• Center text aligns field text centered.

• Histogram will display a graph showing the
relative distribution of Red, Green and Blue
pixel densities in an image. It shows the num­ber of pixels with high density on the left
(darker colors) and low density on the right
(lighter colors).

44 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

View Options palette

Display Options Font & Color Options

Show scaleFrame media

Background

Viewing Media

Field labels

Use generic icons (List View)

To make a field display in
a view, click the name to
place a check mark next
to the field name. Click
the name again to hide
this field and check mark.

Save themes:
For repeat use of your
settings, save them using
the Options menu or
using the View Options
toolbar icon drop-down
menu. The settings for
all three views are stored
when you save a theme.

Text

Foreground

Display the star rating and
color label assigned to
each media item.

Displays number of
fields shown out of the
maximum (10).

To adjust the number
of lines used to display
a field, click the up and
down arrows.

To adjust the style of the
font display (Bold, Italic,
etc.), make a selection from
the options in the font
Style menu.

To make your current
settings the default for
new catalogs, click Save as
Default.

Text

Background

Viewing Media 45

Viewing Media

Thumbnail View displaying image properties, custom colors, fonts, 3:4 aspect ratio, and a frame margin.

Adjust media size in views

To define the display size of previews in List and
Thumbnail View, select an option from the Size
menu in the far right side of the Header bar. Size
of media can also be defined in the Display Options
section of the View Options palette.

List View: Choose from Small (16 px) and Large
(32 px) options. The View Options palette has an
option to switch from rendered icons to generic.

Thumbnail View: Choose from a range of
thumbnail sizes from 80 to 640 pixels.

Media View: Options include: Actual Size, Scale
to Fit, Fit Width, Fit Height, Pin Larger Side, Pin Small­er Side, Tile, and a selection of percentages. When

an image doesn’t fit entirely inside the window,
the cursor changes to a hand. Use the hand to
drag the image around in the viewing area.

In all views, the Zoom buttons (plus and minus
icons next to the Size menu) increase or reduce the
size of the thumbnails or media.

46 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Add or remove displayed fields

Located in the third section of the View Options
palette. A maximum of 10 fields can be displayed
in each view.

1. To add a field to a view, click its name in the
field list area. This will make a check mark ap­pear by the name. To remove a field, click it
again and the check mark will disappear.

2.

The order in which fields are displayed is
determined by the order in which they are
turned on in the View Options palette.

3.

Change the number of lines displayed for each
field by clicking the up/down arrows on any
active field. This is useful for fields with longer
amounts of text, such as Description or Paths.

4. Font styles, such as Bold, Italic, and Underline,
are optional for each field and can be selected
in the Style menu for each field name. Multiple
styles can be applied at the same time.

Info Panel and Catalog Fields lists

Some images in your catalogs will have large
amounts of metadata displayed in the Info Panel.
To view all of this information, you can scroll up
and down the Info Panel. However, this task may
become too cumbersome or repetitive, especially
when scrolling past empty fields or metadata
groups that are irrelevant to your workflow.

The same can be said of the Catalog Index in
the Organize Panel, which is used for sorting and
annotating images.

As a solution, you can selectively display the
most relevant fields or groups of metadata in the
Info Panel and Catalog Index using the List Con­figuration menu (see figure).

The state of the Info Panel and Catalog Field
index lists is unique for each catalog and is main­tained when saving and closing a catalog.

The List Configuration menu also has the option
of storing a default state of hidden and shown
fields, which you can define.

This default can be useful for workflows that
focus on a specific subset of metadata. For exam­ple, your annotation workflow may only require
data entry in eight of the IPTC annotation fields,
as well as Keywords. In this case, you can choose to
store a default that shows only these fields in the
Info Panel.

Set List Configuration default

1. Define shown/hidden fields: Select Show/

Hide Fields in the list configuration menu.
Check the box next to the field to show it;
unchecked fields are hidden.

2. Save configuration

in the List Configuration menu to store the
current configuration as the default which
can be loaded into existing or new catalog.
This configuration is automatically applied to
new catalogs.

3. Load configuration

catalog or create a new catalog. Select Load
Default in the List Configuration menu to load

previously configured settings.

: Choose Save as Default

: Open an existing

Viewing Media

Configure list: Use the List Configuration
menu to show or hide properties, annotations
or groups. Save as Default stores the current
Info Panel configuration as the default which
can be loaded into existing or new catalogs.

Catalog Field index - List Configuration menu

Viewing Media 47

Media metadata

The Info Panel

When a media file is created by a computer or digi­tal device, information is embedded into the file to
describe it. This information is called metadata, and
is used by software programs to accurately under­stand the media file.

MediaPro uses the Info Panel to provide an
instant look at the aggregate properties and
metadata of a media file, such as file type, size,
dimensions, resolution, caption, capture date and
duration. Naturally, this information will change
based on the media type.

You can edit and check the accuracy of informa-

Annotations

tion within this single user-configurable list with no
need to remember to open multiple dialogs. The
data inside the Info Panel is split into various sec­tions. To show the data from one of these groups,
click the arrow next to the section name.

Some files will have large amounts of informa­tion. To view all metadata, you can scroll down the
panel, or you can hide various sections using the
List Configuration menu (see figure right).

Media properties

Media Info: This section displays non-editable

embedded media-related metadata. Some fields
your computer assigns to a file, such as type, size,
creation date and modification date.

Other fields display information based on the
media type. For example, image files will display
dimensions, resolution, bit-depth, color space and
profile. Audio files display the type of encoding,
length of the music, audio channels and data
about the quality of the sound.

MediaPro also displays the size of text annota­tions, audio annotations and thumbnail associ­ated with an item in this section.

Special, extended media-related metadata are
displayed in their own section. They are:

Photo EXIF: For images created by digital cam­eras, the Info Panel will display special data (EXIF)
that was captured and embedded in the photo

To add a group to the annotation groups
Categories, Keywords and People, double-click the
empty field and type the name of the new field.

Configure list: Use the List Configuration
menu to show or hide properties, annotations
or groups. Save as Default stores the current
Info Panel configuration as the default which
can be loaded into existing or new catalogs.

file. This metadata includes the date and time a
photo was taken (Capture Date), as well as cam­era-related information, such as shutter speed,
aperture and exposure. GPS (Global Positioning
System) information is also displayed in this sec­tion. Different cameras record different amounts
of EXIF data. Only the EXIF data captured by your
digital camera will be displayed here.

Cue Points (Audio and Video): Some audio or
video media files contain markers, or cue points,
which define special time stamps in the file. For
example, an audio file might have cue points
that mark the chorus, bridge and solos of a song.
MediaPro lists the name and time stamp for all
cue points of an item in this section.

48 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Info Panel: To show the Info Panel, click this

button. To hide it, click the button again.

List Configuration menu

Use Metadata Template to save/apply a group of

annotation terms to media files.

Media information depends on the file type.
The example at left shows a JPEG photo; the one
below shows info for an MP3.

Embedded metadata depends on the file
type. The figure at left shows the info for a JPEG
photograph. The example below shows the
Movie Tracks for a QuickTime movie.

Annotations

Click arrow to expand and collapse data groups.

Resize the Description window by

dragging this bar up and down.

Descriptions are a free form way of describing
media, useful for additional explanation or
thoughts. Descriptions embedded into files will
automatically be shown here.

Annotations 49

Movie Tracks (Audio and Video): Movie files
usually contain two tracks of digital information:
one for video and one for audio. However, movies
can contain multiple video and audio tracks.

This section displays the type of encoding, start
time, duration, data size, data rate and frame rate
for each video track of the movie file. For audio
files, which only contain one track, this section dis­plays the type of encoding, start time, duration,
data size and data rate.

Annotations

MediaPro supports a set of pre-defined fields for
annotating your media. This set (also known as
the IPTC Core) includes fields that enable you to

Annotations

define the author, event date, event information,
copyright, labels, ratings and more.

IPTC stands for the International Press and Tele­communications Council. Since the late 1970s, the
ITPC has focused on developing industry stan­dards for the interchange of news data. The IPTC
annotation fields used by MediaPro comply with
the standard set by this organization.

These fields are also part of Adobe’s metadata
standard called XMP (Extensible Metadata Plat­form). MediaPro can read XMP metadata in four
image file types: JPEG, TIFF, PNG and Photoshop.

Creating or editing annotations in a MediaPro
catalog does not affect the original files, unless
you choose to synchronize the catalog items with
the original files (see page 58).

Description: The Info Panel also provides an
area to write descriptions of media, useful for
additional explanation or thoughts. Descriptions
embedded into files will automatically be shown
in this field.

QuickTime equivalent mapping: Some files
such as MP3s or movies have QuickTime annota­tions embedded. These are mapped to annota­tion fields.

For example, the Author annotation field is
mapped to the Artist field of an MP3, Product to
the Album name and Title to a song’s Full Name. For
more information on mapping, see page 147.

Field names: Some software programs use different
names for the various IPTC/XMP field names. For
example, Photoshop CS calls the IPTC Job Identifier field,
Transmission Reference (see below). MediaPro provides
you with option of choosing which field names to
display: The official IPTC Core names; those names used
in iView MediaPro 2; or those used in Photoshop CS. To
change the field names displayed, see the Field Names
drop-down menu of the Edit › Preferences › General dialog.
Field names do not affect how annotations are written
(synchronized) into media files. It is merely a visual
preference designed to help you choose the appropriate
field when annotating files.

People, Keywords, Categories, Scenes,

Subject Codes are metadata groups useful for

describing and organizing the content of your
media. These groups are part of the IPTC and XMP
annotation standards.

Catalog Sets displays all associated MediaPro
sets in the Organize Panel to which an item belongs.
Catalog sets are a free form, hierarchical method of
organizing media files. For more, see page 75.

50 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Annotating your media

The Info Panel allow in-line editing of annotations,
captions, keywords, and categories. To add infor­mation or edit a field, double-click the text box
next to the field label and type in the annotation
information.

Two icons at the top of the Info Panel assist in

the editing of annotations:

Save modifications permanently. This op­tion is always applied when selecting a differ­ent media item or closing the catalog.

Discard or clear modifications that you
have made to annotations.

Adding or editing annotations in an MediaPro
catalog does not affect the original files, unless
you choose to synchronize the annotations in cat-

alog items with the original files (see page 58).

MediaPro allows you to assign and edit annota­tions individually or batch annotate multiple media
items, providing you with a quick method of orga­nization. There are five ways to assign annotations:
during import; applying Metadata Templates; data
entry in the Info Panel; data entry directly in any view;
and drag-and-drop to the Catalog Fields index.

Annotate on import:
Choose a metadata
template from this
drop-down menu to
apply a group of pre­defined annotations to
all imported items. If
there are no templates
available, you can create
one by selecting New

Metadata Template.

Save editsDiscard edits

Annotations

On Import/Ingestion

In the Import Items from Camera, Disk and URL
options (File menu), you can define a Metadata
Template to be applied to every media item dur­ing import (see figure).

Metadata Templates are useful for saving and
applying a group of frequently used annotations,
such as creator information (author, copyright,
contact information, etc.). See more about creat­ing templates on the next page.

Info Panel

MediaPro uses the Info Panel to provide an easy
way to quickly review the aggregate properties
and metadata of an image. You can also use the
Info Panel to assign annotations to single item or
to a batch selection of media items.

1. Select the item(s) to annotate.

2. Open the Info Panel

: Click on the Info toolbar

Metadata Templates are useful for saving and applying
a group of frequently used annotations.

button or select Window › Display › Info Panel.

3. Enter data

: Type your information into the
desired Annotations fields (e.g. Description,
Date Created, Keywords or Categories).

4. Apply changes: Click the check mark icon at
the top of the Info Panel to confirm changes (or
the X icon to discard changes).

5. Batch: In the confirmation dialog, select Apply
to All items. Now all selected items have the

annotations you entered.

Annotations 51

Add a file to an annotation: Select a file, or group of
files, then drag-and-drop them on to an annotation
field (above) in the Catalog Fields index. If you switch
over to the Info Panel (left), you will notice that same
annotation is represented in the corresponding field

Annotations

for that file. Conversely, if you add metadata to an
annotation in the Info Panel, it will also appear in the
corresponding group in the Catalog Fields index.

Metadata Templates

MediaPro provides Metadata Templates — a tool
for saving a set of frequently used annotations
and applying them to media items. In previous
versions of MediaPro, templates were called
AutoFills.

A metadata template applies Annotations, Peo-

ple, Keywords, Scenes, Subject Codes, Categories and
Descriptions to each item selected in the catalog.

To create a Metadata Template:

1. Select an item and enter information into all

annotation fields you wish to save.

2.

In the drop-down menu at the top of the Info
Panel (Pencil icon), choose Save Metadata
Template. Name your template in the dialog.

Alternatively, you can choose Create Metadata

Template in the drop-down menu at the top of
the Info Panel (Pencil icon). Metadata templates
can also be created during the Import Items from
Camera, Disk and URL options

To apply an Metadata Template:

1. Select a group of media items.

2.

In the drop-down menu at the top of the Info
Panel (Pencil icon), choose a Metadata Template

52 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Apply Metadata Template: Provides options to turn

some fields from your template on or off.

in the menu.

3.

A dialog will appear showing the metadata that
will be assigned by the template. You can turn
some fields on or off to keep them from being
applied to media items. Click the Apply button.

4. Click the check mark icon to save the annota­tions. In the confirmation dialog, select Apply to
All items. Now all selected items have the anno­tations assigned by the template.

5. Tip: Choosing Remove Metadata Template will
provide you with a dialog to remove tem­plates from the drop-down menu.

Annotating in views

You can now edit any displayed IPTC annotation
directly in List, Thumbnail and Media views.

