Adding tags to .xmp files

[lintujuh]

I'm using darktable (dt) as my raw editor. darktable used sidecar files file.ext.xmp to store the edits and tags as dt has also some DAM functionality. My workflow is that I import my images first into Daminion and cull them, then I use GeoSetter to geolocate them and then I process the raws in darktable. After that I import the sidecar files and generated JPGs and tag the images in Daminion.

When I redo my edits and regenerate the JPG, my tags are not copied into the output as dt only reads the tags from file.ext.xmp. If I use exiftool and copy the tags from file.xmp to file.ext.xmp the generated JPG has all the tags. But in Daminion even if I also tag the file.ext.xmp, Daminion doesn't write the tags into the file and my regenerated JPG is out of tags.

[Uwe]

HI Juha,

from my point of view Daminion "doesn't know" any sidecar files like file.ext.xmp e.g. also generated by DxO or RawTherapee. I don't remember what Capture One does. From Daminion point of view I can understand it a little bit because these files have tags that are special for the programs to store the development adjustments (in your case dt) and not the metadata tags interesting for a DAM like Daminion. And the syntax of the tags don't follow the XMP sprecification of Adobe. E.g. Lightroom does both: XMP metadata tags and special tags representing the RAW development.

Regarding your JPG file: If you tag the first JPG and change it once more (modified JPG with the same file name), the metadata of the first JPG are still in the catalog. I would copy the modified JPG to the folder of the first JPG and then "Write tags to file" to update the modified JPG with the metadata you entered to the first JPG.

What I would like to have from Daminion: aditionally to the file.xmp I would like to manage file.ext.xmp, file.xmp together with the file.RAW. But the metadata of Daminon should be in the file.xmp. AND/OR other application should follow the path of LR and write file.xmp with special XMP sections for the adjustments the program made. But this seems to be a dream.

Regards, Uwe

[lintujuh]

Hi Uwe,

I have exlicitely imported the file.ext.xmp files into my catalog, so I'm not expecting Daminion automatically know anything about the sidecar file. I tested also with an xmp-file generated by Daminioin. I created a copy and imported into my catalog. The result was that the tags were not read from the file and my updates were not written into the file. So the reason is not that Daminion ignores the file, because it contains unknown tags.

For the generated JPGs, I don't need to create another copy. If I'm regenerating the JPG, it's enough to update the thumbnail in Daminion and then write the tags from the database into the new file. If I create a new version, then I have the original in hands, where I can copy the tags.

This more a nuisance that I need to remember to do, and it would be nice if that manual part could be ignored.

And I fully support you that it would be really nice to automatically manage also the file.ext.xmp files. With darktable there is still one extra challenge, if you create multiple edits from the same RAW, then the additional edits are named as file_nn.ext.xmp.

-Juha

[Uwe]

Hi Juha,

As I understand it, from Daminion's point of view, XMP is a special file type and only allowed as a sidecar file, and is thus not treated as an equivalent import format.
Daminion does not correctly take into account to which "partner" the XMP file belongs. For example, I can take any XMP file and name it FILE.XMP. If there is also a FILE.GPX file in the same folder, Daminion considers FILE.XMP as a sidecar of FILE.GPX, displays the metadata of both files in the action "Show all metadata", exports both files, but does not write any metadata that I enter for FILE.GPX into FILE.XMP. If there are other FILE.xxx files in the same folder, it becomes very confusing, because Daminion ignores the XMP tag "SidecarForExtension" in the XMP file and thus the connection to the file for which it manages the metadata. In this case, it would be desirable to also support "extended sidecar formats", such as "file.ext.xmp", where "ext" could also be "*nn*ext*".

Regards, Uwe

Btw, for GPX files where Daminion does not write metadata, does not create a sidecar file, but only stores it in the catalogue, I create an SVG file from the GPX file (GPX2SVG.py) and link both. Then I use the "Copy Tags" action to write metadata that I have assigned to the GPX file into the SVG file. This way I can "save" it for the GPX file if I have to re-read the GPX file.