March 24, 2015 / Coverage / Spring 2015

Organizing files in Aurasma


Written by Don Leonard

For a successful and less stressful yearbook, you need to stay organized. Pictures, stories, fonts, colors and all the elements that make up your book can quickly overwhelm a filing system. If you have decided to add augmented reality to your book, now you also need to keep track of videos, Trigger images and Auras on top of everything else.

Thankfully, Aurasma provides some easy-to-use tools for managing and organizing all of your digital assets.

Tip

  • This article assumes you are using the new version of Aurasma Studio released in July 2014. If you are still using the legacy version and want to upgrade – which I highly recommend – send an email request to Aurasma Support at support@aurasma.zendesk.com. Provide them your account name and ask for the free upgrade.

Triggers and Overlays are the Assets used in Aurasma to create Auras. As you upload Assets, they appear by default in alphanumeric order on your screen. Name your Assets when uploading them, beginning with the page number they will appear on. If that isn’t always possible, at least give files a descriptive name instead of the original file name.

Organizing new Assets

When uploading a new Trigger or Overlay, a little folder icon will appear on the right side of the upload window. Click the folder to open a smaller window where you can choose an existing sub-folder or create a new sub-folder for your assets. Whether you create a new folder or use an existing one, the key to assigning your new Assets to that folder is to double-click on folder. This will select the folder and also show the folder path in the upload window.

Organizing existing Assets

If you have already uploaded Trigger images and Overlays, you can still easily organize them into sub-folders. When you click on single or multiple Assets from the Triggers or Overlays area, an option appears in the upper right of the screen to Move the Assets. Click the Move button and select an existing sub-folder or create and select a new folder. Next, click on the Move button in this window to reassign the location of these Assets.

Viewing Assets in folders

When you select the Assets area, either for Triggers or Overlays, by default you see your entire library of Assets regardless of what folder they are assigned. To see a particular folder, click the folder icon next to the Triggers and Overlays buttons. Double-click the folder you want to view to see only those Assets in that folder. Conversely, to get back to viewing all Assets, click the purple X button next to the folder name to close that folder.

Adding existing Assets to a new Aura

When creating a new Aura, you have the option to upload a new Trigger or Overlay, or select an existing Asset. If you have already organized some Assets into folders, the Select Trigger Image or Select Overlay window will show a folder icon. Click the icon, and then double-click on the folder you want to view to select your Asset. This should be much easier and quicker than scrolling through your library list of Assets.

How to tell if you have already used an Asset

Along with organizing your files, it is also important to know when an Asset has already been used in an Aura. You don’t want to make the mistake of assigning the same Trigger image to multiple Auras; that will cause the Aura to either not work as expected or possibly not work at all.

As you are scrolling through your list of Triggers or Overlays, at the bottom of each one is a tag that shows the file type, name and number. If you see a zero, then you know that Asset is not currently assigned to any Aura. If selecting Trigger images, you definitely don’t want to select an image that has a number one below the name.

Tip

  • Consider using Walsworth’s animator to create a custom animation for your cover. To learn more about getting a custom cover animation, contact your yearbook sales representative.

Coverage ideas for auras that show students this year:

  • Cafeteria at lunchtime
  • Senior superlatives
  • Personality profile interviews
  • Today’s fashions
  • Vacation videos
  • Dances
  • Science experiments
  • Student parking lot at the end of school day
  • Snow day activities
  • Students’ locker contents

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Don Leonard

Don Leonard supported the first yearbooks created using desktop publishing software in the early 1990s. He trains yearbook sales representatives and customers online, desktop publishing and photo-editing programs. Don also is involved in video and audio production, creating video tutorials for Walsworth's programs and Enhancements.