1. Launch the View Options palette (Window ›
Show View Options). In the Fields › Annota­tions section, click on any field name to dis­play it in the active view. For more information

on View Options, see page 44.

2. Simply click on the field in the active view and
start typing (see figure right).

Drag-and-drop to Catalog Fields index

The Catalog Index is an alternative way to add
metadata organization to your media, as opposed
to entering annotations in the Info Panel.

All IPTC, XMP and QuickTime standard fields in
the Catalog Fields index support drag-and-drop.
Other supported fields include: Catalog Sets, Date
Finder and Sample Color. Custom annotation fields
also appear here (at the bottom of the Annotations
group) and support drag-and-drop.

Instead of assigning annotations in the Info
Panel, you can create an annotation field term in
any of the Catalog Field groups. Then simply drag­and-drop images on the annotation field value to
assign it to an item (see figure on previous page). This
significantly speeds up and simplifies the annotat­ing process. If you switch to the Info Panel, you will
notice that same annotation is represented in the
corresponding annotation field.

Annotating using the Catalog Fields index

1. Open the Organize Panel: Click on the

Organize toolbar button or select Window ›
Display › Organize Panel.

2. Display annotation group

: Reveal the de­sired annotation group in the Catalog Fields
index using the drop-down menu in the
upper right hand corner of the panel. Expand
the annotation group by clicking on the
group name (e.g. Date Finder, Keywords) to
show available terms for that annotation.

3. Add a term

: If the annotation value does not

exist, click the + (plus) icon at the top of the

Annotating in views: You can now edit any displayed
IPTC annotation directly in List, Thumbnail and Media
views. Simply click on the field and start typing.

Clear Annotations › Choose Fields (Action menu)
reveals the annotation fields attached to item(s),
allowing you to select the particular field(s) to remove.

Catalog Fields pane. Type the name of the
term and click OK.

4. Select an item or group of items, then drag­and-drop them onto the new term. Associat­ing an item with an annotation in a catalog
does not affect the original file.

Removing annotations

You can remove the annotation fields from se­lected items by choosing Action › Clear Annota­tions. In the pop-up dialog you can choose to Clear
All annotations or Choose Fields that you wish to
remove. The latter reveals a list of annotations as­sociated with all items, allowing you to select the
fields to remove.

Annotations

Annotations 53

Metadata vocabularies

In MediaPro, a vocabulary is a set of annotations.
When you annotate a media item in the Info or
Organize panel, there is a list of available anno­tation terms that appear as a drop-down list. A
vocabulary, then, is a collection of all those lists of
known terms for each field. For example, one list
for keywords, one list for people, etc.

The Vocabulary Editor (see page 27 for more in-
formation) enables you to edit this list; to set up
annotation terms that are associated with each
other; create multiple sets of annotations (vo­cabularies) for different purposes and also lock
the vocabulary so that only annotation terms in
a vocabulary can be used.

Annotations

Entering annotation terms

Each IPTC annotation field has it’s own list of
terms. Terms for each field, such City and Country,
can be entered in the Vocabulary Editor.

Each field will have a handy drop-down menu
in the Info Panel (see figure right) showing the
available terms for that field.

You can browse through the list of terms from
the drop-down menu, which becomes visible
when the field is active. To add a word to the se­lected field, simply scroll through the menu and
select a word. Notice that when you type a letter
in the field, the drop-down menu displays the list
at that point of the alphabetical list.

If the term you want to use is not in the list, sim­ply type the word and MediaPro adds the new
term to the vocabulary for that field.

However, if the vocabulary is locked (con­strained), new terms cannot be added. To unlock
the vocabulary, go to Preferences › Vocabulary Edi­tor and uncheck the Constrain editing to defined
terms box.

Navigating annotations

After typing the value of an annotation, you can
advance to the next annotation field by pressing
the Tab key. To go to the previous annotation field,
press Shift+Tab keys.

Entering metadata: To add a term to any annotation
field or group, double-click on data entry space next to
each field name.

Auto-completion: Example of the auto-completion
feature. The user has typed in “s” and MediaPro fills in
the rest using the available vocabulary.

Shows vocabulary is locked

Vocabulary: Example of using the field drop-down
menu to fill in the annotation field. MediaPro populates
this menu with the available vocabulary. If the term
you want to use is not in the list, simply type the word
and MediaPro adds the new term to the vocabulary.
However, if the vocabulary is locked (constrained), new
terms cannot be added. To unlock the vocabulary, go
to Preferences › Vocabulary Editor and uncheck the
Constrain editing to defined terms box.

Auto-completion

When typing in an annotation field, MediaPro has
an auto-completion feature that assists in typ­ing annotation terms. For example, if you type
“S”, MediaPro auto-completes the term with the
nearest term from the field’s vocabulary starting
with “S”.

54 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

If a word is auto-completed, press the Enter or
Return key to assign it as the term. Or, you can
click the Tab key to apply the existing term and
advance to the next field.

Vocabulary terms are saved globally and are
accessible by every catalog you create.

Modifying vocabularies

Each field’s list of terms is stored as a separate text
file inside the user-defined MediaPro Plug-Ins ›
Vocabulary folder (see page 5). You can use any
text editor to edit these files. Each item in the list
must be followed by a carriage return.

Entering terms: In the Info Panel, double-click to add
keyword. Begin typing the term, and MediaPro’s auto­complete function will automatically type the nearest
available term in the vocabulary.

Annotations

Locking a vocabulary

If you wish to preserve the a vocabulary so that

new terms cannot be added, go to Preferences ›
Vocabulary Editor and check the Constrain editing
to defined terms box.

An example of when this might prove useful is
if a photographer hires an assistant to help enter
annotations. By requiring the assistant to choose
from existing annotation terms the photographer
ensures the annotations will match existing ones
and would result in a much more accurately an­notated catalog.

Alternate vocabularies

The majority of MediaPro users will only need to
use one vocabulary. Default is the vocabulary that
is created when MediaPro is first launched.

MediaPro can have multiple vocabularies.
This is useful if you have many different uses for
MediaPro. You might regularly take photos for cli­ents in the fashion industry, stock travel agencies
and also take personal photos.

You could create a vocabulary called Personal
and this would contain, among other annota­tions, the names of your family and friends in your
photos. You can choose this vocabulary when an­notating personal photos and switch to another
vocabulary for the photos for your clients. This
way by switching between the two vocabularies
you will be see annotation terms appropriate to

Separate keywords: When you are done entering a
string of terms, press the Return or Enter key. MediaPro
will automatically split multiple terms in separate
keywords. This is handy if you cut and paste a comma
separated string of terms into one field. MediaPro
automatically converts the string into single keywords.

Term descriptions: When you select a term in the Info
or Organize Panel, the term description will appear to
the right of the annotation in grey. Term descriptions can
only be defined in the Vocabulary Editor.

the catalog at hand.

For more information on vocabularies and creat-

ing alternates, see page 27.

Annotations 55

Annotation scripts

MediaPro offers some special annotation scripts in
the Scripts menu:

• Tools › Copy EXIF to Clipboard copies all EXIF
photo metadata to the clipboard.

• Annotate › IPTC Date from Capture Date copies
the EXIF Capture Date into the IPTC Date Cre­ated field of the Annotations pane.

Other Mac-only annotation scripts:

• Copy from Head of Selection will copy all anno-
tations from the first selected item and apply
them to all other selected items.

• Copy from Items with Same Name will copy
metadata from selected items to items of
the same name but a different suffix (such as

Annotations

Raw+JPEG), or having the same full name in
other folders.

• Import From PhotoDISC™ annotates images in
your front catalog, using text files located in
your PhotoDISC™ CD-ROM.

• Make Description from Text Files searches for .txt
files in the same folder as the original, and cop­ies the contents into the caption field.

• Make Description from Text Lines opens a text
file and uses each line of the file as the cap­tion for the selected items.

• Make Keywords from Folders enables you
to add keywords to media files from folder
names. The dialog provides the option of
defining the level of folders in the path you
would like to use for keywords.

• Make Product from EXIF Data copies the EXIF
Maker and Model fields and puts them into
the Product field of the Annotations pane.
You can modify existing scripts or create and

attach your own annotation scripts at any time.
Simply write the script, then place it in the user­defined Plug-ins › Scripts folder.

Modifying digital camera metadata

For photographs taken with digital cameras, the
Info Panel will display special data (EXIF) that was
captured and embedded in the image. This data is
not editable, with one exception: Capture Date.

Set Capture Date modifies the date recorded in the
metadata (EXIF) of images created by digital cameras.

Set Capture Date (Action menu)
Digital cameras record the date and time a pho­tograph is captured based on the internal clock
of the camera. If this clock is not correct, the date
and time can be reassigned using this function.

This operation cannot be undone and applies
only to images taken with digital cameras. You can
batch this operation by selecting multiple images.

In MediaPro 3, this function has been updated
to provide three adjustment methods:

1. Replace with enables you to set a new date

and time, as well as define the time increment
between select photos.

2.

Adjust relative applies the new date and time,

maintaining the time difference between se­lected photos.

3.

Apply time difference enables you to shift the

time based in hours and minutes. This feature
is good for adjusting time zone differences.

The preview window at the bottom of the Set
Capture Date dialog shows a list of the dates
before and after the correction.

EXIF Orientation: The Correct EXIF orientation
function was previously an AppleScript that would
will rotate the thumbnails of all selected items to
correct any values of the Orientation field written
by your digital camera. This function is now done
automatically during import.

56 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Custom fields: MediaPro supports up to 16 custom

metadata fields. To add or remove custom fields choose
Edit › Custom Fields. These fields will appear as part of
the Annotations group in various functions.

A

Annotations

To make custom fields appear in all new catalogs, click
the Save as Default button.

Custom annotation fields

iView MediaPro supports up to 16 custom anno­tation fields. These fields are useful for creating
additional metadata associated with a specific
project, client or storage location.

To add or remove custom fields, choose Edit ›
Custom Fields (see above). If these custom fields
are necessary for all your catalogs, click the Save as
Default button in the lower left and these custom
fields will appear in all new catalogs.

Once defined, custom annotation fields can be
used in various sorting and searching functions
of MediaPro, such as: the Info Panel’s Annotations
data entry fields; the Catalog Index’s Annotation
Organizer; the Sort toolbar menu; View Options to
be displayed in List, Thumbnail and Media Views;
and as fields to be searched in the Find dialog.

When you move images between catalogs,
custom fields are automatically adjusted between
the catalogs. If two catalogs contain more than 16
unique custom fields, the first 16 fields alphabeti­cally will be retained.

B

Once defined, custom metadata fields can be used in
various sorting and searching functions of MediaPro,
such as the Info Panel (A), Catalog Index (B), Sort toolbar
menu, View Options and the Find dialog (C).

C

Annotations 57

Annotations

Sync: If you create annotations in MediaPro and export them to the original files, other applications such as Adobe
Photoshop can read the metadata. Conversely, annotations added in Photoshop can be imported by MediaPro.

Sync annotations

Adding annotation information to media items in
a MediaPro catalog does not embed annotations
into the original file. The annotations only exist in
the catalog.

To write or embed annotations into a file, use
the Sync Annotations function in the Action menu.
This command allows you to embed annotation
information from the catalog into the original files.
It also allows you to import annotations, by rescan­ning files for metadata added outside MediaPro
with another application.

The synchronizing function only applies to
annotations that are part of the IPTC, QuickTime or
XMP metadata standards. Custom metadata fields
and Catalog Sets are now written to files as part of
the XMP standard.

This function is particularly useful, as MediaPro
allows you to view, classify and batch annotate
a large number of media items and then export
the changes to the original files, saving hours of
time opening and editing individual files. It is also

Sync Annotations: With this function, you can export
(or write) annotations from catalog to original files. You
can also import annotations from original files.

useful for updating annotations that have been
modified by applications outside MediaPro.

Annotations that have been written into the file
can be read by other applications that can read
the IPTC, QuickTime or XMP metadata standards,
such as Photoshop or GraphicConverter.

58 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

MediaPro supports the export of XMP metadata

to JPEG, TIFF and Photoshop formats only.

MediaPro support synchronizing annotations
in the following Raw formats: Nikon, Kodak and
Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) and Canon CR2 files.

For more info, see page 149.

Synchronizing cannot be undone.

To import annotations from files

This function is useful if you have edited anno­tations in a file outside of MediaPro. Using this
function will instruct MediaPro to reimport the
annotations for that file.

1. Select an item or group of items.

2. Choose Action › Sync Annotations.

3. Click the radio button for Import annotations

from original files.

4. Choose between one of three options for

importing annotations. Replace current clears
any current annotations and replaces them
with all annotations from the original file. With
the Merge options, you need to define which
set of annotations take precedence over an­other when there is a conflict on single-value
annotations. For example, suppose both the
original file and the catalog item contain a
Title annotation. Since there is only one Title
annotation per item, you need to decide
which one to use. Multi-value annotations,
such as keywords and categories, are always
merged together.

To export (write) annotations to files

1. Select an item or group of items.

2. Enter all your annotations.

3. Choose Action › Sync Annotations.

4. Click the radio button for Export annotations

to original files. The amount of time it takes
to write annotations back to files depends
on the number of files selected. Regardless, it
should be relatively fast.

Special annotations plug-in for Adobe CS

The Status, Event, and People IPTC fields are not

When importing annotations, you must choose
between one of three prioritizing importing options.

Annotations

Custom iView annotation panel in Photoshop CS & CS2.

supported by Adobe Creative Suite. To extend sup­port of these fields to Adobe Photoshop CS, iView
provides a custom plug-in so that you can view
and edit these annotations in the File Info dialog
of Photoshop.

This plug-in also extends support of MediaPro
Catalog Sets and any custom metadata fields cre­ated in MediaPro.

