Fri Jul 24, 2009
Serial drinking?
Check out Deke McClelland's Martini Hour 024 which features Peter Krogh. You would have thought Peter would bring a touch of organisational sobriety to the podcast, but out comes the Bombay Sapphire and the cocktail shaker and off he goes telling folks about how DAM is like serial monogamy and Intercourse Penn....
Tue Jun 23, 2009
Where's the beef?
Ars Technica reports Expression Media ripped out of Microsoft Expression Studio:
Expression Media, Microsoft's digital asset management software for cataloging photos, video and music, will continue to be available as a standalone product but will no longer ship with Expression Studio, effective with the upcoming Expression Studio 3 release. Microsoft will continue to market Expression Media to digital photographers, who make up the largest customer base for this product, and will continue to invest in digital photography. Expression Studio and Expression Media will be sold separately.
Despite the headline, that's not necessarily bad news. Equally, it's not good either - it's simply impossible to know whether Expression Media has much of a future. It's now 3 years since Microsoft bought iView, and the longer they fail to drive the product forward and deliver an exciting new version, the less relevant it will inevitably become.
For instance, only yesterday Jeffrey Friedl released a Lightroom plug-in which allows you to catalogue video files in Lightroom, so how much longer will it be until he or someone else includes all file types?
Or here is a screenshot of my own plug-in which adds user-definable custom fields to Lightroom and includes read/write from XML. Those two features mean I'm just a short step for DAMkind away from reading iView/xMedia data exports and writing to Lightroom custom fields. Could do it now, in fact. Even if I never release that plug-in, I could use it for my own final move away from xMedia and that would be another advocate gone. Disinterring my old analogy of DAM and serial monogamy, how often do lost loves ever come back?
Sat May 09, 2009
The DAM Show
The DAM Show is a new blog by Peter Krogh to accompany the release of the DAM Book's second edition. Let's hope he becomes an enthusiastic blogger!
The latest post is on validating what's happened when you move or copy files around. Don't know if he's tried it, but my recommendation for PC is Microsoft's SyncToy.
Fri Apr 10, 2009
A brand new DAM
It was no secret that it was on the way, but my friend Peter Krogh's The DAM Book has now been listed on Amazon US and Amazon UK. The original book was immediately unusual in its cover not being emblazoned with "Photoshop CS2" or focussing on the image processing side of the pixel mountain. Peter rightly saw that the management and safeguarding of digital photos was digital photography's dangerously-neglected aspect, and this understanding of the real needs meant the book's shelf life extended across software release cycles and remained applicable after entirely new programs were introduced. But even long-lasting underlying principles eventually need dusting off, and this new version of the book is a complete rewrite. Thanks Peter for asking me to tech edit a couple of chapters - I look forward to my signed copy! And now for some of my own reflections... (or alternatively). When you look back at the the original book, it offered a solution containing four main strands - Bridge, iView, Photoshop, and DNG tying it all together and letting you see the adjusted raw data in any other program. I had already adopted the same sort of workflow before the original book came out, and my first contact with Peter was when he noticed something I'd posted about DNG in a forum. In fact, around the time he must have begun his book for O'Reilly, my UK publishers had turned down my similar book proposal as they thought their US partners - O'Reilly - simply wouldn't be interested in the topic....
So I was already very much in agreement with his approach then, and it's interesting to consider how things have changed over 4-5 years. For the better? Well, I'm not so sure. In Lightroom and Aperture we do have a pair of new and significant cataloguing programs which combine processing with DAM, but extensible XMP's promise of portable metadata remains unfulfilled by them (Aperture can't even read sidecar files) and the idea of a DAM program limited to camera-originated file types is now challenged - if it was ever valid - by our having three DSLRs that can output video too.
Have things changed for the worse then? No, not that either - the old four-legged solution still works fine, Bridge CS4 is a big leap forward (for example), Adobe have maintained parity and let you do the same adjustments either in Lightroom or the Camera Raw dialog (perhaps surprisingly when they could have introduced more product differentiation here), while iView's still there in its Microsoft Expression Media guise and still shows your DNGs' adjusted appearance. Bigger raw files keep piling up, Nikon and Canon still fail to offer DNG as an option, still offer in-camera settings that only make sense if you use their own raw converters and which you never have time to set when you're busy snapping, and otherwise-excellent programs like Capture One still insist on new file formats (at least for now only their medium format back customers are being offered this delightful suppository).
But we will continue to cope - all this still hasn't overwhelmed the fingers in the dyke of yet-bigger hard drives, multi processor cores, and all that the extra RAM - and we're still successfully finding yet more comforting ways to slow computers down to our thinking speed. Maybe "different" is all we can ever expect, and success in DAM is still being there, still holding back the flood (the version on Fripp's Exposure LP is even better).
File Info panels for iView and xMedia, and more
Photoshop and Bridge CS4's File Info panels are built differently from before, using a Flash-based technology, and iView users are moving over to Expression Media - that is, if they are still hanging on....
So I've just uploaded CS4 versions of my File Info panels to my iView downloads page. I've done panels for both iView and xMedia, and also included an extension to the Metadata panel that's shown in Bridge's main window - click the image to see what I mean (it can also be done in Bridge CS3 as shown here - thanks Peter Krogh).But, as they say - wait, there's more.
Also included is a JavaScript for Bridge that adds a set of commands to its Tools menu. The most interesting is Expression Media 2 Data to LR Hierarchical Keywords which has a name only its father could love but does what it says on the metaphorically-mixed tin. In particular, it converts xMedia metadata to Adobe format - including Catalog Sets to Hierarchical Keywords.
As usual with these things, they are free but unsupported and there's a subtle nudge towards my Amazon wish list (thanks David Finch if you're reading).
