The Media Cataloger is a stand-alone application that lets you organize, find, and retrieve graphics, movies, sounds, and text for use in other applications.
To use the Media Cataloger, you create a visual index of multimedia objects and attach key words to them. You can search for graphics files simply by looking at their thumbnails in a catalog, or by entering a key word.
This Demonstration version of the product will not allow you to SAVE your catalogs.
Terms
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The following terms appear in this guide:
Object: Another name for a multimedia entity. Objects include pictures, movies, sounds, and text.
Catalog: A file created with the Media Cataloger. Catalogs contain a visual index of objects—graphics, movies, sounds, or text—and the key words associated with each.
Blowup: A view of a cataloged object that shows a picture or movie at its natural size.
Key word: A word or phrase you attach to an object in a catalog so that you can search for it. For example, you might attach the key word “color” to all color pictures in the catalog. When you later enter the key word “color,” the Media Cataloger shows all objects with this key word attached.
To install the Media Cataloger
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1. Create a new folder on your hard disk. Name it Media Cataloger.
2. Drag the Media Cataloger icon to the Media Cataloger folder on your hard disk.
3. To launch the Media Cataloger, double-click its icon. Three windows appear:
4. The QuickTime Extension must be in your System folder in order to use Media Cataloger.
The Catalog window displays a thumbnail picture of each object in the catalog. When you open a new file, this window is empty.
The Information window displays information about the current catalog and the objects selected in the Catalog window.
The Display window shows the key words assigned to the objects selected in the Catalog window. You also enter search criteria—key words and object types—in this window.
Selecting windows
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To select a window, click in it or choose it from the Window menu.
To close a window, click its close box.
To open a window, choose it from the Window menu. In the Window menu, a check preceding a window’s name means that it is currently selected; a dash means that it is closed.
You can add the following objects to a catalog
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• Text
• Pictures for which you have Claris XTND System Translators—for example, PICT, TIFF, EPS, and MacPaint formats
• QuickTime movies
• ‘PICT’ resources
• ‘snd ’ resources
The objects can reside on your hard disk, floppy disks, or any other storage media. To find out where a cataloged object is located, select its thumbnail in the Catalog window. The Information window provides the path name.
Opening a catalog file
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To create a new catalog. Open a new file. When the Media Cataloger starts, it creates a catalog named “Untitled-1.” To create additional catalogs, choose New from the File menu.
Adding pictures, movies, and sounds
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To add pictures, movies, and sounds to a catalog:
1. Choose Add Object from the Catalog menu. The Open File dialog box appears.
2. Navigate to the folder that contains the object you want to add. The folder can be on the hard drive, a floppy disk, or any other storage media.
3. Select the Pictures, Sound, Movies, ‘PICT’ Resources, or ‘snd ’ Resources checkboxes to define the types of files you want to see. For example, if you want to see pictures, only, select the Pictures checkbox.
NOTE: If you select the ‘PICT’ Resources or ‘snd ’ Resources checkboxes in the Open File dialog box, all files are displayed. However, when you select a file, only its PICT or snd resources are added to the catalog. If a file has no resources, nothing is added to the catalog.
To view images of the PICT files and QuickTime movies before adding them to the catalog, click the Show Preview checkbox to select it. If a preview does not appear for the selected object, click the Create button to create and display a preview. You can create previews only for PICT files and QuickTime movies.
4. Add one or more objects to the catalog.
To add a single file, select it, then click the Add File button. An icon of the file appears in the Catalog window, and information about it appears in the Information Window.
To add all files in a folder , select the folder, then click the Add Folder button.
To add all files from a disk to a catalog, navigate to the Desktop, select the disk, then click the Add Volume button.
As the Media Cataloger adds the objects, a dialog box shows the progress. To stop adding objects, click the Stop button or press Command-. To skip the current folder, click the Skip folder button.
NOTE: While the Media Cataloger is cataloging objects, you can continue to use most of its features as you would ordinarily.
Thumbnails of the files appears in the Catalog window.
Adding text objects
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To add text objects to a catalog:
1. From any application, copy the text to the Clipboard by selecting it and pressing Command-C.
2. In the Media Cataloger application, click in the Catalog window to select it, then press Command-V to paste the contents of the Clipboard. The Name Catalog Object dialog box appears.
