Will Lightroom 4 support custom XMP?

Question

XMP stands for eXtensible Metdadata Platform. Supposedly it is a standard developed by Adobe that permits image metadata not just be locked into one rather limited core set of fields like IPTC, but the design of custom metadata panels that in theory permits the addition of all kind of metadata fields.
Now, that sounds great - in theory...
Here is the catch: If you are not an advanced programmer, there is no way you will ever understand Adobes XMP Toolkit. For us normal earthlings it is essentialy impossible to make use of the X in eXpansible, we won't never be able to get a grips of programming custom metadata schemas ;-(
Worse: to date only Photoshop and Bridge even support custom metadata panels. Lightroom does not (please notice: I am NOT talking about the option to customize existing panels, I am talking about creating entirely new, customized panels!).
Currently there is unfortunately only one single software product on the market that fully supports XMP: IDimager. While IDimager is a great image database program it falls short in comparison to Lightrooms Image Editing/Adjustment/Developing capabilities. Thus it would be great, if Lightroom supported at least importing custom metadata panels created in other applications such as IDimager.
(specifically this one: http://wiki.idimager.com/index.php?title=DarwinCoreXMP#.27.27.27Darwin_Core_XMP.27.27.27)...

Answer 1

Hi Cornelia,
unfortunately ALL these plugins have one severe limitation: They are not XMP custom metadata, they are not saved as XMP metadata to the image files themselves!
In fact this ability in lightroom to "create" your own custom panels is quite deceiving and not at all serving the purpose xmp was originally intended for.
The plugin by Rob Cole for example (the one you are referring to) permits you to create your own "custom metadata" in Lightroom, yet those metadata are NOT saved as XMP. Instead you have to manually backup the data, a rather cumbersome procedure, prone to data loss.
What is great about XMP is the ability to write metadata diretly into an image file. This way they always stay within the image metadata itself and are never lost. You open that file in another program or exchange it with someone else and there is the metadata - residing inside the file itself.
Now, why do I find custom metadata useful? Are there not enough xmp fields already?
I have been using an xmp implementation of the DarwinCore to manage metadata about photos of Natural History Collections, names of species for example, the genus, family, order, collection data where a specimen was collected, etc...
Although a standard for this kind of metadata already exists (i.e., the DarwinCore) this standard is unfortunately not generally available as XMP for image management. Thus, I  made up a DarwinCore implementation of XMP in IDimager (http://wiki.idimager.com/index.php?title=DarwinCoreXMP#.27.27.27Darwin_Core_XMP.27.27.27) and it would be great to be able to use it also in Lightroom (at least be able to read it, better yet also write to those fields). In Photoshop and Bridge I can at least see that information, sadly though Lightroom does not even support reading custom XMP...
Frank