jfaughnan

Q: Unable to write IPTC metadata to JPG files

I tried to write IPTC metadata to JPG files and I got

 

No original files were modified

Aperture was not able to modify one or more original files because they have a format that does not permit modification.

 

i found some old posts saying this was broken in Lion.

 

Anyone have any ideas?

Posted on May 29, 2016 5:22 PM

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Q: Unable to write IPTC metadata to JPG files

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  • by jfaughnan,

    jfaughnan jfaughnan Jun 1, 2016 7:43 AM in response to léonie
    Level 3 (803 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 1, 2016 7:43 AM in response to léonie

    Thanks! I'll do it tonight. I can put in anything (dropbox, google drive, onedrive, etc) but dropbox is fine. Let me know how to send you the info. My email is **********


    I'm glad you are into solving weird intractable bug problems!


    <E-mail Edited by Host>

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie May 31, 2016 11:04 PM in response to jfaughnan
    Level 10 (106,814 points)
    iLife
    May 31, 2016 11:04 PM in response to jfaughnan

    i have no success so far with downloading your library the download is stuck.

    Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 07.50.45GMT.png

     

    But another thought:

     

    When I am working with scans in Aperture, I am always changing the date with "Metadata > Adjust Date and Time" first, before I am doing anything else.

    And when adjusting the date and time, I write it to the original file at the same time.

    Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 07.55.44GMT.png

     

    If "Adjust Date &Time" refuses to write to the original file, I convert the format of the scans by exporting the version as a JPEG and reimporting.

    After "Adjust Date &Time" could safe the data  and time to the original, the command "Metadata > Write IPTC Metadata to Originals" never fails.

     

    Have you tried this too?  First ensure, that all your JPEGs have Capture time EXIF tags by testing with "Adjust Date & Time", and converting the formats for the JPEGs where "Adjust Date &Time" cannot write to the originals?

     

    Once you assigned a changed date with Adjust Date and Time, the exported JPEG version will have a capture time tag.

  • by jfaughnan,

    jfaughnan jfaughnan Jun 1, 2016 9:01 AM in response to léonie
    Level 3 (803 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 1, 2016 9:01 AM in response to léonie

    The fates conspire against us! I wonder if Dropbox is doing an antiviral scan against the Aperture Library and it's struggling with all of Aperture's tiny files. I could put the zip on my personal ftp site, then it's just a link to click. Let me know if you'd like to give that a go.

     

    I'll try as you suggest -- it's a test library so I'm not worried about losing my carefully configured dates. I'll make a copy, write the dates to each one, then see if the IPTC write still crashes Aperture. That would suggest the bug is somehow related to handling dates. (All of the JPEGs currently have creation dates in 1986 but this is still worth an experiment.)

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 1, 2016 10:11 AM in response to jfaughnan
    Level 10 (106,814 points)
    iLife
    Jun 1, 2016 10:11 AM in response to jfaughnan
    it's a test library so I'm not worried about losing my carefully configured dates.

    To create the capture date EXIF tag you could just increase the date by one second with adjust Date&Time, and then decrease it again by one second.

    Then the dates will not change.

  • by jfaughnan,

    jfaughnan jfaughnan Jun 1, 2016 12:54 PM in response to léonie
    Level 3 (803 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 1, 2016 12:54 PM in response to léonie

    Another clue: I'd put the images I've been testing into an iCloud shared photo stream. As a side-effect of switching libraries Aperture removed my iCloud photo streams. I added them back in. All went well until Aperture got to the photo stream for the wedding photos. It was bringing that one in ... and it crashed!

     

    I noticed it was updating Places (activity window) while processing these images.

     

    That reminded me of something odd. I scanned the original set of images into a staging Aperture Library and processed them there. I don't usually pay attention to Places, but on one image I somehow say a Place. It was nonsensical - Helsinki Finland I think. The images shouldn't have had any location data. From that library I wrote data into IPTC and exported into processed JPEG which I brought into the main library. That where I had constant crashing with IPTC rewrites.

     

    It took two things to SEEMINGLY fix the problem.

     

    One was, as you suggested, to tweak the time by a second and adjust all. That reported one image could not be found:

     

    Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 2.26.42 PM.png

    The _temp is a giveaway. This isn't a valid image, it's a leftover recovered after the crashes I saw. I deleted it.

