• Installation:

 The installation of Trilobase is very easy. Just execute the installation file and follow the instructions.

You can currently select between these languages: English, Dutch, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Catalan.

Click here to go to the download page.


You can install Trilobase on any Windows PC (Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1, windows 10).

A minimum of 4GB of memory and 50GB of free disk space is required.

Just download the installation file and run it on your computer. Follow the instructions.

 

  • Main screen: 

After the installation, you will find the Trilobase icon on your desktop. Double-click this icon to start Trilobase.

The main screen will apppear:





The left part of the screen is the menu with the following sections:

  • Fossils
  • Minerals
  • Artifacts
  • Collecting sites
  • Groups
  • Bibliography
  • Storage

The buttons in the lower right corner are the "Languages" and the "Settings" menus.

 

  • Fossils:

All kinds of fossils can be entered in the database : Ammonites, sea urchins, trilobites, belemnites, brachiopods, sponges, corals, graptolites, shark teeth, plants, etc...

The following screens shows the main screen with the list of fossils:




  1. Click on the "Fossils" button.
  2. The list of fossils will appear. This list can be ordered and grouped in different ways. Right-click on the header to sort by number, name, age, taxonomy or rating.
  3. The selected fossil is displayed in another colour.
  4. The image of the selected fossil is displayed.
  5. The menu "Select an action..." allows the following actions:
  • Open the selected fossil
  • Add new fossils
  • Delete the selected fossils
  • Export/import from/to XLSX
  • Send fossils to the print queue


Use the menu "Select an action..." and "Open the selected fossil" or double-click a fossil from the list to open the fossil.


The following screen will appear:


  1. Geology (era, period, epoch, age). Click the "..." button to open the geologic timescale.
  2. Taxonomy of the fossil. Click the "..." button to open the taxonomic tables of the most frequent fossils (trilobita, ammonoidea,belemnoidea, brachiopoda,crinoidea,...).
    19 taxonomic tables are included.
  3. Details: date and method of acquisition.
  4. Rating: click on the stars to give this fossil a rate between 0 and 5 stars.
  5. Images: Drag & drop images here. Up to 99 images can be stored.
  6. Description of the fossil
  7. Collecting site (drag & drop the collecting site here - see "Collecting sites")
  8. Comments. Free space to enter what you like.
  9. Drag & drop the storage here (see "Storage")
  10. Drag & drop the groups here (see "Groups")
  11. Select an action:
    • Add / Delete / Rename fossil
    • Display Geological time scale / taxonomic table / bibliography
    • Add fossil to the print queue


    • Minerals:

    Every mineral of your collection has its place in Trilobase. All the mineral properties can be entered manually or you can be selected them from a list of more than 3000 valid and approved IMA mineral names. This list with properties is included in English, French and Dutch.

    A direct link to Mindat (http://www.mindat.org) is also included (internet connection required). The mineral detail screen shows the following information:





    1. Mineral properties
    2. Details: date and method of acquisition.
    3. Rating: click on the stars to give this mineral a rate between 0 and 5 stars.
    4. Images: Drag & drop images here. Up to 99 images can be stored.
    5. Description of the mineral
    6. Collecting site (drag & drop the collecting site here - see "Collecting sites")
    7. Comments. Free space to enter what you like.
    8. Drag & drop the storage here (see "Storage")
    9. Drag & drop the groups here (see "Groups")
    10. Select an action:
    • Add / Delete / Rename mineral
    • Display mineral list / bibliography
    • Add mineral to the print queue


    • Artefacts:

    For each artefact you can enter the type, material, the period or age, how it is discovered, the dimensions, weight, etc.

    An artefact can be stone age material like axes and arrow points, or medieval pottery, or roman coins...

    Even paintings and other antiquarian objects can be entered without problems in the database.

    The following screen shows the artefact details:



      1. Typology (type, material, period, culture).
      2. Manufacturing of the artifact.
      3. Details: date and method of acquisition.
      4. Rating: click on the stars to give this artifact a rate between 0 and 5 stars.
      5. Images: Drag & drop images here. Up to 99 images can be stored.
      6. Description of the artifact
      7. Collecting site (drag & drop the collecting site here - see "Collecting sites")
      8. Comments. Free space to enter what you like.
      9. Drag & drop the storage here (see "Storage")
      10. Drag & drop the groups here (see "Groups")
      11. Select an action:
      • Add / Delete / Rename artefact
      • Display bibliography
      • Add artefact to the print queue
      • Collecting sites:

      You can easily enter the collecting sites in Trilobase. You can enter the type of site (quarry, natural exposure, road works,...), the route, contact information,etc...

