I know we're supposed to be discussing Bridge here, but the simple fact is that many folks don't use Adobe products and yet still need to find a way to archive a large collection of image assets. More critically, perhaps, Bridge as we know all too well is a browser program and for truly effective image archiving we should be using a database program. (Money, money, money.)
So, if you're keen on finding just the right database program to organize your images, where to turn?
There are few resources today that provide a broad, up-to-date look at DB programs available to help you sort and archive images. One that I've recently discovered is an incredible print magazine called c't Digital Photography. affiliated with Rocky Nook Publications in the US, the magazine is in fact printed and published in Germany, and is also available in a cool app for the tablet. The magazine is in a large format, feels solid, looks professional, id in English and comes with a free cd of tutorial files and demo software (something that has pretty much gone away here in US magazines).
In the Fall 2012 issue (no. 9) one of the feature articles is called "Organize your Photos," and covers a wide assortment of database archiving software. Using tables, charts and wonderful illustrations, the article, deftly written by Sascha Steinhoff, discusses everything from "Database Basics" to "File Import and Management," and "All about Metadata."
The really important part of this very long article comes, of course, near the end: "Image Database Software Test Results," where the author nicely lays out in two easy-to-read tables, "Image Database Software for Network and Multi-User Environments" and another table for "Single-User Environments."
Finally, there is a page-by-page look at each of the major programs discussed, with key information and handy screen shots.
Anyway, I subscribe now. For more information check them out online. Oh, and their magazine app is tres cool.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
Using Bridge CS6 - an update to my Guide to Using Bridge
Well, this isn't really an update because little has changed in Bridge with CS6. I recently "bit the bullet" and now subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud, which gives me basically the entire Master Collection as well as 20 gigabytes of space on the cloud; all for one reasonably low monthly fee.
After testing the newest iteration of Bridge I can safely say that nothing warrants an update to my print guide. The interface looks virtually the same and there are no new features.
But there is one thing worth noting in Photoshop CS6.
For the past several versions of CS, Photoshop has always had two small icons in the upper left portion of the main menu bar to allow the user to switch back to Bridge or MiniBridge with a simple click.
No more.
With CS6 you can only access Bridge from either the File menu or with a keyboard shortcut: "Option+Command+O." The same is true of MiniBridge, but no keyboard short, only a panel that can be docked.
Does this mean that Bridge is going away? One can only wonder. . .
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Using Home Movie Depot and ScanCafe to transfer movies and tapes
This may be a bit off point but I'm going to post this anyway since I feel it bears some relevance to archiving photos.
I recently used Home Movie Depot to transfer old Hi-8 videotapes to a digital format that I can use to edit and archive along with my photos.
The online process was pretty simple: you choose the services you wish to purchase (in my case a straightforward video-digital transfer), make your payment and then ship the tapes off. That's it. They return the original media with the DVDs.
The turnaround time was impressive: in less than two weeks I had my original tapes and the new DVDs. Unfortunately, I discovered that half of the movies suffered from out-of-synch video and sound. I attempted to contact Home Movie Depot and it took a week before I could get through to someone in customer support.
The woman I spoke with was honest with me: they had a problem with "a setting" used during the transfer process of numerous movies and if I would send back the discs and the tapes they would redo everything.
Which they did. And mailed the original tapes and discs back to me soon afterwards.
I have also used ScanCafe as a test run form work. The idea was to see how well they handled the transfer of a series of different formats, but particularly slides. I also included medium-format negatives and prints as well.
Straight off I should warn you it took more than 3 months to transfer less than a hundred items. And they outsource to Bangalore. And their customer service was often unresponsive and certainly difficult to track down.
I would say that you should use ScanCafe at your own risk.
I recently used Home Movie Depot to transfer old Hi-8 videotapes to a digital format that I can use to edit and archive along with my photos.
The online process was pretty simple: you choose the services you wish to purchase (in my case a straightforward video-digital transfer), make your payment and then ship the tapes off. That's it. They return the original media with the DVDs.
