As a professional workflow tool, MediaPro provides a versatile way of managing these files and applying metadata to make it possible to search through vast quantities by a variety of criteria, and yet easily retrieve what you’re after at a later date. Batch processing and other automated functions keep media management time to a minimum.

The key point to bear in mind is that MediaPro does not store files, it stores links to them. So there’s no need to move or make copies of files in order to include them in a catalog – you simply tell MediaPro where they are by using one of the import options. This in itself is a huge time-saver.

What sort of things can I do with MediaPro?

• Easily find, sort and organize large numbers of files
• Catalog images directly from digital cameras, CD/DVD and the Internet
• Publish your images online or on CD/DVD
• Import more than 100 media file formats
• Batch rename, annotate and copy media files to folders automatically on import
• Compare and select images side-by-side in full-screen mode
• Add industry-standard metadata to files
• Define sets of keywords with controlled vocabulary
• Produce high-quality PDF composites, contact sheets and printouts
• Color correct images
• Convert and export photo, movie and sound files
• Create and customize high-quality slide show presentations
• Create a movie from a slide show
• Automate and batch process media files
• E-mail files directly from a catalog

 

System requirements

PC: Intel Pentium processor or equivalent running Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, or newer

Mac: PowerPC or newer running OS X 10.2.8 or above

 

QuickStart Guide

1. Insert the iView MediaPro CD into your computer.
2. Windows When prompted, choose Install iView MediaPro.
   If no prompt appears, click on Windows’ Start button and select
   Run install_iview_mediapro.exe.
   Mac Double Click on the 'Install MediaPro 3' icon.
3. Windows Launch the application by clicking on the iView MediaPro icon now on your desktop.
   Mac Launch the application by double clicking the iView MediaPro icon in the 'iView MediaPro 3' folder now in your Applications folder.
4. Enter your license number, if you don't have one MediaPro will work for 21 days.
5. Navigate to a folder on your computer or network containing a selection of media, click Choose/OK, and a catalog of all the media in the folder will be automatically created. To add further media to the MediaPro catalog, drag and drop pictures from anywhere on your computer on to the catalog window. You’re now ready to try out iView MediaPro!

 

Key features to try out

Other ways to add media files to a catalog

1. From a CD: File > Import Items > From Disk.
2. Connect your digital camera. From an empty iView MediaPro catalog
   window: go to File > Import Items > From Camera.
3. From iPhoto (Mac): go to iView MediaPro > Getting Started, check ‘Import iPhoto Library’ and click OK.

More: Try adding a range of file types – a list of those supported can be found by clicking Help > Media Importers (Win) or iView MediaPro > Catalog Importers (Mac).

View images with Lightbox

Why? To quickly view images and make selections of the best shots.

1. Select between 1 and 4 images.
2. Choose View > Lightbox to view selected images in full-screen.
3. Zoom in and out using the + and - keys.
4. If the image is larger than the window it will scroll by clicking and dragging. The hotkey S toggles between scrolling one image or all images at the same time.
5. Click Esc to exit the Lightbox.

More: Use the hotkey '1' to apply a label to images you want to mark. After exiting the Lightbox, if the Organize panel is not already displayed, click the Organize button in the top left. In the section headed 'Labels' click on 'Red' to see only the images you marked in the Lightbox.

Create an online photo gallery

Why? To share photos with friends or show images to clients anywhere.

1. Select Make > HTML Gallery.
2. Choose a theme, give your photo gallery a title and ensure the ‘Launch
   browser when done’ box is checked. Click the Create (Win) or Make (Mac) button.
3. Create a new folder called ‘Test’ and select this as the upload folder.
4. Click the OK (Win) or Choose (Mac) button. Your Web browser should now reveal what your photo gallery would look like if hosted online.

More: In step 2, click on the Settings tab to add a watermark to your pictures.

