New Macbook... Now What!?!?

[SkRiders]

SOOOOOO i've been on hiatus for a while now! I've gotten more then frustrated with my old computer and gave up doing anything meaningful with it! Today my future husband went out and bought me my very own MacBook! How wonderful is he!!!!!

 

So my question to all you Mac users out there is .... what do I need to know to get started scrapping on my new toy?

Any suggestions?

I'm so itching to get back into things and getting back on the boards! I've missed my friends!

 

I'm also very extremely pleased to see that things aren't so white around here. I think my old laptop had a lot to do with that....

[shellbw]

I use a program called Pixelmator that I found in the Apple downloads page. You can get a demo of it, and the full program costs $59.00. I really like it so far.

 

Welcome to Mac!

[SkRiders]

for scrapping software I am now using Photoshop CS4

[enjoyingtheartofit]

Are you new to Macs? I love mine! Have fun with it!

[SkRiders]

Yes Sheila I just got my Mac today

[Sara Arell]

Roz, glad to have you back - as for the Mac - just play, play, play for awhile til you get used to it - you can email me if you really want more details - email is on my profile.

[mrstucci]

Hi! Welcome to the World of Mac! You will love it. I have used a Mac for many, many years. I use PSE8 for doing my digi layouts. I like Sara's advice-play around with it and get to know your new Mac.... But post here anytime with questions....... We all Mac users are just a 'post' away! Judy

[Sara Arell]

.......and Macs don't seem to be affected by viruses either! It is rare if they ever do.

[Laurel Lakey]

Oh, I'm jealous! Sounds like you're going to have a lot of fun. The worst thing for me to get used to was reaching for the Control button instead of the Command button, but that just gets easier and more second-nature the more you do it. Other than that, they're pretty similar, it's just that Macs are prettier.

 

Good luck and have fun! Don't hesitate to post if you run into anything weird.

[SkRiders]

The whole mac thing is weird in of its self LOL

I was commenting to FDH that if there were an in-between mac and pc it would be a perfect world! I'm finding that I can no longer have my folder previews now

Which means I have to organize 30 plus gigs of photos and supplies into some program. I hear iphoto is wonderful however I have this system set up for my photos and supplies that I would like to keep. When I hooked up my camera earlier to import the pictures they went all directly to the iphoto library and I couldn't move them to my external where I want them to be. I was almost in tears! I've had a long day i was up early and at a Scouting event all day and just wanted to come home and upload my photos and work on putting together a slide show for the kids lol i decided to take a nap and now i'm ready to tackle this situation again lol

 

so far I am loving the mac and have quickly learned the control key doesn't do what it did on a pc lol

Learning the short cuts and everything all over again should prove to be a big learning curve!

 

I'm really curious to know what programs people use for organizing their photos and supplies and what method etc they have going on.

I may need to re organize my external.

 

Eventually my fdh would like to set everything up so my photos and supplies are on a server so I don't have to lug a ehd around with me lol he's so wonderful!

[enjoyingtheartofit]

Roz, the automatic things of reaching for exit and minimize on the right on the PC and the left on the Mac and the command/ctrl buttons will come with time-have no fear. iPhoto I think is the default but you can probably change that-I'm not sure. Instead of choosing to downloading your photos into iPhoto, just cancel out of it and your camera will still be shown on the desktop so you can open up the files and drag and drop it into a window you opened to where you would like them to go.

 

I use Bridge because I can keyword my supplies, place them into whatever folders I wish and then do a search (that I can save) to find all relevant files. I can also use the Place command in Bridge and it will place my file into my open Photoshop file on a new layer with the file name already there. That helps with giving designers credit when I post my LO. I don't use iPhoto because keywords are not stored permanently into the metadata and I don't want to go to the effort of keywording all my files then not having the keywords attached to my supplies in any other program.

 

Another useful tool on the Mac is the use of Spaces. I always have Safari open in one section (on ScrapGirls site of course), iPhoto & Lightroom open in a different quadrant, Bridge in the third quadrant, and Photoshop in the fourth. That way my screen is not so crowded when I work but everything is open at one time. In fact I have the computer set to open those applications always in the same quadrant so I always no where they are and I can move easily between them when I need to.

 

Enjoy learning something new-I sure did and am very glad with the transition!

[SkRiders]

My problem is Sheila that when i plug my camera into my computer it doesn't show up ....

I'm struggling with my fdh trying to tell him what i want to accomplish and he's just not getting it or i'm not explaining well enough?

My camera is set up so that each day it starts a new folder. Previously in windows I could open the device grab the folder, rename it and pop it into it's home on my external.

