iPhoto vs. Digital Scraproom

[Nico Bleu]

I am trying to organize all of my kits (I have LOTS! :D), and I am not sure if I want to use iPhoto or Digital Scraproom. Can I even use Digital Scraproom on a MAC? Are there any other programs that I could use to organize and locate certain elements quickly and easily? Thanks!

Nico

[lunafaerie]

What's digital scraproom? I have a Mac but I don't use iPhoto.

I have a folder on my computer that I put previews in and use Photoshops File Browser to shift through that folder. Every preview in there is tagged with what disk, designer and folder name, and the kit name, so I can find it easily. I also duplicate elements I use over and over into a special folder so I can find them easily, also have a folder called Digi Tools, where I keep paper tears, Atomic Cupcake actions, Photoblast actions, etc so I can find them easily as well.

Hope that helps! I'd like to hear more about digital scraproom though...

[KarenS]

According to their site, Digital Scraproom is a Windows-only program. :(

[karmakimmie]

I haven't heard of digital scraproom, but I've been thinking about organizing my supplies in iPhoto. Plenty of ways to tag, you can set your external editor, etc. I'm using a demo of iView Media Pro right now, but it's only a three week trial and too much to buy, so I think iPhoto is my next step!

Kim

[ethansmom]

unfortunately Digital Scraproom isn't Mac compatible (no real BIG surprise, but I digress...).
I have been tagging in iPhoto, but it takes SO long I mainly rely on printing the previews and flipping through them in a binder.

[caridura]

I use iPhoto, but have so much in there and it's getting bogged down. I heard that iPhoto 6 handles alot more volume, but I have not upgraded to that yet. I have iPhoto 5 right now.

What I do is I have a folder for each designer and inside that I have albums for each individual kit. I recentle started tagging things like alphas, ribbons, papers etc so that I can find certain things easier by doing a search within iPhoto. It works pretty well, but time consuming to tag everything I have since I didn't do it from the beginning. :?

[Nico Bleu]

Thanks so much for all of your help. Here is the address for Digital Scraproom http://www.digitalscraproom.com. So how does one do tagging in a folder? I guess that is my problem. I have so much that I forget about what I already have. :oops: I like the idea of printing out the previews too. Thanks again.

Nico [/url]

[Chey]

There's a review of Digital ScrapRoom by Amy Edwards to be found here (http://www.scrapbook-bytes.com/chat/showthread.php?t=22150)

[lunafaerie]

Thanks so much for all of your help. Here is the address for Digital Scraproom http://www.digitalscraproom.com. So how does one do tagging in a folder? I guess that is my problem. I have so much that I forget about what I already have. :oops: I like the idea of printing out the previews too. Thanks again.

Nico [/url]

I have a naming scheme for all the previews. DesignerFirstNameLastName-TypeOfKit-NameOfKit. If a kit comes with seperate previews of elements and papers I make sure I keep them seperate, that's very handy and gives a better view of what the elements are without being overwhelmed by the papers.

I'm the kind of scrapper that uses color to match my photos, so often, just browsing through the previews will help me decide what to use.

[Nico Bleu]

Thanks for the link to the review. I am definitely going to go back and rename all of my previews! Thanks for all of you help.

Nico

[danger girl]

I know this sounds like a lot of work, but once you get things going it isn't really that hard to do. I have a double filing system because sometimes I want to use a whole kit, and sometimes I mix and match.

First, all my downloads go into a file on my desktop, warts and all (unzipped). From there I open a special iPhoto library (iPhoto Buddy is a free download and it works great for managing more than one library) and click file > add to library and navigate to my downloads folder. iPhoto will "collect" all the graphics files and add them to the library. Then I sort them using a system pretty much like Ro's at scrapgirls.com, putting all the blue paper in one album, the yellow paper in another, the ribbons in an album etc. This makes it easy to see what you've got when creating, especially with embellishments. The only problems with this method are making sure the files are named with the designers' name, and .png files. iPhoto makes a .jpg thumbnail for the libraries, and in doing so, it uses a black background so any black .png file doesn't show up. I haven't figured out how to work around this yet.

Once that is done, I take the original files and sort them by designer. This way I keep the kits together so if I want to use a whole kit it is easy.

[danger girl]

Thanks so much for all of your help. Here is the address for Digital Scraproom http://www.digitalscraproom.com. So how does one do tagging in a folder? I guess that is my problem. I have so much that I forget about what I already have. :oops: I like the idea of printing out the previews too. Thanks again.

Nico [/url]


I think iPhoto calls it "keywords".

[Nico Bleu]

Danger girl - Thanks so much for your ideas! I will definitely look into iPhoto Buddy.

[amysimages]

quick question, if you take the file off your computer, say stored on a DVD or CD... does that mean you will loose the previews of kits/elements?

Thanks,

Amy

[karmakimmie]

Amy, I'm pretty sure that is the case. I moved some folders around today (I use iPhoto to organize) and some were blank because the library coudn't find it...

Kim

[amysimages]

Yeah, I was pretty sure that is how it would work. Thanks!!