     

    But that wasn't the real problem. Aperture still crashed with IPTC write.

     

    I looked at Places, but Aperture wasn't showing any place locations, despite the curious behavior I mentioned.

     

    So I set every image to a valid location.

     

    Then I tried again. This time the IPTC write proceeded smoothly.

     

    I returned to my main Library, did both the place and time updates, and IPTC proceeded with one "do not have permission" error.

     

    Then I tried again on my big test library. And Aperture Crashed.

     

    Still, it's something.

     

    I'm going to keep probing the test library ... I think latest version of Fujitsu ScanSnap is doing something to EXIF headers that's triggering a very nasty Aperture bug...

     

    PS. The _temp files are being created by the crash, I find them when I rebuild database post-crash. So the IPTC writing process involves creating a _temp file. In repeated experiments I get different _temp files, so it's looking like something in the ScanSnap generated images that messes up Aperture, probably writing into memory, but it only crashes when it writes to an essential part of memory. Now I'm studying the images with an EXIF tool.

  • by jfaughnan,Solvedanswer

    jfaughnan jfaughnan Jun 1, 2016 1:36 PM in response to jfaughnan
    Level 3 (803 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 1, 2016 1:36 PM in response to jfaughnan

    Well, it's not very satisfying, but I now have my test library of 208 images into a state where I can repeatedly apply IPTC data without a crash. After doing that 8 times in a row I think the problem is fixed.

     

    Not satisfying because I threw every metadata change at the images Aperture can do. I removed location data. I changed time 1 sec and wrote to original. I used "add metadata from: EXIF and iPhoto" (not sure what that does!) and filled out all the fields.

     

    Oh, and I ran database repair to make sure I found the _temp files left over when Aperture crashes during an IPTC update. These files seem to create problems until they are complete deleted.

     

    I'm going to have to write this up in a blog post. Wish we had an Aperture engineer to examine the zipped test library (still will crash, unfixed) for the real cause. At present it looks like current version of Fujitsu ScanSnap writes metadata that, when run through Aperture JPG version export process, produces JPEG files that crash Aperture when try to "Write IPTC metadata to Originals".

     

    The fix is to apply every metadata update Aperture has ...and be sure all _temp files are gone.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 2, 2016 8:42 AM in response to jfaughnan
    Level 10 (106,814 points)
    iLife
    Jun 2, 2016 8:42 AM in response to jfaughnan

    il'm you found a work-around. I would need to have acces to ScanSnap to reproduce he problem.

  • by jfaughnan,

    jfaughnan jfaughnan Jun 2, 2016 12:51 PM in response to léonie
    Level 3 (803 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 2, 2016 12:51 PM in response to léonie

    I still have the test library -- I can put it on my ftp server then you just need a link to download the 82MB zip.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 2, 2016 1:09 PM in response to jfaughnan
    Level 10 (106,814 points)
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    Jun 2, 2016 1:09 PM in response to jfaughnan

    Just send me the link.

  • by jfaughnan,

    jfaughnan jfaughnan Jun 2, 2016 2:55 PM in response to léonie
    Level 3 (803 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 2, 2016 2:55 PM in response to léonie

    I emailed it. Downloaded quickly when I tested

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 2, 2016 11:15 PM in response to jfaughnan
    Level 10 (106,814 points)
    iLife
    Jun 2, 2016 11:15 PM in response to jfaughnan

    I got the library now, thanks.

     

    All original image files in that library already have EXIF capture dates from thirty years ago, as far as I can tell.  Is here one image that has not yet been touched by your fixes?

     

    When I try to use "Write IPTC Metadata to original" there are no crashes, but I am seeing plenty of error messages in the Console window:

     

    03/06/16 08:09:52,621 iconservicesagent[671]: -[ISGenerateImageOp generateImageWithCompletion:] Failed to composit image for descriptor <ISBindingImageDescriptor: 0x7ffee591a350>.

