Specific questions/issues on importing iPhoto '09 into Aperture 3

Question

Questions I have about migrating to Aperture 3 from iPhoto '09:
-will Places carry over as I've set them up, and customized on many images, with my own names etc? YES - They say Places come over, but don't know all the details
-will my Albums carry over as I've set them up, including Smart Albums, MobileMe galleries, Flickr galleries, etc? YES....I think - Albums, Smart Albums, and Slide Shows come over - no mention of MobileMe, Flickr, etc - although you can publish to those, the albums you've set up? Dunno, will test.
-will all my metadata that I've added in Description fields etc carry over? UNANSWERED
-and here's a biggie - I've spent I don't want to know how many dozens or hundreds of hours on using the Adjustment panel on thousands of images - will those Adjustments carry over and look the same in Aperture 3? Or will I lose those changes or have them look different? This is probably the biggest dealbreaker if it doesn't work as I hope.
-when is it safe to migrate over? I certainly want to hold onto the existing setup in case anything goes wrong, and I'll need at least as much space to move it over. Should I wait for the inevitable 3.0.1? When's that due?
-how are altered images saved - and how much control do I have over it? I save modified images in iPhoto as JPEG on the theory that is fine for export but not archive if I want to change it later
-will my star ratings carry over?
-if I import my iPhoto library over, does it maintain the source unaltered RAW as well as the altered?
-are the source images still directly accessible via Finder etc - what if I want to pull an image sequence into After Effects, for instance? I don't want to have to export new files to do so.
-are styles from my camera's RAW presets respected? I've noticed that D300S RAW images are reported at an exagerated size (4304 instead of 4288 pixels wide, similarly overtall), and if I set the camera to black and white, iPhoto recognizes them as color images. I suspect this has something to do with D300S RAW support at an OS level, but will Aperture 3 do any better?
I'm posting an article over at ProVideoCoalition on this stuff, I'll update from what I learn here.
-mike

Answer 1

You can answer all these queries yourself. Simply you will make a back up of your iPhoto Library before migrating over. No one would seriously consider doing a job like that without a back up, right? Then, if you're not happy with the outturn you can simply restore your back up.
-will Places carry over as I've set them up, and customized on many images, with my own names etc? YES - They say Places come over, but don't know all the details
What more details do you want?
-will my Albums carry over as I've set them up, including Smart Albums, MobileMe galleries, Flickr galleries, etc? YES....I think - Albums, Smart Albums, and Slide Shows come over - no mention of MobileMe, Flickr, etc - although you can publish to those, the albums you've set up? Dunno, will test.
Your Events come over as projects. Albums and Smart Albums and slideshows come over though you may find differences in the Slideshows as the mechanism is not quite a replica of the iPhoto one.
I have no Flickr albums or MobileMe ones either.
-will all my metadata that I've added in Description fields etc carry over? UNANSWERED
Mine did.
-and here's a biggie - I've spent I don't want to know how many dozens or hundreds of hours on using the Adjustment panel on thousands of images - will those Adjustments carry over and look the same in Aperture 3? Or will I lose those changes or have them look different? This is probably the biggest dealbreaker if it doesn't work as I hope.
Your edited pics come over with their originals. They look the same
-when is it safe to migrate over? I certainly want to hold onto the existing setup in case anything goes wrong, and I'll need at least as much space to move it over. Should I wait for the inevitable 3.0.1? When's that due?
Yesterday or tomorrow or never. That's the answer to both parts of your question. There may never be a 3.0.1, no one outside of Apple knows.
-how are altered images saved - and how much control do I have over it? I save modified images in iPhoto as JPEG on the theory that is fine for export but not archive if I want to change it later
Aperture is very different from iPhoto. There is no edited version. Your decisions are stored in the Aperture database and applied live as you view the pics. They are only committed to images when you export or print the pic.
-will my star ratings carry over?
Mine were.
-if I import my iPhoto library over, does it maintain the source unaltered RAW as well as the altered?
Haven't you asked this already? Yes.
-are the source images still directly accessible via Finder etc - what if I want to pull an image sequence into After Effects, for instance? I don't want to have to export new files to do so.
Depends on whether you run a Managed or a Referenced Library. If you want to use processed or edited images in another app you'll need to use Previews (for those apps that support that) or else export versions. This is exactly the same as previos versions of Aperture.
are styles from my camera's RAW presets respected? I've noticed that D300S RAW images are reported at an exagerated size (4304 instead of 4288 pixels wide, similarly overtall), and if I set the camera to black and white, iPhoto recognizes them as color images. I suspect this has something to do with D300S RAW support at an OS level, but will Aperture 3 do any better?
This question is not clear, but you do know, of course, that even if you set your camera to black and white that it takes colour photos, right? And all it does is flag the pics with a tag: 'Display Me in Black and White'
This has nothing to do with Raw support. You'll get better B&W images in Aperture than on your Camera.
I'm posting an article over at ProVideoCoalition on this stuff, I'll update from what I learn here.
You're going to take the time to learn the differences - the very profound differences between iPhoto and Aperture - before you do this, right? Because, based on some of your queries here - especially the ones about modified images, make me wonder if you've grasped Aperture.
Regards
TD