The turnaround time was impressive: in less than two weeks I had my original tapes and the new DVDs. Unfortunately, I discovered that half of the movies suffered from out-of-synch video and sound. I attempted to contact Home Movie Depot and it took a week before I could get through to someone in customer support.
The woman I spoke with was honest with me: they had a problem with "a setting" used during the transfer process of numerous movies and if I would send back the discs and the tapes they would redo everything.
Which they did. And mailed the original tapes and discs back to me soon afterwards.
I have also used ScanCafe as a test run form work. The idea was to see how well they handled the transfer of a series of different formats, but particularly slides. I also included medium-format negatives and prints as well.
Straight off I should warn you it took more than 3 months to transfer less than a hundred items. And they outsource to Bangalore. And their customer service was often unresponsive and certainly difficult to track down.
I would say that you should use ScanCafe at your own risk.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Sharing collections in Bridge?
"Bridge Booster" claims that we can now share collections, at least in the latest iteration of Bridge.
Here's his comment on an earlier post here:
So far I haven't been able to test this out yet -- can anyone confirm this?
Here's his comment on an earlier post here:
You can share regular Collections in CS5 for images stored on a server that other users have access to. You can just copy the .filelist file from /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Bridge CS5/Collections and paste it into the other users Collections folder and relaunch Bridge. This will not work for local files. Please note that there is a bug in CS5 Collections where any file names or folder names that use an apostrophe will cause the Collection to not list any files after that file. If you search on the Adobe forums you can find a script to fix the Collections file and replace the apostrophes with the proper characters (%20 I think).
So far I haven't been able to test this out yet -- can anyone confirm this?
Thursday, October 18, 2012
DO NOT UPGRADE TO BRIDGE CS6
OK, sorry for the uppercase scream in the title but Ive recently upgraded to CS6 and learned that the latest iteration of Bridge has at least one VERY SERIOUS bug buried in the program's bowels.
When indexing a folder, in this case a mixture of 793 jpgs and tiffs, the program extracts all the existing metadata (keywords and the like) but appears to hang up with extracting the thumbs and apparently the previews as well.
In the lower left corner of the program where the number of items and extracting progress is found, the item numbers shows up but the extracting process is interminable. By that I mean that the number of thumb extractions decreases but before finishing goes back up again, then down and then back up and so on. And if you try to resize the window during this process it will happen with a larger swing in number differentiation.
Note that the settings and preferences are the same used in CS4 and CS5.
I googled the issue and sure enough this problem has been identified on the Adobe forum site (http://forums.adobe.com/message/4500258) but there doesn't appear to be any clear-cut answer at this point -- it is a cross-platform issue as well.
If anyone has an answer or possible solution please let me know and I'll post it for them right here.
Final note: there doesn't appear to be any reason to upgrade to Bridge CS6 anyway, no cool new feature or enhancement (such as easily sharable collections) worth the hassle.
One final note, and a curious one as well: the Bridge and Mini Bridge icons are missing from Photoshop CS6. Coincidence? I hope so. . .
When indexing a folder, in this case a mixture of 793 jpgs and tiffs, the program extracts all the existing metadata (keywords and the like) but appears to hang up with extracting the thumbs and apparently the previews as well.
In the lower left corner of the program where the number of items and extracting progress is found, the item numbers shows up but the extracting process is interminable. By that I mean that the number of thumb extractions decreases but before finishing goes back up again, then down and then back up and so on. And if you try to resize the window during this process it will happen with a larger swing in number differentiation.
Note that the settings and preferences are the same used in CS4 and CS5.
I googled the issue and sure enough this problem has been identified on the Adobe forum site (http://forums.adobe.com/message/4500258) but there doesn't appear to be any clear-cut answer at this point -- it is a cross-platform issue as well.
If anyone has an answer or possible solution please let me know and I'll post it for them right here.
Final note: there doesn't appear to be any reason to upgrade to Bridge CS6 anyway, no cool new feature or enhancement (such as easily sharable collections) worth the hassle.