Tue Nov 25, 2008
Customizing Bridge CS4's Metadata panel
A week or two ago I posted an example here of a custom panel for Bridge CS4's File Info dialog (in fact I just updated that post after finding an Adobe error relating to where to install custom panels on Mac). But it's worth saying that as well as using the much-improved Bridge, if you want to display custom metadata in the File Info dialog it means... displaying the File Info dialog - And that's a touch tedious when you just want to check one custom field's value and when Bridge's main window already has a perfectly good Metadata panel. So in that post's only comment I wasn't too surprised when "some guy" asked if it was possible to make it show custom metadata. While I answered no, I was pretty sure that wasn't the case, and it turned out to be as easy as copying the properties.xml file from my existing File Info panel, and dropping it in a new folder called "custom":
- on PC: "C:\Document and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Adobe\XMP\Custom File Info Panels\2.0\custom"
-on Mac: "/Users/USERNAME/ApplicationData/Adobe/XMP/Custom File Info Panels/2.0/custom"
The nice thing about this is that you can easily group metadata from various sources, so in my panel there's a grouping of fields from Expression Media's namespace and some from Lightroom/Bridge. You can easily mix ACR or GPS or IPTC or EXIF into this alphabet soup - it's only XML as the Groaning OAPs would put it. The panel is now included in my CS4 File Info panel for Expression Media metadata.
I have to reflect though. While it's good to be able to display any XMP-based metadata in Bridge, should one really have to know XML to do so? I could ask exactly the same of Lightroom 2 too, because custom metadata fields are still only available if you're prepared to put on your wellies and wade around in Lua. As a result, Adobe users jump through hoops adding to their keywords all sorts of information which really should stay private. By contrast, for ages Extensis Portfolio has let normal users set up custom fields and read/write to XMP namespaces, and even the XMP-allergic Aperture has offered custom fields them since day 1 (see Ian Wood's post here). In short, why do Adobe assume Joe the Ever So Slightly Pointy-headed Photographer won't set up and exploit custom metadata fields?
Thu Oct 30, 2008
Why iView, still?
I was asked recently for a few reasons why I still use Expression Media (I still call it iView) rather than depending entirely on Lightroom, so in descending order, here goes:
- By far the biggest reason is to manage in a single place all files related to photographic projects. For me, like very many photographers, that isn't just photos, but might easily include sound clips from wedding shoots, PDF contact sheets, the odd ProShow presentation, as well as any correspondence. Ideally Lightroom should control all these file types, but it doesn't, yet.
- iView's very much faster generating large numbers of JPEGs for emailing or for making a web gallery of a whole shoot. This is because it uses the Lightroom-adjusted preview in the DNG, while Lightroom needlessly reprocesses the raw data.
- I depend on custom fields for recording who's featured in my re-enactment pictures and finding them quickly, and for grouping frames shot for stitching or HDR. While the LR2 SDK does now let you add custom fields, it's too new and undeveloped, and you can't read/write the metadata to/from images. iView does this, so any TIF made from a DNG automatically inherits the original's custom metadata, making it easy to marry up a stitched panorama to the component frames, for example.
- I greatly prefer the flexibility of iView's low tech HTML templates to Lightroom's Lua-based ones.
- iView has scripting using widely-known languages which I can quickly use to copy IPTC location information over to keywords, for example, or to search and replace within captions (eg for typos). It gives me the flexibility to write a simple script in a text editor, or in a well-established development and debugging tool such as Microsoft's VB editors or Apple's Script Editor. Lightroom's comparatively-obscure Lua is an inhuman programmer's language wrapped in layers of nested functions, has little documentation written for non-programmers, gives indecipherable error messages, has no development tool more helpful than a text editor - and in any case has restricted access to metadata. For me, end user access to scripting is one badge which makes a program a professional tool, and it should be present from day 1.
- Using beta versions of Lightroom, and testing them more brutally than may be wise, I want a rock solid DAM base.
There is a huge value in one application combining file management, adjustment, and output. I'm a big user of LR2's smart collections which can automatically group new pictures meeting a wide range of criteria. Migrating to a wholly Flash-based web site, I'm using Lightroom's SlideShowPro export. And maybe the SDK may offer a way forward for my custom metadata. Even though I'm unsure what I want to do about types of files which Lightroom can't import, the balance is certainly shifting and I'm relying more on LR as months go by.
Sat May 24, 2008
Expression Media 2
Dams are useful for holding back rivers of tears, but Robert Edwards' DAM Workflow Newletter (subscribe here takes a clear-eyed look this month at DNG 1.2 and Expression Media 2. There are hard-hitting but perfectly fair criticisms of the latter:
When Microsoft bought iView they were behind the eight ball because of who they are perceived to be. If it was an Adobe acquisition I imagine users might rejoice. Microsoft needs to work doubly hard to win loyalty amongst creatives. While unfair it is a fact. Releasing an update and telling patient users it is primarily a bug fix but pony up US$99 anyway is one thing. But when that update has bugs that prevent people using it is another thing altogether. One plus publicised by Microsoft for iView users is the large backroom of quality assurance engineers. So, where were they? This all gives ammunition to the Microsoft cynics.
I've stayed quiet about Expression Media 2 because I'm one of those who can't use it yet who expects a lot more of Microsoft. A service pack really can't come soon enough.
But don't these coincidences keep flowing? In 2006 I was speaking to a photographer's conference on iView at the very moment the embargo was lifted and I could announce the acquisition. Now where was that conference held? Oh yes, at Old Trafford.
Mon May 12, 2008
Competition
It's not a secret that I find Lightroom the best application for reviewing, adjusting and applying initial metadata - I'd pretty well finished processing last weekend's 2,100+ raw files by Wednesday morning. Equally obviously, it's not the only program that aspires to manage and process large numbers of pictures. I'm immediately referring to the Mac-limited Aperture, but it's interesting to see others moving into this database+processing arena. There are hints of a SmartFlow from Microsoft, and Robert Edwards pointed out some of the features that are going to be in Bibble 5. Click one screen grab and you'll see the cataloguing system, click the other and there's local adjustment within the application (ie not via some pixel rendering plugin or Photoshop).
I can't shake off the feeling that right now there's no Manchester United that wins the DAM+P market with style - man, yesterday was so tense - but just a bunch of functional Chelseas (without the kleptocratic funding of course). Eventually a winner will emerge, but let's hope that there's plenty of competition between at least four teams.
