Le Lion 07 Posted September 27, 2012 Report Share Posted September 27, 2012 Hello from France. 1. A few ideas... - the actual database system uses one file for its main purpose and... thousands of files for thumbnails. Not really easy to backup and restore such a lot of files. Expression Media (and Media Pro) has ONE file (which contains database + thumbs) ; IDimager only TWO (one for database, one for thumbs). Would it be possible to do the same thing ? - possibility to fully edit XMP scheme (includind, above all, tags definition). So, one can create his own tags or change - if necessary, according to IPTC rules - existing tags. Also add tags at the database. I mean : tags which exist in IPTC and are not avalaible in Daminion. For instance, location tags, not the ones from IPTC-Core (photoshop:Country, etc.) but those from IPTC Extension so-called "Location shown in image" and 'Location Detail structure" (Iptc4xmpExt: ...). - the actuel management for customized catalog labels is poor : it is not possible to delete a catalog label when created... Just think of consequence if one enter a new personnal label with error in the name... - creation of Web templates (HTML) and generation of Web pages (optionally but interesting). - possibility to create and store customized workspaces (I don't like very much the actual appearance). - possibility to hide sub tags when category is empty. For instance, I never use the 4th level of location, but Daminion show the little arrow after the 3rd level. Of course, if I click, the 4th level is empty. - possibility to choose the maximum size for thumbnails. Sorry if some (maybe all... ?) of these suggestions were made before. I'll certainly come back for other ideas... 2. Issue(s) - Daminion shows 6 images unsync. If I sync them by choosing "Read metadata from files to catalog", images stay unsyc. I didn't try the other way (from catalog to images). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murat Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 - the actual database system uses one file for its main purpose and... thousands of files for thumbnails. Not really easy to backup and restore such a lot of files. Expression Media (and Media Pro) has ONE file (which contains database + thumbs) ; IDimager only TWO (one for database, one for thumbs). Would it be possible to do the same thing ? Before selecting a thumbnail storage scheme we performed many tests, and storing thumbnails as separate files allows to achieve the best performance. Especially when an image library will grow (BTW LR uses the same approach). If your backup tool uses an incremental backup method then only new and changed thumbnails will be backed up. With MediaPro and IdImager you need to backup a large file even only one thumbnail will be changed or added. But of course performance was the main reason why we selected the present thumbnail storage scheme. - possibility to fully edit XMP scheme (includind, above all, tags definition). So, one can create his own tags or change - if necessary, according to IPTC rules - existing tags. Also add tags at the database. I mean : tags which exist in IPTC and are not avalaible in Daminion. For instance, location tags, not the ones from IPTC-Core (photoshop:Country, etc.) but those from IPTC Extension so-called "Location shown in image" and 'Location Detail structure" (Iptc4xmpExt: ...). Not sure about fully editable XMP schemes (at least before releasing 1.0 version) but we can add "Location shown in image" to a list of mapping fields for Place tag. - the actuel management for customized catalog labels is poor : it is not possible to delete a catalog label when created... Just think of consequence if one enter a new personnal label with error in the name... I can't re-check this at the moment but deleting custom tags should be possible (I am writing a response from my smartphone). I'll check this tomorrow. - possibility to create and store customized workspaces (I don't like very much the actual appearance). Could you please explain? - Daminion shows 6 images unsync. If I sync them by choosing "Read metadata from files to catalog", images stay unsyc. I didn't try the other way (from catalog to images). Please try the second way. Please check whether these files are not offline. You can locate them via Saved Searches > Show unsynced files. PS. I never realized how much my keyboard is effective in comparison to iPad. Writing this response takes an hour or so :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Lion 07 Posted October 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 Hello from France. About database, of course I believe you because you certainly have technical arguments. But let me say that Expression Media is (still now) the fastest dam I ever tried and it uses only ONE file (including database + thumbs). About customized workspace, I mean : possibility to store different dispositions of panels, eventually if available later, colors, etc. I would also give my opinion about Collections, personal tags and XMP editor (it is only my own opinion, however clearly influenced by my practice of IDimager ). 1. Collections are useless because it is not possible to create sub-collections. 2. Personal tags are of less interest if it is not possible : -> to change/delete them after creation, -> to decide if they'll be written in files metadata (or not), -> to choose the IPTC/XMP field where personal tag will be mapped to (if one decided to export them in files metadata). 