One final note, and a curious one as well: the Bridge and Mini Bridge icons are missing from Photoshop CS6. Coincidence? I hope so. . .
Monday, July 9, 2012
Cache workaround if you have to update/upgrade Bridge
Upgrading your present version of Bridge will require a completely new cache for your image library. (Indeed, each version of Bridge is cache specific.) If you need the latest version of Bridge to help keep up with your design teams but don't want to have to completely reindex your image library there is one reliable workaround: Don't do it.
OK, what I mean is keep your "old" version of Bridge and use that for all your searching needs -- you're already indexed. After all, the latest version probably won't make a significant difference for searching. You can still upgrade, of course, just don't overwrite your old copy of Bridge.
That way you can take your time and grow the next copy of your cache with the latest version, at your own pace -- if you wish.
OK, what I mean is keep your "old" version of Bridge and use that for all your searching needs -- you're already indexed. After all, the latest version probably won't make a significant difference for searching. You can still upgrade, of course, just don't overwrite your old copy of Bridge.
That way you can take your time and grow the next copy of your cache with the latest version, at your own pace -- if you wish.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Error, bug or server glitch?
It's been too long since I posted an update about our central image library but things have been going well and I suppose I didn't want to jinx that. We're at nearly 160k (that's 160,000) photos archived using Bridge and so far, so good.
Well, OK, all is not perfect in the Emerald City, at least in respect to one machine in particular, a Windows PC running Bridge CS5.1.
Lately I've notice an odd behavior occurring on this particular Windows machine: when I save a search by creating a collection of images (~5k), and then return to review the collection later, once it completes building criteria and I start sorting through the collection, duplicate thumbs and filenames appear, first a few and then hundreds.
Mind you, this phenomenon is machine-specific only and does not seem to affect copying files to another folder; it does not actually create duplicate files in the image library (housed on a separate server).
Anyway, if I click out of the collection and then back in the phenomenon is gone; the collection has returned to its normal state. (Or what passes for normal in Bridge).
Odd? It's not so much the frustration that arises when I try and use the collection for sorting, etc., but the concern that something is going on deep inside Bridge's bowels (not a pleasant image either) that may be causing unseen or unknown things to occur inside the image library.
Any ideas?
Well, OK, all is not perfect in the Emerald City, at least in respect to one machine in particular, a Windows PC running Bridge CS5.1.
Lately I've notice an odd behavior occurring on this particular Windows machine: when I save a search by creating a collection of images (~5k), and then return to review the collection later, once it completes building criteria and I start sorting through the collection, duplicate thumbs and filenames appear, first a few and then hundreds.
Mind you, this phenomenon is machine-specific only and does not seem to affect copying files to another folder; it does not actually create duplicate files in the image library (housed on a separate server).
Anyway, if I click out of the collection and then back in the phenomenon is gone; the collection has returned to its normal state. (Or what passes for normal in Bridge).
Odd? It's not so much the frustration that arises when I try and use the collection for sorting, etc., but the concern that something is going on deep inside Bridge's bowels (not a pleasant image either) that may be causing unseen or unknown things to occur inside the image library.
Any ideas?
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Media Pro 1 - initial testing
Imported 34,810 photos taking up 272 gigs of space on an external hard drive, resulting in a catalog slightly larger than 1.8 gigs.
Total time of import ~ 6-8 hours
Initial import produced about 2 dozen images logged as "Unable to scan" (see note and graphic below) but was able to rebuild by hand. I have read other reviewers who claim they were unable to rebuild by hand.
User Interface:
Reminds me of why I liked Expression Media 2 (except in black). Straightforward, simple and intuitive.
Out of box, very little customization before import.
Left hand is devoted to either the Organization Panel or the Media Information panel -- both customizable.
Org Panel very nice and full of robust features, providing far more sorting tools than Bridge: Credit, Author, Doc title, Copyright, Place finder (Country), in addition to the standard keywords (of course), date Finder,
Media Info panel -- use of colors to visually separate categories of information is a cool idea and makes it easy to scan the panel. Annotations (what Bridge calls "Metadata) is reminiscent of EM2 as well.