Thu Mar 06, 2008
Expression Media 2 beta
These days, though you often wonder if fully-released versions differ from that condition, everyone's doing prolonged public betas of imaging software. Microsoft have joined in too, releasing Expression Media 2 (formerly iView) as a beta for Windows and Mac.
Nearly two years since the acquisition, Microsoft haven't ruined the program, but there's surprisingly little progress or persuasive reasons to switch from iView. There is some good stuff, like effectively-eliminating the Windows program's dependence on Apple QuickTime, but the few new features are mostly half-done.
For example, the hierarchical keywords feature lets you assign pictures to a leaf node in the new Keywords Finder, and the image automatically gets all its parents keywords. Great. But the opposite should happen when I delete images from that node ? the ?real? keywords should be deleted too.
Or take the new Virtual Earth window which displays where you took GPS-tagged pictures. On Windows dragging untagged images to the VE window will add GPS coordinates to the catalogue. Sounds handy. But you must first centre the map at exactly the right location and then drop those images in a rectangular area at the top of the window. Why can't you drop them on directly on the map? And on the Mac, drag and drop to the VE window doesn't work at all. So good idea has been so insufficiently developed that it's not all that useful.
Working my way through the other new features, I'm also pretty underwhelmed by "Support of new file formats". Firstly, EM2 will no longer import DNG files on Windows XP, most likely because I have not installed a Codec. OK, I'm the sort of bloke who might know that's the case, but at the very least EM2 should tell me what?s up, and point me to where I get the solution. If someone has failed to provide the Codec, the web page should say who has agreed to do so, and by when. Or Microsoft should simply do what Apple and a one man band have done and write their own. Really, the user shouldn?t even have to think about this.
Secondly, "Support of new file formats" includes the new MS Office 2007 formats. OK, we all know "support" is a malleable term, but "support" really has to go beyond importing and showing file icons, which you could already do in iView using the custom.txt file. It should mean displaying document previews, which you still can't do. I also expect that when I enter keywords in Word or Excel (in Document Properties), I should also see them in EM2. After all I can see the caption, author, title and other properties. Why have keywords been forgotten? It can't be rocket science - I can do it in VBS via Microsoft's own dsofile.dll. I also expect to Sync from EM2 back into Office documents. Again, no can do.
If you read this blog, you'll know I'm no Microsoft basher - quite the opposite. But my feeling for this EM2 beta is rather like my reaction to Aperture 1.7, sorry 2 - it seems harmless.
Mon Feb 25, 2008
More "DAMstorming"
Not seen Epic Edits Weblog before (it arrived via Google Alerts) , but there are some well thought-out and well-expressed points on folder and filenaming:
A typical directory on my RAW HDD might look like this:
080111 - Milk and dye patterns
Date - Description
The date is very useful. In the space of just six characters I can uniquely identify any date within one hundred years. The date is read in pairs from left to right in descending order of detail. Year, month, day....
The description is simply to help me find the folder once I?ve narrowed down to the approximate date. If I know I took those milk and dye photos in January sometime, a quick scan down the directory list will find them. If the description includes relevant keywords, it?s possible to search for them with your file manager?s ?find? tool. If I shoot more than one subject in a day, I just keep adding to the description, though I try and keep it under ten or so words, usually it?s only two to four.
Well I would favour this post, wouldn't I? After all, it's exactly the folder naming format I use.
Tue Jan 22, 2008
50 ways to leave your lover
This post isn't really about Extensis Portfolio, iView or Lightroom - it's really another of my despairing rants - but today I was asked about getting metadata out of Portfolio and into something like iView or Lightroom.
The direct answer is that Portfolio lets you sync the metadata into jpeg and tif files, but for other file types your options are limited to using Portfolio's text file export. If your new program has a text import feature, then you can export all your data out of Portfolio and import it into the other program. Unfortunately, neither iView nor Lightroom has text file import - silly because migration inwards might make it easier to win new customers....
The other main route is via scripting, and this can be done in a number of ways:
- A Portfolio script might generate xmp sidecars, which iView or Lightroom can read. This won't work if you want to move to the Mac-limited Aperture because, though some tout its DAM features as being better than the competition, it can't read xmp metadata in sidecars or if it's embedded in the image.
- Script Portfolio and iView in tandem, so the script reads each Portfolio item and updates the corresponding item in iView. This method won't work with Lightroom because although it is marketed as "professional", it doesn't support scripting. It might work with Aperture, but I don't know its scripting interface well enough to say.
- Export Portfolio's text file and then read it in a script that updates iView - this might even be adopted to update the SQL database behind Lightroom. Essentially this last method was how I got from Portfolio to iView, importing the text file into Excel and using its scripting engine to update iView.
In short, nothing is as easy as it should be. Thinking back, I used to do a lot of data migration of big financial accounting systems and 5+ years ago almost all of them had better text file import facilities than DAM packages which, after all, are designed for left brained Mac fanboys who really need help with big words like metadata. It's as if DAM software vendors think your archive's worthless, or you wouldn't mind re-entering all those captions and keywords. Come to think of it, the DAM program with the best text import features is probably... Portfolio.
Sat Oct 27, 2007
Getting MS Office document properties into iView/Expression Media
Someone at Microsoft's Expression Media forum moaned that the program can't read document properties from MS Office files - things like the author or word count, for example. After all, it's metadata, isn't it? Though they were being a little overoptimistic, you would still have expected Microsoft to have added the feature when they released Expression Media. It would have been such a quick win.
Instead you can use scripting to grab the document properties and bring the information into the catalogue. One method, which is perfectly serviceable, is by automating Word or Excel from iView/xMedia, but a much neater way is to get the information directly by calling up the Dsofile DLL. See Tales from the Script where Dsofile is described:
Dsofile is actually the file name (Dsofile.dll) for the Microsoft Developer Support OLE File Property Reader 2.0 Sample. (You have to admit, Microsoft has a knack for coming up with really catchy names.) Don't let the name throw you, however. Dsofile (which you can get for free from the Microsoft Download Center) is actually an incredibly useful tool for script writers: it provides a quick and easy way to read from and write to the summary information property set for all your files.
