How to use the MZ3 Tool
Download the zipped file mz3_tool_en.zip and extract it to a new folder. You can freely choose path and name. We suggest to use my_mags/ as name for the folder and placed it on the desktop, as this is what we do in the example. That folder then will hold the MZ3 tool (i.e. the config file) and some prepared, but empty, folders.
The folder _custom_files will serve as location for all your book content like images, videos and sound. The proposed folder structure also will help to organize different MZ3 titles with several versions. The name of the MZ3-Tool configuration file starts with __config, followed by a 2 letter language acronym and the version number. It is a windows batch command file and as such has the extension .bat. The double underscore at the beginning serves the only purpose to make the file appear at the beginning in an alphabetical search. There are more (hidden) files that support the creation of the MZ3 title and at the end build the MZ3 Tool. Please do not move, rename or delete those! For the offline (or CD) version we discuss here please download the MegaZine3 software megazine-fat.exe and etxract and save it in the my_mags/magazine/ folder. For simplicity we’ll discuss the creation of an offline version only. Therefore that single file is sufficient. The building of online titles is discussed in other tutorials. To use book specific content, some more folders have to be created individually. The MZ3 Tool expects the content in a folder named c_book, with book being the name of your title/book and “c_” as differentiator to the book folders that will hold the MZ3 title data later. We select “mag” as the book/title name in this example. Optional: If you use a version name, what we highly suggest, please create another folder. Named _custom_files/c_book/version/ with version as your version name. We use “1” as version namein this example.Therefore the _custom_files/ folder contains a c_book/ folder which then contains a version/ folder:
Place your book content into these folders: o PDF file Copy your PDF file into the book folder (or if you prefer in the version folder) and rename it, so that it matches the book and version name; followed by the language code if needed. The file must be named like: book_version_xx.pdf, with xx as 2-letter language indicator (en for English, de for German, it for Italian, …). Example: _custom_files/c_mag/1/mag_1_en.pdf
o
Images create a folder jpgpng/ in the version/ folder and copy your images into that folder. Rename your images with e.g. xnview so they are called img_lxx.jpg for a set of low quality images, and optionally img_hxx.jpg for a set of high quality images. Example: _custom_files/c_mag/1/de/jpgpng/img_l*.jpg (* as 1, 2, 3, 4, … 24, 25, …112, 113, ..) If high quality images are found, it is possible to activate the automatic download of zoom dependant resolutions.
Notepad++ If not done so already, download and install notepad++ or a similar editor capable interpreting XML file, so you can do the modications of the MZ3 Tool configuration file.
Swftools For a PDF conversion, we use swftools. Please download and install the swftools. If the pdf2swf file cannot be found a PDF conversion cannot be supported by MZ3 Tool
MZ3 Tool Configuration The key parameters to build a MegaZine3 title can be entered in the template file __config_en_vx.x.x.bat with notepad++ and then saved as __config_book_version_en.bat for the English version (or *_de.bat for German etc.) Example: __config_mag_1_en.bat
Most parameters (attributes) can be configured and all of them are explained in a comment close to where the parameter is set. With any editor like notepad++ you can modify the default values ; e.g. page count and size. Don’t forget to save your changes! The changes you’ll have to make almost every time, are o book and version name o number of pages
There are many more paramters like pg_format or alternatively pg_width and pg_height to adjust the page size.
Other parameters control the type of the title (offline or online), the type of the content (PDF, jpg, png files) and alike.
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Run the configuration file Once the configuration is made and saved, execute the modified command file, i.e. your __config_book_version_en.bat file, in e.g. double clicking it. A window opens up and gives detailed information about the process. If problems are detected, like a missing PDF file, this is reported. Please enlarge the window and/or scroll back if necessary, and read all messages! If everything worked smoothly, you can start your title in hitting the Enter key The offline version of your book is located in a folder called book_cd; in this case mag_cd To startFlash Player (your book) again, the program magazine-fat.exe must be executed. The file starting your book is located in the book folder, like in this case at mag_cd/1/megazine/megazine-fat.exe. I t was copied here by the MZ3 Tool. Every book (not every version) needs it’s own copy of the MegaZine3 software to support saving the MZ3 title on media like a CD. When saving every file and folder form the book_cd/version/ folde on CD, that CD could start automatically if that feature is enabled (Windows settimg). For that the file autoron is palced in the version/ folder.
The configuration command file creates all files and folders needed for the type of title you selected automatically.
If custom folders with content are found at the proper location, those folders will be copied into the MZ3 book folder (mag_cd in this case) at the time a new MZ3 title is created. If an offline version is built, also the MegaZine3 software is copied from the magazine/ folder at base level to the magazine/ folder at book/version/ level. In case you want to make changes to your title, you can modify the __config file and run it again. Or you adjust the magazine.mz3 file directly. But be careful and create a new version before running __config again, because otherwise all changes in the magazine.mz3 are overwritten! More options will be presented in other, topic specific tutorials. Like those covering building photo books automatically, or convert PDF files fast and easy into working MZ3 titles.
Example of a magazine.mz3 file:
A general workflow of how to use MZ3 tool is shown on the next two pages.