Once again, I am truly grateful to the people whose comments and suggestions led to many of the improvements with this version. Here is a synopsis:
IPTC and EXIF Image Data => The Photo Information screen has been revamped to include options
for viewing and loading from IPTC and EXIF data that might be stored within images
files (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, PSD and DNG formats). A Keywords item has been
added to the Photo Description. Also, an Enlarge
Image Data Mapping => An intuitive
Photo Image Data Mapping screen can be used to define how IPTC and EXIF Data fields should be mapped into Phota
Description items. Multiple IPTC/EXIF fields (up to 6) can be concatenated
together into each Phota item. For example, IPTC Location, City, State
and Country might all be loaded into the Phota Location item; IPTC
Description and Copyright fields might go into the Comments area.
A button on the Photo Information screen will load the defined IPTC/EXIF
fields into Phota items.
Mass Load => The Mass Load Photos screen now provides an option to retrieve
and load IPTC/EXIF data into Phota items according to the mapping described
above.
Photo Search => The Photo Search screen has been redesigned to include the
new Keywords item in searches. Also, hopefully the Search
function is now somewhat easier to understand and use.
Labyrinth Gallery => A new Labyrinth
style 3D Gallery exhibits album
photos along the walls of rooms with convoluted turns and partitions. Of
course, the automated Explore feature will guide a visitor through each
Gallery from entrance to exit, pausing to admire each photo along the way.
Gallery Doors and Sounds => Doors to the
Next Gallery and the Previous Gallery can now be represented by actual
pictures of doors, rather than just by black rectangles. Sound Effects
can accompany movements within Galleries -- foot steps, turns, doors opening,
bumps into walls, etc. (this noise is suppressed while the Audio Player is
active). Also, a Hide Titles option can be set to disable the display
of Titles only while in Gallery Mode. (Showing Titles
under each photo in the 3D scenes can noticably degrade performance.)
NOTE: If you use the Phota CD/Screensaver Builder to create sharable album packages, you should also download the new version of that application (still free!). The updated Phota Viewer is included with that download.
Click to review Phota 3.5 enhancements