To see how this DLL can be used in combination with iView/xMedia scripting, see my example at the my iView scripts page (and notice that you have to install the DLL).
Thu Oct 25, 2007
Fri Aug 31, 2007
Data migration
In my former life I did a lot of data migration, moving finance and other business information between old and new systems. Moving metadata between cataloguing systems isn't very much different and I've moved quite a number of photographers' metadata into iView (now Expression Media) using an Excel application as a bridge (from there it's an easy enough jump to Lightroom or Aperture). I've now packaged this Excel spreadsheet up as a more generic tool that clients can use to run their own data migration. While it is for Windows users, there's an alternative route for Mac users. For more info, read this pdf file. According to the client who used the initial version to update 50000 items, "does the job beautifully".
Sat Jun 23, 2007
Something better change
Expression Media, iView's new incarnation, has now released the much-needed hotfix and, as far as I can see, it has cleared the roadblocks that stopped me using the program - Windows users can now filter the catalogue by rating, label etc in the Organize panel, metadata is read and written to both the old iView and new xMedia namespaces. On Mac, Nikon Capture edited raw files are now displayed correctly, and the only irritation is that the HTML page names follow the 8.3 naming convention. There may be something else that creeps out of the woodwork, but xMedia's now usable - finders crossed for what's going to be in SP1.
Sat Jun 16, 2007
Speed your love to me
Kevin Biers confirms there'll be a hot fix for Expression Media soon - it'll be for both Windows and Mac, but is particularly needed for the former. As well as fixing the problems I've been highlighting (and lobbying for under my Microsoft NDA), Kevin mentions something else:
Kevin Biers confirms there'll be a hot fix for Expression Media soon - it'll be for both Windows and Mac, but is particularly needed for the former. As well as fixing the problems I've been highlighting (and lobbying for under my Microsoft NDA), Kevin mentions something else:We're just beginning work on a service pack that should be out in about a quarter. More news on that later, but I will say that there are still a number of feature fixes that we want to make that didn't get into v1. The forums are noting things that we need to attend to, so that will be part of our work for that. Again, if you have suggestions or things that annoy you about iVMP or xMedia, please send us mail at xmbugs@microsoft.com. I'm behind on answering those, but we're reading them and your feedback is changing our project plans.
We're just beginning work on a service pack that should be out in about a quarter. More news on that later, but I will say that there are still a number of feature fixes that we want to make that didn't get into v1. The forums are noting things that we need to attend to, so that will be part of our work for that.
Again, if you have suggestions or things that annoy you about iVMP or xMedia, please send us mail at xmbugs@microsoft.com. I'm behind on answering those, but we're reading them and your feedback is changing our project plans.
Tue Jun 05, 2007
Is she really going out with him?
I do feel sorry for the iView guys. After all, they built a fine product and then got the extra resources of the world's biggest software company which is eager to grab a slice of the graphics market. One can accept that version 1 of Microsoft Expression Media would be largely a rebranding exercise, but it should at least have been polished up, with bugs ironed out. And sporting one or two sparkling new features - nothing much, just enough to catch the eye, confound the sceptics, and gain some credibility for the new owners among the more open minded Mac users. In short, generate some excitement and confidence.
Instead I have to say I'm really shocked at the shoddiness of this release. What looks like a skin-deep makeover contains absolutely no new features, no migration of preferences and options, no obvious bugfixes on either platform, serious new bugs in the Windows release, and they can't even issue the correct serial number for Mac users. For now, especially if you're on Windows, there's every reason not to switch:
- On Windows, the Organize panel doesn't work - you can no longer select (say) all pictures with 3 stars, or all for a certain event. I can't use the software because of this.
- The xmp namespaces are screwed up. They've introduced a new xMedia namespace, to which metadata is written and can be read, but the program fails to read the old iView namespace. This is a problem if your originals contain iView specific information like sets or custom fields - any new derivatives will arrive in xMedia without that metadata being read. So you have to sync out your metadata all over again before creating any more derivatives.
- Again on Windows, it now outputs html pages with meaningless file names that follow the ancient 8.3 convention. For example, I have an image "070603_049446_waltham_cross.jpg" that it is now displayed on a page called "070f8c~1.htm".
Some Macheads can never be won over, but nonsense like this makes it almost impossible for iView's friends to advocate switching to xMedia.
Sun Apr 08, 2007
The song remains the same
Lightroom or iView for DAM? It's such a big question, an amorphous one too, and I've not had much spare time recently. But I spent a bit of time giving an answer and thought I'd add it here too. The devil is always in the detail of one's personal needs and right now I am not controlling my pictures with Lightroom and still rely on iView. After all LR is only a version 1, iView is more mature, and DAM is all about certainty.
If forced to rely on LR, I could just about do so. My view is that LR's glass is half full, not half empty, and the following "why iView not LR" comments should be read in that light.
iView's performance is fine. Specifically, I refer to the speed with which thumbnails become visible after changing to a certain folder, or keyword filtration. LR's performance on my main PC is well below what I think it should be on that machine (2.2 ghz P4 with 1 gb ram and 25g mb video card). I don't mind the time it spends building its previews, and can do something else, but thereafter I expect the app's scrolling speed to match programs like iView. And I'm just not getting it.
I need to manage a wider range of file types than LR accepts. It would be OK if I simply wanted to manage photograph file formats, but for my writing I also have png files (screengrabs off the Mac) and Word documents. I'm not into video or audio, but LR is only intended to manage a photograph-only workflow.
But within a photograph-only workflow, there are other file type limitations that may be relevant. LR doesn't import images that are over 10000 pixels in any direction - not normally an issue, but a problem if you shoot panoramas. Photoshop CS3 is very much better at stitching and I can see that I won't be the only one to do more of this type of stuff. The Photoshop team have shot the LR team in its foot....