Plug-in installation:

1. A file called “iViewPanel.txt” is automatically

installed in your computer during the installa­tion of MediaPro.

2. The file is placed in one of these locations:

Mac OS X

{Root Volume}/Library/Application Support/
Adobe/XMP/Custom File Info Panels
or: {User Directory}/Library/Application/
Adobe/XMP/Custom File Info Panels
Windows
\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\XMP\
Custom File Info Panels
or: \Documents and Settings\<user›\Applica­tion Data\Adobe\XMP\Custom File Info Panels

Annotations 59

Color profile management

MediaPro supports ICC color profiles for image files
in the JPEG, TIFF, PICT, PDF, and Adobe Photoshop
formats. This enables MediaPro to provide color
profile management from input source and iView
catalog to proof and final printing.

MediaPro provides you with color accurate
display in all views – List, Thumbnail, Media, Light
Table and Slide Shows – using your operating
system’s color management technology (ICM on
Windows; ColorSync on Mac).

Extract Metadata: provides the option to export
annotations, thumbnails and voice recordings for
selected media items.

Annotations

Extract metadata

This function (Action menu) will export text, image
or sound files corresponding to selected media
items. New files will be created in a single folder
and can later be used to import metadata to one
or more files. Options include:

Editable annotations: This feature extracts all
editable ITPC/XMP annotations for each file and
saves them as an Adobe Photoshop XMP sidecar
template file. This function applies only to se­lected items.

Image thumbnails: This feature (previously
known as Extract Thumbnails in the Make menu)
saves thumbnails of a catalog as a high quality
JPEG image files. The dimensions of the extracted
file will match the dimensions of the thumbnail
defined in Thumbnail View. This function applies
only to selected items.

Voice recordings: This feature (previously
known as Extract Voice Annotations in the Make
menu) saves an embedded voice annotation as a
separate Sound, AIFF or WAV audio file. This func­tion applies only to selected items.

To turn color profile matching off, uncheck the

Color Match box in the Preferences › Media Render-
ing › Images of the Edit menu (Mac: Application

menu).

Manage color profiles

The Manage Color Profile function (Action menu)
allows you to embed RGB and CMYK color profiles
for individual files using profiles defined by your
operating system’s color management technol­ogy (ICM on Windows; ColorSync on Mac).

When the dialog launches, MediaPro displays
the image in Media View, allowing you to preview
the application of various color profiles. You can
also remove profiles in this dialog.

If this menu option is not available, it means you
need to turn on Color Match in the Preferences ›
Media Rendering › Images of the Edit menu (Mac:
Application menu).

Batch assign profiles

1. Preferences: Turn on the color profile match-

ing preference by checking the Color Match
box in the Preferences › Media Rendering ›
Images of the Edit menu (Mac: Application
menu).

2. Select items to batch

images, then choose Action › Manage Color
Profiles. If this menu option is not available, it
means you need to turn on the color profile
matching preference.

3. Choose profi

embed for each type of image color space

les: Select a color profile to

: Select a group of

60 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Manage Color Profiles: (Action menu) When managing

the profile of a single image, MediaPro will switch to
Media view so that you can preview your changes.

Preferences: To turn on color profile matching in
MediaPro, check Color Match in the Preferences › Media
Rendering › Images dialog of the Edit menu (Mac:
Application menu).

– RGB, CMYK, Grayscale. This prevents you from
embedding an inappropriate profile that could
potentially ruin the image. The options in each
menu are defined by the operating system’s
color management technology (ICM on Win­dows; ColorSync on Mac).

4. Apply: Click OK. While embedding the profiles
into the original files, MediaPro will create a
new thumbnail for each image according to
the new embedded color profile.

5. Batch remove: You can also batch remove
profiles in this dialog by selecting Remove Em-
bedded Profile for each image color space.

6. Tip: For older iView MediaPro catalogs that
contain thumbnails which are not color
managed, select all items in the catalog and
choose Action › Rebuild Items. This will create
new thumbnails for all images according to
the new embedded color profile and the set­tings of the Size menu.

Annotations

This pull-down menu provides complete access to
profiles defined by your operating system’s color
management technology (ICM - Windows; ColorSync

- Mac.) To learn more about color profiles, see your
system’s help documentation.

Batch: Each Batch Profiles menu provides complete
access to profiles defined by your operating system’s
color management technology (ICM on Windows;
ColorSync on Mac.) To learn more about color profiles,
refer to your system’s Help documentation.

Online resources

• Apple ColorSync: www.apple.com/colorsync/

• Microsoft ICM: http://msdn.microsoft.com/

library/en-us/icm/icm_6ulv.asp

• International Color Consortium: www.color.org

Catalog Fields: You can sort catalogs based on Color
Profiles by using the Catalog Fields index. The Color
Profile section is read-only a does not support drag-and­drop assignment of profiles.

Annotations 61

Sample colors

Record voice annotation dialog

iView MediaPro offers the ability to identify media
(images, movies, etc) by a single color, called a
Sample Color. This is useful when searching for
images of a specific color or tone.

A sample color is automatically generated when
the media is imported, based on the dominant
color of the image. However, you can set the sam­ple color of the selected media items with the Set

StopRecord Play: use to review recorded

annotation before saving.

Sample Color option in the Action menu. Use the
color picker to choose a sample color.

Sample colors can be viewed and modified in
the Catalog Fields window of the Organize Panel.
You can switch the sample color of an image in
the Catalog Fields by dragging the image onto

Annotations

one of the colors in the Sample Color list.

Voice annotations

Voice annotations are short audio recordings
embedded in media files. Some digital cameras
and other image capturing devices allow you to
save voice comments with a picture.

To listen to audio annotations, select an item
in your catalog and press the spacebar, or choose
Listen in the Voice annotation drop-down menu of
the catalog toolbar (microphone icon).

The drop-down menu allows you to record up to
30 seconds of voice annotation. This voice annota­tion is stored in the MediaPro catalog. You can also
attach a separate sound file with the Import option.
This tool also allows you to remove a voice annota­tion. The compression ratio for voice annotations
can also be adjusted in this menu.

Voice annotations can be used in Slide Show

Catalog Index: You can sort catalogs based on Color
Samples by using the Catalog Index. The Sample Colors
fields support drag-and-drop assignment.

presentations. This feature is enabled by default.
To disable it, uncheck Play voice annotations in the
Slide Show options.

Color picker:
You can set the
sample color of
selected media
items with the
Set Sample Color
option in the
Action menu.
Use the color
picker pop-up
dialog to define a
Sample Color.

62 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Reviewing and marking media

Once you have imported a collection of media into
a catalog, you will likely want to review and clas­sify the media. For example, after importing images
from a shoot, photographers typically edit images,
marking their favorites and unusable ones.

To assist in this process, MediaPro provides two
methods of classifying and ranking media: star rat­ings and color labels. Using keyboard commands,
labels and ratings can be easily assigned in any
view, the light table and during slide shows.

Rating media

Star ratings provide a ranking system for items in
your catalogs. You can now rank your media from
one to five stars, or no stars.

Assign a rating

Once you have selected one or more items, you
can add a rating three ways:

1. Choosing a star rating from the Rate Media

drop-down menu in the toolbar (see figure), or
in the contextual menu.

2. Pressing Alt + a number, 1-5 (Mac: Ctrl+1-5).

This will apply the associated rating (e.g. 3 =
Three stars).

3. Drag-and-drop items onto the Rating section of

the Catalog Field index of the Organize Panel.

Assign label toolbar icon, and drop-down menu and
the Rate media toolbar icon, and drop-down menu.
Use any of the associated numbers to apply a label to a
file in your catalog while in any view, even slide shows.
Use Alt+1-5 (Mac: Ctrl+1-5) to apply a rating to a file in
your catalog while in any view, such as Thumbnail View,
Media View, Light Table and Slide Show.

Reviewing Media

Remove ratings

Select one or more items and:

1. Choose None from the Rate Media drop-down

menu in the toolbar, or from the contextual
menu in any view.

2. Select an item and press Alt + the number

zero (0). On Macs, press Ctrl+0.

Show files associated with a ratings

Select one or more items and:

1. Click a rating in the Rating section of the Cata-

log Field index of the Organize Panel.

2. Select Show Rated (Find menu) and choose a

rating value of items you want to be displayed.

Catalog Fields: Assign or sort items with labels or ratings.

Reviewing Media 63

Ratings as annotations

Color label preferences: The example below, labels

have customized colors and names to assist a workflow.

Ratings in MediaPro are mapped to Adobe’s XMP
standard for ratings. When annotations for images

A

in a catalog are synchronized (written) to the origi­nal files, all ratings will be written into the files. If you
open the image in Adobe Bridge, the star ratings will
be displayed. Likewise, if you have assigned a rating
to a file in Bridge, the rating will be displayed when
you import that file into a MediaPro catalog.

Color labels

Labels provide a visual identification and classifi­cation system for items in your catalogs.

A color label can be used to: mark favorite
items; mark items to delete, archive or convert;
or to track items that are in different stages of a
workflow (See example A).

After you label your items, you can quickly sort
the catalog using the Label section of the Catalog

Reviewing Media

Field index in the Organize Panel.

A label can also be used as a temporary method
of marking items that will be later assigned a par­ticular annotation. After assigning the annotation,
the labels can be cleared from the images.

To accommodate your desired method of mark­ing items, the colors and names of labels can be
customized in MediaPro as a global application
preference. Because this customization is global,
shared catalogs will inherit the label names and
colors of the user that is opening the catalog and

Label options: To restore the default label colors
and names, choose Reset All. To save a group of label
preferences, choose Export to File. Once you’ve saved them
to a file, these label preference can be loaded into other
installations of MediaPro using Import from File. If you
turn on the Apply to original media file option (Mac-only),
then labels assigned to items in your catalog will also be
applied to the original file. For example, if you assign a
label #1 in a catalog, then label #1 will be assigned to the
file on the desktop. Be careful, the colors may not match.

not the preferences of the person who created
the catalog.

B C

1 2 3 4 5 6 70

These MediaPro label numbers

correspond to the Finder labels.

Customize labels

1. Open Preferences by choosing Edit › Prefer-

ences › Labels (Windows) or iView MediaPro ›
Preferences › Labels (Mac).

2. Click the color swatch

This will launch the operating system’s color
picker, where you can define a custom color.
Colors can be adjusted for aesthetic preference
or to better match the tone or contrast of a par­ticular view background color (see example B).
Colors can also be matched to a labelling

64 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

you wish to change.

Lighter palette designed
for dark backgrounds.

Named to match the IPTC
Urgency values.

scheme in another application or environ­ment, such as Mac system color labels.

3. Select any label text

and type a new name.
Customizing a label name helps to remember
the label’s purpose or definition.

4. Tip: Custom names used for labels become
indexed as search terms for associated items in
iView MediaPro. For example, if a label is named
“Client Picks,” then any free-form text search in
the MediaPro toolbar for the word “client” will
return images assigned with that color label.

Assign a label

Once you have selected one or more items, you
can add a label three ways:

1. Choosing a color from the Assign Label drop-
down menu in the toolbar (see figure opposite
page), or in the contextual menu.

2. Pressing a number key (1 through 9). This will
apply the associated color (e.g. 1 = Red).

3. Drag-and-drop items onto the Label sections
of the Catalog Index.

Remove labels

Select one or more items and:

1. Choose None from the Assign Label drop-
down menu in the toolbar, or from the contex­tual menu in any view.

2. Select an item and press the number zero (0).

Show files associated with a label

Select one or more items and:

1. Click a color label in the Labels sections of the
Catalog Index.

2. Select Show Labeled in the Find menu and
choose a label value of items you want to be
displayed. Labeled files can also be sorted dur­ing slide shows. Use the Show Labeled drop-
down menu in the Slide Show controller.

Methods for using labels

A label can stand for anything you want — favor
ites, items to discard or items that are in different
stages of the editing process.

Inline assignment: Labels can be edited inline by
clicking on the color label field in any view.

One popular method of using labels is to
mark favorite selects (and items to delete) after a
photo shoot. After importing images into a cata­log, launch a slide show or the Light Table. As you
review the images, use one label to mark the best,
and another label to mark images that are out-of­focus and unusable. This can be done during the
slide show (or in any view) by pressing the label’s
corresponding number key.

Afterward, you can use the Label section of the
Catalog Field index (Organize Panel) to show only
the best images from a shoot in your catalog.

Labels as annotations

Labels in MediaPro are mapped to the IPTC stan­dard’s Urgency annotation field. When annotations
for images in a catalog are synchronized (written)
to the original files, all images tagged with a label
will have the corresponding label number (1-9)
written into the Urgency field. For Photoshop CS
users, these are the same values used in the Urgen-
cy field of the File › File Info › Origin panel.

Even if you have customized the colors and names
of labels, the values 1-9 are written into the Urgency
field in order to comply with the IPTC annotation

-

standards. If the Urgency field is important to your
workflow, you might customize the label names to
match the standard (see example C, pg 64).

Reviewing Media

Reviewing Media 65

Reviewing Media

Comparing media: MediaPro’s new Light Table mode is the ideal tool for viewing and comparing images.

Light Table

The Light Table mode is the best way to view an
image or compare up to six different images at
once. To use the Light Table mode, select between
one and four images and choose Light Table from
the View menu, or use the keyboard shortcut,
Alt+Enter (Mac: Command + / ).

When you first launch the Light Table the Help
menu appears showing the navigation and key­board shortcuts. While in Light Table mode, use
right click (Mac: Option+Click) to show the con­textual options menu that includes the option to
show this initial help menu again. See page 143

for a list of all Light Table keyboard shortcuts.