    03/06/16 08:09:52,621 quicklookd[25035]: Error returned from iconservicesagent: (null)

  • by jfaughnan,

    jfaughnan jfaughnan Jun 3, 2016 5:29 AM in response to léonie
    Level 3 (803 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 3, 2016 5:29 AM in response to léonie

    The images had already gone through a post-scanning processing in a different library where the EXIF dates were written, but you do have the library that crashed, not a fixed version. I'd wondered if Yosemite was the trick; perhaps even a result of a late Yosemite update or a UTF-8 characterset in metadata issue. No way to know...

     

    I have been debating whether go to El Capitan or stay on Yosemite. Aperture is the decider.  I saw that you recently wrote (Will I still be able to run Aperture after upgrading to El Capitan?)

     

    "There are more and more issues with Aperture. Aperture 3.6 is running on El Capitan,  but the minor bugs keep accumulating.

    When brushing adjustments, the position can be slightly off, one pixel or so.

    The thumbnails in list view are upside down.  Re: Aperture and El Capitan OSX

    If you add a Curves adjustment the straighten adjustment will not be visible in the exported images. See: straight

    The link to the plug-in page does no longer work in the Aperture menu, but that is the same for all versions."

     

    and elsewhere "turning on Onscreen Proofing in the View menu will make the photos appear washed out."

     

    I'm going to see what happens between now and the end of Yosemite. If Apple enhances Photos.app I'll stay on Yosemite until August 2017 then at that time switch to Photos.app and go to MacOS 12. If Photos.app stays as it is I'll migrate to El Capitan this August and plan to run Aperture through August 2018... (My other Mac is older so I think it will stay on Yosemite until it dies.)

     

    Looking at this forum I can see why have you a '10' rating! You are essentially world support for Aperture. It's a shame these forums do not support a 'tip jar' function.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 3, 2016 5:52 AM in response to jfaughnan
    Level 10 (106,814 points)
    iLife
    Jun 3, 2016 5:52 AM in response to jfaughnan

    "There are more and more issues with Aperture. Aperture 3.6 is running on El Capitan,  but the minor bugs keep accumulating.

    When brushing adjustments, the position can be slightly off, one pixel or so.

    The thumbnails in list view are upside down.  Re: Aperture and El Capitan OSX

    If you add a Curves adjustment the straighten adjustment will not be visible in the exported images. See: straight

    The link to the plug-in page does no longer work in the Aperture menu, but that is the same for all versions."

    I think most of these problems have already been around on Yosemite.

     

    Whatever you do, keep a full Time Machine backup or a bootable clone of your Mac should you decide to upgrade, so you can easily revert o your current system, should unexpected problems occur (https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21950?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US).

    I'll stay on Yosemite until August 2017 then at that time switch to Photos.app and go to MacOS 12.

    I'm really curious what the WWDC on June 13 will bring.

    You are essentially world support for Aperture.

     

    This forum has become deserted.  Many of the best Aperture experts have moved on. I miss the previous frequent posters here,

    Frank Caggiano,

    Kirby Krieger

    William Lloyd

    SierraDragon

    Ernie Stamper

    just to name a few.

    We used to be a great team !

  • by jfaughnan,

    jfaughnan jfaughnan Jun 3, 2016 6:08 AM in response to léonie
    Level 3 (803 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 3, 2016 6:08 AM in response to léonie

    I have been mining your posts and tips, now I can look at some from those names as well. I have at least another year with Aperture after all! I think we shall never see its like again. In some ways it was too ambitious (how many people understand keyword hierarchies?) and in other ways it was frustrating (single window!, metadata export - at least Photos.app has XMP). Glory Days of software, the new world is quite different.

     

    I wonder if eventually the way to get to Lightroom will be to migrate first to Photos.app then to Lightroom.

     

    I do like the iCloud Photo Library vision, though I fear its implementation. In particular I fear Apple will get bored and leave it half-done. Cost aside I think it is a good direction.

     

    Thanks for your great work.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 3, 2016 6:33 AM in response to jfaughnan
    Level 10 (106,814 points)
    iLife
    Jun 3, 2016 6:33 AM in response to jfaughnan
    I wonder if eventually the way to get to Lightroom will be to migrate first to Photos.app then to Lightroom.

    Ask Terence Devlin. He successfully migrated to Lightroom.  The latest Lightroom version can directly import Aperture libraries.

     

    (single window!, metadata export - at least Photos.app has XMP).

    Aperture 3.6 can also write XMP sidecar files, when you export he originals.

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