3. Type a name for the text object, then click the OK button. The pasted text appears as an icon in the Catalog window. Its name appears at the bottom of the thumbnail picture.
Renaming cataloged objects
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An object’s name is one of the key words you can use to search. You might want to rename objects whose names are not descriptive. For example, you might want to rename a picture of a tree from “Page 2 illustration” to “Tree.”
NOTE: Renaming the object in the Media Cataloger does not change the actual file name.
1. Select the object, then choose the Rename command from the File menu. The Rename Catalog Object dialog box appears.
2. Type the new object name and click the OK button.
Saving a catalog--THIS FUNCTION IS NOT AVAILABLE IN THIS DEMO VERSION OF THE PRODUCT.
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To save a catalog, choose one of the save commands from the File menu.
1. To save a catalog for the first time, and to save changes as you work, choose Save.
2. To save a copy of the catalog under a different name or in a different location and to continue working with the new copy, choose Save As. The new version of the catalog appears on your screen, and the original is returned to its folder as it was the last time you saved it.
3. To save a copy of a catalog under a different name or in a different location, and to continue working with the original copy, choose Save a Copy In. A copy of the catalog in its current state will be saved in the folder or disk you select. The original version of the catalog remains on your screen.
4. To discard changes made since the last time you saved a catalog, choose Revert.
Deleting an object from a catalog
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To delete objects from a catalog:
1. Select the objects in the Catalog window.
2. Choose Clear Cat Object from the Edit menu, or press the Delete key. The object no longer appears anywhere in the Media Cataloger application.
NOTE: If you delete objects in error, you can restore them to the catalog immediately after deleting them by choosing Undo from the Edit menu, or pressing Command-Z.
Selecting Techniques
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There are several techniques for selecting objects in the Catalog window and key words in the Display window:
• To select a single item, click it.
• To select a group of adjacent items, click the first item, hold down the Shift key, then click the last item. All items between the first and last will be selected.
• To select multiple items that are not adjacent, hold down the Command key as you click each item.
• To select the item to the right or left of a selected item in the Catalog window, press the right or left arrow key.
• To select an item above or below a selected item, press the up or down arrow key.
• To select the first or last item in a row, select an item in the row, then hold down the Command key and press the left or right arrow key.
• To select the first or last item in a column, select an item in the column, then hold down the Command key and press the up or down arrow key.
• To select an item by name, type the first few letters in the name. This technique is most effective in the Catalog window if the items are sorted by name.
Key Words
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Key words are words or phrases that you can use to find objects. To simplify your searches, you might want to assign the same key word to objects that are related to each other—for example, objects used in a project, color pictures, or movies and pictures that mention a particular topic.
You can assign multiple key words to a single object. For example, to catalog a QuickTime movie of a speaker, you might add one key word for each topic discussed.
To assign a key word to an object or group of objects in a catalog:
1. In the Catalog window, select the object(s) to which you want to assign the key word.
2. Select the Display Window by clicking in it or choosing it from the Window menu. Key words appear in the scroll box at the bottom of the window. The name of the object is usually the first key word.
3. Enter the new key word in the Key Words text box, then click the Add button. The new key word appears in the scroll box.
Removing a key word
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To remove one or more key words from selected objects:
1. In the Catalog window, select the objects from which you want to remove the key words.
2. Select the key word(s) in the scroll box.
3. Choose Clear Key Word from the Edit menu, or press the Delete key. The selected key words are removed from all selected objects.
Replacing a key word
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To replace a key word with another key word for selected objects:
1. In the Catalog window, select the objects for which you want to replace key words.
2. Select the key word(s) you want to replace from the scroll box.
3. Enter the new key word in the Key Word text box.
4. Click the Replace button.
The new key word replaces the original. If you selected multiple key words, they are all deleted and replaced with the new key word.
Copying key words to other objects
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You can copy one or more key words for an object and paste them in the Display window for any other object. For example, if you added several key words to a movie object and want to add the same key words to a related picture, you can save time by copying and pasting the key words from the movie object.
To copy key words to other objects:
1. In the Catalog window, select the object(s) that have the key words you want to copy. For example, suppose you want to add key words to a movie about the universe. If one picture object has key words relating to planets and another picture object has key words relating to stars, you could select both picture objects to view all their key words.
