Renaming Masters

Is the only way to rename masters on import?
I have had jobs where I shoot 13,000 images and don't want to permanently rename them on import. I don't want image numbers to have 5 digits when, after editing, I may only have 1,200 images, sorted by date of which no more than a few hundred are kept. Then I can have my filename and 3 digit sequences like this:
20080328pbpSTK###.cr2
Currently if I import without renaming masters they have the camera generated name and I run the risk of copying over older images if I shoot more than 9,999 into one folder. Crazy I know but it could happen.
So far all I see is the Batch Change function and that does not change the Master filename. Thus leaving me with my new file name in Aperture and the camera generated filename at the finder level. This could create a lot of confusion for me.
Thanks for any solutions.

Well, for managed files, if you want to change the master file names just export the masters. Presumably you have some use for them when you export them, where a reasonable name would make sense.
While they're managed, why do you need to worry about things like file names? It's an implementation detail.

Similar Messages

Batch rename masters and versions

Like a dummy, I imported a huge photo shoot without using the easy re-naming.
Now, I want to rename every photo. I want to keep the numerical order, as it is critical for organizing the project photos. I want the Masters to be renamed (and I assume then that the versions just stay "version1" etc...). I have all my photos in stacks by master and version (not different masters).
How can I batch rename, keeping the sequential order that is already there.
(I have read the manual. I have searched on this forum. I still am a little unclear and, hence, the question.)
Thanks in advance!

If the images are referenced to an external location (outside Aperture's Library) then you can easily renaming them using Automator.
Copy all the images you are going to rename to a temp location. Just in case something goes wrong.
With Aperture closed open Automator, in the finder select all the images you need to rename and drag them to the right part of automator's screen. Now on the very left part select Finder, on the second column, near the bottom drag the rename finder items action to the right part, just under the window with all your images listed. Click on don't add so it will just rename the files (you made a copy previously). Select replace text and enter the old and new text. That way it will keep the numerical part of your files.
Press play and wait for the action to finish.
Check in the finder that the files have been renamed properly.
Open Aperture and go to the project with those images. If the masters can't be found go to File/Manage Referenced files... and in there you can reconnect to the right location. Usually this step won't be needed unless you move the masters to a new location.

Renaming masters and then editing in photoshop, the name reverts back...

So, if do a batch rename on a bunch of raw files to example 1.NEF, then example 2.NEF and so on, I select apply to masters. It works fine, even if I export the masters, with the master name, it shows the new name. No problem.
However, if I right click in aperture and select edit in photoshop on one of the aforementioned masters, then the new PSD file that is created has the original name as it was from the camera! What the heck?
Am I missing something?

Let's look at what's happening in the background: (tested or managed library)
In the Pictures folder is the Aperture library.
A typical master might be in a folder year>month>date>subfolder.
On sending to Photoshop a PSD (or tiff) is created and stored with the master.
This is edited and returned.
In the Previews folder year>month>date>subfolder>subfolder is found a jpg with the original name (there are also thumbnails and faces files).
This seems to be picked up when the edited file comes back from Photoshop.
More research neeeded!

Rename masters from offline account

Hi,
I have a bunch of masters that are located on my HDD.
Their name is something like
/mac/Users/UserName/Pictures/Aperture Pictures/IMGXXXX.CR2
Aperture thinks, however, that these pictures are located in
/Macintosh HD/Users/UserName/Pictures/Aperture Pictures/IMGXXXX.CR2
The volume "Macintosh HD", on the other hand, does not exist. During my last reinstall, I replaced the volume name "Macintosh HD" with "mac". Now Aperture constantly thinks that my images are located in an "offline" volume.
How do I tell aperture that all the pictures that have a path that begins with "/Macintosh HD" should have a path that begins with "/mac" ?
Thanks a lot for any help!

