The Media Explorer allows you to manage, preview, and select media files from the project library, the public library, or other projects’ media repository.
The Media Explorer can be opened in two main ways:
- By using Home > Media, which is generally used to manage the project’s media, and can also be used to insert media to the current document.
- By opening it from a relevant property in the properties grid. When opened this way, additional options may be available, such as Reset which allows resetting a property to its default value, and None which allows to explicitly blank a property.
Media files can be added to the project’s library by using Upload in the ribbon, and can also be uploaded directly in the editor’s main window using Home > Upload, or by uploading them directly to relevant properties in the properties grid. Additionally, narration files may be recorded directly in Composica using Record in the ribbon, or by recording them directly to relevant properties.
When a media file is overwritten or removed, a revision is recorded so that the file can always be restored to its previous state. For more information, read about media explorer history.
The ribbon provides options to upload media to your project, record audio, refresh the media tree, remove uploaded files, download files from the library, and toggle the preview, thumbnails and find by tags views.
The media library tree lists all the available media for the current project.
The tree is divided into three main categories:
- Project, which holds the uploaded media files for the currently open project.
- Public, which is a public media repository available to all projects, divided into different sections.
- Other Projects, which gives access to the media libraries of any other project the developer has access to.
All the media files are separated according to their types: Images, Video, Audio, Animations, and Misc.
When a media file is selected in the tree, the preview pane shows a preview of the selected file, along with relevant information about it. Pressing the Apply button inserts the select media file to the document, or applies it as a value to a property, depending on the context in which the Media Explorer was opened.
When applying a file from another project, a prompt is shown giving the choice between using the file directly from other project (which means that any change made to it in the source project will affect the current project) or making a copy of it in the current project’s library.
Multiple files may be selected in the tree, and can be removed together. To select multiple files, hold Ctrl or Shift while selecting items in the tree.
The preview pane shows a preview of the selected media file, along with information about it such as type, size, and dimensions. When selecting a media file in the project library, the preview pane also contains a revision selector, allowing to view and restore the file’s previous revisions.
The thumbnails pane shows a tiled thumbnails layout, providing a quick view and access to images in the current folder. Thumbnails are only available in the thumbnails pane when an Images folder is selected. The + (plus) and – (minus) buttons can be used to change the size of the displayed thumbnails.
Multiple files may be selected in the thumbnails pane, by holding Ctrl or Shift while selecting files.
Tags can be assigned to media files, in order to assist in organizing the media files and finding them quickly.
To assign tags to a media file, enter the desired tags, separated by space or comma, in the Tags input in the preview pane. To set the colors of the assigned tags, press the Tag Color button to the side of the input.
To search for media files associated with one or more tags:
- Enter the desired tags in the Tags input, separated by space or commas; or
- Press the the arrow to open the Filter by Tags dialog, where tags can be selected from a list.
- Press the Find button to commit the search.
Search results will be shown in the media tree.