2. Select the Display window by clicking in it or choosing it from the Window menu.
3. Select the key words you want to copy. To copy all the key words, choose Select All Key Words from the Edit menu.
4. In the Catalog window, select the object to which you want to add the key words.
5. Select the Display window, then choose Paste Key Words from the Edit menu or press Command-V. The key words are copied to the selected object.
Previewing objects
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You can view any cataloged movie, picture, or text object at its full size—and hear any cataloged sound object. This feature lets you view or listen to objects from within the Media Cataloger application.
To view an object at full size:
1. Select the object in the Catalog window.
2. Double-click the object, or choose Blowup from the Catalog menu. The object appears in a scrollable window.
If the object is a QuickTime movie, the Blowup window includes a standard Apple® QuickTime Player, which provides controls to play, stop, advance one frame, go back one frame, and adjust volume.
If the object is a sound, it plays immediately. To play it again, click the speaker icon.
Finding Objects
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After you have created a catalog of your files, you can use the Media Cataloger to quickly find objects by type and key word. The thumbnails of objects matching the search criteria appear in the Catalog window.
Media Cataloger searches the objects currently in the Catalog window. If the Catalog window contains only picture objects and you search for objects with the key word “color,” Media Cataloger retrieves only pictures with this key word, not movies.
Finding objects by type
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To see all objects in a catalog, regardless of type:
1. Click the Display All button at the top of the Display Window.
To see only specific types of objects:
1. Click the Display All button so that the Catalog window contains all objects in the catalog.
2. Click the checkboxes of the object types you want to appear in the Catalog window. For example, to view Picture objects only, click the Picture checkbox so that it is selected To view Picture and Sound objects, click the Sound and Picture checkboxes so that they are both selected.
3. Click the Display Only button. The Catalog window shows thumbnails of the objects with the selected object types.
Finding objects by key word
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To find objects by key word:
1. Be sure that the Catalog window displays all the objects you want to include in the search. If you want to search through all objects in the catalog, click the Display All button. If you want to search through objects with a particular type, select the appropriate checkboxes and click the Display Only button.
2. Select one or more key words to search for from the Key Word scroll box, then click the Find button. If you prefer, you can type the key word instead of selecting it from the scroll box. (If key words are selected in the scroll box as well, Media Cataloger finds objects that have all the key words: typed and selected.)
Thumbnails of objects with the specified key word(s) appear in the Catalog window.
NOTE: You can search for objects with similar key words by using the wild card characters ? and *. The character ? matches any single character. For example, picture? matches the key words picture1, picture2, and picture3. The character “*” matches zero or more characters. For example, *run* matches run, running, and rerun.
Sorting objects
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To sort objects in a catalog:
1. Select the Catalog window.
2. Choose Sort by Type or Sort by Name command from the Sort menu.
Finding an object’s location
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To find the location of a catalog object:
Select the object in the Catalog window. The Information window shows information about the object, including its file path.
Copying objects to other applications
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You can copy objects from catalogs and paste them into Special Delivery™ and other Macintosh applications.
To copy an object from a catalog to another application:
1. Select the object in the Catalog window.
2. Choose Copy Cat Object from the Edit window, or press Command-C. The Media Cataloger copies the picture or movie on the Clipboard, as well as a pointer to its location.
3. Go to the application or catalog into which you want to paste the object.
4. Choose Paste from the Edit window or press Command-V. The object is pasted in the form the application expects: either as an actual file, or as a pointer to the file’s location.
The object that is pasted is the original file, not just its thumbnail.
NOTE: You can only paste an object into an application that supports its type. For example, if you attempt to paste a Movie object into an application that only accepts pictures, just the movie poster will be pasted, not the actual movie.
Copying multiple objects to another catalog
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You can copy multiple objects from one catalog and paste them into another. This is useful if you want to create a catalog that is a subset of another. For example, if you have one catalog that contains all your pictures, you might want to create another that contains black-and-white pictures only.
To create a subset of a catalog
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1. Select the objects you want to copy from the Catalog window.
2. Choose Copy Cat Object from the Edit menu, or press Command-C.
3. Choose New from the File menu. Three empty windows for the new catalog appear.
4. Select the Catalog window and choose Paste Cat Object from the Edit menu, or press Command-V. The catalog objects and their key words appear in the new catalog.
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