Aperture and metadata

How can I import metadata from another Aperture library to a new one in my new computer? Is it possible? I have 20.000 pictures and I have imported them to my new computer, but I have lost the IPTC-information during the import. Can anybody help me?

I have the library and the pictures on a 1 TB external disk. The library is too big for my laptop, almost 350 GB. On my new MacBook Pro I would like to have the library on the computer and the pictures on external disks. It is possible to export metadata-files from my old library but I can`t find a possibility to import them into my new library.
Lars A. Oma

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Annoture - Metadata Bridging Solution for Aperture and iView

Aperture and iView users:
I just released Annoture, a metadata bridging solution for Aperture and iView MediaPro! With Annoture, you’re just a click away from sharing metadata between these two popular image management and cataloguing applications. Spend more time working with your decisive moments than worrying about double-entry and incomplete metadata!
Annoture lets you transfer annotations from iView MediaPro catalogs to Aperture projects and albums and back. This two-way transfer of IPTC and metadata information means you are not tied to any one application for your image management and workflow needs. Annoture also features a modular interface that can be extended to support additional applications in the future.
http://www.tow.com/software/annoture/
Users of Aperture and iView can download a fully-functional version of Annoture. The unregistered version will occasionally display a reminder to register, and all images processed in Aperture by Annoture will have a custom “Annotated with Annoture!” tag added. You can remove these items with the full version after purchasing and entering your license code.
Enjoy!
-adam

Congratulations on getting this working and available so quickly! I bet many late nights went into this
It's definitely providing some motivation for me to learn more Applescript...

Aperture and iWeb

Here's a question about working with iweb and Aperture that I asked in the iweb group with no luck.
Here's the deal: iweb is not updating available Aperture photos. What is wanted, of course, is to work in both apps, and for newly added photos to Aperture to appear in iWeb soon after adding to Aperture.This doesn't happen.
I've tried deleting prefs and caches but so far no luck and while I think this is an iWeb problem, there's this: a search from iWeb to Aperture will bring up some relevant images, but not all images.
This leads me to wonder if it is an Aperture metadata issue and wondering if anyone has some insight.
–ms

Hi Ernie,
I've tried it both ways and the behavior is the same. I keep thinking that there would be some option-click or similar activity to make it update, but I am seeing now that it is more than updating. iWeb simply isn't seeing some of the Aperture records no matter when they were added to Aperture, and, as far as I can tell, at least for now, the issue is related to custom fields.
Thanks for helping.
Michael

New Mac Pro - Aperture and a massive new project - help me be smart!

I am receiving a Mac Pro 2.66 Friday and adding in 4 GB RAM and 2 500GB HDS, Aperture and Final Cut Studio and a lot of music software. Moving up from a G4 450 DP.
I received a very nice fellowship and will officially begin the project on June 1, continuing until August, 2008. I will be filming in all 92 Indiana counties - mainly nature and historic sites for a few DVD programs for schools in my county. I expect to end up with 30,000 + images when it is all said and done.
Before I begin, do any of you experienced digital photographers have any advice for someone in my position? You know, "what I wish I had known when I started using Aperture" kind of advice.
I use a Nikon D70, 5 various lenses and will shoot RAW. I am an experienced photographer, so I am not looking for shooting tips, etc.
Thanks for any tips.
G4 450DP Mac OS X (10.4.6)

That sounds like a great project.
People have already emphasized the importance of backing up. I can't pile on with any more emphasis. Backup, backup, and backup some more. I have five copies of every RAW file I've ever made across four different disks and DVD's. The DVD's are located in a remote location. I had an issue with my hard drives about three months ago that caused all my hard drives to loose their data--complete loss. If not for my DVD's, I would've lost 30,000 RAW files let alone all the processed images.
I'm working an article on my backup strategy that should be published in the next week or so. If you want, send me an e-mail and I'll give you a link to my site when it's done.
This next article is about file naming. I've been using this same convention for 8 years. It works as well as anything. The other recommendations are also excellent especially the ones about adjusting your convention when sending to clients.
http://www.keiko-ni.com/keikosite/equiptech/digital/filenaming/filename1.html
This final article is about my initial workflow. I am not a "copy the CF card prior to import" kind of guy. Call me gutsy. Metadata and keywords will be your most important friend during a project this size. Being able to quickly get to images for various purposes will be extremely important. To be a high end, high capacity photographer also means being a data manager. It's a fact of life. Secondly, start early and don't get behind keywording. That will only slow you down later. The key to this in Aperture is using the keyboard shortcuts. Learn those. It'll help lost later.
http://www.keiko-ni.com/wordpress/?p=13
Cheers
1.67ghz PB, 2.66 MP Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Aperture and iWeb and Captions

