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MacFamilyTree

Video Walkthrough of MacFamilyTree Version 5.3.5 Update

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Synium Software recently updated MacFamilyTree to version 5.3.5. This version contains a feature that should have been there from the start: the ability to apply changes of case to all the names in the database. The “what’s new” states that the update includes the following:

  • Database Maintenance improved: Names can be now reformatted into different styles
  • Virtual Tree con be saved as a high resolution PNG now
  • The user interface can now be configured to show Partner 1/Partner 2 instead of Husband/Wife
  • Improved automatic date range calculation for the Timeline pane
  • Improved Statistics pane
  • Other minor fixes and improvements

It may be worth noting that the term for the partner in the new preference wasn’t “Husband” and “Wife” in the previous version (5.3.3). It was “Man” and “Woman.”

I also found, while recording the walkthrough screencast, that three new charts were added to the statistics pane:

  • Age of Marriage
  • Age of Divorce
  • Age of Parents at Child Birth

This video, Video Walkthrough of Mac Genealogy Software MacFamilyTree Version 5.3.5 Update, will walk you through each of the identified changes that can be demonstrated. If you spot one or more of the “other minor fixes and improvements” please leave a comment on this post.

MacFamilyTree Updated to 5.3.3

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Synium recently released an update to their Mac genealogy database software, MacFamilyTree. The 5.3.3 update will be offered when you next start the software if you are connected to the Internet. According to their website and my exploration, the update includes:

  • Improved timeline chart including a new timebar
  • The number of generations supported in the ancestor chart was increased from 20 to 30
  • Improved GEDCOM importer
  • Bug fixes in date parser
  • Search function improved
  • Localization fixes
  • Many smaller improvements

I re-checked all the problems I noted in my recent review of MacFamilyTree 5.3 Beta. None of them appear to have been fixed. I have since discovered the reason my dear, and still living, grandmother was reported as dead in the genogram was a loose nut behind the keyboard: me. In case you haven’t discovered it, there is a preference which will make MacFamilyTree assume a person is dead if a death event is not present and they would be over a certain age. It was set to 90. My grandmother, bless her heart, turned 92 in August.

In this video, Walkthrough of Mac Genealogy Software MacFamilyTree Version 5.3.3 Update, I show you the visible changes to the timeline and ancestor charts.

Routine Photo Management Tasks in MacFamilyTree

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The gorgeous graphics in MacFamilyTree make great use of photos of your relatives. This screencast will help you bring your family history data to life whether you’ve already added some photos or not. In it, I cover editing photos and adding them to MacFamilyTree. Since MacFamilyTree is tightly integrated with iPhoto I show you how to use it to:

  • crop photos
  • correct fading
  • remove discoloration
  • sharpen images

Once edited, I walk you through adding the photos to MacFamilyTree and selecting the photo that will be used for a given person in the family assistant. Please open MacFamilyTree and the following video, “Routine Photo Management Tasks in MacFamilyTree”, and follow along. After doing so you will have the knowledge and experience to move beyond just having photos. You’ll be ready to improve the quality of your family photos.

Please note that in the video I recommend that you buy a current copy of iPhoto if you don’t already have it. I suggested looking for it in the recommended products list in the sidebar, but didn’t mention that it is part of Apple’s iLife ’11,
suite of applications. iLife ’11 is the package to look for, not iPhoto.

Family Assistant

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The family assistant is a view in the Mac genealogy database software, MacFamilyTree. It consists of three panes:

  1. Person Chart
  2. Person Information
  3. List of Persons

The person chart is a graphical representation of the relatives of a focal person. The focal person is indicated graphically by a rotating, multi-pointed star aura. Related people are connected by arcs. The arcs are labeled with joined rings if the joined people are partners. Those rings will indicate a divorce by having a black circle with a slash. There is also a selected person which may or may not be the focal person. The selected person is indicated by a rotating, dashed line aura. The selected person has a plus sign icon that can be used to add connected people (partner, sibling, or children).

The fields in the person information pane populate with the information for the selected person. Those fields can be edited. The pane also includes the ubiquitous arrow which, if clicked, will take you to the edit view for the selected person.

The list of persons pane is just that. The focal person in the person chart is the focal person in the list of persons. There is a search box in this pane that can be used to quickly move the person chart to a different part of the tree.

The following configuration options exist for the family assistant view:

  • Number of ancestors to include in the person chart (0, 1, or 2)
  • Number of descendants to include in the person chart (0, 1, or 2)
  • Person coloring by generation or gender
  • Include people not in the same genetic lineage
  • Show photos for people when present (instead of the man or woman icons)
  • Speed of animation

This screencast video, Mac Genealogy Software MacFamilyTree Family Assistant, demonstrates all of the above features.

Virtual Tree

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MacFamilyTree includes a three-dimensional view of ancestors and descendants called a “virtual tree.” The view can be scrolled in three dimensions to make inspecting relationships easier. Every person in a family history file is represented in the diagram with an icon. The icons are interconnected by lines if they have ancestors, descendants, or a spouse. This view provides a different way of finding unconnected people in your data.

In this video from the MacGenealogist Archives I show you how to open and navigate the view as well as provide a couple of other tips.