Once I get this issue sorted out I'm certain I'll have another one to figure out lol

[Sara Arell]

I do pretty much the same things as Sheila wrote to you about the Mac - as for plugging in the camera and not having it show up, I have no explanation for that - when mine is plugged in I get an immediate msg that asks what I want to download and do I want to delete the pics on the camera. I have lately, however, been having a little problem with my thumb drives which don't want to show up on my desktop for some reason - new or already filled with pics, documents or whatever and haven't quite figured that out yet - it always showed up before and I always relied on them for some of my back-ups that I want readily available without using my EHD. Hope you are having fun by now with playing with your Mac - honestly, I think you have to just play and play some more and get used to it - it is SO user friendly and so much easier to navigate than a PC - at least for me and I have used Macs for over 20 years now.

[enjoyingtheartofit]

My problem is Sheila that when i plug my camera into my computer it doesn't show up ....

I'm struggling with my fdh trying to tell him what i want to accomplish and he's just not getting it or i'm not explaining well enough?

My camera is set up so that each day it starts a new folder. Previously in windows I could open the device grab the folder, rename it and pop it into it's home on my external.

Once I get this issue sorted out I'm certain I'll have another one to figure out lol

 

As far as I know Roz, you should be able to do it on the Mac as well. Your camera would probably show up as a No Name disk on your desktop as well as in iPhoto. That is not happening?

[mrstucci]

Hi-be sure that in the Finder window (in the Dock, the blue square with the smiling face-click on it to bring up the window) that you have external hard drives selected........ Open up a Finder window--->

Preferences--->Sidebar and make sure that all are checked under Devices (I don't have My Laptop checked though). Make sure that external drives is selected and if it wasn't, maybe checking it will show your camera card in the Finder window at least. I know with my camera card, sometimes it takes awhile for it to come up in iPhoto. Judy

[SkRiders]

Thanks for the answers It's still not showing up. I plugged in fdh's camera last night and it wasn't working either but today he got it going for some reason either way mine still won't recognize.

We're working on this issue. Husband thinks he may just end up writing me a program for what i need lol

[enjoyingtheartofit]

When I switched over to the Mac the most important thing to me was that I no longer had to spend all my time doing "computer stuff"-problem solving, work arounds, etc -you know the things you always had to do with Windows. I enjoyed 2 years of doing only work on the computer, no actual computer stuff (other than actual learning of how everything works on a Mac ) I hope you have the same experience as I had. It has been sensational. Good luck with your problem solving-I hope it takes only a short time!

[mrstucci]

Does your camera have an SD card that the photos are stored on? My MacBook Pro has a slot for the SD card-I don't have to plug my camera in to the laptop. Just wondering what your setup is......... Judy

[(lynn)]

I haven't learned about Spaces yet --still playing with my new Mac. But it sounds like it would be good to use for digital scrapbooking. Thanks for mentioning about them. I'll check it out.I'm also learning to use PSE8-- so much learning going on. Wish I could spend more time doing this, but have to keep going with my genealogy.Scrapping and genealogy both take so much time but can't give up either one.

 

Lynn

[mrstucci]

So you do genealogy too? Me too. That and my digi scrapping have been shoved to the back of my life since my mother moved in with me in mid February-there has been 2 hospitalizatinos, c-dif to contend with, etc. I am so behind with my family history!!! I keep hoping that I will have time but there just hasn't been any to spare. Take a look at my website though if you like: www.ourfamilynearandfar.net

[gophergirl]

I use iPhoto to store all my photos. To download pics, I launch iPhoto, then plug in my camera. Once it is plugged in, a screen shows up on the camera itself and I have to push PC. Then the camera is recognized and I have to wait for the photos to load into iPhoto which can take a while if I have a bunch or use my 2GB card.

 

I'm not sure why it's not recognizing it. I launch iPhoto first so the camera loads a little faster.

 

this is what apple says:

Digital Cameras

 

Though there's only one way to connect your camera to your computer, unless your camera comes with USB and FireWire options, you can specify what happens depending on your camera model and the image editing software you want to use. Though many cameras can be connected to your computer without installing any software, check the documents that came with your camera to see what your model requires; some manufacturers require or recommend that you install software to get the full benefits from your camera.

 

If you want to use iPhoto to view and edit your pictures:

 

1. Using the USB cable that came with your camera, connect the appropriate ends to your camera's USB port and computer USB port.

2. Turn on your camera. If your camera needs to be set to a certain mode to transfer photos, do so now but check your camera manual if you're not sure how. The camera or more precisely, its media card, appears on the desktop as a mounted volume.

3. Open iPhoto, if it does not open automatically. If a dialog displays, asking if you want to use iPhoto when you connect a camera, click Use iPhoto.

4. iPhoto switches to Import mode, and displays your camera or rather, the name you gave your media card in the Source list.

5. Type a name for your group of photos in the Roll Name field, such as "Vegas Vacation" or "Company Party Blackmail Photos."