It hurts when I do dat - doctor says - den don't do dat.
Easiest thing to do is rename the volume - this is a piece of cake.
RB

2000+ renamed masters; reconnect all doesn't even try

Long story not worth going into: I have a pile of master images that have been irreversibly renamed and are currently disconnected from the library. I can locate the master for a single image, the "Reconnect" and "Reconnect All" buttons light up, "Reconnect All" correctly reconnects that one image, but Aperture doesn't connect any more beyond that.
So basically Aperture does recognize that a master I find matches whatever criteria it uses to determine it's the file it expected, but doesn't search for any other masters within the same directory, leaving me to find the next match manually.
10.8.3, Aperture 3.4.4, Files located on a second internal drive.
Is there any way for me to have the computer do what it's best at and do this repetitive work for me? It clearly recognizes the match when I do the work myself.

I know it's been reported that Aperture considers the filename as part of reconnecting but I figured since the single reconnection works fine Aperture had inspected the file enough to realize that despite the different name it was indeed the same file, and hey, maybe it should look through here for the others seeing as I asked it to reconnect all and it would be nice if it did it without me having to manually do so. But I digress.
I wish I could rename the files but they've been recovered from a deleted scratch disk ony after I found out that the other backup I had locally and the one up on CrashPlan had about 2000 zero byte files of corruption? catalog issues? I don't know; DiskWarrior and Disk Utility were no help.
TL;DR, I don't have a clear pattern for renaming these recovered master files.
So the reimport option would just be reimport all the masters images I have and thread them into my main library?
I was also toying with renaming ALL my masters using the date or something because the recovered images have the correct timestamp so I could _probably_ normalize on that…but really this just seems weird that I can't force Aperture to look for matches itself.

Why does renaming masters take so long?

I've used Aperture since version 1, and have mostly been happy. But I've always wondered why, when doing a batch rename with "Apply to master files" checked, does it take so long?
A few minutes ago, I started the process for a mere 256 photos and I'm still sitting here waiting as it renames originals. This behavior is across all libraries and it even happens on a brand new small library.
The Finder can rename files almost instantly. iView Media Pro could do it as well (in 2005). I hope somebody can come up with a logical reason why in 2013 a simple master filename rename is the slowest part of our workflow.
For anybody saying to just rename them on import, I would rather wait until all cards from all cameras from an event are imported, arrange them by date so the renamed file sequence number is in the order that they were shot. If I rename them on import, the sequence numbers won't be chronological and that is why I don't rename on import (unless I've only shot on one camera, which is rare).
Does anybody see this changing in the future? (I've been sending regular feedback suggesting more robust renaming tools since 2007. Can I do anything else to speed this up?).
The rename process is done. Took > 5 minutes to rename 256 files. Seems like an eternity. It's been slow on every computer I've ever had, current one is Mac Pro 2 x 2.26 quad-core Xeon with 24 GB RAM, Application and startup drive is SSD, media files are on HDD.

Is there _anything_ else in your set-up that could be adding to the time it takes to write the names to disk? Disk-mirroring? Back-ups? Some kind of indexing (Launchbar, etc.)?
I rename tens of thousands of files, and while it is not instantaneous, I don't have to wait five minutes for a thousand files or more.
You might try something outside Aperture, such as the excellent NameMangler, just to see if batch renaming several hundred files is slow there. NameMangler was recently upgraded. It works astoundingly fast.
If you can't resolve this, you might be able to work around it by importing all files into a Finder folder, arranging by date, and then importing into Aperture and renaming on import. (I'm not positive this will work -- and I'm sorry, but I can't check it right now.)
HTH.
--Kirby.

Aperture 3 OSStatus error-43 when renaming referenced masters

I am trying to rename masters and it comes up with (OSStatus error-43.). I am running Aperture 3 with Snow Lepard.

I would start with the library repair steps in Aperture 3: Troubleshooting Basics permission and library repair.
Was the consolidate and relocation sucessful? Does the error tell you which file it is having problems with? Are any of the masters getting renamed?

File renaming with drag & drop import

I want to import images on disk by dragging to projects to avoid the painfully slow import dialog animation, but I also want to rename masters on import. Is there a way to do this?

