CorelMOSAIC is an innovative CorelDRAW application designed to display, organise, and manage your graphics files.
The File Display
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The file display (or Library window) shows small bitmapped representations of your graphics files. This allows you to select files visually rather than by filename only. When you create a drawing in a graphics program such as CorelDRAW, image headers are saved along with the main image. CorelMOSAIC uses parts these headers (called thumbnails or previews) to allow you to organise and manipulate your graphics files with ease.
Graphics files from a variety of different file formats can be viewed and managed within CorelMOSAIC. These formats include PICT, TIFF, GIF, MacPaint, PCX, BMP, PhotoCD, Targa, and EPS. Fonts and Quicktime Movies can also be used with CorelMOSAIC.
Libraries
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CorelMOSAIC allows you to store graphics files from different drives and directories in 'Libraries'. When you first start up CorelMOSAIC, you begin with an empty Library. To add files to the Library, use the import command from the file menu. Files added to the Library can be stored by reference to their location on your disks, or may be stored within the Library file itself, in a compressed form. The names of files stored compressed within the Library are shown in boldface.
Previews, Notes, and Keywords
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As mentioned previously, some applications support the inclusion of a preview or thumbnail of a file within the file itself. CorelMOSAIC supports the standard Quicktime 'pnot' preview headers used by a variety of different applications. Graphics files created by software that does not support these headers are still usable in CorelMOSAIC - it will simply creates the preview based on the actual image data.
CorelMOSAIC also supports the inclusion of keywords and notes for each file. Keywords allow you to specify search criteria for image files by associating the images with words you supply. You might, for instance, have a Library containing pictures of animals and pictures of cars. You could attach the keyword 'Animal' to all the animal pictures and the keyword 'Car' to all the car pictures, and then later choose to select all pictures with the keyword 'Car'. Notes allow you to provide a detailed description of a picture for later use. Both keywords and notes are supported by the Quicktime 'pnot' format.
Updating Original Files
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If you make modifications to a Library items preview, notes, or keywords, you have the option of updating the file itself, either from a menu or when you close the Library document. When you use this option, the preview, notes and keywords are written back to the original file (if the file is not stored compressed within the Library). Doing this allows you to access the new preview, notes, or keywords from other applications. You might, for instance, import a number of files that do not contain a Quicktime 'pnot' preview into a CorelMOSAIC Library. You could then subsequently choose to update the original files, and thus add the preview to them. If you were to use an application such as CorelDRAW you would then be able to see the newly created preview in the standard open-file dialog
Auto-Updating of the Library
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The process of updating works both ways. If you make modifications to a file, and then proceed to open a CorelMOSAIC Library containing the file, CorelMOSAIC will notice that the file has changed and will update the preview contained in the Library. You can use this feature to manage a large project on a network, for instance. If all image files are contained on a central server, you might set up a Library in which to view them. As the files are modified by the other people on the network CorelMOSAIC will update the preview in the Library so that you will always see the most recent version of the file. CorelMOSAIC checks files to see if they have been modified when a Library is opened or when any command from the Library menu is used.
Exporting
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If you want access to files stored compressed within a Library, or if you would like to change the format of files stored by reference in the Library you will wish to use the export facility of CorelMOSAIC. To use the export command, select one or more files in your Library and select 'Export' from the file menu. You will be presented with a dialog entitled 'Export Preferences' which gives you control over the file formats of exported files. You may then choose to export all your selected files en-mass to a particular directory, or you can export them one by one to individual places.
To export non-PhotoCD files to PICT, you must have given CorelMOSAIC a large enough memory partition to hold the entire file.
Other
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CorelMOSAIC currently has a limit of about 1000 files per Library. As you approach this limit performance will suffer proportionately.
You may change the size and orientation of the thumbnails you see in the Library window by choosing 'CorelMOSAIC Preferences' from the Apple menu. The preferences dialog also allows you to change the way in which CorelMOSAIC updates original files.
If CorelMOSAIC cannot create a preview or cannot understand an image file format, the preview for the file will be seen as a yellow diamond with an exclamation mark inside.
Files may be added to a CorelMOSAIC Library by the 'Drag-and-Drop' process. Simply select a number of image files in the Finder and drag them onto the CorelMOSAIC icon. The files will be added to a new Library, or to the existing front most Library window if one is already open.
Additional file information may be obtained by using the Get Info command from the Library. If the Library item is a Quicktime Movie, you may play it (in miniature) in the File Information dialog.
You may launch the program that created a file by double-clicking on the file. If CorelMOSAIC can find the application, it will launch it with the given file, much like in the Finder.
