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aperture thumbnail generation forever

Hello


I like to have all my pictures in one place to share them with apple tv, so I decided to give aperture a try.


I imported all images (about 36000 from 12 years) into one aperture library.

Before importing I switched off face detection and preview generation.


After finishing I had a 236 GB library, but aperture starts to generate some thumbnails.

Problem is, it freezes on generating them.


I used the activity window to hunt down what is happeing and found out that it stops when it comes to a specific picture.


So I managed to

1) start aperture

2) open activity window

3) stop the thumbnail generation when it starts

4) delete the picture where the aperture have problems


This way I managed to get from about 5700 thumbanisl to do to a number of 3500 thumbnails to do, but aperture keeps freezing at a single pic (the bad one)


But now, aperture starts thumbnail generation so quickly that I cannot open activity window and stop the progress before it reaches the bad one.


@Apple: could we have an option like "safe start" that won't schedule any processes for thumbnails before the user wants it?


So, any ideas out there? I tried everything I found like repairing, rebuilding, no help.

Is there any kind of log to look into? I am a newbie in mac os and aperture.


Regards

Klaus

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Jun 6, 2013 1:05 PM

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Posted on Jun 6, 2013 1:47 PM

Have you tried to launch Aperture with the shift-key held down? That will defer the generation of previews and hopefully let you browse the library, before it will freeze again.


Do you know, which image the "bad" one is? Delete it from the library, if you get a chance.

20 replies

Jun 6, 2013 10:56 PM in response to léonie

leonieDF,


I did not know about the shift key, thanks for that


In the meantime I had the chance to startup aperture and cancel the thumbnail generation.

I navigated to the bad file to delete it, but when I click on it, it tries to load it and "beachball of death" again ( now for 2 hours!!)


This "bad" one is a video, some of the former bad ones were videos too, so does aperture have a problem in general with video files? Maybe its a good idea to just import all pictures and do the videos in a separate step afterwrds? Otherwise with 36000 pics (and about 300 videos between them) this is tedious...


Regards

Klaus

Jun 6, 2013 11:56 PM in response to klawusel

This "bad" one is a video, some of the former bad ones were videos too, so does aperture have a problem in general with video files? Maybe its a good idea to just import all pictures and do the videos in a separate step afterwrds? Otherwise with 36000 pics (and about 300 videos between them) this is tedious...


Klaus,

Aperture may have a problem with videos, if you have a problematic video codec installed, if the video is corrupted, or incompatible with Aperture. What kind of videos did you import?


If you can, delete the whole project, so that you do not need to select the video and reimport only the image files.


Check, if you have the 3ivxVideoCodec installed - if yes, remove it,

see: Aperture 3: May be unresponsive or have slower performance with third-party video codec

This codec could have been installed for example by FlipForMac.


If you do not want to delete all of your last import, you could try to delete the bad video directly from the Aperture library package:

  • Quit Aperture. Ctrl-click the Aperture library and select "Show Package Content" from the pop-up menu. Open the "masters" folder and navigate to the Year-Month-day of your last import. If you can find the video there, remove it, but don't change anything else. Afterwards the video should show as missing. Delete the version from the library. The dates in the Library package are based on "Import session", not capture dates.
  • Before manipulating the Library, make sure you have a current backup.

Regards

Léonie


A list of supported videos is here, but it is not exhaustive:

Aperture 3: About Video and Audio formats in Aperture

Jun 7, 2013 12:41 AM in response to léonie

Leonie


I will check about the codec this evening


In one of the former aperture starts I managed to delete a bad pic which really was a jpeg

So is there a chance to have corrupted images too?


