iTag Smiles has the potential to save your studio countless hours of production time with on-site subject identification and same day proofing. iTag Smiles lets you add individuals’ names to group photos from your iPad. It’s touch-screen easy. Our app eliminates back-and-forth emails or hand-written lists to verify the names of people in a group photos. Teachers and coaches are done in minutes! Follow the instructions below to set up your app and to learn some of the finer points of iTag Smiles. It’s critical to invest some time in setting up and getting familiar with the app before utilizing it on-site. Please don’t try to upload the app the day of a shoot and wing it… It won’t be pretty.

What You Need to Get Started

1a. iTunes account/Apple ID – Click Here to sign up

1b. iCloud Storage account with Apple. https://www.icloud.com/

1c. iTag Smiles account – Click Here to sign up

Setting up iTag Smiles on the iPad

2a. Open the App store. In the top right corner search bar type in “iTag Smiles” (Don’t forget the space!)

2b. Tap the “$19.99” purchase button. Then tap the green BUY button.

2c. Now the app is on the iPad. Tap the app icon to open it. Tap the settings button in the top right corner of the screen and sign in.

2d. Tap “Cloud Storage Provider”. A popup will appear. There will be 2 options available. We now recommend using iCloud Drive. 

Login to your iCloud storage account.  

 

3e. While credits can be purchased in small quantities within the app on the settings page, we encourage our customers to purchase their credits through the iTag Smiles website. You will see better pricing and larger blocks of credits for your studio.  Most customers will purchase their credits through their account in iTag Smiles. Credits purchased through iTag Smiles will be shared across all iPads that are signed in to your studios iTag Smiles account. itagsmiles.com/register

 

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CREATING A JOB

CSV Setup – Data

4a. To create a job in iTag Smiles, a CSV file is needed (What is a CSV?). iTag Smiles will import the CSV to create individual groups based on the information in the provided file.

4b. Create a CSV file for the event using Excel or a similar program. The CSV file must be set up exactly as described below. CSV files don’t allow for punctuation, so make sure the CSV only has letters or numbers in it. The title of the CSV will show as the header text. If your CSV has any non CSV characters your file won’t import. 

4c. Column A (Group Name) will appear as the title of the footer for each group. (ie. Mrs. Smith’s 4^th Grade) Every change in this column (Mrs. Smith’s 4^th grade changed to Mr. Wright from row 5 to 6) will make a new group for this job in iTag Smiles.

Column B will always be the First Name for your subjects. Even if you try to name that column “Last Name” it will still show in iTag as the first name. Therefore, your export will show last names first. This can’t be fixed later, so make sure this step is done correctly.

Column C will always be the Last Name for your subjects.

Column D This column is optional. You can use the subject ID here if you opt to use some of the powerful reporting features to export your finished files.

4d. Save the Excel file as a CSV. Load the CSV file to your cloud storage accoun using a browser on your computer.

Creating A New Job in iTag Smiles

5a. Tap (add new job) at the top right of the “Jobs” page in your iTag Smiles app. This will bring you to your Box account so you can select the file you uploaded for this job. 

5b. Locate and select the .CSV file. The app will automatically create the job. It will appear as the saved title of the .CSV file uploaded.

5c. Swipe left on the job and tap the green edit button.

A.- The .CSV title will show as the title on the header.

B.- Modify your Header Font Settings.

C.- Modify your Footer Font Settings.

D.- Toggle the header text on or off.

E- Select the row order preference – front to back or back to front.

F- Import a background photo for this job. The background artwork can be customized. Background art is 3938px wide x 2813px tall.

Verify Job Data

6a. Double-check the accuracy of your data file. Your new job will be listed on the Jobs page. At the end of the job name, you will see a set of numbers. These indicate how many groups you have for that job and how many groups have been marked as completed. For example, if you have 20 groups in your job but this only shows 6, you will want to check your data file. If your CSV file has non-CSV characters, your file will not be complete. You will want to clean up any errors in your CSV and re-upload this job. To delete a bad upload simply swipe left on the job name and you can delete.

If your job shows the correct number of groups to process, you should open that job to review your group names. You will also see a counter next to each group name. This references how many subjects you have for each group and how many people have been tagged from that list.