LR will not write metadata into raw files. That is Adobe's stance, but I see no problem writing directly into working raw files IF you are wise enough to keep virgin backups too. It's my call, and I like that iView sees it that way.
With iView I see my Nikon raw file's preview, while with LR I see Adobe's interpretation of it. In general, this is no bad thing because you often shoot to capture all the highlights for example, not to make the camera-generated preview equate to the finished article, and I do like to see my raw adjusted version of the image (some people like a Nikon Capture and iView combination for this reason). But it's not so welcome when you've done things like use your camera's b&w setting - in iView I see the preview in b&w, while LR shows Adobe's colour rendition of the raw data. While I accept LR can't get at Nikon's secret sauce, it can and does display that mono preview and so it should be able to store it. Now I only use the mode to get rid of IR captures' purplish cast, and as a b&w man I've always shot on the assumption that the negative or digital file isn't the finished article. But if you believe you get your shots absolutely right in camera (eg WB, sharpening etc) then you would get value from being able to compare the camera-generated previews.
I prefer iView's catalog sets, custom fields and people fields, to LR's collections. One can just about replicate the functionality, so my objection is more to the immaturity of the interface. For example, I hate how when I add a collection in LR, the database filters down to that collection. So imagine I'm using a collection for a wedding or vacation, and dividing it up into phases or themes, each time I add a new subcollection I then have to go back to the main one. It's the same with keywords - add a new one in the left panel and the whole database filters down to it.
I could go into lots of other details, but I'd be going too much into my own needs. You know what you need. Both products have free trials, so I wouldn't listen to me!
Babe I'm gonna leave you
As father of the analogy of DAM with serial monogamy, I've got to approve of the title of Robert Edward's Testing Loyalties (or, DAM, Politics, Religion and Sex):
As father of the analogy of DAM with serial monogamy, I've got to approve of the title of Robert Edward's Testing Loyalties (or, DAM, Politics, Religion and Sex):
With the new parents MediaPro has a great resource in Microsoft. They now have access to more marketing clout, better support options, more engineers, and higher quality control. In other words MediaPro can become a much better product as Expression Media. As a part of the world's largest software company MediaPro can now fly. Rather than tell us what iView won't be Microsoft should telling us what Expression Media can be.
Thu Mar 29, 2007
What is it now?
Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you need to step away from yourself when you're keywording your images, and it's not just sites like Flickr that are opening up the task to the viewer. As the NY Times reports, major museums are in on the game:
Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you need to step away from yourself when you're keywording your images, and it's not just sites like Flickr that are opening up the task to the viewer. As the NY Times reports, major museums are in on the game:
Aside from the prohibitive cost of subject indexing thousands of works, there are other reasons museums want the public to tag art. For one, ?art professionals can find it surprisingly difficult to describe the visual elements of a picture,? said Ms. Trant, who is managing the grant work. She recalled that during early testing of tagging at the Met, a frustrated curator complained, ?Everything I know isn?t in the picture.?
?We would never say a work is mostly red, or instills a sense of ennui, or features a dog playing poker,? agreed Bruce Wyman, director of new technologies for the Denver Art Museum. ?Tagging gives us a set of eyes we don?t have.?
Fri Feb 16, 2007
Communication breakdown
One thing I liked about iView was its continual release of small improvements, including a few I'd suggested, so it felt more like having a subscription to a magazine which kept you in anticipation of interesting new features. But since the Microsoft acquisition there's hardly been a squeak, just Expression Media's announcement and a meeting webcast, but finally there's some noise.
Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on From iView to Microsoft's writer, a former Extensis engineering manager, as the posting seems more geared to touching the right buttons, but my eye was drawn to this paragraph:
One thing I liked about iView was its continual release of small improvements, including a few I'd suggested, so it felt more like having a subscription to a magazine which kept you in anticipation of interesting new features. But since the Microsoft acquisition there's hardly been a squeak, just Expression Media's announcement and a meeting webcast, but finally there's some noise.
I hope it's more exciting than that. It's not just that users don't hear from the developers any more - communication goes both ways. Update: Extensis guys are taking over - Kevin Biers, now i/c iView, was formerly engineering manager, and Joe Schorr was previously product manager at Extensis
Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on From iView to Microsoft's writer, a former Extensis engineering manager, as the posting seems more geared to touching the right buttons, but my eye was drawn to this paragraph:
Regarding our project work, for now we're doing a quick shift of attention to rolling out a slightly updated iVMP (my emphasis) this Spring as Microsoft Expression Media.
I hope it's more exciting than that. It's not just that users don't hear from the developers any more - communication goes both ways.
Update: Extensis guys are taking over - Kevin Biers, now i/c iView, was formerly engineering manager, and Joe Schorr was previously product manager at Extensis
Mon Dec 04, 2006
The Charge of the Light Brigade
So, the news is out about what iView is going to be called by "beauty makes us think better" Microsoft:
So, the news is out about what iView is going to be called by "beauty makes us think better" Microsoft:
$299 for new users - now, that's a bit steep. It'll have to have some seriously-good new features. After all, I bet $299's what Lightroom will cost, and it processes pictures too. Most interesting is that Microsoft are positioning iView with a set of tools aimed at the web and design communities, not at photographers. It clearly makes sense to attempt to gain more of the web design market - Visual Studio is fine for connecting to back end databases but isn't how you'd want to design a site's front end. So iView will be part of a suite with "Expression Web... a professional design tool to create modern, standards-based sites which deliver superior quality on the Web." Of course, being standards-based is like being for motherhood and apple pie - luckily for Microsoft there are lots of standards out there. Apparently an upgrade for users of the execrable Frontpage, it sounds like Expression Web is yet another sad charge uphill into Dreamweaver's guns.... Also in the suite is what sounds like a Flash authoring tool, "Expression Blend ... the professional design tool to create engaging web-connected experiences for Windows." Eek. Web-connected experiences? The other product "Expression Design is a professional illustration and graphic design tool that lets you build compelling elements for both Web and desktop application user interfaces" looks like a vector drawing program whose clear description is blissfully untouched by expensive marketing guff. But where is the photography part of the suite? As I said when Microsoft took over iView, by the time we're able to decide whether the takeover was a good thing, we'd already be using Lightroom in any case. On the other hand, what part of "free upgrade" don't I understand / like?
