Find Cover Image

Contents:

• How It Works
• Find Cover Image Screen
• Main Screen
• Cover Tab
• Add Automatically Screen
• Cropping
• Demo Video

• Alternative ways to add images
• From the Collectorz.com Database
• From your Computer
• Drag-and-Drop

How It Works

Comic Collector 5 has a built-in Cover Finder which helps to fill missing gaps in your collection. This Google-powered image search makes it easy to find missing cover images, as well as fixing incorrect ones.

The Cover Finder takes the series, title and issue number of the comic from your database and uses it to find you the best possible match.

The new Find Cover Image tool can be opened up from multiple places in the program:

• Main Screen
• Cover Tab
• Add Automatically Screen

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Find Cover Image Screen

The Find Cover Image screen is split into 2 sections. The search results on the left and a preview of the selected image on the right. Each section also has various options at the bottom.

On the left you have the search box, below that you have 3 check boxes which allow you to quickly add or remove data from the search field. The search will automatically include the series, title and issue number of the comic.

Tip: If you are looking for an alternative cover it can help to remove the barcode from the search results.

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Edit Search Criteria

When finding a cover for your comic, Comic Collector will add the year to the comic title to provide better results. When no (or poor) results are found, you can edit the Search Criteria manually in the text field on the left.

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Find Cover Image from Main Screen

When browsing your comics in the Main Screen and you want to add a missing cover image for one of your comics simply click on 'No Cover Image' in the detail view to open up the Find Cover Image Screen (see Figure 3 below), you can also right click anywhere on the template and click 'Find Cover Image'

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Find Cover Image from the Cover Tab in the Edit Comic Screen

When you're in the Edit Comic Screen, you can add or change the Cover Image on the Covers tab. Click the Find Online button to open up the Find Cover Image Screen (see Figure 4: Find Cover Image Screen).

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Find Cover Image from the Add Comics Automatically Screen

If you search and find a comic in our database but the cover doesn't match your own, or one isn't provided by our database, you can access the Cover Finder from the Add Automatically screen.

• Right click on a comic from the main search results
• Click the No Cover Image template in the preview

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Cropping

When you find an image with both front and back cover, you can crop the image right here! Just point, click, then drag your cursor over the part of the image you want to keep and click Crop. When okay, click Use This Image.

Cropped off too much? Just select the image from the Search Results on the left and give it another go!

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Find Cover Image

The demo video below shows the Cover Finder in action within Book Collector, the process for Comic Collector is identical.

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Alternative ways to add your own Images

When adding a new comic to your collection, Comic Collector will automatically retrieve a whole lot of information from our databases right to your computer. But sometimes you might want to add your own cover image to one of your comics. Or perhaps you've found a different image, that's more to your liking.

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Updating a Cover Image from the Collectorz.com database

Our databases are constantly acquiring new images and up-to-date information. If an image isn't found when you first add a comic we may add one at a later date, or perhaps you added your comics manually and don't want to spend time adding covers for each comic individually. Updating will also download additional information such as cast and crew information.

You can update your comics and images in a variety of ways.

• Right click on a comic and click 'Update Comic'
• From the Edit Comic > Cover screen, click Clear followed by Update
• By selecting the comic, and clicking Edit > Update Comic(s)

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Adding an Image from your Hard Disk

When you want to replace a cover of one of your comics, you need to go to the Edit Comic screen (select comic and click Edit > Edit comic) and go to the Covers tab. Click the Browse button and search for the image on your computer.

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Drag-and-Drop

Another very easy way to add/change images for your comics is to Drag-and-Drop them. You can Drag-and-Drop an image file from your computer or from a website.

Figure 8: Drag and Drop from the Internet

You'll notice that Comic Collector will prompt you to make a choice. Choosing "Copy dropped file to default image folder, then link" will copy the image to the Comic Collector Images folder. This is highly recommended. The video below shows how to drag/drop images in Comic Collector. The process in Comic Collector is identical. Check out the video to see it in action.

Simply linking to the dropped file just creates a link to the location of the image. If you drag and drop an image from the Internet, you will loose your images, once the online image is removed so it's advisable to copy to your computer first. Also, renaming or moving a linked image on your computer will result in a broken image.

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More Image Settings

You can tweak the default settings to fit your needs by clicking the Settings Button in the Edit comic Screen. When not in Editing Mode, click: Tools > Options > Images.