mkmichaelmk

Q: Iphoto 11 -How to turn off faces?

Hello,

is there a way to disable the ***ing "face detection" function ?

It creates thousands of separate thumbnails, many of them do not even show faces, and same people are shown as different ones, so having more than 5.000 faces in my library (which is definitely not the case). This function only takes up space, steals cpu power and is useless for me. I have about 17.000 Pictures in iphoto, andi think it makes the database handling even more instable by creating multiple "faces" thumbnails and redirecting them to the corresponding file.

 

Thanks for an answer... (What do you think - Better move to LR?)

 

Michael

Macbook Pro, none

Posted on Jan 19, 2013 1:04 AM

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Q: Iphoto 11 -How to turn off faces?

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  • by rupsta,

    rupsta rupsta Jun 7, 2013 4:36 AM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 7, 2013 4:36 AM in response to Terence Devlin

    okay point taken, but at least it stops the thumbnails appearing on the photo which very annoying

  • by IMRAN,

    IMRAN IMRAN Aug 18, 2013 2:50 PM in response to Terence Devlin
    Level 2 (484 points)
    Aug 18, 2013 2:50 PM in response to Terence Devlin

    You may not have had problems with Faces but others have, and I am one of them.

     

    I have had iPhoto crash with nothing but Faces spinning and sucking CPU many times. More than once such crashes caused the library to report "inconsistencies" on reopening and needing to rebuild over an extended period of time.

     

    It is rather irritating to have a (useful to some) feature shoved down everyone's throat  and not having the ability to turn it off. I do agree with you on the value of iPhoto being its decent integration with other things, and FaceBook, Flickr, etc. (Though I have seen many flickr photos duplicated as "imported from flickr" after an iPhoto crash led to some flickr sync oart of the database being messed up.)

     

    Imran

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Aug 18, 2013 3:14 PM in response to IMRAN
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 18, 2013 3:14 PM in response to IMRAN

    Very simple- in fact trivial  - never use a program that forces you to use any feature you do not want - you have free choice - use it

     

    LN

  • by manomoab,

    manomoab manomoab Nov 9, 2013 3:27 PM in response to mkmichaelmk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 9, 2013 3:27 PM in response to mkmichaelmk

    If you simply do not want iPhoto to bother you with the "unamed" popups whenever you double-click a photo to view it up close or to edit it, there is an easy solution. In the right-sidebar that appears when you click on the "Info" icon in the lower right, there is a "Faces" editing tool below the Title, rating and description section and above the Keyword section. When that editing tool is expanded, the popups appear. But as soon as you close it (clicking the triangle "arrow" at the right end of the tool bar) the popups go away.

     

    Solved my problem.

  • by MorrisLives,

    MorrisLives MorrisLives Nov 14, 2013 2:54 PM in response to mkmichaelmk
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Nov 14, 2013 2:54 PM in response to mkmichaelmk

    Am I the only one who thinks that having a "feature" no one really needs or may not want and that is by default, NON-NEGOTIABLE as far as being able to turn off, a bit unsettling?

     

    I found this thread after trying to load several hundred photos (and being bogged down) and found that iPhoto was trying to "tag" all the Faces. When I went into the Faces pane to apply "manomoab's" solution, I discovered there were over 15,000 "unnamed faces" in my Library. And I can only delete 3 at a time.

     

    Hecka'va job there, Apple!

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Nov 14, 2013 10:43 PM in response to MorrisLives
    Level 10 (139,475 points)
    iLife
    Nov 14, 2013 10:43 PM in response to MorrisLives

    If that unsettles you there are two options:

     

    1. Upgrade to Aperture. Among its many extra options is the ability to turn off faces. Pay more, get more options.

     

    or

     

    2. Use some other app entirely, or even just use folders in the Finder. iPhoto is not compulsory.

  • by IMRAN,

    IMRAN IMRAN Nov 14, 2013 10:46 PM in response to LarryHN
    Level 2 (484 points)
    Nov 14, 2013 10:46 PM in response to LarryHN

    Thanks for a response that added no value to the discussion nor provided a solution. Much easier not to waste others' time if you do not have a real solution to a problem. Thanks.

