Media browser does not show previews of raw photos

Question

Media browser does not show previews of raw photos

Hello,

I use Aperture 3.4.3 and I have the following problem. If I import photos in jpg format they are immediately available in the media browser and can therefore be selected as a desktop photo via the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane. If I import photo's in raw format, they do not appear in the media browser until I have forced Aperture to rebuild the previews. If I edit the photos without forcing Aperture to rebuild the previews they are not available in the media browser.

Any suggestions are welcome

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Dec 8, 2012 1:14 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Dec 8, 2012 1:28 PM in response to Dionysis Linardatos

I think, that is exactly as it is supposed to be. The Media Browser requires previews to share with the iLife and iWork applications. If you do not tell Aperture to create such previews, it will not create them to save space.

What are your settings in the Previews tab of the preferences? Have you enabled the automatic creation of previews? If not, you will have to force the creation manually.

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 2

Dec 8, 2012 1:34 PM in response to léonie

Hello Léonie,

Thx for the quick reply. My settings in the Preview tab are:

New projects automatically generate previews: Selected

Share previews with iLife and iWork: Always

Photo preview: Fit within 2560x2560

Photo preview quality: 12 (High)

I had assumed that this would generate the previews but it does not do that automatically for raw files. Jpegs, however large they may be, are automatically added to the media browser.

Regards

Dionysis

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Dec 8, 2012 1:57 PM in response to Dionysis Linardatos

There is another setting that applies to raw files:

Have you checked the "Preferences > Import" panel? Is "camera Previews" or "standard" previews checked? Try to set this to "camera" previews, if it is not already set this way.

If all preferences are o.k., and you still do not see the previews in the Media Browser, try the general trouble shooting routine: The Aperture Library or or the Aperture preferences file may be corrupted. Start with repairing permissions and repairing the library, then removing the preferences.

See the Aperture 3: Troubleshooting Basics for how to do this.

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Answer 4

Dec 8, 2012 1:59 PM in response to léonie

I have standard previews selected and not camera previews because I find the quality of the camera previes questionable at times. I shall try your suggestion tomorrow and post my findings. In principle, I find that this choice should not be affecting the generation of previews but Aperture is quite long in the tooth and quite temperamental with such issues in my experience.

I have tried the other standard suggestions (repairing permissions, rebuilding the library, reinstalling aperture including the removal of preferences) but nothing has worked.

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Dec 8, 2012 2:10 PM in response to Dionysis Linardatos

Is the problem, that the previews do not show in the Media Browser, or that the previews are not generated. Have you looked into the Aperture library package, if the previews actually are generated? Ctrl-click the Aperture library package, select "Show Package Contents", then look in the "Previews" folder for the missing previews.

If the previews are there, but the Media Browser does not see them, the problem may not be with Aperture.

In which application are you using the previews?

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Answer 6

Dec 9, 2012 2:23 AM in response to léonie

I checked in the Aperture library package and the previews are not generated. I have also experimented with importing photo'd from my iphone (jpg's) and my camera (raw) and I have observed the following behaviour:

1. Aperture does not generate any previews when importing jpg's, raw photo's or merging libraries even though I have selected New projects automatically generate previews and always share previews with iLife and iWork (I am importing photos into an existing project but I would expect photo previews to be updated automatically in these cases as well). My statement above that Aperture shared jpg's automatically is therefore incorrect.

2. If I right click on a photo and select update preview, the preview is generated and then the photo is available in the media browser. Aperture does not warn me that there is no preview in the first place.

3. If I edit the photo in Aperture after I have generated a preview (say crop it), the preview does not get updated.

4. Every time a new preview is added to the media browser (by forcing Aperture to generate a preview, the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane appears to be reloading the whole media library. I surmize this because it takes much longer for Aperture to appear as a source in the preference pane after a preview has been updated.. This is understanable but I have identified another problem with this process: if Aperture is still open when I launch the preference pane, the preference pane cannot update the media library (possibly due to file locks on the preview files by Aperture) and Aperture appears in the source list in the preference pane but with no triangle allowing you to see any Aperture photos. Once this happens the preference pane is unable to show you any Aperture photo's whatever you do (restart pref pane, restart Aperture etc.). You can only resolve this by forcing Aperture to generate a new preview, shutting down Aperture and then launching the preference pane.

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Dec 9, 2012 3:41 AM in response to Dionysis Linardatos

1. Aperture does not generate any previews when importing jpg's, raw photo's or merging libraries even though I have selected New projects automatically generate previews and always share previews with iLife and iWork (I am importing photos into an existing project but I would expect photo previews to be updated automatically in these cases as well). My statement above that Aperture shared jpg's automatically is therefore incorrect.

This looks like your preference settings cannot be stored by Aperture. You write, that you already tried to remove the preferences. You did look in the "Preferences" folder in your hidden User Library in your Home folder ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Aperture.plist and not in the System Library on your MacintoshHD /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Aperture.plist, right?

Also, when removing preferences in Lion an Mt. Lion, it is best to log off and on again after quitting Aperture. Otherwise the removal may not take, because you cannot rely on a "Quit" to remove the process from the caches. Aperture simply may launch again restored from the cache, without noticing that the preferences have ben removed.

3. If I edit the photo in Aperture after I have generated a preview (say crop it), the preview does not get updated.

That is consistent with the above.

4.You can only resolve this by forcing Aperture to generate a new preview, shutting down Aperture and then launching the preference pane.

Ths may also be related to broken Aperture preferences. The Media browser needs the preferences file to find the current Aperture library.

I like to suggest two basic tests:

Generation of previews may also fail, if your Aperture library is corrupted. Then You should have no problems with the generation of previews, when you import into a new library. Create a small new testlibrary and import a few images. Are previews generated? I not, then the problem is not dependent on your current library. If yes, you need to trouble shoot your library. Post back.
Do you have the same problem, when working from a different user account with a diffrent Aperture library? Then preferences are not a problem - you have a system wide problem and probably need to reinstall. Post back.

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 8

Dec 9, 2012 5:11 AM in response to léonie

I have no /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Aperture.plist file. I deleted the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Aperture.plist file and restarted my mac and then went on and reset the preferences to what they should be. The problem is still there.

I subsequently created a new test library and the error was gone. This implies that the problem is related to my current library. The library contains about 10,000 images and it originates from Aperture 1 with subsequent upgrades to Aperture 2 & Aperture 3. I have tried all 3 options (repair permissions, repair database, rebuild database) but they do not help. Any suggestions?

Regards

Dionysis

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Answer 9

léonie

Level 10

194,647 points

Dec 9, 2012 5:28 AM in response to Dionysis Linardatos

Dionysis,

is your main Aperture library in a location different from the one where you put your test library?

On an external volume, a network volume, a shared folder? Is your library referenced or managed?

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 10

Dec 9, 2012 6:20 AM in response to léonie

Leonie,

My library is on my internal drive and is managed.

Regards

Dionysis

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Answer 11

Dec 9, 2012 6:23 AM in response to léonie

and my test library was also placed on the same volume.

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Answer 12

Dec 10, 2012 1:23 AM in response to léonie

Leonie,

I believe that I have resolved the issue by making a new library and then merging my existing library into the new library. The library ended up smaller (from 285 to 250 GB) and the previews were generated automatically.

Many thx for your help in troubleshooting.

Dionysis

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