Ah
I think it is actually an Apple App switcher thing.
So if the finder window does noy cover the After Effects Project window, it works, but if you have to use the app switcher, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
I don't think it is a file type issue, so much as a live application issue, or maybe GPU related.
It's a weird thing, not that important, but it does limit where you can and can't drag from.
Tris

Renaming photos/files

After much struggle, I have managed to rename some photos in Aperture - but the names don't 'stick'. That is, when I open the folder they are in, the old names are still there. When I look in Aperture, the new names are there.
I need step-by-step instructions on how to do this (in bulk - new name + index) and then how to find the changed files.
I'm lost and frustrated.

I assume you have a referenced Aperture Library, and you want to rename the referenced master images located in a folder outside your Library, right?
To make the new names stick and not just to rename the current version you have to check "apply to masters", otherwise the master files will remain unchanged.
The procedure:
1. select the images you want to rename in the Browser.
2. In the main menu select "Metadata -> Batch change" (or press shift-cmd-B)
3. In the panel set "Time zone adjustment" to "none", as Version name format select "custom name with Counter", and enter the new name of the images.
4. Mark "Apply to Master File" and press "o.k."
Your images will be renamed. To see the renamed masters, ctrl-click on one of the pictures and select "Show in Finder". Hopefully you will see the new names and all is done.
Good Luck

Iphoto '11 cannot show slideshow for files on NFS (Faces fails, too)

Hello, please help me see my pictures in slideshow! I get black pictures, but I have a unique error (google has zero hits on '"NULL CGImageSource" iphoto'). See details below. Thanks!
I'm using iPhoto '11 (9.1.5 (615)).
My preferences have UNCHECKED "copy items into the iPhoto Library". I want my pictures to remain on my linux (NFS) server so that other PCs can view them in their existing directory tree organization.
I import the files into iPhoto. I see them all. yay!
I also import files from my iPhone. These most likely reside on my local Mac drive rather than on the server. yay.
Signs that things are strange:
- I can use Faces to identify faces for those pictures which originated on my iPhone(now on local drive), but not those stored on the NFS location.
- When I use the slideshow, pictures which originated on my iPhone (now on local drive) appear, but not those stored on the NFS location. These are black screen. If I use a Theme such as Snapshots, then I see the white borders, and blackness inside. No, I didn't shoot *every* picture with the lens cap on.
- (THIS IS THE KEY ERROR MESSAGE FOR APPLE SOFTWARE ENGINEERS TO INVESTIGATE!) Console is spewing errors such as:
7/27/11 11:49:50 PM    iPhoto[1541]    NULL CGImageSource for Path - /Volumes/network/yoda/yoda/rbrown/misc/pics/gretchen/2001/IMG_0046.JPG!!!
I find this odd, because IT'S THE WRONG PATH! The correct path only contains one "yoda" in the tree hierarchy, i.e.
/Volumes/network/yoda/rbrown/misc/pics/gretchen/2001/IMG_0046.JPG rather than
/Volumes/network/yoda/yoda/rbrown/misc/pics/gretchen/2001/IMG_0046.JPG
I should note that from iPhoto, if I click "File->Reveal in Finder", the Finder launches to the correct location (one "yoda" in hierarchy). It opens on /Volumes/network/yoda/rbrown/misc/pics/gretchen/2001/IMG_0046.JPG and I see the file.
The mount itself looks like:
[hansolo:pics/in/VivaVienna2010] rbrown% mount
/dev/disk0s2 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)
yoda:/home on /Volumes/network/yoda (nfs, nosuid)
And I'm not confused about the directory tree:
[hansolo:pics/in/VivaVienna2010] rbrown% ls -la /Volumes/network/yoda/yoda
ls: /Volumes/network/yoda/yoda: No such file or directory
[hansolo:pics/in/VivaVienna2010] rbrown% ls -lad /Volumes/network/yoda/rbrown
drwxr-xr-x 122 rbrown messagebus 12288 Jul 26 00:42 /Volumes/network/yoda/rbrown
[hansolo:~] rbrown% ls -la /Volumes/network/yoda/rbrown/misc/pics/gretchen/2001/IMG_0046.JPG
-rw-r--r-- 1 rbrown messagebus 789848 Nov 10 2001 /Volumes/network/yoda/rbrown/misc/pics/gretchen/2001/IMG_0046.JPG
Once I discovered this oddity, I thought maybe there was something about the way I browsed in iPhoto to find the pictures to import. I had gone through the "yoda" share on the left-side of the file selection box. So I deleted the pictures from iPhoto, and decided to use a symbolic link, which I had created in my home area on the Mac:
[hansolo:~] rbrown% ls -la /Users/rbrown/yoda
lrwxr-xr-x 1 rbrown staff 21 Feb 2 23:07 /Users/rbrown/yoda -> /Volumes/network/yoda
When I import photos into iPhoto using the "rbrown" item with the house icon (my Mac home directory) on the left-side of the file selection box, and then click through "yoda" and then through "rbrown" and "misc" etc. etc., to find the same files via the non-canonical path of /Users/rbrown/yoda/rbrown/misc/pics/gretchen/2001/, here's what happens:
- I have to highlight files, not the directory.
- If I hightlight the files, then they import okay into iPhoto, and appear on the main window
- The slideshow still doesn't work (black images)
- The Console error message changes(!) to:
7/27/11 11:54:03 PM    iPhoto[1541]    NULL CGImageSource for Path - /Masters/IMG_0022.JPG!!!
I have no idea where "/Masters" originated. I have no such directory anywhere, to my knowledge.
Help! okthxbye.
          -rb

