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.
Enjoy!
Compatibility
Architecture: 68k
Minimum Requirements: 68020 or better, Color QuickDraw, Mac OS 7.0.1
or later.