The default display of the Light Table is the cho­sen number of images shown in a Grid layout (2x2)

Layout: Choose between Grid (top), Landscape and
Portrait (above) modes for image display.

with a toolbar for each image. The toolbar shows
the color label, filename, dimensions and scal­ing percentage of each image (see figure below).
The toolbar also displays buttons for trashing or

Label, rating
drop-down menus

Media Info: Filename, Dimensions,

66 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Remove/Trash Rotate Size

Scale Percentage

Contextual Options menu: Right-click (Mac: Option-Click) on any image to display the Light Table Options menu.

removing images, rotation and display size.

When you have more than one image showing
in the Light Table, try using the Landscape, Portrait
and Grid layouts (hotkeys L, P and G respectively)
to use your monitor space as efficiently as possi­ble. Which layout works best for you depends on
the orientation of your images, how many image
you view at once and wether you want to see the
toolbar and/or the histogram. You may wish to
hide the toolbar to maximize the viewing area
for each image (hotkey T).

The trash/remove button gives you two options:
Move to Trash and Remove From Catalog. The first
option removes the image from the catalog and
moves the original image file to the trash or recy­cle bin. Be careful when using this option. Do not
use this unless you are sure you want to delete
the original file. The second option removes the
image from the MediaPro catalog and leaves the
original file untouched.

Marking images

Color labels are set using the normal label hotkeys
(1-9, 0 [zero] to remove a label). When more than
one image is shown the color label is applied to
the image that the cursor is currently over. These
are the same labels used throughout MediaPro.

You can also mark images using star ratings.
Use the shortcuts Alt+1-5 (Mac: Ctrl+ 1-5) to set
the rating. See page 64 for more about labels; page

63 for ratings.

Adjusting image size

The toolbar’s size menu (magnify symbol) offers
several options to define the scale of images
displayed within each Light Table cell. These size
options are the same as MediaPro’s Slide Show
and Media View modes.

To zoom in on an image, use the + (plus) and

- (minus) hotkeys. If Scroll Lock is on, all images
will increase and decrease by the same magnifica­tion. If Scroll Lock is off, only the scale of the active
image will be adjusted.

Scroll, Scroll Lock and Zoom

When an image is bigger than the window it is
in, your cursor will turn into a hand ( ) which can
move the image by dragging (clicking and hold­ing while moving the mouse).

When more than one image is shown in the
Light Table, all shown images will be moved simul­taneously while Scroll Lock (hotkey S) is on. If any
of the images do not move when scrolling in this
way it is probably because they fit the current win­dow and there is no more of the image to show.

When Scroll Lock is turned off, only the image
under the cursor is moved by dragging. Scroll
Lock is useful when examining an important area
of similar images.

By zooming in and scrolling to the part of an
image you are interested in, the other shown
images will show the same portion of the image.

If the images are not absolutely identical you

Reviewing Media

Reviewing Media 67

RGB color values and X/Y coordinates apply to this green square.

The Pixel magnifier shows a close up of the image area underneath the cursor.

Use slider to
adjust zoom.

Reviewing Media

may need to toggle Scroll Lock off and move the
image individually. Remembering the hotkey (S)
for the Scroll Lock makes viewing similar images
much faster.

in. There are four settings from the least magni­fied at the bottom to the most, at the top. The
slider snaps to one of these four settings.

The pixel magnifier also shows the X/Y coor-

dinates of the cursor (highlighted by a green

Next and Previous images

square), as well as the RGB color values.
The right or down arrow key changes the image in
the Light Table to the next one in the catalog. The
up or left arrow key changes to the previous one.

When there is more than one image onscreen,
the image that is changed is the one the cursor is
currently over. When changing the image using
the cursor keys, the current zoom and scroll posi­tions are maintained to make it easier to examine
the same point on similar images.

Using the Histogram and
Exposure warnings to judge images

When viewing images you may wish to view a
Histogram and Exposure warnings for each image,
(hotkey H to show/hide the histogram and W for
the exposure warnings).

A histogram is a graph showing the relative dis­tribution of Red, Green and Blue pixel densities in
an image. It shows the number of pixels with high

Pixel Magnifier

The Pixel magnifier is a floating palette that shows
a close up of the image area underneath the cur­sor. To turn on the pixel magnifier, use the M
hotkey. The pixel magnifier can be quicker than
zooming and scrolling, particularly when there is
more than one area in any particular image that
you need to examine closely.

The slider controls how far the magnifier zooms

density on the left (darker colors) and low density
on the right (lighter colors). Its purpose is to show
the distribution of tone throughout an image.

For example, an image with no shadows will
have a histogram with a valley on the left; a histo­gram with no highlights will have a valley on the
right. Dark shadows will be seen as a peak of all
three colors to the left and bright highlights a peak
of all three colors of the right.

68 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

A

Original images, with no exposure warnings.

B

A

Judging images: Light Table showing exposure warnings and histograms.

The exposure warnings will show areas of pos­sible over exposure in an image as solid red rep­resents, under exposure in solid blue. Both over
exposure and under exposure are areas of an
image where detail may be lost due to too much
or too little light being captured.

Exposure warnings only indicate areas of an
image that might be over or under exposed For
example, these warning areas may be of a very
dark or light object that simply appears as it
should or parts of an image may intentionally be
very dark or light.

If we consider the histogram for the image A
(above), it is biased towards the right, the green
and blue colors reach the top of the chart at the

B

extreme right side. We could consider that this is
an image of a intentionally very bright summer
scene, so the strong sunlight, blue sky and aqua
marine pool are just reflected in the histogram.

Examining the exposure warnings for this
image (A), as we might expect, the left the whole
sky is colored red to warn us of possible over
exposure. There is no detail in the sky in this image
because the sky has been over exposed. The per­son is the focus of this image and the band of
white sky works quite well with the other two
horizontal bands created by the sea and the pool.
So, for this image, whether it would be improved
by editing is a subjective.

So the histogram and exposure warnings simply

Reviewing Media

Reviewing Media 69

Red warnings indicate potential over exposure. Blue warnings indicate potential under exposure.

Histogram

Reviewing Media

gives us an indication of areas we might want to
consider improving through editing.

But lets compare this with image B. It shows
a similar pattern of the red, green and blue with
both images showing red towards the middle
with lots of green and then blue as we go to the
light side of the histogram.

The histogram, for the image on the right, is
still biased towards the right but not to the same
degree as the other image, the pixels are spread
across the mid section of the histogram not just
the very light side. With a more balanced histo­gram we would expect to see a wider range of
tones. Both the pool and the sky are deeper in
tone and there is some detail in the sky.

Looking at the exposure warnings, a smaller
area of the sky is red and this is a broken up area,

exposed but again that is not necessarily an indi­cation of a problem.

One opinion may be that the image on the left
would benefit from editing and the image on the
right less so. A balanced histogram is normally
considered better although there is no ideal his­togram. Areas shown as possible over and under
exposure are things to consider when viewing
your images.

In the end, whether an image is good or can
be improved is subjective. The histogram and
exposure warnings should help you make your
decision. Knowledge of digital image editing
techniques will help you know what to look for
when using both these tools. Please read the
documentation provided with your image edit­ing software for more information.

rather than the solid area in the left hand picture.
Certainly, from the point of view of the sky, the
image on the right is better. There are solid areas
of red on the side of the models face, indicat­ing over exposure, but this is direct sunlight and
since the subject of the image is sunbathing this
works well. Part of the models hair shows as under

Adjusting Light Table exposure warnings

You may want to adjust the sensitivity of exposure
warnings. To define the under and over exposure
values that trigger red and blue warnings, see the
Light Table Warnings section of the Preferences ›
Media Rendering › Images dialog.

70 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Organizing catalogs

Moving media in catalogs

To rearrange items in a catalog, click and drag
them to where you want and drop them. You can
drag single items or groups of items.

When dragging items to a new location, a black bar
appears in the location where the files will be placed.

In previous versions of MediaPro, you could
rearrange media files using the Move Items func-
tion in the toolbar. This feature has now been
moved to the View menu. Moving functions are
also accessible in the View sub-menus of the con­textual menu.

This feature enables you to move media items
to the top, or bottom of a catalog. You can also
move an item or group of items to a specific loca­tion within the catalog.

When you choose the Move to Location func­tion, the cursor will turn into a crosshair. At this
point, use the scroll bars to go to any location
in the catalog, then place the crosshairs at the
desired location and click. Your media items will
drop into the new location. This feature is particu­larly useful for moving files in catalog with a large
number of files, most of which are not visible in
the viewing area.

Move Again will repeat the last move made in
the catalog, whether it be to the top, bottom, loca­tion or a manual drag-and-drop.

Move to New Catalog will take selected items
and create a new MediaPro catalog with them. It
does not remove selected items from the current
catalog.

Organizing Catalogs

The Organize Panel has two windows: Catalog Fields
and Catalog Folders. To show/hide this panel, click the
interface Organize button. Drag the divider to adjust the
size of the two windows.

Organizing Catalogs 71

The Organize Panel

The Organize Panel has two windows: Catalog
Fields index and Catalog Folders. To show or hide
the Organize panel, click the interface button.

Catalog Fields index

The Catalog Fields index is good for global searches

Catalog Fields configuration menu: Use this menu to
show/hide various media attributes and annotations
that you can use for sorting and organizing items.

or groupings, allowing a quick comparison across
hundreds of files, often revealing annotation incon­sistencies among a large number of files. By view­ing your media from a global rather than individual
perspective, you ensure the standardization and
accuracy of annotations across your media.

The Catalog Fields index lists all annotations or
tags present in the catalog. By dragging media
items and dropping them on the existing data
values, you can assign these values to the mul­tiple media items. This significantly speeds up and
simplifies the annotation process.

The Catalog Fields index has two types of

Organizing Catalogs

groups. Read-only groups, such as File Type and
Import Device are attributes that are automati­cally read by MediaPro and cannot be reassigned.
Annotation groups, such as Date Finder or Key-
words, are used to categorize the media and can
be changed at any time.

Use the Catalog Fields index list configuration
menu to show/hide various media attributes and

Read-only groups: These fields show embedded media
attributes that are automatically read by MediaPro and
cannot be reassigned.

annotations. To expand a field, click the arrow next
to its name.

The Catalog Fields index has three sections:

Basic Fields section

Label and Rating: Use this group to show files
with a color label or star rating (see page 63).

Sets: Catalog Sets are a free form, hierarchical
method of organizing media files. You can use
sets to organize playlists, photo albums, projects
or work assignments (see page 75).

Date Finder: When files are added to your cata­log, MediaPro searches for dates already embed­ded in the media. In this order, it looks for the IPTC
Date Created, then the digital camera Capture
Date (EXIF), then the File Creation Date. If a file has

72 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Groups - Date Finder and Place Finder: When files are

added your catalog, MediaPro searches for dates and
locations embedded in your media.

all three, MediaPro will use the IPTC Date Created
as primary date for display in this list.

You can adjust the date assigned to a file by
drag-and-dropping the file onto a different date
field. This assigns the new date to the IPTC Date
Created and does not alter the Capture Date or
File Creation Date for the media file.

The digital camera (EXIF) Capture Date can be
reassigned using the Set Capture Date option in
the Action menu. This operation applies only to
images taken with digital cameras.

If the date you want isn’t available in the list,
use the annotation field drop-down menu to add
a new date. This drop-down menu also provides
you with option to remove a date from the list.
Removing a date will not only delete the date, but
all associated files from the catalog.

Place Finder: A hierarchical display of the IPTC
City, State, Country and Location fields.

Media Fields section

File Type (read-only): Shows a list of all media
sorted by the file format, such as TIFF, JPEG, MPEG,
MP3, etc.

Import Devices (read-only): This list categorizes
media by the digital device that created the file.
Digital cameras and some scanners record this
information in every image they capture (EXIF
metadata). Media items that do not have a device
assigned will not be represented in this list.

Color Profiles (read-only): Displays media based
on the color profile (ICC) embedded in the media
file. Media items that do not have a color profile
assigned will not be represented in this list. Color
profiles can only be assigned to files using the
Manage Color Profile option in the Action menu,
and cannot be assigned through drag-and-drop
to the Catalog Index.

Sample Color: A sample color is generated when
the media is imported, based on the dominant color
of the image. To change a media item’s sample color,
you can choose Set Sample Color from the Action
menu, or you can drag-and-drop the item onto any
sample color in this list.

Add a term: Open an annotation group, such as Events,
then click the plus sign at the top of the Fields panel.

Organizing Catalogs

Add a term: Select the annotation field you want to
add a term to, then type the term in the field below.
Check Add selected items to associate this term with any
actively selected media items.

Annotation Fields section

These fields give you an alternative way to assign
metadata organization to your media files, as
opposed to entering this data in the Info Panel.

These fields in the Catalog Fields index are all
part of the IPTC/XMP and QuickTime standards.
They are: Title, Event, Date Created, Status, Creator,

Provider, Source, Keywords, Categories, Scenes, Sub-
ject Codes and Intellectual Genre. Custom annota-

tion fields also appear here.

Instead of assigning these annotations in the
Info Panel, you can create an annotation field in
any of these groups, then drag-and-drop media
on the field name and the annotation will be
assigned to the item. This significantly speeds up
and simplifies the annotation process.

If you switch over to the Info Panel, you will
notice that same annotation is represented in the
corresponding annotation field.

Conversely, if you add metadata to an annota­tion in the Info Panel, it will also appear in the cor­responding group in the Catalog Fields index.

Organizing Catalogs 73

Add an item to an annotation term: Select a file,
or group of files, then drag-and-drop them on to an
annotation field (above) in the Catalog Fields index.
If you switch over to the Info Panel (left), you will
notice that same annotation is represented in the
corresponding field for that file. Conversely, if you add
metadata to an annotation in the Info Panel, it will also
appear in the corresponding term in Catalog Fields.

Working with annotations

Open/close an annotation group: Click the field
label of the group.