I'd like to notate my photos in Aperture and have the notations appear under each photo in an iWeb Photo template. I've tried using Metadata Captions and I'm still seeing filenames under the iWeb photos. I'm using the Media Inspector to drag and drop the images into iWeb.
Thanks for any help!
-=Tim=-

Sorry, I don't think I correctly read your question. I was trying to explain having your captions show in the Aperture web gallery, but it looks like you want iWeb help.
To show a caption, I have been double-clicking on the album (in iWeb) to edit the selected image. Then I go from page to page and edit the filename to be the caption I want. This doesn't provide but a few letters, so I try to make the captions brief.
Creating web galleries in Aperture isn't as simple as I thought it would be. Each time I've created one, I forget all the steps to doing it. I am hoping Apple adds better iLife support so it doesn't have to be a multi-step process and the metadata already entered can be used for the caption. I'm new at Aperture, so hopefully I haven't totally missed something.
If you find something easier, I'd like to know also because I've been staying away from Aperture Web galleries until this is easier. I put up a few albums on my site just to test, but am anxious to get new photos up when it isn't so tedious.

Another Aperture and iPhoto problem i am having

I today imported 5 photos into aperture, i done keywords and other metadata pictures are all jpeg large 12 MP images. I then go-to the new iphoto 09 and again select show Aperture library find the pictures and drag them into a album on iphoto for easy uploading to facebook etc 3 of the pictures in iphoto when clicked are good clear images the other two when clicked are poor quality scaled down images why?. I thought the masters were left within aperture, and iphoto just loads them from AP. Can somebody explain ?

For most folks using the Previews is pefectly good. And bearing in mind what Facebook will do to the shots there’s no doubt that the Previews will be perfectly adequate.
You can set the quality of the Previews in the Aperture Preferences -> Preview Pane.
If you want to use full size pics then you’ll need to export from Aperture and then import to iPhoto. However, if Facebook is the destination then that’s utterly pointless. From what I’ve seen no matter what you upload they compress the cr*p out of it, strip the metadata and colour management.
Regards
TD

Aperture & iPhoto metadata when images NOT stored in iPhoto

Thinking of "upgrading" to Aperture from iPhoto '11 - still want to use iPhoto for organization but Aperture for hopefully better editing capabilities, etc.
Have 30,000+ images with keywords, etc. in iPhoto; the image files are NOT stored IN iPhoto, i.e., they are organized in folders external to iPhoto's library. The iPhoto library file best I can tell stores thumbnails and keyword metadata, etc.
I'd like to use Aperture and have access to all of iPhoto's keywords, etc. but to use the original photo files.
Can Aperture be setup to work this way? i.e., to pull in the 30,000+ photos' keywords yet reference the same originals that iPhoto is referencing?
I don't want to duplicate the 30,000+ originals... In all likelihood I'd only ever want to manipulate a small percentage of the total image library in Aperture.
Any suggestions appreciated!
Alex