6. Type a bit about your photos in the Description field.

7. Click Import to transfer photos or any movies from your camera to your iPhoto Library.

8. To disconnect the camera when finished, click the eject button next to the camera icon in the Source list. When the camera disappears from the list, you can safely disconnect it.

 

To manually download:

1. Using the USB cable that came with your camera, connect the appropriate end to your camera's USB port and plug the other end into an available USB port on your computer.

2. Turn on your camera. If your camera needs to be set to a certain mode to transfer photos, do so now. You may want to check your camera manual if you're not sure how.

3. Your camera should mount like a removable volume on your desktop, you should see a removable disk icon appear.

4. Double-click the volume to open it and open the DCIM folder, which holds your pictures.

5. Drag the image files or a folder of files to your desktop or any folder on your hard drive to copy them. You can then open the files in any graphics application, and even import them into iPhoto if you wish by dragging the files onto the Libary icon in the iPhoto Source list.

6. To delete all photos from the media card in your camera, you can either drag the DCIM folder to the Trash and then empty the Trash, or delete the images using your camera's controls.

7. To disconnect the camera, drag the volume icon to the Trash, it turns into an Eject icon. When the icon disappears from the desktop, you can safely disconnect your camera.

 

There is also image capture software on your mac, but I haven't used that.

 

 

One thing that is different with macs and pcs, is that you MUST EJECT the device on a mac before disconnecting the cord or you get an error message and could damage your files. This is done by clicking the arrow next to the camera in iPhoto or going to your destop and pressing Command-e or grabbing the camera icon and throwing it in the trash.

 

As for the supplies, if you have the Suite for Adobe, Bridge may be the answer you are looking for. I don't use it yet because I just haven't taken the time. I store all mine in labeled folders by collection with preview images for a quick glance.

[Art-C]

I'm in the same boat as you. My trusty 4 year old Toshiba laptop died last week and I replaced it with a MacBook Pro. I'm bumbling trying to find my way around. Can you use Bridge with PSE??? I need a way to organize and tag my huge collection of scrapbooking files since Organzer is not an option. It will be a big task but I can do it one bite at a time. Besides, some of those hokey 2005 digi files need to be cleaned out. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

[mrstucci]

Hi Bonnie! Welcome to the World of Mac!

 

The answer to your first question about using Bridge and PSE........ Yes, you can use and I tried that with PSE6 but it crashed all the time so I gave that up. I have PSE8 now but I don't use Bridge-got out of the habit with the prior experience using it. I now have Picasa to organize my digi stuff and it's working out fine and it's FREE! I also have a great setup here at home-I have a second 23" monitor. When I am working on a layout I put my Picasa window on it and use my MacBook Pro for PSE.

 

As for using a Mac, I would recommend going to the Apple website to view the tutorials that they have about using a Mac (http://www.apple.com/mac/). All sorts of short videos are there that you might find helpful. Also if you have an Apple store near you, they do offer One on One customer support but that may only be available if you bought it at an Apple store-I am not sure about that so check first. But check out the tutorials if you haven't already seen them.

 

Enjoy and feel free to post here anytime! I try to respond promptly as I want other Mac users to love the Mac as much as I do! Take care, Judy

[Art-C]

Thanks, MrStucci!

 

I did have Picassa on my Toshiba so I'll just reinstall that. Ro said at the ScrapGirls Conference that she had switched to Picassa for tagging. I've been working dual monitors for a couple years and love it. I have Editor on one screen and Organizer on the other. Or if I was writing class instructions, I'd have Pagemaker on one of the screens and type as I worked. Now that XP is gone (boo hoo!), I'll have to upgrade to InDesign to access all of my PMD files. Pagemaker won't load on the Parallels Desktop. And Adobe doesn't seem to be supporting Pagemaker anymore. I don't know when all this "investment" will end. Meanwhile I'm fumbling around with Mac. I've looked at a few of the videos I accessed on the Mac. They are very helpful. Getting the new jargon (Applications vs Programs, etc.) is a gradual process. And knowing when to use the Control, Command or Option keys. But I'm self taught in PSE...so my determination will win in the end. I bought my Mac at Microcenter in Denver. I didn't know that because I didn't purchase at the Apple store, the One on One was unavailable to me. DRATS. This is a new journey. I just wish there were more hours in the day. I appreciate your help.

[mrstucci]

You are most welcome Bonnie! Did you check to make sure that I was correct in that the One on One is only available if you bought it at an Apple Store? Another great resource is Apple User Groups. I belong to one near me and we have had alot of switchers join us and we all pitch in to show the new Mac users what is what. There are tons of great shareware and freeware programs for the Mac that you might find fills a need where a PC program was......... Well, enjoy and ask us for any help! Also, at this link (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343) are the Apple keyboard shortcuts-some I use all the time and lots I wish I knew well enough to use all the time! Take care, your 'neighbor' up north, Judy