Expression Media is a professional digital asset management tool to visually catalog and organize all of a creative professional?s digital assets for effortless retrieval and presentation. Expression Media is due to be released in Spring 2007 and will retail for $299. Expression Media will be a free upgrade for registered users of iView MediaPro 3.
$299 for new users - now, that's a bit steep. It'll have to have some seriously-good new features. After all, I bet $299's what Lightroom will cost, and it processes pictures too.
Most interesting is that Microsoft are positioning iView with a set of tools aimed at the web and design communities, not at photographers. It clearly makes sense to attempt to gain more of the web design market - Visual Studio is fine for connecting to back end databases but isn't how you'd want to design a site's front end. So iView will be part of a suite with "Expression Web... a professional design tool to create modern, standards-based sites which deliver superior quality on the Web." Of course, being standards-based is like being for motherhood and apple pie - luckily for Microsoft there are lots of standards out there. Apparently an upgrade for users of the execrable Frontpage, it sounds like Expression Web is yet another sad charge uphill into Dreamweaver's guns....
Also in the suite is what sounds like a Flash authoring tool, "Expression Blend ... the professional design tool to create engaging web-connected experiences for Windows." Eek. Web-connected experiences? The other product "Expression Design is a professional illustration and graphic design tool that lets you build compelling elements for both Web and desktop application user interfaces" looks like a vector drawing program whose clear description is blissfully untouched by expensive marketing guff.
But where is the photography part of the suite?
As I said when Microsoft took over iView, by the time we're able to decide whether the takeover was a good thing, we'd already be using Lightroom in any case. On the other hand, what part of "free upgrade" don't I understand / like?
Wed Nov 08, 2006
Waiting for the sun
Canadian photographer Edwin Leong reviews his Buffalo TeraStation Pro. A bit long winded, or should I say thoughtful, Edwin's article concludes:
Canadian photographer Edwin Leong reviews his Buffalo TeraStation Pro. A bit long winded, or should I say thoughtful, Edwin's article concludes:
With its network performance issues, lucky he doesn't use iView.
Now that I have a TeraStation, I cannot say that I would purchase another one again. I do acknowledge that it?s nicely made and it's a convenient single box storage solution with nary a need to be technically inclined to use it as a RAID 5, however, if I wanted another NAS unit, I would look for one with much better performance specifications such as those from Infrant.
In the course of computer upgrading and moving parts to and fro, I took out one of my 74 GB Raptor drives (10,000 rpm speed) from my old PC and installed it in one of my external cases. The performance from standard USB 2.0 blows the TeraStation out of the water.
However, because the TeraStation is now part of my storage system (more out of default than desire after discovering how slow it is), it is changing the way I?m backing up my files. Most of my old external drives with 300 GB per, will now be stored off site for added security and rotated as needed with the TeraStation being my primary backup system. It just means having to do overnight file transfers to work around the rather brutal performance. And as things stand, 700 GB doesn?t go too far when you?re archiving all of your digital files for the past five years. I may be in search of another solution sooner than expected.
With its network performance issues, lucky he doesn't use iView.
Tue Aug 15, 2006
I close my eyes and count to ten
Just added to the site a new image I took in central London. After spending about half an hour photographing people going past this poster, I was left with this thought - how did we ever walk before we first learnt to hold a mobile phone up to our ear?Mon Jul 31, 2006
Pigs (will fly)
Well, well, while I've been away the Extensis Forums have been launched. One or two of us knew it was proposed, but (speaking for myself now) never thought it would happen. Already one poster is laying into them for Portfolio's inability to write metadata to raw files and DNGs, so it's great to see Extensis again have the courage to host their own forums and breath the oxygen of communication.
Wed Jul 12, 2006
Ain't no sunshine
Listening to Lightroom podcast #8, as a PC user I'm frustrated at not still being able to test it for myself. But frankly Mac users who've got their hands on the program do so as photographers first, no matter how much they often bore you with their computer brand. So let them clap with joy or choke on bugs, and let us PC users have a beta when it's ready.
But the more I hear and read about Lightroom, the less impatient I become. Are Adobe lowering their sights and making Lightroom just a raw processor, replacing Bridge and to some extent Photoshop, but being little better than Bridge (ie nearly useless) at helping you find or manage your images?
I'd like to think I'm wrong on this, but podcast 8 made me think Adobe's developers are now more interested in rudimentary selection-based edits, such as in LightZone or Capture NX. And at Lightroom's forum some posters don't want DAM features. They're wedding and event photographers and I can see where coming from - they can get away with using folders to organize their files, and in the old days I bet they trashed their negs the second they were paid. Essentially what Bruce Fraser says in the podcast is you sell "creatives" the pretty raw processor and give them the dowdy DAM later. Which sounds as solid a commitment as "domani" or "manana".... High volume raw processing might be more immediately painful or sexier (substitute "and" depending on your preferences). But for a big chunk of Lightroom's target market the other side of the same high volume coin is DAM and their search requirements often span multiple drives and folders. This group needs a DAMP (DAM+processing) program like Lightroom originally promised to be, and starting off with the raw processor is always likely to produce an unequal and unhappy marriage.
It makes me think a "best of breed" solution is going to suit me better, most of the time, than a "one ring to rule them all" like Lightroom or the Mac-only Aperture. How nice would it be for a DAMP solution to emerge out of a solid DAM program such as Microsoft iView? How about Microsoft Capture One or Microsoft LightZone?
Sun Jul 09, 2006
Little boxes
Auspicious dragon explains Why I won't be using Aperture or Lightroom:
Auspicious dragon explains Why I won't be using Aperture or Lightroom:
The all-in-one tools are built around the idea of simplifying the workflow (and Capture One is a halfway house). This is important if you, say, are in a studio, serving up product photographs by the hundred every day. But if you output is, numerically, more modest, then there are costs associated with the workflow gains. It might be better to build your own workflow using products from different suppliers, and, crucially, to understand, and be able to get access to, your file structure without needing any given product.