OK, the bad news:
1. Single most obvious issue is the "Unable to scan media file" error message. This can be resolved by going back and selecting the unscanned files -- listed in the activity log at least -- and then going to the Action menu and then Rebuild Item (Command + B). This may not always work, however, and I had to retry it several times with a few of the unscanned files.
2. Maximum catalog size is unclear -- at what point do the problems begin? Media Pro tech support claims "128,000" files but we don't have a clear idea of the aggregate size of those files. They might add up to 20 gigabytes or 120.
Next up, a series of search tests to see how the program fares under the gun.
Stay tuned!
Total time of import ~ 6-8 hours
Initial import produced about 2 dozen images logged as "Unable to scan" (see note and graphic below) but was able to rebuild by hand. I have read other reviewers who claim they were unable to rebuild by hand.
User Interface:
Reminds me of why I liked Expression Media 2 (except in black). Straightforward, simple and intuitive.
Out of box, very little customization before import.
Left hand is devoted to either the Organization Panel or the Media Information panel -- both customizable.
Org Panel very nice and full of robust features, providing far more sorting tools than Bridge: Credit, Author, Doc title, Copyright, Place finder (Country), in addition to the standard keywords (of course), date Finder,
Media Info panel -- use of colors to visually separate categories of information is a cool idea and makes it easy to scan the panel. Annotations (what Bridge calls "Metadata) is reminiscent of EM2 as well.
OK, the bad news:
1. Single most obvious issue is the "Unable to scan media file" error message. This can be resolved by going back and selecting the unscanned files -- listed in the activity log at least -- and then going to the Action menu and then Rebuild Item (Command + B). This may not always work, however, and I had to retry it several times with a few of the unscanned files.
2. Maximum catalog size is unclear -- at what point do the problems begin? Media Pro tech support claims "128,000" files but we don't have a clear idea of the aggregate size of those files. They might add up to 20 gigabytes or 120.
Next up, a series of search tests to see how the program fares under the gun.
Stay tuned!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
From Wikispaces - LoneLibrarian
This note was too good not to pass along to the readers here. LoneImageLibrarian has done her homework and it's worth sharing.
"I've been playing with Lion OS, as well as full versions of Portfolio, Filemaker Pro 11, and the old Bridge standby recently and had some interesting details to report. Lion OS has more bugs to it than I originally noticed; we'll call it blindly wanting to see the best in something even when it isn't there. Snow Leopard is continuing to be used office wide to avoid some hiccups with our printer-from-the-future, so that is a hurdle for later down the line. While Lion is not necessarily the savior we all hoped for, there are other options on the purchased horizons. Filemaker Pro 11 sounded like such a good idea in the literature, but what doesn't? The Photo Catalog section comes with templates for getting database level organization underway, which look excellent and pretty. In practice, however, the no-manual new-user experience of this supposedly beginner level appropriate feature is not user friendly in the slightest. I am no green kid when it comes to computers and tend to find my feet just from using a program. The overall response of the office to Filemaker Pro 11, even outside of our digital images needs, has necessitated the purchase of The Missing Manual book on Filemaker Pro 11 to move ahead in just testing it out.
"Portfolio is proving to be a nice image-tagging and organization option, though one has to categorize the correct metadata to embed as IPTC to have it searchable both within Portfolio as well as Spotlight. For budget purposes, however, Bridge still encompasses the full package of features. Portfolio 8 for the individual experience has a pleasant user interface and is rather pretty and oddly tactile, but the expense is certainly off-putting. For those who are not intimidated by many-paned, institutionalized programs, Bridge is thus far still the best cost-effective image cataloging software. More news to come from the front as more images are processed."
Lots of food for thought and all worth digesting. Stay tuned sports fans!