Alexander Mcleod wrote:
Thank you for taking the time to reply...
re: "Basically to edit an image, stored in iPhoto, in Aperture you would have to export the image from iPhoto import into Aperture modify it export it out of Aperture and import it back into iPhoto."
My point is that in my case the images are NOT *stored* IN iPhoto...
Yes I understand, your iPhoto library is setup using referenced masters, the termed used when the master file is stored outside of the programs database. And you could setup Aperture in the same way and they would both be pointing to the same master file, external to both programs databases.
But here's here's the kicker: The master file *is never modified* by either program. I believe iPhoto makes a copy of the master when you apply adjustments (someone with a greater understanding of iPhoto can correct me here) how it does it isn't important what is important is that he master isn't modified; Aperture also leaves the master alone. It records the adjustments you make as a stream on instructions and applies those to the master when you want to create an adjusted image. What you see (normally) in Aperture's views are previews of the adjusted image. So changes you make in Aperture won't be seen in iPhoto because iPhoto is looking at the original master file, not Aperture's adjusted version.
Now you can share the preview from Aperture with iPhoto, but at this point you basically have the adjusted image in two places.
And in reference to the other response that suggests that iPhoto and Aperture use different databases, I'd completely expect that to be the case. What I'm wondering about is can Aperture initialize its database from iPhoto's database; i.e., create its equivalent to iPhoto's "library" file (where all the iPhoto metadata is stored) from iPhoto's AND like iPhoto reference the original files in their original location.
Yes Aperture can initialize a database of its own based on the iPhoto library and that library can be setup to use referenced masters, see above.
I don't see why I'd need to 'export' any image from iPhoto (unless of course I'd "edited" it in iPhoto - in which case the *modified* file IS I think stored IN iPhoto's library) but that's my point... I don't WANT to edit the files with iPhoto... I want to edit the files with Aperture.
You're right you won't need to export from iPhoto if you setup both with referenced masters. But like I said above to get back to iPhoto you will have to export from Aperture unless you can live with using the previews in iPhoto. But again you will basically have two identical library structures, at least at start, as time goes on they will diverge.
I hope this better clarifies what I'm trying to explain.
It does, I hope my reply also helps explain the difficulties with this setup and why it's not as cut and dry as it first appears.
I have read *many* other posts that point out what you're pointing out but they all seem to make assumptions about wanting to modify files in Aperture which were previously *modified* in iPhoto. The unmodified "original" photos (assuming both iPhoto and Aperture have the ability that iPhoto has to reference the original files from a location *external* to iPhoto) are then by definition are already shared between iPhoto and Aperture so there's no need to 'export' from one to the other, no?
As I've said whats shared is the original unmodified master image. Once either program modifies it it is no longer shared.

Aperture and Canon 40D RAW

When will Aperture support RAW from my Canon 40D?
In the meantime how should I handle my RAW images? Can I import them into Aperture now with metadata attached and when the support is there all my photos and metadata will appear?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

The first question has been asked many times in the last 4 weeks and there's no answer. Ask more and Apple will lock this thread.
Second question. If you shoot RAW only, Aperture will import the file, and you won't be able to see it or work with it. You can export it to use Canon's DPP, Photoshop or other available converter to process it, save it to TIFF or JPEG, and then reimport to Aperture for now.
If you shoot RAW and JPEG, Aperture will import both files, but it's not apparent where the JPG file is. Control-click or right-click the grey square thumbnail or the reddish main window, and click "New Version from Master JPEG" to reveal the full-resolution JPEG image the camera took.
When OSX starts supporting 40D in the future, those RAW files will automatically be shown inside Aperture.

Using both aperture and iphoto

is there a way to use both aperture and iphoto without duplicating all the pictures? can I just point aperture to the iphoto folder with my pictures? i would like to use both, but don't want to have to duplicate all of my pictures, my hard drive can't handle my heavy shutter finger twice over.

Fundamentally our need/pain drives our determination of the best solution.
iPhoto is great as you say for integration cross iLife, basic photo management and basic edits.
Once you start to use Aperture with any volume of photos, it rapidly dawns on you how basic iPhoto is. I have tried both, and used iPhoto from iLife 04 onwards. iPhoto becomes unwieldly when you start throwing 100, 200, 500 or a 1,000 images at it. Compares and selects, sorting on different metadata, all slicker than iPhoto. But when it comes to image adjustments, there really is no comparison. Highlights/Shadows, Levels with quarter points, spot/patch controls ... smoothing, etc. To say nothing of seeing your original and modified(s) side by side. Or how about non-destructive crops so you can create the best possible presentation of the object with the overall image? Organization and navigational structure? Built in backup (Vaults) so that it is easy to back up. Yes, I'm sold on Aperture and that's why I now export just my finished (keepers) results back to iPhoto and not the other way around.
As your volumes grow, and your experience with Aperture grows, I'm sure you will start to reconsider.
Have fun.
G.