Organizing Catalogs

Add an annotation term: Select an annotation
group, such as Events, then press the plus sign (+)
at the top of the Catalog Fields index. Type the
name of your annotation term. All new terms are
stored in the vocabulary for the respective field.

Locating media by metadata: To find items that are
associated with an annotation or attribute, click the dot
next to the field label in the Catalog Field index. When
MediaPro is showing only those files, the dot is green.

Add an item to an annotation term: Select
an item, or group of items, then drag-and-drop
them onto an annotation term. Associating an
item with an annotation term in a catalog does
not affect the original file.

Restoring the catalog: After you sort a catalog, use the
Show All Items icon in your toolbar to reveal hidden items.

Remove an item from an annotation: Click
the dot next to an annotation term, showing
only those files associated to it. Select a item, or
group of items, and press the Delete key. A dia­log will ask if you want to remove this item from
the annotation term or the entire catalog. If you
switch over to the Info Panel, you will notice that
the same annotation has been removed from the
corresponding annotation field.

To find files that match an attribute (date, file
type) or annotation (events, locations, etc.), click
the dot next to term in the Catalog Fields index
and the corresponding files appear in the active
view (see figure above). This will hide all files that
do not match that annotation or attribute. This is
useful for finding a particular group of files which
can now be batch processed, exported, reorga­nized or printed.

Locating media by fields

Once you have assigned media to various anno­tation terms, you can now filter the catalog using
the Catalog Field index.

After you have found your files, use Show All in
the Find menu to reveal all the hidden files in your
catalog. You can also use the Show All Items icon
in your toolbar to show all files.

74 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Add/remove sets

Set

Subset

container

Icons are
assigned by
the first item
associated
with a set.

File types that
do not have
thumbnails,
such as MP3s,
have generic
set icons.

Catalog Sets

Catalog Sets are a free form, hierarchical method
of organizing media files. You can use sets to orga­nize playlists, photo albums, work assignments or
to create a complex system of categorization.

Sets can be used to quickly display sub-groups
of items in a catalog, and to maintain their order,
even after items within the sets have been moved
or sorted. These catalog sub-groups can then be
used in export functions such as slide show pre­sentations, quick searches, classifications, printing,
and Web pages.

Any media item can belong to more than one
set, allowing catalogs to be logically organized
into sets for different projects, clients or themes,
without confusing the overall annotation or clas­sification of files in the catalog.

Sets can be reordered to change the hierarchy
of an individual set within the group of sets.

View sets: Open the Organize Panel by click­ing the interface button. Sets are located in the
Catalog Fields index.

Click the dot next to
any field term and the
corresponding items will
appear in the active view.

Individual sets menus
offer the option to select
images associated with
that field in the active
view.

Create a set by clicking on the plus sign (+) at
the top of the Catalog Fields index. In the dialog,
type the set name. Make sure the Field drop-down
menu has Catalog Sets selected before pressing
the OK button.

Add media items to a set: There are two ways
to add items to a set.

1. Drag-and-drop one or more media items from

the catalog’s active window to the set name.

2.

Select an item, and choose Add Term to Selected
Media Items from the set’s drop-down menu.

When you add media items to, or remove them
from a set, the set counter to the right of the set
name automatically updates.

Remove items from sets: Click the dot next to
the set name to show only associated set items
in the active view. Select the items you wish to
remove from the set and press the Delete key. A
dialog will prompt you to choose whether you
want to remove the item from the set or the cat­alog. If you remove the item from the set, it still
remains in the main catalog.

Organizing Catalogs

Organizing Catalogs 75

You can also remove items from sets by select­ing Remove Term from Selected Media Items in each
set’s menu.

Display a set: Click dot next to the set name
in the Organize Panel. This displays the items of
the selected set in the active view, hiding all other
files in the catalog. Use the Show All function in
the Find menu to reverse this feature, revealing
all hidden files. You can also use the Show All Items
toolbar icon to reveal hidden files.

Once you have displayed a set in the active view,

Create a set: Click the plus sign at the top of the
Catalog Fields index to create a new set.

you can perform batch commands or export func­tions without affecting the rest of the catalog.

Display a group of sets: Click the higher level set
in a hierarchy of sets. This will display all items asso­ciated with all sub-sets. You can also display a group
of sets by clicking the dot next to each set name
and holding down the Ctrl key (Mac: Cmd key).

Select set items: To select all media items asso­ciated with a set, choose Select Media Items in a

Organizing Catalogs

sets’ drop-down menu. This is useful for selecting

Add files to a set: Select a file, or group of media files,
and drag-and-drop them from the catalog’s active
window to the set name.

items without having to first display the set.

Restoring the catalog: After you sort a catalog
using sets, use Show All in the Find menu to show all
the items in your catalog. You can also use the Show
All Items icon in your toolbar to show all items.

Set associations stay with a media item when
you copy media items from one catalog to anoth­er, and when you merge catalogs.

Sync: Sets can now be synchronized (written)
into the original file. It is written to a custom XMP

Reorder sets: Sets can be shifted around to change the
level or relative position of an individual set within the
group of sets.

annotation field.

Capture Sets: This feature will group a burst
of images or bracketed exposures based on time
intervals between shots. To create these sets:

1. Choose Create Capture Sets in the Make menu.

2.

In the Options box, define the interval by en-

tering the number of seconds between shots.
Then click OK.

3.

Your Capture Sets will now be available in the

Catalog Sets section of the Organize Panel’s
Catalog Fields index.

Capture Sets can also be defined during the
Import from Camera function (page 18).

Capture Sets are a way to group images based on time
intervals between shooting photos.

76 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

File renaming

Good digital asset management strategy starts
with having unique, meaningful filenames. For
creative professionals — who can easily produce
huge volumes of media in a relatively short time
— this is particularly important.

When an image collection grows past a thou­sand files it is easy to have filename problems,
such as having two images with the same name.

Most digital cameras have a sequential photo
numbering option. With this option on, every image
will have a unique filename, such as DSC0211.jpg,
DSC0212.jpg, DSC0213.jpg, etc.

Sequential numbers allow you to move files
around easily without having to rename them to
avoid duplication of filenames. Sequential numbers
are also useful when you must find other photos
that were taken at the same time or in the same
place. However, sequential numbering is only part
of the solution to a good filename.

Filenaming conventions

A valuable filename also includes additional infor­mation such as date, author, client name, project
name or subject of a photo shoot. It also might
contain business-related information such as prod­uct or part numbers (see figure below).

Standardizing on a particular filenaming con­vention offers several advantages for photo man­agement workflows:

• It is difficult to create two files with the same

filename. This makes them easier to identify
and reduces problems with duplication.

• If you always include a standardized date in
the filename, such as the Capture Date, you
can easily locate a file.

• With sequentially numbered files, a folder
of images on your desktop is automatically
sorted into chronological order.

• Workgroups use the same conventions, there­by promoting consistency across the organi­zation and facilitating file retrieval.

• By looking at just the filename, you will know
a lot about the image (i.e. date created, person
who took the image, subject or client, and the
order in which it was created).

• If you decide to switch image management
applications, or are running several database
applications, important metadata can be
derived from the filename.
Your filenaming convention should be spe-

cific to your business and archiving needs. For a
large catalog of stock images, you could use the
Dewey Decimal or U.S. Library of Congress system
to identify the subject of the photographs.

The key is to integrate the naming system into

your workflow so that every file is named properly
before it ends up in an archive.

Ultimately, if you create specific guidelines for

filenaming and stick to them, you and everyone
you work with will be able to easily identify, locate
and share those files.

Organizing Catalogs

Filename examples Name components

lexus_newsletter_0904_001.tif Client name, project, publication date and sequential numbering

wegatv_KDF42WE655_012.jpg Product name, product ID and sequential numbering

hourmedia_040623_066.pdf Client name, 6-digit date (YYMMDD) and sequential numbering

hollywood_040721_0457.jpg Subject, 6-digit date (YYMMDD), slide ID (for scanned images)

smith_jones_040721_sb_0215.jpg Bride, groom, 6-digit date (YYMMDD), creator’s initials, sequential numbering

job314_040727_0013.jpg Job number, 6-digit date (YYMMDD), sequential numbering

20040721_P_0525.jpg 8-digit date (YYYYMMDD), subject code (Portrait) and sequential numbering

For recommendations for image filenaming strategies, see David Riecks’ Controlled Vocabulary web site.
http://www.controlledvocabulary.com/imagedatabases/filenaming.html

Organizing Catalogs 77

Date uses the IPTC
Date Created, the EXIF
Capture Date or the
file Creation Date to
rename items.

You can adjust the date
using various tags:

MM = Month
DD = Day
YYYY = 4-digit Year
YY = 2-digit Year
hh = Hours
mm = Minutes
ss = Seconds

Preview window
shows a list of your
files before and after
the batch rename.

For repeat use of your
settings, save them
using the Option Sets
pop-up menu.

Adjust the zero padding
by defining the number
of digits for sequential
numbering.

Change case to:
lowercase, UPPERCASE
or Title Case.

Organizing Catalogs

Batch renaming in MediaPro

To rename all selected catalog items, as well as the
corresponding original files, choose Action › Batch
Rename. The Batch Rename function provides
four options for renaming files: Date, Text, Sequen-
tial Numbering, and Filename. Up to three options
can be combined in various ways to create unique
batch renaming instructions.

Example 1 - Incremental: Use the date, a string of
text and numbering sequence for renaming your
items (see figure above).

1. Select a group of items and choose Action ›
Batch Rename. If you select a single image, the
function will be not be available.

2.

Choose Date from the Rename Options drop-
down menu. This function will automatically
insert either the IPTC Date Created, the EXIF
Capture Date or the file Creation Date in that
priority. MediaPro will display date tags, such
as MM-DD-YYYY, which you can reorder and
use different separators, such as YY_DD_MM.

78 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Click the plus sign (+) button to add another

3.

Rename Option. Choose Text in the Rename
Options drop-down menu.

4. Enter a text string: For example, a string might
be a subject, location or the photographer’s
initials. Use text that will be meaningful to all
items being renamed.

5. Click the plus sign (+) button to add another
Rename Option. Choose Number From in the
Rename Options drop-down menu.

6. Define starting increment: An increment is the
numeric value that is used to start sequential
numbering. For example: if you type “10”, files
will enumerate: sb10.jpg, sb11.jpg, sb12.jpg, etc.
Incremental renaming ignores file types and
will continue to incrementally enumerate
regardless of the file type. This means that if
your first two files are TIFFs and the next two
are JPEGs, then they would be named: 1.tif, 2.tif,

3.jpg, 4.jpg.

7. In the field next to the increment, define num­ber of digits for the sequential numbers. For

Batch rename: Example showing search and replace.

example, if you choose a starting increment of
8 and 3 digits, files will be named: 008, 009, 010.

8. Click the Rename button. File renaming
should be relatively instantaneous, but might
take a few seconds if you are renaming more
than a thousand files.

Tip: MediaPro remembers the last increment
used in batch renaming and automatically pro­vides you with the next increment for additional
batches. For example, if you renamed 50 files, then
later added more files that you wish to rename,
the Number From field would automatically show
51 as starting value for your next batch rename.

Example 2 - Search & Replace

: In this method of
renaming, you can search for text and replace it
with more relevant information. This function is
good for turning sequential digital camera file­names into ones that match your filenaming con­vention, while maintaining the sequential numbers
created by your camera (see figure above).

1. Select a group of items and choose Action ›

Batch Rename. If you select a single image, the
function will be not be available.

2.

Choose Date from the Rename Options drop-
down menu.

3.

Click the plus sign (+) button to add another
Rename Option. Choose Filename in the Re-
name Options drop-down menu.

4. In the Search for field, enter a text string that
you want to replace. In this case, use the string
“DSC” (common to digital cameras).

5. Replace it with a string that follows your
filenaming convention, such as subject or
photographer’s initials.

6. Case sensitive: Check this box to restrain your
search based on the case of the text.

7. Click the Rename button. Now we have turned
DSC09851.jpg into a more usable filename:
20051020_sb_nyc_09851.jpg.

Format Options: For all batch renames, you
can change the case of all text to: lowercase,
UPPERCASE or Title Case. There is also options to
strip diacritical marks such as accents. For example,
you could change “déjà vu” to “deja vu”. Stripping
diacritical marks from filenames is important for in­creasing filename compatibility across platforms.

File renaming scripts

• Rename using Text File (Scripts › Files): This
script uses each line of a text file as a new
name for the selected media items.

Troubleshooting file renaming

• Offline catalog items, such as those on CD, DVD
or removable drives, cannot be renamed.

• Files that are locked by the operating system
cannot by renamed.

Filename compatibility

For maximum portability across Windows, Macin­tosh, and Unix networks and platforms:

• Limit filename length to 31 characters

• Keep filename extensions, such as .jpg, .gif.

• Use underscores ( _ ) to separate blocks of in­formation, instead of dashes or spaces.

• Format dates in a 6 or 8-digit code. For exam­ple, July 21, 2004 should be 040721 (YYMMDD),

Organizing Catalogs

Organizing Catalogs 79

Batch rename Raw +
JPEG Example 1

Date uses the EXIF

Capture Date when
renaming digital
camera files.

You can adjust the date
using various tags:

MM = Month
DD = Day
YYYY = 4-digit Year
YY = 2-digit Year
hh = Hours
mm = Minutes
ss = Seconds

Preview window
shows a list of your
files before and after
the batch rename.

For repeat use of your
settings, save them
using the Option Sets
pop-up menu.

Enter a string of
text that you want
to remove from the
original filename. In
this example, we are
appending the original
filename to the new
name, but stripping
out the “DSC_” text.
This effectively adds
the original sequential
numbering created by
the digital camera.

