The MediaStorm Platform allows you to load templated sample material into your account so you can see how the various elements work together to form each type of interactive in the toolset.
Please note: This is an optional process. It it designed to help you more quickly understand how various components and elements work.
You can load in the sample material, explore how various interactives are organized and published, and then delete the sample work.
Or you may decide to keep the material inside your account for on-going reference.
Loading Example Material
When you log into your account for the first time, it will be empty.
You can begin adding your own material, or you can load in our sample material.
This material will include all types of assets, excluding settings, integrations, and template presets.
When you first log in, there will be no items in any of three workspaces - Media, Title, or Releases.
You can navigate between them by using the buttons on the left of the interface to verify they have no assets listed.
If the workspaces are empty, an Import Sample Content button will appear at of the interface.
Using this feature from any of the workspaces will load sample content into all three of them.
To get started, click the Import Sample Content button.
A pop-up will appear asking you to verify.
When you are ready, click the Import button.
After clicking import, the Platform will begin loading the sample material into your account.
A pop-up message will appear letting you know the process and alerting you to not close the window while it is still running.
Once the process is complete, the pop-up box will go away.
Sample content will then appear in the lists in each workspace.
Click on the Media button to see the list of material.
Notice that the list includes images and video assets.
Clicking on the ID, thumbnail or name of any asset in any of the workspace will open.
Once it's open metadata and settings can be added or modified.
The media assets in the list used in Titles to create various interactives.
Click the Titles button to navigate to that workspace to see the sample material.
Note that the sample material includes a Slideshow, Playlist, Cover, Pin Map, Page and Timeline interactive Title types.
These Title types are included together inside Releases that are then published to the web.
Click the Releases button to navigate to that workspace to see the sample material.
Notice the list includes both Player and Website Releases.
Previewing Sample Material
To preview the sample material, navigate to the Releases workspace, and click on the Example Website release.
This will open the Release into its General Tab.
You can explore it's metadata, content and settings from here using the tab links on the left.
To preview the Release as it will appear when published, click the Preview button at the top right of the interface.
This will display the Release inside your browser window the web it will display to an visitor on the web.
You can follow the same steps to preview a Player Release.
Explore the contents of the Release and compare against the example Media, Titles and Releases sample material in your account to see how it is organized and presented.
For example, you can navigate to the Example Slideshow on the previewed Release.
And then navigate to that Title inside the Platform backend to explore it's contents and how it was built.
In this example, click the Titles button to go Titles Workspace, and locate and click open the Example Slideshow.
Explore the Title's metadata and settings in the General Tab.
Click the Slides button to see how the Media items are organized to create the Slideshow.
Click the Images button to see the image that will display to Preview the slideshow.
Click the Preview button to see how the title previews.
By following these steps for each of the Titles within a release, you can get a firm understanding of how the Platform is organized.
As explore, a general and simple rule to remember is that Media are included together to make interactive Titles, and Titles are then organized into Releases.
Keeping or Deleting the Sample Material
You can chose to keep the sample material in your account so you can continue to reference it or use it as a foundation as you work on your own projects, or you can choose to delete it so your account is fresh.
Using the sample content
You can keep the sample material in your account so you have it to reference as you build your own projects.
You can also duplicate the sample material and replace its content as a way to start with a framework for your projects.
The workflow here would be to:
- Duplicate one of the sample releases
- Duplicate the Title types you would like to have within it
- Add your own Media assets to the existing framework of the Titles.
Duplicating a Releases and Titles
The process of duplicating an items is the same for all assets.
Find the item you'd like to duplicate in its given workspace.
Click on the ID, thumbnail or name to open it.
The item will open into it's General tab, which contains its metadata information.
Navigate and click on the Actions button on the top right of the interface. This will open a list of possible actions.
Click on the Duplicate option.
A dialogue box will appear to confirm the duplication request.
Click the Duplicate button to confirm the action.
The new duplicated item will open into its General tab.
You can verify it is the copy by noticing the word COPY in it's name.
You can click and rename the item in this area.
After renaming, click the Save button.
You can use it as a framework for your work, by making changes to it and swaping in your content.
Deleting the sample content
If you choose to delete some or all of the sample material, you'll need navigate to each of the three workspaces -- Media, Titles and Releases and select the material to delete.
Click the button for the workspace you'd like to start with, so it displays a list of content.
Use the check boxes next to each item to select the ones you'd like to delete.
Note: You can use the checkbox next to ID to select all the items.
Once you have selected the items you'd like to delete, click the Actions button at the top right of the interface and click Delete.
A pop-up box will appear, asking you to confirm the action.
When you are ready, click the Delete button.
The Platform will display a notification letting you know the action was complete, and it the workspace will display a note that there are no items in it.
Repeat the steps for the other workspaces -- items in the Media, Titles and Releases all need to be deleted independently.
- For more about the organizational structure of the Platform and how to get started read: MediaStorm Platform Quick Start Guide
- For more detailed information about the areas of the Platform, see the User Guide section of our documentation.
- For more help and detailed How-To's, visit the MediaStorm Platform Help Center.