| Marauder 3 Overview
Marauder 3 is a tool to database, search, and view large image collections. It is not for everyone. It makes assumptions about the types and names of images you maintain but if your image collection comes from the internet and is a massive one, you will not find a more powerful tool than Marauder 3 for handling them. M3 was not designed for people who have a small image collection, clearly name and organize their images; people who want a typical image catalog/gallery tool. If that is what you require, much of M3's features will not be useful to you. M3 is a image database that can handle massively large image collections
(up to millions), provides highly optimized search capability (a typical
search takes only 1-3 seconds), and has a variety of image choosing, browsing,
and manipulating tools. And M3 does not in any way prevent you from
manipulating your images using other tools, a command line, or your
Database At the heart of M3 is its image database. You'll need to set it up once (about 1 minute required) and more than likely, you'll never have think about it again. The database simply sits in the background - watching everything you do - and creating a memory for it self, learning whatever it can about your images and your computers setup. The M3 database provides means for you to search your image collection, view it faster by using image caches, and handles all issues dealing with image locations, removable devices and media, and image descriptions and attributes. Image Information M3 remembers a lot about your images. Besides learning the basic stuff, such as image's name, its location, format, and dimensions, it keeps track of where the file has been, how often is accessed, a variety of date information on it, it's color signature, the attributes which you assign to it, a description string on it, and other pieces of information. Most of what it learns assist it to perform your searches faster Not all of what it learns it uses yet, but having that information available does give it room to grow. Assigning Information To assign information to images, you need to select the image and use a pop-up menu item labeled Attributes... to access the attributes window shown. Here, you can click and set the buttons and fill in the fields as desired. |
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M3 also allows you to select and modify the attributes for a large number of images at the same time. In the example shown below, we can leave any of the attributes for all images selected untouched, cleared, or selected. We decided to set mark the "Famous" attribute in all images. (Gray button will not change that attribute) |
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Searches Marauder 3 provides two search methods. One simply searches your whole image collection for a file based on its name, the second provides a much more comprehensive set of search features. Quick search: (by name) |
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Comprehensive search (searching the database for famous females): |
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And Marauders 3 is exteremly fast! CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW FAST. Browsing files Marauder provides three browsers, each is designed for a specific task but all three are similarly used. The Directory Browser lets you see the content of directories and is capable of updating M3's knowledge of the filesystem to match the directory content in seconds. To use it, you will need to enter a path and press the Scan button. |
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The Virtual Browser is very similar to the Directory Browser but instead of displaying actual directories, located on your hard drives, it displays virtual directories. It has the same drag-and-drop capabilities of the Directory browser but does not actually contain the images, just links to them. A virtual directory is similar to the "catalog" feature provided by some catalog/gallery programs. Its a great way to create collection of images without actually having to move your images around. In this example, pictures of Bjork from various directories are all stored in the virtual directory C:\bjorks |
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The Advanced Browser is a general purpose browser which is not linked to any specific collection of images. Using the advanced browser you can search for images in a directory, in a number of directories, or in the database. (i.e.. every directory on your computer). It is also where search results are placed. Like the other two browsers, it is fully drag-and-drop enabled and is capable of "passing along" images to other Browsers or tools within Marauder 3. |
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Choosers Image Choosers are tools which let you quickly look at images and decide whether you would like to keep them or destroy them. Unlike browsers, they will not automatically add images to the M3 database once they encounter them and they have been designed for very rapid viewing and choosing of images. There are two image choosers in M3, the standard image chooser shown below and a more focused image chooser which pairs with M3's Slideshow tool. In both pressing Red buttons destroys the image and pressing the Green button adds it to the database. Once either button has been pressed, a new image is loaded and shown in the window. |
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Viewers M3 provides two types of image viewers, the Editor Window which shows individual images and a slideshow tool. The slideshow is capable of showing images from a variety of sources, in its own window or linked to an Editor Window, and has a special mode for Choosing Images (and it's so good that it is used more than the standard image chooser). |
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Batch Actions Since M3 was designed for handling large number of images, it would be inconceivable if you were required to put up with confirm dialogs for every delete, copy, or move action you perform. And it would be equally inconceivable for it to perform those actions without it giving you a chance to back out. M3 provides two confirm dialogs which longer around and only do the actions when you ask them to do. Feel free to delete a hundred images and then skip the ones you didn't mean to before actually destroying them. And M3's Move and Copy dialog can remember the actions you perform and do them at a later time should it be necessary. (i.e. if the drive you are dragging to does not have a media in it, ...) Removable Media Support M3 allows you to assign meaningful names to your drive and media. Use names such as ZIP: or COREL18: instead of J:\. And if you do name your media, M3 will remember what it has seen there before and show you what is on the media even if you don't have it inserted into the drive! |
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Internet Support Marauder 3, as of version 1.4, includes the MD+F's Blitter Binary News Reader for free. Click here for more information on: MD+F Blitter If you purchase Marauder 3, simply download MD+F Blitter Binary News Reader and install in the same directory. It will run automatically without the need to purchase a Serial Number. BBS File Import and Export Support Marauder 3 now supports import and export of BBS Description files. With this feature, you can exchange the decriptions you have assigned to your images with others or import descriptions into Marauder 3 from BBS sites, the Usenet using the MD+F Blitter, or from other programs supporting BBS Files. This feature is new in version 1.4. |
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Easy Web Index Writer Marauder 3 lets you create webpages using your favorite tool (such as FrontPage, Netscape Composer, ...) and it will add Web index for you. For example, you can start with a pages such as this and this and end up with a complete web index like this. This is an ideal tool for small business or photographers to put their images on the web. |
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The Future Marauder 3 is already the best tool you can purchase on OS/2 or Windows 95 to database, search, and view large and chaotic image collections and it's getting better with every revision. The most recent upgrades to it have already enhanced typical database search times to under 3 seconds and its multiplatform support, more upcoming BBS features, and an architecture which puts no limits in the amount of information it can handle make Marauder 3 one program you won't outgrow anytime soon. MD+F Marauder 3 is the only Enterprise-level program available for home and small business use! |
