Rename files and retain portions of the original filename

Question

I posted a thread about this a while ago, but no solution was given:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2564646
The issue is this: I can't figure out how to rename imported files while also retaining part of the original filename. The images come off of the camera like this:
DSC_3497.nef
I need to do the following:
+- Retain the unique number that the image already has. I don't want to rename the files by date, location, lunar phase, or some other esoteric identifier. I think having a unique ID for each image (one that shows up in standard OS-level searches on both Mac and PC systems) is useful.+
+- Replace "DSC" with the camera model (D3X), since I use multiple cameras with different resolutions and also need to be able to search for images from a certain camera outside of Aperture (i.e. tags/keywords would not help).+
+- Add a digit prior to the four-digit string to indicate the true numeric sequence of the file. Since Nikon cameras reset the number sequence every 10,000 files, I want to indicate the true sequence number directly in the filename. This will also avoid filename overlaps. It also lets me know how many images I've shot with each camera.+
The intended final result would look like this:
D3X_63497.nef
Showing the 63,497th image taken with my D3X.
In Aperture's "File Naming" dialog, I don't see a way to split the existing filename in this way. It looks like I can only append or prepend a Custom Name to the Version/Master name. I don't see a way to split the existing filename at the underscore, for example, so that portions of the original filename can be selectively replaced.
This is not about finding a workable naming scheme for Aperture and then renaming all existing files. I spend time on the PC side for various things and also work with a number of people who don't use Aperture but need access to my image library. I also have hundreds of references to existing filenames in various print and web design projects, as well as my Flickr account with 3000+ photos.
Going back and updating all that stuff is not going to happen. But using a System Service to rename files after every import is also pretty tedious.
Any solutions that meet the three criteria outlined above would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

sempervirent,
You're asking for some pretty advanced file naming. Most people aren't going to need that sort of function, so I doubt there will be a hook into Aperture to do such a thing. I suggest using a shell script or Applescript along with EXIFTool to rename files before you import them into Aperture. http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
Retain the unique number that the image already has
If you're not afraid of the command line, it's easy enough to use a tool like awk or maybe perl to parse that sequence number from a well-formatted string like the picture name
Replace "DSC" with the camera model (D3X)
You can use EXIFTool to extract the camera model from the EXIF dat ain the photos
Add a digit prior to the four-digit string to indicate the true numeric sequence of the file.
Good luck with this one. You'll have to do a filename search through all of your previous files to find out what 10,000 you're on. It's possible, but you'd have to do some specialized coding in AppleScript or shell script.
nathan