  • by LarryHN,

    LarryHN LarryHN Nov 15, 2013 6:33 AM in response to IMRAN
    Level 10 (84,185 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Nov 15, 2013 6:33 AM in response to IMRAN

    there is one and onloy one solution - use a different program  --  it is no possible to turn faces off if you use iPhoto

     

    Sorry that you do not like the answer - but that is the answer

     

    and a very trivial answer - attaciing the meswsanger does not schange the fract that yu can no turn faces off

     

    have a nice day

     

    LN

  • by lopezio,Helpful

    lopezio lopezio Dec 30, 2013 9:06 AM in response to mkmichaelmk
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 30, 2013 9:06 AM in response to mkmichaelmk

    Start of solution:

     

    I did some digging in the prefs of iPhoto and found out the following. This is how you can disable (turn off) Face detection, without deleting faces found so far (just in case you want to restart processing at another time):

     

    1. Quit iPhoto

    2. Open Terminal Application (Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app)

    3. Type the following (exactly as is):

     

    defaults write com.apple.iPhoto PKFaceDetectionEnabled 0

     

    (then return)

     

    4. - Start iPhoto - Faces stops getting on your nerves... 

     

    If you ever need to re-enable faces, just do the same again and replace the 0 with 1.

     

    Greetings,

     

    lopezio

     

    <Edited By Host>

  • by kezza,

    kezza kezza Dec 16, 2013 3:48 PM in response to lopezio
    Level 2 (234 points)
    Dec 16, 2013 3:48 PM in response to lopezio

    You, sir, are my hero.

  • by Terence Devlin,

    Terence Devlin Terence Devlin Dec 30, 2013 9:07 AM in response to lopezio
    Level 10 (139,475 points)
    iLife
    Dec 30, 2013 9:07 AM in response to lopezio

     

     

    As someone whose efforts have been recognised by - at least - some 11,600 people, I'm comfortable enough with my contribution to the forum to ignore this.

     

    I hope your solution works, great if it does - though I believe you should warn people to back up first. Your other advice I'll pay attention to after you've been around here a little longer. Look forward to your other contributions.

     

    <Edited By Host>

  • by kathi70,

    kathi70 kathi70 Dec 24, 2013 7:17 AM in response to lopezio
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 24, 2013 7:17 AM in response to lopezio

    Lopezio,  You are really my hero!!!   My computer has been so slow for more than a year now.  I've had a new hard drive installed then doubled my memory trying to fix the problem.  Still my computer has run and run and run, overheated, shut down, I've had three new batteries in a year and with your simple suggestion all my problems are fixed.   Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.   I was really getting bummed out about the next step which was to buy a new computer.   You're a genius!!  Have I said enough???

  • by cabbage123,

    cabbage123 cabbage123 Dec 30, 2013 8:41 AM in response to mkmichaelmk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 30, 2013 8:41 AM in response to mkmichaelmk

    lopezio - I don't care how long you've been here. Your solution works and that's all that matters. Truly.

    THANK YOU!!!

  • by xxCASxx,

    xxCASxx xxCASxx Dec 31, 2013 6:49 AM in response to lopezio
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 31, 2013 6:49 AM in response to lopezio

    Lopezio - I have tried and tried your solution but Faces is still in the menu Please help?? I am opening the terminal box where i copy and paste or type the command then press enter and nothing... still the same when i re-open iphotos

  • by lopezio,

    lopezio lopezio Jan 3, 2014 6:46 AM in response to xxCASxx
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 3, 2014 6:46 AM in response to xxCASxx

    xxCASxx wrote:

     

    Lopezio - I have tried and tried your solution but Faces is still in the menu Please help?? I am opening the terminal box where i copy and paste or type the command then press enter and nothing... still the same when i re-open iphotos

     

    Hi,

     

    The prefs change does not remove the Faces tab on the left. It Just disables further face detection (the wheel stops turining in the Faces tab), thus saving battery life on laptops and reducing processor usage.

     

    There is no special need for a backup  before this operation. It does not change anything in the Libraries and is revertible.

     

    Only note of caution: I tested on iPhoto 9.5.1. It presumably works on  9.x.x too, but there is no warranty that it will work on older or newer versions.

     

    HNY everyone,

     

    Regards,

     

    lopezio

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