The first time the ComicZeal Creator is run it will make a directory in your ‘Documents’ folder (Mac) or ‘My Documents’ (Windows) called ‘ComicZeal Creator’. This directory will contain another directory called ‘Comics’. The 'Comics' directory contains a sample comic.
To ensure that ComicZeal Creator is properly installed it’s a good idea to process the sample comic and download it to your iPhone or iPod Touch. Please make sure you get the sample download working before you add any of your comics.
We recommend using the SyncDocs method to move the comics to your device.
Using the Website Builder
ComicZeal Creator includes the website builder tool that we use to create the library page you see when you press ‘Add’ in ComicZeal.
You can use the same tool to create a website containing your own comics and to move comics to your iPhone or iPod touch without using SyncDocs.
On your iPhone or iPod touch, start up Safari and navigate to the address shown at the bottom of the ComicZeal Creator Website Builder, you will probably want to bookmark the address to avoid typing it in the future. It may occasionally change so if your bookmark no longer works check that it’s still correct.
Depending on their network configuration ,some computers have more than one IP address. If you have troubles downloading the sample comic see if there is more than one address in the IP address selector and try another one. Your iPhone or iPod Touch can only access your computer through one of the addresses displayed.
To try another IP address select it in ComicZeal Creator, it will re-build the download page. When it has finished the website address at the bottom of the Website Builder will be updated. On your iPhone or iPod touch navigate to the new address.
Remember that you need a working wi-fi connection between your PC and your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Your comics directory
ComicZeal Creator will read a directory containing your comics and generate ComicZeal files from the contents.
Earlier versions of ComicZeal Creator required a strict directory structure. Now you can drop CBZ/CBR files into the ‘Comics’ directory or put them into sub-directories. It will find them either way.
If a directory is found that contains image files and no subdirectories, that directory will be processed as a comic, with each image making up a page.
Notes:
- Only use copies of the comics you want to sync, the Creator is still in beta and horrible things could happen.
Creating ComicZeal files
When you press the ‘Convert Comics’ button, ComicZeal Creator will go through your ‘Comics’ directory looking for valid comic files and process them into ComicZeal compatible comic files. The processed files will be put into the ‘CreatorOutput’ directory.
Moving comics to your device
Although ComicZeal Creator gives you the option to move comics to your device using the built-in website creator we recommend you have a look at how to move the comics using SyncDocs. With SyncDocs many comics can be moved in one operation.
The ComicZeal and Syncdocs page is here.
Comic Categories
When ComicZeal Creator is used to build a website the comic filenames are used to determine the comic categories.
ComicZeal Creator uses two methods to determine which category, if any, a comic should go into.
In the first case it looks for comics which are named exactly the same except for the number at the end. An example is shown in the screenshot above. The ‘Strange Worlds’ comics all have the same name except for the issue number. In this case ComicZeal Creator makes up a category called ‘Strange Worlds’ for these comics.
In the second case ComicZeal Creator looks for a tilde (‘~’) sign in the comic name. Anything in front of the tilde is taken to be the comic category. So ‘Strange Worlds~Issue 1” and ‘Strange Worlds~Issue 2’ would both go into the ‘Strange Worlds’ category.
When creating the website ComicZeal Creator will only treat categories with more than one comic as valid.
Renaming Comics During Processing
ComicZeal Creator has two options for re-naming comics during processing.
The first is accessible through the ‘Rename Next Batch’ field. If the field contains a name then all the comics processed the next time ‘Convert Comics’ is pressed will be given that name and a sequence number will be added to the end.
The second is accessible through the ‘Categorize next batch’ field. If the field contains some text, then that text will be added to front of each comic name processed the next time ‘Convert Comics’ is pressed. The text will be separated from the original name using a tilde.
Please note that if you re-name the comics during processing then ComicZeal Creator won’t recognize the processed comics in the output directory and will re-process the originals the next time ‘Convert Comics’ is pressed. If you are using the re-name functions then it’s a good idea to delete the source comics from the ‘Comics’ directory once the conversion is finished.
Forcing ComicZeal Creator to re-process files
When the ComicZeal Creator runs it scans through the directories looking for CBR/CBZ files. If it finds one, and there isn't already a directory with the name of the CBR/CBZ file present, it will create the directory and extract all the images into it. If you ever want the ComicZeal Creator to re-extract the images from a CBR/CBZ file, simply delete the corresponding images directory.
Additional Options
Website Prefix (in Website Builder)
The website prefix is automatically updated by the ComicZeal Creator to generate a website for local browsing. If you host a content website and you want to upload your whole output directory to the internet to allow other people to download your comics you’ll have to change the website prefix.
When the ComicZeal Creator generates your website it must be told the final address of the website on the internet. Otherwise it can’t properly generate the download links for the comic files. So if you’re going to upload your comics to the web, update the ‘Website Prefix’ before pressing ‘Process Comics’. As an example, at bitolithic we would enter ‘www.bitolithic.com/ComicZeal/comicdownloads/‘ into the field.
Troubleshooting
If you’re having problems send us an email, but before you do please read this section.
ComicZeal Creator includes a sample comic. At first our efforts will focus on getting you to sync the sample to your iPod.
The first thing to do is delete the ‘ComicZeal Creator’ directory from your ‘My Documents’ folder. Then re-start ComicZeal Creator. This forces Creator re-create the directory you just deleted and process the sample comic.
Don’t add any more comics to the ‘Assorted Comics’ directory till you’ve downloaded the sample comic to your iPhone or iPod Touch.
If when you try to navigate to the address shown in ComicZeal Creator from your device Mobile Safari reports a network error then you either have the wrong IP address selected or there is some other kind of network error.
If something else goes wrong at this stage then please send us an email at the address shown below. To help us work out the problem please include the following in your email:
1. Your name.
2. The version of ComicZeal Creator you are using, it’s displayed in the log pane when the application starts.
3. A description of the problem.
4. Any errors that are displayed.
5. The contents of the log pane copied and pasted into the email. Please make sure that the log pane shows what happened when the sample comic was created.
6. Let us know how many IP addresses were listed and that you tried them all. Let us know what happened for each IP address you tried.
This information will really help us work out the problem, it is required.
Once you’ve synced the sample comic start off by adding one of your own to the ‘Assorted Comics’ directory.
If you have any problems at this stage please send us an email with the required information as above but make sure the log also shows what happened when your comic was imported.