 

 

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iTag Smiles Group Photo Instructions

1. Go into iTag Smiles. On the jobs screen, tap on the name of the group that was just photographed. Import the favorited photo from the camera roll by tapping “Import Photo from Camera Roll.” It’s easy to select the image because it will be the last image in the favorites folder.

 

2. Crop and rotate the image using two fingers. There are other useful tools on this page for making additional changes or fixes if needed, but the typical workflow is to crop the photo on this screen and then hit Next at the top right corner.

 

3. Apple’s iOS helps find about 90% of the faces. Tap on any faces that don’t have a blue circle around the face. All subjects need to be identified with a face frame. Tap Next at the top right corner after all faces have been tagged.

4. Swipe a finger across a row of faces and identify row 1, 2, 3, etc. Each row is represented in a different color circle to show which row the subjects will be identified with. When this is finished, tap next.

 

5. A list of subject names will pop up. Select the name for the identified subject. The popup will disappear and the face frame will now be shaded grey. Do this for all subjects in the photo. Modify names if needed by swiping left on a subject name. All names will appear in the footer, where the face frame is located.

6. Confirm the accuracy of the image with the teacher or coach for the group. Confirm photo is complete in the popup window. The image is now saved to the image processing page. This will automatically take you back to the group listing page to start the next group. Repeat steps 1-5 for all of the groups in the job.

7. Tap the icon at the top right corner of iTag Smiles. The processing page will appear. Buy credits to process the group images. The job is ready to upload to Box.

Export Folders

To view a sample export, please click here.

Sample of Folders:

Folder 1: CSV File – One file for each group uploaded. You can download our macro for easy consolidation. These CSV files include the following: Edited Group Name, Edited First Name, Edited Last Name, Not Pictured, Not in Group, and Manually Added.

Additionally, there is information in columns L, M, and N within your CSV file to help simplify your DP2 group photo automation. All subject information is contained in the original CSV file, as well as any changes or additions made to subject information. Students marked as Not Pictured are clearly noted for your convenience.

Folder 2: Footer Text – A text file is provided for each group processed. This is the file to use if the studio has its own group template via Photoshop or DP2 software. 

Principal Jane Snow – Mrs. Bisbal – Fourth Grade

Back Row: Mrs. Smith, Alejandro Rodriguez, Grace Garcia, Gregory Smith, Aubrey Davis

Middle Row: Jazmine Brown, Erick Becerra, Kenzie Boyle, Beau Rollins, Cayden Smith

Front Row: Isaiah Green, Jayden Robinson, Jason Clark-White, Danielle Hall, Katrina Morgan 

Folder 3: Images – These files are the rendered JPGs originally uploaded into iTag Smiles. These are great for editing and replacing the image if needed.

Folder 4: iTags – These files can be opened on any Wifi-connected iPad. These files are great for going back into a group, editing a name, or re-exporting a group image.

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Three On-Site Workflows to Choose From:

 Tethered Workflow

SD Workflow

Row Text File Only Workflow

 

Tethered Workflow (Best for creating finished images while on-site)

a. Capture a few images of the group using a camera.

b. Using a mini-USB cord and an Apple USB-lightning adapter, plug the camera into the iPad. The iPad’s native photo app will read the memory card inside the camera and should automatically open.

c. Using the Photos app on the iPad, select a favorite image for that group.

d. Repeat steps 1-7 from iTagSmiles Group Photo Instructions.

 

SD Workflow

a. Capture a few images of the group using a camera.

b. Plug the SD card into the Apple SD card reader dongle. The iPad’s native photo app will read the memory card inside the camera and should automatically open.

c. Using the Photos app on the iPad select a favorite image for that group. (Don’t forget to put the SD card back in the camera when finished).

d. Repeat steps 1-7 from iTag Smiles Group Photo Instructions. 

Row Text File Only Workflow

a. Capture an image with the local iPad camera app.

b. Complete steps 1-7 from iTag Smiles Group Photo Instructions. 

c. Download the .itag file to the desktop and open it. 

d. Open the ” Row text” folder and copy the text.