Aperture and iphoto together

I have all of my photos on an external hard drive and linked with iphoto as of now. I have now imported my iphoto library into aperture. Not to sure if that was the correct thing to do? Now I want to use aperture to do my Metadata and adjustments on my photos...? Will these adjustments and metadata I am adding show up in iphoto as well? I have noticed when I try Delete Master Image and All Versions in Aperture I still see the photos in iphoto?
Appreciate your input everyone
Thanks,
Steve

Just for sharing my experiences:
In view of nice Face/Place features, Iphoto 09 is my main application (i.e. all photos are imported first to iphoto). Then with the understanding that Aperture 2 is now better integrated with iphoto and with much powerful editing features, I bought Aperture 2 recently. Then I tried to test export a dozen photos from iphoto to Aperture 2 and found that all information on the date photos were taken had been reset to 01/01/2001 (meaning that one cannot risk exporting all photos with date information lost totally). Then when I figured if Iphoto 09 and Aperture 2 are really well integrated, I could use Aperture 2 as main application instead. Then I test exported some photos from Aperture 2 to Iphoto and found that all photo sizes were trimmed down to below 1MB (even all settings were adjusted to original Jpeg size).
Now since both applications display imperfect integration performance I have to use Iphoto 09 as main application with Aperture 2 used only occasionally for editing specific photos.
Appreciate views to overcome these issues.

Exporting photos and metadat from iPhoto '09 to Lightroom 3

After several years managing 110K+ photos and movies in iPhoto, I am reluctantly considering moving to Adobe Lightroom. I paid $200 for Aperture, but the most recent releases of both Aperture and iPhoto are so buggy that I'm not upgrading. I was very sad to reach this conclusion.
I am seriously considering moving to Adobe Lightroom for its power, stability, and availability on much cheaper PC hardware. Does anyone know of a way to export everything I've done in iPhoto (including hundreds of hours of tagging and photo editing) to Lightroom? I've spent a couple of hours reading forums and haven't seen anything (instructions or app) that will do the job.
I really wish Apple had nailed Aperture since I'm now needing it's photo editing power together with iPhoto's excellent organization capabilities. This was the promise of Aperture 3. Now I just feel dumb for spending the $200 (since the app is both buggy and available for $80 in the app store).
I would deeply appreciate any advice on the transition to Lightroom 3 from iPhoto '09... and I will always be an Apple fan.

Terence,
You rock for posting such a quick reply so late at night. Thank you!
I forgot about those checkboxes. Excellent point. Thanks for the description heads up. I'm fine losing the faces info (esp. since LR3 doesn't offer it as you said). It's the keywords and titles that I've spent 100's of hours on
Have you tried importing to LR with exported metadata? Did it work end to end for you? I'll check out iPhoto to Disk in depth.
I would like to keep my originals and the modified versions. Do you know of any way to avoid doubling the item count in my library to nearly a quarter of a million? I am hoping to avoid having an original and modified version of each file. I actually suffered that once through an iPhoto issue a couple of years ago and hope not to repeat.
To add more context to my Aperture and iPhoto '11 comments, the iPhoto '11 comments are purely a reflection of what I've read in hours of forum reading and not my direct experience. On Aperture, my experiences are actually limited -- focusing solely on importing a huge iPhoto library to Aperture. I spent tens of hours over several weeks trying to migrate and simply failed. The memory leaks got me time and again, no matter how I reconfigured the import (for example by splitting 110K photos into approx 50 individual imports). I should've called out that once (partially) imported, everything seemed to be faster and smoother in Aperture than in iPhoto. Thanks for the call out.
Guy

Aperture and Bridge

I have avoided using Bridge (much to my annoyance) as I cannot access the folders within my Aperture library (which are in the Pictures folder).
Can someone take pity on this photographer here, whose workflow has become rather cumbersome of late.....
Much much appreciated!!

Easy solution; don't import files into Aperture. Use referenced files so 1) your Aperture library isn't huge and 2) you won't lose files if or when Aperature totally crashes/blows up.
With my images securely located on their HDDs I can work with them and make corrections in CS5 Photoshop as well as work with them in Aperture. The Aperture libraries are backed up twice (on separate drives) and Bridge/Camera Raw corrections and metadata are backed up with both xmp files and a cache download into the files' folders. The HHDs are also backed up
It works great and gives me complete freedom to use or not use A3 and CS5 at will.

Unify aperture and iphoto libraries: the book (tricky) issue

I had been in the process of migrating from iPhoto to Aperture for a while now.
I imported iPhoto library in Aperture few monthes ago and am now using only Aperture.
Everything is fine for two things:
- I could not import the books (format is not compatible), so i had to keep the iPhoto library
- I didn't want to duplicate the orignals , so they are still in iPhoto library
With Aperture 3.3, the library could be unified with iPhoto
I would like to move all originals to Aperture library and still be able to open from iPhoto (so far, easy) but also keep the iPhoto books (which as far as i know are still incompatible with aperture books formats)
In other words, i want one aperture library, including masters, and I want to be able to open it from iPhoto, and still keep the old books (that were built from the initial iPhoto library) in iPhoto
Any clue ?

