Digital Asset Management (DAM)

Aperture can work as a SINGLE USER DAM system. It won't function as a multi-user server-based DAM solution (like Cumulus and Portfolio can).

You can move images to "offline" volumes (e.g. hard drives) using referenced masters. You'll need to generate previews for the images, and you cannot edit offline images, but otherwise they'll come up in keyword searches, etc.

That said, I wouldn't use CD/DVD media for this... I'd use external HDs.

I read an article in Digital Photo Pro about a sports shooter pro who had 4 Xserve RAIDs that contained all of his images (30-40 TB of them); his entire library was searchable from his laptop because of the previews. Don't recall his name, but he has been featured on Apple's Aperture site.

Aperture is a DAM app but much more. Aperture's huge strength is in DSLR capture workflow. Are you creating volumes of new images on an ongoing basis, or are you dealing with pre-existing plus very low (e.g. such as comes from scans) volume of new images? For basic DAM (as opposed to capture workflow) you could stay with Cumulus for now.

-Allen Wicks

Bill-

At this point in time Aperture IMO is the best app on the planet for volume DSLR capture management and DAM for folks with adequate Mac hardware (your basic setup qualifies, but if you do buy Aperture you will want one of the better graphics cards available after Expo). After Mac Expo SF is over on January 18th I will have refined my opinion after spending extensive time at the relevant booths on the show floor.

IMO cursory evaluation of Aperture is a waste of time. Without really good competent guidance one usually either totally does not get it and/or simply develops bad habits.

I recommend that folks with adequate hardware (MacIntel, minimum 2 GB RAM, 4+ GB is better) invest time and $33 in Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 1.5 (Apple Pro Training) by Orlando Luna and Ben Long (Paperback - Oct 2006). It is a training Tutorial, not just a manual; its value is as a tutorial, not as a manual. As you work through the tutorial the various Aperture workflow choices become evident and then you can choose your preferred configuration.

Even if you ultimately choose another app the workflow choices learned working the tutorial are invaluable. Aperture has a free 30 day trial, but have the tutorial CD in hand and RAM installed before downloading the trial so you do not waste time of the trial.

Aperture is hardware-intense and there are routines to learn to optimize speed. A good forum exists at <http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1092>.

Note that Aperture allows a dual laptop/desktop installation and will run on your G4 Powerbook, but marginally. I recommend that you thoroughly learn Aperture and its workflow alternatives on your Mac Pro before trying to implement any workflow that involves the PB. Making dual-computer setups work is tricky, and scaling volumes of images for laptop access is a challenge.

-Allen Wicks

Bill-

My pleasure. Your MP with X1900XT is a fine Aperture box. When you do the Aperture trial and tutorial pay particular attention to "Referenced Masters" which is the way that most of us with laptops in the mix end up going.

-Allen Wicks

William Ritchie wrote:
William
Thanks for the helpful reply.There are periods of time when I shoot high volumes of images and making thumb nails for the would be a time consuming extra step. Even with batching specific volumes of shots, I know it wouldn't get done.

The thumbnails are automatically generated, with no intervention or prompting from you. Previews--of a size you choose--can also be automatically generated with no intervention from you.

"It is my lack of really embracing Cumulus that led to my situation."

Maybe I'm reading more into this comment, but be careful before you start thinking of Aperture as a magic bullet. It could help, as could Lightroom, but you could be just moving your dissatisfaction onto the next program - a few months later you'll be looking for another magic solution. You might be better advised to ramp up your DAM knowledge and address your practices. Get Peter Krogh's The DAM Book - - you don't have to accept everything but there's great practical discussion of fundamental principles - and visit his forum http://thedambook.com/smf/ .

But do try both Aperture and Lightroom - what counts is what's there now, not what's promised. They both have trials - and only you can decide whether either works for you.

William Ritchie wrote:
DP
Thanks for that good news. Is there a box I'd check to have that happen? So if I stored my masters elsewhere, Hard Drive, DVD, I'd still have thumb nails to look over and when I needed the image Aperture would tell me where it is, if I've done my part of the bargin correctly that is?

That's exactly the case. When you import images, Aperture generates a series of small thumbnails which are stored at the top of each Project inside the Library package. If you have Previews turned on these are also stored in the Library package.
These thumbnails and Previews remain in the Library even if the master files are referenced on an offline drive. You can still rate, edit metadata and organise the images, the only thing you can't do when the masters are offline is apply image adjustments or export anything.
Right-clicking on the thumbnail of a referenced image and choosing 'Show in Finder' will show it in the Finder if the drive is online, and will give you the name of the drive if it's offline.

No checkboxes required, unless you want the Previews.

Ian

Light Box?

Ian