Organizing Catalogs

or 20040721 (YYYYMMDD). This will help keep
files sorted in their proper order in the folders
on your desktops and removable media.

Batch renaming Raw + JPEG

iView MediaPro 3 does not have a specific function
to batch rename Raw+JPEG simultaneously. How­ever, MediaPro’s batch rename feature can simulta­neously rename Raw+JPEG, if you are willing to use
the original sequential numbering created by your
digital camera. Here’s how it done:

Raw+JPEG, Example 1

1. Import your Raw and JPEG files into a

MediaPro catalog.

2.

Sort the catalog by filename. This can be done
by choosing Filename the Sort toolbar menu.
Your catalog should now have Raw and JPEG
files of the same name next to each other.

3.

Select all items in the catalog and choose Ac­tion › Batch Rename.

4. Choose Date from the Rename Options drop-

80 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

down menu. This function will automatically
insert the EXIF Capture Date for digital camera
images. MediaPro will display date tags, such
as MM-DD-YYYY- hh-mm-ss, which you can
reorder and use different separators, such as
YY_DD_MM.

5. Click the plus sign (+) button to add another
Rename Option. Choose Text in the Rename
Options drop-down menu.

6. Enter a text string: For example, a string might
be a subject, location or the photographer’s
initials. Use text that will be meaningful to all
items being renamed.

7. Click the plus sign (+) button to add another
Rename Option. Choose Filename in the
Rename Options drop-down menu. This func­tion appends the original filename to the new
name.

8. In the Search for field, enter a text string that
you want to remove. In this case, use the string
“DSC_” (common to digital cameras). By doing
this, we are maintaining the sequential

numbers created by your camera (see figure
above).

9. In the Preview window, notice that MediaPro is
going to rename the Raw and JPEG files in the
same manner.

10. Optional: In the upper right hand corner of
the batch rename dialog, there is an Option
Set drop-down menu. This menu is useful for
storing and recalling batch rename options.
In this menu, choose Save as and name your
Raw+JPEG renaming options. This way, you can
easily recall these settings on future catalogs.

11. Click the Rename button. Now we have
batch renamed Raw and JPEG files using the
sequential numbering created by the digital
camera.

Tip: MediaPro remembers the last increment
used in batch renaming and automatically pro­vides you with the next increment for additional
batches. For example, if you renamed 50 files, then
later added more files that you wish to rename,
the Number From field would automatically show
51 as starting value for your next batch rename.

Filter by File Type: Click the dot next to JPEG in the
File Type annotation group in the Organize Panel. This
will make MediaPro show only JPEG files in the catalog,
making them available to rename. After renaming them,
repeat this process, filtering by Raw files.

Organizing Catalogs

Raw+JPEG, Example 2

: If you want to create
your own sequential numbers when renaming
Raw+JPEG files, you will need to run two batches
— one for the Raw files and one for JPEGs .

1. Open the Organize Panel. Reveal the File Type

annotation group in the Catalog Fields index
by clicking the arrow.

2.

Click on the dot (see figure right) next to the
number of JPEG files. This will make MediaPro
show only JPEG files in the catalog.

3.

Select all JPEGs and choose Action › Batch
Rename.

4. Add your Date and Text strings as needed.

5. Click the plus sign (+) button to add another

Rename Option. Choose Number From in the
Rename Options drop-down menu.

6. Define starting increment: An increment is the
numeric value that is used to start sequential
numbering. For example: if you type “10”, files
will enumerate: sb10.jpg, sb11.jpg, sb12.jpg, etc.

Batch rename Raw + JPEG, Example 2

(see figure).

7. In the field next to the increment, define num­ber of digits for the sequential numbers. For
example, if you choose a starting increment of
8 and 3 digits, files will be named: 008, 009, 010.

8. Click the Rename button. File renaming
should be relatively instantaneous, but might
take a few seconds if you are renaming more
than a thousand files.

9. Repeat steps 2-8 for the Raw files.

Organizing Catalogs 81

Organizing original files

Move to Recycle Bin (Toolbar): Removes selected

files from the catalog and moves the originals to
the Recycle Bin. MediaPro does not empty the Re­cycle Bin. If you change your mind, you can always
open the Recycle Bin and move files back to their
original location.

Transfer to Folder (Action menu): Gives you

three options for copying and moving files.

• Move files: Moves media files to a new folder,
deleting original files. Catalog items will refer
to the new files in the new folder.

• Copy files: Copies media files to a new folder,
keeping the original files. Catalog items will
refer to the files in the new folder.

• Duplicate files: Copies media files to a new
folder. Catalog items and referenced files will
remain unchanged.
Folders Panel (Catalog Index). Drag-and-drop

Organizing Catalogs

any file from your catalog onto a folder in the Fold­ers Panel. This moves the location of a file to a dif­ferent folder on your computer. The path to the file
is automatically updated in the catalog.

Finder Properties: These commands allow you

to manipulate various attributes of files that de­termine how the Finder displays and opens them,
as well as the accessibility or visibility of files by
other users.

In the Action menu (Mac only)

• Set Creator: For changing the 4-character file
creator that the media file is associated with.
For example, it’s useful for changing files with
QuickTime creator to a Photoshop creator.
This will allow you to double-click the files
and open them with Photoshop.

• Desktop icons: For easy identification of files
within the application or in the Finder, this
will replace generic desktop icons with image
icons of original files.

• Media Thumbnails exports and embeds a
small thumbnail into original referenced files
outside the catalog. This preview can be read
by a number of media editing applications
which use built-in thumbnails in their

Finder Properties (Mac OS X): A media file’s Finder info,
with lock status and icon created by MediaPro.

opening dialog for quick identification.

• Lock Status will lock or unlock files in the
Finder.

• Delete Resource Fork will remove the resource
fork, which can contain thumbnails, icons and
various metadata, from a media file.

In the AppleScript-Files menu (Mac only)

• Set File Comment will save the Caption field
inside the file’s comment field, visible in the
Finder and the Get Info window of original files.
When the operating system indexes your files
on the desktop, your media file captions will
now be part of your Spotlight search index.
Version Control (Image Editor): This is useful

both for individuals and small work groups to
browse and track different versions of the same
files. This is particularly useful as a backup as well
as for reverting to different versions (see section

on Version Control, page 134).

82 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Catalog Folders: Click the Organize toolbar button to show/hide the Catalog Folders panel (Window menu).

To expand
all folders,
Alt+Click (Mac:
Option+Click)
on the volume
arrow.

Green folders
indicate auto­update is on.

Blue arrows
indicate
that new,
uncataloged
images are
in this folder.
Select Update
Folder Now to
import these
new items.

Indicates that
the volume is
not available.

Catalog Folders

MediaPro offers advanced folder management to
enhance your workflow and provide direct con­trol over your file system. Catalog Folders is a sec­tion of the Organize Panel, which can be shown
by clicking the Organize interface button.

Folder watching

Catalog-wide folder watching can be enabled to
monitor folders which contain media within your
catalog. To enable folder watching, select an option
from the catalog folder watching menu — either
update folders Every minute or Every 5 minutes.

When new media items are added to any folder,
MediaPro alerts you to the new content (shown
by a blue arrow on the folder icon). You can then
choose to import these new files directly to your
catalog by selecting Update Folder Now from the
individual folder’s drop-down menu.

To turn off folder watching, select Never from
the catalog folder watching menu.

Green indicates Folder Watching is on

Folder watching menu

See page 89 for instructions on
Union of Folder Hierarchies

Click the grey oval next to any folder
to display only cataloged items in
that folder. Green indicates active.

Organizing Catalogs

Individual folder menu : Reveal this
menu by right-clicking (Mac: Option­clicking on the folder name.

Auto-update folder watching

Auto-update takes folder watching to the next
level by automatically importing from selected
folders when new media are added.

To enable this feature, select Switch Auto-
Update On in the drop-down menu of the folder
that you want to be constantly monitored. Once
new media is added to that folder, and any sub­folder, MediaPro will automatically import those
items into to your catalog. Auto-update folders
are designated green.

Additional folder functions
Remove folder and its contents: This function

in the folder drop-down menu removes a folder
and its contents from the catalog but not from

Organizing Catalogs 83

To move one or more files to a different folder on your desktop, drag-and-drop the file onto a folder icon in the
Catalog Folders section of the Organize Panel. This operation cannot be undone.

the hard drive.

Reset folder path: This folder drop-down menu
feature is useful if you have moved a folder of files
to a new location but the catalog still thinks it
resides in the old location. This command is much
faster than the Reset Paths command in the Find
menu, but assumes that the contents of the folder
in question have not been reorganized.

Organizing Catalogs

Display contents of a folder: Click the dot next
to the number for each folder, or choose Select
Media Items in a folder’s drop-down menu. This
displays the items of the selected folder in the
active view, hiding all other files in the catalog. Use
the Show All function in the Find menu to reverse
this feature, revealing all hidden items. Once you
have displayed a folder in the active view, you can
easily perform batch commands or export func­tions without affecting the rest of the catalog.

Display a group of folders: Click the dot next to
the number for a high-level folder. This will display
all items associated with the high-level folder and
subfolders. Alternatively, you can display a group of
folders by clicking each dot and holding down the
Ctrl key (Mac: Cmd key).

Select folder items: To select all media items
associated with a folder, choose Select Media Items
in a folder’s drop-down menu. This is useful for
selecting items without having to first display the
folder’s contents.

you to directly use system file operations. Most of
these functions cannot be undone, as they directly
manipulate files and folders on the desktop.

• Open Folder reveals folders and its contents in
the desktop.

• Create sub-folder will create a new folder on
the desktop. You can name it from the Catalog
Folders section.

• To rename a folder on the desktop simply click
on the name in the Catalog Folders list and
retype the name.

• Move Folder to Trash removes files and folders
from the catalog and hard disk. This feature
moves files and folders to the desktop Trash/
Recycle Bin, but does not empty it.

• Move files directly around the file system from
within the catalog. To move a file to a different
folder on your computer, drag-and-drop the
file onto a folder icon in the Catalog Fold­ers section. The media files will be physically
moved to the folder selected.

• Transfer To Folder (Action menu) gives you
three options for copying and moving files:
Move files: Moves media files to a new folder,
deleting original files. Catalog items will refer
to the new files in the new folder. Copy files:
Copies media files to a new folder, keeping the
original files. Catalog items will refer to the files
in the new folder. Duplicate files: Copies media
files to a new folder. Catalog items and refer-

Direct folder manipulation

enced files will remain unchanged.

MediaPro also offers several features that enable

84 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Finding and sorting media in catalogs

iView MediaPro offers a number of ways to find
and sort media files, as well as related file, media
and tag attributes, in open catalogs.

Instant catalog searching

You can search catalogs quickly and directly from
the search box in the catalog toolbar. Searching is
case-insensitive and includes all annotations (EXIF,
IPTC Annotations, Descriptions, etc.), media fields
and catalog set names.

To perform a search, simply type the word or
words in the search box and press the Return or
Enter key. Results are presented in the active cata­log view.

After you have found your items, use Show All
in the Find menu to show all the items in your
catalog. You can also use the Show All Items icon
(house) in your toolbar.

Find command

The Find command (Find menu) can search more
than 50 different media attributes, annotations
and custom fields inside your catalogs.

Using the Find items in pop-up menu, you have
the option of searching the active or front catalog,
all open catalogs, recent catalogs or all catalogs in

Search box: Type the word or words in this field and
press the Return or Enter key. Results are presented in
the active catalog view.

a particular folder. The Find command also has
the ability to perform compound (a.k.a. Boolean)
searches of attributes using “and/or” commands.

To add or subtract search criteria, use the plus
and minus buttons in the upper-right corner of
the dialog.

Results of your search are defined by the pull­down menu in the lower-left corner of the Find
dialog box. Find next will highlight the first item
that meets your search criteria. Select all will select
items that meet your criteria. Show all will hide all
items in the catalog that do not meet your criteria.
Show all in a new catalog will place all matching
results in new catalog.

Searches can be saved for later recall in the
drop-down menu in the upper-right corner of
the Find dialog box.

Finding Media

Results: Define how you want search results displayed.

Add or Subtract search criteria using these buttons.Find items in: Define the catalogs you wish to search.

Save searches

for easy access
in this drop­down menu.

Boolean
commands

for compound
searches.

Finding Media 85

Catalog Fields: Find files that match a property (date, media format) or metadata field (events, locations, etc.).

List configuration menu: Select Show/Hide Fields

display various media attributes and annotations
fields in the Catalog Fields index. This will launch a
palette where you can turn fields on or off (below).

Indicates the number
of media in the catalog
associated with the
attribute or annotation.

Click the dot next to any field
term in the Catalog Fields index
and the corresponding items
will appear in the active view.

Finding Media

Filtering and sorting by metadata

Catalog Fields index - Organize Panel: To find

items that match an attribute (date, media format)
or annotation (events, locations, etc.), click on the
dot next to the field name in the Catalog Field
index of the Organize panel (see figure above). This
will make the corresponding items appear in the
active view of the catalog. When a catalog is being
filtered to show only items assigned to a field, the
dot will turn green.

Use the Catalog Fields index list configuration
menu to show or hide various media attributes
and annotations that you can use for sorting func­tions in the Organize panel (see figure above).

Sort (Toolbar icon) lets you view and sort files
by more than 25 attributes and annotations,
including custom fields. iView MediaPro can also
shuffle files randomly for slide show viewing. The
Default option returns the organization of items
to that of the last saved version of the catalog.

Show Labeled (Find menu): Show only those

Click to invert
sort order of

items in catalog.

items that have been marked with a color label in
your catalog. Labeled items can also be sorted by
each label using the Label section of the Catalog
Fields index. The Show Labeled option is also avail-
able in the Slide Show controller.

