Importing metadata from other catalogs

I just migrated to Aperture from iView MP but I always synchronized my EXIF data to the files so Aperture sees it. I think iPhoto is the only program directly supported for metadata importing.

Sam

I, too, have been using Extensis Portfolio, but I have been embedding the IPTC data into each file original, either with Extensis or w/Photoshop. It then shows up fine in other programs like Photoshop, so I know it's in each file. However, I've just finished importing a couple of my first projects & wonder of wonders, there's no IPTC data in the metadata inspector! The EXIF info is there, but not IPTC.

Surely Aperture has a way to import this. I cannot even begin to imagine having to re-do all my metadata! AAAaaaaa!

Has ANYONE figured how to do this?

Randy

Randy,

My IPTC fields from iView MP are visible but do not match directly with iView's fields. They do not import into Aperture but they are visible on the file in the IPTC inspector.

Sam

Sam --

Not sure what you mean by 'visible on the file...inspector' -- if you can see them in inspector, then that's what you/we want, isn't it? But nothing appears in my inspector other than filenames.

As I described, all my shots have the IPTC data embedded (most via Portfolio, but some done in PS). On closer look, there are some slight differences in the field names - here they are:

PS => Aperture
----------------------
Description => Caption
Keywords => Keywords
Copyright => Copyright Notice

I would think that if field matching was important, there would be a way in Aperture to allow you to map those fields, but I can't find a thing in their 'Getting Started' manual, nor in poking around the program.

Wonder how many others have run into this & if we're simply missing something here (aside from IPTC info!!).

Randy

Randy,

I'm not familiar with Portfolio other than demoing it when I purchased iView but my "Event" field from iView shows up as the IPTC "Fixture Identifier" in Aperture's inspector.

Sam

Fascinating (seriously) -- but I know nothing (nor am I ever likely to - I just want to photograph!) about scripting, so it's pretty meaningless to me, except to make it obvious that Apple hasn't yet built in a viable metadata import mechanism.

This, along with other worrisome posts here about the poor quality of RAW converting, gives me serious pause as to whether I can actually use Aperture to do away with several of my other workflow programs, which I was hoping to do...

I mean, one of my main stock houses has already advised against using Canon's RAW conversion software, feeling it is inferior to PS CS/CS2! If that's the case & some of the examples I've seen on this discussion board are typical, the RAW conversion won't cut it in the pro arena either. But I digress...

Randy

Well, I don't think this is a Portfolio or iView issue, since Photoshop can read the IPTC data nicely. It's just that they didn't provide a way to map the data on import. So, my guess is, unless they decide this is a critical omission (which it is), we may be stuck with it until the next version. Which, as I said in my other post, severely cripples its utility for me, anyway.

Unless I decide to take a deep breath and start over in captioning and keywording, which I'm not inclined to do at the moment... <sigh>

R_

doesn't it depend on where you generated the metadata? Some applications keep it in a database separate from but linked to the image file. Some apps create a sidecar that stays married to the file.

Umm, or am I confusing metadata with mere minutiae?

bogiesan

Thanks for the shout out. I'm getting closer to releasing a version of the application that others can test. Look for something to play with at the end of the weekend!

Programs like iView and PhotoMechanic have the option of embedding annotations into the RAW files. Sadly, in the initial release of Aperture does not importing embedded annotated metadata.

I had a couple of questions on your effort to map the IPTC data fields. I don't use iView, but my tiff files all have IPTC data embedded by either Photoshop or Extensis Portfolio. So in my case, I don't think the programs I've used are relevant, but Aperture still won't import the data -- the main ones I'm needing are keywords, captions (called 'description' in my tiff files) and copyright notice (called simply 'copyright' in my files).

Do you think that the script you're working on will be able to map the fields? Or will it just address translating data from iView to Aperture?

Randy

Aperture imported basic metadata (Byline, State, etc.) that I had entered on some jpegs. However, it did not import anything on the thousands of DNG's I imported. Also didn't import anything one several test CRW+xmp sidecar files.

I'm guessing Aperture is taking the stance that the RAW files should never be modified... and if one follows that rule to the extreme, how would any RAW file have any IPTC metadata to import in the first place? So it doesn't bother to check for it, at least in my case.

I'm guessing any program that has a scripting interface that accesses metadata fields will be able to be scripted so one can transfer metadata. They basically work like this:

tell application Iview to get "city" metadata from "picture 1" and put this metadata in "city" metadata in "picture 1" in application Aperture.

This obviously isn't correct syntax, but there is no reason why you couldn't ask for a specific field of metadata from one program and store it in a completely different field, thus making up your own "custom" mapping. For example, you could ask for the "city" in one program and map it to the "Byline" in another program, if both programs expose these fields and the ability to read/write to them via Applescript.

Sorry for the late reply. The application doesn't look into the file's metadata directly. I suppose a future version of the program can do that. What you can do is import the items into an iView catalog and then run my app. If Extensis Portfolio has a good AppleScript dictionary, I'm sure something could be done for that as well.

I managed to get it done. I discovered that if Portfolio wrote/embedded the metadata, I had to open each file in PS and re-save it, even if it was already in Mac byte order(!!). It was a pain, as I had thousands of shots to do this on -- but the actions helped. Once I did that, all the shots imported w/the metadata intact.

Randy