"I've been playing with Lion OS, as well as full versions of Portfolio, Filemaker Pro 11, and the old Bridge standby recently and had some interesting details to report. Lion OS has more bugs to it than I originally noticed; we'll call it blindly wanting to see the best in something even when it isn't there. Snow Leopard is continuing to be used office wide to avoid some hiccups with our printer-from-the-future, so that is a hurdle for later down the line. While Lion is not necessarily the savior we all hoped for, there are other options on the purchased horizons. Filemaker Pro 11 sounded like such a good idea in the literature, but what doesn't? The Photo Catalog section comes with templates for getting database level organization underway, which look excellent and pretty. In practice, however, the no-manual new-user experience of this supposedly beginner level appropriate feature is not user friendly in the slightest. I am no green kid when it comes to computers and tend to find my feet just from using a program. The overall response of the office to Filemaker Pro 11, even outside of our digital images needs, has necessitated the purchase of The Missing Manual book on Filemaker Pro 11 to move ahead in just testing it out.
"Portfolio is proving to be a nice image-tagging and organization option, though one has to categorize the correct metadata to embed as IPTC to have it searchable both within Portfolio as well as Spotlight. For budget purposes, however, Bridge still encompasses the full package of features. Portfolio 8 for the individual experience has a pleasant user interface and is rather pretty and oddly tactile, but the expense is certainly off-putting. For those who are not intimidated by many-paned, institutionalized programs, Bridge is thus far still the best cost-effective image cataloging software. More news to come from the front as more images are processed."
Lots of food for thought and all worth digesting. Stay tuned sports fans!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Searchin in Bridge: Spotlight or Bridge's Search?
Inspired by a recent online posting by Lone Digital Librarian (on our wikispaces discussion page) talking about the new Mac OS Lion and the potential search features in Spotlight, I ran a test using Snow Leopard (which is what I have on my Mac).
Assuming your image library is fully indexed in Bridge, here's what you might find. I navigated to the little Spotlight search box in the upper right corner of Bridge and typed in a word (and only one word), "classroom." A few minutes later I had my search results, and it wasn't pretty.
Now I had run tests using Spotlight early on in this project and knew that the search feature was weak to say the least. This time I learned something else, where the limitation rests. Apparently when you type in a word it searches for the word in filenames and keywords and will return those images tagged accordingly. This does not appear to be adjustable.
Oh, and if you type in a word followed by a comma and a second search criterion, Spotlight from within Bridge will search for that combination (i.e., word, comma, word). Not good either.
Assuming your image library is fully indexed in Bridge, here's what you might find. I navigated to the little Spotlight search box in the upper right corner of Bridge and typed in a word (and only one word), "classroom." A few minutes later I had my search results, and it wasn't pretty.
Now I had run tests using Spotlight early on in this project and knew that the search feature was weak to say the least. This time I learned something else, where the limitation rests. Apparently when you type in a word it searches for the word in filenames and keywords and will return those images tagged accordingly. This does not appear to be adjustable.
Oh, and if you type in a word followed by a comma and a second search criterion, Spotlight from within Bridge will search for that combination (i.e., word, comma, word). Not good either.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Lightroom or Bridge?
Adob Photoshop guru Julieanne Kost discusses the pros and cons of using Bridge or Lightroom
Friday, January 20, 2012
Daminion archiving software
I received an email the other day from Murat Korkmazov, the business development director of Daminion Software, an archiving program touted as being designed as a "low-cost alternative for the needs of the small team."
I visited the website and must say I was impressed with the ease of navigating the site and the robust set of features of the product were equally attractive. They also have a server version as well. Finally, the pricing seemed too good to be true -- with deep discounts for education departments.
OK, so did I download a demo and give it a test run?
Nope.
Unfortunately, Daminion is a Windows-only program, which seems a bit odd since most professional photographers I know and certainly most design departments in this neck of the woods run on and around Macs. But Daminion is a Russian company which might partially explain the Windows-only requirement -- due to cost and ease of acquisition, many computer users outside the US and Canada have come to rely on the cheapness and accessibility of PCs driven by Windows.