Show Rated: (Find menu): Show only those
items that have been marked with a star rating
in your catalog. Rated media items can also be
sorted by each rating using the Rating section of
the Catalog Fields index.

Click the label of each
column to sort items by that

attribute. Click the label again
to invert the sort order.

86 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

List View: To sort the catalog according to various

attributes and annotations, click the corresponding
label in the Header bar above the media viewing
area. To invert the sort order, click the arrow on the
far left of the header bar. Use View Options (Window
menu) to show or hide up to 10 media attributes
and annotations in the Header bar.

Filtering by sets and folders

Filter by a set: Click the dot next to any set or

container name in the Catalog Index. This dis­plays the items of the selected set in the active
view, hiding all other files in the catalog.

Filter by folders: Find files by their location on
your computer or removable disks, by clicking the
dot next to the appropriate folder name in the
Catalog Folders section of the Organize Panel. The
corresponding files will appear in the active view.

You can also display a group of sets or folders by
right-clicking (Mac: Option-clicking) each folder or
set name and selecting Show Media Items from the
drop-down menu.

Filtering options: After selecting one field in
the Organize Panel, hold down the Ctrl key (Mac:
Cmd key) and click on another dot to show the
union of both fields in the media viewing area.
This is the same as using the Find command to
search for one criteria plus another criteria. For
additional information on filtering sets and fold­ers using a union or intersection of terms, see the
next page.

Other sorting options

Show Similar Items: Use this function in the Find

menu to display media items with similar visual
appearance, or with similar file names.

You may have to experiment with the Match-

ing settings to get optimal results. Check Match
selected items only to find media in the catalog

similar to the items selected.

Show Last Import: This is useful if you are
downloading multiple media cards and you need
to view only items from the previous import.

States: As you search, sort and organize your

Filter by a set: Click the dot next to any field

term or folder in the Organize Panel and the
corresponding items will appear in the active view.

Hold down the Ctrl key (Mac: Cmd key) and click
on another dot to show the union of both fields
in the media viewing area.

Finding Media

Show Similar Items : Use to find media will similar
visual appearance or with similar names.

State Arrows: As you search, sort and organize your
catalog, certain files will become hidden. To restore your
catalog and view all files, click on the Home (Show All
Items) toolbar icon. Or you can use the state arrows to
navigate back and forth among various states that your
catalog has shown during the searching and sorting
process in the Organize Panel.

catalog, certain files will become hidden. To re­store your catalog and view all files, click on the
Home (Show All Items) toolbar icon. Or you can
use the state arrows to navigate back and forth
among various states that your catalog has shown
during the searching and sorting process in the
Organize Panel.

Finding Media 87

Filtering by multiple terms

There are several ways to use the Organize Panel
for complex catalog filtering and sorting using
multiple metadata terms.

Intersecting terms

To display media items that are tagged with two
metadata terms, do the following:

1. Open Organize Panel, and expand the Key-
words group.

2.

In the List Configuration drop-down menu
at the top of the Organize Panel, ensure that
there is not a check mark next to Union of Terms
in Repeating Fields. This drop-down menu is
accessed by clicking on the dark gray circle at
in the Catalog Fields label bar (see figure right).

3.

In the area for the “keyword A”, click on the
gray oval to right of the keyword name which
contains the number of catalog items associ­ated with that keyword. When you click this
gray oval, a green dot should appear and the

Finding Media

items associated with that keyword should be
displayed in the active view.

4. Holding down the Ctrl key (on Mac: the Com­mand/Apple key) and click on the gray oval
next to the keyword you want to “intersect”
with “keyword A”. In this example, this would
be “keyword B.” A green dot should appear in
the gray oval for this keyword as well.

5. What should finally be displayed is only
images that have both keywords, “keyword A”
and “keyword B”.

Note: The Union of Terms in Repeating Fields func-

tion only applies to metadata fields that have
multiple terms. These are: Keywords, Categories,
Contact (People), Scenes and Subject Codes.
Otherwise, all selections in the Organize Panel
that span multiple metadata fields or groups
will be intersections. For example, if you
clicked on the JPEG file type, the year 2005 in
the Date Finder and the keyword “activities”
the result would be an intersection of those
terms (see figure left).

Catalog Fields configuration menu: Use this menu to
change the way the Organize Panel sorts and displays
media items in the catalog. Checkmark indicates active.

Union vs. Intersection: When the Union of Terms in
Repeating Fields option is turned on, MediaPro will display

all media items associated each term. In this example,
all items with the keyword chair, and all items with
keyword woman will be displayed. If the Union of Terms in
Repeating Fields option is turned off, then only the media
items that have both chair and woman will be displayed.

Intersection: The results of all selections spanning
multiple metadata fields or groups in the Organize Panel
will be displayed as an intersection of those terms.

88 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Union of terms

To display all media items that have the “keyword
A” and all media items that have the “keyword B”,
repeat the intersection instructions, but instead,
place a check mark in front of Union of Terms in
Repeating Fields in the Organize Panel’s List Con­figuration menu. You do this by simply selecting
those words in the List Configuration menu.

Handling a hierarchy of terms

In the Organize Panel, some metadata fields have
terms displayed in a hierarchy. These include Cata-

log Sets, Catalog Folders, Date Finder and the Place
Finder.

There is a key option, Union of Field Hierarchies,
in the Organize Panel’s List Configuration menu
that will govern how you can interact with these
term hierarchies.

If the Union of Field Hierarchies option is not
turned on, the Organize Panel will only display the
number of media items associated with the each
level of any hierarchical metadata group, includ­ing Catalog Sets, Catalog Folders, Date Finder, and
Place Finder. When this option is not turned on,
higher levels of a hierarchy cannot be used to fil­ter a catalog (see figure A).

If the Union of Field Hierarchies option is turned
on, the higher levels of any hierarchical metadata
group in the Organize Panel will display the aggre­gate number of media items associated with any
sub-levels of the hierarchy. In figure B (right), the
number 9 in parentheses represents the number
of all items associated with the dates in March.

In some hierarchies, such as Catalog Folders or
Catalog Sets, there will be two numbers displayed
(see figure C). The first number represents the num-
ber of cataloged items that are stored in that folder
or set. The number in parentheses represents the
number of cataloged items stored in all sub-folders
or sub-sets.

You can turn on the Union of Field Hierarchies
option for Catalog Folders in the Folder Watching
menu at the top of the Catalog Folders pane.

A. Without hierarchy option: If the Union of Field
Hierarchies option is not turned on, the Organize Panel

will only display the number of media items associated
with the each level of any hierarchical metadata field,
including Catalog Sets, Catalog Folders, Date Finder, and
Place Finder. When this option is not turned on, higher
levels of a hierarchy cannot be used to filter a catalog.

Finding Media

B. With hierarchy option: If the Union of Field Hierarchies
option is turned on, the higher levels of any hierarchical
metadata group in the Organize Panel will display the
aggregate number of media items associated with any
sub-levels of the hiearchy. In the example above, the
number 9 in parentheses represents the number of all
items associated with the dates in March.

C. Folder hierarchy: The first number represents the
number of cataloged items that are stored in that folder.
The number in parentheses respresents the number of
cataloged items stored in all subfolders.

Finding Media 89

Finding original files

Show Media File (Toolbar) reveals the location of

the selected media item(s) on the desktop.

Find Duplicate Items (Find menu) searches
for similar or duplicate files, allowing you to set
the level of similarity (tight or loose). Additional
options: Ignore brightness is good if you want to
exclude image brightness quality. Compare items
with similar names is useful for imports of images
from digital cameras that reuse file names, which
can conflict with a previous import.

Duplicate results are presented in the open cata­log, hiding all other items. This allows you to iden­tify and compare items, side by side, and rename
or discard them. Afterward, use Show All in the Find
menu to reveal hidden items.

Find Missing Items (Find menu) searches
for broken links to media files and highlights all
unmounted or missing items in the catalog. You
can then remove them from the catalog or search
for them in a specific directory.

MediaPro stores the path of the original file and

Finding Media

can detect if the file has moved in a relative path.
If the file name has changed, the file or folder has
moved, or the file, folder or volume is no longer
mounted, the full size image in Media View will no
longer be available and an error message appears
in red text in the Header bar.

The thumbnail and annotation data is kept in
the catalog but the path to the full size image,
movie, or sound is no longer correct. To rectify this,
you can use the Reset Paths dialog (Find menu) to
amend the file paths.

Restoring the catalog: After you sort a catalog, use the
Show All Items icon in your toolbar to reveal hidden files.

Reset Paths dialog, once results have been found.

Reset Paths (Find menu) allows you to reassign

or modify the path, for one or more items. Using
the dialog, navigate to and select the folder or
directory where the file(s) now reside. MediaPro
will display each file in a window for you to con­firm each file’s path restoration. If you have a group
of files, and you are certain that all the new paths
are correct, you can use the Accept All button in to
avoid having to confirm each to new path.

However, if you have simply moved or renamed
an entire folder or disk, it is much faster to use the
Reset folder path command in Catalog Folders pane
of the Organize panel (see page 83).

90 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Slide Shows

iView MediaPro enables you to view or project a
slide show presentation with your photographs,
movies and audio soundtracks.

Slide show basics

• To start, click the Slide Show button in the
toolbar.

• During the slide show, click the Escape (ESC)
key or double-click to exit.

• The slide show is controlled via the floating
controller, which you can display or hide by
pressing the Enter or Return key.
Audio: MediaPro slide shows can contain a

single (background) audio channel. Sound items
included in a catalog are always queued into the
audio channel. If you place an audio file at the
beginning of a slide show of images, it plays dur­ing the presentation.

Video: MediaPro slide shows can display up

to 16 video channels. All media types (including
images, movies) are played in one or more video
channels depending on your grid selection.

Grids are the arrangement of video channels,

in full-screen, quarter-screen or a variety of other
options. Unless you are using a computer with
a powerful processor, using the slide show with
more than one video channel will place con­siderable strain on your machine and degrade
playback. Experiment with Half or Quarter video
channel grids first before choosing more complex
grids.

Use the Grid drop-down menu of the slide show

controller to change grid styles. There might be a
slight delay when changing grids while MediaPro
loads the media.

Timing: MediaPro lets you specify how long

still images will appear, however movies always
appear for their full duration. To adjust the timing
of images (in seconds), use the up/down arrows
next to the green number on the right hand side
of the controller.

Transitions: MediaPro offers several options

Slide Show controller: Use the Enter or Return key to

hide or show the controller.

Adjust

volume

Exit Back

Control Options

File shown |

Total files in catalog

Play

Pause

Forward

Adjust timing

(in seconds)

Scale

Grid

Transitions

to adjust the transition effect between images.
There are 10 different transition effects, such as
Cross Fade, Barn Horizontal and Radial wipes, as
well as a Random effect option.

Effects defined in the Transitions drop-down
menu of the slide show controller apply globally
to all images of the slide show.

Size of Media: Use the Scale drop-down menu
of the slide show controller to adjust the size of
media on screen. You can also enlarge or reduce
the size of your images with the Zoom In/Out key-
board shortcuts (+ and –). This setting will apply
globally to all images of the slide show.

Slide show controller

The slide show controller palette allows you to
adjust presentation options during a slide show.
To show the controller, press Enter or Return.

This palette is also useful for running presenta­tions on a second screen or projector. If you use
multiple monitors, position your catalog inside
the monitor you want to use for the slide show.
You can start the presentation on that monitor
and keep the controller on the other one.

If you are not using two monitors, displaying
the slide show controller on top of the slide show
stage will impair viewing.

Slide Shows

Slide Shows 91

Slide Show controller: Files panel. Slide Show controller: Info panel.

Use this arrow to show or hide advanced options.

Slide Shows

Show All Items
restores the slide
show list to show all
items. Available after
filtering by labels.

Each media file can have individual Timing, Transition,
Grid and Scale settings. To define one of these settings,
select the file in the list and make a selection from a
drop-down menu in any of the four columns to the right
of the file name (See figure below).

Color Label: Click color bar to assign label

Use arrows to adjust Timing Transition

92 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Show Items by Rating,
Label or Catalog Set will

display only those items with
a particular rating, label or
belonging to a catalog set.

GridScale

Timing

Use these arrows to flip through the various pages of
information. This area shows all available annotations,
metadata and descriptions. The amount of information
varies for each file.

Playback Settings

• Interactive: Using this option enables you to
use the forward/backward arrows of your key­board to manually advance or go back in your
presentation. The up/down arrows work the
same as forward/backward arrows.

• Continuous: This is the default for MediaPro
slide shows. Images will appear on screen for
the specified duration, then automatically
advance to the next image. Movies will appear
on screen for their full duration, then automati­cally advance. You can use the spacebar to
Pause/Play a slide show in Continuous mode.
Also, the forward/backward arrows will manu­ally override the pace of your presentation.

• Random: MediaPro will randomly choose
images and movies to present on screen.

Stage Settings

•

Set background color: Change the background
color of slide shows. The default is set to black.

•

Draw margin between media will add a few
pixels of background color to help sepa­rate items from each other in multi-file grid
arrangements.

Other Options

• Play voice annotations will play any attached
voice annotation whenever a media item is
loaded.

• Play sound from all movies plays all the avail-
able movie audio tracks simultaneously. This
option is only useful when you intend to play
multiple movies in a grid arrangement. If this
feature is disabled, MediaPro plays the back­ground sound channel, as well as the active
movie soundtrack.

Slide show options

The setup features and options can be set prior
to running the slide show, using the Slide Show
Options dialog in the Make menu. This dialog box,
as well as the Controller, allows you to set the fol­lowing options:

Slide Show controller: Text panel.

When the Title annotation is not available, MediaPro
will show the File Name instead.

Slide Shows

Choose text color, alignment, font and size by clicking
on the options.