In iPhoto 11 the Originals folder is renamed Masters.
IPhoto menu -> Provide iPhoto Feedback and report the bug.
Regards
TD

File naming

I'm new to the Mac, new to Aperture 3 (running Trial at the moment). Came from PC and PS CS2 and Adobe Bridge. I have most of my pics in folders organized by date (2008-01-13) and inside the folders, the pics have their original file names - img7832.cr2, etc.
Upon importing (I've just tried a few folders), I choses a naming scheme such as Boston2008-01-13_img7832.cr2. I left unchecked the rename Masters because I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. What do you think of this naming scheme? Or would you toss out the original file name and put the date in front - such as 2008-01-13_Boston. I'm kind of at a loss as to what down the road is going to be most beneficial when it comes to locating photos or to sorting methods. Are underscores necessary between the various components? I do mostly travel and nature photography and and have generally keyworded in the past to find my pictures. I've scanned forums, etc., but haven't found any really good advice on this. I'd appreciate any thoughts
Reading a bit further, maybe a counter is what I need, such as 2008-01-13Boston001, etc. If I understand that correctly, as I import further pictures to that project, they will just continue the counter (002,003,etc). I only need to remember to reset the counter if I'm going to import into a different project (assuming I don't already have pics in the other project, in which case I would start the counter with the last number in the project + 1).
And returning to the date issue - is there a benefit in having the Date fields at the beginning of the file name? If you were searching for dates, wouldn't the search pull from the date info that is already inside the picture file?
Again, I'm asking for those with some years of experience under their belts, as to their opinions and any downfalls they see with my various schemes.
I should also mention that I'm thinking about letting Aperture "manage" the files, since I have about 100GB to import and I have a 1TB hard drive. If I run out down the road somewhere (I'll probably be dead before then. , then I'm thinking I can just transfer the library to an external and point to it there.
Thanks!
Mark