In any case, according to Murat they have no plans for producing a Mac version anytime soon.
Whatever the reason, it's too bad because this program looked pretty good -- the UI that I could see from the screen shots reminded me a bit of the old Expression Media 2 -- a wonderful catalog-driven archiving program now iterating under the name of Media Pro at Phase One. Plus it was loaded with a ton of features that just cried out to be tested.
I'm providing a link to the company's site -- or you can cut 'n paste the URL if you prefer: http://daminion.net/ in hopes that someone may test it out and let us know if this is a reasonable compromise between Bridge and a full blown DAM.
And best of luck to Murat and his colleagues in Stavropol, Russia.
Oh, and one final word: they do have offices in Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC.
I visited the website and must say I was impressed with the ease of navigating the site and the robust set of features of the product were equally attractive. They also have a server version as well. Finally, the pricing seemed too good to be true -- with deep discounts for education departments.
OK, so did I download a demo and give it a test run?
Nope.
Unfortunately, Daminion is a Windows-only program, which seems a bit odd since most professional photographers I know and certainly most design departments in this neck of the woods run on and around Macs. But Daminion is a Russian company which might partially explain the Windows-only requirement -- due to cost and ease of acquisition, many computer users outside the US and Canada have come to rely on the cheapness and accessibility of PCs driven by Windows.
In any case, according to Murat they have no plans for producing a Mac version anytime soon.
Whatever the reason, it's too bad because this program looked pretty good -- the UI that I could see from the screen shots reminded me a bit of the old Expression Media 2 -- a wonderful catalog-driven archiving program now iterating under the name of Media Pro at Phase One. Plus it was loaded with a ton of features that just cried out to be tested.
I'm providing a link to the company's site -- or you can cut 'n paste the URL if you prefer: http://daminion.net/ in hopes that someone may test it out and let us know if this is a reasonable compromise between Bridge and a full blown DAM.
And best of luck to Murat and his colleagues in Stavropol, Russia.
Oh, and one final word: they do have offices in Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A window into Bridge's limits - or the corrupt cache issue, again
Well, it happened again: the dreaded “Bridge has a problem reading the cache. Purge the central cache.”
This has now happened twice on the G5 tower (my primary benchmark machine). Both times the cache had reached nearly identical size: 44gb, 364k+ items. the first time and 43gb, 352k+ items the second time.
Although a pattern seems to be emerging, it should be noted that the third time this happened was on my Macbook Pro and the size was somewhat smaller: 40gb, 298k+ items.
While we can't determine what this means with any degree of certainty, it just might indicate what the top end limits are in using Bridge.
Still. . . it pays to watch your cache levels carefully and optimize as needed (command/control + K in Bridge preferences)
This has now happened twice on the G5 tower (my primary benchmark machine). Both times the cache had reached nearly identical size: 44gb, 364k+ items. the first time and 43gb, 352k+ items the second time.
Although a pattern seems to be emerging, it should be noted that the third time this happened was on my Macbook Pro and the size was somewhat smaller: 40gb, 298k+ items.
While we can't determine what this means with any degree of certainty, it just might indicate what the top end limits are in using Bridge.
Still. . . it pays to watch your cache levels carefully and optimize as needed (command/control + K in Bridge preferences)
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Discussion forum is up on wikispaces
Just to the right of this post you'll notice a link to the new discussion forum on wikispaces. Once you click on the link and land on the forum just click on "Recent changes" on the left side bar menu and voila! We can continue our dialogue about image archiving solutions - please note that I'll still be posting here as well.
Let me know if you have problems accessing or posting.
Anyway, we'll give this go -- thanks for the idea "Anonymous" -- and see how well it works!
Let me know if you have problems accessing or posting.
Anyway, we'll give this go -- thanks for the idea "Anonymous" -- and see how well it works!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Which image archiving option to use? part 2
In my last post I started reproducing a dialogue that began as a series of comments between myself and a reader but on an older post. The dilemma "Anonymous" raised, over which image archiving tool is the best, affects more than just the two of us and our respective organizations.