3. Full XMP editor allows user to create his own tag definitions or to change existing ones if IPTC rules would be modified. I appreciated how it can be useful with IDimager, so now I consider it is absolutely necessary in a dam. Am I the only one ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mammut Posted October 3, 2012 Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 1. Collections are useless because it is not possible to create sub-collections. Yeah, I'd like sub-collections, too. 2. Personal tags are of less interest if it is not possible :-> to change/delete them after creation, -> to decide if they'll be written in files metadata (or not), -> to choose the IPTC/XMP field where personal tag will be mapped to (if one decided to export them in files metadata). 3. Full XMP editor allows user to create his own tag definitions or to change existing ones if IPTC rules would be modified. I appreciated how it can be useful with IDimager, so now I consider it is absolutely necessary in a dam. Am I the only one ? The Custom Tags feature is a working solution (and I think it's way better, more understandable than the xmp schemas were in IDImager), but it's limited a little, because the lack of grouping the tags. I need the grouping, because there will be a lot of custom tags, it'll be chaos, if I can't put them into some hierarchial order. I guess they're mapped into xmp fields, but I don't know their internal working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murat Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 About database, of course I believe you because you certainly have technical arguments. But let me say that Expression Media is (still now) the fastest dam I ever tried and it uses only ONE file (including database + thumbs). Yes. But this is not because of the chosen thumbnail storage scheme. There are other bottlenecks in the program that might be improved. We keep a consequentially way of product development: free unstable beta version, adding core functionality, improving performance, adding extra functionality and polish core functionality, improving performance, improving extra functionality, ... something like this... In fact I guess this is the only way to grow for small teams. And thus we'll get back to Daminion performance a bit later. BTW we've added a pre-loading previews feature for upcoming Daminion version. About customized workspace, I mean : possibility to store different dispositions of panels, eventually if available later, colors, etc. You can reorder and move all draggable panels. 1. Collections are useless because it is not possible to create sub-collections. This can be implemented. 2. Personal tags are of less interest if it is not possible : -> to change/delete them after creation, Changing tags will not be possible, but you can delete Custom tags and custom tag values after creation (there was some minor issue with deleting custom tags that requires restarting the program but this is fixed now) -> to decide if they'll be written in files metadata (or not), -> to choose the IPTC/XMP field where personal tag will be mapped to (if one decided to export them in files metadata). The Custom Tags feature is a working solution (and I think it's way better, more understandable than the xmp schemas were in IDImager), but it's limited a little, because the lack of grouping the tags. I need the grouping, because there will be a lot of custom tags, it'll be chaos, if I can't put them into some hierarchial order. I guess they're mapped into xmp fields, but I don't know their internal working. We keep a simple approach now (to burst the 0.9.6 version release and simplify the program): all custom tags are mapped into XMP with "http://ns.daminion.net/1.0/" namespace. Custom Tags in Daminion are more flexible in comparison to Media Pro Custom Fields: - You can create numeric and floating tags - You can assign multiple custom tag values to a media file, and this will be correctly written to XMP. - You can create large textual custom tags that can be displayed as textboxes with resizable height in the Properties panel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mammut Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 BTW we've added a pre-loading previews feature for upcoming Daminion version. It's a great news! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Lion 07 Posted October 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 We keep a simple approach now (to burst the 0.9.6 version release and simplify the program): all custom tags are mapped into XMP with "http://ns.daminion.net/1.0/" namespace. Custom Tags in Daminion are more flexible in comparison to Media Pro Custom Fields: - You can create numeric and floating tags - You can assign multiple custom tag values to a media file, and this will be correctly written to XMP. - You can create large textual custom tags that can be displayed as textboxes with resizable height in the Properties panel. When custom tags are mapped with unofficial IPTC/XMP definition, I personally never use them, because these tags are useless with any other program. I think that a dam must follow official specifications ; if not, user could choose (at least) if custom tags will be written into files. Remind that Expression Media (and Media Pro, I guess) offers this choice. Numerous dam use their own catalog structure ; for instance, IDimager, but with IDi you can choose the official/unofficial tag you would use, including no tag at all (means that the custom tag will not be written into files). