Memory mates with NeoPack/Professional and PackBuilder

Applies to: NeoPack/Professional, PackBuilder

The memory mate

For the purposes of this article a memory mate is defined as a product where the subjects' individual photo and their corresponding group photo appear on the same page.

Figure 1: A typical memory mate

Broadly speaking, creating memory mates involves three steps.

1. Organizing subject data into folders
2. Matching the group picture to the appropriate folder
3. Creating a template that utilizes steps 1 and 2 above.

Let us look at each of these steps in turn

Organizing subject data into folders

Both NeoPack/Professional and PackBuilder allow the user to arrange the subject data into folders. This can be done automatically when importing the data via a text file or manually after the data has been imported or entered.

This article assumes the user is familiar with organizing data into folders.

Figure 2: A sports job where each tema's data has been arranged into folders

Matching the group picture to the appropriate folder

Setting up data and images for memory mates involves matching a group image to a folder and thereby all subjects in the folder.

1. Import the group images into Images Mode
2. Go to Match Mode
3. Locate the first group image either manually or by using the "find image" window
4. Ensure the vertical (insertion) bar is to the left of the group image
5. Place the cursor in the "Match image with....folder" window.
6. Begin entering the name of the folder for this group image. A drop down list will appear
7. Select the correct folder
8. The group image has been matched the appropriate folder
9. Repeat steps 3-7 for all other group images

Only one group picture can be matched to a given folder.

Figure 3: Matching the group image to the folder in Match Mode

Note is also possible to automatically match a group picture to a folder by importing a text file. This procedure is covered in the article Matching an image to a folder via a text file

The memory mate template

Essentially a memory mate template simply contains two image holes - a standard hole for the subjects' individual image and a labelled image hole that calls the group picture that has been matched to the subjects' folder.

1. Start a new pack layout
2. Add the image hole for the subjects' individual image using the "Add image" tool
3. Add any text, graphics and barcodes in the usual manner
4. Add a labelled image hole for the subjects' group image using the "Add labelled image" tool
5. When prompted for a label enter "@folder" (without the quotation marks)
6. Save the template

Figure 4: Using the @folder tag in a labelled image hole .

End of article