Any suggestions or comments you might have by all means jump into the conversation!
I have included the latest reply from Anonymous (January 6) as well as my response:
I've had some time to actually discuss a bigger picture of what's going to be needed with the department professionals and the list of needs has left me a bit concerned that we may need something made? Keep in mind this is a for-profit company. I'm not too certain about what product could achieve all of the following:
It is also important to note that I am a staff of one for this particular function, with limited programming history and a Mac OS to work around.
Like you, I'm a staff of one with limited technical background and although I use both a PC and a Mac as benchmark machines to maintain the library, virtually everyone else with access to the library uses a Mac.
Looking over your bullet list above, I would have to say that, with a couple of possible exceptions, Bridge can pretty much accomplish all those tasks.
Having said that, the key deciding factor for our organization -- and from conversations I had with other readers here I sense we're not alone -- the key factor is cost. Bridge is free (or nearly so). And there's also the learning curve: many designers, for us the most likely users of an image library, have some familiarity with the software already.
OK, so any thoughts?
Any suggestions or comments you might have by all means jump into the conversation!
I have included the latest reply from Anonymous (January 6) as well as my response:
I've had some time to actually discuss a bigger picture of what's going to be needed with the department professionals and the list of needs has left me a bit concerned that we may need something made? Keep in mind this is a for-profit company. I'm not too certain about what product could achieve all of the following:
- -Intranet systems for internal information use
- -Simple template input portal for uploading, labeling, and tagging images.
- -Database look ups for linked images across multiple programs (ex: inDesign)
- -Simple search portal to narrow down images and permit more in the way of browsing capabilities.
- -Use of multiple search terms for searching directly.
- -A bulk file rename utility.
- -There is also a want for something like an OPAC for use within the company to find both images and books within the company library.
It is also important to note that I am a staff of one for this particular function, with limited programming history and a Mac OS to work around.
Like you, I'm a staff of one with limited technical background and although I use both a PC and a Mac as benchmark machines to maintain the library, virtually everyone else with access to the library uses a Mac.
Looking over your bullet list above, I would have to say that, with a couple of possible exceptions, Bridge can pretty much accomplish all those tasks.
- We use it on a network
- Photo downloader is a handy little tool for importing and applying metadata templates to images straight from a camera or memory card
- While it's not a database, Bridge can certainly search across various file formats -- if I understand you correctly
- It's search features are pretty easy to use -- of course much depends upon the keywording and search strategies developed to access images in the library - I do agree that bridge has limitations here to be sure
- Bridge's search features are quite robust and allow for multiple metadata searching
- Bridge CS4 has a handy bulk renaming feature, which has been significantly enhanced in CS5
- I'm a bit unclear here on exactly what you have in mind here -- but again, if the "book" is in a file format that can be tagged and if the item has been tagged properly, Bridge should be able to find it.
Having said that, the key deciding factor for our organization -- and from conversations I had with other readers here I sense we're not alone -- the key factor is cost. Bridge is free (or nearly so). And there's also the learning curve: many designers, for us the most likely users of an image library, have some familiarity with the software already.
OK, so any thoughts?
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Which image archive option to use?
I've had a running conversation with a reader on one of my older blog posts about the dilemma we all face in trying to come up with the right option for creating and using a large image library. Since the issues raised touch at the very heart of what many of us are faced with, I thought I would share them.
January 4 Anonymous asked: In your opinion, would a product like Extensis Portfolio work as an extension of Adobe Bridge?
My response: On the face of it yes, Bridge can pretty much function as an extension of any database cataloging program.
Are you planning on sharing your image library among multiple users? If so, I believe Extensis Portfolio has a number of limitations in that regard -- they want multiple users to upgrade to their vastly more expensive Portfolio Server system I suppose).
Still, using a browser program like Bridge with a DB program like Portfolio in tandem should not be ruled out.
For example, I use Adobe Lightroom 3 as a file verification tool for our school's digital image library. But since no one else has the program we can't share catalogs -- which would be ideal, of course.
