Aperture Plugin

Question

Level 1

15 points

Aperture Plugin

I really like the flash based photo album viewers (SimpleViewer, PostcardViewer and AutoViewer) available from airtight interactive. To make them even easier to use, I created a simple Aperture plugin that exports all image files and configures the directory structure. Anyone that may be interested can find it here.

http://apertureplugin.home.comcast.net/

This is built on a power PC. It should work on intel as well, but since I have not tried it yet -- who knows...

Of course, all the disclaimers of use at your own risk etc. apply.

I would be interested what people think. However, since this is not my day job, there are no guarantees of enhancements or fixing problems in a timely manner.

Regards

Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Feb 12, 2007 9:13 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 13, 2007 10:02 PM in response to xxx Ken xxx

Thanks for the plug-in, I will be downloading and testing it.

You may consider submit your plug-in link to the following page:
http://www.aperturepluggedin.com/

This website is devoted to Aperture's plug in.

Also consider submitting it to Apple's site, you need a ADC membership for that; follow the instructions on the link:

https://adcweb.apple.com/downloads/

cheers

Rafael

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Answer 2

Feb 14, 2007 12:52 AM in response to xxx Ken xxx

I've been using simpleviewer (good stuff) for awhile and I would welcome anything that would streamline the process. I'll be testing your plugin and I'll report back.

Thanks very much for your effort.

G5 Dual 2.0, 4GB, Raptor, X800XT | MBP 2.16, 2GB Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 3

xxx Ken xxx Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 14, 2007 12:13 PM in response to xxx Ken xxx

I have now posted a revision that does the following:

1. Fixed several reset default bugs
2. Added a “Open in Safari” checkbox
3. Added output progress messages

Again, you can find the plugin at:

http://apertureplugin.home.comcast.net/

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Answer 4

Feb 17, 2007 12:38 AM in response to xxx Ken xxx

Ken, I finally had a chance to play with your plug in. I'm impressed and I would like to use it. The only hang up I'm having is the thumbnail output (for SimpleViewer), it appears constrained to 64px square. That renders a distorted preview of any rectangular image. When I've built the galleries by hand I've used something like 65 x 98 for the thumbs and it ends up arbitrarily clipped, but undistorted or I've hand cropped the thumbs to 64 square. The other feature request that jumped out at me - any way to have the last values inputed as persistent or save-able? Personally I would use the same numbers often, so it would be easier than reentering for every export.

This is on a MBP, tomorrow I'll try it on a PPC tower (I'm obviously assuming at this point that my issue is unrelated to the platform). Hey thanks again, you obviously put some time into this.

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Answer 5

xxx Ken xxx Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 17, 2007 7:04 AM in response to lazymonster

Since the thumbnail is square, I had the choice of crop or distort. I chose to distort, but I guess I could look at crop as well. In either case this is an inaccurate preview of the actual image.

The persistence is something I was going to get to. but I did not put it into the first release. I wanted to make sure it was robust and doing the right thing first.

The one issue that need to be considered is having the proper export preset. Make sure you use JPEG and a valid screen DPI (I use 72). I have heard that DPI of 300 makes the images too small. Also, if you plan to put this on the web, make sure the file name is web friendly -- my preference is all lower case and no embedded blanks. I use "image" as the custom name and "custom name with index" as the export name format.

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Answer 6

xxx Ken xxx Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 17, 2007 7:17 AM in response to xxx Ken xxx

I have now included a README file that describes the plugin in a little more detail. To get it just download the plugin again -- the README is included in the zip archive.

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Answer 7

Feb 17, 2007 8:34 AM in response to xxx Ken xxx

Sounds like a very useful plugin, and I'e downloaded to play with it, however, strangely, I don't have a Library >Applications Support>Aperture>Plugins export.

For some reason after >Aperture it just has all the .plist's including export. Should I move it to there? Using 1.5.2
I wonder if its because I'm on a intel mac?

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Answer 8

Feb 17, 2007 9:16 AM in response to Barry Fisher

Barry,
I had the same issue and I just went to finder and created the folders "PlugIns" and "export" and it worked like a champ!
Also, thanks so much Ken for taking the time to do this as I am a Simplevieweraholic and this saves me much time!

Mike

20" iMac 2 Gig , MacBook Intel Core Duo 1 Gig Mac OS X (10.4.8) OWC Neptune 250G External Drive

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Answer 9

Feb 17, 2007 11:52 AM in response to Michael Pry

Barry,
I had the same issue and I just went to finder and
created the folders "PlugIns" and "export" and it
worked like a champ!
Also, thanks so much Ken for taking the time to do
this as I am a Simplevieweraholic and this saves me
much time!

Mike

20" iMac 2 Gig ,
MacBook Intel Core Duo 1 Gig Mac OS X (10.4.8)
OWC Neptune 250G External Drive

Ahhh, I was wondering if I should do that. Thx Michael and thx Ken also for doing all this.

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Answer 10

xxx Ken xxx Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 18, 2007 7:22 AM in response to Barry Fisher

I have now updated the plug-in to version 0.9-1. The only change is to make the SimpleViewer thumbnails images a center crop instead of full (but distorted) images.

Ken

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Answer 11

Feb 19, 2007 12:54 AM in response to xxx Ken xxx

Good on ya, mate!

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Answer 12

Mar 2, 2007 9:35 PM in response to xxx Ken xxx

Wow, great plug in!
I first saw it on the forums @ aperturepluggedin.com

just downloaded the new update. Thanx and awesome work!

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Answer 13

Mar 3, 2007 7:39 AM in response to xxx Ken xxx

Thanks for the plugin info.

I'm having a bit of a problem creating the plugin folder. Please forgive in that I'm recently new to Mac after many tormenting years with PC.

I managed to created the Plugin folder in the the Library>applicationsupport>Aperture area.

However, I had to create the folders on the desktop and then import them into the above category because Finder would not let me create the folder directly into the tree. Also, each time I had to authenticate creation of the folders.

Now that I have managed to drag plugins into the folders, Aperture fails to recognize there are any plugins.

Any ideas as to what I may be doing incorrectly?

Thanks

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Answer 14

Mar 3, 2007 8:07 AM in response to Marc Shepherd

Please disregard. The plugin now shows up.

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Answer 15

Mar 3, 2007 10:38 PM in response to xxx Ken xxx

Ken, this is truly fantastic. Just when I thought the gallery in Ap was fantastic, I found this. WOW. I love the flash galleries - they feel so professional. I created one really quick with some snapshots and it opened in Safari. The only options I changed on the SimpleViewer was the max pixel size to 640 and 640 - but the main image appears at the bottom only a hair bigger - why? I selected to put the thumbs at the top, but they appear up/down the center.
http://homepage.mac.com/me100finn/ATVJapan

Also, how much space does this save vs. a web gallery done via Aperture? I know it depends on pixel size and quality selection. Assume they are equivalent and set at low/med. quality for comparison sake.

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