"Library" Projects vs "Projects & Albums" Projects

Question

Level 1

29 points

"Library" Projects vs "Projects & Albums" Projects

Hello all,

I have been using Aperture for about three years. I have Aperture 3 on three different Macs.

Prevously I have been using Windows XP and have been storing photos in directories on the hard drive the old fashioned way.

I have some questions about the storage structure of Aperture and I cannot find the answer in the Manual nor online.

Here we go.

1. When I import photo's into Aperture, it creates a "Project" both under "Library" Projects and under "Projects & Albums."

Q: If I delete a project under "Library" do the photo's contained in that project get deleted from Aperture's Library?

Q: If I delete a project under "Projects & Albums" do the photo's contained in that project get deleted from Aperture's Library?

2. I have been a user of Mobile Me gallery since it came out, even before I bought Aperture. I have synced the Mobile Me galleries with my copy of Aperture 3 on each of the mac's so I have redundant copies. I understand that Aperture will automatically sync changed photos so I am pretty sure all the image files for each mobile me gallery now exists on my hard drives.

Q: As Mobile Me Gallery will not longer be supported in June, if I delete a Moble Me Gallery via Aperture, will the images in my Aperture Library still be there?

I know this question seems odd, but the manual is not really clear on this issue.

3. While I am here asking the pro's this is a question I think I have figured out.

Q: The Vault list shows a Bar for each vault. It has a caption that says something like

The Bar has hashes on the right side and solid color on the left. I assume this shows The total Drive side, and the total amount of free space availble at that moment, yet it does not show the size of the actual vault. And Green means plenty of room left, red means getting close to full. Dum quesiton but I need varification.

Thank you very much for your patients with a relatively new Aperture User.

Mike

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2), 27

Posted on Mar 11, 2012 1:00 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

194,723 points

Mar 11, 2012 1:16 PM in response to Aronis

Hello Mike,

the "Library" section of the Inspector panel shows you the same content of your Aperture Database as the "Projects & Albums" section, but offers different Views of the same content (Faces, Places, Projects) - this is very typical for databases - you can browse and filter the same content projected in different ways -views.

So whatever you delete while browsing one of the Library section Views, e.g. the "Projects" View, will be deleted from your library; and the same will happen when you delete a project from the "Projects and Albums" section.

Q: As Mobile Me Gallery will not longer be supported in June, if I delete a Moble Me Gallery via Aperture, will the images in my Aperture Library still be there?

They will still be there, if you downloaded them from your gallery or uploaded them from an album on your Mac.

I deleted several MM galleries without ever loosing the images in my Aperture Library.

The last part of your question I'll leave for vault experts. I use Time Machine to backup my Aperture Libraries.

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 2

Aronis Author

Level 1

29 points

Mar 11, 2012 2:14 PM in response to léonie

When you create a Project under "Projects & Albums" you can then drag images from the "Library" while browsing "Photos" into that new Project under "Projects & Albums."

With me so far?

Then that new "Project" would contain "Versions" of the orginal files in the "Photos" section??

If so, then if I delete that new "Project" under "Projects and Albums" it should just delete the "Versions" in that project??? and not the originals under "Library?"

This is confusing!

But when I import new images, say from a folder outside of Aperture say called "thosenewphotos" Aperture by default creates a project called "thosenewphotos" in both The "Library" under "Projects" and the "Projects & Albums." This then implys both Projects show the SAME Images....just in a different way?

So I kind of understand it, but your saying that All the Projects shown in the Browser when I clink on "Library, Projects" are also listed under "Projects & Albums."?

Another way to look at this...

...all the images in the Library are shown in the browser if I click on "Photos," including all versions....but if I click on an individual album or folder or project, just a subset of those images is shown. What I was trying to find out is that if I delete a project, then that grouping created under that project would disappear but the original images would still be in the libary, just no longer assigned to that deleted project.

Mike

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,723 points

Mar 11, 2012 2:48 PM in response to Aronis

Hello Mike,

All images (and all versions of an image) are stored in one and only one project. All versions of the same image are always part of the same project.

The "Photos" view shows you all versions of all of your images for quick access and filtering and searching, but it does not store the images - it is not a container like the projects, it's more like a smart album.

Then that new "Project" would contain "Versions" of the orginal files in the "Photos" section??

If you drag an image by accessing it from the Photos View, you will not drag it from the Photos View but move it from its original project to a the new project - this does not create new versions in the new project. The Photos View is just a neat feature to select all your images in one place, independent of the project they are stored in, like having a file of index cards to all your images.

If so, then if I delete that new "Project" under "Projects and Albums" it should just delete the "Versions" in that project??? and not the originals under "Library?"

Oh yes, deleting any project will certainly delete your original images. The only originals you see under "library" are projects in the "Projects" view, and that are exactly the same projects as under "Projects and Albums" - just different ways to access the same content.

What I was trying to find out is that if I delete a project, then that grouping created under that project would disappear but the original images would still be in the libary, just no longer assigned to that deleted project.

If you delete a project, from whatever view you use, the images stored in that project are gone. And since each image - and all its versions - belongs to only one project, that image will be removed from the library for good, if its project is deleted!

You really need to get a better understanding of the basic organizational structure of Aperture:

If you not have found it already, here is the User Manual, really worth reading:

Aperture 3 User Manual: http://documentation.apple.com/en/aperture/

and here are well-polished, introductory posts by Kirby Krieger:

Kirby Krieger: The Well-Trod Path:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3283005?answerId=16003277022#16003277022
Kirby Krieger: Re: Organizing in Aperture, concise long version:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2654297?answerId=12616449022#12616449022
Kirby: Krieger: Best way to managing libraries?

Post back, if you need further clarification; I am sure someone else will drop in on this discussion.

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 4

Aronis Author

Level 1

29 points

Mar 11, 2012 7:33 PM in response to léonie

Thank you very much.

THat's an excellent explaination. It makes more sense now.

I did extensive reading in the manual on many occasions but the manual is simply not that complete. Thus the need for those Kirby articles!

Thanks again.

Mike

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Answer 5

Mar 11, 2012 7:40 PM in response to léonie

🙂.

😊.

😁.

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Answer 6

Mar 11, 2012 7:46 PM in response to Aronis

Aronis wrote:

I did extensive reading in the manual on many occasions but the manual is simply not that complete. Thus the need for those Kirby articles!

Agree 100%. Probably not surprising 😝.

The User Manual is uncommonly good. But it is really a "What's what" and not a "How to". Be sure, though, to become familiar with the first seven chapters: they are an excellent introduction to the UI, and will give you a solid foundation on which to anchor your understanding (and, beyond that, your use).

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