Anyway, you can use a program like Portfolio along with Bridge but I would suggest you test out the metadata copying and synching between the two programs. thoroughly before making any serious commitment.
Ultimately, though, I might suggest you go with one or the other and reduce your workflow while keeping your costs reasonable and making your life simpler.
Anonymous said: Well, I have a large volume of images (100,000+ with new ones daily/weekly) in a corporate setting where the images need to be accessible to over 20 people. We're working with macs, so I'm trying to find something simple that performs a better search than spotlight or the bridge program itself. I was considering Asset Bank as another option to work within our server, since we don't need to make the images accessible to clients or the public. These were the package options I'd seen. http://www.assetbank.co.uk/product/packages/ Third Light also looks like an option, but I'm a bit unsure where to go.
I replied: Like you we also have a large image library ( more than 153K photos) shared by 16 workstations (all but two Macs).
Regarding the options noted, comparing Bridge to either Assetbank or Third Light is a bit like comparing apples to dirigibles: Bridge is a simple straightforward browser program while other two are mega-expensive, server-based systems (like Portfolio Server) and frankly way out of our price range. Like you, we just need to share among the tight department so keeping our costs down is primary right now.
In fact, that's what drove us to initially test out the viability and reliability of Bridge in the first place: it's free, or rather it comes with Adobe's Creative Suite of programs used by all our designers and writers. And, while it's a space hog (for the cache), slow to search sometimes (OK, most of the time), we have found it does work nonetheless.
But I'd be curious to hear more about what you decide to do -- and I'm sure there are others who pop by here every so often who might be keen on hearing about how to resolve your nagging dilemma.
To be continued. . .
January 4 Anonymous asked: In your opinion, would a product like Extensis Portfolio work as an extension of Adobe Bridge?
My response: On the face of it yes, Bridge can pretty much function as an extension of any database cataloging program.
Are you planning on sharing your image library among multiple users? If so, I believe Extensis Portfolio has a number of limitations in that regard -- they want multiple users to upgrade to their vastly more expensive Portfolio Server system I suppose).
Still, using a browser program like Bridge with a DB program like Portfolio in tandem should not be ruled out.
For example, I use Adobe Lightroom 3 as a file verification tool for our school's digital image library. But since no one else has the program we can't share catalogs -- which would be ideal, of course.
Anyway, you can use a program like Portfolio along with Bridge but I would suggest you test out the metadata copying and synching between the two programs. thoroughly before making any serious commitment.
Ultimately, though, I might suggest you go with one or the other and reduce your workflow while keeping your costs reasonable and making your life simpler.
Anonymous said: Well, I have a large volume of images (100,000+ with new ones daily/weekly) in a corporate setting where the images need to be accessible to over 20 people. We're working with macs, so I'm trying to find something simple that performs a better search than spotlight or the bridge program itself. I was considering Asset Bank as another option to work within our server, since we don't need to make the images accessible to clients or the public. These were the package options I'd seen. http://www.assetbank.co.uk/product/packages/ Third Light also looks like an option, but I'm a bit unsure where to go.
I replied: Like you we also have a large image library ( more than 153K photos) shared by 16 workstations (all but two Macs).
Regarding the options noted, comparing Bridge to either Assetbank or Third Light is a bit like comparing apples to dirigibles: Bridge is a simple straightforward browser program while other two are mega-expensive, server-based systems (like Portfolio Server) and frankly way out of our price range. Like you, we just need to share among the tight department so keeping our costs down is primary right now.
In fact, that's what drove us to initially test out the viability and reliability of Bridge in the first place: it's free, or rather it comes with Adobe's Creative Suite of programs used by all our designers and writers. And, while it's a space hog (for the cache), slow to search sometimes (OK, most of the time), we have found it does work nonetheless.
But I'd be curious to hear more about what you decide to do -- and I'm sure there are others who pop by here every so often who might be keen on hearing about how to resolve your nagging dilemma.
To be continued. . .
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