Wed Jun 28, 2006
Paranoid
Here's one comment on Microsoft's acquisition of iView. I won't embarass its author by saying where it came from:
Here's one comment on Microsoft's acquisition of iView. I won't embarass its author by saying where it came from:
It seems to me that MS strategy has always been that of business power dominance and control, a business warfare in market share dominance. Unlike Apple or many other platform-neutral developers been... that of bring out the best ideas and technologies for the benefits of the society.
The end of the world as we know it?
You can really end a presentation on a bang when you demonstrate a product and then tell your partly-Mac audience that one minute ago the company was sold to Microsoft. But there I was yesterday at Old Trafford doing a one hour presentation on DAM with iView. It began at 4 and iView had called me the previous day to say that the takeover announcement was (coincidentally) due at 5pm. Well, we United fans are used to last minute winners, aren't we?
I'm not sure what to make of the news but a takeover isn't a surprise. At the Brick Lane iView Fest last week, or more accurately over a curry with Peter Krogh (his view of the takeover) and iView's Phil Hayward, I remember saying I was amazed iView hadn't already been acquired by someone. I really expected Adobe, and feared it might be Apple or Corel, but I didn't really think of Microsoft. I'm a little surprised they didn't acquire RawShooter too. Who next - Adobe?
Though I feel slightly sad about the company's disappearance into a much larger entity, it's certainly an interesting move and could be very positive for the program's users. Maybe MediaPro can now get the high end features it needs, such as network mulituser capability and a server back end? Or perhaps it'll gain a raw processing engine along the lines of Aperture and Lightroom? Meanwhile the basic iView program could be destined to become a Picasa-style freebie. Equally I wouldn't be surprised if iView is soon starved of attention and ossifies in its Redmond cubicle. Who knows?
No doubt it's the right time to sell. There'll soon be a new acronym for the combined DAM plus raw processing programs that follow Aperture, programs that are database-driven like iView but also store sets of instructions or metadata about editing steps. I propose DAMP - digital asset management processors. If iView doesn't soon become a DAMP program, it'll lose a lot of its appeal.
Most of all, I hope iView keeps two closely-intertwined strands of its "culture". One is the two-way discussion of product developments which reminds me of the great early days of Macromedia and Dreamweaver. A good example of this interaction was when they recently withdrew the ability to write metadata back to Nikon raw files. They explained they had experienced problems with Nikon's libraries but reversed the decision when users expressed their views. The second important strand is the interim releases. You don't have 18 months of waiting fingers-crossed for the next full version before you see product improvements (yesterday I heard someone say they bought Aperture not because of version 1 but because of what version 3 would be). Many companies pay lip service to continuous improvement programs - iView delivers. Keep the pot bubbling and you gain customer loyalty.
Of course, already some users of Apple-brand computers are complaining loudly, and swearing they'll never put a penny into Redmond's wallet. For some it's their first (only) post at iView's forum. Others parade their tearfulness at multiple forums, while at Peter Krogh's forum one apostrophe-challenged poster complains "Iviews annual sales volume isn't going to be even a blip on Microsofts balance sheet" - dead right, you don't get sales on anyone's balance sheet. I've not yet read anyone trotting out the old "Apple makes me more creative" carthorse, but maybe Microsoft will make them more organized too?
I've been close to a number of similar-sized software firms that have been bought by Microsoft and it can go both ways. These were all in the area of financial software but there's nothing so special about imaging - other than being more fun - that makes the analogy invalid. Some really elegant products vanished without trace, with their developers marooned in Fargo in distant, flat North Dakota, while others thrived on the investment. Time will tell. Deep down I wonder if we'll all be using Lightroom by the time we know what the outcome will be.
There's a nice Italian expression "in bocca al lupo". Its direct translation is "in the mouth of the wolf" but it's the way you wish people good luck. :)
Mon May 01, 2006
iView scripts news
I've added an rss feed for my iView scripts and utilities. It will announce any new scripts or updates to existing ones.
Thu Apr 20, 2006
My ever changing moods
It appears iView have picked up on the iView scripts page that I sneaked onto the site recently. And they've done so just as I made a few changes, consolidating the Bridge "filename to metadata" scripts into one file and adding a file that updates iView records with data from Excel. Not sure yet how I'm going to notify people of changes there, and "how" is most likely to be "if" - it's intended to be a basic "here it is if you want it" page.
But it's good they've picked up on the page - hopefully this morning's support request "VB model" is going to get a sparkling response that'll let me complete my hierarchical keywords to IPTC script. After all, iView's Windows users aren't clamouring for a Universal Binary, are they?
Fri Apr 07, 2006
Note
Started a page with some iView automation scripts. There'll be something more substantial there too soon.
Thu Feb 16, 2006
Nicely composed
I'm always a little worried about why people should go to great lengths to document their own workflow for the edification of others, but Aaron Mahler writes some good stuff about how he used iView to automate a set of web galleries:
I'm always a little worried about why people should go to great lengths to document their own workflow for the edification of others, but Aaron Mahler writes some good stuff about how he used iView to automate a set of web galleries:
The behind-the-scenes story of how this process works is, of course, disturbingly geeky. Fortunately, there are plenty of other fellow geeks out there that might be interested. The rest of this piece (and I predict it will be rather long) will cover the gist of what went into this project thus far. If the binding together of iView MediaPro, AppleScript, linux, OS X, ssh, scp, a big chunk of python code, MySQL databases and various bits of HTML and XML technology interest you... read on.
Sun Feb 12, 2006
iMproving
While only its father could love its interface, iMatch is undoubtedly a powerful image database and super value for money. For those of us who assume no program can be perfect and needs scripting, iMatch offers the best VB engine around. That alone would normally turn my head, but I really don't find I can work quickly with it or enjoy the experience. It has its fervent devotees though, and a major update is coming soon with some interesting new features. Most interesting is the increased focus on XMP with a built in editor and read/write of XMP metadata to Adobe and open formats and also to sidecar files.