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murat Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 When custom tags are mapped with unofficial IPTC/XMP definition, I personally never use them, because these tags are useless with any other program. I think that a dam must follow official specifications ; if not, user could choose (at least) if custom tags will be written into files. Using custom XMP namespaces requires extra efforts to exchange info between different XMP compatible software. But at least this allows to backup your tags into XMP so you can reimported (restore) them in the same application that used to write these tags. Although we can incorporate customizable XMP mapping rules for custom tags in the future Daminion versions. I you need to map custom tags to an existing XMP/IPTC fields because these tags are missed in Daminion's default tag list, and these tags might be useful for others, we can consider to add these tags to the default tag list in the upcoming Daminion versions. Please let me know. Remind that Expression Media (and Media Pro, I guess) offers this choice. As I know Expression Media writes Custom Fields into its own XMP namespace. Numerous dam use their own catalog structure ; for instance, IDimager, but with IDi you can choose the official/unofficial tag you would use, including no tag at all (means that the custom tag will not be written into files). Probably this might helps you partially, but we plan to add a customization to the export unit: so you can decide what metadata will be written into exporting images and will be visible for others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Lion 07 Posted October 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2012 As I know Expression Media writes Custom Fields into its own XMP namespace. Yes. But what I mean is : Expression Media (not in original version from iViewMP, but with its two updates from Microsoft) allows user to choose if custom tags will be written or not into XMP. Before IDimager, when I used EM2, I created several custom tags but they were not written in XMP (the box "Write custom fields into XMP" was unchecked). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Lion 07 Posted October 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 I would come back to Daminion "own tags". I never used before (with Expression Media, IDimager, Media Pro) any tags which belonged to a specific dam. There are 2 reasons : - why create and use special tags when official rules (IPTC/XMP) exist ? - what about future compatibility ? Just think what happened to those who created Expression Media tags ? For now, several dam offer the possibility to read these tags, but how long it will be possible ? For instance, is Daminion able to read Expression Media tags ? However, if it is not possible, maybe the choice to write or not tags into files ? (But in this case, it looks like Collections...) (I have an other suggestion, but I think it would be clearer in an other post. So I do) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Lion 07 Posted October 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Would it be possible for a collection to have its own sort method ? When one changes sort, the new rule applies for entire catalog. If I create a personal collection (with sub-collections, since it will be available soon), I can need a special sort method (including no sort at all). I especially think to collections for Web galleries. In this case, it would be handsome to store photos in the same order as they are in the gallery. And above all, the sort method must be connected to the (sub)collection (and stored as a part of it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murat Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 I would come back to Daminion "own tags". I never used before (with Expression Media, IDimager, Media Pro) any tags which belonged to a specific dam. There are 2 reasons : - why create and use special tags when official rules (IPTC/XMP) exist ? For common photographic needs it might be unnecessary, because XMP/MWG mainly targets to photographers. But there are some other industries like Architectural, Engineering that can create and use their own tags, like: Product Code, Submittals, Construction Administration, Material, Gauge, Weight, Price, etc... XMP doesn't cover all possible tags so even if we allows to specify an XMP field to Daminion Custom tags you can't find a mapping rules for specific tags like the ones I've listed above. But mapping to XMP still has the benefits: - It provides some level of data backup - You can exchange info between different Daminion installations - Writing custom scripts allows to extract these info from Daminion and exchange with other programs - what about future compatibility ? Just think what happened to those who created Expression Media tags ? For now, several dam offer the possibility to read these tags, but how long it will be possible ? For instance, is Daminion able to read Expression Media tags ? Yes. Daminion can read some of the Expression Media standard tags. It helps to migrate to Daminion easily. However, if it is not possible, maybe the choice to write or not tags into files ? (But in this case, it looks like Collections...) Collections have a great potential for the future, mainly as a source for exporting images to various services. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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