Hi Mark. You seem to have this pretty well thought through. I'll tell you what I do, just as foil to better refine your scheme, and then I post some comments further down in-line with your questions.
I use this Naming Convention every time I import my photos into Aperture:
(Image Date)_(Custom Name)_(Sequence Number)_(Master File Name).
I use a Referenced Masters storage system (highly rec'd for all but the most simple installations) with my raw files stored on an external HD. I have Aperture auto-file them by YYYY/MM/DD. I have deliberately built a degree of redundancy into my system. The general idea is that all images should have unique names, and I should be able to roughly identify and exactly re-file an file based on name alone.
(Image Date)
Starting with this allows me to easy sort files by file name. It is meaningful and useful to me and to the computer.
(Custom Name)
I store all my images in Aperture's Library in Projects based on shoots. Roughly, one Project per shoot. (If I have only two shots in a Project, I don't worry about it. If I have more than 60 (after stacking) I tend to break them into Albums within the Project.) "Custom Name" allows me to input two pieces of information per shoot which are important to me: "Shoot Name" and "Shoot Location". I type these into the field provided at the time of import as " ShootName_ShootLocation ". This allows me to keep a bit of useful descriptive text attached to the file (and available without opening or previewing it or even having it on my machine).
(Sequence Number)
Self-explanatory.
(Master File Name)
Useful when one has more than one camera at a shoot, and also should anything go wrong during import (I rotate cards and don't re-format them until I put them back in a camera).
ATHiker95 wrote:
I'm new to the Mac, new to Aperture 3 (running Trial at the moment). Came from PC and PS CS2 and Adobe Bridge. I have most of my pics in folders organized by date (2008-01-13) and inside the folders, the pics have their original file names - img7832.cr2, etc.
Important: you are creating two separate filing schemes in your use of Aperture: one for files, and one for images. Imho, there is no reason to use any time- or date-based scheme for your image storage (date and time are hard-tagged to each image and Aperture provides ample tools to sort and filter by date and time (and day and month and year)).
Upon importing (I've just tried a few folders), I choses a naming scheme such as Boston2008-01-13_img7832.cr2. I left unchecked the rename Masters because I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. What do you think of this naming scheme?
I always rename Masters. There is no reason not to.
Or would you toss out the original file name and put the date in front - such as 2008-01-13_Boston.
Both. See above.
I'm kind of at a loss as to what down the road is going to be most beneficial when it comes to locating photos or to sorting methods.
Again, remember that are creating two distinct storage/filing/retrieval systems (files and images). Your file naming convention should be designed to help you locate and identify files outside of Aperture. Inside Aperture you can make extensive use of Folders, Projects, Albums, Keywords, Labels, and Flags to bring you whatever functionality you desire.
Are underscores necessary between the various components?
The time when this was useful because some computers couldn't handle spaces in file names is past. I do it out of habit.
I do mostly travel and nature photography and and have generally keyworded in the past to find my pictures. I've scanned forums, etc., but haven't found any really good advice on this. I'd appreciate any thoughts
Keyword extensively. Use keywords naturally and personally. Your keywords are for you to help you find your files. (Assuming you are not going to sell Stock Photos.)
Reading a bit further, maybe a counter is what I need, such as 2008-01-13Boston001, etc. If I understand that correctly, as I import further pictures to that project, they will just continue the counter (002,003,etc).
I don't think so. The counter, afaik, counts the number of images in the import.
I only need to remember to reset the counter if I'm going to import into a different project (assuming I don't already have pics in the other project, in which case I would start the counter with the last number in the project + 1).
Seems complicated and likely to fail due to user error.
And returning to the date issue - is there a benefit in having the Date fields at the beginning of the file name? If you were searching for dates, wouldn't the search pull from the date info that is already inside the picture file?
Inside Aperture, there is no advantage whatsoever. Outside Aperture, there is a significant advantage.
Again, I'm asking for those with some years of experience under their belts, as to their opinions and any downfalls they see with my various schemes.
I should also mention that I'm thinking about letting Aperture "manage" the files, since I have about 100GB to import and I have a 1TB hard drive. If I run out down the road somewhere (I'll probably be dead before then. , then I'm thinking I can just transfer the library to an external and point to it there.
Highly recommend a Referenced Masters system from the get-go. Terry Devlin (iirc) has many sensible posts on this here -- search the forum.
Thanks!
Mark
Good Luck!
Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

Allow external editor file name template to be customized

Currently, only a global name can be set. I'd like to have the ability to set a global name that can be overriden in the settings for particular external editors. For example, if I use the Nik SilverEfexPro plugin as one external editor, it may be useful to specify the external file to be named something like
<filename>-SilverEfexPro.jpg
Dilip

No, there's still no way to rename Masters short of exporting them with the version name and re-importing.
The only way 'Save As' is going to work from an external editor is if you use exactly the same file name - that is the only file Aperture has sent out and it's the only file that Aperture is expecting back.
Saving with a different file name is functionally the same as copying a new file into the Library using the Finder - Aperture has no way to expect it. You'd have to save to somewhere outside the Library and then import it as a new Master, maybe setting up a hot folder in Automator for automatic importing.
Ian