By the way, I imported all my images and videos by importing complete iphoto libraries (all current version 9.3.4)

Do you know a way how to selectivy import from iphoto (I like to keep faces and stuff)


Klaus

Jun 7, 2013 7:22 AM in response to klawusel

By the way, I imported all my images and videos by importing complete iphoto libraries (all current version 9.3.4)

Do you know a way how to selectivy import from iphoto (I like to keep faces and stuff)

To selectively import from iPhoto do the following:

  • Open your iPhoto Library in Aperture, select the albums or projects you want to import to Aperture and export them as a new Aperture library. File > Export > ..... As new library.
  • Then import this partial library into Aperture


Regards

Léonie



In one of the former aperture starts I managed to delete a bad pic which really was a jpeg

So is there a chance to have corrupted images too?

That is hard to say. Is the library on an external drive? Maybe the drive is failing?

Jun 7, 2013 9:43 AM in response to klawusel

Klawusal,


Another option to try is to export the project containing the bad video/images to a new library. Then do a repair on the exported library and then see if it opens and is OK. If it is, you can then delete the original library from the main library (making sure you've backed up before all this). Then, check the main library and see if it works better. Maybe it's just that set of video and images.


Also, can you select the bad videos while in Browser only mode to delete the bad files without crashing/hanging?

Jun 7, 2013 11:18 AM in response to léonie

Leonie,


I looked in the package folder and found the image that was shown in the activity window when aperture dies

But its ok, I can look at it in finder and preview without any issues


Also no codec like 3ivxVideoCodec, here is my list

file://localhost/Library/QuickTime/AppleIntermediateCodec.component/

file://localhost/Library/QuickTime/AppleMPEG2Codec.component/

file://localhost/Library/QuickTime/DivX%20Decoder.component/

file://localhost/Library/QuickTime/DivX%20Encoder.component/


My library is local and managed


Regards

Klaus

Jun 7, 2013 11:25 AM in response to klawusel

Hi,


I suggested only to export the one project containing the bad video/images as a library. The time it takes to export depends on how many images and videos are in that project. It shouldn't take long though asumming it's not huge. The repair should also be pretty quick if the project was small.


Steps:

1. Open the library.

2. Select the project with the bad images while in Browser only mode.

3. Select File>Export>Project as New Library

4. Select your desktop destination and check the 3 checkboxes to include originals and previews and alert when done.

5. Quit Aperture after export was completed.

6. Launch the new library from your desktop while holding down the Option+Command keys.

7. Select Repair and let it finish repair and launch Aperture.

8. Select the project and the bad images/videos to see if they still crash.

Jun 7, 2013 11:40 AM in response to klawusel

all,


I do not really understand what aperture is doing on my system:


I started it using shift key to defer the thumbnail generation which works fine.I opened the activity window


I switched to viewer mode (1 picture) and aperture started to generate the thumbnail for the first image

After that the activity list in aperture was empty, but this process eats up my system


/System/Library/XPCServices/com.apple.qtkitserver.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple. qtkitserver

generates 134 % cpu load, although aperture seems to be reactive


What does this process do? The fan keeps roaring for minutes now


Just to test if aperture still lives I switched view to browser mode (multiple pics)

Now I see that aperture builds thumbs for all pictures I scroll to in the browser mode


I it possible to browse over all images to geenrate thumbnails, or are there more than one kind of thumbs?

Jun 7, 2013 12:02 PM in response to klawusel

I read here about some videso hogging the hole machine


https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2148759?start=0&tstart=0


So my plan is now to remove all videos from my library.


Is there a way to do this from OUTSIDE of aperture (remeber visiting a video in aperture browser starts spinning ball) maybe using spotlight in aperture package folder?


Or is there some script out there that automates this (removing files of given type from aperture folders)?


Thanks for all hints

Jun 7, 2013 12:15 PM in response to klawusel

Maybe to put them in a folder of their own and look at them outside of aperture before putting them back piec by piece?

Try to collect all videos in a smart album:

File > New > Smart Album ⇧⌘L


Then add a rule "File Type is video"


Can you select all videos in that smart album and use the command "File > Relocate"?

aperture thumbnail generation forever

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