The MP-LabAdmin utility allows the lab administrator to configure the lab’s environment for the MPR500 Pro and it’s tied-in utilities. The MP-LabAdmin includes configuration and administrative parameters’ setting for:

Workflow setting for the receipt of electronic print ordersGeneral settings including: Measurement units (cm or inch), Currency, Lab details, FTP details, Auto color correction settings, Optimization parameters for the computer performance during execution, Configuration parameters for client/server architecture, Folders locationOutput devices supported (machines) and their interface parametersOutput sizes supported and their corresponding list pricesLists of templates for printing packages, Index prints and contact sheets, special (calendars, greeting cards, ID cards, etc.), and school/sports class/school compositesList of color correction Effects, as created as presets in MPR500 Pro for global use by other M-Photo utilitiesList of ICC profiles used by the various output devices/paper typeGreen Screen parametersCustomer list of the lab.Meta data definition (user defined fields) for School and Sports market segments

The MP-LabAdmin settings serve the MPR500 Pro and all it’s tied in utilities.

The Album maker utility is an add-on utility to the MPR500 Pro Production floor management system, and can be provided by the lab to its customers for the preparation of complete and customized albums electronically. The setup program for the customers is created by the lab, with building blocks that allow the customers to prepare the order. The utility comes in two versions: lab version and customer version. The customer version is used for creating the photo album as an electronic print order. The lab version is used for the preparation of the setup program of the customer version and for loading customer’s order of an album, making additional modifications and sending to print.

The lab constructs photo album building blocks using the MPR500 Pro system, including:

The definition of the various album types available for order (size, cover and associated professional templates for album pages, prices). A list of background imagesA list of Image frames.A list of image effects (like Black & White, Sepia or any other Duo tone and much more).A list of MasksGeneral information including: Payment alternatives allowed by the lab (phone, on-line payments), shipping methods and their pricing, FTP information (for automatic download of price and content updates as published by the lab).

In addition, the definition of an album type includes printing and binding instructions that will come into effect once an album is rendered and sent to print. This definition allows adding margins, cut marks, full bleed and text to be printed on the margin per the production specifications in the lab for binding.

The constructed building blocks are exported to the customers using the lab side of the Album maker – such export is done any time the lab changes any of the building blocks.

The customer can construct a complete and fully composed photo album using the building blocks created by the lab. In the process of constructing the album, the customer can customize the created album pages by:

Placing images into the album pages automatically or by drag and drop.Changing page layout by simply dragging a different layout to a page.Applying smart effects, image frames and masks to the placed images.Customizing the album page texts.Setting different background color or image to any pageApplying Opaque operation to any element on the page (placed image, background image or text)Changing positioning of an image in its location in the page using: drag and drop, rotate, move, zoom and interactive cropping operations.

In addition, the customer can use advanced operations, including:

Edit the entire page template using a grid reference – the resulted template can be saved either for the specific album page or as a new/edited template instance that could be used in other albums.Create a new album using the skeleton album pages from one of the albums that the customer created in the past or using an album created in the lab as a sample album.Create an electronic preview of the created albumCreate a detailed report of the created album (including thumbnails of the album pages)

Once an order of an album is received at the lab, the operator can make additional customization to the filled-in pages, mainly color correcting the images using MPR500 Pro tools, and then it can be rendered and printed onto any of the output devices supported by the system.

Operation

Clicking the Low Resolution File Maker icon, will launch the utility. The User interface of The Low Resolution File Maker is simple and intuitive. The user needs to define the Input, the Size of the output and the Output folder and then click on the Start button to start the creation process.

The Input section includes:

Input – select the source input folderInclude sub folders – check this check-box if you want to include sub folders of the input folder in the process.

The Size section includes selection between 2 options:

Make smaller – select the output size of the low resolution files in pixels. 3 defaults sizes are available: Small, Medium and Large. Each one of them set the number of pixels for the image long axis. The user can overwrite the size. The resolution of the output file will be set to 72DPI.Change resolution – select the output resolution of the low resolution files. The default is 72DPI but the user can change it.. The size in cm. or inches of the output file will remain as the input size but its resolution will change according to the new resolution.

The Output folder section includes selection between 2 options:

In LowRes' folder below the input folder – will create a sub folder by the name 'LowRes' and create the low resolution images under this folder.Below this folder – select the output folder name for the low resolution output files.

Workflow

The Low Resolution File Maker utility is very useful in various workflows, and in particular for re-purpose a set of images to a different media, for instance Internet publishing.

In this scenario, the user interface allows to select the Input folder (with the high resolution files), the designated Output Folder (for the low resolution files) and the desired resolution of the output files (the default set is 72 DPI).