Make color corrections to an image

1. Click on an image in your catalog. Go to Window > Image Editor (Win) or Window > Show Image Editor (Mac).
2. Try out some of the options in the floating Image Editor palette, such as
   Auto Enhancement, Remove Red Eye, Adjust Color Balance and
   Sharpen Edges.
3. 3. Click the Save button (this will become Batch if more than one image is selected) in the bottom of the palette to apply the changes or
4. Revert to try out different effects.

More: Clicking Save or Batch in Step 3 will apply your changes to the files in the catalog. If you want to preserve the original files, make sure the ‘Original: Copy to another folder’ box is checked in the Save dialog.

Print a contact sheet

1. Click the printer icon in the main toolbar at the top of the catalog window.
2. Select Contact Sheet and Full Page (Win) or Media Sheet (Mac) from the pull down menus.
3. Click Print.

View a catalog as a slide show

Why? To show wedding photos to friends; to take a client through your portfolio.

1. Select the first image in your catalog.
2. Click the slide show icon at the right of the toolbar to start the slide show.

More: Show and hide the 'Slideshow controller' with the Return key. Try changing the Transitions, altering the Grid, displaying Title and varying the Options in the floating slide show palette. You can also save your 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. Just choose Make > Save Slide Show as Movie.

Batch process images

Why? To create a set of images formatted for your Web site; to create a set of images formatted for e-mail.

1. Select Action > Convert Image Files (this will convert all images files in the catalog if none are currently selected).
2. Ensure JPEG is selected from the pulldown Format menu. Click the Size button. Click the Scale media to fit radio button and type in a pixel width that is half the existing size. Click OK.
3. Now click the Settings button and choose Grayscale from the pulldown menu. Click OK.
4. Uncheck both Options boxes in the Convert Image Files dialog and click Convert. Create a new folder called ‘Test2’ and click OK (Win) or Choose (Mac).
5. Now open up a couple of the images you’ve created in a Web browser to check that the batch matches your requirements.

More: Review the Options available in Convert Image Files. For instance you can convert images and choose to maintain annotations associated with the original images.

Rename a selection of images­

Why? You’ve imported pictures from a digital camera with names such as DSC00023.jpg and want to make them easier to identify and search for in the future.

1. Duplicate a folder of images on your computer and import them into a new
   catalog by selecting File > New, followed by File > Import Items > From Files/Folders.
2. Click on the Thumbnail tab at the top of the catalog window and then go to
   Edit > Select All.
3. Go to Action > Batch rename.
4. New file names can be made up of three parts. Our example only needs two so use the + or – to the right of the rename options so that two lines appear under ‘Rename Options’.
5. Change the pulldown menu to the left of the first line to ‘Text’. To the right of this, type in a name (for example, an event) that is appropriate for all the images in your catalog.
6. Change the pulldown menu on the second line to ‘Number from’, and in the adjacent box, type ‘1’.
7. In the window at the bottom of the dialog you can see the results the batch rename will produce. Click Rename to make these changes.

Annotate a selection of images

Why? You want to quickly add metadata to images to make them easy to retrieve in future and compatible with a customer’s archiving system.

• If the Info panel is not already displayed, click the Info button in the toolbar at the top of the catalog window.
• Click on any image in the catalog. Expand the Annotations panel to the left
  by clicking on the triangular arrow.
• Fill in the fields that are relevant to all the images in your catalog – i.e.
  Event, Location, Keywords, etc.
• Click on the pencil icon at the top of the panel and, from the pulldown
  menu, select Save (Win) or Save Metadata Template (Mac). Now give your template a name.
• Back in the main catalog window, click on another image and then go to
  Edit > Select All.
• Click on the pencil icon once again and select the template you created a moment ago. When prompted, click Apply to all.
• Check your images by clicking on them individually, to see if the
  annotations have been successfully applied.

More: Instead of processing the whole batch try selecting a few images either by
shift/control clicking on a selection or typing a few letters into the search
field in the top right of the catalog window.