Fri Feb 10, 2006
iView 3 and Portfolio 8 - again
I was forwarded a query from a Portfolio user in a prepress studio who was thinking about iView in workgroup usage. I use both, so this posting paraphrases my response.
The user had read iView had support for mySQL and Oracle. Well, as far as I know, iView has no support for mySQL or Oracle at all, as far as I know. What that page meant was that it could be scripted to pass data to mySQL or Oracle - in that very loose sense, it is "integrated". Portfolio has corporate versions that use these databases and SQL Server as back ends.
iView is really not ideal for multiuser environments. 18 months ago it seemed as if that was the direction they planned to go, but since then all their improvements have focussed on single user features. Its catalogues are single user files, no record sharing at all, and it's also not very network aware - eg, it works better if you catalogue a drive's letter rather than using its network address. A very important detail is iView catalogue files are limited to 2Gb.
That said, iView is a better program for the single user. The lightbox is very nicely-done, hierarchical categories work well, there's a "capture sets" feature that groups images shot in bursts, star ratings are integrated with Bridge (but labels are not), metadata templates are shared with Bridge/Photoshop, metadata can be embedded in more file formats (four that Portfolio can't do - Canon raw on Mac only, Nikon raw via Nikon's code, Photoshop, DNG), static web galleries are much better.
There are some areas where iView isn't as good as Portfolio. Its finding features aren't as thorough as Portfolio - eg Portfolio can search on exif data. They also aren't as fast. iView only has 16 custom fields and you can't define the type of those fields - eg as multiple value, date, number. You can't point an iView field at any IPTC-core XMP tag. Its folder watching features aren't as good - eg it doesn't update existing files or warn you when files have been removed (there are other ways round) and it has none of the automatic keywording per folder features that came in with Portfolio 8. iView can now catalogue files on DVD or other offline media but this results in a 200% increase in file size. This becomes painful when you think about the 2Gb catalogue file limit that I've already mentioned. Even without offline media, this 2Gb issue alone could be fatal in a workgroup environment.
The user asked about scripting. I would say the two programs are roughly equal, with Portfolio being slightly better. In version 8, Portfolio shipped a VB engine for version 7 - so much for QA - and have only issued an updated engine unofficially. Meanwhile, iView haven't updated their VB engine for version 3's extra features.
iView's early version 3 was rushed out and was buggy. However, unlike Portfolio, iView correct their bugs quickly and release new builds. It's now on 3.02 and includes bugs I reported and feature improvements I requested - technical support response is very good. I think it's pretty stable, not quite as stable as Portfolio though. If anything, you hear more complaints about instability on the Mac.
So, while iView is better for the single user, I'd not think of using it for a shared catalogue in a workgroup. In fact, I've heard of some people who use iView for individual desktops, and Portfolio for the shared corporate level.
Thu Jan 19, 2006
Portfolio 8 smarts
There's a well-written article "Establishing a Metadata-Driven Workflow with Portfolio 8" by Veit Irtenkauf at Digital Outback. While Veit rightly emphasizes the real value of Portfolio 8's new automated cataloguing and smart galleries, apparently small but very powerful features. Yet it's hard to disagree with his first sentence: "There do not seem to be many new features in Portfolio 8 that immediately wow photographers as must-have features." No product exists in isolation, especially not one in a fast-maturing area like digital asset management. And after 18 months Portfolio's steps forward are small by comparison with the strides made photographers' existing alternatives like iView, let alone the new or coming choices like Aperture and Lightroom.
Mon Jan 16, 2006
Bridge and Windows Explorer
Just spotted at Adobe Exchange a handy little registry hack for Windows Explorer that adds a right click option to open a folder in Bridge. Either go to Exchange or save the slightly-amended code below in Notepad as a file with an "reg" extension, and then double click it:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Bridge] @="Open in Adobe Bridge" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Bridge\command] @="\"C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Adobe Bridge\\Bridge.exe\" \"%L\""
Sun Jan 08, 2006
Babysitting
I want all my DNG files to have full size previews that I can see in Portfolio or iView, especially the latter's lightbox. It's set me wondering about the best way to get full size previews for DNG's created before Adobe Camera Raw had the option to create them. Sure, if you now make raw adjustments of such DNG's, ACR will rebuild the previews and make them full size. But what's the best way to get full size previews for older DNG's in bulk?
The method I've adopted is to use a Bridge find on each "bucket", listing all the items in its subfolders, then opening all of them in ACR, selecting all, and then applying Export Settings. While the find is slowish, I'm finding no problem opening in ACR a couple of thousand images at a time, and the method's main attraction is that it's more "inline" and right in principle, preserving all cataloguing links. An alternative, reprocessing the files with the DNG converter, would force me into duplicating the folder structure, then renaming the large preview and deleting the original structure. While I'm all backed up, I'm always frightened by deleting anything!
So right now my computer's (background) processing all my DNG's - whoopee, April 2004's just finished....
Sat Dec 31, 2005
The wobbly bridge
Interested in why people manage their photos both with browsers like Photo Mechanic, Bridge, Breezebrowser, and catalogues like iView and Portfolio? Then read Michael Reichmann's somewhat self-confirmatory user report. It focuses on his own use of Photo Mechanic and iView and tries its best not to be a review, but does a pretty good job of showing the roles of separate programs.
I feel less sure that this division will last much longer. You only need to look at Apple's new Aperture and iView 3's improvements to see how things are changing. Aperture prettily integrates browsing, photo management and raw processing, albeit in a retrograde platform-specific fashion (but congrats). Meanwhile iView becomes increasingly viable for the ingest & browsing functions with its abilty to import from cards and apply Adobe-compatible metadata templates, and its super lightbox feature. Many other crossovers can be identified, like Breezebrowser Pro's raw processing ability, or Portfolio 8's synchronization features that combine catalogue cross-folder performance with a browser's live folder view. For a company of Adobe's size, it makes Bridge appear increasingly unambitious.
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