Hi Leonie,
You're really full of resources (not sure if this french expression translates well in english, but you get the idea) !
I finally found a way, not the most elegant one, but it's working:
0. Open each book in iPhoto. Delete in the book non-used photos of the book (in project list, choose book, then choose photos in the toolbar in the bottom, display non placed photos, delete). Now books projects only contain photos actually used in the book. (this step may not be necessary, but it speeds the process)
0. bis: Backup your Aperture library. don't forget to stop also any automatic backup process (like time machine)
1. Open the iPhoto library with Aperture (remember i had already migrated to Aperture 3,3 & iPhoto 9, which makes the libraries compatibles)
2. Export each of your books as a phototheque (right click on the book in the inspector navigator/ choose export impression project as a phototheque). Give specific name, for example "project x"
3. Open first created book phototheque in aperture
4. Tag photos of the phototheque with a specific keyword, for example "book x"
5. Close phototheque for "book x" and resume on step 3 for other phototheques
6. Open default aperture Library
7. Import first phototheque, merge with Aperture Library
8. Normally you get duplicates, especially if you have added metadata or edited the photos in aperture since you created the books in iPhoto. At least that's what happened to me
9. You can now grab the recent metadata on the one that was already in Aperture and apply it to the imported one. To do that, create a smart album with the keyword "project x"; then move all new imported events from iPhoto to the event where they belong in aperture. Then in the smart album, for a specific picture when you choose "display in the project" (i have defined a shortcut) you are in the event where the duplicate photo also sits. Choose cmd shift C on the photo with metadata, cmd shift V on the photo with the tag "project x" to transfer the metadata. You can delete the first one, except if you had edited the original differently in the book and in aperture and want to keep both. You still have to re-enter the faces on the imported one
10. You can erase the tag "project x"
11. Go back to step 7 for other books
12. Check you can see your books in iphoto when opening aperture library with iphoto. You can now consolidate the aperture library and migrate all referenced iPhoto pics inside the aperture library
13. you can erase iPhoto Library and other books phototheques created in step 2
You now have one unified library, that you can use in aperture and iPhoto, with your old iPhoto books in it.
(you also have lost a few hours...)

I have on my MacBook both iPhoto and Aperture and want to purchase iPhoto for iPad. If I do so, will I be able to see all my MacBook iPhoto progress (places, faces, events, etc) on the iPad app ? Via icloud or some other feature tht work like PhotoStream?

I have on my MacBook both iPhoto and Aperture and want to purchase iPhoto for iPad. If I do so, will I be able to see all my MacBook iPhoto progress (places, faces, events, etc) on the iPad app ? Via icloud or some other feature tht work like PhotoStream?

If I do so, will I be able to see all my MacBook iPhoto progress (places, faces, events, etc) on the iPad app ?
just some notes in addition to Ralphs answer: Your iPad is very useful to browse and show off your photos, i.e. the Retina iPad. You can sync to the iPad via iTunes or using the Photo Stream or a shared Photo Stream. But if you can browse and store all your photos on the iPad, will depend on the available storage on your iPad. Using iTunes you can sync events, albums, faces stacks, places stacks to your iPad. Not many metadata tags will transfer however.
See the iPhoto help on what iPhoto can actually do:
iPhoto Help: What is iPhoto? http://help.apple.com/iphoto/ipad/1.1/#blnkd2e20226
Regards
Léonie

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

This is a tricky one.
Open up Time Machine and go back to a date using the timeline on the right side of the window when you know the drive was working and was backing up as part of Time Machine backups.
Click on the name of your Mac under the Devices heading on the left side of the window in Time Machine, and if things are working correctly you will see Macintosh HD (or whatever you have named it) and the name of the external hard drive that was backing up in the past.
Right-Click on the name of the external hard drive and then click on "Restore (name of drive) to....." You may be asked for your adminstrator password at this point.
It might be easier to restore the drive contents to your desktop if you have room on your Mac, and then copy things over to the new external drive where you want to store the Aperture and iMovie Libraries.
Once the libraries have been moved over the new external hard drive, you will likely need to "point" Aperture and iMovie to the location of the libraries on the new external hard drive.

Aperture and metadata

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