General Options

• Duration is the flip speed in seconds for each
slide. (In the Controller, the duration can be
adjusted using the up and down arrows on
the top right hand corner of the window.) The
duration applies only when the slide show is
run in non-interactive mode. Note that mov­ies and sounds default to their own duration.
The duration can also be over-ridden by tim­ings set for individual media items.

•

Color: Change the background color of slide
shows. The default is set to black.

• Transition: The current version of MediaPro
offers a basic set of QuickTime effects which

Text options enable you to display a variety of media
information beneath the image.

Slide Shows 93

can be used during slide show media transi­tions. The duration of the transition effects
(1 second) is currently fixed. This setting will
effect all media items, unless individually
defined (see Timings).

• Media Scaling lets you control the scale or size
of media items. You can set this option before
or during an active slide show.

Stage Options

• Stage Grid: The slide show can run the standard
full screen or you can divide the screen into sev­eral video channels, from half, quarter, sixteenth,
to a range of different cell arrangements.

• Custom Grid (Mac only): Click this button to
design a custom slide show grid template.

Playback Options

Slide Show Options: Make menu

• Interactive (or click mode), allows the user to
click the mouse, use the space bar or arrow
keys to advance to the next media item in the
slide show. In this mode, the pause button
changes to a mouse icon. Switch this option
off to run the slide show using timers.

• Continuous mode runs slide show presenta-

Slide Shows

tions in a loop, restarting automatically from
the beginning of the catalog when the slide
show has finished. This mode is useful for
kiosk or exhibition presentations.

• Random: MediaPro will randomly choose
images and movies to present on screen.

Other Options

• Margin between grid cells will add a few pixels
of background color to help separate items
from each other in multi-file grid arrange­ments.

• Play voice annotation will play any attached
voice annotation whenever a media item is

Slide Show Example: Uses a Quarter grid and displays
Photo Info. Ideal for photographers to compare results.

feature is disabled, MediaPro plays only the
background sound channel, as well as the
active movie soundtrack.

• Fade In fades the start and end of shows.

• Show controller will display the slide show
controller during the slide show. Use the Esc
or Return keys to hide the controller.

loaded.

• Play sound from all movies plays all the avail-
able movie audio tracks simultaneously. This
option is only useful when you intend to play
multiple movies in a grid arrangement. If this

Keyboard shortcuts

MediaPro offers a complete set of shortcuts for
keyboard and mouse navigation of slide shows.

See page 144 for a list of these shortcuts.

94 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Save Slide Show as Movie: Available from the Make menu

Quality

Use this pop-up
menu to define the
level of compression
applied to the
exported movie.

QuickTime Player

These options
will embed
information that
will instruct the
QuickTime Player
how to handle the
movie.

Save a slide show as a QuickTime movie

MediaPro provides the option to save a slide show
as a QuickTime movie, so you can distribute a cata­log of images as a movie (with transitions and tim­ing) without the MediaPro application.

A QuickTime movie can be played using Apple’s
QuickTime Player on both Mac and Windows
computers.

Slide shows can be saved with any grid, as well
as generic and individual transition effects and
timings. To create a QuickTime movie slide show,
choose Save Slide Show as Movie... in the Make
menu.

In this dialog, you can define the movie dimen­sions or choose from a pre-defined set of indus­try-standard sizes. To control the background
color, global slide duration (timing) and transition
effects, use the Slide Show Options dialog in the
Make menu.

MediaPro offers a range of playback options
when running QuickTime Player. For instance,
click the checkbox to switch on Auto-Start and Full
Screen Mode options to have your movie played
back in full-screen mode automatically when you
double-click the movie file on the desktop.

Dimensions drop­down menu allows
you to choose from a
list of pre-defined set
of industry-standard
sizes.

Slide Shows

Exported QuickTime Slide Show presentation: If you
choose to include the chapter track, QuickTime places
file name and places it in a pop-up menu.

If you select Include chapter track, QuickTime
will display each file name in a pop-up menu
below the movie (see figure above).

Slide Shows 95

Making slide shows faster

In most cases, two factors affect the speed of
slides shows: grids and media file size.

Grids: Unless you are using a computer with a
powerful processor, slide shows with more than
one video channel will place considerable strain
on your machine and degrade playback. Experi­ment with Half and Quarter video channel grids
first before choosing more complex grids.

File Size: On computers with slower proces­sors, a slide show of 20 MB image files will run
much slower than a slide show with 1 MB image
files. What slows MediaPro down is not necessar­ily the file size, but the actual dimensions of the
media. With larger dimensions, MediaPro has to
dynamically shrink the image to fit the screen. If
the image is the same shape as the screen (4:3
proportion) the delay isn’t too noticeable. But for
portrait images (vertical), the delay can be a few
seconds.

Slide shows on slower computers: If you are
having display or audio issues with your slide show,
it may be asking too much of your computer’s pro­cessor or video card.

One solution is to create temporary copies of

Slide Shows

your images that are optimized for fast on-screen
display. You can do this by using Convert Image
Files... in the Make menu. Here are the parameters
that help:

• Size: Match your screen dimensions (for exam­ple, 1024x768). That way MediaPro won’t have
to resize the image.

• Setting: Match your monitor’s color depth,
such 16-bit or 24-bit (Mac: Thousands or Mil-
lions). This will reduce processor usage.

• Resolution: Use 96 dpi (Mac: 72 dpi), same as
your screen resolution.

• File format: Select an uncompressed format,
such as Bitmap (BMP) or PICT instead of
JPEG. This way the image file won’t have to
be decompressed on the fly, during the slide
show.
Create a new catalog with the converted imag-

es and your slide show will be amazingly fast.

2

5

To add a background soundtrack, place an audio

file as the first file in your catalog.

Adding a soundtrack to a slide show

Use the following instructions to add a background
soundtrack to your slide shows:

1. Create a catalog of images and movies, then
organize them in the order you want them to
appear in the slide show.

2.

Place an audio file (MP3, AIFF, etc.) as the very

first file in the catalog.

3.

Make sure the audio file is selected and then
start your slide show. The music will continue
to play throughout the slide show.

4. When you quit the slide show (ESC key), the
song will automatically fade out.

5. If at any point you want the slide show
to switch to a different song, just place an
audio file at that point. MediaPro will auto­matically fade from the old song to the new
one.

6. If you have Play sound from all movies selected
(in the Slide Show Options of the Make menu),
MediaPro will also play any soundtracks in
your movies, reducing the volume of the
background soundtrack for the duration of
the movie.

96 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Export Features

iView MediaPro can export and convert your media
files in a variety of ways, by selecting options from
the Make menu.

HTML Gallery

With this export function, you can output a cata­log of images and movies as a web site. Photog­raphers, illustrators and designers can use this
option to easily create a portfolio web site of their
work. QuickTime movies can also be exported to
HTML galleries.

Typically, an exported HTML gallery looks simi­lar to the Thumbnail and Media Views of your
catalog. It contains an table of thumbnails which,
when clicked in a web browser, will take you to a
larger image.

iView MediaPro offers you two options when
you create HTML galleries:

1. You can use a default theme to create a web

site based on the View Options of the Thumb-
nail and Media Views in your catalog. Or you
may use any of the visual themes provided
with the application.

2.

You can use your own Themes, which can be

created before exporting and saved inside the

user-defined Plug-Ins › HTML Templates folder
(see page 5). iView MediaPro uses a different
template for the index and media views of
your gallery, and offers a rich vocabulary that
can be used to extract catalog information
(fields, thumbnails, etc.), as well as a high-level
tags for navigation, date, time, etc. Creating
themes requires HTML editing skills. To learn
more about creating themes and templates,
see page 102.

HTML Options: Theme panel, with Default chosen

Export Features

Create a gallery

1. Launch an iView MediaPro catalog of pho-

tos, illustrations, movies or any media file that
can be distributed on the web. MediaPro will
export only the visible items in the catalog. So
make sure the items you want to export are

HTML Options: Themes have pre-defined table
grids, thumbnails and media sizes. However, you can
customize to your liking by modifying these fields.

Export Features 97

Index Page

Media Page

Site Title

Index page links: The number

of thumbnails (across and
down) that appear on an HTML
Index page.

Thumbnails: All of these images
are automatically hyperlinked to
their respective media pages.

Index Table: The number of
thumbnails (across and down) that
appear on an HTML Index page.

File Name

Tip: To reduce the loading time

of your web pages, try to include
less than 25 images on a single
index page. Also, you might try a
smaller thumbnail size.

In some themes, the gallery’s
creation date is added
automatically.

Export Features

98 I VIEW MED IA PR O US ER M AN UAL

Navigation: On Media pages,

the web site viewer can advance
through the gallery using the
previous/next links, or they can
return to the Index page of the
gallery. In some themes (like the
one shown left), icons can be
used in place of these links.

Media size is defined by the
theme chosen. Each theme’s
media page template has HTML
Engine Directives that define
media image size.

Media info: If included in the
theme design, descriptions and
associated metadata (such as
EXIF or IPTC fields) can appear
on Media pages.

displayed in the media viewing area before
you create the gallery. When ready, choose
Make › HTML Gallery.

2. Choose a Theme

: In this dialog, you can define
what your web gallery will look like.
Site Title: This text will appear at the top of the
index page in your gallery. If you don’t want a
title, leave this field blank. Some themes do not
require a site title.
Index Table: Customize how many thumbnails,
across and down, will appear on the Index
page in a gallery.
Theme: Choose from a selection of preset
themes or use Default to create your web site
based on the View Options of the Thumbnail
and Media Views in your catalog. If you use
Default, make sure to choose the desired index
table, Thumbnail and Media size options. All
other themes have pre-defined tables and
media sizes that are designed for optimal
output. You can change the options, however
some themes are written to work with specific
defaults and altering those would produce odd
results. If a produced HTML gallery looks incor­rect try remaking it with the default settings.

3. Adjust your Settings

HTML Extension: Defines the suffix of the
HTML filenames. Options include: htm, html,
shtml, asp, php, xml.
Output: Use numbers for HTML filenames uses
a numerical increment (1,2,3...) for HTML file­names instead of the media filename. Treat
captions as raw HTML enables you to use
HTML code, such as <b></b>, in the Descrip-
tion annotation field.
JPEG Quality: Choose the level of compres­sion applied to thumbnails and media images.
MediaPro now offers the option to set a custom
target size for exported images. If you choose a
target file size, MediaPro will dynamically adjust
the compression level in order for the exported
images to meet or be less than the target size.
Watermark: MediaPro exports images with a
visual watermark — a secondary image which

HTML Options: Settings panel

For repeat use of your settings,
save them using the Options menu.
This is useful if you have alternate
settings using the same theme.

is overlaid on the primary image. See instruc-

tions for using watermarks on page 101.

Frame images: Choosing this option places
a 1 pixel black border around each exported
thumbnail and media image.
Embed annotations: MediaPro will embed
all IPTC/XMP Core annotations into each
exported image.
Preserve color profiles: MediaPro will embed
the ICC color profiles into each exported
thumbnail and media image.
Preserve EXIF/GPS metadata: MediaPro
will embed the EXIF and GPS digital camera
metadata into all exported media images.
Movies: These options adjust the properties of
QuickTime movies on Media pages. Auto Play
will automatically play a movie, once it’s loaded

Export Features

Export Features 99

in a browser; Continuous will make the movie
play in a loop; Display QuickTime Controller
toggles the standard QuickTime controls for a
movie on and off. Kiosk mode hides the options
to save movies and change QuickTime settings
from within a browser window.

4. Define FTP Server Settings: MediaPro can
now upload (or FTP) exported web galler­ies without using third-party software. This
panel provides you with the options to define
the FTP server address, user name, password
and the directory that you want the gallery
uploaded to. You can also define a preview
web address (URL) that will launch in a brows­er when the upload is complete.

5. Enter Theme Fields: Some themes have
variables that you can enter in this panel. For
example, you might have a generic theme for
your professional assignments. This theme
might have special theme fields for you to
enter the client’s name, job number and
assignment details. This information will then
appear on the exported web pages.

6. When completed: Before creating your gal­lery, there are two final options to review. In
order for MediaPro to upload an exported gal­lery, the Upload to server box must be checked.
Check Launch browser when done to have
MediaPro launch the exported web gallery in
the system’s default web browser.

7. Create: After defining your settings, click
Create. The amount of time it takes for iView
MediaPro to create a gallery can vary depend­ing on the number of images, their original
size and the export size. The gallery will launch
in your web browser after export, if that
option is selected.

8. Optional - Upload to server: Once MediaPro
has exported the gallery, a dialog will display
saying “Gallery build is completed. Do you wish
to upload (X) files to the server?” Click OK, and
the progress bar panel will display the progress
of each file as its being uploaded to your server.
The number of files to be uploaded may seem
like a lot, but many of them are small (such as
thumbnails) and will upload quickly.

FTP Server
Settings

Preview: In this

field, write the
complete URL
for the exported

Export Features

gallery. Make
sure that you
have typed the
same upload
folder name that
you designated
in the Folder field.

Upload to
server: In order

for MediaPro
to upload an
exported gallery,
the Upload to
server box must
be checked.

100 IVI EW ME DI AP RO U SE R MA NUA L

Server: Enter the FTP address for

your server. For example:
ftp.ourmedia.org. As various servers
are defined, they are stored in this
drop-down menu for later reuse.

Enter the user name and password
information for your FTP server.

Folder: In this field you are defining
two pieces of information. First is
the path to the web root directory
of your account on the server. The
second component is the directory
for your gallery. If you do specify
a folder that does not already exist
MediaPro will create it.

.. /.. /var/www/gallery1/

Path to root Folder for upload

Skip existing image files: Check this
box if you have already uploaded
your gallery images and are simply
reuploading the HTML.