External Editors & File Naming

I would like to be able to name files returned to LR by an external editor with the name of the external editor itself. For example, if I am going from Lightroom to various Nik Software editors I might:
LR->Dfine->LR->Color Efex->LR->Viveza->LR
As of now, I have "Edit" post-pended to the file so I end up with something like "filename-Edit-Edit-Edit.tif" by the time I'm done. I can manually edit the names, but this would be better:
I'd like to be able to specify a name or abbrevition for the external editor, e.g., Define, CEfex, Viv, Viveza, CS3, whatever and have that added to the filename instead.
Something like: "filename-Dfine-CEfex-Viv.tif" tells me a lot more about what was done with the file and where I left off in my workflow.
Also, the External Editor dialog could use some cleanup. I suggest putting the save/delete/update optons elsewhere as it is not obvious that they are in the Preset drop-down.
Finally, have to select an application and go under preset to save as new, is a non-obvous way of creating a new external editor. How about just adding a "New..." option?
Aron

No, there's still no way to rename Masters short of exporting them with the version name and re-importing.
The only way 'Save As' is going to work from an external editor is if you use exactly the same file name - that is the only file Aperture has sent out and it's the only file that Aperture is expecting back.
Saving with a different file name is functionally the same as copying a new file into the Library using the Finder - Aperture has no way to expect it. You'd have to save to somewhere outside the Library and then import it as a new Master, maybe setting up a hot folder in Automator for automatic importing.
Ian

How does, Do Not Import Duplicates, work?

Here's what I found in the user manual. (how about that, I read the manual before someone pointed it out to me)
Aperture checks the filename of the master to determine if an image is a duplicate of one in the library.
Aperture is checking the filename of the Master. So, if you always rename Masters, then this feature wouldn't actually do anything. Correct?
What if you are importing an image which happens to have the same filename. Perhaps you've reset your camera's naming feature. Or your importing from a different camera (probably same manufacturer) that happens to be a the point of overlapping, default names?
Does it actually check the entire Library? I wondered since the option is in the section where you are picking the Project to store them in. It makes me think it's only looking in one particular Project.
Either way, I'm not sure this is such a great feature. I'd rather have duplicates, as opposed to skipping files it thinks are duplicates.
What's the best way to utilize this feature?

The user manual says that Aperture checks the filename. I'm not exactly sure what that means.
I imported a couple of images. I changed both the Version and Master name. Then, I used the Batch Change command to change the time zone, so the times were different.
I then tried to re-import the same images. If I checked Do Not Import Duplicates, Aperture hid the images I just imported. If I unchecked it, I could import the images. I left it unchecked and imported the images.
I wound up with duplicates. Even though the Version name, File (Master) name and Date fields for both duplicates were different.
So the feature appears to work pretty good.
My issue is, since I don't know how it works, I'm not sure how to use it.
My concern is that if it's checked, Aperture hides duplicates, so you have to uncheck it to see what Aperture thinks are duplicates. It would be nice if Aperture showed the images it thought was duplicates, but had them grayed out with no way to check the import box.
It would be nice to know how this feature works. How does Aperture decide what makes an import you are about to import a duplicate, or not?

How can I re-name a single image after importing it to Aperture?

I am having a problem renaming a single image after importing it - I would have thought it would be simple! Does anyone know how this can be done?

Hi RQ,
Straight out of the manual
To rename masters
In the Browser, select an image or group of images.
Choose Metadata > Batch Change (or press Command-Shift-B).
In the Batch Change dialog, choose a naming convention from the Version Name Format pop-up menu to specify how you want the masters named.For example, choose Version Name from the Version Name Format pop-up menu to have your master filenames changed to match the names of the corresponding versions in Aperture. If you choose a custom name format, enter the name you want in the Custom Name text field. For more information about naming files, see Automatically Naming Your Imported Images.
Select the Apply to Master File(s) checkbox, then click OK.
The master files corresponding to the selected images are renamed. For more information about working with the Batch Change dialog, see Batch Changing Metadata.
Hope that is what you are after.
DJ

Renaming Masters

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