      If you know the coordinates (in decimal format), you can open Bing maps directly from within Trilobase to show you the exact location on the map (internet connection required).

      You can also store all additional data like photos and documents about the collecting site. The following screen shows the collecting site details:



      1. Site location (country,department,town, nearby towns, GPS coordinates, other coordinates).
      2. If the GPS coordinates are given in decimal format, you can use bing maps to show the exact location.
        (Info : since V8.2.11, Google maps is not available any more).
      3. Folder for documents and photos.
      4. Site type, contact information, descripion and comments



      Add a collecting site to an item:

      A collecting site can be added to each fossil, mineral or artifact. There are 2 ways to do this:


      Solution 1: Drag & Drop the site

      1. Open the fossil, mineral or artifact detail window
      2. Return to the main screen and select the "Collecting Sites" list
      3. Select the "Collecting site"
      4. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the collecting site to the fossil, mineral or artefact
      5. Release the mouse button when you are above the text "Drag and drop collecting site here"


      Solution 2: Use the menu

      1. Open the fossil, mineral or artifact detail window, Return to the main screen and the "Collecting Sites" list
      2. Select the "Collecting site"
      3. Go to the menu "Select an action..." and select "Add selected site to the fossil/mineral/artifact"


      • Groups:

      The "Group" section of Trilobase is an unique feature that allows you to group items together. A good example is to create a group when you acquire an old collection: You can then create a group called "Old collection from John Doe" and store all the items from this collection in this group. You can also create a group for pathological fossils or special twin crystals. An item can belong to 0, 1, 2 or more groups.

      A clever use of the groups can make the search for certain items easier.

       

      • Bibliography:

      Your bibliography can be entered in Trilobase. For each book, paper or pdf you can enter the author, title, abstract and keywords.

      A bibliography can be linked to each fossil, mineral or artifact.

       

      • Storage:

      It is very important to know where each item of your collection is stored.

      1. The storage section of Trilobase allows you to create "Rooms".
      2. In a room, you can add "Cabinets".
      3. And each cabinet can contain "Drawers".




      1. When the storage is created you can drag it to the fossil, mineral or artifact.

      No more items gets lost or unfindable.


      • Printing

      With Trilobase you can print in different formats :

      • Small, medium and big labels with or without image.
      • Half and full page
      • Listing with or without image
      • Images:

      You can add up to 99 images (photos) to each single item in the database.

      Just drag and drop the photo's or "double-click" to open the file manager. A new thumbnail of each photo is added to the detail window.




      Double-click a thumbnail to view the details of each photo.



      1. With the toolbar you can highlight regions, draw rectangles and ellipses, insert other images or photos, draw lines and arrows, add text and sticky notes, freehand drawing and crop the image.
      2. The color and size of the drawing tools can be changed here.
      3. An unique feature of Trilobase is the ability to add rulers (scalebars) to the images.
        Decimal and Inch rulers are included.
      4. The user can zoom in up to 300%.
      5. Free text can be saved with the image.
      6. The EXIF information of each photo is also displayed.
      7. The image or photo can be exported in JPG format.
      8. If this checkbox is set, the image is considered as the main image for this item.
        • Multiple languages: 

        Trilobase v8 is currently available in 7 languages: English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Catalan, German and Italian.


        However, you can add new languages easily: just create and edit a new text file in the subfolder "/languages" of the Trilobase program.



        • Backups:


        IMPORTANT

        Please read carefully

        Don't forget to make a backup of your data on a regular base. A backup is a simple copy of your data on another device.

        You can copy your data on an external hard drive, a network drive, a DVD, ZIP drive, etc...

        Store the backup in a safe place.


        This is the list of files that you must backup regularly:

        • c:\users\public\trilobase_8\trilobase_8.fdb
        • c:\users\public\trilobase_8\trilobase_8_config.fdb
        • The folder c:\users\public\trilobase_8\sites and all the subfolders
        • The folder c:\users\public\trilobase_8\bibliography

        When you have to re-install trilobase (for example on a new computer), you must first install trilobase again and then copy the above files to your new computer. This way you will not loose your precious data.

        www.trilobase.com

        www.trilobase.com